I must be lucky, cuz I have never had issues with scalpers or other collectors. I have got everything at retail, along with extra's, with no problem. But I have 6 Super Center Wal-Mart's, 5 Target's, 3 K-Mart's, and 1 TRU, so although no store has had more than 4 cases at a time of any wave, I have gotten what I wanted.

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Oy, do I ever know the frustration.

Out in the middle of nowhere so we don't get anything anyway. Yea we even get shorted on Indie figures so you have to go out of town if there is something you are looking for. Only a Wal-Mart in town so that means a special trip to look for the Target exclusives since they don't sell those on the Target web site.

Ouch and my rotten luck with the Joes starting with "F". I've found at least one of all the Joes and Cobras except for Flint and Flash. Haven't wanted to pay out the rear on a Flint figure since I could just repaint the tiger force one to have Flint with gloves. Of course with the problems Hasbro has with getting out toys lately I'll likely miss improved Flint as well.

Yea yea, I know I could order off the net, but what's the point of having the Joes back in the stores if there are never any Joes in the stores?

At least Transformers fans who liked the movie look got lucky in Hasbro getting them the figures they wanted, but you have to wonder some days just who is Hasbro getting the Joes out to the fans or the people cashing in on e-Bay.

Reminds me of the whole Motu thing. The biggest thing i can see now is why are the cases so small? Every figure should have at least half a case.

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I share your frustration.

Most of the figures I've got were out of luck or I pre-ordered them. I had to get wave 6 through HTS and only last week did I see my first Wave 6 figure in local store. When did that wave first come out?

Still you see pictures of new wave months in advanced you get all excited about the wave. People start to report them out in the stores. You want to find them too but instead you can't. You read about everyone else raving or ranting about the latest wave but you can't find it. When you find one or two figures from that wave it is 3 months later you aren't that excited about buying it.

You stare at that plastic tramp that you once wanted to love but now just hate out of spite. You curse this love that rejected you from approaching her for so long. She stays in the same room as you but you ingore her. You rather stare at pictures of other new girls waving their pretty swivel hips at you. Deep in your heart you know these girls will do the same to you. Once day you'll see them out on the street but you'll just drive by.

I wonder if this is a sign things are getting better....

I was at Kroger last night and saw a lone Roadblock (five-pack re-paint). I wonder if this means that more non-traditional stores are going to start carrying Joes again?

On the other hand, Meijer has had pegs for 25th Joes since January. In that time, those pegs have held: Speed Racer Toys, Wrestling Figures and now, Corps! figures. It's not that they're getting stock in and selling it - they're just not getting stock.

And the sad thing is, even if I'm not buying a whole lot of figures, I want to see them on the shelves. Pegs and Pegs of beautiful 25th card art - everywhere.

I wonder: if Hasbro can manage to do massive roll-outs of other lines, where everything hits on or around a set date, and in numbers, why haven't they done that with Joe? I remember when the first "Cybertron" toys hit TRU and there was a HUGE display of product for weeks. Do the same with Joe and I'd wager they'd garner more interest and bring in a lot of frustrated fans.

~Marduk

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Hasbro Toy Shop is where I've gotten 75% of the new Joes.... anyone in the US has that as an option.

The only figure I've missed out on is Flash, and I hope he ends up in comic pack or multi-pack.

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Well,

Between HIGH gas prices, Honey DOs, Home Work (aka construction project here and there),and poor distribution; YUP frusterated.

But then there's the Joecustoms community for moral support and to help fill those empty collection holes.

Yes, my friends if we ban together and look out for each other we all can fill our collections eventually. Between Hasbrotoyshop and some of the guys on this board I've been able to keep up with the waves.

So in two words: THANX GUYS.

And to paraphrase an old beer commercial: "I luv you, man."

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I went to Wal Mart last night and sure enough I was probably about an hour too late. They were still restocking but I could tell the Joes had all been put out. The comic pack pegs were crammed full but now sign of new singles, they were already gone. Only Serpies, Air Troops and Buzzers stared at me from the pegs. And with my TRU swamped with peg warmers, I am going to have problems.

I just did a pre-order on HTS to alleviate the problems I am having. I know I have to wait until August but I can already feel the stress lifted. Now, by my count I think I only need 4 more figures from these new waves. But by watching HTS instead of wasting my gas (which is now $3.78 a gallon) I am sure I can get everything I want on pre order soon enough.

I guess we should look on the bright side at least we aren't in next years level of frustration yet. It's bad we can't find figures now but what about next year when the shelves are just flooded with movie figures because you know retailers love to overstock movie figures that aren't ever going to sell.

Lets enjoy Snake Eyes being the only Joe in black while we can and just hope the movie figures are pretty cool when the flood hits.

I've said this before, but I hope the movie figures are set in a different scale than 1/18th. As more and more images from the movie are released, I find myself shaking my head. I'm a completest and it would be convenient to have an excuse to not purchase them.

I also have no doubt that the movie figures will be available, unlike the current figures, in overwhelming numbers. My frustration has even traveled into the future.

BTW, I was lucky enough to stumble onto one new figure today. It was, of course, Duke. It was also the last new figure on the pegs. The only new figure I can find is one that is virtually identically to the TRU version.

The new wave is just starting to show up here, but I still haven't even seen a shelf tag for the vehicles in any of the 5 different Targets I've been to. Tru on the other hend seems to be flooded with the exclusives.

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If your talking about the Target exclusive vehicles they are up front by the registers. If the other new vehicles coming out then I don't think those will be out til July or Aug.

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Yeah, it reminds me of the MOTU thing as well, and didn't that line fail spectacularly? I am as frustrated as you, and have pretty much given up collecting the new stuff.

Due to Hasbro's total lack of any real quality control, I refuse to order them online and get some paint-smeared deformity. My 6 year old cousin could run a better business!

If they happen to have any figs other than Buzzer in a store where I am anyway, I'll buy them, but I have given up "hunting" as it it is fruitless.

If Hasbro ever decides to sell their G. I. Joe products in California, I may start collecting again!

Ridiculous...

Hasbro ------>

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Tell me you're kidding, please? The Target exclusives were given the same treatment as the Order 66 sets - put out in the front on an end cap? No wonder I never saw them. Only one Target had the Order 66 sets this time and it's on the other side of town.

Oh well. Less money for Hasbro, less money for Target, less money I spend.

~Marduk

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Not kidding. Thats why you need to read the Target Joes thread. They were up front with the Order 66 and the Transformer Target Exclusives. You might get lucky to find one in a toys return cart cause the person gathering the returns/not purchased stuff didn't know they went up front.

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