Toronto Episode II Toys go on sale early!!

Hi gang,

I just wanted to let you know that the deluxe
figures are now available or will be later today at Toys R Us stores. These figures are
arriving to the stores via courier. The reason for this is due to the fact that these
toys are appearing in TRU,s flyer coming out this Friday. They had to make sure at these items were in stock. I just picked up all 4
plus a spare Jango. They work out to about $20 with tax a piece.

 

Any word on a 12" Padme chained to a post?

*Slaps self*

Punish...punish....

 

Yeah, the TRU I was in had a stand of Lays chips with SW characters on it. Any word on cereal in Canada? If not I will have to ask my Aunt to go get whatever she can.

 

The Walmart and TRU I went to had nothing that I wanted. I should go pick up the Jango Fett figure, though. Couldn't find the soundtrack at Walmart. No posters either.

 

LEGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nuff said

 

I'm with you Mori - Lego all the way!

 

Man, just went all around town going to 5 Toys R Us, 4 Walmarts and 3 Zellers. Must say that today's journey was most disappointing considering the official release date hype.

Geez, the only difference is the deluxe figures and the only thing I bought was the Mace Windu. One item more since Saturday. Ack!

At least the Lego fans will be happy. And still no regular lightsabers anywhere.

The saddest news had to come from Zellers. At least some Walmarts had a couple of figures but Zellers....ZILCH. There was nothing AOTC at Zellers. Back in the game? I doubt it. By the time they get the figures out, all the collectors would have 2 of each figure already.

And anyone notice that Walmart is selling figures at $10.88? Wow~! TRU is cheaper?!
Can this be?

Speaking of Walmart, there is sure a lot of inconsistency concerning AOTC stuff. One store could have a bunch of items, while some other stores can have none at all. At least I found the first Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow figures for the GI Joe fan in me but I digress.

Anyhoo, I guess I'll just stop ranting and wasting gasoline until the Yoda, Anakin (Hangar), Unduli, Dooku are out in T.O.

Disgruntled Dain

 

"At least I found the first Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow figures for the GI Joe fan in me but I digress"

Wha??? Are these the original ones -- like 80s Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow? Snakes in all black with silver eyes and what not, Storm Shadow in white Snow suit-esque fatigues??

Those were the best!! My Snakeeyes is now cut in half, and my Storm Shadow is missing a leg.

I have to get these!! (If they are the ones I'm thinking of)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh!!!!

hmm...how much were they?

 

$10.88? You musta been to the Warden/Eglinton Walmart. I do recall that was what they had they pitiful selection for.

I found my Clonetrooper and the new Zam at the Elgincourt Walmart today. Sadly, those were located in the Jewelry section of the store! What's up with that. But they had a better price of 8.82

 

Adam: It's the new GI JOE vs. Cobra series.
The figures are more big and clunky and not as poseable as the original ones. The Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow came in a 2-pack for $9.99. According to some sellers on eBay (take this with a grain of salt), that the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow 2-pack were more rare compared to the other 2-packs. Well, I just bought it cuz these characters were my favourite ones back in the day and I still have some of their older versions. I'm not going to buy any other of the figures though.
You can always to go to www.gijoe.com to see what they look like.


Ken: Whoa, jewelry section? Weird.

Yes, I did go the Warden and Eglinton one and indeed it was pathetic in the selection.
The preview figures were $8.82 but no regular AOTC figs at any Walmart were that price. I went to the Walmart in Richmond Hill and even worse, they said they don't have any and won't be in until like next week. My jaw simply dropped.

On a side note, I heard some dudes saying about a "conspiracy" that the reason why most Walmarts and Zellers are not releasing all the AOTC stuff was to snub (or send a message) Lucas for giving the official OK for the early release for TRU Canada.

I guess there is some truth to it since I'm sure most TRU's made a killing on sales this weekend.


BTW, where is Elgincourt? Are you referring to Agincourt Mall (Kennedy & Sheppard) cuz they have a Walmart there.

 

Thanks! sigh. I was hoping it was the original figures. The old school figures were the best! Forget about the clunky ones! Man, that was the biggest toy collection I had as a kid -- I think I had 38 GI JOES. sign. That is until I was 16 or so and began collecting Star Wars. oh boie. That number has been tripled or quadrapuled with Star Wars figs.

 

Well, i'm selective when it comes to collecting. For GI Joe, I still have my Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow from the 80's. The good old days when they cost $4 and readily available at Zellers or Consumer Distributing (god how I miss writing those slips). The new GI Joe are crappy but I can never not buy a new Snake Eyes or Storm Shadow.

Even with Star Wars, I only collect Jedi and Sith. Basically anything with Lightsabers in their hand. Rule of thumb is only buy only what you really want since it seems toys don't come cheap anymore.

Past year I've already spent several hundred bucks on all that Yamato Macross (Robotech) stuff. Man, I really need to sell more of my crap on ebay.

PS. Anyone notice how crappy most toy shows are in the GTA?

 

Yes the stores were not good at all. I have heard that Zellers will start to sell their
EPII stuff on the 25th. Mind you it will be
the same items or even less that TRU and Wal
Mart have carried.

 

Ah all these Star Wars toys are great and all, but what I really need to track down are decent enough condition Transformers.

Specifically;

Mirage: (Blue Formula-1 Race Car) 1984, with shoulder missiles, and laser rifle.

Prowl: (White Datsun Police Chase Car) 1984 with shoulder cannons and pulse rifle.

*Sigh*

Just those two to complete my '84 line...

*Sigh again*

 

Hey Jedcat!

yup, you are you and I am me. Sooo... you're heading to the Great Green South? Taking orders?

Say hi to your crazy folks.

As to other shopping matters, it's a crazy world out there. Saw a piece on CTV about the toys, they had their person at the snail, and of course they've got all sorts of cool stuff.

Out here...

Jot Dexter Jetster and the Nikto Jedi. The Walmart on Hamilton mountin was still popping cases when I was there, but that was the most exotic stuff they had. I'd love more of the red clonetrooper, hje's got articulation out the wazoo. Very nice. Wish all the figures were this good. He came from Square one Walmart on Sunday.

Still hoping for a Ryal guard or two, yoda, Luminara, and of course, all the stuff we never got in Canada over the past months.

 

Do you still have your Joe's, adam?? I'm always looking to acquire more... and someday... complete the collection. Most of my classic-era ones are in disaray, but I still have almost every 3-3/4 inch figure released from around the time of "G.I.Joe - The Movie" onwards in perfect (opened) condition sealed away in boxes somewhere (with the file-cards, too )

 

Yup, I've got them somewhere. Not sure if I'd be selling -- that's selling apart of my childhood -- but given the finacial situation I am in, I might be interested. When I"m back in the city, I'll type up a list -- if I remember their names.

They aren't in mint condition and the only part of the boxes I kept was the GI JOE description cards.

I remember losing one of my favourite GI JOEs - it was the SWAT guy, in the front yard of our house -- years later he finally showed up. I must have buried him or he went off to save the world from nuclear annihilation. Memories...

 

Darth Sunder,

I'm not sure if you're aware but for the last 2 years, Takara Japan have been re-releasing G1 Transformers toys. I saw a bunch at last Sunday's toy show at the International Centre. Another place to check out is called Toys 2 (squared)
at First Markham Place as they carry import toys from Japan and Hong Kong.

Worse comes to worse, you can do a search on eBay for Mirage and Prowl as I'm pretty sure those 2 were made as re-releases.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow, didn't know the rest of you guys were such GI JOE fans either. I basically kept my old Snake Eyes with the wolf, and Storm Shadow (the no-longer-Cobra version). Other then that, I pretty much sold all my figures. I still have a crap load of old vehicles though, as some of them are too big to ship.
If you guys are interested, I'll make up a list too and I'll sell each vehicle for next to nothing.

 

which SWAT guy, Adam? "Downtown"?

Dain_Bramage: yeah, I'm a bigger fan of G.I. Joe than I've ever been of Star Wars. There was a time in public-school where I had every character's real-name, rank, and backstory committed to memory. (Dusty started as a refridgerator & AC repairman!) I loved that the toys/cartoon/comic all existed in weird state of simul-flux, being able to watch the adventures of my favorite toys on TV and then read more-mature and fantastic adventures in the often-brilliant comic-series (although during the toys' heyday, the comic got stuck on the bottom of the marketing-heirarchy and was forced to include such ridiculous charactors as Serpentor or Raptor out of some bizarro contractual obligation).

I'm definitely interested in the list of vehicles you still own... I never really got into buying the vehicles, unless they came with a character I wanted to own (like Sgt. Slaughter or Recondo). It was always cheaper just to stock-up on the figures... for $3.99 at Eaton's, my measily $5 allowance could buy one each week while everyone else squandered theirs on chocolate & freezies from Becker's

 

It might have been "Downtown" that rings a bell.

As for vehicles, I still have the general and the Space Shuttle.

Not sure why I got 'em, but I did. The General launched cool rockets! I think I still have those. Unfortunately, I had no room to move it, so it would go 3 feet and have to go back to base.

Argh. Now I want to go back to Toronto and play!

 

Sorry dude, basically I only have vehicles left as all my figures are (does the shameless N'Sync song) ...GONE. I only have 2 figures that I kept that were near and dear to my heart.

I'll definately make a list but it will take me awhile as I have dig for them. I have some in the basement, some in the garage, some in the closet....I hope everyone will give me like a 2 month grace period...kekeke.

Imagine Hasbro made Star Wars figures that had the same poseability as the old 3 3/4 inch Joes from the 80's and 90's? I think it would give more play value to the toys. Star Wars figures (until recently) don't have much points of articulation on the figures. I used to hate it when I stuck Star Wars figures on Speeder Bikes and it looks like their riding them as if they were relaxing on a lawn chair with a T pole by their crotch. Is it that hard to make elbows and knees to bend? Sheesh.

 

G.I. Joe figures were great but they didnt last, the little rubber bands broke inside. I think there is still some joe parts at the bottem of the toy cuppard at my moms. but my starwars toys took far more of a beating, only darth vader lost his head, but i fixed that...

 

Oh, such great memories... I don't know how many GI Joe things I've still got left... I'm sure many have been sold over the years (of course now I look back and think I should NEVER have let any of them go, 'cause it would be so neat to still have them... something to think about if/when any of us have kids).

I'll take a look when I get back home and let you know. I too had the general, which was fun, if a little on the gigantic side, which reminds me of this other one... I don't remember the name of it but there was this truely massive mobile HQ thing... it had 3 levels to it and unfolded into this huge base-thing... someone down the street actually had it so I got to play with it once... I think it was neat... but I can't form much of a mental picture of it now.

--EDIT--
The Mobile Command Center (www.yojoe.com) -- Ah the memories.

 

Wait a minute. Downtown was some dude that has a mortar. I think the SWAT guy was called Shockwave. I remember his name because he has the same name as the Decepticon laser gun.

 

Don't recall a GI Joe by that name.

In fact I don't think GI Joe ever coppied a name from the Transformer line.

Voices...yeah...names...naw....

EDIT:

Of course, I stopped collecting after that "Cobra-la,la,la,la" stupidity...

The great Serpentor...conceived by the Penguin...tisk tisk....