Topic: Germany

[Darth More]

So this is how retail looks like in Germany - before Christmas - IN A MOVIE YEAR!!!!




KAUFLAND


KAUFLAND is similar to Walmart and they don't carry much toys. They only have a very small toy section and offer Star Wars stuff only once in a while.
They currently got a special STAR WARS promotion running which started a couple weeks ago. You now get two cards for every 5€ you spend on groceries. And the album to collect those cards is sold seperately for 6,99€.
They also have a commercial on TV. Its title is "The good on you"
So they got a few of those...forgot the name of the TV show...anyhow: 9,99€ each - what a steal

Well done Disney...well done.




Smyths Toys


I know this is much more than even in most retail stores in the U.S. but being a movie year with TROS only a few days away to launch (sadly), this is just a joke. While I was standing at the shelf to take those pics I listened to some parents talking about whether to buy a 6" Black Series figure (Sith Trooper) or not. And they said, "it's just one figure for almost 30€ (24,99€). What's the point"
Indeed Hasbro, what's the point? This is a prime example that a figure is a figure no matter how tall or small it is. And people just don't eat it at 25€! By the way the Black Series started selling here at 32,99€ ($35!!).They left without buying anything from Hasbro Star Wars. Guess LEGO made the run.













Müller


Well, Müller was pretty much sold out. Maybe because Christmas is only a week away and they offer 15% coupons.





TVC figures were down to 12,99€. TFA Rey stood seperately at 12€ - still not selling.
The Black Series is still down to 14,99€. It's Hasbro's Premium Line if you didn't know, yet.
They had TBS SM Finn in his FO Officer suit, SOLO Lando and Lando that nobody seems to like, don't know why, though.







I couldn't care less for this ugly Rathar, but the different packaging caught my eyes. I didn't know there were two different versions in The Last Jedi line...





I found out that there's one witha Force Linke 1.0 and one with a 2.0 sound chip. Hasbro did make some effort for those crappy 5 POA figures...





Cheers.

[Darth More]

real,-


Went to real,- this Saturday morning and as expected it was horribly crowded - love those days of madness before Christmas...

And this is how most of the shelves looked:






So I re-organized the STAR WARS display before I took the pictures:









Also Jurassic World action figures are 52% off. Guess they didn't sell that well. I looked at them, but couldn't see any useful parts for customs. I would've taken Dr. Malcom, but he wasn't present there. It's kinda good to know that Mattel also make their mistakes in marketing.
I generally think the entire Jurassic World thing is a bad reboot of the orgininal Jurassic Park movies. I see some parallels to Star Wars and the Sequel Trilogy...






A little story apart from this: The reason I went there was that a fellow collector kept sending me pics of all the great deals he found at real. He collects mainly Black Series and found the latest wave for 10€ the last week. So he hunted down all real,- stores in a radius of 30 miles and bought all the Battle Droids. I wonder why I just didn't order a solid case instead. He found them between 10-18€ instead of 24,95€. He bought them all and claimed they're all for himself. Well, he bought them and then sent me pics of the pile he got. When I go hunting I used to send him pics of the stuff I found when I was actually in store in front of the shelves. And I asked him if he wanted anything from there. I even went out just to look for HotWheels cars he wanted. And I bought them for him.
It turned out that he wouldn't do the same for me. Not enough with this selfishness.
I asked him if he became a scalper by now. Then he posted the last two Battle Droids on facebook and pretended these were the only ones he got from real,-. And he was making fun of me.
That's it with our friendship. He's telling only half the truth to his community of collectors on facebook. But I'm not wasting any more time on him. Shall he be happy with the little things in life.

I don't need him any longer rubbing all that under my nose, telling me I should go look there, too, even after  he had already bought all figures from that store. I'm quite pissed at him and can only hope you don't have such people around you. It's always sad when friendships break apart because of such bullshit. 



By the way real,- has become as crappy as Walmart: If you look for Star Wars toys by Hasbro each item is sold at a different price. It's RIDICULOUS!

https://www.real.de/item/search/?search_value=star%20wars%20black%20series&valueKey_search_value=


Prime example is TVC Rey (Jakku) tagged at 34,07€!! That's $38.


Also TVC figures have a MRSP of 18,99€ here now while Black Series figures are reduced down to 14,99€ or even less as mentioned above.
This makes me even more pissed. GOA figures sell for 12,99€. At least I finally found styrofoam to continue my latest projects.

And here's what I think of when I read GOA

- " Thanks. We are the Cantina band. If you have any song wishes, just shout them out!"
-- "Play the same song again!"
- "Okay, the same song. Let's go!"


Cantina Band Goa

Maybe the design team was on drugs as well when they had the idea to produce those GOA figures in 5 inch...

[FialaFernbrugg]

I must say most of the Star Wars toys you find in stores today don't look like top quality.
Looks like trashy goods to me.

[Darth More]

FialaFernbrugg: I can only agree with you. Sad but true...I will never forget how they exaggerated the milking of the cow back in 2015. Even toilet paper with BB-8 and pacifiers with Kylo Ren printed on them were sold..ridiculous.



Last weekend I found those two figs on eBay and picked them up:






Meanwhile on eBay.de...







But don't worry, Chewie still has the high ground!




- Philipp

[FialaFernbrugg]

5€ for K-2SO is a great deal.
Who pays 920 for the figure

[Darth More]

Yes, K-2 for 5€ a steal. Combined with the 25€ for 4-LOM it was still a great deal!
920€ is just ridiculous and I really doubt one of five has really sold for that much credits...

[Darth More]

Toy Hunt

Dresden, Germany

Thu, February 6, 2020



Müller





You can have a Rathtar for 30€ (ForceLink2.0) or you can also have the same one for just 15€ (ForceLink2.0). The choice is yours!




The Black Series 6" figures are CHEAPER than The Vintage Collection figures here, now! I'M OUT!!!!


They had TBS6:
- 2x Kii'ra
- Finn (First Order Officer)
- Lando Calrissian (SOLO)
- Han Solo (SOLO)









SPIELE MAX







Since 2019 TVC figures have an officia MRSP of 21,99€ here in Germany! Can you believe that?! To me Hasbro is showing us 3.75" collectors the BIGGEST MIDDLE FINGER here. TBS6 figures are on discount for 14,99€ at the same time. BUT The Black Series is their "premium line" of course!- they fly now!

They had TVC:
- 2x Luke Skywalker
- 1x Zorii Bliss
- 1x that Poe God Pilot
That means the Sith Trooper and Rey sold!
Who's excited for TOP GUN2?


I think I rather start collecting G scale model trains, instead...



Cheers!

[Tamer]

All kinds of SW on the pegs and shelves and very little any of us want to buy.

[Darth More]

That sums it all up! Couldn't have said it better, Tamer. Thanks for checking back in!

[Darth More]

Drug store finds in February 2020


ROSSMANN


still there…can you find all Roses & Ticos?






Müller


Nothing changed at this store, but they put a TVC X-Wing Luke and Sith Trooper on the shelf.



 

And I visited another store of Müller, where I haven't been before. Their selection is HUGE!





Mr Tobias Beckett was there for 14,99€ - of course Cara Dune was at 26,99€ - for 15 bucks I'd have bought her.


I'll probably never understand why these are so popular…



I'm glad Mattel give us so much Variety in their HotWheels assortment - unlike Hasbro...

[Darth More]

Game Stop


I asked for the new Gaming Greats Heavy Battle Droid and Jedi Revan. But they are not announced to be available at international GameStop stores as of now. BUT they told me I could order them from their U.S. store. Plus $20 for shipping and about 10€ for custom fees. Well, I cannot even access their U.S. online store without a VPN. My requests are rejected.

But their selection is pretty awesome in this store:

TBS Basic figures are 29,99€ each (~$33). Interestingly Archive figures are 35,99€ (~$39):



They even have Harry Potter figures from Bandai's SH FiguArts! And it seems photo real technology has already been a thing for other brands for a long time. So Hasbro jumped on this train pretty late…





They even had some TVC for 18,99€ each (~$20):

[Darth More]

Smyths Toys

Dresden, February 27, 2020


STAR WARS


I am impressed! It looks like Smyths Toys could order SOLID CASES of certain characters for both TVC & TBS! So they gave each Item-No. an own label and peg/space on shelf! That's actually great news! They even had a TBS #101 Cara Dune (24,99€) and a Tarkin (22,99€) there. Their (Toys "R" Us) exclusive Zuckuss still is at 29,99€. But dude, look at all those Vintage Collection figures!




And yet another peg for TVC for Wave 1 that STILL struggles to sell…



I wonder why VC150 is sold out everywhere. It seems like VC 167 is the new holy grail since the re-launch of TVC.


And even 7 more Jawas are waiting up on the shelf to get a place on the peg. Take this Rose Tico!




But most Card backs were damaged already. Nevertheless! They got THREE Shadow Stormtroopers there! And all RO Stormtroopers were gone - wow, they sold for 18,99€ each…






Taking a ook at other brands


Some giant Godzillas there. 69,99€ not bad!



And more King Kongs and dinosaurs:





Spidey & MARVEL






Yeah,, and more of that stuff...





playmobil never fails to impress me! A cargo hall with a truck and a forklift truck plus tons of accessories for just 39,99€ - that's just one example.




LEGO is on sale there at the moment to get those overprices MRSPs down a Little bit:






LEGO Harry Potter seems to sell like hot cakes! Seriously! I got the 75955 Hogwarts Express for 69,99€ instead of 79,99€.



More great value sets & even bargains!




Hey, this one might be great for all HALO fans & customizers out there!



And the deal of the day:


14,99€ for an aircraft carrier! WITH LIGHTS & SOUNDS! And a MRSP of 17,99€! I remember I had this Aircraft carrier when I was a Boy. It came without light and sounds, but with more die-cast fighter jets of higher Quality. It was my absolute favorite toy back in the day. I got it to my Birthday and it was 49,99€ if I remember correctly.
So I felt like I went 20 years back in time when I found this yesterday. I mean come on - 14,99€ for such a big set in 2020?! Impossible!
So Hasbro re-using an old mold over and over again can actually lead to a LOWER retail price!

TVC Slave I in 2013 - $119.99
TVC Slave I in 2020 - $149.99

NO, Hasbro!



And this is what I got:


I was actually able to find a VC 150 Princess Leia Organa (Yavin) in good condition. I’d give the card a B+.
And I think her headsculpt is very good! I’m sure there are customizers out there who can make her actually look like Carrie. What a beautiful woman she was with such dignity. She will never be forgotten.

[Tamer]

Must be nice seeing all those vintage cards. I haven't seen that many in any store I have been in here in the US for way over a year or more.

[Darth More]

It is! Couldn't believe it myself! And I'm sorry things changed to the worst since 2013 even in the U.S. - Hasbro's prime market...it started with the 3.75" Black Series being exclusive to Walmart (constantly and physically not available) and then the Sequels came...and now we got the Virus for further delay and shortage of supplies. People are preparing here in Europe like there's no tomorrow.

[Tamer]

Yeah, the coronavirus has people going all Y2K around here too. My best friend just bought stock in Merino, geesh!