AEW Launch Day Thread (most likely coming 8/6)

[johnnyhanson21]

Aug 3, 2020 11:26:57 GMT -5 penguin said:

I also had a store say they were only getting 6. Surely they mean 6 cases, right? They have 3 pegs out and I can’t imagine they’re just getting half cases.

Depends on the size of the case,if theirs 2X of Cody,Omega,Jericho &  1X Matt,Nick & Brandi could see that taking up 3 pigs.I use to do planograms for Sears and you would usually set up a bit more space if you expect to have more stock or to continue to get stock moving forward.Plus 3 makes things look better and more even then just have a pig or two for the figures.So three figure per pig is what I am guessing.

[HothHan]

It's a pretty well known fact among every collecting community that Walmart is the worst when it comes to anything related to street dates/exclusives etc.

Why anyone here would expect anything different is comical.

[Robz PippinRoad]

Aug 3, 2020 11:35:17 GMT -5 xtremebadass said:

The blame here falls on multiple people.

First and foremost, you have to blame Jazwares for partnering with WALMART. That is the absolutely worst and inconsistent retailer across America.

Then you need to blame Jazwares again for advertising a specific date for launch. The only brand that can get away with big super hype launch dates is Star Wars and when they do it, they put out a TON of merchandise and not a case of 6 individual action figures. I remember Transformers had a big one too for their movie back in 2009. Ah, the good old days.

To a much, much lesser extent, you also have to blame the consumer for their unrealistic expectations. Yes, I know they advertised them being at WALMART on a SPECIFIC DATE, but collectors should have seen this one coming. If you regularly buy toys from WALMART and have experienced their tragic distribution problems, did you seriously think you were going to find these things?

If I didn't have these on preorder (still haven't gotten my shipment notification from RSC btw), would I be frantically hitting WALMARTS or waiting outside until they open? No, because WALMART is just awful.

Kinda Hard to justify not partnering w the Number 1 Brick & Mortar retailer in the Country and Number Two Online retailer in the World regardless 

[Yambag Jones]

Aug 3, 2020 11:31:21 GMT -5 Deep Figure Value said:

I don't know how anyone actually thought these would be on the pegs waiting to be bought when stores opened up this morning.

I was hoping to find a case being stocked or above the shelving. I'm an optimist. lol

[johnnyhanson21]

Yikes,yes its only a few days from now but this last week or so has be a total fail on everyone's part.Terrible way to launch a new product to the market and way to piss off your core fanbase.

Just hope that when Wal Mart actually gets them this week on Wednesday or Thursday that its more then just one case which is starting to be the reports going around,I totally understand not wanting to flood the market as you don't know how well things will do but should be 2 or maybe 3 case per store.If it turns out again to be only one case per store things are going to really turn south with a ton of pissed off fans when the scalpers grab most of the figures and try and resale them on ebay at crazy prices.

[cordless2016]

Aug 3, 2020 11:44:43 GMT -5 HothHan said:

It's a pretty well known fact among every collecting community that Walmart is the worst when it comes to anything related to street dates/exclusives etc.

Why anyone here would expect anything different is comical.

I didn’t go out hunting this morning because Brickseek says out of stock everywhere, but I can’t blame people who did. AEW ran multiple advertisements that Walmart would have these available on 8/3, and this is after taking the Covid shipping delays into account. The ring and belt start poping up early too, and add Cody asking people to post pictures of their Walmart’s today with AEW merch, and I can’t blame people for expecting them to be available on the date that they have been advertised to be available.

If Walmart can hit street dates with movies and videos games, why not with other products (I know toys don’t bring in the revenue movies and games do but it’s still an exclusive and is another source of revenue)?

[Deleted]

[WrestlingFigWig]

If you are melting down over not being able to get figures on a specific date I’d hate to see what you’re like when a real emergency or crisis happens in your life.

[Yambag Jones]

Aug 3, 2020 10:30:09 GMT -5 @tepig said:

Aug 3, 2020 10:23:21 GMT -5 @whathefreak said:

If it wasn’t for Covid we would have had them by now. I understand people wanting them but some are overreacting lol

Correct and I agree entirely about the overreacting. However the virus has been going strong for 6 months now, throttling the entire planet. It didn't just creep up last week suddenly which is why it's so odd to me they committed to such a specific date. 

"Coming to Walmart early August" would have been just fine and created just as much hype. 

I think Walmart deserves most of the blame, to be honest. The story I keep hearing is everyone is being told "check back Wednesday, or Thursday, maybe Friday". Their distribution is a mess.

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2020 12:14:39 GMT -5 Yambag Jones said:

Aug 3, 2020 10:30:09 GMT -5 @tepig said:

Correct and I agree entirely about the overreacting. However the virus has been going strong for 6 months now, throttling the entire planet. It didn't just creep up last week suddenly which is why it's so odd to me they committed to such a specific date. 

"Coming to Walmart early August" would have been just fine and created just as much hype. 

I think Walmart deserves most of the blame, to be honest. The story I keep hearing is everyone is being told "check back Wednesday, or Thursday, maybe Friday". Their distribution is a mess.

And it probably doesn’t help that we’re in a weird place in the world lol

[Thunder Chunky]

Most of you guys have never worked retail, and it shows.

[Yambag Jones]

Aug 3, 2020 12:16:10 GMT -5 @whathefreak said:

Aug 3, 2020 12:14:39 GMT -5 Yambag Jones said:

I think Walmart deserves most of the blame, to be honest. The story I keep hearing is everyone is being told "check back Wednesday, or Thursday, maybe Friday". Their distribution is a mess.

And it probably doesn’t help that we’re in a weird place in the world lol

fAkE nEwZ

[Mclovin]

Aug 3, 2020 12:10:44 GMT -5 @whathefreak said:

told you

[crush]

Since my RSC order hasn't shipped yet (totally understandable) my wife and I were going to take a drive to Jersey to check the Wal mart nearest us (I want an extra Omega) but not going to now. Honestly, I don't think it's fair to get "flip-out" angry over it, and this doesn't lessen my excitement for the line or anything one bit, but it is a bad look that August 3 was HYPED so hard as a specific street date when "Early August" would have sufficed. And truthfully, we as collectors pretty much new they wouldn't be out most if any places today, but casual fans/buyers/lapsed collectors who had that date drilled into their heads are going to be rightfully annoyed at empty shelves today.

[xtremebadass]

I remember when HasbroPulse announced the Walmart Exclusive Endgame Captain America last year. That was an absolute nightmare to find. That was a pretty big deal and I had to resort to Brickseek and stuff like that ot gauge when and where I might be able to get one.

I had to go to a Walmart after countless trips for like a month and a half at 7:00 am and miraculously struck gold.

This was several weeks after coming up empty.

I imagine it won't be much different for these.

[stc13]

Aug 3, 2020 11:56:27 GMT -5 Robz PippinRoad said:

Aug 3, 2020 11:35:17 GMT -5 xtremebadass said:

The blame here falls on multiple people.

First and foremost, you have to blame Jazwares for partnering with WALMART. That is the absolutely worst and inconsistent retailer across America.

Then you need to blame Jazwares again for advertising a specific date for launch. The only brand that can get away with big super hype launch dates is Star Wars and when they do it, they put out a TON of merchandise and not a case of 6 individual action figures. I remember Transformers had a big one too for their movie back in 2009. Ah, the good old days.

To a much, much lesser extent, you also have to blame the consumer for their unrealistic expectations. Yes, I know they advertised them being at WALMART on a SPECIFIC DATE, but collectors should have seen this one coming. If you regularly buy toys from WALMART and have experienced their tragic distribution problems, did you seriously think you were going to find these things?

If I didn't have these on preorder (still haven't gotten my shipment notification from RSC btw), would I be frantically hitting WALMARTS or waiting outside until they open? No, because WALMART is just awful.

Kinda Hard to justify not partnering w the Number 1 Brick & Mortar retailer in the Country and Number Two Online retailer in the World regardless 

You sell your product where you can.  These are most likely a Walmart "exclusive" because Target passed.  That's the name of the game since TRU went under.  Even getting onto shelves at Walmart is still a big win.  Hopefully the line does well, gets some strong data, and Target will pick them up as well.  But I absolutely believe Jazwares would have been more than happy to sell to Target and Amazon, but it takes two to tango.

[Yambag Jones]

Aug 3, 2020 11:26:57 GMT -5 penguin said:

I also had a store say they were only getting 6. Surely they mean 6 cases, right? They have 3 pegs out and I can’t imagine they’re just getting half cases.

From everything I've seen and heard (including from Jeremy), I'm fully expecting each store is staring off with just one case of 6. Unless the case breakdown is like 8.

[stc13]

Aug 3, 2020 12:18:22 GMT -5 crush said:

Since my RSC order hasn't shipped yet (totally understandable) my wife and I were going to take a drive to Jersey to check the Wal mart nearest us (I want an extra Omega) but not going to now. Honestly, I don't think it's fair to get "flip-out" angry over it, and this doesn't lessen my excitement for the line or anything one bit, but it is a bad look that August 3 was HYPED so hard as a specific street date when "Early August" would have sufficed. And truthfully, we as collectors pretty much new they wouldn't be out most if any places today, but casual fans/buyers/lapsed collectors who had that date drilled into their heads are going to be rightfully annoyed at empty shelves today.

I agree.  It's a definite misfire, but I appreciate Jeremy owning it and learning from it.  I respect the transparency they've had and willingness to take one on the chin if the situation dictates.  

I expect this will be water under the bridge in a few days once these start to roll out.

[Yambag Jones]

Aug 3, 2020 12:25:57 GMT -5 stc13 said:

Aug 3, 2020 11:56:27 GMT -5 Robz PippinRoad said:

Kinda Hard to justify not partnering w the Number 1 Brick & Mortar retailer in the Country and Number Two Online retailer in the World regardless 

You sell your product where you can.  These are most likely a Walmart "exclusive" because Target passed.  That's the name of the game since TRU went under.  Even getting onto shelves at Walmart is still a big win.  Hopefully the line does well, gets some strong data, and Target will pick them up as well.  But I absolutely believe Jazwares would have been more than happy to sell to Target and Amazon, but it takes two to tango.

People aren't grasping how complex the toy business is.

[SodaGuy]

I'm glad Jeremy is taking responsibility for putting a hard date on launch. They say "Early August" and it's a non-factor today. It's an overall bummer that they've stumbled out of the gate between pre-orders, not being in-stock on "launch day", and warnings about a shortage at retail.