FOV at Target

rmoore456 · Post by **rmoore456** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:39 am

Target in Normal, Illinois has reset their FOV section. With the markdowns a couple of weeks ago I was thinking they might not carry the line anymore.
Anyway they have the 1/72 infantry sets at $5.99 each. 3 WWII, German panzergrenadiers, US infantry, British paratroopers and US infantry in Iraq. They are made of soft plastic with decent paint jobs. 5 figures per set with jerrycans, sign post, telephone pole, oil drums and earthworks varying amongst the sets.

They restocked the 1/72 tanks, nothing new. The 1/32 they had the Tiger I from a couple of years ago that was available in the diorama (3 color camo), an M1 Abrams ($24.99) and the Tow Launcher ($19.99).

They also had the 1/32 Historical Legends line. There were only the playsets so far at $9.99 each. 2 Romans, 2 Knights of the 100 Years War, 2 Pirates and 1 Viking set. They had pegs for others priced at $4.99 which I'm guessing are the individual figures or pairs. The Roman and Knight sets had a mounted and 2 foot soldiers plus extra stuff. The Vikings and Pirates had 4 foot figures each plus extras. They are made of soft plastic and the detail IMHO is pretty good. The paint jobs are decent, not a lot of shading on the ones I picked up.

Ray

Philip · Post by **Philip** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 7:20 pm

I saw these 1/72 soldiers at Target, and they are really nice, esp. for $6.00. They had German, French, and American troops from WWII, and modern American soldiers, Iraq. The only problem I saw was that a few, not many, of the rifles had "bent" barrels, but I'm sure they could be straightened out. Nice additon from FOV.

Tshintl · Post by **Tshintl** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:31 pm

My personal opinion on those FOV 1/72 figures is they are poor quality. I have all four sets and wish I never bought them. Extremely bad warping, weapons that look like anything but what they're supposed to be and bad poses. The accessories that come with them are quite nice though, wish you could just buy those.

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 9:31 pm

I just saw the FOV 1:72 troops at Target, nice for the price and I may have to get some of the WWII US troops if that FOV 1:72 Halftrack ever comes out.

The other surprise were the FOV 1:32 Historical Warriors sets including two sets of Roman soldiers, Medieval knights, Pirates and Vikings. They actually looked pretty good and, being a fan of the Roman Empire, I had to walk out with a bunch of the Roman sets

hotrodrock · Post by **hotrodrock** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 7:42 am

So, the 1/32 Tigers I reported on here in SoCal in an earlier post are showing up elsewhere now. Wonder why they picked an older paint scheme to re-release. One Target I went in had all of their FOV on the clearance isle. Wondered if they were getting out of the FOV business but then new items showed up at some other Targets.

Law · Post by **Law** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 5:27 pm

I ran out to my local Target after seeing these store reports floating around -- found just about everything, the only item I didn't spot was the $5 two-pack of Roman soldiers.

The "Historical Legends" line is absolutely stunning. I compared the pirates with my Conte pirates, and they hold up wonderfully. They don't look QUITE as good, but since these averaged out to less than $3 a piece, and the Contes were $15, I suppose that makes sense...

The pirate gear looks out of scale to me, but the rest of it is amazing. The wheelbarrow with the knights, the barricade with the vikings -- great stuff.

Sure, in all seriousness, these wouldn't hold up to the more expensive stuff on the market. But they AREN'T the more expensive stuff on the market, and they really do look impressive for cheap, readily available figures.

Law

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 9:38 pm

I am VERY pleased with the Romans. They are on par with the more expensive models, and are lightyears ahead of where the previous BBI WWII & Modern soldiers were in terms of detail and sculpting. There is no hint of the "popeye" effect with these figures and they look proportioned. The Roman calvary soldiers & horses are stunning and look like they're galloping at full speed into a barbarian horde even when just sitting still. Great work on the part of Unimax!

Law · Post by **Law** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 7:42 am

Actually, does anyone know if the HL line is going to show up at hobby shops, with an "enthusiast" edition?

I could have sworn I saw mock-ups of packaging in boxes rather than blisters, just like the WWII figures got.

And then there are the pics online that show more accessories, another indication that this could happen. Here's what I'm talking about:

Vikings: http://www.sdsoldiers.com/DSC649.JPG

Pirates: http://www.sdsoldiers.com/DSC648.JPG

Of course, it COULD just be that the product was scaled back a bit, which would make sense. But given the history of FOV, I sorta wonder if maybe there's more on the way.

There's a practical motivation for this question, too -- should I start buying tons of these at Target, or should I wait a bit for the more elaborately decked-out hobby versions?

Law

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:24 am

I thought the Target versions were pretty well decked out - and a bought most of the Romans from the store where I found them

There's no telling if there will be an enthusiast grade version, given that these were so well done, but one never knows.

I need to pick up some of those Vikings - although they came nearly 400yrs after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and nearly 800-900 years after the Roman soldiers FOV has depicted, they would still make decent "barbarian" and even auxillary figures!

jrs · Post by **jrs** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:34 pm

Could I be the only one dissapointed in Unimax? These figures make no sense to me at all. While I agree that they are well done why in the world wouldnt they have stuck with their bread and butter? They have a big chunk in WWII and Modern and the WWII figs that come in the figure sets are pure crap!

Unimax should have went with Waffen SS in place of Romans, Perhaps a Waffen SS mortor team in place of Cavalry! Pirates? What the hell? If you take the Disney movie out of the equation why would they have made these?

Who plays with Pirates? ( no offense LAW)

In the end I hope that this type of figure is what we can hope for in the WWII line. I would love to have seen several sets of good quality WWII figures just released! I guess a girl can dream cant she!

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:54 pm

Hi JRS,
While I agree it would be nice to see more WWII/ modern figure packs I, for one, applaud Unimax for branching out into other epochs. Not everyone is interested in 21st century replicas -- there is a large audience that enjoy the history behind other time periods. I can only hope they come out with larger selections down the road including more adversaries and perhaps some buildings/weapons.

As for enthusiast grade Historical Legends sets, they're expected in late August, unless they somehow slip. Not sure how they're going to be packaged or how they're going to be different from the action grade sets already released.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

Law · Post by **Law** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:06 pm

I can understand being frustrated, but this is clearly a case where Unimax just wants to branch out. "Who plays with pirates?" - well, you CAN'T really ignore that Disney movie. There are THREE distinct lines supporting it right now -- 3 3/4" figures from Zizzle, larger figures for the collector market by NECA, and somewhat mid-range figures exclusive to the Disney store. There's a ton of merch out there, a ton of money to be made. Lego and Mega Bloks both make popular pirate toys. It's a marketable license, and Unimax was smart to try to get something out of it without having to pay a burdensome Disney license fee.

These really are targeted at a different crowd, that's all. And not all THAT different -- Conte, though primarily focused on WWII products, makes a quite popular line of Vikings and another of pirates. (as, of course, you and just about everyone else here knows, but I'm just pointing out that hte audience isn't necessarily THAT different...)

And of course the figures themselves ARE getting better. The figs in the vehicles are pretty fantastic now... But man, I do wish they would do some new WWII figure sets with the quality we've seen more recently...

Ah well. I think my enthusiasm is just borne of saturation with WWII items -- certainly it isn't hard to find 1:32 WWII figs, but finding cheap, well done pirates and vikings has been a bit of a chore...

Law

jrs · Post by **jrs** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 2:48 pm

I understand what you guys are saying! However as a business case branching out before wraping up things can be risky! It damn near killed 21st! They ventured into too many scales at once and are currently heading there again. This time with their main two scales and product subject well covered.

I think the figures are great, well done etc. I just wished they would concentrate on the bread and butter and make sure its always at the fore front! Too me I see a huge oppourtunity in the 1:32 WWII figures. The subject matter is endless, the WWII era is argueably the biggest market. the figures thay have with their vehicels are great quality! With the right price and pleanty of sets they could capture tons of the market. First casualty would be things like Conte plastics, TSSD etc, because of the quality and price FOV has. In addition they would be right in there if you factor in price with the high end metal figures, IMHO! Who ever gets their first and presses the issue will most likely become the winner.

hotrodrock · Post by **hotrodrock** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 1:17 pm

I've said several times that FOV is missing the boat by not releasing, at the very least, sets of the figures that come with their vehicles. The flesh tones tend to be too dark on them but I usually repaint their skin anyway. Some of their poses are just plain great. The soldier helping his wounded buddy and the guy jumping over the side of the vehicle are beautiful. Have to admit though, the 21st German soldier being hit in the neck is pretty hard to beat. Added a little better red paint to that one for the blood and WOW! I paint a lot of Conte figures but rather just be able to buy them pre-painted at a descent price.

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 2:20 pm

Hi,
I agree that there's a market for 1:32 scale soldier sets of the calibre they currently include with their vehicles. We mentioned this to them this past February along with a market for 1:72 scale figures. There were loads of combatants, loads of poses and loads of units involved all just screaming for some figure replicas.

Having said that, I cant fault them for trying their hand at other epochs and quite possibly building a brand new base of loyal customers. Anyway, we're just a couple of months away from their 2007 announcements. Hopefully they have enough in store for everyone to keep their interests picqued and their passion satisfied. At least for now!

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

Law · Post by **Law** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:21 pm

Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if Unimax doesn't know EXACTLY what they are doing.

Reading over some of these posts, I was thinking about how amazing some of their recent figures have been (like, specifically, the wounded soldier being helped along, and the jumping winter soldier).

The thing is -- I didn't really need any new halftracks. I like the hanomag and all, but I didn't need, like, five of this thing. And I got at least three more largely for the figures.

Maybe I'm not representative of the general audience for these things, but I still feel that someone at Unimax knows I'm out here. They just figured (pun unintended) that they'd rather concentrate their efforts on vehicles, and just forget about the figure packs. They can charge more and sell more repaints this way. It's a good strategy -- the figures alone and the repaint alone might sell, but not generate the same revenue that they get for including these sculpts only with the repaints.

Law

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:05 am

The thing is -- I didn't really need any new halftracks. I like the hanomag and all, but I didn't need, like, five of this thing. And I got at least three more largely for the figures.

First of all I'd like to say that if you guys are finding the kind of FOV stuff mentioned in this thread at your local area Target stores, then consider yourselves extremely fortunate, because the Target stores in my AO are very spotty at best, and recently have had zilch, I mean almost nothing in the way of FOV offerings. With regard to the FOV Hanomag, I had the good fortune to have a fellow board member send me one in trade a while back, and I can tell you without hesitation that it is awesome, far superior to the 21C examples IMO, and well worth the price, which as I recall was around $20-$25.

Scott

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:15 am

Hi Ostketten,
Agreed regarding the quality of the halftrack, although it sounds like you got the action grade for that price, not the enthusiast grade. Not that there's a problem with that, its just that the enthusiast grade has nice weathering and should contain some extra goodies.

As for mass merchants like Target and Walmart, that's part of the problem with relying on brick-and-mortar stores for shopping purposes, particularly in the off-season. While they may charge less for some items than the typical online shop, their in-stock status leaves alot to be desired, especially in the off-season when they put more emphasis on other departments where the margins are higher. Couple that with all the gas you spend traveling back and forth, the effort and time you put into the hunt, and you dont end up saving all that much.

Just my two deutschmarks...

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

ltcbj · Post by **ltcbj** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 5:49 am

for more of those little brick and mortar hobby shops with gaming tables and the ability and willingness to special order anything you want. When it arrives you can examine it and send it back with no hassles if it is broken or somehow deformed. And of course you get it at the same time you pay for it; no relying on the vagaries of the USPS, FedEx or UPS. Plus you have a personal face to face relationship with the store owner/management which I also like a lot. Online sellers seem to always have a lot of stuff up as pre-orders too.....
Of course Lightning is absolutely correct in everything he says about the BIG BOX stores and those little 'mom n' pop' hobby shops are pretty much extinct so this is little more than a pointless rant and waste of everyone's time....

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:12 am

Hi,
I dont think its a pointless rant. Frankly, I think one of the reasons why alot of the mom and pop shops have closed is because they couldnt stay current with the times and not necessarily endure the overhead costs associated with a brick-and-mortar storefront. There's a big hobby shop about a couple of miles from us and all they have online is a website that talks about their shop and nothing more. No attempt to port their physical inventory online so that anyone across the globe could purchase their wares instead of just the locals. Who's at fault there?

If they were smart, many of the mom and pop shops would hire out a part time web designer to create a virtual storefront for them and show them the ways of the online world. In this day and age, it doesnt make economical sense to rely upon the walk-in trade to support you when there are so many more venues available to them.

I would venture to guess that a shop like Michigan Toy Soldier probably sells more online than they do to their walk-in customers, although thats simply conjecture on my part...

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

ltcbj · Post by **ltcbj** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:40 am

My 'local' hobby shop is a 'pop' shop with the gaming tables and crowded shelves and a website that just refers to the categories of items he stocks without reference to individual items, prices or any visible effort to sell anything. He does sponsor a forum and calendar of events for gaming/hobbyists in the area. His clientele is largely military and seems quite loyal. He does everything I stated, but of course I still buy online as well. I prefer to order through him whenever I can but I also find the occasional bargain online and I will jump on those whenever I have the opportunity or money.
I consider myself lucky to have both options.

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:17 am

Hi,
Yep, you're very lucky to have a local shop available that can provide the personal touch and let you inspect items before you buy 'em. Whenever possible they should be strongly supported, much like smaller main street shops when they're confronted by the constant barrage of big box stores.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

ltcbj · Post by **ltcbj** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:46 am

These smaller shops aren't being shut down by the BIG BOX stores as is so often claimed, but rather they are enhanced by them. It is the personal service that you get from mom, pop and cousin Will that people turn to on "Main Street" for many products. The difference between the often generic products available at your local Wal-Mart (and I have no problem with generics, generally) at the big discount and the classy service you get along with the product on Main Street stand in bold juxtaposition. Try placing a "special order" at Wal Mart!! (Actually I never have and did get a very fast and positive response regarding their carrying Takara WTM. Of course they aren't, yet, and may never, but they did respond personally to me with a phone call from a local manager. Very impressive.)

Online players (such as The Motorpool) can supply that same kind of personal service and thereby build their reputation(s) and client base in much the same way. Maybe not as warmly but certainly service builds trust and trust cements relationships and builds loyalty.

Your frequent posts here show your own concern for (and provides service to) your customer base and the collecting population in general. Knowing that you will respond professionally to any query put to you here, in public, increases our trust in you. Everyone and anyone can supply the same product, so to mis-quote some old politico: "It's the service, stupid."

lightning2000 · Post by **lightning2000** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:51 am

Hi,
Thanks for your response and thanks for your insight. Right now I'm bouncing between forums (the other forum has nothing to do with the hobby).

I'm debating with a person who feels the need to post a "HackerSafe" logo on their web site. Yeah, thats going to help when Microsoft, the DoD, credit card companies et. al. routinely get hacked on a daily basis. Anyway, what do you tell the customer that has his account info hacked when you have the seal on your site?

Anyway, getting back to your comments, mom and pop shops just have to approach their business differently than they have in the past before the onset of the Big Box retailers. Special ordering merchandise is certainly one way, providing superior customer service another, and discussing up-to-date info a third, instead of just letting the customer cruise the aisles to see whats available.

Lightning2000
www.themotorpool.net

blurx7 · Post by **blurx7** » Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:58 pm

I have been lurking for quite awhile in this forum, but decided this was too good not to share.
The Target I go to restocked its FOV shelves recently, but forgot to re-mark the correct price on the larger items from the last clearance price. So far I have purchased two Tigers, a Patton, an AAVPA1, and an M270 MLRS, all at $6.24 apiece. They have re-filled the slot three times now, each time with 4 new vehicles, and they keep marking them at $6.24. The shelf even says $6.24. I hope this never ends......
Oh, I have also checked other local Targets and this one store seems to be the only one making this mistake.
Check the price on the scanner.

Small Scale Military Headquarters

FOV at Target

FOV at Target

JRS

Figures

Ostketten

Oh how I long

Itcbj

actually

Itcbj

That's the thing

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forums

FOV at Target