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Post by dynamitekido on Mar 26, 2017 9:51:27 GMT -5
The point being that smyths being a toy store has this kick ass section but the toys r us stores in the states don't. Why? Why is it so easy for collectors in the U.K. to get a cactus jack figure but some of us have to suffer with Walmart being the only retailer, that isn't a toy store carrying the figure for now? I don't know about you but, I've never seen that asuka or that rock in the pic from elite wave 47 at toys r us and Walmart but there they are in smyths, easy pickings. I've seen every Figure for every series because I live smack bang in between 2 huge Smyths stores. But, I haven't seen any of the US exclusives, because they're only bloody available in the country your moaning about distribution in. Although I understand where UK collectors are coming from, it's part of a bigger issue. Why are any figures exclusive to country? Why could you only get the Contract Signing set in the U.K.? It's all stupid frankly as I know there are collectors around the world that would've bought all of them. Makes no sense to limit collectors, creating insane secondary markets, for what reason?
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Post by tylergfromthe513 on Mar 26, 2017 10:19:45 GMT -5
Yeah, lets just down play that all the figures in the main line, basic and BP line are ALL readily available at any given time at this Smyths. Lets also forget the fact that these very same exclusives that everyone assumes is so plentiful are actually quite the opposite. A lot of us have to pay the very same premiums if we actually want them relativly soon.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 10:24:16 GMT -5
The point being that smyths being a toy store has this kick ass section but the toys r us stores in the states don't. Why? Why is it so easy for collectors in the U.K. to get a cactus jack figure but some of us have to suffer with Walmart being the only retailer, that isn't a toy store carrying the figure for now? I don't know about you but, I've never seen that asuka or that rock in the pic from elite wave 47 at toys r us and Walmart but there they are in smyths, easy pickings. Sorry but u are complaining about nothing. Try living in Australia (sure there are other countries like mine, but will only speak to what I know of). We get basically nothing at retail (we hadn't seen elites in like 5 years up until 6 months ago). U have so many options online to get the figures u want. Sure u pay a little bit of shipping, but trust me, it's nothing compared to the rest of the world. I understand ur frustrations about not having everything at your finger tips, but u have options and they don't cost more then the figure (shipping to Australia often cost more then the figure - and I'm sure it's similar to other parts of the world). We would all love to have a section like this, but this very much a 1st world problem and really didn't need its own thread. Mattel has created a whole thread/request to try and fix distribution problems. I'm not complaining, just making an obvious observation. The United States has more toys stores than all of the U.K. And not one toy retailer has an aisle that looks like this and sorry but the United States is where the wwe was born and we have crap for selection? Makes no sense at all... now thats complaining. Nothing against the U.K. And I respect those who live there and elsewhere and I know the struggle is worse for other parts of the world but how does the U.K., that's the size of Alabama have this much bad assery when the United States has so many more states and collectors? I'm assuming that considering that the smyths there and it's toy aisle is that saturated is due in part to the size of the country where as the United States has a larger land mass and more people so more spread out selection but then shouldn't larger, major cities in the USA have these same toy aisles? Again, not slamming those who live in the U.K. Or elsewhere.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 10:29:43 GMT -5
Wow. What duchebagery here huh. @danimal was just making an observation and posing a question. It's an honest question. Smyths looks insane. I watch YouTube videos of the stores all the time. Everyone needs to chill Thanks man. People suck and I've learned to not give a crap about douche bags. I like to get my figures in person as much as I can, if I have to order online I make sure that the seller is known for packing the item safely. With a selection like smyths, it seems that you can choose the best condition box and paint applications where as even ordering from ringside, they charge you an extra $2 for a better packing job and that's not even guaranteed to keep your figure safe. I'm jealous of those who live in the U.K. Really. Imagine walking into smyths and don't have to deal with crap head walmart employees and have wave 47 rock, asuka and 48 cactus jack right there... how great.
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powerfred3k
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Post by powerfred3k on Mar 26, 2017 10:58:51 GMT -5
Wow. What duchebagery here huh. @danimal was just making an observation and posing a question. It's an honest question. Smyths looks insane. I watch YouTube videos of the stores all the time. Everyone needs to chill Thanks man. People suck and I've learned to not give a crap about douche bags. I like to get my figures in person as much as I can, if I have to order online I make sure that the seller is known for packing the item safely. With a selection like smyths, it seems that you can choose the best condition box and paint applications where as even ordering from ringside, they charge you an extra $2 for a better packing job and that's not even guaranteed to keep your figure safe. I'm jealous of those who live in the U.K. Really. Imagine walking into smyths and don't have to deal with crap head walmart employees and have wave 47 rock, asuka and 48 cactus jack right there... how great. I am sure they have whole rows of every single wrestler in elite 46, 47a, 47b, 48, and so on judging by the pics we have all seen.
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Jonny Flashback
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Post by Jonny Flashback on Mar 26, 2017 11:38:07 GMT -5
To rub it in even more, Smyths generally have all those figures available online with free shipping if over £20. Really is the best toy shop in the world - certainly in terms of WWE.
Strange that the USA collectors are struggling to see Asuka and The Rock available as they seem to be the ones that are seemingly a little slower at shifting over here.
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Post by POOR-ly Cuyler on Mar 26, 2017 11:39:21 GMT -5
This is a joke. It is not hard to find WWE figures in the US. If you want e47 Ringside has most all of them for less than retail. I havnt seen e47.5 at retail and RS I got them for $18 shipped. Good luck doing that in UK. We were able to get Target HOF for pretty huge discounts. Walmart has e48. Cactus Jack is not hard to find.
Dont always assume the grass is greener from pics. We have more options to get figures and more of them because of US based exclusives.
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Post by stc13 on Mar 26, 2017 11:45:32 GMT -5
I understand the frustrations of international collectors over exclusives, shipping, etc. But those issues and well stocked stores are far from mutually exclusive.
The US is responsible for about 1/4 of worldwide toy sales, and produces annual sales that are about 4 times higher than the second highest country from the data I've seen. Wrestling is definitely way down in popularity from the 90's in the states, but it's interesting that Smyths is obviously able to stock and sell high volumes of WWE figures to be profitable. Either it's a big missed opportunity for US retailers who barely even keep figures on the pegs, or there is another factor (higher wrestling popularity? fewer toy options?) that are driving WWE sales at Smyths.
I think it's an interesting discussion topic. And as someone who collects 95% out of nostalgia, I can't tell you how excited I would be to walk into a store like Smyths and see the pegs stocked like I remember as a kid.
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Post by newgenandy on Mar 26, 2017 12:17:46 GMT -5
It's great for wrestling!
Toys r us is rubbish imo.
However we don't get the Walmart exclusives for the funko mystery minis etc
I got a few elites reduced to £5 (about $3.80) today and the Mattel winged eagle belt which is gorgeous!
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powerfred3k
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Post by powerfred3k on Mar 26, 2017 12:47:10 GMT -5
This is a joke. It is not hard to find WWE figures in the US. If you want e47 Ringside has most all of them for less than retail. I havnt seen e47.5 at retail and RS I got them for $18 shipped. Good luck doing that in UK. We were able to get Target HOF for pretty huge discounts. Walmart has e48. Cactus Jack is not hard to find. Dont always assume the grass is greener from pics. We have more options to get figures and more of them because of US based exclusives. Its not a joke distribution at retail stores is really bad in the states, and these figures are mainly meant to be sold in retail stores. That is unless mattel want to just give up and admit these wwe figures are collectibles and sell them directly which would significantly increase the prices. I paid $35 a while ago from ringside to get an aj styles elite figure i know i will never see in a store. All of the walmart, target, toysrus, walgreens, exclusives are stocked better than the main lines and that is a major problem for collectors. The only way you have a fighting chance of finding new wwe mattel figures is living in a heavily populated area with lots of various stores that sell them. The only other option is when walmarts, and sometimes toyrus stores get whole displays of them like elite 39 and elite 48 most recently. The problem with that is when the most sought after 1-2 figures in a set are all scooped up you have lots of dead weight that clog stores. I have personally only seen leftovers of elite 46 at one walgreens and yesterday 1 target. No elite 47 anything in sight, and probably no elite 48 if walmart did not order some.
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Post by POOR-ly Cuyler on Mar 26, 2017 12:59:00 GMT -5
This is a joke. It is not hard to find WWE figures in the US. If you want e47 Ringside has most all of them for less than retail. I havnt seen e47.5 at retail and RS I got them for $18 shipped. Good luck doing that in UK. We were able to get Target HOF for pretty huge discounts. Walmart has e48. Cactus Jack is not hard to find. Dont always assume the grass is greener from pics. We have more options to get figures and more of them because of US based exclusives. Its not a joke distribution at retail stores is really bad in the states, and these figures are mainly meant to be sold in retail stores. That is unless mattel want to just give up and admit these wwe figures are collectibles and sell them directly which would significantly increase the prices. I paid $35 a while ago from ringside to get an aj styles elite figure i know i will never see in a store. All of the walmart, target, toysrus, walgreens, exclusives are stocked better than the main lines and that is a major problem for collectors. The only way you have a fighting chance of finding new wwe mattel figures is living in a heavily populated area with lots of various stores that sell them. The only other option is when walmarts, and sometimes toyrus stores get whole displays of them like elite 39 and elite 48 most recently. The problem with that is when the most sought after 1-2 figures in a set are all scooped up you have lots of dead weight that clog stores. I have personally only seen leftovers of elite 46 at one walgreens and yesterday 1 target. No elite 47 anything in sight, and probably no elite 48 if walmart did not order some. I had a member here help get me an AJ and I paid retail price. That was the hardest figure to find in my past 3 years of collecting. Still he wanted the NS Balor and We traded.
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Post by Yambag Jones on Mar 26, 2017 13:11:20 GMT -5
I want to go to there...
I check out the biggest stores everytime I go to a major city and I've NEVER seen a section like this anywhere in the U.S.
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Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Mar 26, 2017 13:38:16 GMT -5
I've seen every Figure for every series because I live smack bang in between 2 huge Smyths stores. But, I haven't seen any of the US exclusives, because they're only bloody available in the country your moaning about distribution in. Although I understand where UK collectors are coming from, it's part of a bigger issue. Why are any figures exclusive to country? Why could you only get the Contract Signing set in the U.K.? It's all stupid frankly as I know there are collectors around the world that would've bought all of them. Makes no sense to limit collectors, creating insane secondary markets, for what reason? For the reason that not all retailers in every country want to order everything. Mattel don't sneak things onto shelves in the dead of night -- the stores have to actually buy product from them. Given the size/market in other countries (like the UK only really having Smyths and Toys R Us to reliably sell WWE toys), it stands to reason that not all US WWE product is stocked in every other country. Retailers pick and choose what they want to stock. And there haven't been any UK exclusives in Mattel's WWE line, other than accidental ones because of screwy distribution in some US retail chains.
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Post by The Classic on Mar 26, 2017 13:53:18 GMT -5
Wowzers... now that's a toy aisle.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 14:09:25 GMT -5
I'm glad we get exclusives in the US, but in a way wouldn't you rather just have one large toy store to shop and grab everything you need without worrying about going store to store, town to town? I feel like I would. 9 times out of 10 it is a wasted trip to all the aforementioned stores in the US because either there is figure swaps, or hardly anything new. Yeah the exclusives are nice but how they are spread out from store to store makes them harder to get, which is okay but not exactly easy for people even in the US. At least where I live, in order to get anything current, you have to pretty much be at the store before open and race the scalpers to the aisle. Even 20 minutes after store opening, you will come around the aisle and see the scraps left behind. Agree with this 100%
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 14:26:17 GMT -5
I get where the OP is coming from. Photos of Smyths look the way I remember TRU or KB Toys looking during the BCA days. The pegs were almost always packed, and you would dig through to find out what was new or find the figure you missed. Our TRU had almost a full isle of WWF figures, and stocked multiple cases of new releases very similar to what it looks like Smyths is doing. You didn't have to be there the very second they put the series out to get every figure from the set. Retail in the US has changed, and yes there are plenty of online options that cost close to or less than MSRP in the store. But considering this is largely a forum of grown men collecting toys, I can't fault anybody for feeling some nostalgia. Kb used to stock everything that plac was awesome I even remember when toys r us was a full isle of wwe
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Post by elitecollector89 on Mar 26, 2017 14:28:05 GMT -5
Wayneyb posted a pic on a different thread of smyths in the U.K. And their toy aisles at smyths are flooded with elites and basics I can only dream of seeing at crapmart, I mean Walmart. What's the issues with the United States retail stores not having a selection like this? imgur.com/YXuVoIWAgreed I wish there was 1 store that had a selection like this Smyths store. Im sorry but the amount of traveling you have to do just to find a few figures sucks, and that's if your lucky to even find them. Add up all the gas money,miles ain't worth it. Then try to purchase online you have to pay top dollar, and them shipping, only worth buying figures I lf you purchase a set.
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Post by Next Man’s Knowing Rock on Mar 26, 2017 15:31:12 GMT -5
Well Smyths is a toy store and Walmart is a grocery/department store. We have more options like Target and Walgreens and Gamestop. Also Toys R Us. Dont forget we get exclusives they dont and figures are cheaper here. Look on the bright side of things. For the most part, because of the exchange rate they're not really any cheaper in the US anymore. Well they are still slightly cheaper for the most part, but Walgreens is more expensive than Smyths for basics.
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powerfred3k
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Post by powerfred3k on Mar 26, 2017 15:34:38 GMT -5
Here is a crazy idea, Mattel should have there own dedicated section a store in a store like best buy does.
Pepsi and Coke have there own dedicated vendors stock there products every walmart, target, etc.
Why not mattel ?? What say you Matteldesignteam ??
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 15:57:12 GMT -5
I am very thankful for Smyths here in the UK.
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