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Post by Flair Forever on Jul 18, 2024 6:14:34 GMT -5
I'm fine if the line ends after this year. This is a nightmare as all things are with Walmart. If no one cares enough fix the problem or isn't smart enough to fix it then quit making collectors be the ones to suffer. Damage is done. I'm burned on Walmart and won't be searching for anymore of these BS exclusives. I just don't care anymore. 3 months of searching with no results, and no information about why. They just have exclusives and they refuse to stock them in any sort of reasonable quantities. Some stores get 1 case. Some stores get nothing. 3 months of empty pegs. What a joke. And then they throw ONE random CASE on a shipper that doesnt' even go to every store and that's supposed to satisfy us. Same shippers have about 18 Seth Rollins & 15 Shinsuke Nakamuras. 1 Case of random MNW (at most). I'm done with these. And strangely..... I feel relieved. The stress is lifted. Very excited for my Ultimate Outsiders & Ultimate Steiners coming from Ringside. Zero stress.
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redrooster
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Post by redrooster on Jul 18, 2024 7:34:04 GMT -5
I remember Steve saying this line was scheduled to run for multiple years....are they already changing course because of the garbage distribution/walmart issues? I'll never understand the thought process behind giving Walmart a Monday Night Wars exclusive line after seeing the debacle that the Ruthless aggression line was. Hell, even the superstars line is impossible to find in some areas...what a complete mess.
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nomorexclusives
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Post by nomorexclusives on Jul 18, 2024 7:40:43 GMT -5
I remember Steve saying this line was scheduled to run for multiple years....are they already changing course because of the garbage distribution/walmart issues? I'll never understand the thought process behind giving Walmart a Monday Night Wars exclusive line after seeing the debacle that the Ruthless aggression line was. Hell, even the superstars line is impossible to find in some areas...what a complete mess. Hot wheels is the reason. Walmart always sells out. Without hot wheels mattel could dump walmart in a hot second
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nomorexclusives
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Post by nomorexclusives on Jul 18, 2024 7:42:38 GMT -5
The rabbit hole goes even deeper when the truth comes out that some entire states get nothing. I went down to the deepest trenches of the walmart distribution hole and figured out that the reason many walmarts dont get quantity anymore is due to a few resellers who somehow have gotten direct licenses with mattel to sell these before walmart receives them. Those same resellers buy in incredible large quantities that would make your head explode. Some of these swatters are spending millions... we are all f'd R.i.p Walmart Btw: sorry to still see you struggling brother flair. Join the gijoe collecting club. Much greener on this side. All these wwe figures can be bought in 3-5 years for 1/4th of the price Has anyone else heard about the MNW series being done after this year? Heard it being mentioned on a few podcasts. It is basically done. wcw is not that deep. If they show another series it will likely only be repaints
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MonsoonMan
Main Eventer
SE Wisconsin, NE Illinois figure hunter.
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Post by MonsoonMan on Jul 18, 2024 7:50:17 GMT -5
I remember Steve saying this line was scheduled to run for multiple years....are they already changing course because of the garbage distribution/walmart issues? I'll never understand the thought process behind giving Walmart a Monday Night Wars exclusive line after seeing the debacle that the Ruthless aggression line was. Hell, even the superstars line is impossible to find in some areas...what a complete mess. its a business partnership based on numbers. hey for X amount of dollars we will buy in to host an exclusive line. we'll give the line more budget for designers to make the items more desirable for collectors. they are not in the trenches. they are not doing market data. there is not a single person saying to a manager "hey thousands of people on the Wfigs forums are reporting distribution issues" no, the figures are being bought, distributed and sold---theyre just not making it into the right people hands, but the items are being sold off of wal mart pegs. they see those numbers and are like, "wow, this is a profitable venture for the both of us, lets continue!" on the surface, everything is cool. the Design team gets to make an exclusive line, they THINK they're doing us fan service by giving us neat figures, and its at our local Wal Mart, everyone has a wal mart right? these figures are cool, they are selling like hotcakes, everyone is happy right? no. lets look on ebay and mercari for new listings for monday night wars figures. THOUSANDS of new listings within a day. these figures are not being bought by collectors directly. there is a new middle man.
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nomorexclusives
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Post by nomorexclusives on Jul 18, 2024 7:52:23 GMT -5
I am very curious as to where the hold up is. It is very easy for all of us to blame X, Y, or Z, but I am wondering where in the chain the issue lays. I don't put much blame on Mattel as they work with the order numbers they receive, produce them, and ship them out to the main Walmart hub, and at that point, their part is done. So in my opinion, the bulk of the issue is Walmart specific. I am not fully sure of the levels that these go through, but my understanding is they arrive at a few ports on each coast, where they are divided up and sent to each warehouse hub across the US, and those hubs will then break them up and separate them to the individual stores. Am I correct on this? Per google, I am showing 4,609 Walmart Stores in the US. Let's be generous and assume that each store SHOULD be getting 3 cases each. That means 13,827 total cases - let's round that up to 14,000, a nice even number. Let's also assume each level is balanced. With 4600 stores, let's assume that each hub supplies 10 stores. And let's assume 3 ports on each coast, so 6 ports total. So 460 hubs and that would mean that each of the 6 ports service 76.6 hubs, so 77 hubs each port. Each port would service 153.3 hubs - so 154. Ok, I think we have the basics. Each port would receive 2,333 cases. Those 2,333 cases are divided up between 77 hubs which is 30 cases per hub. Those are then divided between 10 stores, so 3 cases each. So all that is making me think there is a very easy chance that it is breaking up anywhere along the way. It would be easy at the hub level to get 20 cases to one store and 0 cases to another one. At a higher level, I would hope that there isn't an issue where 60 cases go to one hub and that means that 0 cases go to another hub. Another factor could be that they just grab 'toy boxes' or 'figure boxes' or even 'WWE figure boxes' and they may be grabbing 3 cases of MNW2 or 3 cases of Top Picks 3 or something else. Would love to see if anyone else here has any sort of perspective from this viewpoint, or anyone that knows anything that may be more accurate regarding the Walmart shipping path. So 14,000 cases come into 6 ports, then each port gets 2,333 cases. Those 2,333 cases get divided into 154 hubs, so One tging to note is that boxes are no longer specifically marked. Might just say wwe figures. 8x assortment without mention of what is inside. Plenty of mixups due to this. In the early 2000s boxes were marked with case assortment numbers down to the .01. This is no longer being done. Instead a qrcode/barcode has replaced all that. Plenty of new employees who have no idea what to stock and i Just throw it all on a pallet. As the reddit pages confirm managers are no longer able to order what they want or what is low in stock. Because it is all going to secondary resellers and walmart just gets the remnants/leftovers then divide that over 4200 stores and only high volume stores will receive them. Juat say no to walmart exclusives and buy on ebay in 4 years in loose lots for a fraction of the price. I stopped hunting walmart in march. Been on vacation since just collecting and ordering straight from hasbro. Feels great. Mattel lost me as a consumer. 3+ months steve hasnt responded to the q&a thread. No transparency = no money
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Post by Chewdeezy on Jul 18, 2024 7:54:57 GMT -5
Good, I hope this line is ending. Only reason I go to Walmart is for the Exclusive lines that I ever barely find.
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thep1
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Post by thep1 on Jul 18, 2024 7:59:10 GMT -5
I mean it may not matter at all in the long run. But the S3 dates are slated for mid-August in the first place. So plenty of time. That they're hitting some now, great for them. Can't speak to S2 not hitting some places, but the vast majority of shippers are S2. The 2 I've seen are.
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nomorexclusives
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Post by nomorexclusives on Jul 18, 2024 8:01:18 GMT -5
I think you're mostly pretty close except for one thing.... I truly think they're only budgeting for ONE CASE per store..... and - - - as per your detailed speculation - - - it doesn't work out that way and many stores get shafted. ANY STORE that gets more than one case instantly ensures a different store will get none. Prove me wrong, Mattel, prove me wrong. I'd love to be wrong. I can understand why it would seem that way, but from my experience, in my local Walmarts, they tend to get more than one cases of every series, with a very few exceptions. Even if we are just looking at their last exclusive set, the RA series, my store had multiple cases of wave 1, at least one case of wave 2, a case plus a side-kick of wave 3, one case plus the shipper of wave 4, multiple waves of wave 5, and at least two cases of wave 6. The thing is that they do not get them all at the same time. Wave 1 they got in at least 3 or 4 times, but usually one case at a time. Wave 2 they only got in one case, that I know about, but by then I had used the 'mystery' assortment from .com to get them. Wave 3 I got all from the side kick, but know they got in a separate case after that side kick was empty. Wave 4 the same thing, they had the shipper (Summerslam?) that had the set and also another case later on. Wave 5 both my Walmarts got in multiple cases and not all at once. Wave 6 they each had a couple cases, but again, one case, and it sold out, then later on they got another. I truly think the main issue with Walmart is that they seem to be more of a rural place - the big urban areas do not have the ability to keep stocked as well as smaller towns do, and I have the luck of being in a smaller town. I know way back when Decade of Domination was running and the wave with NOD Mark Henry and Unmasked Kane was very tough to find, I took a Saturday I had off to go traveling to the outer reaches of my region, and managed to find the wave fully stocked at an out of the way Walmart, In most places, a hot toy being put on the shelf on a Saturday morning would not last an hour, but this was such a rural Walmart, that they were fully stocked on an endcap at 4pmish on a Saturday. I am sure they sat there all day at the least. Just recently, last weekend in fact, I got a message from another collector here in town that he had found the shipper at one of my Walmarts. He bought a set of wave 2 and 3, and said that there was another full set of each on the shipper. I got the message at 5:47 pm on Sunday. I didn't see the message until 10:52 that night, just 8 minutes before they close and nowhere near enough time for me to make it there before it closed. I went the next morning, at roughly 6:45am ish, 45 minutes after they opened, and they were all there (minus Kevin Nash who I still need). So based on my experience alone, I think they do budget for more than one case per store. HOWEVER another factor could be that they do not separate by series. Sure the cases of MNW2 may come in based on the numbers I said above, but when they all get divided out and sent from port to hub to store, they maybe all get put in a section that is just 'WWE Figures' so when they run out of something, they just get a case from that pile and send it out. They could be sending MNW2, or Greatest Picks 3, or Elite 106, or that case of Elite 88 that has been sitting in the warehouse collecting dust. That could also be a factor. Jan-july - one series = multiple cases September - dec - multiple series = few cases Basically they have had that system now for multiple years. Everything is manufactured one year before. What you want now will be on clearance on wm.com in 2 years. You're welcome.
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arossi417
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Post by arossi417 on Jul 18, 2024 9:53:48 GMT -5
I've only seen remnants of series 2 on shippers in my travels this week, haven't seen any of series 3. I forget how long the WM shippers stayed out, any chance they keep these up for a bit and maybe re-stock them? They have all had series 148 out and I finally found the clear Cena after a couple weeks of trying. Apparently it's a big deal if you don't give WM 5 stars on those surveys or at checkout, give them enough bad feedback and maybe something happens? I don't think they've ever restocked shippers. Once they sell through and the quantities fall low enough it should trigger a standard re-stock. But they shouldn't get more than one shipper. I've seen enough junk make its way out of the toy aisle and end up dumped on these, I just think it's funny they got them out before Summer Slam and most of them will either be empty or look like a bomb went off on them by the time the event actually happens.
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Post by marino13 on Jul 18, 2024 11:11:42 GMT -5
I went to my Walmart yesterday, and I have to go tomorrow, so I wasn't gonna stop today. But my wife thought she saw a UFO (Cyber Truck) so I drove up to show her how ugly they are. Couldn't find it, so I just ran into Walmart while I was nearby for poops and giggles. Found two Ultimates of each. Grabbed them without hesitation for me and a fellow member. As for the Super7 GI Joes... I love em. I have a few more but I had just taken this pic.
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Post by GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy on Jul 18, 2024 12:15:37 GMT -5
We still need
‘97 Starrcade Mr.Perfect with thicker torso and legs Billy Kidman ‘98 singles Bookah T ‘98 Scott Steiner in white singlet Halloween Havoc Rey with the corrected mask Wolfpac Hogan with red flame boots, white gloves ‘96 Hogan with alternated terminator design, ‘98 Scott Hall with red HALL written on trunks, black boots ‘Souled Out Kevin Nash Roddy Piper with mid length hair nWo Muta 2001 Kane ultimate with thick sculpted flame designs and shopping cart Undertaker ministry with hooded cape
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thep1
Main Eventer
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Post by thep1 on Jul 18, 2024 13:05:13 GMT -5
We still need ‘97 Starrcade Mr.Perfect with thicker torso and legs Billy Kidman ‘98 singles Bookah T ‘98 Scott Steiner in white singlet Halloween Havoc Rey with the corrected mask Wolfpac Hogan with red flame boots, white gloves ‘96 Hogan with alternated terminator design, ‘98 Scott Hall with red HALL written on trunks, black boots ‘Souled Out Kevin Nash Roddy Piper with mid length hair nWo Muta 2001 Kane ultimate with thick sculpted flame designs and shopping cart Undertaker ministry with hooded cape All-in on singles-run Book, but I prefer circa 2000-01 Book when he was finally winning the big gold belt. As much as I'd love 2000 Bash at the Beach, too much controversy there. Fall Brawl 2000 would be just fine! But if they made pre-chamo, also 100% fine by me!
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zen411
Main Eventer
Joined on: Apr 18, 2019 21:20:38 GMT -5
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Post by zen411 on Jul 18, 2024 15:23:48 GMT -5
I went to my Walmart yesterday, and I have to go tomorrow, so I wasn't gonna stop today. But my wife thought she saw a UFO (Cyber Truck) so I drove up to show her how ugly they are. Couldn't find it, so I just ran into Walmart while I was nearby for poops and giggles. Found two Ultimates of each. Grabbed them without hesitation for me and a fellow member. As for the Super7 GI Joes... I love em. I have a few more but I had just taken this pic. What state are you in?
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Keck Collects
Main Eventer
WF 15+ Year Member
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Post by Keck Collects on Jul 18, 2024 16:57:25 GMT -5
Still waiting patiently.
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Post by Crossfit Jesus on Jul 18, 2024 17:53:15 GMT -5
waitiently Paiting.
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Post by marino13 on Jul 18, 2024 20:50:47 GMT -5
I went to my Walmart yesterday, and I have to go tomorrow, so I wasn't gonna stop today. But my wife thought she saw a UFO (Cyber Truck) so I drove up to show her how ugly they are. Couldn't find it, so I just ran into Walmart while I was nearby for poops and giggles. Found two Ultimates of each. Grabbed them without hesitation for me and a fellow member. As for the Super7 GI Joes... I love em. I have a few more but I had just taken this pic. What state are you in? PA.
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shanedalton
Superstar
Currently looking for Toybiz 12" Sting complete.
Joined on: Oct 21, 2006 14:01:41 GMT -5
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Post by shanedalton on Jul 18, 2024 21:33:15 GMT -5
Found a few Wave 3 Rocks in North Myrtle Beach today.
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Post by Crossfit Jesus on Jul 18, 2024 22:30:04 GMT -5
I went to my Walmart yesterday, and I have to go tomorrow, so I wasn't gonna stop today. But my wife thought she saw a UFO (Cyber Truck) so I drove up to show her how ugly they are. Couldn't find it, so I just ran into Walmart while I was nearby for poops and giggles. Found two Ultimates of each. Grabbed them without hesitation for me and a fellow member. As for the Super7 GI Joes... I love em. I have a few more but I had just taken this pic. you have great pics. Simple but nice
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mrh
Main Eventer
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Post by mrh on Jul 19, 2024 0:45:36 GMT -5
I was reading Toy News International -- and someone posted this comment about a Habsro line. Do people who collect other lines know this is true? If yes, maybe the issue is really partly Mattel...
"You will see them on Walmart.com and some of them on HasbroPulse. Walmart exclusives haven't been hard to find for a while if you order online."
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