to Matches Malone

** Hey Matches sorry to hear that you are out of the collecting scene. If you are and have any transformers for sale, I'm interested. Hit me up. (Randy if this is ok)

Name:a regular reader

Awww.....the toy market is dying? Are you a doctor?

** You know I read matches post and can't help but think what a negative, outlook it is. First off i look up at my display of many superheroes and realise this is one of the best times ever to be a collector. hell, i got 3-4 diff outfits of Lex Luthor, how cool. i have figures of people i never thought i'd get....Heck a Stan Lee figure??? This is the stuff of dreams. so the JLU line frustrates you??? I'm sorry, nobodys making you buy them. Yeah it sucks excecs get perks, I get free coffe at work. Bet they have to pay for coffee at Hasbro or Mattel or whatever. My point is, i'm doing this, collecting, for fun. As i belive most really do......So if it is pissing you off that much, quit and pursue that dream of dating a Hooters waitress. I don't know about you but I'd prolly rather have that than an army of 3 inch plastic men......but diff strokes and all that.

i really don't see how your frustration is making the market die. Honestly its never been bigger, which too does cause some problems. and the toy companys aren't really out to get you. Maybe you could drop them an email or something. sure the market may die someday, but as long as people like you and me keep buying, complaining or not.......theres a market. and don't forget there are actually some children out there that buy em too. imagine that, kids buying toys.....i wonder if they complain as much as you?

Good luck, maybe you should tell your hooters waitress about your joker dilemma, that would really win her over.

Name:FLORIDA COLLECTOR

FIGURE COLLECTING BLUES

** For all you collectorx out there who always never seem to find the figures you want....dont blame other collectors or toy scalpers or ebay sellers....it has nothing to do with them. Heres the reason. There are simply too many retail spaces and too little product. Last month alone Target opened 51 new super centers and walmart 49 all across the country. Target has plans for 200 staores in the usa alone over the next 6 years as walmart will have 5000. Throw in all the kaybee toys and the few TRU's and K-Marts too and there just is not enough product, or cases to cover all the stores. Items are already being shipped to the busier stores, walmart calls them thier 'A' stores, those stores that do like some 300K per day or more. This already is in play and has been for some time. I recently went to a Walmart supercenter grand opening....i was the first person in the toy isle and what did they have.....no star wars, no marvel legends, no justice league, no spawn, no titanium.....the aisle was literally empty. I am not kidding, they opened with no action figures or even hot wheels or even legos. For months and months now here in central florida, both Target and Walmart both get about 1 case of star wars or marvel legends in store about every 16 days or so, thats it, no more than that has shown up in almost a year now. To this day i can think of at least 6 walmarts here that have yet to even see the new 30th anniversary figures. I had a clerk tell me that they got in the new darth vader figures the other day only to find out that she was talking about the vader with coin album set, which by the way at the walmart closest to this one had them clearanced for $5.00 less than 6 miles away. So....the next time you blame other collectors or the so called toy scalpers or ebayers ot there for your woes.....remember....its hasbro and the big chains not being able to keep up with demand and not being able to see thier deficiency in re-stocking empty pegs.!
Wlamart has a saying....an empty peg costs the chain $5.00 per day
in sales, so you would think they would lite a fire under someone somewhere at hasbro or thier many distribution warehouse to wake up and see the problem. Just imagine....this is just one or two things from one department of a few stores....just think how many other pegs are empty all the time around the store. Out of curiosity i checked.....yes i walked the entire store, not the grocery side or clothes but all the other departments and i counted 94 empty pegs in one store, 26 or which were in the toy department. Well now you all know....so just imagine this time next year when target and walmart have opened each 50 stores per month for another year. You think finding those specific items is hard now.....by then you will be thanking the force for ebay.
For all you collectorx out there who always never seem to find the figures you want....dont blame other collectors or toy scalpers or ebay sellers....it has nothing to do with them. Heres the reason. There are simply too many retail spaces and too little product. Last month alone Target opened 51 new super centers and walmart 49 all across the country. Target has plans for 200 staores in the usa alone over the next 6 years as walmart will have 5000. Throw in all the kaybee toys and the few TRU's and K-Marts too and there just is not enough product, or cases to cover all the stores. Items are already being shipped to the busier stores, walmart calls them thier 'A' stores, those stores that do like some 300K per day or more. This already is in play and has been for some time. I recently went to a walmart supercenter grand opening....i was the first person in the toy isle and what did they have.....no star wars, no marvel legends, no justice league, no spawn, no titani!
um.....the isle was literally empty. I am not kidding, they opened with no action figures or even hot wheels or even legos. For months and months now here in central florida, both Target and Walmart both get about 1 case of star wars or marvel legends in store about every 16 days or so, thats it, no more than that has shown up in almost a year now. To this day i can think of at least 6 walmarts here that have yet to even see the new 30th anniversary figures. I had a clerk tell me that they got in the new darth vader figures the other day only to find out that she was talking about the vader with coin album set, which by the way at the walmart closest to this one had them clearanced for $5.00 less than 6 miles away. So....the next time you blame other collectors or the so called toy scalpers or ebayers ot there for your woes.....remember....its hasbro and the big chains not being able to keep up with demand and not being able to see thier deficiency in re-stocking empty pegs.!
Wlamart has a saying....an empty peg costs the chain $5.00 p!
er day in sales, so you would think they would lite a fire under someone somewhere at hasbro or thier many distribution warehouse to wake up and see the problem. Just imagine....this is just one or two things from one department of a few stores....just think how many other pegs are empty all the time around the store. Out of curiosity i checked.....yes i walked the entire store, not the grocery side or clothes but all the other departments and i counted 94 empty pegs in one store, 26 or which were in the toy department. Well now you all know....so just imagine this time next year when target and walmart have opened each 50 stores per month for another year. You think finding those specific items is hard now.....by then you will be thanking the force for ebay.

Name:Jeff

I'm with you, Matches Malone, I recently decided to stop collecting as well

** I agree with everything you write about in your thoughtful essay. The state of toy collecting is horrible. For me, I began to become jaded when the quality of Star Wars figures severely declined while the price increased. The plastic used seems to be as pliable as a piece of chewing gum; and don t even get me started on the accessories, which are visibly bent in the packaging. Seven bucks for a Star Wars figure? No thanks. Ten bucks for the special Star Wars figures, which is how all the $7 ones should be? No thanks. Constantly repainting the same figures over and over again? No thanks. I keep thinking of that Simpsons line about the Malibu Stacy doll, But she has a new hat! The JLU figures have the right idea, $5 for a better quality figure, if you can find the damn things! My Toys R Us here in Rhode Island has literally about 30 Superman figures in the old packaging and not a single purple-carded figure. What about that Vigilante set that came out for like a day? Perhaps I am getting too old for this stuff. I m sick of wasting time and gas to consistently find that there s no new product. Even figures I don t collect look awful! Anyone out there collecting Pirates of the Caribbean figures? Didn t think so. How about the 10 thousandth McFarlane offering? Yeah, me neither. Those new Fantastic Four 2 figures look great don t they? Just kidding. Man, I miss the Super Powers days. I m done.

Name:SuperDadd DCSH Commotion!

**Hmmm. I find it interesting that there is a rise of hoopla over Mattel's latest acquisition of DC properties, beyond the Superman & Batman characters, and supporting cast that somehow cast a shadow of aspersion, doubt, and a prognostication of doom (or at the very least a decline) for the continuance of Hasbro's Marvel Legends line.

Aren't we being a little hard on the heroes of Hasbro? Yeah, they had a rough start out of the gate with their Emma Frost, and some of the other figures. The articulation, paint washes etc. But, for a mass-market distributor, they weren't as bad as they could have been. It seems that in many respects Hasbro continued to pay attention to important details like scale. Let's face it; Hasbro could have put all their figs. at six inches exactly. But we still got a decent sized Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and She-Hulk, etc. from Hasbro. The HML figs. seem to be a studier lot, and we still got BAFs smaller yes, but even the much-anticipated LCBH line (made by Marvel Toys, you know, formerly "Toy Biz") is only offering 10 inch BAFs. Hey, I ain't mad at'em. I'm hip to the rising gas prices and how it impacts the "Toy-biz" (pun intended). Mattel's first offering of the DCSH line married beautiful sculpts with very good articulation (but not as much as HML currently offers). From!
all accounts, everything that went right with the DCSH line was because of the Four Horsemen's love of the characters. Mattel did not give us any pack-ins, or extras, like a BAF Doomsday, or even a slightly larger Doomsday, or a sculpted stand for the same money we do get those extras with HML.

And while we're on the subject of scale Mattel released both their Batman and Superman movie figures at a 5 inch scale, and no one said much of anything! The only reason Hasbro caught guff for the 5 inch Spidey 3 figs. was because they were already continuing the ML line, which, if you remember, had already given us previous versions of those characters at 6 inches. Like I've said before, the collective collection of collectors' complaints do us action figure aficionados much good, but cha' gotta' be equal opportunity whiners.

On that note, nobody's happier that we're gonna' get an expanded DCSH line and by the FH, no less. And, I have it on good account, that Mattel's going to lean heavily on the FH's opinion (Mattel please lean a lot on their opinion). But, y'all gotta' start cuttin' my "Hasbros" some slack. The HML wave 4 looks a lot better'n their previous offerings (the previews do anyway).

Some have written that they're "out" because they don't like the way HML has peddled their wares. Well, then "Bye". Stop threatening to commit suicide, before you accidentally kill yourself.

With the promise of new DCSH, LCBH, and HML waves, the future of action figures look to kick some major @$$ (I m gonna hafta' find a second paying gig). I don't want any of my cutting edge toy makers throwing in the towel. Hang in their Hasbro, do it to it Mattel. If I'm willing to continue buying double sets of your stuff, you otta' at least keep pumping them out! My sons and I are counting on you!

BUYOW!

Name:DB

: I agree

**I have to say I agree with a great deal of what Matches has to say about the state of todays collecting....as it is i have some hope for the toybiz/marvel toys superhero line, if thats poor i'll be finding something better to waste money on