2013 3 3/4" Black Series

Yes - some stores got in TBS product back in late Summer/early Fall last year, and haven't stocked since. And, they didn't get that much in to begin with. From what I've seen, TBS product has either sold out or peg-warmed, and stores have not ordered anything new.

 

My Entertainer stocked the first wave but so far that's it. Was in there Friday and R2 and Padme were still warming the pegs.

 

The 3 3/4" line has been kinda frustrating for a while now (even pre-dating the Black Series). There are figures from wave 3 I'd like to have, but I'm not going to be chasing them all over creation or paying double for them on-line. If I find them, great. If not, oh well.

I am curious to hear what Hasbro has to say when they're bombarded with availability/distribution questions at Toy Fair.

 

I went out to quite a few stores this weekend (TRU, Target, Wal-Mart, etc) and saw stores either completely restock wave 1 or have completely empty pegs. There has been one Luminara at my nearest Target for weeks, but that was it.

 

The pegs here have been empty for months, with peg warmers from other lines still sitting around. Most of the toy section at my local Wal-mart is rarely restocked. It's a surprise when they do stock it.

 

PademeLeiaJaina posted a link to a very interesting article that sheds some light on why things have been so frustrating at retail of late. The thing is, I recall Hasbro saying last year at this time that they understood collector (and kid's) frustrations and were working to fix the problem. So much for that, eh?

 

Rumor alert:

Source

 

Sounds great. Now, if they could just get them on the pegs in the first place...

So it looks like wave 3 has now become wave 5 then?

 

Truly excellent article - Thanks for posting this. It definitely brings up a lot of good points, including the fact that kids these days are just not into action figures like past generations were. When I myself was a kid back in the dark ages (The '80's), there were other distractions like primitive video games & TV/VHS tapes - but, this was quite minimal compared to what kids these days have access to. At that time there was no cable TV (or it was restrictive, i.e. only a couple of channels), no smart phones/internet/texting, no DVD's/Blu-ray's, & no sophisticated/graphic intensive video games, etc.

So, toys/action figures were hugely popular - I still remember going to Toys R' Us and seeing entire aisles of action figures - not only SW, but G.I. Joe: ARAH, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, etc.

Times have defnitely changed...

 

I really think that's the key right there. There's just so much competition for a kid's attention and time (not to mention their parent's money) these days. I use my 5 year old nephew as a barometer. For Christmas he got everything from a Tablet and a Wii to Legos and a toy Lightsaber (My gift). He's got his fair share of action figures as well, but where as for me at that age action figure lines were my world, he may have 2-3 action figures from one line, and virtually no vehicles or playsets. My typical Christmas was all about action figures, vehicles and playsets.

The 70s-90s was the golden age of the action figure toy line, but the cultural shift caused by advances in technology has changed all of that. I was talking with some people at work a few weeks ago about how we hardly ever see kids outside in the Summer any more. When I was a kid the sounds of kids laughing was part of the Summer soundtrack. Now when I'm out in the yard all I hear are the sounds of air conditioners and lawnmowers.

 

Fairly cool news. Hopefully this will turn out to be true. I will definitely be onboard for Toryn Farr, Bastila Shan, Dack Ralter, Ree-Yees (Yes!), and Sergeant Doallyn. All great choices.

Though I liked the Vintage 1983 Ree-yees & the POTF2 1998 update, this figure will benefit from a more advanced sculpt. Jabba's Palace & ANH Cantina aliens are my favorite figures, so the more of these, the better...

Here's hoping that not only will these come out, but that we collectors will be able to actually locate them @ retail....

 

I went to Kmart and Target last week and both stores had new wave 3 up! Of course still no signs of Plagueis or Pablo Jill or Mary Jane. I haven't seen anything at Wal Mart regarding Black Series

 

I saw the remnants of Wave 3 at Target last week, but the figures whostheBossk mentioned that everyone is chasing from that wave were gone. The Wal-Mart closest to me literally just got around to stocking Wave 1 for the first time this past week. I get the sense that they were waiting to see if any more POTF II figures were ever going to be released before moving forward .

In a way I'm kinda glad the Luke and Yoda figures from Wave 5 ended up looking so wonky. Now I don't have to worry about not finding them.

 

So I opened up my wave 3 casepack and opened a few figures. I have to say the Darth Vader was really well done, the only thing that bugs me about the figure is the thing around his neck. It sort of just sticks out and won't stay down.

 

Kmart now has all Star Wars on sale. This includes the Ewok Catapult down to $15.79, Imperial Scanning Crew $12.79, and Black Series to $7.99!! No sign of anyone I wanted so I had to walk away. (hid a few scanning crews and clones just in case I change mind)

 

Wow, those are good deals for those. Might need to jaunt on over to the nearest K-Mart (which these days isn't very near) and pick up that Scanning Crew.

 

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At a random stop with my wife (decided to tag along) and I'm glad I did! Walked over to the toy aisle and they had Black Series, and not only that but first of the the two figures they had was Darth Plagueis!!!!! Lucked out big time. Luminara was the other one. I picked up Mara Jade but auctioning her off as I don't care to keep her. I did see Pablo Jill today but opted not to get him as I already have his Saga figure.

 

Found a crap ton of these at toys r us. Passed on them. Luke, Padme and Anakin weren't that good looking of figures to me.

 

Picked up a #13 Stormtrooper! Excited to finally have a trooper. I never had one as a child. Now I have both a 6 inch and 3.75 figure! I'm gonna open him and do a nice review for my YouTube!

 

I almost picked up the 3 3/4" Stormie my self, even though I have the 2004 VOTC version (and a few others). Not sure if this uses the s/a VOTC mold, if it's kitbashed (made up of various molds) or an all new sculpt.

Sweet! Please post a link here when you do.

 

I'll post a link here tomorrow morning despite the video being up today!

I went to meijer today, and I found him. #18, Darth Plagueis. Someone broke him open and stole the damn figure! I was heartbroken!

 

Sheesh. I remember back about ten years ago there were a number of cases of people buying new figures (particularly the popular and hard to find ones), removing them from the bubble, and replacing them with POTF 2 figures and returning them. Most people at the customer service desk didn't know the difference and they ended up back on the pegs with the wrong figure inside.

 

My local Walmart finally, FINALLY stocked some Black Series figures! Finally! The old peg warmers are gone and they finally have Black Series figures! There were about seven figures, but none of the figures I was looking for. Still, they stocked the figures.

Still saddening to see the SW section reduced to a very tiny corner of the shelf. Duck Dynasty stuff has more shelf space.

 

My Wal-Mart(s) are a pretty sad sight as well. The Star Wars section is tiny and filled with just random bits of leftovers; Vintage style Phantom Menace figures, those giant Vaders and cheap Anakin and Clone Trooper dolls. Since they decided not to carry the 6" line I don't even bother checking their Star Wars section most of the time.

 

That's better than my wal-mart. We don't even have a Star Wars section anymore. They got rid of it two months ago! It was eerie walking down a toy isle and not seeing Star Wars.