The Energon Pub

Here you can bitch about anything about any collection.

I'd like to start by bitching about how not enough Walmarts are carrying DC Universe Classics Wave 10. Putting that aside for the moment, nobody carries DCU Classics like they should. It's very frustating when new figures come out and the only way I can get them is pay 2x to 3x what they're worth on Ebay. Take for example Vigilante from I think Wave 8 which was supposed to be available in all stores. Still haven't seen it in Southern GA. As for Wave 10...forget about it. Only one Walmart around here carries the wave and I only saw two figures from the collection. The one I bought is apparently the least valuable one. There still 3 figures from Wave 10 that I want but fear that unless I dish out 60 damn dollars plus shipping I won't get. I just don't have that sort of $$$!
And then there's the local Target. Targets are supposed to carry DCU figures from the recently released "Public Enemies" DVD. My local Target doesn't have any of these and shows no indication that they are going to. The other Targets I've searched only have the Infinite Crisis figures which I'm not interested in. I only want Batman from this collection for goodness sake!

Thanks for reading my rave and feel free to rave yourself.

SentinelA wrote:Here you can bitch about anything about any collection.

I'd like to start by bitching about how not enough Walmarts are carrying DC Universe Classics Wave 10. Putting that aside for the moment, nobody carries DCU Classics like they should. It's very frustating when new figures come out and the only way I can get them is pay 2x to 3x what they're worth on Ebay. Take for example Vigilante from I think Wave 8 which was supposed to be available in all stores. Still haven't seen it in Southern GA. As for Wave 10...forget about it. Only one Walmart around here carries the wave and I only saw two figures from the collection. The one I bought is apparently the least valuable one. There still 3 figures from Wave 10 that I want but fear that unless I dish out 60 damn dollars plus shipping I won't get. I just don't have that sort of $$$!
And then there's the local Target. Targets are supposed to carry DCU figures from the recently released "Public Enemies" DVD. My local Target doesn't have any of these and shows no indication that they are going to. The other Targets I've searched only have the Infinite Crisis figures which I'm not interested in. I only want Batman from this collection for goodness sake!

Thanks for reading my rave and feel free to rave yourself.

UPDATE: The local Walmart FINALLY had most of Wave 10 today. I got 2 out of 3 of the figures I wanted. I got black Batman (Micheal Keaton homage?) and classic Joker. The only one they didn't have was Man-Bat. Still want him but if I don't find him, no biggy.

My rave towards Target still applies.

The last couple of waves of the DCUC figs have been tough to find.. Dunno if it is bad distribution by Mattel or bad ordering by stores.

I've been looking for a comic book for a few years now, but whenever I find it, it's like $15-$20 not including shipping. It's a #49, had a regular print run, and the series isn't even that popular (it ended the issue after). What's it doing at $15-$20? Anyway, haven't found it yet. I remember going to a comic convention and looking through the back issues, finding #46...#47...#48... ugh.....#50.

Shoulda bought it when it was out originally, but I stopped collecting the series around #35, then regretted it a few years later and managed to find all the back issues except that one.

For me, this thread has been made obsolete by other individual threads. How ironic!

This is the place where I should have vented all my anger and frustration..... with the toys, of course!
so here it goes...

With the exception of TFs and Bionicles, this has been a horrific year for my collector's hobby.

First off, I'll start with Megabrands.
I've been collecting their Neo Shifters line of robot construction sets ever since they came out a few years ago. They sort of look like Bionicles, but are typically taller and transform into spheroid shapes and include a tiny symbiotic robot that also turns into a sphere and fits in the chest. There have been many different sets over time, from multi-mode sets to mini vehicles, robots that link to the internet game via infra red, to a really cool electronic energy drilling platform playset.
The frustration comes from the fact that there are 8 remaining sets to the line, 4 humanoid and 4 vehicles that were shown on Mega's website shop back last January that never got any kind of wide distribution and have been listed as "out of stock" since forever. These things were supposed to be released last May, but they are nearly impossible to find except for ridiculously inflated prices on Amazon.
Megabrands have been of no help whatsoever, their "consumer service" department telling me of stores that supposedly carry them, but turn up completely empty. I found them once at TRU Canada, and as I was happily plunking in my credit card number the site told me that they do not ship to the U.S., so out of luck once again. Mega will not even tell me if they are discontinued or not, stating that they "don't know", which is unacceptable.
I've been buying Mega's crap for years, Blok-Bots, Mag-Warriors, Dragons, as well as Neo Shifters. This year long fruitless search has sucked the fun right out of collecting Mega, and frankly, I've had enough. Now they've released an inferior follow-up to Neo Shifters called "Neo Machines", which are utter piles of cheap crap that I will pass on, along with Halo Wars and anything else they trickle out to the public. Thank God Lego doesn't have this trouble.

Secondly, I'd like to add Bandai of America to the list of companies I will no longer do business with. I've been collecting Power Rangers since the beginning, evidence being that the half of my toy room not drenched in TFs has been dedicated to them. The latest series, RPM, has had such tremendous distribution issues that it evokes memories of how Mattel ( curse that name to the pits of toy hell! ) absolutely massacred the 2000 MOTU line through the same kind of mindless BS. The second wave of figures, vehicles, and Megazords that were supposed to be released MONTHS ago have only been trickling out here and there across the country making for months of hair-tearing frustration and much wasted gas. It seems that BOA simply pulled the plug on the line before its time so they could release the new line of get this, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers scaled down to a pathetic 3 3/4 inch size (fine for Joes and Micronauts, lousy for Rangers which have always been 5 inches). Mere chance and persistence alone has allowed me to obtain the RPM pieces that I have, but there are some like the Full Throttle Silver Ranger that are impossible to find without spending triple through 3rd party sellers. At this point, I merely want to finish the RPM line, being that it is the last "new" Ranger series we'll get here, and then bid an acid farewell to the incompetent jerks at good ol' Bandai.

I want to rip out the harts of Mattel and eat them in front of them as revenge for not letting me buy their Ghostbusters
Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllll

Another notch for the DC Universe figures, particularly the Wal-Mart exclusive ones. I don't actually collect them, but my brother does, and I work at Wal-Mart, so I try to pick them up for them. I check every day to see if any are in. I saw the entire wave ONCE, and unfortuneately I didn't have enough money on me to get them all that day. Kind of a moot point though since most of them were gone when I got off work(got him Power Girl though). Anway, after that all I've seen are Joker's, Batman, and Power Girl(he doesn't want Joker unless he gets the other four, and doesn't want Batman).

Then I look at the pegs the other day, and the sticker/bar code is GONE. Will they put anymore out? Who knows, they put out Halo figures again for some reason, clearanced them to $3 a pop(which I picked up), and still no more DC Universe's. They also still have some of their exclusive Marvel Legends, and keep putting them out.

So I wonder who's at fault, Mattel for not providing the product, or Wal-Mart for not ordering more even though the figures sell out within three days of stocking.