Walmart WWE Superstars line

[Fighter Hayabusa]

Sept 24, 2024 21:24:37 GMT -5 voicesinmyhead said:

Did anyone catch this week’s episode of the MWF Pod and hear the baseless comment from Sterling. He said “One cool thing about this line is they’re not like insanely hard to find.” Loved that Broski corrected him immediately. I don’t know about anyone else, but Mark really brings the show down for me. Really wish he didn’t become a full time on-air character with them. He’s consistently proven wrong and has some of the worst takes I’ve ever heard. He’s also not even slightly knowledgeable in the toy business or knowledgeable with the history of wrestling figures so, other than his skills as a producer, I don’t know what he brings to the table.

Back to business, the distribution on Superstars is certainly better than MNW, but it’s still wonky. I get most sets at my Walmart, but not every set. Definitely missed entire waves in the middle.

For me personally they have been frustrating to find but not necessarily hard to find. They all eventually show up but you just don’t know when and where. I stressed out over Andre for months but eventually found 4 for myself and maybe a couple others I left on the pegs.

[wrestlingcollector80]

Sept 25, 2024 5:28:27 GMT -5 Fighter Hayabusa said:

Sept 24, 2024 21:24:37 GMT -5 voicesinmyhead said:

Did anyone catch this week’s episode of the MWF Pod and hear the baseless comment from Sterling. He said “One cool thing about this line is they’re not like insanely hard to find.” Loved that Broski corrected him immediately. I don’t know about anyone else, but Mark really brings the show down for me. Really wish he didn’t become a full time on-air character with them. He’s consistently proven wrong and has some of the worst takes I’ve ever heard. He’s also not even slightly knowledgeable in the toy business or knowledgeable with the history of wrestling figures so, other than his skills as a producer, I don’t know what he brings to the table.

Back to business, the distribution on Superstars is certainly better than MNW, but it’s still wonky. I get most sets at my Walmart, but not every set. Definitely missed entire waves in the middle.

For me personally they have been frustrating to find but not necessarily hard to find. They all eventually show up but you just don’t know when and where. I stressed out over Andre for months but eventually found 4 for myself and maybe a couple others I left on the pegs.

agree 100% they aren't the worst line to find but its still a struggle. monday night wars is the hardest.

[redrooster]

Sept 24, 2024 21:24:37 GMT -5 voicesinmyhead said:

Did anyone catch this week’s episode of the MWF Pod and hear the baseless comment from Sterling. He said “One cool thing about this line is they’re not like insanely hard to find.” Loved that Broski corrected him immediately. I don’t know about anyone else, but Mark really brings the show down for me. Really wish he didn’t become a full time on-air character with them. He’s consistently proven wrong and has some of the worst takes I’ve ever heard. He’s also not even slightly knowledgeable in the toy business or knowledgeable with the history of wrestling figures so, other than his skills as a producer, I don’t know what he brings to the table.

Back to business, the distribution on Superstars is certainly better than MNW, but it’s still wonky. I get most sets at my Walmart, but not every set. Definitely missed entire waves in the middle.

There was a pod episode where Matt and Brian were talking about maximum sweat figures, after talking about them countless times on the show and Mark chimed in with “Wait, what’s Maximum sweat?”. I couldn’t believe it lol.

[arossi417]

Sept 25, 2024 5:28:27 GMT -5 Fighter Hayabusa said:

Sept 24, 2024 21:24:37 GMT -5 voicesinmyhead said:

Did anyone catch this week’s episode of the MWF Pod and hear the baseless comment from Sterling. He said “One cool thing about this line is they’re not like insanely hard to find.” Loved that Broski corrected him immediately. I don’t know about anyone else, but Mark really brings the show down for me. Really wish he didn’t become a full time on-air character with them. He’s consistently proven wrong and has some of the worst takes I’ve ever heard. He’s also not even slightly knowledgeable in the toy business or knowledgeable with the history of wrestling figures so, other than his skills as a producer, I don’t know what he brings to the table.

Back to business, the distribution on Superstars is certainly better than MNW, but it’s still wonky. I get most sets at my Walmart, but not every set. Definitely missed entire waves in the middle.

For me personally they have been frustrating to find but not necessarily hard to find. They all eventually show up but you just don’t know when and where. I stressed out over Andre for months but eventually found 4 for myself and maybe a couple others I left on the pegs.

I've had 100% more luck finding superstars than I have MNW, and probably the RA figs too. Feels like maybe the spots that don't get superstars get the other exclusives and vice versa. Doesn't mean it's not something they should fix though.

[randysnoreton]

The vest on Razor is softer than I thought it would be

[pitfallharry219]

Sept 24, 2024 21:24:37 GMT -5 voicesinmyhead said:

Did anyone catch this week’s episode of the MWF Pod and hear the baseless comment from Sterling. He said “One cool thing about this line is they’re not like insanely hard to find.” Loved that Broski corrected him immediately. I don’t know about anyone else, but Mark really brings the show down for me. Really wish he didn’t become a full time on-air character with them. He’s consistently proven wrong and has some of the worst takes I’ve ever heard. He’s also not even slightly knowledgeable in the toy business or knowledgeable with the history of wrestling figures so, other than his skills as a producer, I don’t know what he brings to the table.

Back to business, the distribution on Superstars is certainly better than MNW, but it’s still wonky. I get most sets at my Walmart, but not every set. Definitely missed entire waves in the middle.

He's a yes man and constantly reassures the other two how great they are. That's why they keep him. Nearly as bad is D Freedom and the "so, uh, yeah, *smacks mouth*, so yeah". The lip smacking noises are total audio pollution.

[wrestlingcollector80]

Brutus Beefcake, Rey Mysterio superstars probably Ramon too
already being found in California.

[cableV]

Sept 29, 2024 14:31:39 GMT -5 wrestlingcollector80 said:

Brutus Beefcake, Rey Mysterio superstars probably Ramon too
already being found in California.

Hopefully my store can clear out the 4 Kurt Angles and 4 red Hogans(yeah, right. No one is buying those Hogans) before they are due in my are.

[thep1]

The Beefcake line succeeds the Angle line correct?

[cableV]

Sept 29, 2024 16:40:53 GMT -5 thep1 said:

The Beefcake line succeeds the Angle line correct?

Yes.

Then Bret, Anvil & Cactus. Then Steamboat, Jake the Snake & Eddie Guerrero.

[wrestlingcollector80]

I was at a WM this weekend no lie I counted 14 red tights hogans on the shelf no other superstars ridiculous!

[wrestlingcollector80]

Picked another one of these up this weekend, opened it took off the natural disasters outfit having him sport the blue outfit, kind of resealed it, I’m gonna open it up probably eventually. I may do the same thing with Andre at some point.

[randysnoreton]

The right knee of the Razor chase might be an issue. On the 1st I got it snapped on the 2nd it's bent and stiff

[Flair Forever]

Sept 29, 2024 15:37:15 GMT -5 cableV said:

Sept 29, 2024 14:31:39 GMT -5 wrestlingcollector80 said:

Brutus Beefcake, Rey Mysterio superstars probably Ramon too
already being found in California.

Hopefully my store can clear out the 4 Kurt Angles and 4 red Hogans(yeah, right. No one is buying those Hogans) before they are due in my are.

Walmart doesn't seem to be distributing based on inventory/supply, you could have 10 Superstars on the shelf and they might still get more (new ones) in. Or, you might get nothing.

Because they just randomly send the stuff out to stores, it's not based on any human order or sitting inventory. I saw it again last night, two Walmarts got the same pallet - including the WWE kid-belts. And both places already had kid-belts on the shelves.

Warehouse gets stuff and just ships it out, it doesn't matter what's already on the shelf.

[nomorexclusives]

Walmarts in and around pa md and NJ have

S1 bray wyatt
S3 mdm, shango
S5 mainly macho/typhoon/rock
S8 hogan (red pants)
S10 - these past 2 weeks

Some exceptions to the rule at specific stores (very specific! Hey wrestlingcollector80)

_______



Walmart is still waiting for the Oregon trail caravan to arrive with the new upc codes so they can mark them down.



Meanwhile at Target:



Fun read:
www.reddit.com/r/ActionFigures/comments/1e1om4c/difference_between_target_and_walmart_varies_so/?rdt=40729

As far as distribution, this is what others are saying:

www.reddit.com/r/Wrestling_Figures/comments/1af5z6a/wwe_superstars_like_at_walmart/

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www.reddit.com/r/Wrestling_Figures/comments/185b857/are_the_wwe_superstars_figures_generally_easy_for/

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www.reddit.com/r/Wrestling_Figures/comments/1fm1xq4/anyone_know_whats_going_on_with_wwe_superstars/


Higlights/sunmary:

"People should have the opportunity to buy in a store at retail price. I'm ready to stop collecting wrestling figures at this point."

"In TX I found plenty of...fill in the blank)
Every person in TX with 612 walmarts

"In PA I have not seen (insert a series)"
Every other person in pa (definitely in wresting Bible belt, you know the place where Vince McMahon started announcing and where you had the museum of wrestling at the merchants Square mall (up until 2018). Check out the netflix series as it delves a bit into that and the importance of allentown early on
www.lehighvalleynews.com/arts-culture/entertainment/wrestling-roots-how-the-lehigh-valley-catapulted-the-wild-world-of-wwf-and-wwe-to-superstardom



I'll say it again there is a reason that most of us on this board are from PA because wrestling (wwf/wwe) started to get big here!!!! hell)


YET WE GET SENT SCRAPS WHILE THE OVERSTOCK FROM FORT WORTH ( IWITH LITERALLY SEVERAL DOZEN WALMARTS (with 4 being brand new) GET SENT TO PA OLLIES 2 YEARS LATER??? yeah thanks yeah a rant (capslock on purpose) because it is obvious mattel wants high prices on the aftermarket to get resellers interested in the product but NEWSFLASH, THESE RESELLERS WILL BAIL ON YOU THE MOMENT WALMART PULLS THE PLUG. (Cough mottuwwe/retros), EVER SINCE 2016!!! 8 years of the same formula. Brilliant!!! Oh retros don't sell on creations and one day maybe the line will cease to exist in 2026??? SHOCKER!!! RESELLERS DONT GIVE A DAMM ABOUT WRESTLING... when you cut your fans out of the equation don't expect us to come back.


_______


Worst part is i remember being told to stop whining by a a person in this board who has at least 24 walmarts in his town (dfw). I have freaking 3 in a 100 mile radius. Gtfo with your hippocritical bs. Of course you can find anything you want. If i could drive to Walmart (any one of 24) and find everything i needed i would not need to come on this board trying to find out what the problem was. I have spent 2 years now driving around and found s4 twice, s6 once (thanks to a tip), s7 never, s8 (3 times (in eight months!!), s9 never, s10 (once - 2 days ago!!), that is not normaLfor a state with 134 walmarts!!!! They should not all be shipped to certain States. We have about a 3rd of the population of TX but 1/5th the amount of walmarts and they get the majority of figures?

Meanwhile at ollies (spoilor: hogan is pretty much sold out):
www.reddit.com/r/Wrestling_Figures/comments/1dgw9ob/my_ollies_is_packed_with_rick_flairs/

In looking at that last picture, and when turning it upside down I see that the ric flairs sent to ollies in pa came from dallas/fort worth mattel distribution center. Not Walmart. Explains the minty unpunched cards.


In a sense, if this was a perfect world, and toys'r'us was still around and if they had thuis exclusive (or any other really) they could just order certain figures that are moving (instead of case assortments with hogan where people only buy the other figures in the box).

Toys'r'us was great at moving merchandise around to certain stores. The managers I talked to in the late 90s would send pegwarmers to other parts of the country where they were needed. They would pack up hot wheels pegwarners and send them back to mattel who would sell them to kaybee.

Difference is that now adays Noone would buy beat up packages (resellers/scalpers want minty unpunched product they can grade or simply sell of at a higher price point) In the past that was caused by kids rummaging through the bins, whereas now adays that is caused by boxes that are too small for these figures - and made of cardboard that gets dented when you apply the slightest bit of pressure on it causing so many damaged cards straight out of minty boxes (saw this with my own eyes when opening a s4 box in June of 23'). Collectors also damage the cards in stores so resellers don't buy them (which sadly hurts everyone instead).

Going back to the Walmart distribution issues, we can clearly see that this frustration is shared elsewhere on reddit and on YouTube. Considering series 12 is appearing in California stores and the fact that I still have not seen s9 or s11; I wonder if s11 was also skipped at Walmart. The east coast will know soon.

Too bad we have to do all this research on our own when before companies would relay insider nformation to tomarts, action figure digest, whites guide to collecting or previews magazines. Transparency is gone.

When the princess Leia potf figure (basically started the action figure boom along with malebolgia in Sept 95') was impossible to find Hasbro aka Kenner went out of their way to send single figure cases of her to toysrus to stock her slowly when other assortments were put out. This was when companies still cared for their customers and when we had actual toy stores. Hopefully one day smyths expands to the USA. They could upend this whole industry and bring things back to a fun shopping experience full of stocked shelves, (knowing companies would eat the loss with pegwRmers) which is what is needed to keep lines going.

The same 10 people buy the same 10 figures at Walmart because the other 100 people don't even know mnw, superstars, retros, wwemotu, etc exist. With stocked shelves you get more eyes on your product and more buyers, who, when they can't find product can buy them straight from the manufacturer as Hasbro did so well with the SW freeze frame series in 97/98 through their sw fan club. Mcfarlane conversely did the same offering a variation of Angela (cosmic) and tiffany and other repaints of figures that were hard to find in Stores available from various outlets but with preset quantities and a time window (from - to) . In fact they had full waves of repai ts at one point available on Ee. Wizard also had their fill of exclusives and available for an extended period of time (like a pre-order but the product was already in stock)

Bottom line since the amount of desperation is so high (with all exclusives to Walmart being the culprit) -(especially in the other 48 states with limited amounts of wm locations; besides Texas and cali), it would serve mattel to consider changing their strategy on these exclusives and making an ultimatum w/wm allowing people to purchase these figures (motu-mold style) of their exclusive licensed brand (wwe) on different cardboard and with a new name
This has been mentioned before by fighterhayabusa and he has a great point. Call them "stars of wrestling" using the same font and color gradient and put them on retro styled cards (different colorways for each series but keeping the motu size format).

Just some food for thought as this line will eventually die as people fall behind and drop out. It is happening and it will only get worse. Before people were only missing s6 and maybe mr.t. but now some people are 3-4 series behind. If a figure like Kane is skipped (was going to be an obvious pegwarmer) by Walmart than the Rey mysterious wave will most likely also be skipped (as Paul still hasn't sold out of his for as low as 24 bucks). What mattel is missing is that only 10 out of 100 people know who uncle Paul or sultan is/are so the average toy collector is in the dark and completely frustrated and buying other toys instead.

Again there is a reason Steve has only answered 24 questions in 30 pages in the q&a thread, and only 2 in regards to this line. They have no answers for us and unwilling to change the situation (because as others have pointed out, they are making bank with this formula at the moment). They can still make bank AND keep their customers or those customers willing to spend money will spend it elsewhere. because when we stop paying 50 quid a figure to sultan, sultan will stop ordering them in high quantities and instead buy other Mattel product (he does have a choice and is not forced to sell superstars).

Hell at this point I'll be the elephant in the room and say that if they can sell these off to 3rd party resellers than they should be able to sell these themselves..... to US. Walmart obviously has no problem with that arrangement.





Keeping it real!

Edit: I'll speak for the mnw crowd too at this point. Not a single figure anywhere since march and 4 series were skipped in the process.

Hey look a carrot!! Yeah tired of the witch-hunt it's all a mirage at this point. Walmart is simply not even ordering certain series in quantity anymore. This has every sign that wm is about to pull the plug and don't want to clearance out product (for maximum roi). They are definitely picking and choosing their series. It isn't coincidence that s8 was ordered in huge amounts. They banked on andre and hogan. Now they are banking on razor who is selling for crazy amounts in the uk. I worry about s13 with 2 repeat figures from the motuwwe line...

[wrestlingcollector80]

You’re absolutely correct. No arguments from me. This line has been frustrating to find. Certain ones I have not even seen in Pennsylvania yet well mid state area. Those would be Andre the Giant, chase blue Hogan, blue pants Hogan, Muhammad ali, never saw them. I do wonder why Paul doesn’t have Andre the Giant, red and yellow Hogan, red pants Hogan, undertaker, Kane, bulldog, ali, macho man capt Lou and a few more. This is the only line I will purchase from others only cause I’m this deep into it and Walmart can’t guarantee they will ever get them. WM is starting to really suck because you go on their OWN website, it’s all 3rd party sellers selling superstars figures, nothing sold by WM.com or very few if there is. WM doesn’t sell their own exclusive line anymore on their own website? I think WM had high hopes for this superstars line. they over produced the first series especially Hogan and flair. they sold decent but didn't push as many as they thought. WM is now sitting on a load of over produced figures and finally they off them to Ollies. Mean while  WM says hey Mattel lets scale back to the minimum we have to purchase. WM gets what they ordered, sells them fast cause there's only a few per store if a store gets them, and they say problem fixed. On the other end 3rd party wholesalers buy however many else were produced throw them out months in advance at 3,4,5 times the price they should be sold at. I'd like to discuss this issue with some from WM but good luck trying to find that person. If these are the times we are headed to good luck trying to get figures in stores at store price.

[BoJack Hogan]

Things seem to have stalled around my area. I haven’t seen anything beyond the Kane series. I am looking for Tatanka, Bossman, Razor, and Brutus, and from the looks of it people have been finding them for weeks. I’m hoping it goes down like it did with Bigelow where I just randomly start seeing them eventually.

[wrestlingcollector80]

look how many superstars are on there, they are out there, i do want another brutus to sport as zodiac. found in new york i think new jersey not sure.

[wrestlingcollector80]

Just did a quick check on WM.com ones actually being sold of THEIR EXCLUSIVE LINE in 1 maybe 2.

Scott Hall - WM.COM only one!

other sellers selling superstars on WM.COM of this supposed Exclusive line MOST ABOVE retail price. select few under/

WARRIORSALE
BARGAIN RANGER INC
CHRIS TOY CLOSET
J&K MERCHANDISING
THREE KINGS TOYS & COLLECTIBLES
A WONDERFUL WORLD
AGENTS OF S.A.L.E.S.
FUNNY BUBBLE CO.
YOUNEK BOUTIQUE
LIQUIDATION CENTER - this one maybe WM not 100% sure
MIDWEST IYI
LATOONIE
PAULMART STORE
DARK HELMET COLLECTIBLES
PLAY & LEARN

If I had an exclusive line you better believe I'D BE SELLING my exclusive product and making the money.

[Flair Forever]

I think some of you guys are getting a little too hung up on the term "Exclusive".

The exclusives were a little bit more appropriate back in the days when we had K Mart, Toys R Us, Target, and Walmart. Collectors/fans had options! And why would I drive all the way to Toys R Us if I could just buy my wrestling figures at the local Walmart? So each big-box store wanted to have their own "exclusive" line. To draw customers.

So we had KMart Exclusives (remember those T-Shirt Basics?).... Toys R Us Exclusives (Network Spotlight was cool).... Target had a a few here & there..... and Walmart was bungling theirs, even way back then. But they were all competing with each other.

In 2024, the landscape is a little different. We mainly have Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

Of course, they all still wanna have their own "exclusive" products - mainly meaning that they sell items that cannot be bought from their big competitors (Amazon, Walmart, Target) - I do not think they are concerned about these small wholesalers, who are probably doing them a favor by buying these up & not forcing Walmart to stick to minimum factory orders from Mattel.

Problem is, there is no real incentive now for them to actually STOCK these exclusives. At least, not well. Toys R Us is dead. K Mart is dead. They have some product that can't be bought at their competitor, and they don't really care if the shelves are full or empty. There just isn't that much competition anymore.

And Amazon doesn't seem too interested in selling WWE figures. They are supposed to pick up the Coliseum Collection later this year, previously they had a few "Fan Favorite" Ultimates and an annual PPV Special Figure set (Gobbeldy Gooker). But they have not really been carrying the Mainline Elite sets lately.... So Amazon is mainly doing it's own thing.

So if an item is "Exclusive" to Walmart, that mainly means it shouldn't be sold at Target or Amazon. I don't think they are terribly concerned about these smaller wholesalers. They aren't considered "direct competition" to Walmart which is probably what the "Exclusive Contract" stipulates.

In short - If Walmart/Mattel didn't want these wholesalers selling the "exclusive product" - they wouldn't be selling it to them. They are clearly buying it directly from either Walmart or Mattel. Clearly it's not an issue for Walmart that these guys are selling Superstars. Because on some level - Walmart still profits (even if it's because Walmart doesn't have to buy as many FROM Mattel). And they certainly wouldn't be allowing it to happen on their own website.

I get the feeling that selling wrestling toys is nothing more than a nuisance to Walmart and they would prefer not to deal with us, but they have to.