2013 3 3/4" Black Series

I freaking hate Walmart

 

Wow...I'm not collecting TFA line at all & thought I was done collecting SW figures for good, and now I hear TBS line is back?! I'm guessing the figures will be a mix of OT/PT/ST?! Man, what a bummer....I mean, on one hand it's great that TBS are still being made, but on the other that's more hassle for me since I need to start searching for these in a month....and at Wal-mart, no less...

 

Just as an FYI, Luke, Chewie and Vader are all available to purchase from Wal-Mart.com right now. There's free shipping if you get all three!

 

Because I'm too lazy to go look what were they charging per figure? Still $12.99?

 

12.93!

 

Look out for falling prices! Cool, thanks .

 

Finally saw the new Wal-Mart exclusive 3 3/4" Black Series figures on pegs today. They had about 4-5 each of Vader, Chewie and Luke. They had put them on the now empty TFA pegs, which are marked for $6.9something, but there's a scanner right next to it so I scanned one and sure enough, $12.9something. I suppose I coulda taken them to a register and made a stink when they rang up $12.9something, and no doubt someone(s) will, but that's just shady IMO and tantamount to stealing if you know better.

Of the three I think Chewie is the best, but I'm not paying $12.9something for these .

 

Got two TBS TFA 3.75" Wal-mart exclusive figures recently - Rey & Kylo Ren. At $13 each, these are the last TBS figures I'm getting. They're extremely overpriced. However, I got them because I don't like the regular 5 POA versions, and wanted the increased articulation that these come with.

 

Honestly, the entire TBS line is a ripoff. Hasbro was able to produce the same quality of action figure for years and managed to make money selling them for under $7-8 each. Then they change the packaging, tell us all about how "exclusive" and "detailed", and enhanced these new figures are and that we're somehow supposed to accept them effectively doubling the price on us for nothing more than a different package. Then they have the gall to shaft us on the regular 3 3/4 inch line of toys and use sub par sculpts on some (TFA Han Solo looks like a pudgy drunk neighbor guy I once had) and hope that nobody will notice how much of a scam it is.

 

I'm right with you. I've only gotten a handful of TFA 5 POA figures (the regular line) and only these two new TBS figures. The majority of the newer figures are either a rip-off, or shoddy, or both. However, I do think some of the TFA aliens look cool, and I liked the TFA Snowspeeder & Rey's Speeder - great designs on both.

 

I can live with the 5 POA as that is how the POTF line was when it came out 20 years ago. That said, the lousy sculpts and obvious cutting of corners with every other non TBS line made by Hasbro is what makes me mad. I have considered buying some of them in the past, but only then realizing that buying one is giving Hasbro my permission to make more of them at the expense of the other lines, which is something I do not want.

 

My take on this is to just collect what you want, if you do indeed want any of the new figures. Re: TBS, I temporarily stopped collecting them after last summer - since I wasn't initially going to get any of the TFA figures.

However, now that TBS came out with both Rey & Kylo Ren in the 3.75" line, I decided to get those since the sculpts look so good. However, due to the expense, I can't see getting any more TBS figures.

 

I was behind Hasbro on this until TBS 3 3/4" line became an exclusive. The idea of diversifying with a 5POA line at a reduced price point was good for kids and parents; kids because the 5POA tends to be sturdier, and parents because of the lower price. The sculpts were good enough, because for kids (To quote the great Larry Hama) "..the intellectual property of a toy is not a widget. It's not a product bobbing down a conveyor belt where bored drones paint on eyes and insert o-rings. It's the little bit of information that triggers the internal fantasy machine to fill in the holes, gloss over the mold lines, forgive the compromises for the realities of manufacturing and creates that wholly personal 'state of play' wherein universes are born.".

Then you have a line aimed at older fans and collectors who want them more for display than play. The $10 or so retail was a tad high, but this isn't milk or bread, it's a collectible. But then it became an exclusive, and a Wal-Mart exclusive at that, and the price point shot up to $13 and I haven't seen a single figure past wave 1, which hit back October. Just a massive fail.

 

Walmart isn't a good place for exclusives in my eyes as most Walmarts I've gone to are mostly poorly stocked. Come to think of it I've hardly seen any of TBS there when I do look. I would've preferred if Target got the 3 3/4" figs or even TRU. Both stores in my area are fairly good about maintaining product on the shelves in my area. I can't answer for anyone else here though. I actually almost thought the 3 3/4" TBS was not being produced anymore until I saw they had become a Walmart exclusive according to this thread. It's because I never see them at Walmart and also being just a bit out of the loop here.

Hasbro has been cheap on the quality of all things they produce. It's not just Star Wars and Transformers, even though they are still leagues ahead of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World series. You should see the horrible craftsmanship with those. Take the Titan Raptors created for example being without their trademark sickle claws. The larger Stomp and Strike T.rex? It develops tears in the neck on the rubber skin after a while. Mine (and several others) did after just sitting for display purposes. They've gone down in quality control sadly.

 

Great to see two Walmarts clearanced figures to $5. Picked up a Kylo Ren as he was only one on shelf. Could have been a return or hidden. Big story for me was going to another Walmart where i put a Moseep Binneed in a special spot only to see the whole area cleared out on next visit. More than a month passes by and walla, there he is on the shelf. Not one but three of them. Not clearanced but since package was damaged i bartered with manager and got it for $7.

 

Well, I saw the TBS 3.75" TFA Stormtrooper & Phasma recently (Wal-mart exclusives), and picked those up (contradicting what I said in my last post - LOL). Great figures. Even though they're expensive, I'm not collecting that many of them & I don't have the regular TFA 5 POA versions of these two.

 

I picked almost all of them up. My wal-mart cleared them out at 3 bucks a figure so I snagged Finn, Han, Leia, Phasma, and a trooper. This was a while ago though.

 

My Wal-Mart has a nice, shiny peg completely empty since, oh, December.

 

Sounds like my wal-mart. They stocked the Black series 3.75" stuff, but other than that it's been nothing since Christmas. It's horrible.

 

@ my Wal-Mart that first 3 3/4" TBS wave moved a bit slowly at first and then *poof*, it sold out during the holidays. I figured I'd see subsequent waves, but it's just empty pegs. Same with the 6" TBS. Just 3 dusty Finn's hanging there for nearly a year now.

 

We have three Finns, one constable Zuuvio, and I think a flame trooper. They should have packed Finn with more accessories, and Zuvio? Who was behind the decision to make HIM a figure?

 

Yeah, I think it helped that Rey came with BB8. I never did see Finn in the Stormtrooper outfit at retail, but it seems to be pretty popular on the secondary market. Yeah, some of those choices were a tad odd. Constable Zuvio and the Guavian Enforcer were both blink and you'll miss them and they got figures, but no Luke, Leia or C-3PO? Weird.

 

Indeed. Zuvio wasn't even in the final cut of the film, but Maz doesn't have a figure? Very strange. Finn didn't get a light saber or anything. Rey became much more popular after the film, and as you said, had BB8. Just really poor decision making by Hasbro all around, and now that the film is out, they've seemingly given up until December again.

 

Yeah, Maz was another character that would've made for a much, much more interesting figure. And you're right, Rey had been a bit of a peg warmer herself until the release of the film and then she took off. It actually would've been a better idea to put that Finn in Stormtrooper gear in the first wave. Much more interesting figure IMO, and it's how we're introduced to him.

 

True. I don't really know what Hasbro has been doing as far as their planning and selection for these waves. Even Han should have been there from the start, but preferably with his grey hair. Not brown.