darkSpyro

So, I've been reading on several sites how some folks seem to think there are more figures available this time around... and I'm left wondering - did any of these people buy the first game at Launch?

The *day* Spyro's Adventure was released, I was in my Toys R Us. I wasn't initially planning to get it because I knew what a money sink it would be (and boy was I right)... but I did. I was going to pick up a couple of DS games with the Buy Two, Get One free promo they had going on, but when I saw all the figures... *drool*. I couldn't resist and bought one of everything. My wife, who agreed that I could do it, did express a little reluctance as I started loading up the cart with everything: "You don't have to get it *all* now, do you?". I explained that I did, because the game was going to sell through the roof and I had no idea which figures would be hard to get later. She still questioned my logic, pointing out the number of figures they had on the shelf - in two different locations. She relented when I also pointed out that the B2G1 Free promo made it silly to wait and get the other figures later just to pay more for them.

The day I got my stuff there was *no one* looking at the display. I got the 3DS and Wii versions of the game and was really, really hoping I could get some parent to "buy-in" with me on the B2G1 Free promo... no one was biting (ended up calling by brother-in-law who wanted a PS3 FIFA game and splitting it with him). While I honestly felt the game was going to be a huge win for Activision, you would have never guessed it that day by looking at the amount of stuff and the lack of buyers.


So, I'm curious - for those of you who were out in the early morning for the release of both games, do you think there's more Giants product out there?

Last October and November, you could walk into any store and buy any wave 1 figure at will. It wasn't until after Christmas that the shortage was felt. I believe the same thing is happening here. People are comparing current stock levels to levels from early this year. If you compare to a year ago, the stock levels are probably slightly higher, but not significantly so.

We will see if Activision is able to maintain stock.

It's going to get bad, fast, this year. Wave 1 stock is already dead, and they've bumped up Wave 2 to meet retailer demand. The new figures are selling fast, and while Terrafin and the like seem dirt common now, it won't hold.

I just hope Activision can keep up with all the moms fighting eachother over Elmo's and skylanders....

I can see it..... The Year Without A Flashwing.... The sequel to Bobby the whiny five year old! Followed by Hot Head the impossible to find Elmo Competer! All on ABC!

I've already commented on this in another thread. The trend is common. 1st Series, people don't know what to expect...then it becomes a hit and also scarce. 2nd Series...people are thinking it's going to be a hit again so this time, they over estimate. Wait in line, pre-order, overstock...etc. But since it's the 2nd time around, things aren't as difficult to get. We saw this with the iPhone and many other hot items.

Honestly, no one by Activision and the people that are involved in the merchandising really know how much is made and how they will release the product into the wild. Since we, the consumer don't know, we don't take chances the 2nd time...but in reality, Skylanders may have been overproduced the 2nd time around.

I live in a fairly metropolitan area (Washington DC) and I can say with a great amount of certainty that Skylanders Giants is not going to be like the original Skylanders. And I think don't necessarily think it's because of the overproduction. 1st of all, it's the 2nd run...no one is going to be surprised. Next, they re-hashed old figures. Then they re-re-hashed some figures with the lightcores. They are only really introducing 16 new characters vs 32 the last time. Half the amount of "new" characters. Look at how many people are saying they will not be buying the reposed figures. Some are saying they don't care for the lightcore. I went to the store today and the shelves were FULL of Skylanders. And they had more in the back room. This is ONE store. There are 3 Toys R Us within a 30 minutes drive for me. Not to mention 4 Targets, 2 Walmarts, 4 Best Buy and 4-5 Game Stops.

But the real test will be Black Friday. I don't think we have to wait till Christmas to see the real rush the 2nd time around. Last year, no one knew what it was going to be like. This year, EVERYONE knows what it's going to be like. But I will say that the parents I've talked to are in no hurry to get Skylanders Giants in October. Only the gamers or the passionate like us are buying them all on release day. Give it a month before seeing if Giants is going to be another success as the first.

Quote: pakman916

I've already commented on this in another thread. The trend is common. 1st Series, people don't know what to expect...then it becomes a hit and also scarce. 2nd Series...people are thinking it's going to be a hit again so this time, they over estimate. Wait in line, pre-order, overstock...etc. But since it's the 2nd time around, things aren't as difficult to get. We saw this with the iPhone and many other hot items.

Honestly, no one by Activision and the people that are involved in the merchandising really know how much is made and how they will release the product into the wild. Since we, the consumer don't know, we don't take chances the 2nd time...but in reality, Skylanders may have been overproduced the 2nd time around.

I live in a fairly metropolitan area (Washington DC) and I can say with a great amount of certainty that Skylanders Giants is not going to be like the original Skylanders. And I think don't necessarily think it's because of the overproduction. 1st of all, it's the 2nd run...no one is going to be surprised. Next, they re-hashed old figures. Then they re-re-hashed some figures with the lightcores. They are only really introducing 16 new characters vs 32 the last time. Half the amount of "new" characters. Look at how many people are saying they will not be buying the reposed figures. Some are saying they don't care for the lightcore. I went to the store today and the shelves were FULL of Skylanders. And they had more in the back room. This is ONE store. There are 3 Toys R Us within a 30 minutes drive for me. Not to mention 4 Targets, 2 Walmarts, 4 Best Buy and 4-5 Game Stops.

But the real test will be Black Friday. I don't think we have to wait till Christmas to see the real rush the 2nd time around. Last year, no one knew what it was going to be like. This year, EVERYONE knows what it's going to be like. But I will say that the parents I've talked to are in no hurry to get Skylanders Giants in October. Only the gamers or the passionate like us are buying them all on release day. Give it a month before seeing if Giants is going to be another success as the first.

And I will be there, ready to buy a crap-load of reposes..... Swarm, and Bouncer. Oh, and Granite Crusher.

But what I'm expecting MORE than a shortage is parents trying to get their kids to wait until christmas to buy it.... Right in the store.

Lack of replenishment for wave 1 figures will cause them to vanish off shelves quickly. What people see as being common today will be considered rare in two weeks. It was an interesting move by activision having the wave 1 & 2 distribution boxes for regular size singles be completely different. This idea puts tons of figures on the shelf for customers to buy on day one and two when they are caught up in the frenzy. It also helps the issue most thought they were going to experience with S2 figures clogging pegs. Thes figures are half as common as the new figures and the wave 1 issues of s2's will not be mass replenished until at least wave 3.

We look good on the shelves today but it is easy to guess what figures may be impossible to get around Christmas

I remember how many legendary triple packs were on the shelves two days before Christmas (about 10 pegs full), then looking on eBay after Christmas and seeing them going for hundreds and wishing I had bought a couple extra to pay for my habit. Drobot was about the only figure in my area that didn't leave the shelves for more than a couple of days.
This year seems like it may get crazy to me, but only for the new characters. My toys r us only got a few boxes of wave two and there were still a few re-poses left before they closed. I was able to get everything without much competition when stores opened, as only a couple of people showed up for the releases. I don't think your average fan knows that it is out yet. It seems like momentum will build. The figures seem more plentiful than the starter packs and for the most part, it seems like the owner packs are staying on the shelves.

Well, I advise anyone in Aus to go to EB Games. They may be more expensive, but they'll preorder everything, including future Singles of upcoming Giants and the like. You can just price match so it won't be more expensive. So yeah down here we pretty much don't need to worry about the actual hunt... We can just preorder everything and pick it up when it comes.

as a person not getting into Skylanders until 2 weeks ago....

I got to say that how i feel base on my research .... that Legenadiry and variants will get sold out fast this holiday season reason i picked it up before any other characters.... + Granite Crusher

I am going to look for S2 like Hex/Flashwing today since i got ahold of some money.

Before we even think of going through another shortage we should consider the following:

1. Not everyone is getting all the Giant's figures. This is not the first game where everyone was looking for ALL or ANY of the figures. Only a couple of characters are new meaning we should see plenty after Christmas. I've talked to a few people who have the SA figures and game and they are saying that they won't be getting the reposes which means the only possible shortage could be with the new figures. The newer figures will probably sell out but at least the shelves are not empty.

2. Activision has an idea of how much to produce in terms of figures. They've got this info based on last year's sales. What I'm worried about is Activision intentionally doing a shorter run for Christmas for Giant's as a way to keep the hype going by intentionally creating the "shortage".

3. We all know Activision can get any of the figures from previous waves restocked. Remember what they did with the last SA waves where they bundled older wave 1 and 2 figures with the newer wave figs? Remember the Legendary Triple Pack? I'm not even too worried about the new Legendary Figs from TRU. They will keep producing it I guarantee you! They pretty much restocked everything throughout the release of the newer figures. TBH you can pretty much get any figure you want with the exception of the figures from the last wave. Activision is can keep the manufacturing going for these figs and they will until the demand stops. I actually hate this because all the hard work a hardcore collector could put into collecting all of the figs at the initial release is somewhat pointless because you can WAIT for figures to be restocked again in the months to come. This is the reason I'm not buying multiples because no figure will be rare (with the exception of random variants) and this is actually good for the game overall.

IMHO the only figure that could be "hard to find" will be the Target Granite Crusher because Target would sometimes only have the exclusives specifically for the holiday season. Even if this was the case, the regular Crusher will be available to everyone.

Quote: SkyDaddy

The newer figures will probably sell out but at least the shelves are not empty.

Sadly, this may make things worse. The case I saw opened consisted of half new characters, half reposes. If Activision only ships out cases like this and the only thing that sells in great quantity is the new characters, *and* the shelves are filled with reposes - then retailers are going to have a hard time justifying reordering more cases of product where half of them sit and wait for the clearance tag...

Well i checked in on ToysRus this morning......

They sold out on Hot Head Giant, they clearly out of Wave 2 (plenty of Wave 1), and they had only 2 Hex/1 Stump left in the whole store out of 30.

>.> (i had them reserve me 1 hex when i pick it up later today since i didnt have money on me)