Let me start off by saying that I expect nothing to change regardless of what I type here. This is more about me venting about the frustration of having to pre-order a
Wal-Mart exclusive action figure and then having it canceled months later for no real reason. Something I have personally found happens more often than not when dealing with
Wal-Mart, regardless of the toy company producing the figure, and something that has been happening for several years with many collectors.
So first let me walk you through my most recent example of this happening. Back on
March 13th, 2025 I placed a pre-order for the
Walmart exclusive G.I. Joe Classified Crystal Ball figure from
Hasbro that was offered during one of
Walmart's "Collector Con" events.
The figure during that event sold out since it was an exclusive. Now fast-forward to this month (August). The figure according to the
Wal-Mart website was supposed to ship on
August 14th. That date came and went and no sign of it shipping. Then last night
(August 19) I got the dreaded
"Your item was canceled" email from
Wal-Mart.
Now if this was just a one time occurrence, while frustrating I wouldn't be feeling the need to write this article. Sometimes things happen and cancellations do happen.
BUT THE PROBLEM IS, this isn't just a rare one-time thing. Nor am I the only
Wal-Mart customer this happens to. In the case of this particular figure I know at least 3 other people who told me they also had their order canceled in the last week, and I feel confidant that their are a lot more people this happened to than just 4 of us.
Back in July I had the same thing happen with a
Walmart exclusive Masters of The Universe Masters of the Universe Masterverse Vintage Collection Faker figure from
Mattel I had pre-ordered in March. With that one, after
Wal-Mart canceled my order, they then listed the figure as "In-Stock" 2 days later. When I
originally pre-ordered this figure in March I paid $30.03. When I had to
re-order it in July after they canceled my original order, I had to pay $32.13.
I could go on with additional examples like this I have experienced going as far back as 2020, and again I know its not just me. This kind of thing happens so often with so many different action figure collectors that it has become a running joke. That when someone places a pre-order for an
exclusive action figure on the Wal-Mart website, they know their is a 50/50 chance it will be canceled.
Now I can't really tell you why this happens, but unfortunately I don't see much hope this will ever change. The toy companies like
Hasbro, Mattel and
McFarlane Toys aren't going to stop giving
Wal-Mart these exclusive offerings no matter how often this happens because they make to much money from the practice.
As far as
Wal-Mart is concerned, being this has been happening for years with no sign Wal-Mart has any plans of fixing the problem, I don't see them ever really doing anything about it, and because these are primarily exclusive offerings we are talking about, collectors have few options.
To make it even worse,
Wal-Mart allows secondary sellers to use their own website to sell these very same exclusives at higher prices. See an example of that with Crystal Ball below. Right now it's being sold on the Wal-Mart website from a "Pro Seller" by the name of "Everything For Sale" for almost $50.
Like I say, I have absolutely no expectation that my expressing my frustrations over this practice will change anything. My only recourse as a collector is hope
Wal-Mart restocks this figure online at some point as an "In-Stock" item, hope I find it at a physical store which I refuse to waste time, gas and money on, being my local store never stocks anything, pay more and buy it from the secondary market, OR just do without which is likely what will happen. Of course the more that happens the more frustrated I get which in turn causes me to loose interest in the line. At that point I move on to something else to spend my money on.
Reno -
2025-08-20 @ 1:24 pm
I will state that I too have had almost all of my Walmart pre-orders cancelled over the past few years. I usually end up with the figure later when it's actually in stock, but it's very frustrating. Target is bad too, but mostly because everything sells out within just a few minutes. I hate dealing with either corporation. I can't remember having similar problems with any other vendor that I have with those big 2. If I could avoid them altogether then I certainly would.
Walmart is definitely the worst of the exclusives. My Crystal Ball was cancelled last night. Even if Big Bad or Entertainment Earth carries him a year or two from now itll be above retail. With TARGET you may miss the preorder but can pick it up in store after the release date. I havent seen a Classified figure at my Walmart since Wolf Spider and he was on clearance.
Outside of any exclusives, Ive ordered the McFarlane Cyborg Superman for store pick up or delivery 22 times in 4 different states over the span of 3 months and not a single order has come through.
I still think Target is worse because of quantity issues, but Walmart is frustrating. The one thing you have to know about Walmart is that if the item you've preordered shows up in-stock before your preorder has shipped, reorder it. And cancel your preorder once the new order ships. They simply do not fill preorders in a logical manner if the item is high demand (so Star Wars stuff is almost always fine; but G.I. Joe, Legends, and He-Man stuff is iffy, depending on the item).
I have no idea why you guys want Crystal Ball to begin with, but I feel bad for people dealing with Walmart.
Same situation. Day 1 Minute 1 pre-order on Walmart, and got the text/email cancellation last night.
I was lucky enough to get a pre-order in on Hasbro Pulse as CB was showing up off and on.
I'm really not in a rush to get the figure, I never am. I just want what I've actually paid for.
Last time I pre-order through Walmart. If I can't get it on HP, I ain't getting it.
Still waiting on Spidey 77.
I had ordered the transparent Mattel John Cena figure during that Collector Con, and they also cancelled it a few weeks later. What's the point of having events for collectors with exclusives if they never plan to actually deliver? ?
Wally World screwed me on this figure... I pre-ordered the figure back in March, and the figure was supposed to ship on July 17th. Walmart canceled my order on the 19th and showed me that it's in stock, but I can buy it for $23.72 instead of the original price of $21.74. I bet my order was cancelled so they could jack up the price...
Walmart cancelled Faker on me over the weekend but thankfully there was one store in my area where he was in stock (in spades) so I just went over and scooped him up. I have no idea how they go about their pre-order cancelling decision-making process, but it's silly has hell to say "oh, we had issues stocking this" while simultaneously having at least a full box on the pegs a few miles down the road. I know pre-orders and store stock should theoretically be coming from different pools, but shouldn't they allocate the merchandise for people that had an order for something for months in advance at the same time they get their delivery from Mattel? It's not like they have idea how much they need to order from the manufacturer, that's the whole point of putting it up for pre-order.
If your pre-order was cancelled the Mattel Masters of the Universe Masterverse Vintage Collection Faker Action Figure is in-stock on Walmart.
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