11 hours ago, yojoebro82 said:All that said, Jay C is right in that the Hasbro team definitely punted on any specifics.
Well, in all fairness, the purpose of these videos was NEVER to give us a "Warts and All" look inside the company or what we can expect in the future. Their job is basically to say "Buy or Stuff, It's Really Neat!"PERIOD.
You go into a restaurant and ask the maitre d about the soup of the day, he's not gonna tell you the clams have turned and the chef sneezed in the chowder. He's gonna say it's the best soup in town.
I currently have all the Classified figures I want (if I include the Zartan and standard Cobra Trooper that I'm still waiting for on preorder). By the skin of my teeth I have been able to get one of every Target exclusive. The only reason I am still on social media is for my toy groups and I'm part of a very large local group who's members tend to help each other out. I also have a brother in law and a buddy who are out there hunting for various things on a regular basis and I make sure to tell them when those pesky exclusive are stating to pop up. I have been very lucky and I realize not everyone is in the same boat.
All that said, Jay C is right in that the Hasbro team definitely punted on any specifics. Will things with distribution improve? Time will tell. There can be no doubt now that this line is popular and it sells, right? So retailers should be ordering heavy and Hasbro should be making them, right? There should be no more surprises at this point? I want my luck to hold for the inevitable third wave of Target exclusives, and it SHOULD be the most well-stocked yet. If not, someone is screwing with us on purpose.
I only have 4 figures from this line, namely Duke, Cobra Commander (regular ver.), Gung-Ho and Snake-Eyes (regular ver.) but since these are expensive online where I'm from (I don't order internationally due to the exorbitant customs fees) and the fact that these are non-existent to retail outlets is frustrating to the point I've quit collecting them. I figured there are other toy lines I can collect easily than this.
3 hours ago, DiscoCougar said:To this day, I have never see a Classified figure on any retailer shelf in my area. To this day, most of my Walgreens stores don't even have a upc sticker on their empty shelves acknowledging that they even carry these figures. And to this day, whenever I try looking online at any etailer shops, all I ever see are marked up prices for these figures. Hell, I once stayed up to make sure I pre-ordered the Lady Jaye/Flint figures before they sold out at Target's website, and my order was just cancelled on me with no reasoning two months later, and a*hole collectors called me a "privileged baby" for complaining about it...
Not only is it frustrating collecting this line because you can't find anything, but it's upsetting and maddening to read statements from other collector's who simply talk down to people with legitimate complaints because the line is so easy for them to collect. It sure must be nice being lucky and/or fortunate enough to find these figure so easily (or afford the high prices on the secondary market), and it must feel really good to be able to have a superiority complex when you talk down to the collector's who've only ever seen pictures of these figures and never anything in hand.
Funny how these people like to rub it in our faces that they can collect these easily and mock the people who can't but in the end, it's just all molded plastic with colors.
On 4/17/2021 at 4:35 PM, 80sboy4 said:I'm for the most part done with the line due in part to the exclusives being just so difficult to obtain. I only have the 3 Cobra Commander variants, Regular, Regal, Snake Supreme. This hobby should be an enjoyable escape not a fustrating experience.
1 hour ago, mako said:Don't let it get you down. The guys you're talking about are riding high on a wave of naivete that soon enough WILL come crashing down around them.
Believe me, I've walked both sides of this street.
You're right, 80sboy.It should be an enjoyable escape. It's sad to see how upset the issues are making people. I agree with Mako the scalpers are the ones primarily responsible but it's too bad Hasbro hasn't done anything to try and compensate like Mattel is (trying to do?)/doing with MOTU Origins. Either they are unaware of scalpers or maybe they don't care because sales are still sales to them. Maybe they just don't know what to do about it right now.While I'm new to the community I've been following and participating in the collecting scene for some time and I believe most fans/collectors are nice/good, it makes mesad to hear about all the toxic "Fans" you guys have had to put up with. Toys should make people happy not upset. I don't collect classified orJoe in general but I can understand your guy's pain as I quit collecting Marvel Legends partially dueto scalpers. I hope Hasbro at least tries to do something to help fans get ahold of the figures they want and I hope you guys still find joy in collecting at least some line of toys.
39 minutes ago, DiscoCougar said:Not only is it frustrating collecting this line because you can't find anything, but it's upsetting and maddening to read statements from other collector's who simply talk down to people with legitimate complaints because the line is so easy for them to collect. It sure must be nice being lucky and/or fortunate enough to find these figure so easily (or afford the high prices on the secondary market), and it must feel really good to be able to have a superiority complex when you talk down to the collector's who've only ever seen pictures of these figures and never anything in hand.
Don't let it get you down. The guys you're talking about are riding high on a wave of naivete that soon enough WILL come crashing down around them.
Believe me, I've walked both sides of this street.
To this day, I have never see a Classified figure on any retailer shelf in my area. To this day, most of my Walgreens stores don't even have a upc sticker on their empty shelves acknowledging that they even carry these figures. And to this day, whenever I try looking online at any etailer shops, all I ever see are marked up prices for these figures. Hell, I once stayed up to make sure I pre-ordered the Lady Jaye/Flint figures before they sold out at Target's website, and my order was just cancelled on me with no reasoning two months later, and a*hole collectors called me a "privileged baby" for complaining about it...
Not only is it frustrating collecting this line because you can't find anything, but it's upsetting and maddening to read statements from other collector's who simply talk down to people with legitimate complaints because the line is so easy for them to collect. It sure must be nice being lucky and/or fortunate enough to find these figure so easily (or afford the high prices on the secondary market), and it must feel really good to be able to have a superiority complex when you talk down to the collector's who've only ever seen pictures of these figures and never anything in hand.
On 4/17/2021 at 1:59 PM, tycondrius24 said:What ? Where I havent seen those exclusives anywhere outside the US ? Only people selling ones they got from the US at marked up prices
In Canada, the Target Exclusive Cobra Island figures are a Toys R Us Canada Exclusive. As far as I know, Profit Director Destro is a EB Games Canada Exclusive(Never seen or notice it anywhere else). The Hasbro Pulse Exclusives are Pulse Exclusives as far as I can tell(I don't pay attention to Pulse stuff), though I know sometimes, EB Games Canada ends up carrying a few Pulse Exclusives from other lines from time to time. The Wal-mart Exclusive 4" Retro line is Wal-mart Canada Exclusives. If I recalled my friend correctly, Amazon Canada was doing pre-orders on the Amazon Exclusive Arctic Storm Shadow, but then cancelled it, as I don't know if they found out they were not going to be getting it, or something. I do know that many Amazon Canada Exclusive Hasbro product does sometimes end up a year or 2 later in EB Games Canada.
Still, distribution is a pain in Canada, though I suppose it can sometimes be a Wave/Case by Case bases. And of course, there are Scalpers/Flippers looking to sell a 6" $30-$33 Canadian action figure for between $60-$120 each on Kijiji or eBay, affects things too.
I'm sure that when the Snake Eyes Movie Classified figures come out, those will be a bit easier to get, usually due to the amount of movie product that comes with a movie, though I suspect that the 1st few weeks after their release could be difficult if Scalpersdecide to hoard them. But for those, I'm sure with time and a bit of patience, thesewill be bit easier to get. Even more so if some fans are either turned off by the movie designs or don't collect movie figures in general(I at least will get Movie Scarlett). Though be aware given how things are with Convid-19, and depending on how the movie does, there is a chance we will see a gut of these in early 2022 as well.
I have to wonder, how would Hasbro know if demand for O-Rings is going to be there? Is it through online/various social media posts, blogs, videos, etc.? Are they going to do a Online Poll or something? Are they going to directly ask the fandom in a future live stream or when a (Eventual) in person convention happens?
Because if they are expecting us to go to some random Big Box Retailer's Manager or Employees,and tell them that "We want O-Ring G.I. Joe 4" figures", they will be puzzled and confused, because I am sure most will not understand what O-Ring figures mean, even if a fan decides to explain it somehow. Even if you decide to send an E-mail to their Corporate HQ, they may not understand what you are referring to, though I suppose if the Corporate HQ gets a high volume of e-mail in regards to the topic, then it could lead to them just asking Hasbro for them.
In regards to the Target Exclusive Cobra Island characters, there is a part of me that is sure we will see pretty much all these characters again either in the Regular line, part of a 2 or 3 pack down the road(If the line does well enough to allow such a thing to happen)and/or as different Store Exclusive. However, these characters will most likely be re-released in a different deco, may have a slightly different sculpt somewhere(Like a new head/face sculpt)and/or may come with less or different accessories. Add in the fact that many of these characters have had different looks and/or decos throughout the years,it to me seems likely that will happen.
Cobra Island Trooper was re-released in the regular line with a different deco, and at least 1 less accessory, as I can see this applied to other Army Builders that 1st appear in Cobra Island. And Baroness in the artwork is depicted with Gold on her Shoulder Armour and a rifle, but the Cobra Island set with the motocycle didn't have Gold on her armour and no rifle, as this indicates to me that we could see a regular release with the Gold in her armour and the rifle.So I'm sure most Cobra Island characters will eventually get re-released somehow. It might just be when it will happens.
Yeah I feel like this topic is kinda worn out, yes Classified series has had a terrible roll out, Scalpers, scarcity, exclusives etc etc, it's unfortunate, I kinda gave up recently on complaining about how difficult this line has been to acquire, I have just let it go and I'm not fussing anymore, whatever I can get is fine for me. I am however holding out hope we are going to see this line get better distribution, more re-releases on figures that we all could n;t find and so on, I like these figures too much, so I'm not going to let them go, I'm also just not going to get up in arms about all the problems anymore it's better that way.
Well....
Looks like...
"Que sa ra sa ra" too me =^)