Mattel please change the packaging

I've seen an increase in stolen belts. The Elite boxes are made of tissue paper and people just reach in the top and take the belt. Same for the Showdown packs. Stop packing the belts towards the top of the boxes/carding.

I don't understand why they put that kind of effort into basics but for the next line up all you have to do is remove the two pieces of tape from top

They’ve always been easy to open.

its the return process that needs to be tightened up. honestly fig swaps just end up in the trash i have never ever seen one thats like 'oh id still pay for that figure!'

wal mart or whoever should have a sort of screening process to where an image of the figure or character pops up and the employee needs to verify the same product is being returned. itll never get to this because no one other than other collectors care about it. wal mart doesnt care, mattel doesnt care, the fig swappers dont care. it sucks becuase i have a wal mart by me that has almost 10 swapped figs sitting on the pegs and theyll never move. thats real estate for new figures or product but they rot and become a point of pride for whoever is doing this scummy stuff. then that particular wal mart runs numbers and doesnt see wwe figures moving so they limit their efforts to keep that product up to date

I agree 100% the newer packaging has always been bad feels cheap and doesn’t feel premium I got the new Cody Rhodes tmnt figure recently and it has the elite 111 head scan not sure if it’s a running chase or someone switched it in store to get the original head scan

Something tells me we will be seeing the WWE figures behind glass pretty soon - like the Legos. I don't see swaps for other brands like I do for WWE figures (and AEW figures). Unless Walmart and Target go the extra mile to stop this, nothing will change. Something they could do is if the item appears to be opened, instead of excepting the return, the buyer can only get a replacement figure (exact same one). They used to do this for DVDs back in the day. If you were returning an opened DVD, you could only replace it with the exact same DVD - you wouldn't get a refund. That might help. Other than that, the only thing they could do is have the return team become a bit more knowledgeable of the figures, or have them compare the returned figure to an image of the figure on the screen.

Hell no. I have to return so many figures due to issues like fused hips, floppy ab crunches, or deformed joints from not enough plastic injected into the mold (yes, this is an issue I’ve had repeatedly in 2024). I had to return Monday Night Wars Stone Cold 2 weeks ago because there was so much plastic missing from the upper thighs of the BAF piece that the upper thigh cut popped out completely. If stores stop accepting returns, I will stop buying from that store completely. I’m not paying $23 for a defective toy and eating that cost myself.

I have a couple random thoughts on packaging.

* I really wish they'd kept consistently designed packaging from day one, but that horse left the barn years ago. We literally have dozens of different packaging styles in our displays now. I really do miss the clean, consistent look of the JAKKS Classic Superstars. They kept the same packaging design through the entire line.

* Recently the packaging seems really flimsy. And a few Elites that I'd like to keep "Mint-In-Box" have tears or bends on the "cardboard".... or warping..... It sucks because most stores only get one of each figure, and if the box is already beat up / torn and you want something mint you are out of luck. It's really hard to keep stuff in Mint condition when it's practically made from thick paper.

* I hate that you can't see the entire figure in the Elite box nowadays. I always worry if the accessories are even in there, or BAF parts, or whatever. I do agree that the Legends sets look best right now as you can see the whole figure. Also, I like getting stuff autographed - and now there's much less area for a wrestler to sign on.

* The stores should just stop accepting returns on these. Too many people have ruined it and like many things in life, a few bad apples spoil the bunch. That is the case here. I can honestly say in 30 years I've never tried to "return" a wrestling figure to the store. If you somehow end up with a figure you don't want/need there are plenty of outlets to sell them on these days. But how often should that really happen anyway, where you have a wrestling toy that you would "need" to return?

I think for the latest elites they changed it to reduce the amount of plastic used. But yeah the effect of easy thefts and switches is very noticeable. A Walmart out of my usual area put everything behind a locked glass case, which was an absurd sight