Does Mattel distribution switch you off?

Frustrating? Sure. But honestly I've made my peace. I have every character I want in my collection who has been produced, or expect alternate versions to be available of them soon. I just don't have the time or desire to hunt for figures anymore. If I don't get it, I don't get it.

The RA Booker T and Nash were two huge wants for me. I ordered both multiple times on Walmart.com only to have them cancelled. In past years, I would have hit a dozen Walmarts looking for them. But I just didn't care. Ended up finding both of them at retail in otherwise very overpicked stores. I'm happy to own them, but life would go on if I never found them.

That's where I am with E100 Andre, and sort of the same with Bischoff and Torrie. And I still need some figures that seemed to skip retail - Chainsaw Charlie, Faarooq, Boogeyman. I want the figures, but generally speaking I'm content with where my collection is and happy to sprinkle in additions where I can. It's just not worth the time, energy, and gas money to chase.

Buying everything online for a reasonable price and shipping is no issue for me at all. It's the Target exclusives that grinds my gears. I have to rely on 3rd party markups and no one should ever have to deal with that.

if you still want Nash he's still hitting stores I found him yesterday

Genius.

It's the American way, yo.

"...beind an older adult" 🤣. I'm 51 years old, junior. Sit down. Walmart is one of the biggest retailers in the world. No one should have to buy elsewhere.

Yeah they either get cancelled or are never in stock online. Only way to get most walmart exclusives is on ebay right now. With the additional taxes, high shipping costs, high handling fees, and lack of recourse if figures show up damaged, ebay is probably the worst place to buy stuff at the moment. I have better luck at toy shows.

For the gentleman who says buying online is the only option. I have more luck at toy shows, swapmeets, garage sales, estate sales and other auction sites (besides ebay). EBay is certainly the most expensive route to go and for the collector who dabbles in multiple lines, brands and series; that small purchase ads up quick.

I would urge people to look on the 2nd page on google when looking for figures to buy. There are lots of clearance sales online, you just need to find some of these smaller companies selling them. Try etsy, or even games top in malls or goodwill. It's best to think outside the box but I would suggest people never buy anything that was just released on ebay. It just fuels the resellers market and insures those guys keep buying the same figures again making it harder for you to find them in stores.

Just resist and find other avenues. Patience is a virtue but I know it can be frustrating when a series is completely skipped at your local stores. Having to pick up those missing pieces later can be a pain.

Luckily wwe figures are all mass produced and have no real collectible value unless we are talking super exclusive figures produced in low amounts so again most of these should be at every walmart sitting there waiting for us to buy.

Sadly the mentality of buy now for 2 or 3x the value of something has taken over. I blame the pandemic which caused so many delays and cancellations that we are all scared we will never find something in stores. With toy collecting losing steam in general it does feel like we are in toymegeddon. Like I said in another thread, when these 50th anniversary lines are all done, nothing will be able to replace them and action figures will dissappear from toy shelves in large numbers. We gotta just enjoy these last 15 years or so ( i say 15 as some lines like the 3 3/4 gijoe line still has some years till it hits 50). After that we will all be buying virtual action figures instead. Sad but true

I'm 48 and my city has banned Wal-Mart.

Noooo. "Well I guess I'm not getting one," is a much better avenue. Because you get to mope and complain online about it.