Marvel Legends discussion

[philtastic]

Originally Posted by MorphGrid

From the swaps that I've seen at TRU. It's usually two things:

1) The employee doesn't pay attention to the fact that the figure art and windowed figure doesn't match. (One example of this was when I saw someone put in a 2014 Winter Soldier on the new Winter Soldier ML at Markville TRU)

2) The employee doesn't pay attention to tampered parts. I was at the TRU that the guy I linked showed of the swapped Ragnarok and Iron Man. In both cases, the person put tape on the bottom of the card, and resealed the Deluxe ML box (you could see the cut tape on the bottom).

I highly doubt that this is happening in-store because most TRUs now have cameras in every aisle, so it'd have to take an insane level of incompetence from L&D to not be able to prevent the theft. I used to work at Target Canada and our L&D went from detecting theft to immediately running on the store floor to catch the person (or calling mall security if we're in a strip/mall).

What's "L&D" for those of us who aren't familiar with retail terminology?

[Hangfest]

Originally Posted by Marvellegendsguy

How come that news cyclops has not shown up anywhere for preorder

It's one of the VHS box ones that's exclusive to Hasbro Pulse.

Marvel Legends Series X-Men Marvel?s Cyclops

[random11]

Originally Posted by philtastic

What's "L&D" for those of us who aren't familiar with retail terminology?

Im assuming he means Loss and Prevention (or I guess Loss and Damage) ... IE the security guards.

[philtastic]

Originally Posted by random11

Im assuming he means Loss and Prevention (or I guess Loss and Damage) ... IE the security guards.

Ah. Thanks.

[canprime]

Originally Posted by MorphGrid

From the swaps that I've seen at TRU. It's usually two things:

1) The employee doesn't pay attention to the fact that the figure art and windowed figure doesn't match. (One example of this was when I saw someone put in a 2014 Winter Soldier on the new Winter Soldier ML at Markville TRU)

2) The employee doesn't pay attention to tampered parts. I was at the TRU that the guy I linked showed of the swapped Ragnarok and Iron Man. In both cases, the person put tape on the bottom of the card, and resealed the Deluxe ML box (you could see the cut tape on the bottom).

I highly doubt that this is happening in-store because most TRUs now have cameras in every aisle, so it'd have to take an insane level of incompetence from L&D to not be able to prevent the theft. I used to work at Target Canada and our L&D went from detecting theft to immediately running on the store floor to catch the person (or calling mall security if we're in a strip/mall).

Did you guys wait until they left the store?


When I worked retail, one of the things that was mentioned a couple of times is that the person has to leave the store before you could act. Why? Because they could end up paying for the item, even if they opened it in store, before leaving, and if you confronted them before that they could claim they were going to pay, and you were harassing them.

[MorphGrid]

Originally Posted by canprime

Did you guys wait until they left the store?

When I worked retail, one of the things that was mentioned a couple of times is that the person has to leave the store before you could act. Why? Because they could end up paying for the item, even if they opened it in store, before leaving, and if you confronted them before that they could claim they were going to pay, and you were harassing them.

I think for us it was case-by-case and dependent on the type and value of items that were stolen. I remember when we had a number of people that were consistent thieves and they'd be stopped right away. It was not super common where I was to see someone getting stopped after they left.

EDIT: Now thinking about it, I would also wonder if the state of reduced hours + post-pandemic recovery has affected this whole ML swapping thing.

Originally Posted by random11

Im assuming he means Loss and Prevention (or I guess Loss and Damage) ... IE the security guards.

Yeah that's what I meant. There's also a number of terminology. I know there's Asset Protection, Loss Prevention, Loss & Damage, etc.

[lifedragon99]

Originally Posted by philtastic

So here's what I don't get about swaps. Neither GameStop nor TRU accept returns on open boxes. So how are these getting through? Are these in-store swaps? If so, that doesn't have anything to do with returns.

As for GameStop and windowless boxes, I've noticed several locations displaying empty boxes, keeping the actual figure in the back room. This is what they do with games, too. Primarily to fight theft.

Only one store in my area has a locked glass case where they keep premium figures. Another uses cards with pictures of the items that you give to the clerk, who then gets it from the back. Both of which are much better options than displaying empty boxes, imo.

I bought the lighting collection wildforce silver ranger with the correct paint apps and boot colour, and was very easily able to swap it out for the one I had that wasn't correct. I just peeled off the bottom tape, it peeled off very easily and didn't look like it had been opened at all.

On another note, I went to Hillcrest GameStop to return some figures I'd already gotten from Amazon months prior and the employee actually visibly checked the tape to make sure they weren't tampered with.

[Napseeker]

Originally Posted by lifedragon99

On another note, I went to Hillcrest GameStop to return some figures I'd already gotten from Amazon months prior and the employee actually visibly checked the tape to make sure they weren't tampered with.

Yes, I've had them do the same thing to me when I did a return. As noted earlier, Gamestop employees tend to be fellow toy collectors like ourselves or at least geeky enough to know of swapping and what to look for.

TRU employees are usually high school students or older women who don't collect Hasbro stuff at all. I usually have had to take time to point out to the customer service staff what to look for when others do returns. Even then, sometimes they still put the swapped item back on the pegs because they don't want to mark it as a loss.

[Ksteel]

Oh the figure swapping on the new boxes is going to be an epidemic at Wal-Mart over the next few months..

I wish they pressed charges against this guys, but I appreciate how bold and ridiculous some of them are.

[MorphGrid]

Wal-Mart is arguably the worst with swaps. I've seen Marvel Legends where the title is "John Walker Captain America" and I see a toy-biz Wonder Man there. Or a DC Multiverse Lobo with a DC#1000 Batman.