This is why I never play the clearance chicken game. If I want something, I preorder it. If I change my mind, I'll return after I have it in hand. No drama, no dealing with scalpers, easy peasy.
McFarlane is THE WORST! A half hour after I got the email notification that the Tumbler was available for preorder, they were gone. Remember the Collectors Edition Wonder Woman? I never even saw one, except listed everywhere as SOLD OUT. It’s to the point where I’m just going to have to be fine with not getting things, because I’m not paying three times as much on eBay from someone who bought 60 of them.
@@k2sworld Ha Ha ! I actually found this humorous and chuckled ... using the phrase "some people have a life" when in reality we are all adults who collect kid's toys ... !!! Ha Ha !😆🤣😆
just some advice. if you really want something buy it. you shouldn't focus on if somebody bought 60 of them. why does that matter to you? If it is 3 times the price buy it. it's a lot better getting what you want than missing out cause you let your ego get in the way. you could always sell it later on.
On top of that there are still a lot of people who preorder from multiple stores, wait for the first store to get stock and ship, and then cancel their preorders at the other stores.
I can totally understand that explanation. It brings another question though. Why are there no products making it to store shelves? Did the production estimates eliminate the inventory at brick and mortar stores first? I have seen more DC and Marvel figures at GameStop than I have at Target and Walmart combined. Two packs and deluxe items are nearly nonexistent on the aisles at present. 🤷🏽♂️
This might be because every brick & mortar store has an online store as well. If something is populair they sell out online before it ever hits the store. From my experience, physical stores get a piece of the online sales based on were the customer orders from. This way there is no online vs offline battle within the company.
I travel aroind from store to store when I'm looking to buy figures and I can say that if you dont get to Walmart or Target, Ollie's or Ross right when they open then you arent gonna find anything that you want because scalpers and resellers buy up every figure.
My problem isn't a lack of product but a lack of new product. Stores greatly overestimate the popularity of first waves, which are usually the "appetizer wave". They send out the average/mid products first so as not to undersell the later products, and when stores buy too many they have a huge glut of product that nobody wants/gets sick of after a season and can't buy the new stuff because the old stuff is taking up that shelf space. My Walmart still has product from the first wave Transformers Legacy, the line from _two years ago_. Only the $35 and $55 toys have moved because they order less of them. Everything else is this big glut that just stays there for years and years and years. It's only now that they went on discount.
I used to be able to get any DC Multiverse super cheap, but now any desirable figure sells out. Power Rangers has always suffered from people waiting on clearance. It's a big reason why the Lightning Collection line died.
Lightning collection has very poor QC and Hasbro's attempt to be the next Marvel ended when their CEO died. They wanted out of the movie/film business.
I wonder why there aren't any "EMERGENCY RUNS" for certain figures like Transformers Siege Skywarp & Greenlight? Those 2 shot up to over $300. Hasbro really needed to do a re-run but never did. But a lot of figures that don't need a re-run gets one. McFarlane Knightfall Catwoman could use a re-run. And some of the MOTU Origins Mattel Creations exclusives like Camo-Khan need a re-run. I've been collecting toys since 1977 and after being in it for that long, I think the toy companies are simply clueless & out of touch. They can look online & see that Siege Skywarp is selling for over $300 and say "Hey! That one needs a re-run". But instead, they re-run Siege Soundwave, Kingdom Galvatron & Legacy Evolution Metal-Hawk. 3 figures that did not need a re-run at all.
It's likely a situation of whether it's worth it to grab those last few people or just produce a new figure to grab the current owners and the next group. For say Mcfarlane Knightfall Catwoman, rerelease it in a two pack, neon glow catwoman, or repurpose it into another look and start the cycle all over again.
If I'm not mistaken, Todd has stated that McFarlane Toys is not interested in producing an exact re-run of any of their figures. If they do a re-release, expect it in another colorway, Jokerized, patinaed, etc. Bane is a good example of this
They aren't going to do another run of 10k only for like 2k people to fill a need. That is the exact point of this video. 8k would of sit around and end up at discount stores.
I recently bought a NECA Robocop action figure, it was $144 but the funny thing was it dropped to $60 but after I checked it went back up to $144, and I'm like WTF ?' online stores such as Amazon need to stop doing this.
Fuck Amazon, I tried to order Little Armory and twice I was refunded cuz it never got delivered on time. I rather buy off an online toy seller instead!!!
A lot of the time, you're not even really buying from Amazon, it's a reseller, and they set their own prices, and Amazon will always show the lowest listed price. What happened was you bought your figure, someone listed another for $60, and because it was the lowest price, it's what everyone scrolling past that figure saw. Then, someone purchased it, and because the next lowest listed price was $144, the price jumped back up. Amazon is just a market place like eBay or whatever. They have stuff they fulfill themselves, but a lot of it is just other vendors making up whatever price they want. It's why you can find exclusives from other stores. And Amazon doesn't care enough to regulate it because it's such a tiny percent of the shit on the site. If you're buying from Amazon, which you shouldn't, always scroll down to the sold/fulfilled by section. If it doesn't say Amazon, skip it. I've gotten used figures listed as new, beat up boxes and opened boxes with gift receipts inside because the sellers on there don't care.
The elephant in the room is that the manufacturers do/should know which figures are more demanded than others. Notice how the overstock/discount items are on dumb s$!t nobody wanted to begin with because it wasn’t comic accurate?! Then the “short production” items are on accurate classic or modern looks of a character?! Dumb or smart?
Exactly! There should have been an entire case of the Collector's Edition Wonder Woman, enough to go around, seeing as how she's part of the DC Trinity and the only other figures of her, so far, have been lame-o, except for the movie versions.
I agree with you, they have to know that finally coming out with prequel trilogy figures that people have wanted for a decade would be popular vs. rereleasing the third outfit for Lando a third time
Manufacturers do have to make certain minimum quantities of each figure before a factory even starts producing a batch. Sometimes they produce 50.000 figures when they know they might only sells 10.000 for full price. But they make up for it with the good selling products. This is why you will always have one or two high demand figures for each wave. If hasbro makes a 6 figure marvel legends wave, they at least put in a big hitter like spider-man or a wolverine, just to get their sales numbers up.
When you mentioned allocation, I love that explanation. What's even worse about it, is that if you call the main manufacturer to complain, they will claim that the 3rd party (Nerdzoic, BBTS, etc) that you purchased it from is the one the cancelled the order and they had nothing to do with it. They don't take responsibility for their limited allocation. And then that makes the customer mad at the Store, when the frustration should be focused on the manufacturer.
this isn't capitalism. this 'allocation' you speak of only happens in cartels and monopolies. i feel no sympathy if hasbro oversells their inventory. i also feel no sympathy if hasbro over produces mcu figures people don't want.
Thanks, though I sort of disagree with the your point with scalpers. i think the low runs helps them, as it improves their position and profits as the only way to get the figures. The scalpers r still buying the same number of toys, but now that's a bigger % of the total and quicker sellout.
I love these videos Matt. Really interesting getting an inside baseball look at the industry. And I don't think there will be any lack of demand for Rex =)
Certainly a good insight, but it somewhat neglects the international market. The distribution of the figures both in the USA, the country of manufacture, and internationally is sometimes curious. It is not uncommon for a figure that is a pegwarmer in the USA to be as rare internationally as a diamond, but sometimes it goes the other way round: in the USA it is sold out immediately and for a long time, but internationally it is still normally available for a long time, both as a pre-order and as a normal order. And then there are products that, for various reasons, don't even make it to Europe, for example - or vice versa. This is no different to the car industry, for example, where many brands or models are not available in other countries, whether due to market surveys or natural hedging (currency differences). These uncertainties or possibly just poor market analysis often lead to misallocations globally. And since American manufacturers - please don't be angry - tend to completely misjudge foreign markets anyway, there is often quite a muddle when it comes to unit numbers and distribution. (I work in Europe for an American holding company that has bought into regional companies) Just look for the Walmart "disaster" in Europe.
yeah I know I missed out on the VHS wolverine and then again on the 97 wolverine. It was sold out before release and since release they all just shoot up in price. Figure just release and people are scharging 40 bucks for it and now it's at 70. So stupid. I coudn't even get a pre order on that target exclusive Ms Marvel coming out next month. It was sold out within 24 hours of them posted it. I found out after and went for it and nope gone. Very annoying.
Imagine paying for something that you opened up and you realize was not worth the actual overpriced or the price that they were asking for when you find out that others have gotten it for 7.99, Sams cap re-release is a good point, mcu eternals wave, doctor strange2 wave,bp2 wave also
why does it matter what someone else paid for something? are you buying it for yourself cause you like it or just cause you think other people think it's cool?
Allocation/allocated are words I use daily working in a factory. We make weed wacker line and the packaging. When the line is extruded it's run on to these huge spools. Those spools are then sent to quality, if they pass, they go into stock and are allocated for work orders. Lowes, Ace, Stihl, etc are our customers, they order X amount of line by part. Logistics goes through the racks, puts all the line allocated to a specific work order together, takes it over to packaging, where it is run into donuts or onto spools we make on location. Then, what's left comes over to me, I weigh each spool, change the weight in the system and consume (delete) the spools which have been used. This lets the extrusion manager know what kinds of line his extruders need to make. Which in turn lets the Planner know what line is available for allocation to new work orders.
The saddest part??? They don't have to do this anymore. I've watched plenty of vids on new mold techniques including short run style molds that are cost effective and will last long enough to make up for additional orders without Hasbro/McFarlane needing to cut off orders for fear of needing to order another metal mold. They could literally machine the metal molds for their "guess" and leave PO's open using the short run style molds for whatever else they get. Best of both worlds. Companies are doing this with miniatures.
Your videos are so insightful into the action figure business. I do wish more figures would be made of the most in demand figures. Maybe a second run. For example, McFarlane classic Wonder Woman or Xmen 97 Wolverine.
Cool vid dude. As a collector it is truly depressing when this happens. For instance I live in Britain and we have hardly got anything new for a while, online stores are selling out on pre orders like crazy. We arent getting anything new in stores, my local comic book stores have heavily reduced their dc multiverse section due to this and every time there is something new in stock it's gone almost instantly. It's disheartening when this happens as a collector, I'm getting fed up. Every time a new wave or figure is announced it's like "oh great, I'll never own that!"
Also, I am very familiar with allocation processes among manufacturers. Every company does it different, but no company has it down pat. I work in display manufacturing and when there was a glass shortage holy shit was that a nightmare on allocation. We (distributors) had to submit all our orders along with the end-user to the manufacturer and hope that they’d give us product to fulfill our back orders. And it generally wasn’t based on FIFO, but on the fact enduser. So Facebook is gonna get priority over Pete’s Taco shop lol Resellers and end-users truly don’t understand the allocation process and hearing you so beautifully explain it in toy making is a beautiful thing
My idea: Make print on demand. Take all the pre-orders and then make that many for the fans who pre-ordered and then go from there and send to stores. I used to work at a book store and they would do print on demand books.
would only work if people are forced to prepay upfront with no cacnelations accepted on preorders. How many times have youy canceled preorder when another site gets theirs 1st
- People would need to pay now, no pay when you get it. As the other poster said, Cancellations would be a no go. - Production time would be off by a year or more. It would be a total mess or they'd have to produce far less figures a year because no one is going to pay for a ton of orders thats a year away. - It would have to be expensive. Selling 10,000 units vs selling 3203 brings the cost down per unit. Can't depend on that with made to order. - Books are closer to making detergent. Pennies to make per container.
@@sdevine182 A few months(At this point 3 max) where the figures are already in production or on a boat. It's honestly a very short time frame. A year is being nice. 1 to 2 years with money already taken out. Easy to not care as much with money having been exchanged. Some people could wait and many others would probably be very picky.
Finding your favorite action figure at ROSS, Big Lots, or Olies is never a good sign. I work for a company that has things made overseas. The overseas factory has limited capacity. If a corporation isn't making any profit from an item they will have their overseas factory make something else. Something more profitable.
Great Video, Big Nerdy. I was expecting to see the pendulum swing after the recent clearance deluge. I agree, it would be nice if the toy company would not over correct. Let me know if you end up with extra Captain Rex figures. I’d be a buyer 😎👍
How do you decide on product to select to order? Like can you completely avoid peg warmers like an eternals wave or do you have to order a small amount just in case? Is it all judgment call? Id like to know what your process is for stocking YOUR specific inventory
It's true. Target where I'm at only got one Marvel Legend Warbird. Yes, some places have workers who change inventory. From the first time this happened to me. Target Online said, "Will be on shelf in two hours," but when looking at the store inventory, it said, "sold out." So this does happen. Then, see Ebay with a local selling the item already that was sold out. So this time, Hasbro only sent one of the Exclusive Warbirds (to also include only sending two other figures, making only three figures on the shelf). It sucks.
I honestly haven't missed out on anything. I know people don't like the idea of paying Hasbro an extra $50 for Premium, but since getting it I haven't missed a single preorder on anything they sell. And if it makes you feel any better, sometimes I order two and sell one at my actual cost to a fellow collector who doesn't have Premium. As for playing "clearance chicken", if you REALLY want something, you better preorder it the first chance you get. I've bought plenty of stuff that went on deep clearance later. That's a bummer, but it's way less deflating for me than not getting it at all. And, I NEVER pay scalpers for anything.
Yeah I share in your pain - I have got to be majorly on the preorder ball to get any of the high profile GI Joe and Transformers releases, especially in Canada. I am usually able to these days, but have to set dates and times in my calendar and cover multiple retailer sites. Anyway, great video - just subbed!
Only problem with this thought is that… well… the manufacturers control the inventory levels. They market pre-orders as pre-orders, but they aren’t. Pre-orders should, in theory, determine what the company builds to scale demand. What’s actually happening is that McFarlane and hasbro are deciding up front what they want to manufacture and they use the phrase “pre-order” when they mean reservation. The more nefarious element here is that this ultimately helps swing that pendulum you discussed back in the direction of mass manufacturing. Because scalpers and buyers rush to now pre-order everything… leading hasbro and McFarlane to up production of stuff no one really wants. Like the Darkseid figure. There is absolutely no reason that should be sold out, but it is… and it’s because they want to push that “you gotta pre-order” narrative. Hell… half my preorders through Amazon are delayed or canceled anyway.
Seeing that "pre-order sold out" notice sucks for sure but being able to pre-order something doesn't solve anything either. I'm usually good at catching pre-orders as they go online and I grab what I want quickly but then the pre-orders pile up and I can't afford to pay for so many products that arrive so close to each other so inevitably I have to cancel some of them and then they're gone forever. I really hate that. I should be able to buy things that I want at least a couple months after they hit the shelves without worrying.
only wait for sales and clearance when its things im on the fence for. If its something I want , I'll pay full price because I want to ensure these toys keep getting made.
4:40 While that might not be the case for Hasbro, McFarlane certainly has no objection to weaponizing artificial scarcity by means of FOMO. Given McFarlane Toys is a private company, the need to maximize shareholders' ROI, isn't an issue Todd needs to worry about.
Excellent video. I never ran/owed my owe store, but when I worked at GameStop in TX I use to visit the corporate HQ all the time. This was during the Toybiz days and before digital games were big. The pendulum analogy is a perfect explanation of what happens. This is also why pre-orders were pushed so much (and still is to this day). Selfishly I ended up getting some great rare figures for free when we would "penny them out" aka drop them down to a penny to clear them from inventory.
This is only happening for the retail releases. Fan channel and Amazon exclusives(some) are still there after months. Prime example is the wolverine and Sabertooth two pack. Sold out when it went up for preorder and now you can preorder again or buy online. That’s why Target and Walmart exclusive sell out and never come back. 🤷♂️
It's a crazy experience. When the pre-orders for Penguin, Captain Boomerang and Starfire dropped, I went to BBTS to put them in my cart. I put Penguin in, then Captain Boomerang, but Starfire had sold out already. I quickly went to checkout and secured those two before they also sold out 5 minutes later.
I think you made some really great points along with this one which is pretty important, especially when it comes to the Star Wars black series Figures: character selection. They are finally making prequel characters that we have been wanting for a decade along with releasing some of the most expensive aftermarket figures.
People are waiting for clearance because of the ridiculous price increases…. They’re raising prices, & lowering quantity- it’s unfortunate for collectors
Location and poor distribution. My Ross have nothing. But the Ross they do happen to be the locations where those Targets and Walmarts got something. Near places where Amazon ships merch from. I guess it was cheaper to just sell to Ross/Ollies then ship it to other locations.
The fandom collector market has exploded . Platforms for marketing products,and reaching consumers has exploded. Years ago all we had were a few websites, forums and a couple magazines promoting new products. Then even before all that, there was the golden area of collecting, when you walked in a ToyRus,or any toy isle blindsided with no idea of what cool things you might find
@@GameTime-yj6qv yeah rogue is a peculiar case.. she was selling for really cheap on Amazon before the cartoon came out.. if I didn't have the retro carded rogue yet, I would have bought her.
Love this follow up to your production pendulum video. It's something I've seen as I got into collecting. Hope to keep seeing more insightful videos, Big Nerdy. Looking good.
Very educational from the collecting and business stand point! Is good to find deals but not buying when products came can hurt companies and can cause to them to stop making them! 👍
It also is happening with Mattel and especially when it’s a Walmart Exclusive or there own website exclusives there’s a good chance I’ll never see them in stores unless I drive hours away to look at other Walmarts. It’s worse when there is like 4 exclusive that come out right around each other I luckily found one of the four but to get the other three I have to pay almost $150 for them if not more. And I’ve been seeing Hasbro at least they have been rereleasing older figures like Space Venom and now Man Thing and I’ve seen that kinda driving people away from scalpers.
Noticing the same in Europe as well (reseller myself). McFarlane seems to produce an inital first batch, then when it sells out quick they do a 2nd run that releases 2 months later. Hasbro seems to take much longer with 2nd batches. They seemed surprised the re-releases did so well. Got half of them cancelled by them. My guess is they ship to USA, Canada & South America first so they take stock allocated for Europe to first fullfill those areas. Mattel is also starting to do that, but they always had shitty distribution in EU. We always get leftovers it seems.
Thanks for the insight! Some of this I knew but other stuff I didn’t. Had flashbacks to waiting forever for that damn flame trooper and seeing the months keep pushing further back 😂
Thanks for this. I was literally just wondering this because these presales were selling out on my in a matter of minutes and I was finding myself toy-less lol. In the case with McFarlane, I’m just so frustrated because I feel like they’re finally getting around to doing the classic designs that I want and they’ve solved a lot of their issues. They came into their stride. And now these figs are drying up like Lake Mead and I’m struggling to get hands on the figures I actually wanted from McFarlane this whole time
I also think that character selection plays into it also. I mean, batman forever figs? These are right in the wheelhouse of the current adult collector's age range. They should have known that would sell better than one of the current movies figs from two years ago
Yeah, clearance chicken is a no-go for me. If I want it, I either pre-order or buy it when I see it at retail. I feel the clearance sting sometimes, but that is the exception, not the rule for me as a collector. 32 years in and I have more regrets about passing up on a figure than seeing it on clearance for half of what I paid for it a few months earlier.
Thank you for that insight. It logically makes sense. As a long time collector I have seen the trends you mentioned. As a fan it is still disappointing when something i really want is scarce. Patience is the key and a sense of humor
Walmart and Amazon both mark up popular toys above MSRP. Even for preorders. Not third party retailers shipping from Amazon or Walmart, but bought from and shipped from the company.
GREAT VIDEO! McFarlane usually does batches, look at the bat mobile. It was to be expected on reduced production numbers because of all the clearances. It was a ridiculous amount.
I wonder what explains the Classified Vamp. They should have made enough of those to go around based on the popularity of the Hiss but it seems like Hasbro intentionally did not. They'll probably overcorrect with the Stinger and those will go to clearance.
the irony is that the VAMP was available for a long time. didn't sell out immediately. I grabbed a few and sold the xtras for 2x. not everything sells out immediately but at some price points people sit on the fence till it's gone then cry later.
I don't think they will overcorrect. I think it's all going according to plan. You don't sell everyone a vamp. You sell some people a vamp. Then you sell the Stinger to grab those who didn't get the Vamp and those who will buy the variant. Then you sell another one in different colors and another and so on.
Scalpers are still an issues. They found a way around the 2 per person limit by using several accounts in a browser. I seen a few ebay seller one with 12, another with 10 and another with 6 Marvel legends Warbirds in there inventory. Selling them for $99 each. Most people couldn't even get 1
The flaw with the Hasbro to Ollie's train is that for the most part, they overproduced figures no one wanted based on shows and movies (looking at Disney) a lot of people hated (Star Wars Sequels, a lot of recent MCU), now they are underproducing on figures across the board. Like seriously, if I were Hasbro I'd just make stuff based on OG Star Wars and evergreen Marvel and not worry about the current thing, and if Disney has a problem with it they can pound sand and try and find some other sucker company to produce figures no one wants.
I used to buy all marvel legends and when the price spiked I stoped. Now I cherry pick every other wave. Seems like they would make more money if the prices didn’t go up so much in a short time. Now people just wait for sells. Seems like they are leaving money on the table.
At this point, both between the almighty budget and these smaller runs on figures, my system has become: -If its a must-have, pre-order on minute one, stay up a couple hours after night shift to get order in. Either at a BBTS or Nerdzoic if i can put the money down now -If it's not a 100% must-have and pre-orders close day one, pretend it doesnt exist until in-stock dates come up and we get a small run on in stock to decide if i *need* it in the collection
Funny. I never preordered in MY life. Tried one or twice .both? Were disasters.and? I havent missed a figure yet. Not one. Ever. 😃 iys so very possible. Tho? Im very old skool. So? Cld be a generational thing? As long as we get em..ThaT? Is what matters 😃
@@jasond.471 See, I'm basically in a distribution deadzone. Nothing ever makes it to retail in my area, so pre-ordering is basically a necessity since nothing ever hits retail
@@DesignIncase Yeah, but I'd rather stay up 2 or so hours to meet the pre-order window rather than crash for 2 hours, wake up to pre-order, and then go back to bed before work
I rhought the purpose for the preorder is to see how many units are needed. But based off what you saying, it's more like he, we have 10k, and hasbro just send people whatever amount they feel is good enough for XYZ retailer.
Yeah - was speaking to the Merch guy in a collectors store yesterday and was saying a lot of the Platinum McFarlane's don't even make it overseas, as I was really after the Blue armour Azrael.
I don't think that there are a lot of collectors who will buy something like that. It's a smaller production run. If they make too many, the extra figures end up at ROSS.
The only time I missed out on a pre-order was for Wonder Woman and that was my fault because I just forgot. Luckily I work nights so when it comes to pre-ordering I have been able to order everything I have wanted when it comes to McFarlane. In fact I have a growing list and wouldn't mind him holding off on items I want for a bit. I have the following items on order Classic Darkseid, Batman Forever Wave, Bane vs Batman 2-pack, Fox/Tumbler 2-pack, BTAS Batmobile. I would be pretty upset though if I wasn't around when these items went up because most of them sold out within an hour tops.
5 years ago I had a huge life change and had to retire at the age of 42. My income dropped dramatically and now I can obviously no longer afford many things in life that I used to. One of which is my love of collecting action figures. I've mostly gone done to just getting Gi Joe classified, Action Force and a small handful of Star Wars The Black Series (I'll do a random series here and there from time to time). I was also bitten by the customize bug many years ago so the clearance section has become my best friend for several reasons. I honestly can't always afford the full price pre-orders or day of releases, but I do my absolute best when I can. I just hope I'm not making any enimies as I'm forced to cancel a lot of them along the way 😔
I’m just tired of pre-ordering and then getting an email months later from Hasbro saying my pre-order was canceled. I’ve lost out on Mara Jade, Revan, Malek, Bastila, Tarn & The Nemisis because “sorry to inform you, you’re pre-order has been canceled”
Seriously, I've stopped pre-ordering stuff because of this. Especially when a company takes money up front for a pre-order, only to cancel it months to years later.
I do hate hearing a pre oder drop while I'm at work and seeing it sold out by the time I'm off. I will say when the Plastic Man B.A.F wave dropped you were the only place I could pre order from after 8 pm CA time and I'm thankful to you Big Nerdy Sir
Well there's plenty of the legends figures that I want from 2023 to current day that aren't being stocked anywhere in a 500 mile radius. Most pre-orders are sold out and haven't been available in over 9 months. Only ones people don't want are available in stores. Obviously as collectors we know what we want and what we don't. They need to produce more of the desired ones and less of the ones we don't. Shouldn't be too difficult to plan accordingly.
Ive seen hasbro pulse sell out in 15-30 minutes on preorders. I dont understand why pulse allowed people to buy 5 of a figure on a preorder. Im pulse member so I have gotten figures early then when the regular buyers didnt even have access, but I think they stopped doing that. Ollies and Ross ( at least teh ones I can get to) only have teh stuff no one wanted. No more cool xmen waves.
What about, say Hasbro, does Preorders for a , say Vamp, and it sells out in 20 minutes and then every 3 weeks until it actually releases it goes up again for preorder? Are they trying to paint a picture it is scarce or really desired or some other craziness?
According to mattel because i had a go around with them and used McFarlane as an example, they said he owns all of his manufacturers and that gives him an advantage over the largest toy company in the world lol
This has caused FOMO mania, where I have to order any and everything I may have a slight interest in or not. Can’t leave stuff on the table or I may regret it which in the end leads to stacks of stuff you just don’t have room for. The decision has to be made instantly if you want to preorder or not.
I tried getting an e-wing. I didn’t have the money before. I have the money now. Went on to make an order, and it’s sold out. SUCKS MAN… I know they’ll offer more a few months after the 1st shipment , but in the end they’re STILL going to end up with leftovers in inventory. FRUSTRATING… I don’t want a deal. I just want an e-wing… Trying to be respectful to my budget habits.
i think scalpers will always have an effect on preorders. the amount of the effect will change based on the market. but yes i dont think they are have much of an affect right now
I'll pre-order something as soon as it gets listed, only if I know it's going to sell out. If it's a character I like that's not popular, like Tombstone or Armored Spider-Man, I'll wait for it to go on sale
It's dumb. There should be a pre-order window. After the time-line is over the product is made sort of like Haslab. Then everyone who wants one, gets one. Not a limited amount that sells out in seconds then immediately goes on eBay.
I’ll never understand how a pre-order can sellout? Shouldn’t it be open-in meaning a company says we’re going to offer a product for pre-order from one date to the next once those dates close that’s how many of the items we’re going to produce and sell… then if it’s a popular item, they can come back and revisit and produce a second batch of the item with a second presale from one opening date to an ending date…
what's wild to me is that the companies never seem to catch on what they need to produce the most of. Tom Holland Spiderman? Going to sell a lot. Cool Darth Vader with removable helmet? Going to sell a lot. Good looking Batman from a fan favorite movie? Going to sell a lot. Popular marvel comic character with good sculpt and articulation? Going to sell a lot. Popular Star Wars Clone Character? Going to sell a lot.
Ironically the last time I remember this really impacting me was the first time Palpatine released. I get it, but i think this is really more an impact over rising prices and diminished quality. Even if the new stuff looks really good, my income hasnt kept up with price hikes.
I honestly think it might be time for me to dip out of the collecting game for a while. I have a few more DC multiverse figures I want, but outside of that, nothing is catching my eye anymore. I sold all my legends since I just dont care about the line anymore, seeing as the prices are going up, but the quality is going down. Todd's just gonna put out his 75th variant of batman this week instead of re-releasing the arkham ones or God forbid making a widely available standard comic book spawn for his universe of spawn line. The whole hobby just has me really frustrated recently.
How did Ross end up with so many GI joe Stalkers and Tomaz and Xamot when they barely showed up in any stores? Where was this secret inventory???? I was hunting hard for these.
I rage quit lines all the time if it gets too hard to find figures I need.I know many others who do the same they make things hard to buy they loosing customers and saving myself and others money.
What (if any) products have you missed out on in 2024 due to scarcity?
Darkseid.
All Marvel Legends due to retail price being way too high. I think this is my third year not buying waves 🕸👊🕸
Not 2024 but motormaster evaded me
Transformers Studio series battle trap
Forever Robin
This is why I never play the clearance chicken game. If I want something, I preorder it. If I change my mind, I'll return after I have it in hand. No drama, no dealing with scalpers, easy peasy.
Lol. Theirs always rerelases of tvc and Blackseries. I havent preordered ..ever? And miss? Nothing😂
@@jasond.471 that's great. Go learn how to spell.
@@jasond.471i mean that’s literally only true because of this year at least with black series.
Yeah, I played chicken with xmen 97 and even missed them when Amazon had them all at 17.49 each. I even canceled Rouge TWICE and now I'm chasing her.
I only play chicken with figures I'm on the fence with. If I really want a figure I don't take chances.
Most figures I am interested in sell out in less than 5-10 minutes. Its a huge bummer when the order window opens when I am at work 😅
And that's when you start back and off collecting...besides the prices/ecosystem issues going on
Yeah, or when the order window opens ridiculously early in the morning.
Yeah man, I wanted that Retro Cobra Commander and I woke up an hour after its preorders went up and it was already sold out, bummer
I know I don't know what he was talking about selling out in one to two hours or even a day 🤣🤡 shit is gone in MINUTES
@@Dunecoone Sometimes even literally within the first minute of it being up. I blame those auto clicker bots.
McFarlane is THE WORST! A half hour after I got the email notification that the Tumbler was available for preorder, they were gone. Remember the Collectors Edition Wonder Woman? I never even saw one, except listed everywhere as SOLD OUT. It’s to the point where I’m just going to have to be fine with not getting things, because I’m not paying three times as much on eBay from someone who bought 60 of them.
They tell you days in advance when it's going up lol McFarlane always does at noon et also. Hate to say but shouldn't need an email notification.
@@chadjustice8560 Irrelevant. Unlike you, some people have A. a life and B. things to do... like work.
@@k2sworldkeep crying if I can get the shit I want while at work or doing something so can you your just slow
@@k2sworld Ha Ha ! I actually found this humorous and chuckled ... using the phrase "some people have a life" when in reality we are all adults who collect kid's toys ... !!! Ha Ha !😆🤣😆
just some advice. if you really want something buy it. you shouldn't focus on if somebody bought 60 of them. why does that matter to you? If it is 3 times the price buy it. it's a lot better getting what you want than missing out cause you let your ego get in the way. you could always sell it later on.
On top of that there are still a lot of people who preorder from multiple stores, wait for the first store to get stock and ship, and then cancel their preorders at the other stores.
I’ve had too many preorders cancelled by Target, Walmart, EE and Amazon not to do this. 🤷
@@MichaelMillerJ It makes sense. Even EE has cancelled some preorders on some people after waiting until all the other sites no longer had stock.
I can totally understand that explanation. It brings another question though.
Why are there no products making it to store shelves? Did the production estimates eliminate the inventory at brick and mortar stores first?
I have seen more DC and Marvel figures at GameStop than I have at Target and Walmart combined. Two packs and deluxe items are nearly nonexistent on the aisles at present. 🤷🏽♂️
This might be because every brick & mortar store has an online store as well. If something is populair they sell out online before it ever hits the store. From my experience, physical stores get a piece of the online sales based on were the customer orders from. This way there is no online vs offline battle within the company.
@@ANON-xz4ho thanks so much. That makes a lot of sense
I travel aroind from store to store when I'm looking to buy figures and I can say that if you dont get to Walmart or Target, Ollie's or Ross right when they open then you arent gonna find anything that you want because scalpers and resellers buy up every figure.
My problem isn't a lack of product but a lack of new product. Stores greatly overestimate the popularity of first waves, which are usually the "appetizer wave". They send out the average/mid products first so as not to undersell the later products, and when stores buy too many they have a huge glut of product that nobody wants/gets sick of after a season and can't buy the new stuff because the old stuff is taking up that shelf space. My Walmart still has product from the first wave Transformers Legacy, the line from _two years ago_. Only the $35 and $55 toys have moved because they order less of them. Everything else is this big glut that just stays there for years and years and years. It's only now that they went on discount.
Basically what's good for us (discounts) is bad for them (less profit)
Whats good for them (big profit) is bad for us (costly)
I used to be able to get any DC Multiverse super cheap, but now any desirable figure sells out.
Power Rangers has always suffered from people waiting on clearance. It's a big reason why the Lightning Collection line died.
Lightning collection has very poor QC and Hasbro's attempt to be the next Marvel ended when their CEO died. They wanted out of the movie/film business.
I wonder why there aren't any "EMERGENCY RUNS" for certain figures like Transformers Siege Skywarp & Greenlight? Those 2 shot up to over $300. Hasbro really needed to do a re-run but never did. But a lot of figures that don't need a re-run gets one. McFarlane Knightfall Catwoman could use a re-run. And some of the MOTU Origins Mattel Creations exclusives like Camo-Khan need a re-run.
I've been collecting toys since 1977 and after being in it for that long, I think the toy companies are simply clueless & out of touch. They can look online & see that Siege Skywarp is selling for over $300 and say "Hey! That one needs a re-run". But instead, they re-run Siege Soundwave, Kingdom Galvatron & Legacy Evolution Metal-Hawk. 3 figures that did not need a re-run at all.
McFarlane doesn't believe in releasing figures again, he seems to get a thrill out of scalpers existing.
It's likely a situation of whether it's worth it to grab those last few people or just produce a new figure to grab the current owners and the next group.
For say Mcfarlane Knightfall Catwoman, rerelease it in a two pack, neon glow catwoman, or repurpose it into another look and start the cycle all over again.
If I'm not mistaken, Todd has stated that McFarlane Toys is not interested in producing an exact re-run of any of their figures. If they do a re-release, expect it in another colorway, Jokerized, patinaed, etc. Bane is a good example of this
@@jeremykulow1970 Yeah, I was under that impression as well.
They aren't going to do another run of 10k only for like 2k people to fill a need. That is the exact point of this video. 8k would of sit around and end up at discount stores.
I recently bought a NECA Robocop action figure, it was $144 but the funny thing was it dropped to $60 but after I checked it went back up to $144, and I'm like WTF ?' online stores such as Amazon need to stop doing this.
Fuck Amazon, I tried to order Little Armory and twice I was refunded cuz it never got delivered on time. I rather buy off an online toy seller instead!!!
A lot of the time, you're not even really buying from Amazon, it's a reseller, and they set their own prices, and Amazon will always show the lowest listed price. What happened was you bought your figure, someone listed another for $60, and because it was the lowest price, it's what everyone scrolling past that figure saw. Then, someone purchased it, and because the next lowest listed price was $144, the price jumped back up.
Amazon is just a market place like eBay or whatever. They have stuff they fulfill themselves, but a lot of it is just other vendors making up whatever price they want. It's why you can find exclusives from other stores. And Amazon doesn't care enough to regulate it because it's such a tiny percent of the shit on the site.
If you're buying from Amazon, which you shouldn't, always scroll down to the sold/fulfilled by section. If it doesn't say Amazon, skip it. I've gotten used figures listed as new, beat up boxes and opened boxes with gift receipts inside because the sellers on there don't care.
The elephant in the room is that the manufacturers do/should know which figures are more demanded than others. Notice how the overstock/discount items are on dumb s$!t nobody wanted to begin with because it wasn’t comic accurate?! Then the “short production” items are on accurate classic or modern looks of a character?! Dumb or smart?
Exactly! There should have been an entire case of the Collector's Edition Wonder Woman, enough to go around, seeing as how she's part of the DC Trinity and the only other figures of her, so far, have been lame-o, except for the movie versions.
EXACTLY!
The New She-Hulk is a prime example, found the whole wave 5 times and counting yet have not found her once
I agree with you, they have to know that finally coming out with prequel trilogy figures that people have wanted for a decade would be popular vs. rereleasing the third outfit for Lando a third time
Manufacturers do have to make certain minimum quantities of each figure before a factory even starts producing a batch. Sometimes they produce 50.000 figures when they know they might only sells 10.000 for full price. But they make up for it with the good selling products. This is why you will always have one or two high demand figures for each wave. If hasbro makes a 6 figure marvel legends wave, they at least put in a big hitter like spider-man or a wolverine, just to get their sales numbers up.
When you mentioned allocation, I love that explanation. What's even worse about it, is that if you call the main manufacturer to complain, they will claim that the 3rd party (Nerdzoic, BBTS, etc) that you purchased it from is the one the cancelled the order and they had nothing to do with it. They don't take responsibility for their limited allocation. And then that makes the customer mad at the Store, when the frustration should be focused on the manufacturer.
this isn't capitalism. this 'allocation' you speak of only happens in cartels and monopolies.
i feel no sympathy if hasbro oversells their inventory. i also feel no sympathy if hasbro over produces mcu figures people don't want.
Thanks, though I sort of disagree with the your point with scalpers. i think the low runs helps them, as it improves their position and profits as the only way to get the figures. The scalpers r still buying the same number of toys, but now that's a bigger % of the total and quicker sellout.
@nerdzoic I don’t think there’s a better way to explain what’s going on. You nailed it. This should be shared in all the collector groups.
I agree with you but… do you think they would actually listen?
Someone posted a link to this video in the fb group that I am in.
@@bryanheinrich371 Easier to just blame the scalers ... !!!
I love these videos Matt. Really interesting getting an inside baseball look at the industry. And I don't think there will be any lack of demand for Rex =)
Certainly a good insight, but it somewhat neglects the international market.
The distribution of the figures both in the USA, the country of manufacture, and internationally is sometimes curious. It is not uncommon for a figure that is a pegwarmer in the USA to be as rare internationally as a diamond, but sometimes it goes the other way round: in the USA it is sold out immediately and for a long time, but internationally it is still normally available for a long time, both as a pre-order and as a normal order.
And then there are products that, for various reasons, don't even make it to Europe, for example - or vice versa. This is no different to the car industry, for example, where many brands or models are not available in other countries, whether due to market surveys or natural hedging (currency differences).
These uncertainties or possibly just poor market analysis often lead to misallocations globally.
And since American manufacturers - please don't be angry - tend to completely misjudge foreign markets anyway, there is often quite a muddle when it comes to unit numbers and distribution. (I work in Europe for an American holding company that has bought into regional companies) Just look for the Walmart "disaster" in Europe.
yeah I know I missed out on the VHS wolverine and then again on the 97 wolverine. It was sold out before release and since release they all just shoot up in price. Figure just release and people are scharging 40 bucks for it and now it's at 70. So stupid. I coudn't even get a pre order on that target exclusive Ms Marvel coming out next month. It was sold out within 24 hours of them posted it. I found out after and went for it and nope gone. Very annoying.
Imagine paying for something that you opened up and you realize was not worth the actual overpriced or the price that they were asking for when you find out that others have gotten it for 7.99, Sams cap re-release is a good point, mcu eternals wave, doctor strange2 wave,bp2 wave also
why does it matter what someone else paid for something? are you buying it for yourself cause you like it or just cause you think other people think it's cool?
@@meladgoatexactly! Value collectors make no sense to me
i hate scalpers
Thank you for this video. I was wandering what the heck was going on and why no one was talking about it. It's been driving me crazy.
These companies now care more about preorders than actually having the item physically be in a store, lol. Its absurd
Happened to me with warbird, darksied and batman and robin.
Same. I didn’t even know warbird went up
$hit! Classic Ms. Marvel is already sold out?? That’s one of the few figures I wanted this year.
Allocation/allocated are words I use daily working in a factory. We make weed wacker line and the packaging. When the line is extruded it's run on to these huge spools. Those spools are then sent to quality, if they pass, they go into stock and are allocated for work orders. Lowes, Ace, Stihl, etc are our customers, they order X amount of line by part. Logistics goes through the racks, puts all the line allocated to a specific work order together, takes it over to packaging, where it is run into donuts or onto spools we make on location. Then, what's left comes over to me, I weigh each spool, change the weight in the system and consume (delete) the spools which have been used. This lets the extrusion manager know what kinds of line his extruders need to make. Which in turn lets the Planner know what line is available for allocation to new work orders.
The saddest part??? They don't have to do this anymore. I've watched plenty of vids on new mold techniques including short run style molds that are cost effective and will last long enough to make up for additional orders without Hasbro/McFarlane needing to cut off orders for fear of needing to order another metal mold. They could literally machine the metal molds for their "guess" and leave PO's open using the short run style molds for whatever else they get. Best of both worlds. Companies are doing this with miniatures.
Your videos are so insightful into the action figure business. I do wish more figures would be made of the most in demand figures. Maybe a second run. For example, McFarlane classic Wonder Woman or Xmen 97 Wolverine.
Cool vid dude. As a collector it is truly depressing when this happens. For instance I live in Britain and we have hardly got anything new for a while, online stores are selling out on pre orders like crazy. We arent getting anything new in stores, my local comic book stores have heavily reduced their dc multiverse section due to this and every time there is something new in stock it's gone almost instantly. It's disheartening when this happens as a collector, I'm getting fed up. Every time a new wave or figure is announced it's like "oh great, I'll never own that!"
Also, I am very familiar with allocation processes among manufacturers. Every company does it different, but no company has it down pat. I work in display manufacturing and when there was a glass shortage holy shit was that a nightmare on allocation. We (distributors) had to submit all our orders along with the end-user to the manufacturer and hope that they’d give us product to fulfill our back orders. And it generally wasn’t based on FIFO, but on the fact enduser. So Facebook is gonna get priority over Pete’s Taco shop lol Resellers and end-users truly don’t understand the allocation process and hearing you so beautifully explain it in toy making is a beautiful thing
My idea: Make print on demand. Take all the pre-orders and then make that many for the fans who pre-ordered and then go from there and send to stores. I used to work at a book store and they would do print on demand books.
would only work if people are forced to prepay upfront with no cacnelations accepted on preorders. How many times have youy canceled preorder when another site gets theirs 1st
- People would need to pay now, no pay when you get it. As the other poster said, Cancellations would be a no go.
- Production time would be off by a year or more.
It would be a total mess or they'd have to produce far less figures a year because no one is going to pay for a ton of orders thats a year away.
- It would have to be expensive. Selling 10,000 units vs selling 3203 brings the cost down per unit. Can't depend on that with made to order.
- Books are closer to making detergent. Pennies to make per container.
@@DesignIncase yeah because we don’t order like months in advance now. It’s a mess now too. Just an idea.
@@allenwhiteside7838 a few times I have. It’s a mess now why not try something nee
@@sdevine182 A few months(At this point 3 max) where the figures are already in production or on a boat. It's honestly a very short time frame. A year is being nice. 1 to 2 years with money already taken out. Easy to not care as much with money having been exchanged. Some people could wait and many others would probably be very picky.
Finding your favorite action figure at ROSS, Big Lots, or Olies is never a good sign. I work for a company that has things made overseas. The overseas factory has limited capacity. If a corporation isn't making any profit from an item they will have their overseas factory make something else. Something more profitable.
My physical stores literally carry nothing. If it wasn't for online I'd have nothing
They just don’t understand and still won’t after this video
Great Video, Big Nerdy. I was expecting to see the pendulum swing after the recent clearance deluge. I agree, it would be nice if the toy company would not over correct. Let me know if you end up with extra Captain Rex figures. I’d be a buyer 😎👍
Never seeing this happen?! What world are you living in? This has been the world of collecting for the past 8 years.
How do you decide on product to select to order?
Like can you completely avoid peg warmers like an eternals wave or do you have to order a small amount just in case?
Is it all judgment call? Id like to know what your process is for stocking YOUR specific inventory
They should have known the Eternals was going to be a flop of a film from the get-go.
It's true. Target where I'm at only got one Marvel Legend Warbird. Yes, some places have workers who change inventory.
From the first time this happened to me. Target Online said, "Will be on shelf in two hours," but when looking at the store inventory, it said, "sold out." So this does happen. Then, see Ebay with a local selling the item already that was sold out.
So this time, Hasbro only sent one of the Exclusive Warbirds (to also include only sending two other figures, making only three figures on the shelf).
It sucks.
I honestly haven't missed out on anything. I know people don't like the idea of paying Hasbro an extra $50 for Premium, but since getting it I haven't missed a single preorder on anything they sell. And if it makes you feel any better, sometimes I order two and sell one at my actual cost to a fellow collector who doesn't have Premium. As for playing "clearance chicken", if you REALLY want something, you better preorder it the first chance you get. I've bought plenty of stuff that went on deep clearance later. That's a bummer, but it's way less deflating for me than not getting it at all. And, I NEVER pay scalpers for anything.
Yeah I share in your pain - I have got to be majorly on the preorder ball to get any of the high profile GI Joe and Transformers releases, especially in Canada. I am usually able to these days, but have to set dates and times in my calendar and cover multiple retailer sites. Anyway, great video - just subbed!
Only problem with this thought is that… well… the manufacturers control the inventory levels. They market pre-orders as pre-orders, but they aren’t. Pre-orders should, in theory, determine what the company builds to scale demand. What’s actually happening is that McFarlane and hasbro are deciding up front what they want to manufacture and they use the phrase “pre-order” when they mean reservation. The more nefarious element here is that this ultimately helps swing that pendulum you discussed back in the direction of mass manufacturing. Because scalpers and buyers rush to now pre-order everything… leading hasbro and McFarlane to up production of stuff no one really wants. Like the Darkseid figure. There is absolutely no reason that should be sold out, but it is… and it’s because they want to push that “you gotta pre-order” narrative. Hell… half my preorders through Amazon are delayed or canceled anyway.
Seeing that "pre-order sold out" notice sucks for sure but being able to pre-order something doesn't solve anything either. I'm usually good at catching pre-orders as they go online and I grab what I want quickly but then the pre-orders pile up and I can't afford to pay for so many products that arrive so close to each other so inevitably I have to cancel some of them and then they're gone forever. I really hate that. I should be able to buy things that I want at least a couple months after they hit the shelves without worrying.
only wait for sales and clearance when its things im on the fence for. If its something I want , I'll pay full price because I want to ensure these toys keep getting made.
4:40 While that might not be the case for Hasbro, McFarlane certainly has no objection to weaponizing artificial scarcity by means of FOMO. Given McFarlane Toys is a private company, the need to maximize shareholders' ROI, isn't an issue Todd needs to worry about.
Excellent video. I never ran/owed my owe store, but when I worked at GameStop in TX I use to visit the corporate HQ all the time. This was during the Toybiz days and before digital games were big. The pendulum analogy is a perfect explanation of what happens. This is also why pre-orders were pushed so much (and still is to this day). Selfishly I ended up getting some great rare figures for free when we would "penny them out" aka drop them down to a penny to clear them from inventory.
This is only happening for the retail releases. Fan channel and Amazon exclusives(some) are still there after months. Prime example is the wolverine and Sabertooth two pack. Sold out when it went up for preorder and now you can preorder again or buy online. That’s why Target and Walmart exclusive sell out and never come back. 🤷♂️
It's a crazy experience. When the pre-orders for Penguin, Captain Boomerang and Starfire dropped, I went to BBTS to put them in my cart. I put Penguin in, then Captain Boomerang, but Starfire had sold out already. I quickly went to checkout and secured those two before they also sold out 5 minutes later.
I think you made some really great points along with this one which is pretty important, especially when it comes to the Star Wars black series Figures: character selection. They are finally making prequel characters that we have been wanting for a decade along with releasing some of the most expensive aftermarket figures.
love your passion for your business, thx for sharing a glimpse of what goes behind the scenes.
People are waiting for clearance because of the ridiculous price increases…. They’re raising prices, & lowering quantity- it’s unfortunate for collectors
Lol thank god I am only collecting JOYTOY Warhammer 40K figures and I never have to worry about this! 😅
If the toy companies had such a huge inventory, why couldn’t anything be found until it hit Ross and Ollies?
Location and poor distribution. My Ross have nothing. But the Ross they do happen to be the locations where those Targets and Walmarts got something. Near places where Amazon ships merch from. I guess it was cheaper to just sell to Ross/Ollies then ship it to other locations.
The fandom collector market has exploded . Platforms for marketing products,and reaching consumers has exploded. Years ago all we had were a few websites, forums and a couple magazines promoting new products. Then even before all that, there was the golden area of collecting, when you walked in a ToyRus,or any toy isle blindsided with no idea of what cool things you might find
Wow Nerdy lots of information, thanks for breaking down.
may I check how well the x-men 97 figures sold? Just curious. I see storm and bishop warming up the pegs at my tru.
Depends on the figure. Wolverine, Cyclops, Rogue, and Goblin Queen sold out and went up in price in secondary market.
@@GameTime-yj6qv yeah rogue is a peculiar case.. she was selling for really cheap on Amazon before the cartoon came out.. if I didn't have the retro carded rogue yet, I would have bought her.
@@GameTime-yj6qv Once 97 came out yeah the figs just vanished. Goes to show how an actual show might help sell figs.
Love this follow up to your production pendulum video. It's something I've seen as I got into collecting. Hope to keep seeing more insightful videos, Big Nerdy. Looking good.
Very educational from the collecting and business stand point! Is good to find deals but not buying when products came can hurt companies and can cause to them to stop making them! 👍
It also is happening with Mattel and especially when it’s a Walmart Exclusive or there own website exclusives there’s a good chance I’ll never see them in stores unless I drive hours away to look at other Walmarts. It’s worse when there is like 4 exclusive that come out right around each other I luckily found one of the four but to get the other three I have to pay almost $150 for them if not more.
And I’ve been seeing Hasbro at least they have been rereleasing older figures like Space Venom and now Man Thing and I’ve seen that kinda driving people away from scalpers.
Noticing the same in Europe as well (reseller myself). McFarlane seems to produce an inital first batch, then when it sells out quick they do a 2nd run that releases 2 months later. Hasbro seems to take much longer with 2nd batches. They seemed surprised the re-releases did so well. Got half of them cancelled by them. My guess is they ship to USA, Canada & South America first so they take stock allocated for Europe to first fullfill those areas. Mattel is also starting to do that, but they always had shitty distribution in EU. We always get leftovers it seems.
Thanks for the insight! Some of this I knew but other stuff I didn’t. Had flashbacks to waiting forever for that damn flame trooper and seeing the months keep pushing further back 😂
Thanks for this. I was literally just wondering this because these presales were selling out on my in a matter of minutes and I was finding myself toy-less lol. In the case with McFarlane, I’m just so frustrated because I feel like they’re finally getting around to doing the classic designs that I want and they’ve solved a lot of their issues. They came into their stride. And now these figs are drying up like Lake Mead and I’m struggling to get hands on the figures I actually wanted from McFarlane this whole time
I always thought it was to do with production numbers as i hadn't seen it happen so often before, but i never had any evidence.
I also think that character selection plays into it also. I mean, batman forever figs? These are right in the wheelhouse of the current adult collector's age range. They should have known that would sell better than one of the current movies figs from two years ago
Yeah, clearance chicken is a no-go for me. If I want it, I either pre-order or buy it when I see it at retail. I feel the clearance sting sometimes, but that is the exception, not the rule for me as a collector. 32 years in and I have more regrets about passing up on a figure than seeing it on clearance for half of what I paid for it a few months earlier.
Thank you for that insight. It logically makes sense. As a long time collector I have seen the trends you mentioned. As a fan it is still disappointing when something i really want is scarce. Patience is the key and a sense of humor
Walmart and Amazon both mark up popular toys above MSRP. Even for preorders. Not third party retailers shipping from Amazon or Walmart, but bought from and shipped from the company.
GREAT VIDEO! McFarlane usually does batches, look at the bat mobile. It was to be expected on reduced production numbers because of all the clearances. It was a ridiculous amount.
I wonder what explains the Classified Vamp. They should have made enough of those to go around based on the popularity of the Hiss but it seems like Hasbro intentionally did not. They'll probably overcorrect with the Stinger and those will go to clearance.
the irony is that the VAMP was available for a long time. didn't sell out immediately. I grabbed a few and sold the xtras for 2x. not everything sells out immediately but at some price points people sit on the fence till it's gone then cry later.
I don't think they will overcorrect. I think it's all going according to plan. You don't sell everyone a vamp. You sell some people a vamp. Then you sell the Stinger to grab those who didn't get the Vamp and those who will buy the variant. Then you sell another one in different colors and another and so on.
Scalpers are still an issues. They found a way around the 2 per person limit by using several accounts in a browser. I seen a few ebay seller one with 12, another with 10 and another with 6 Marvel legends Warbirds in there inventory. Selling them for $99 each. Most people couldn't even get 1
The flaw with the Hasbro to Ollie's train is that for the most part, they overproduced figures no one wanted based on shows and movies (looking at Disney) a lot of people hated (Star Wars Sequels, a lot of recent MCU), now they are underproducing on figures across the board. Like seriously, if I were Hasbro I'd just make stuff based on OG Star Wars and evergreen Marvel and not worry about the current thing, and if Disney has a problem with it they can pound sand and try and find some other sucker company to produce figures no one wants.
I have figure a that I been waiting for over two years. And they are always coming "next month". It is so annoying.
UK same thing as last year things go to clearance... Got Patch/Hulk, the other 2 packs and Angel all at discount...
I used to buy all marvel legends and when the price spiked I stoped. Now I cherry pick every other wave. Seems like they would make more money if the prices didn’t go up so much in a short time. Now people just wait for sells. Seems like they are leaving money on the table.
At this point, both between the almighty budget and these smaller runs on figures, my system has become:
-If its a must-have, pre-order on minute one, stay up a couple hours after night shift to get order in. Either at a BBTS or Nerdzoic if i can put the money down now
-If it's not a 100% must-have and pre-orders close day one, pretend it doesnt exist until in-stock dates come up and we get a small run on in stock to decide if i *need* it in the collection
Funny. I never preordered in MY life. Tried one or twice .both? Were disasters.and? I havent missed a figure yet. Not one. Ever. 😃 iys so very possible. Tho? Im very old skool. So? Cld be a generational thing? As long as we get em..ThaT? Is what matters 😃
@@jasond.471 See, I'm basically in a distribution deadzone. Nothing ever makes it to retail in my area, so pre-ordering is basically a necessity since nothing ever hits retail
If you make note of the times and have a mobile device ready. Should be able to get a nap in(if that's what stay up means).
@@DesignIncase Yeah, but I'd rather stay up 2 or so hours to meet the pre-order window rather than crash for 2 hours, wake up to pre-order, and then go back to bed before work
I rhought the purpose for the preorder is to see how many units are needed. But based off what you saying, it's more like he, we have 10k, and hasbro just send people whatever amount they feel is good enough for XYZ retailer.
You can't tell me Platinum editions are not forced scarcity.
Yeah - was speaking to the Merch guy in a collectors store yesterday and was saying a lot of the Platinum McFarlane's don't even make it overseas, as I was really after the Blue armour Azrael.
@@Paul_1971That's bs
@@dahhmlife What are you talking about - im agreeing they are scarce.
I don't think that there are a lot of collectors who will buy something like that. It's a smaller production run. If they make too many, the extra figures end up at ROSS.
@@Paul_1971I understand. I was saying it's bs that the platinum figures don't make it overseas. Everyone should get a chance at those.
The only time I missed out on a pre-order was for Wonder Woman and that was my fault because I just forgot. Luckily I work nights so when it comes to pre-ordering I have been able to order everything I have wanted when it comes to McFarlane. In fact I have a growing list and wouldn't mind him holding off on items I want for a bit. I have the following items on order Classic Darkseid, Batman Forever Wave, Bane vs Batman 2-pack, Fox/Tumbler 2-pack, BTAS Batmobile. I would be pretty upset though if I wasn't around when these items went up because most of them sold out within an hour tops.
Sorry I stopped collecting due to the economy in Canada plus the shelves are empty and shipping from the US is ridiculous.
5 years ago I had a huge life change and had to retire at the age of 42. My income dropped dramatically and now I can obviously no longer afford many things in life that I used to. One of which is my love of collecting action figures. I've mostly gone done to just getting Gi Joe classified, Action Force and a small handful of Star Wars The Black Series (I'll do a random series here and there from time to time). I was also bitten by the customize bug many years ago so the clearance section has become my best friend for several reasons. I honestly can't always afford the full price pre-orders or day of releases, but I do my absolute best when I can. I just hope I'm not making any enimies as I'm forced to cancel a lot of them along the way 😔
I’m just tired of pre-ordering and then getting an email months later from Hasbro saying my pre-order was canceled. I’ve lost out on Mara Jade, Revan, Malek, Bastila, Tarn & The Nemisis because “sorry to inform you, you’re pre-order has been canceled”
Seriously, I've stopped pre-ordering stuff because of this. Especially when a company takes money up front for a pre-order, only to cancel it months to years later.
I do hate hearing a pre oder drop while I'm at work and seeing it sold out by the time I'm off. I will say when the Plastic Man B.A.F wave dropped you were the only place I could pre order from after 8 pm CA time and I'm thankful to you Big Nerdy Sir
Thanks for helping us understand how things actually work in the business. I think it’s cool that you are so transparent. Great video!
2023 passed on the Black series Darth with the cracked helmet. Now it’s $80 on eBay.
Well there's plenty of the legends figures that I want from 2023 to current day that aren't being stocked anywhere in a 500 mile radius. Most pre-orders are sold out and haven't been available in over 9 months. Only ones people don't want are available in stores. Obviously as collectors we know what we want and what we don't. They need to produce more of the desired ones and less of the ones we don't. Shouldn't be too difficult to plan accordingly.
Ive seen hasbro pulse sell out in 15-30 minutes on preorders. I dont understand why pulse allowed people to buy 5 of a figure on a preorder. Im pulse member so I have gotten figures early then when the regular buyers didnt even have access, but I think they stopped doing that. Ollies and Ross ( at least teh ones I can get to) only have teh stuff no one wanted. No more cool xmen waves.
What about, say Hasbro, does Preorders for a , say Vamp, and it sells out in 20 minutes and then every 3 weeks until it actually releases it goes up again for preorder? Are they trying to paint a picture it is scarce or really desired or some other craziness?
According to mattel because i had a go around with them and used McFarlane as an example, they said he owns all of his manufacturers and that gives him an advantage over the largest toy company in the world lol
This has caused FOMO mania, where I have to order any and everything I may have a slight interest in or not. Can’t leave stuff on the table or I may regret it which in the end leads to stacks of stuff you just don’t have room for. The decision has to be made instantly if you want to preorder or not.
I tried getting an e-wing. I didn’t have the money before. I have the money now. Went on to make an order, and it’s sold out. SUCKS MAN… I know they’ll offer more a few months after the 1st shipment , but in the end they’re STILL going to end up with leftovers in inventory. FRUSTRATING…
I don’t want a deal. I just want an e-wing…
Trying to be respectful to my budget habits.
The problem is they slowly been jumping up in price so in all honestly I'm fine with missing out on some.
i think scalpers will always have an effect on preorders. the amount of the effect will change based on the market. but yes i dont think they are have much of an affect right now
I'll pre-order something as soon as it gets listed, only if I know it's going to sell out. If it's a character I like that's not popular, like Tombstone or Armored Spider-Man, I'll wait for it to go on sale
Really appreciate this video and having someone on the retail side of the industry break it down.
It's dumb. There should be a pre-order window. After the time-line is over the product is made sort of like Haslab. Then everyone who wants one, gets one. Not a limited amount that sells out in seconds then immediately goes on eBay.
The clearance always happens if its not in the isle in 6 months its online in 1.5 years
Best Buy has seemingly stopped selling Hasbro stuff, (Black Series, and Marvel Legends mostly), I wonder why that is?
I’ll never understand how a pre-order can sellout? Shouldn’t it be open-in meaning a company says we’re going to offer a product for pre-order from one date to the next once those dates close that’s how many of the items we’re going to produce and sell… then if it’s a popular item, they can come back and revisit and produce a second batch of the item with a second presale from one opening date to an ending date…
what's wild to me is that the companies never seem to catch on what they need to produce the most of. Tom Holland Spiderman? Going to sell a lot. Cool Darth Vader with removable helmet? Going to sell a lot. Good looking Batman from a fan favorite movie? Going to sell a lot. Popular marvel comic character with good sculpt and articulation? Going to sell a lot. Popular Star Wars Clone Character? Going to sell a lot.
Ironically the last time I remember this really impacting me was the first time Palpatine released.
I get it, but i think this is really more an impact over rising prices and diminished quality. Even if the new stuff looks really good, my income hasnt kept up with price hikes.
I honestly think it might be time for me to dip out of the collecting game for a while. I have a few more DC multiverse figures I want, but outside of that, nothing is catching my eye anymore. I sold all my legends since I just dont care about the line anymore, seeing as the prices are going up, but the quality is going down. Todd's just gonna put out his 75th variant of batman this week instead of re-releasing the arkham ones or God forbid making a widely available standard comic book spawn for his universe of spawn line. The whole hobby just has me really frustrated recently.
This can be understandable. But it's easier to go for items on clearance and get them cheaper than how they are. Cheap is the only way to go.
How did Ross end up with so many GI joe Stalkers and Tomaz and Xamot when they barely showed up in any stores? Where was this secret inventory???? I was hunting hard for these.
I rage quit lines all the time if it gets too hard to find figures I need.I know many others who do the same they make things hard to buy they loosing customers and saving myself and others money.