RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Mar 9, 2020 3:38:10 GMT -5
Anyone know if any of the high street stores are stocking the big Andre Funko that Walmart have? Not seen him at ASDA or Smyths, but I’ve seen some on eBay from UK sellers. It was exclusive to The Entertainer over here. Not sure if any stores still have stock of him. Great; thanks!
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Mar 8, 2020 20:08:02 GMT -5
Anyone know if any of the high street stores are stocking the big Andre Funko that Walmart have? Not seen him at ASDA or Smyths, but I’ve seen some on eBay from UK sellers.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Mar 7, 2020 18:30:07 GMT -5
Sure, it's nice to get half of everything in the main lines all from the same shop, but we don't get any of the exclusives. And we all know how much Mattel loves exclusives. Write to smyths and let them know they can order US exclusives I read a post in a Facebook group recently from someone who had looked into carrying WWE Mattel products here in the UK - he identified the problem as being that Mattel use a distribution company to get their products to UK retailers, and that it is this distributor that is the problem getting a wider-range of figures over here. He spoke about having requested either a line or certain cases from them but they didn’t know what he was talking about, so he couldn’t get the figures he requested. Also the two main online retailers here have reported on Twitter that they have not received their full quantities of the figures they’ve ordered - I think they said that they got something like a quarter for their series 9 and 10 Retro orders resulting in many customers being disappointed; the first Pete Dunne figure had to be drawn as a lottery since they had so many more orders for him than the figures they eventually received, and I’m sure I’ve seen them report something similar with an Elite series recently. I’m not sure if this distributor works with all the UK companies including Smyths who are obviously the biggest seller over here, but - if what that poster said is accurate since that is all I have to go on here - it sounds like they are costing these UK companies customers and Mattel orders by failing to supply the damn products to those who want to carry them!
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Mar 2, 2020 17:13:57 GMT -5
A MOTU collector friend just hooked me up Series 2... I've grown to love these figures. Has there been any word if anything will happen with them beyond Series 3? I think there was a question in the AFA Q&A thread about this, where he answered that the line would go on, but I might be wrong - have a look there anyway, or ask him there - I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer if he can. Edit: Here’s the response: forum.wrestlingfigs.com/post/8818135/threadHow has the line been performing in stores? The occasional Walmart photos I see make it seem like they aren’t peg-warming at least, though that could just be that Walmart can’t get anything onto the pegs long enough to warm
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Mar 2, 2020 10:29:35 GMT -5
Finally found the Hogan Funko at an ASDA; I’ve had zero luck at the two closest to me, but I was close to another store today and they had like 5 of them, so happy end there.
No Pete Dunne at Smyths. They had 4 Diesel Funkos, but no Kevin Nash so I left it. They had one Fiend, and multiples of the rest of the series. Grabbed the Trish Funko for £5, so not completely wasted journey. The Mattel section was packed; surprised to see Kairi Sane and Becky Lynch marked at £19.99 when I thought they were reduced ages ago. They still had the Ultimate Bret at full price, and Ultimate Skinsuke marked down to £25. No Ultimate Triple H or Finn, both of whom I still need if I’m going to continue collecting that line - I guess that’s going to go the way of the Retros, since they seem to have stocked far less of the third series than the first two; if they follow the Retros pattern then maybe we’ll see the third series clogging-up Home Bargains for the next couple of years.
Speaking of which, I bought what surely must be the last series 3 Retro in the area at a Home Bargains near there - they also had the Entrance Greats Angle and several Miss Elizabeths, but nothing new.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 29, 2020 17:27:06 GMT -5
Given that my favourite line is “on hiatus”, possibly forever, and there’s no indication of when we’ll next get an update either-way on the future of the line, then I couldn’t agree more that waiting sucks Completely agree also that there’s a lot of awesome stuff coming-up in the other lines, and indeed in the other brands; your bank balances have my sympathies
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 29, 2020 13:18:07 GMT -5
Just ordered two of them - to hell with the damn import customs charge.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 27, 2020 13:54:29 GMT -5
Thats a really fun watch; thanks for posting!
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 27, 2020 8:36:20 GMT -5
Just found the Hogan Funko POP in Asda, Pudsey. Work nearby and been checking for it almost daily for a couple of weeks! No such luck in mine this lunchtime - lots of Disney, Marvel and Fortnite (or other games I don’t know because I‘m old ) but still no Hulkster
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 23, 2020 18:45:56 GMT -5
More than anything, I miss just being able to run to the store to get the Retro I need for my next custom. It's becoming tougher these days as even the Steve Austin's are close to $20 on the cheap end. I bought 4 Orton's for $14 each including shipping, but I have to go through the pain in the ass of removing tattoos. My life is in shambles.. It's remarkable how well these hold - and increase- their value for figures that Walmart and Target can't seem to find a way to profit on, or indeed to even stock or sell successfully 😆 Could you use Ryder or Jericho in place of Austin since they seem cheaper, or do the kickpads ruin the look you're going for?
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 23, 2020 6:20:43 GMT -5
Anyone hear any Retro News? Nothing at Toy Fair, but we were warned that there wouldn’t be anything for us there, so not surprising. It’s been confirmed that there won’t be any Retros in 2020, but we basically knew that before anyway. The best thing we can take from Toy Fair I think is the hope that comes with the return of the Legends line; AFA said he was working on bringing it back and now he has, so as long as he tells us to not give-up on the Retros then there is hope, though hopefully the wait isn’t as long as it was with the Legends
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 22, 2020 9:18:35 GMT -5
35 - I started collecting again when I found-out that the Retros were coming-out; that brought me back as I am a Hasbro fanboy. That was the only thing that could’ve brought me back to WWE figures collecting. I now have a few Elites and the first two sets of Ultimates, but I’m pretty much “on hiatus” as long as the Retros are - the Elites are amazing, but they’re not my “guys”. I’ll expand a bit on my earlier post as I’ve enjoyed reading the other posts here, so here’s my (way too long) story: My first figure was the Hulkster Hug Hogan at Heathrow airport when I was 7 years old. I had seen my first WWF event the month before - This Tuesday in Texas - and then became hooked properly with the 1992 Royal Rumble. My next figure was Jake The Snake (in Bridlington), followed by Piper and Warrior 2 (got them together at the same place in Glasgow) and then Big Boss Man 1 for my birthday in March. After that the order gets a bit fussy 😆 Macho King might’ve been next, I remember clearly getting that figure in Spain but not sure if he was next after Boss Man. I also had a couple of Galoobs - Z-Man and Ron Simmons; I didn’t know them as I didn’t have access to WCW, so they were jobbers for my Hasbros. I was lucky enough to be able to get most of the figures in stores around me, and kept collecting longer than anyone else my age - I had guys like Yokozuna, Lex and Bam Bam before others did (not through any connections or anything, I just had saved-up for the next new figure releases so was able to act quickly). But figures became much harder to get round here, with Samu being the last new figure I could buy here. I was lucky that my brother had a business trip to Canada and he was able to get me Fatu, Rick Steiner, Marty Jannetty and Giant Gonzales, otherwise I would never have got them. Never saw any green cards - didn’t know they existed until I got the internet in 1996. I was forever going into toy stores for a couple of years after Samu hoping to find new Hasbros, but no. Then two Jakks figures appeared in a catalogue shop in 1996, and I knew my childhood was over since the Hasbros were clearly done. I got those Jakks figures but didn’t like them - too loose and flimsy, too large to mix with my Hasbros, and looked boring compared to my Hasbros - outside of the decor, I thought the BCA figures just looked the same, no character like the different actions gave the Hasbros. There weren’t any more Jakks available around me, so I never had the chance to reassess my initial judgement; if they had been then I probably would have cracked and collected them in place of the Hasbros. Instead I discovered customising Hasbros, so I was buying loose figures every weekend at markets, etc to create maybe 100 or more Hasbro customs. At the same time I discovered eBay, and started collecting the Hasbros MOC. When Jakks finally became available here in 1999 I bought most of them, but to keep MOC in case they would be worth something later - they missed the chance to hook me in 1996; by 1999 I was all about custom Hasbros. I was playing with my customs up until I was 16, especially when my young cousins visited, but it was really for me. I enjoyed it. Then I left home to study abroad, and under pressure from my parents I stopped playing, customising and collecting MOC Hasbros. I wasn’t happy about it, but forced myself to “grow-up”. I only bought a few more MOC Hasbros over the next decade or so - I was done with figures. Then Benoit happened, and I was done with wrestling. Then Bret Hart returned in 2010, and I was interested again, but not as intensely. Then I saw the Retros were coming, and my inner child retook the controls and he’s been in charge since then But I’m probably done collecting new stuff now, save one or two special figures like Anvil. If/when the Retros return then I’ll be back, but as of now I’m done. Maybe the Legends series would’ve been good for me, but if they’re not coming to the UK then there’s no chance of that. So I now have a full loose and MOC Retro collection, a full loose Hasbro collection and only need a few more MOC Hasbros. In storage I have: a few Elites and other Mattels (10 total maybe?), those Jakks and Toybiz MOC figures bought in 1999, a load of loose Galoobs and all my Hasbro customs from 1997-2000. But I don’t talk about it to anyone else in real life - nobody needs to know, but at the same time I’m not afraid to deal with any bullcrap reactions - I had enough of that as a teen, when all the former WWF fans turned into pricks about wrestling, up until the Attitude Era when they all became fans again When I get my next house then I will put together my figures on display, including those currently in storage - I won’t be giving guided tours or anything, but anyone who does see it can say what they want about it; I’m way past caring now. tl/dr: refer back to my first post
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 20, 2020 13:09:59 GMT -5
35 - I started collecting again when I found-out that the Retros were coming-out; that brought me back as I am a Hasbro fanboy. That was the only thing that could’ve brought me back to WWE figures collecting.
I now have a few Elites and the first two sets of Ultimates, but I’m pretty much “on hiatus” as long as the Retros are - the Elites are amazing, but they’re not my “guys”.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 19, 2020 20:00:18 GMT -5
I honestly don’t think we can even say for certain until the He-man figures are done. Which might not be for a year or maybe two. I guess we’d be waiting for a while in that case - I’m not in the US, but I get the impression that the Masters line has performed well; I haven’t seen anyone talking about them warming pegs or anything, and there aren’t many in the photos I occasionally see online from otherwise deserted Walmart aisles. I know the rings were marked-down in some stores, but otherwise I get the impression it’s been a success so far - and I think AFA confirmed in the Q&A thread that there would be more waves after the current (three?) announced waves so if we’re waiting-out the Masters then I think the Retros would be more likely to be forgotten altogether (if it hasn’t been already). My hope is that Ringside will do a Retro exclusive. If it does well, maybe we can get more that way. I was resistant to Ringside doing exclusives due to the import customs situation over here, but at this stage I’d welcome anything. If Ringside adopted the line as an exclusive then I’d swallow the import and shipping costs to get two of each if there wasn’t an agreement allowing one of the UK etailers - if that’s what it takes for the line to continue. Starting with one figure to test the water would be very exciting though - especially if it’s USA Lex Luger, or ‘94 Jerry Lawler or someone similar. The problem we have I think is that lines can’t exist without Walmart or Target carrying them; Walmart have dropped the line twice, and Target will be selling full-price series 3 figures until climate change kills us all, so I’m not too hopeful on either of them coming through for us. As ever, we all miss TRU. If Mattel found a way to bring the line back without those two retailers being involved - like as a Ringside or Amazon exclusive line - then I’d guess they’d be calculating their margin on far fewer quantities made and sold, so they’d need to be priced much higher than at Walmart. Most of us have been paying considerably more than Walmart prices to get especially series 9 and 10 - I paid a little less than $17 per figure in series 10, which I think is more than Ringside charge but in the same basic range - is that enough of a margin for Mattel to bring the line back to sell at smaller quantities? I’d guess not, otherwise we might’ve heard about them becoming a Ringside exclusive by now. How high would we supporters of the line go per figure to get it back? Would we pay Elite prices for Retros? How about Ultimate prices? I don’t know, but if I’m paying anything close to that then I’d want to see better quality figures, which of course raises costs for Mattel. It’s difficult to judge without knowing the numbers involved. Hawkins just wants to end that segment. We’re pretty much guaranteed not to see any Retros at ToyFair (or Axxess). So Bare Minimum Brian is getting an easy win on this one. LOL yeah I definitely get that feeling, but I still always look forward to that one most of all every week. But yeah, I expect it to be history after NYTF.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 17, 2020 18:05:30 GMT -5
So Ryder and Hawkins are gearing-up to give-up on the Retros if Mattel don’t address them at NYTF next weekend - I was looking at SDCC in July being the last chance for them, but what do you guys think, do we have to face reality this time next week? Give up what exactly.. hope? Their collection of them? Hope, basically. I think they both have full collections already (Ryder has them MOC as well I think) so that’s not the issue; they do a segment on their podcast where they talk about future fantasy Retro figures for when the line returns, but now they are saying they are going to end that segment and give-up on a Retros return if nothing is said by Mattel at NYTF - not necessarily any new figures revealed or anything that major, just something concrete to go on that the line has life left in it.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 17, 2020 17:39:25 GMT -5
So Ryder and Hawkins are gearing-up to give-up on the Retros if Mattel don’t address them at NYTF next weekend - I was looking at SDCC in July being the last chance for them, but what do you guys think, do we have to face reality this time next week?
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 17, 2020 9:57:40 GMT -5
Are there any big spams in the UK? I've been watching Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkin's wrestling figure hunts on YouTube and they're always at these amazing figure stores in the US, I'd love to travel to one here. I remember Forbidden Planet used to be good but I'm not even sure they sell wrestling stuff anymore. Somewhere with a mixture of newer figures, plus old Jakks stuff and TNA stuff would be so cool... yeah the places they visit look amazing. Just pure nostalgia. I was lucky enough to visit two of the places they've shot videos in during the summer - Quake Collectables in Chicago, and Jayden's Toys in Dallas; two very different places (Quake is quite small with zero organisation so you're always seeing something anywhere you look; Jayden's much larger and fantastically organised - proper collector's paradise) but both places are a bit outside of their cities, though so worth it. I spoke to Jayden for ages; he's a real wrestling fan and knows his stuff, plus he has great stories about guys coming-in to do signings at the store. I'd be there every week if I lived out there I guess the most likely equivalent here would maybe more likely be market stalls or something? I know there's a place in Hull that had some old toys and models and stuff from different genres (films, TV shows, Funkos, etc.), so maybe worth checking-out any local indoor markets and see what's there? Otherwise it's the toy fairs - I occasionally visit the one in Doncaster that runs every three months or something; it's mostly trains and stuff like that, but still fun to search for stuff - I saw some Ghostbuster stuff there last time I went that I'd not seen since I was like 4
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 12, 2020 17:00:27 GMT -5
Got lucky that my local Asda had 2 Hulk Hogan Pops on the shelf today. I bought both, one MOC, one loose. I never get that lucky haha. No such luck at mine - I visited after seeing your last post since I was in the area, but they had no WWE Funkos at all that I could find. They had plenty of Marvel and such genres, so maybe they just don’t carry WWE, I don’t know - they didn’t have any Mattel WWE stuff either.
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 6, 2020 21:41:05 GMT -5
Went to the store again today. I don't know if everyone's Ollie's is like this or not, but the toy section is everything in the shipping cardboard boxes. Like, practically no toy is on the shelf, it's the big boxes that you then have to open and look through. Retro wise, all they seemed to have now was 10 or so Goldberg's and 10 or so Rollins's. Couldn't really find anything else. They did have almost all of the WWE Superstars line, the ones they made for little girls. They had the Sasha/Becky/Bayley talking plushes, they had all three of their figures, and almost all of the Barbie line of dolls they did. That’s a shame, sounds like someone else got lucky there (or some kid got a figure of his favourite wrestler, which I’m sure we can all agree would be a tremendous waste ). I’d dearly love to one day find-out how many of each series were produced, series 3 seems to be endless - not necessarily the exact numbers, but just an idea of how many of series 3 were produced compared to series 4, or how many of 8, 9 and 10 were produced compared to the original series 7 production (speaking to people at the SDCC Mattel booth I got the impression that Walmart had ordered more of series 7, so were the numbers for 7-10 uniform until that extra order came-in (if indeed it did?) or do 9 and 10 exist in lesser numbers?). So many boring questions
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RedDevil
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Joined on: Aug 8, 2017 18:43:00 GMT -5
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Post by RedDevil on Feb 5, 2020 18:45:45 GMT -5
Sadly the cards and bubbles are very poor on these, particularly the first few series, so I dread to think what condition one might be if it’s been out in the wild all this time, but even the loose Roman figures are valuable - a quick look at US eBay shows loose Romans have sold at over $55 in the last couple of months. I myself paid slightly more for a perfect loose Roman over here on UK eBay recently, and have zero regrets given the market for this figure.DAMN! Well, thank you! I am gonna rush over there tomorrow! Hopefully it is still there! In addition to Reigns and Owens, I’d also consider grabbing Brock and Finn Balor; they’re nowhere near as valuable as Reigns, but at $2 each then you can’t lose. The others are far less valuable; series 3 particularly was seemingly endlessly and massively over-produced, and the more valuable series 2 guys are Mankind and Kane, but again not in the same league as Reigns. Good luck!
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