Star Wars Black Series discussion

[DanM]

About a year or so ago Walmart had another exclusive, the Jedi Knight Luke figure. Lots of stock. 20+ copies at some stores. It was a nice looking figure, but still ended up sitting and finally going on clearance at a couple of stores that I saw. There were reports on this forum that clearance prices went as low as $3 per.

Now whatever is happening this year with the Clone Wars figures is an entirely different deal. Exclusive wise they had lightning in a bottle and didn't realize it. But when the orders were being made, probably around the same time old Luke was going on clearance, the accountants at Walmart probably looked and said this time around lets play it a bit closer to the vest. Let's be cautious. Can you blame them? Would you be bringing in product where there may be a chance that it will be selling on clearance for 1/10th what you initially asked? Especially when Star Wars toys sales wise are a proverbial drop in the ocean of your overall sales? I wouldn't if it was my dollars.

That said, Walmart never should have had this exclusive, or really any other. That said, this wave should never have been an exclusive.

I can forsee a time when these figures will be widely available through another channel. Patience will be key. It may take a year or two, but they will be available. Patience.

[Stryfe2026]

Originally Posted by Bman82

I literally said the exact same thing. It makes zero sense. My walmart got 12 ahsokas in stock. I was there right at 7am. I grabbed 2 and within a matter of seconds they were all gone.. any business with sense would say "holly crap we sold out within less then 5 minutes of opening.. Lets order 30" lol.. and thats the ahoska.. the troopers and mandos are all army builders.. i myself bought three troopers.. that was half of my walmarts stock.. its insane if they don't restock... you'd think an exclusive would be something you stock more of because people can't buy it anywhere else.. if every retailer would stock 6 per store and they would all sell out.. you should be stocking 24 when its exclusive.. the point is to bring people to you.. i honestly don't understand it and don't get me started on the wave that has the beskar mando in it.. 1 per location.. one mando figure per.. location.. wow.. Really? currently the most popular star wars thing going on and all we get is one per location.. ok thanks walmart.. lol

Originally Posted by DanM

About a year or so ago Walmart had another exclusive, the Jedi Knight Luke figure. Lots of stock. 20+ copies at some stores. It was a nice looking figure, but still ended up sitting and finally going on clearance at a couple of stores that I saw. There were reports on this forum that clearance prices went as low as $3 per.

Now whatever is happening this year with the Clone Wars figures is an entirely different deal. Exclusive wise they had lightning in a bottle and didn't realize it. But when the orders were being made, probably around the same time old Luke was going on clearance, the accountants at Walmart probably looked and said this time around lets play it a bit closer to the vest. Let's be cautious. Can you blame them? Would you be bringing in product where there may be a chance that it will be selling on clearance for 1/10th what you initially asked? Especially when Star Wars toys sales wise are a proverbial drop in the ocean of your overall sales? I wouldn't if it was my dollars.

That said, Walmart never should have had this exclusive, or really any other. That said, this wave should never have been an exclusive.

I can forsee a time when these figures will be widely available through another channel. Patience will be key. It may take a year or two, but they will be available. Patience.

That’s not how Walmart works. They have toy buyers, yes and they may have lowered their initial expectations with these exclusives but Walmart has little say in how many Hasbro sends. When Walmart needs new stock, Hasbro sends a rep and they assess how well a line is doing. In this case, reps weren’t able to get to stores during lockdowns so the 332nd and Mauldalorian were assessed as low sellers, even though they hit the number of inventory turns needed for a restock. But now you know; blaming Walmart for case ratios and under stocking is a Hasbro issue, not Walmart.

[Zeroflamez]

Originally Posted by Stryfe2026

That’s not how Walmart works. They have toy buyers, yes and they may have lowered their initial expectations with these exclusives but Walmart has little say in how many Hasbro sends. When Walmart needs new stock, Hasbro sends a rep and they assess how well a line is doing. In this case, reps weren’t able to get to stores during lockdowns so the 332nd and Mauldalorian were assessed as low sellers, even though they hit the number of inventory turns needed for a restock. But now you know; blaming Walmart for case ratios and under stocking is a Hasbro issue, not Walmart.

Yeah except that we were well out of lock down when these figures hit shelves here and some stores have gotten multiple restocks while most stores have not. Lol what? I'm pretty sure Hasbro has more than "little say" in how much they get of a product. Of course they have no say in case ratio's but they most definitely have say in how many cases they get and what they get. Many Walmart's don't even carry the exclusives, many don't restock while others do. Some locations have empty toy aisles that don't even carry anything new, while others do. If a location isn't getting new stock or restocked that's either Walmart not wanting it or Hasbro not having enough to send to them. Everything can't be Hasbro's fault. What are you even saying by the way? why would Hasbro deny Walmart from buying their product depending on how well the item sold? That's Walmart's responsibility to decide whether or not they want to stock more of a product that may not sell. Not Hasbro's. The only reason I could see them caring is for sales data purposes for future products. Walmart is the big retailer. Hasbro needs Walmart to sell their products. Walmart doesn't need Hasbro. Especially now with Toys not being hot sellers like they used to be.

Originally Posted by DanM

About a year or so ago Walmart had another exclusive, the Jedi Knight Luke figure. Lots of stock. 20+ copies at some stores. It was a nice looking figure, but still ended up sitting and finally going on clearance at a couple of stores that I saw. There were reports on this forum that clearance prices went as low as $3 per.

Now whatever is happening this year with the Clone Wars figures is an entirely different deal. Exclusive wise they had lightning in a bottle and didn't realize it. But when the orders were being made, probably around the same time old Luke was going on clearance, the accountants at Walmart probably looked and said this time around lets play it a bit closer to the vest. Let's be cautious. Can you blame them? Would you be bringing in product where there may be a chance that it will be selling on clearance for 1/10th what you initially asked? Especially when Star Wars toys sales wise are a proverbial drop in the ocean of your overall sales? I wouldn't if it was my dollars.

That said, Walmart never should have had this exclusive, or really any other. That said, this wave should never have been an exclusive.

I can forsee a time when these figures will be widely available through another channel. Patience will be key. It may take a year or two, but they will be available. Patience.

Yeah I remember Jedi Luke. Yeah, pretty sure he sold poorly because he was $35 instead of $30. Not to mention that it was a bad choice to make Jedi Luke an exclusive. Especially because it was just random and served no purpose or tied into anything current unlike the CW exclusives which is why they are so in demand.

Originally Posted by Bman82

I literally said the exact same thing. It makes zero sense. My walmart got 12 ahsokas in stock. I was there right at 7am. I grabbed 2 and within a matter of seconds they were all gone.. any business with sense would say "holly crap we sold out within less then 5 minutes of opening.. Lets order 30" lol.. and thats the ahoska.. the troopers and mandos are all army builders.. i myself bought three troopers.. that was half of my walmarts stock.. its insane if they don't restock... you'd think an exclusive would be something you stock more of because people can't buy it anywhere else.. if every retailer would stock 6 per store and they would all sell out.. you should be stocking 24 when its exclusive.. the point is to bring people to you.. i honestly don't understand it and don't get me started on the wave that has the beskar mando in it.. 1 per location.. one mando figure per.. location.. wow.. Really? currently the most popular star wars thing going on and all we get is one per location.. ok thanks walmart.. lol

I can understand the Mando wave a bit more but that's Hasbro's fault. Not Walmart's. Hasbro is trying to create artificial demand for the mando and making people want to buy every new release of him. He also comes in a case with other figures so of course stores won't want to buy multiple cases just to have more Mando's. I don't understand the Walmart exclusives at all though and I do truly believe that is Walmart's fault. If Walmart wanted to I'm sure they could ask Hasbro for as many cases as they want. Especially considering Walmart holds all the power really. Hasbro needs Walmart to stock their products, Walmart doesn't really need to sell toys. Not when they aren't selling like they used to anymore. Many of my Walmart's hardly ever get new Hasbro product in or restock. It makes absolutely zero sense why Hasbro would not want their product on shelves. Obviously that's Walmart's fault, considering that some Walmart's are stacked and others have not a damn thing.

[DanM]

Originally Posted by Stryfe2026

That’s not how Walmart works. They have toy buyers, yes and they may have lowered their initial expectations with these exclusives but Walmart has little say in how many Hasbro sends. When Walmart needs new stock, Hasbro sends a rep and they assess how well a line is doing. In this case, reps weren’t able to get to stores during lockdowns so the 332nd and Mauldalorian were assessed as low sellers, even though they hit the number of inventory turns needed for a restock. But now you know; blaming Walmart for case ratios and under stocking is a Hasbro issue, not Walmart.

Thanks for the insight. I wasn't aware that's how they do things. You'd think the pretty much instant preorder sellout would have given them an inkling though.

[Stryfe2026]

Originally Posted by DanM

Thanks for the insight. I wasn't aware that's how they do things. You'd think the pretty much instant preorder sellout would have given them an inkling though.

The data doesn’t arrive like that though; if it’s not a rep ordering, and to clarify Walmart can’t do specific orders, then it’s. Hasbro logistics person and they just send a general amount.

[Ksteel]

Originally Posted by DanM

About a year or so ago Walmart had another exclusive, the Jedi Knight Luke figure. Lots of stock. 20+ copies at some stores. It was a nice looking figure, but still ended up sitting and finally going on clearance at a couple of stores that I saw. There were reports on this forum that clearance prices went as low as $3 per.

We got damn lucky with Jedi Luke. It was a lot harder to find in the states and some were paying top dollar for it over there.

Excellent figure though. It was my first Black Series. One of my favorite facesculpts in the line.



They were all over Wal-mart a year ago, but they disappeared once clearanced out. Ever since then, I haven't seen any WM exclusives so readily available in such large supply at Canadian Wal-marts.

Perhaps WM Canada cut back on Exclusives after the Jedi Luke overstock.

[Stryfe2026]

Originally Posted by Ksteel

We got damn lucky with Jedi Luke. It was a lot harder to find in the states and some were paying top dollar for it over there.

Excellent figure though. It was my first Black Series. One of my favorite facesculpts in the line.



They were all over Wal-mart a year ago, but they disappeared once clearanced out. Ever since then, I haven't seen any WM exclusives so readily available in such large supply at Canadian Wal-marts.

Perhaps WM Canada cut back on Exclusives after the Jedi Luke overstock.

Yeah this was a great version of Luke. His face was a little red but looks great when added to a Jabba display.

[Ksteel]

What I've noticed with that figure is the facepaint varies drastically. It took me about 30 Lukes to find out I liked. Some looked like Aunt Beru. Thankfully we had so many in Ontario.

Funny how quickly they all disappeared when the price dropped. Though I'm sure some buyers are seeing a huge profit margin if they are selling these abroad.

[Super_Megatron]

I saw that Luke once at the $35? price point so passed. Never was able to find one again. Of course, now I wish I had one.

[PompousDawson]

Holida Trooper in stock at Walmart. https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/star-wa.../6000202015854