Topic: Germany

[Darth More]

Store report: Smyths Toys

Dresden, Germany

Mon, April 15, 2019




On Monday, after a long time, I went toy hunting, again. I went to Smyths and Mueller.
And this is what I found at Smythys:


STAR WARS





The first wave of the new 6" Archive Line has hit shelves here! A friend of mine told me after my find, that they hang around for two weeks so far. They received 4 sets here in Dresden. Boba Fett sold 3 times so far. Interesting to note is that the Archive Line and the latest regular TBS 6" figures have increased. They now cost 26,99€ while the older figures are still tagged at 22,99€ at the same time!






I was tempted to buy one of the many Hux figs hanging around - just for the mouse droid and the coat. I absolutely dislike his character and Disney's implication to the 3rd Reich and analogy to Hilter. Maybe I buy it for 3 bucks...



These new Resistance and Galaxy of Adventures figure stand/hang apart from the other figures. Lightsabers hang between them. They're also positioned in a height of about 1,70 meters - impossible for children to reach. Got a bad feeling about these...they cannpt tell me that the targeted audience are adults to buy these figures for their little ones at that price point! For 13,99€ they rather buy a LEGO Battle Pack!









Jurassic World









FORTNITE


Most famous among the young generation...and they even have action figures, now:
Price: 11,99€






Hot Wheels


Began with this rather silly wave of vehicles...











MAJORETTE






And here's what I got:








- LEGO 75229 Death Star Escape - 20,99€ - MRSP: 29,99€ (I'm sure SithLord229 likes this set, too!)
- Coconut fibre - 1,99€ - from a pet shop to finally make my Endor dioramas look better. Thanks to hemble for the advice!
- Acrylic paint - foilage green - 1,89€ - special thanks to Frank Diorio from Diorama Workshop for his great advice! He recommends using (cheaper) acrylic paint to dry brush plastic plants in order to make them look more reaslistic.
- wrapping paper 2x1 meter - 0,59€ - because it's hard to find neutral wrapping paper people around here, seriously!
- glas bottle - 2,89€ - to refill with water and to avoid plastic (a big trend among students here.)









The left part of the plant is painted. I painted the leafes from below.

[Tamer]

Now thats a store report. Folks are loving the Boba Fett Archive Figure. Guess we are getting one on a 40th Anniversary Card now too.

[FialaFernbrugg]

Great store report. The figures now have an appropriate sales price.
I think you found a good paint for the plants.

[Darth More]

Thank you gentlemen, it was quite fun to go through all the stores. What I found on my second run at Mueller on Monday was even better though!

[Darth More]

Store report: Müller

Dresden, Germany

Mon, April 15, 2019



Star Wars







The Probe Droid with Vader were the only set among 7 Rathars! The Wampa wasn't reduced to 15€.


Revell






LEGO







Jurassic World





The Stegosaurus was in discount for 16,00€ instead of 24,99€. Two were there, one was picked by a customer right before me - I got the last one there.





Carrera & Cars:









DICKIE TOYS - 1/24 scale





HOT WHEELS










- Jurassic World - Stegosaurus - 16,00€
- Star Wars Probe Droid & Darth Vader - 15,00€



And it's great to see the passion for records is coming again! Even masterpieces of today are produced on vinyl, again!





- Philipp

[Darth More]

Just came home from my grocery store, which is similar to Walmart.
There I saw LEGO's 75182 Republic Fighter Tank 49% off! There were 4 sets left on the shelf!



Such a massive discount was impossible for LEGO Star Wars sets before the Disney era.



Meanwhile on Amazon...






And also these Siku Cars were on discount for 2,99€ - Siku is a German brand that produces high-quality die-cast models in several scales! Cars in 1:50 scale come with rubber tires and opening doors.






- Philipp

[Tamer]

Nice deal. I wish I could find stuff like this at my Grocery Store.

[Darth More]

Store report: Müller

Dresden, Germany

Mon, May 20, 2019




THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE PREDICTED TO HAPPEN, HASBRO!!!


When the return of the Vintage Collection was announced by Hasbro in 2017, collectors were excited all over the world! But most of us had a bad feeling about the selection of characters for the first wave of TVC figures: Only REPACKS of characters of the Sequels and Jyn from Rogue One. The only figure of the Lucas films was also the hottest of the entire wave: The Rebel Hoth Soldier, which of course was only included ONCE per case.


Seeing THIS 2 YEARS LATER just makes me MAD!!! The Vintage Collection returned even weaker as it ended in 2012. Nobody is buying that Sequel crap and everybody knew it! Now, Müller and Toys "R" Us (now Smyths Toys) are the only major retailers I know of, who actually carry The Vintage Collection here in Germany. Every since the first Wave hit shelves back in 2018, these figures just ROT on pegs and keep following waves to become available.
Left on shelves here were: Kylo, Snoke and Rey. This is just outraging! And I don't expect Müller to order another case of TVC...







The rest hasn't change much compared to my last hunt back in April:
I got no words for this. I cannot believe how Disney is ruining my favorite franchise...














- Philipp

[The Spectre]

I cannot believe that you have these just sitting on the shelves over there!

They never even showed up in the US.

[Tamer]

Everything looks so nice and orderly. My stores always look like a buzzsaw has gone through the aisle and pegs when I show up. Off to share.

[Darth More]

TheSpectre: Ah, now I see the picture you attached. Didn’t know what you meant. Yes, I’m not familiar with the JW merch, but it sells well here. Dinosaurs always do. But some products doesn’t and is marked down quite a bit. The new Legacy dinosaurs look even better and more realistic.

Tamer: Yes, Müller is VERY clean and organized. Most stores here are, but not all by far! You can compare Müller to Wallgreens. Grocery stores are a little more messy than drug stores/pharmacies.

[Darth More]

Store report: real,-

NRW, Germany

Sat, June 1, 2019


This makes me sad and mad at the same time. This grocery store can be best compared to WalMart. They used to carry TVC and TBS in both scales. Now, take a look what’s left on pegs there. TLJ stuff still rotting there - even some TFA Basic Figures haven’t sold in 4 YEARS!

[Darth More]

LEGO have got a beautiful selection of sets. Prices are high at real,- though (MRSP).
Also Mattel and playmobil are restocked on a regular basis. They got much better distribution than Hasbro - sad but true.

[Tamer]

I have never went down the LEGO road as their stuff is so nice I know I wouldn't be able to get and display it all. Still nice stuff.

Too bad about TLJ stuff on your pegs.

[Darth More]

Tamer: That's a good point! LEGO sets take up a lot of space, too and space on shelves needs to be used well. My collection focus remains Hasbro Star Wars 3.75" action figures.

I'm aware that much has already been said about how poorly the merchandise for TFA and TLJ has sold, but the impact of this might be visible at retail here now as well:




Store report: Smyths Toys

Dresden, Germany

Wed, June 12, 2019



Smyths Toys reorganized their new store here completely! The first change was that different brands are displayed together and right up to the ceiling. Must look even more impressive to children than it already does to me as a 6' guy.
Now, they moved all aisles heading to the cash desks. So now people can look deeply into these "bays" from the hallway of the mall - it looks quite impressive and makes one curious to walk into the store. It looks more open now. Have a look yourself:






Now here comes the shocking part: The section for STAR WARS action toys is even smaller now!




And I really do hope this is only due to the movement of inventory...

Some of the Archive Line and regular TBS6 figures have sold. All Boba Fett's were gone. 2x Bossk, 2x Luke (X-Wing) and 4x IG-88 were left.



Interesting to note is that IG-88 can be found in a silver and a brass/golden finish:




LEGO


The new Harry Potter and STAR WARS Summer sets have arrived - some are on sale right away:













Jurassic World, Transformers and WWE


Action Toys have gotten less and less space on pegs and shelves over the years. The selction for King Kong, MARVEL and Transformers were pretty messy. I'll take another look in a couple weeks.
FORTNITE figures have become a huge thing though. Boys are even taking a look at them! Stunning.









bruder is also an amazing brand with their massive selection of 1/16 scale vehicles made in Germany. You can have tons of fun with those everywhere - espsecially outdoors!




And this is what I got today:







Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot)

I've already hears about inferior quality of these repacks in terms of paint apps. And I can confirm some of them are not as good as their original releases. I like the photo-real face prints though. They're a great update! Looking forward to seeing updated Yoda, Anakin and Maul in person.




I really like the packaging design of the Archive Line.





IG-88

I got the "silver finish" version



One obvious disadvantage of buying at retail is that packaging, cardbacks and blisters always have scratches unless you got them right off the box...still I wannt to support local retailers as much as I can.




I hope that the Archive Line sells well so that Smyth's Toys will order Wave 2 as well.


- Philipp