Any other Aussie ultimate completionists tapping out?

I'm about done, and I'm just an American poor.

What makes them so expensive? Shipping from the states to Australia?

Still in at the moment, I don’t have Target Rock and Walmart Brock at the moment… completely up to date with those exceptions.

I’m going to try and maintain it for this coming year, but at some point, I’ll probably give up completing them.

It’s roughly $55 for the figure, $15 for shipping in Australian currency. If I were to buy the latest set of ultimates from ringside, they would be about $70 each. Ultimates in the U.S are between $30-35 which works out to be around $55AUD, I’ve never gotten an ultimate for that price

Not Australian (I'm Canadian) but no retailer has carried UE figures in this country since Series 3. SERIES 3.

So our only choice is to import from the US via Amazon or drive over the border if we want figures for retail price. Amazon US's selection can be good at times but it's bad sometimes too.

Amazon Canada carries UE figures but they're rarely at retail price which is $49.99 CAD.

I’m in Australia I gave up years ago not just ultimates any thing nothing big w Kmart toy stores the only thing that sticks now is target

Im in Australia and im not a completionist but im definitely pre ordering less than I have in 5 years. They shipping going up and TJ satrying prices creeping up had got me waiting more than ever.

Retail in EU is horrible, this how our only toy store looks like.


Everything needs to be imported nowadays. Seems like the whole market has died down. Very interesting to see for me since I feel like I can currently pick up a lot of stuff that was released 5-10 years ago at a reasonable price because people became older and needed space/sold their stuff. I have seen this once but a consequence of that was that almost every early Elite skyrocketed and scalpers were getting all the Legends in Elite lines. Prices from a couple of years seem low in my opinion compared to early Elite series prices.

I think it would be cheaper - to a degree. I know a few people in the Facebook groups I'm in have an American buddy who helps them out. But I think people underestimate international shipping costs. For example, my wife sent 2 A4 sized calendars to the UK a couple of weeks ago and it cost her AU$30 (US$20) for each one to post. It's pretty crazy. If anyone watches Retroblasting, you might remember Michael French was trying to ship the Hasbro Pulse Jabba's Palace sail barge (which admittedly is a huge box) to Australia and ended up flying over with the parcel himself as it was more cost effective that going through post.

I think the retailers would get better shipping options as they are a business than any individual would, but even still it adds onto the cost significantly. General rule of thumb always has been take the US price, pretend it's Australian money and then double it, and that would be the rough price to ship something here (eg. if it was US$50 before shipping, expect it to be around AU$100 with shipping). But that's blowing out now as prices have gone up and up for postage.

We do have some Australian online retailers, but it would seem like they just buy directly from Ringside and then add on an amount to profit. So Elites become around AU$70-80 through these stores, Ultimates a lot more and exclusives - well, take out a bank loan. But people will use them as it's just easy for some to just pay and not worry about hunting around. But yeah, no way I'm building my collecting at those prices.

Then there's Chinese sellers. I know of one online retailer for this and one eBay store, but it's generally loose older stuff and the prices with shipping still suck. The eBay store seems to drip feed quite a bit, I think they have a good handle on what is hot (CM Punk returns - get those Supreme figures out at a jacked up price but only 1 or 2, then drip feed them as people get FOMO).

Retail here is absolutely abysmal. I know it's similar world wide, but if it's crap in the US, worse in Europe and Canada, it'll be even worse here. Mattel's distribution is absolutely deplorable.




If I saw that level of stock in Australia, it would be an absolute goldmine, believe me! There's only 3 retail stores who stock WWE figures here:
- Target: very small toy section and it's a crapshoot with Elites/Basics, we get lucky periods with stuff like Greatest Hits 2, won't get every wave of Elite and if we do get a wave it may be blink and you miss it or just overstocked like Elite 93 with half of the wave only)
- Toyworld: franchise toystore that is incredibly full of stuff you get can get cheaper elsewhere and minimal action figure range. Basically will probably get what Target get anyway only for more but might get it a bit earlier if you're lucky.
- Toymate: seems to be a hybrid of getting new stuff and then supplementing their range with factory overstock/clearance stuff. So you could be looking at a brand new, full priced wave of something (rarely WWE mind you) next to a thousand poop covered Mandalorians discounted to $12. My local Toymate solely has about a dozen basic and Elite funhouse Bray Wyatts, a few basic Scarletts and about 3 AEW Penelope Fords. All at over RRP.

So then there's Amazon I guess, but right now I look at figures being sold there for at best AU$50 for an Elite, but usually more around the $70/80 mark, and plenty above that. Ultimates, as has been stated, looking at over $100. If you're patient or check at the right times, you can find certain figures here and there at good prices.

Basically, as an Australian, if you're a completionist, then money surely means nothing to you, so more power to you there. If you're not and are savvy, you can amass a decent collection, but you really have to pick your moments and put some effort in. I've missed out on plenty but have worked hard to procure plenty as well. It's part of the hobby to me (and I'm on the west coast of Australia, we get far less stock than east coast does) and if you can't enjoy it then you don't enjoy the hobby. But if you can get into the practice, you'll find things here and there you might not have if you just set and forget as a buyer. You get lucky sometimes, other times not so much, but you learn and adapt (well, at least I do). See what is must have now and what can wait and what you can live without (eg. is there a big market for a Legends Miss Hancock as opposed to the Headshrinkers? No, you prioritise the Headshrinkers and pay a bit more, and get Miss Hancock when someone clearances her or you live without). It's not an exact science, but I collect a lot of different lines and it's not difficult to work out what will be hot and what will be not (plus my tastes, outside of the occasional, tend to skew general mainstream, so if I really want something then I know the majority will also).

Still, it's a waiting game and never exact as I said. I still haven't bought Ultimate Seth because a) I've got a Seth in my collection, I tend to only buy different era looks and even then it's for older wrestlers; b) never seen him for a decent asking price. I picked up Ultimate Andre though, even though I had the Heenan family set Andre, Giant Machine, 70s Andre... because a) it's Andre, he's a legend, and gave me the option to kinda get a 2 for 1 by switching an extra head to the Heenan pack Andre (even though I loose the mutton chops, it's a much more realistic/less cartoony look now and I can customise mutton chops if I wasn't so lazy). Also gave me the Andre shirt for my Giant Machine Andre who I'd already used as WM2 Andre anyway with some swapped boots. Just completes the look for me a bit more. Just need another big body to kitbash Giant Machine again Anyways, I digress, but you get the picture!

I think, as a collector, have fun and think about your collection and you get more out of it. I feel some tend to just buy, buy, buy, gotta have 'em all and it becomes and obligation. Inevitably they don't enjoy it and at some point hit the brakes and sell up. And I guess that's where collectors like myself can benefit, but more and more it's difficult to buy off these people as they tend to either want to sell in bulk or not lose money on their investment and the prices aren't worth it anyway.