Small Scale Military Headquarters

Ok, I have to say it. It's just eating away at me.

I go to TRU and WalMart all the time. I was in these stores during the past winter holidays. And I'm always on the lookout for new 1:18 figures.

I never saw a 21st Century dual pack. Ever.

All I ever saw was a bunch of Platoon guys. And some Imperial Japanese which have been rotting on the pegs since they came out.

There. I said it. I can relax now. I was just a little tired of people saying "Oh yeah, I just picked up a dozen for $8 a pop. They're overflowing the pegs man!"

Right. Maybe they were before you bought them all up.

Hate to say it, but it seems the distribution problems that have been a major pain for the last two years (at least) isn't just due to Wally Worlds business model.

Why can't these people who hoard figures go after the Platoon guys?

Please buy up all the Platoon guys, please.

It's probably because there are so many Platoon figures left that we're not getting any new stuff.

If you have so much $$ to spend on figures, buy up some Platoon guys and help the rest of us out.

And would someone please buy up the last of the Japanese figures!

Remember, it is all a matter of perspective. In the GNW, I have not seen any dual packs, new DAK or any VN/Platoon figures. I would also love to pick up another set of the Japanese.

No Dual Packs, or even Platoon figures, in the central part California, either... and I don't really care anymore.

At least we have those McDonalds Angus beef burgers, or whatever they're called, that the rest of the country doesn't get

They're OK, but nothing special

hmmmmm, McDonalds Angus beef burgers, Homer has it right. Why can't we get those!!!

It seems that whenever I go to the local WM's the XD pegs are either empty or have multiples of the same figures (Platoon) that just aren't selling. There's rarely anything 1/18 at the local Targets except the occasional Joe and a few of the US FOV guys and a Bradley or Sherman here and there. None of the local Big Lots ever seems to have any Power Team sets anymore. I live near an outlet mall and the KB Toys outlet never has any 1/18 or 1/6 military items anymore. I was in TRU last week and they had a few XD figures with crushed packages plus one BBI Para with the jump harness but that was about it. I've never seen any of the Dual Packs anywhere.

It's not just XD figures or 1/18 military figures in general either. There are lots of different toys that aren't being stocked or restocked in a variety of stores. I do some selling on eBay and there are numbers of things that I used to find a plentiful supply of that I can no longer find or have to go to extremes to locate. One of the things I sell on eBay is Tech Deck 96mm skateboard replicas. They're pretty popular and sell out fairly quickly but they don't seem to be restocking them anywhere. Just like XD figures the pegs are always empty at the numerous stores that carry them. Sometimes I go to WM when I know they've just stocked the toy department and the pegs are still empty. The last couple of times I was in WM and Target I walked the toy isles and found numerous empty pegs for a variety of different toys. Maybe it's cutbacks from the Chinese suppliers preparing for the Olympics or price increases due to rising fuel, manufacturing and shipping costs that's causing these shortages. I don't know for certain what's causing it but something other than WM's distribution process is creating a severe shortage of certain toys. At least in some markets anyway.

Distribution sucks... Such is life.

In my area I never saw a FOV Tiger I or FOV Sherman... I don't blame people for hoarding them, I blame Target for not distributing them evenly (or enough) around the nation. Others swam in them, I did not. We didn't exactly get FOV WW2 figures for a while either, and even then we still don't have many around now.

But I did luck out and get two-packs... It's toy karma.

It's a shame that we, the collectors, cant have a direct way of buying the figs right from the mfg. Sorta like a "members only" type of thing with the companys. Have a yearly membership fee and what not, but it would allow us to beat that terrible dist prob. Just a thought thats probally been mentioned on here before many many times I'm sure.

tosborne3 wrote:It's a shame that we, the collectors, cant have a direct way of buying the figs right from the mfg. Sorta like a "members only" type of thing with the companys. Have a yearly membership fee and what not, but it would allow us to beat that terrible dist prob. Just a thought thats probally been mentioned on here before many many times I'm sure.

Tosborne. This is a great idea. Everybody would be a winner! The store because they would get extra money for the dues and they would sell merchansise garanteed. Us because we would get what we need (want).
Doe anybody have the REAL reason why Wal-Mart droped the 1/18 scale planes and tanks?

[quote="pickelhaubeTosborne. This is a great idea. Everybody would be a winner! The store because they would get extra money for the dues and they would sell merchansise garanteed. Us because we would get what we need (want).
Doe anybody have the REAL reason why Wal-Mart droped the 1/18 scale planes and tanks?[/quote]The reason I believe Walmart is as bad as they are is because they only care about money, they don't cater to the collector. Unfortunately our "toys" don't sell as well as the Spiderman Mr. Potato head or Spud troopers. Those darn kids!! An online direct to customer store would be great, but I don't ever see it happening.

dandaman, you must be new to the search-n-locate. We have talked about how crappy the distribution for years now on this forum.

I hate to say it but I've given up on buying anything new in TRU or Walmart.

All the new stuff I have bought has been from online stores like BCA and MTS.

DH

well we knew it was to happen - when the Platoon figures came out. They sold pretty quick the first round and the boom there are 40 of them and now they sit. same happend with every other series- they sell well at first and the reorder person or computer goes overboard - sounds like a new verse for the Great Book.

Heck, i'd love the platoon guys but we don't get any 21C stuff in Canada, so you could be worse off

STUKA wrote:well we knew it was to happen - when the Platoon figures came out. They sold pretty quick the first round and the boom there are 40 of them and now they sit. same happend with every other series- they sell well at first and the reorder person or computer goes overboard - sounds like a new verse for the Great Book.

I've seen that with the Japanes figures, the USMC figures and now with the Platoon figures but for the most part I've never seen it with any of the other releases except for the occasional single figure peg warmer. Around here German figures are particularly hard to find. You've got maybe two to three months to find them when they're first released and then you'll probably never see them again except possibly when they're released as repaints. It's pretty much the same with the 21st 1/6 weapons sets as well except for a few exceptions. When something sells well I just don't understand why they don't keep it in production. To me their business model just defies any logic.

well I know for one I grabbed the entire first round of OMG figures at the McDonough WM a few years back about about a week later there was another run and I picked a few out but they were gone quick too probably because I took the first round - then a few came a bit later and hung around a bit -

STUKA wrote:well I know for one I grabbed the entire first round of OMG figures at the McDonough WM a few years back...

The McDonough WM is the one closest to me. I'm in there every week and they almost never get anything new. I was in there a few days ago and all they had was a single US MB Driver that has been hanging there for over a year. They had a few of the German figures about a month ago but they came and went like a thief in the night. There are other WM's in the area but with gas prices what they are and lack of time due to work and family I just don't have the time or money to hit several WM's at a time anymore.

Doe anybody have the REAL reason why Wal-Mart droped the 1/18 scale planes and tanks?

It wouldn't have had anything to do with the stack upon stack upon stack of airplanes that didn't even move well at half off, would it? Or the AA Huey's that were around till last year at some WM's near me, or whatnot.

Has WM or 21st actually come out directly and said "You won't be seeing anything at WM anymore"? Or is it just speculation for the most part? I couldn't recall among all the hubbub over the past months if there actually was something posted "official" about it. It sort of just became gospel it seemed.

[quote="kduck They had a few of the German figures about a month ago but they came and went like a thief in the night. [/quote]

Sorry about that - I always try to leave a few - but that WM back in the day was usually the first one in the area to get new stuff.

I don't think anyone has come out and said anything concrete about WM and 21st - was probably more of a contract that expired?

STUKA wrote:Sorry about that - I always try to leave a few - but that WM back in the day was usually the first one in the area to get new stuff.

I don't think anyone has come out and said anything concrete about WM and 21st - was probably more of a contract that expired?

Nothing to be sorry about. I did manage to get a few. I also found a few others at the Hudson Bridge WM at about the same time but the last few times I checked they were depleted too.

I doubt we'll hear anything definitive from 21C but it would be nice to know what's really going on.