What's up with California?

[Jedi2016]

I've noticed that right when the new figures come out, I see them all over e-Bay, and all over Sir Steve's Guide, etc.. but I don't see them in stores around here (just outside of San Francisco). So I assume that they've just sold out really fast, and I wind up getting them from e-Bay or some such. Then right after I get my figures, I walk into Toys R Us, and there they are... Is there some sort of delay in getting figures out west here? I've heard that Adi Gallia and the new Anakin are out, but I have yet to see them here. Oh, BTW, I really am a real collector. I have every Episode I figure except those two (that are out so far, anyway)

[jjwr]

Odds are its the same there as it is here, unless your at the store withhin a day or two of when the new ones come out then you don't get them. Things sell out here very fast, if your not right there then you don't get them, once they've been out longer its easier to get stuff, thats probably why you see them later on. Odds are Cali, especially the big cities isn't late in getting them, too much demand in a high popluation area like that.

[Bromine]

I'm kind of lucky in Canada, in a way. We get figures almost 5 months after you. This is really a good thing because I already know which figures are rare and what to look for before it hits the shelves. :)

[Mirax H]

No, it's not just you, I'm near Vegas and I looke everywhere there and still havn't found them :(

[FHWookie]

I live in MN and I don't see them on the shelf either, I get mine from ebay. We JUST now started to get Captain Tarpals, and oom-9. I am a 12" collector so I really look for the 12" ones. i just saw R2-A6 today for the 1st time.

[Mirax H]

Those are my faves too :)

[CMJ]

I live near Dallas and we get all the figures pretty much on time. I have the entire 1st collection of 16...now I'm working on the new ones....

[jjwr]

I only bought like 5 of the figures, most of them I didn't like that much. though I'm planning on buying some more of them when I get around to it. I'm thinking of getting a bunch of Battle droids. I've got like 10 storm troopers so I need a few battle droids to go along with them.

[Bromine]

Are figures really only $6.99 in the U.S.?

[jjwr]

They're $6.74 at Wal-Mart, thats the cheapest where I live.

[Bromine]

Not a bad deal!

[jjwr]

They were about $1 cheaper before they added those stupid com-tech chips.

[Bromine]

Used to be about $5-6 here, now with comm-tech garbage, they're $9.98. Remember when KIDS could afford toys? :)

[jjwr]

No kidding, toys used to be cheap, not anymore :(

[Mirax H]

I remember when the originals where like $2.49, $1.99 on sale.

[jjwr]

They were cheap, those and G.I.Joe's I would buy, those were cheap too.

[Yoda Lives]

I've heard comments in the past about California, like "the SW figure desert known as SoCal!" or something like that. I live by Philadelphia. Up until the Freeze Frame wave, I used to go to FAO Shwarz at the King of Prussia mall every other Thursday and get ANYTHING I ever needed for $8, cuz they ALWAYS ordered stuff regularly. I was able to get 'rare' stuff like all the coll. 2 errors, including the 'grey beard' Ponda Baba. Then last year, they might have ordered once in January, and I NEVER saw anything else new the rest of the year (plus it didn't help that they raised figs to $10 a pop - OUCH!! Can you say 'pegwarmers'?). They've been sorta steady with the TPM stuff, they got in about 10 cases of the Tarpals wave (but no variants like OOM-9 binocs-on-blister or Tarpals warning sticker, those sons-of-*&$^%$!!!!). The Toys-r-Us here is remodeling, and I think they've been too busy throwing Ric Olie and Chancellor Valorum figures into the fire to order anything. Wal*Mart seems pretty steady, though. I lucked out one Friday night 2 months ago and scored two Darth Maul Tatooine figs (one to open, of course - don't flame me, PLEASE!!!!!!). I have all the TPM stuff except for the new Anakin, Adi Gallia, Panaka and Royal Guard. I just found the Gonk classic wave at a Boscov's last weekend. But then again, I've gotten sorta lazy (and cheap) recently...

[jjwr]

I still haven't found a Tatooine Maul, thats the one I'm looking for. I have a feeling the stores around here aren't gonna order any more of the older ones. Which kinda pisses me off, but I'll get one eventually.

[Bromine]

Canada is so overwhelmed with peg-warmers, they're sending them back to Hasbro, who will distribute them to needy children. Considering we haven't got ANYTHING new since the first Ep. 1 figs on May 3, it's a good idea, I guess. I still don't see why they didn't just sell them off for, say, $1 each! :)

[jjwr]

We've got a ton of those peg warmers here too, most of the lamer characters, but if they did lower the prices I know I'd but them, but not for $7+ a pop.

[Bromine]

The Bay, a big dept. store chain in Canada, has always had its figures at $8.99. They STILL have green HOLOGRAM carded figures. They finally dropped their prices to $4.99 (still rather high for really old stock, IMO) just a few weeks ago. I couldn't believe it, because they have about 15+ Bossks at my local store, and I figured I'd missed my chance to buy one. I read that in other countries, stores can order cases of just one figure from Hasbro. That's right, NO PACKING RATIOS! If they want 100 more Darth Mauls, they get them without any lame figures to clog up space. I guess stores in other countries don't stand for stupid packing ratios the way they do in North America.

[Jedi2016]

Here's what I usually wind up doing (or have been doing, anyway). I started my collection with a couple of Darth Mauls (Jedi Duel) that I got from e-Bay. They had all dissapeared before I decided to begin collecting them, so e-Bay was how I had to go. I've only gone to e-Bay for the HTF figures, since they tend to dissapear from the shelves in about five minutes. The thing is (and the reason I started this thread), that about a week after I get my figures from e-Bay, I start seeing them in stores. The same figure I ordered online two weeks ago!!! Right now, my collection has blossomed to include everything up to the latest batch. I've got the Naboo Jedi, and the Tatooine Maul, Yoda, etc... what I'm missing (and I'm pretty sure they're out) is Adi Gallia, and Naboo Anakin. And of course, all the little pathetic guards and stuff that'll stock shelves for a year to come. I've considered going e-Bay on them, but I figure that if I wait a couple more weeks, I might see them show up on shelves around here (S.F. Bay area). For some reason, we seem to have that "delay" I mentioned. It's weird.

[Bromine]

Consider yourself lucky; that's what I do. I check out websites and stuff about the new figs, see which came out, which are cool and which are in reality really lame with articulation and such, and also which ones turned out to be really rare or popular. By the time the toys hit the shelves in my area, I know all about them and which ones I want to get.

[Jedi2016]

Actually, I'm putting together a complete collection of ALL of them. But the cheesy or stupid ones are very easy to find in stores. Darth Sidious, Qui-Gon, Queen Amidala (Naboo), Jar-Jar... It's the other ones like Darth Maul (any), Yoda, R2, Destroyer Droid, finding all 4 battle droids.. those are the ones I have to digging around for. Actually, I have all those, most of them from e-Bay. It's the really new ones (Adi Gallia, Anakin (Naboo)) are the ones I'm just going to wait until they hit stores here.

[Bromine]

Still waiting for Yoda, although I'm hoping that by the time he arrives there will already be a resculpt in the works, then I can wait for that one. What kind of dumb accessory is a chair, anyway? Yoda needs a saber, for cryin' out loud! :)

[Jedi Rama]

When I hear new figs. are coming out I add three months to the release date and thats when I start looking.