darkSpyro

I have a friend who works at gamestop and she told me that starting next week sometime that most stores will be receiving a huge stock of skylanders and that activision has finally caught up to the demand. She said in their corporate memo that she believe that they will have figures sitting on the pegs at or around Feb 1st. I have all the skylanders to date with the exception of the legendary ones and the gold/silver ones which i do not care to own. I do want the legendary ones tho. I believe that within the next week you will see a huge decline in the scalper market for them as you have started seeing now with wave 3 figures. By the time we get the new group of figures, they may as well be peg warmers.. don't buy into the hype of shelling out 40 $ a figure.. just wait and see...

I hope this is true.

When I was at Toys'R'Us today, they had two sections of skylanders. One in the video games section and the other on a wall to the far left as you enter. I'm not sure if the're moving the ones in the game section over to this new area but it's a bigger display than the video game one. Maybe they're going to keep both of these sections up for this huge stock of Skylanders coming in? Have any of you noticed this at your Toys'R'Us stores?

Activision thinks they've caught up with demand, but I'm not sure they even truly understand the depth and passion of the demand they're attempting to satisfy. Enjoy the boom while it lasts, and collect them while you can, because I suspect this won't last long. I think of this as a window. Get through before it closes.

Quote: Tashiji

Activision thinks they've caught up with demand, but I'm not sure they even truly understand the depth and passion of the demand they're attempting to satisfy. Enjoy the boom while it lasts, and collect them while you can, because I suspect this won't last long. I think of this as a window. Get through before it closes.

IF the window is truly open.

We will know for a fact, if Activision is fabricating a shortage to keep people interested, if they don't have enough of the final figures coming out in spring. They have 2 1/2 months to pump those out day after day, hour after hour.

When April comes around, there should be plenty of the remaining waves, especially if they don't release them all at once.

In Canada, EB games says they are getting big shipments the last week of January too!
Also my Wal Mart finally stocked up with waves 1 & 2 for the first time since November.
Toys R Us gets a shipment once a week and continues to try and keep supply.

Will see, will know more in the next few weeks or so.

Quote: JAP28

In Canada, EB games says they are getting big shipments the last week of January too!
Also my Wal Mart finally stocked up with waves 1 & 2 for the first time since November.
Toys R Us gets a shipment once a week and continues to try and keep supply.

Will see, will know more in the next few weeks or so.

the guys at my walmart today said they will have a shipment in tomorrow but the ebay kids have already started camping for them as a guy came up to me after words saying its not worth it try somewhere else xD

As fun as the hunt for Skylanders has been (almost a game unto itself), I would love to believe the madness is over. Come the time for Ignitor, Zook, Lightning Rod, Warnado, Camo, Wham Shell and Dragon's Peak, it would be nice to just have a date, go into a store and walk out with the item. Talk about a crazy idea, eh? I'll believe it when the time comes and I see a plentiful stock.

As others have said, one has to wonder if they truly understand the demand. It's also not really in their best interest to let the ferver die completely down.

They better

I don't think it's a matter of keeping the factories running 24/7. If they were there would definitely be more toys available. I believe in this situation it's like this. Acti simply cannot keep up with demand due to economics. Stores have more orders in than Acti can meet. Why? Acti only has so much capital to invest in manufacturing. With that amount they have the toys manufactured, packaged, etc. Delivered to stores. Stores of course only pay after the orders are delivered. Without payment from the stores Acti can't pay the manufacturers and the manufacturers can't keep the assembly lines running 24/7. The whole process in a sense runs on extended credit. The factories extend credit to Acti, Acti extends credit to the stores, and the stores can't pay until the customers buy the toys. once a batch is paid for, the assembly lines fire up again churning out more toys. It's hard to get a big loan from the bank to keep the factories running 24/7 as this product is a first of it's kind and was risky and unproven. Now that it's safe to say it's a phonemonial success, hopeful Acti can acquire more investment resources to produce more toys. Acti invested a lot to produce the toys and the portals. And there are still a lot of unsold skylanders sets which is a good chunk of their manufacturing budget.

Quote: ransledsky

I don't think it's a matter of keeping the factories running 24/7. If they were there would definitely be more toys available. I believe in this situation it's like this. Acti simply cannot keep up with demand due to economics. Stores have more orders in than Acti can meet. Why? Acti only has so much capital to invest in manufacturing. With that amount they have the toys manufactured, packaged, etc. Delivered to stores. Stores of course only pay after the orders are delivered. Without payment from the stores Acti can't pay the manufacturers and the manufacturers can't keep the assembly lines running 24/7. The whole process in a sense runs on extended credit. The factories extend credit to Acti, Acti extends credit to the stores, and the stores can't pay until the customers buy the toys. once a batch is paid for, the assembly lines fire up again churning out more toys. It's hard to get a big loan from the bank to keep the factories running 24/7 as this product is a first of it's kind and was risky and unproven. Now that it's safe to say it's a phonemonial success, hopeful Acti can acquire more investment resources to produce more toys. Acti invested a lot to produce the toys and the portals. And there are still a lot of unsold skylanders sets which is a good chunk of their manufacturing budget.

Not quite, you have the credit going the wrong way. Gamestop and all the others no doubt have a net/30 account with activision. The factories definitely do not get paid until activision is served with an invoice. Even that invoice has a net/30 term on it. Today's business is all about how much money you can make with someone elses money. I have worked retail in plenty of locations and have seen the invoices for many of washers and dryers and not one was paid for when it arrived on our showroom floor.

On topic, the bubble most certainly has burst for some figures. Cynder still seems to be in high demand as well as EoI. Just about everything else is ending with 0 bids or barely over retail.

I say let the scalpers buy them all and get stuck with them! - I have 16 of the original ones that came out, I can wait til whenever the supply is there to collect the rest. I'm not even willing to buy them at Toys R Us. They are $7.99 (Single Figures) and $19.99 (Adventure Packs) everywhere except Toys R Us. I'm as addicted to the game as anyone, but be patient, let theses scalpers get stuck with stock and end up selling them below retail. I got Zap on ebay after the craze died down. I paid $6.00 for him and that was including shipping.

Acti I assume has ramped up production due to the massive shortage that started after Christmas but it's not like you turn a switch and all of the sudden a million toys appear. Even with assembly running full speed there's a lot of work especially considering how many different toys there are. I doubt they can produce all variants simultaneously. They probably make x many spyros one then switch molds etc and make x number of slam bams etc for a couple of days then switch to yet another. You get the picture. They just started producing cinders last which is why she's so hard to find. Also keep in mind demand only outstripped supply starting a month again, before that store shelves were full, they didn't know this shortage was going to happen. It's not a conspiracy which doesn't make sense forcing constrained supply. If it were, the retail prices would have been raised. The situation isn't helped by scalpers buying out store stock to sell on the web but there are going to be the kind of people who always take advantage in any situation. The best thing to do is not buy from scalpers to help the situation.

Quote: ransledsky

Acti I assume has ramped up production due to the massive shortage that started after Christmas but it's not like you turn a switch and all of the sudden a million toys appear. Even with assembly running full speed there's a lot of work especially considering how many different toys there are. I doubt they can produce all variants simultaneously. They probably make x many spyros one then switch molds etc and make x number of slam bams etc for a couple of days then switch to yet another. You get the picture. They just started producing cinders last which is why she's so hard to find. Also keep in mind demand only outstripped supply starting a month again, before that store shelves were full, they didn't know this shortage was going to happen. It's not a conspiracy which doesn't make sense forcing constrained supply. If it were, the retail prices would have been raised. The situation isn't helped by scalpers buying out store stock to sell on the web but there are going to be the kind of people who always take advantage in any situation. The best thing to do is not buy from scalpers to help the situation.

That maybe true but Acti really need to get their act together and get these toys into shops. Theres loads of people out there who cant even 100% complete because they cant find that perticular skylander and where i live where lucky if we get wave 1 and 2 sets never mind wave 3

Plus, there is no possible way to actually gauge what demand is on their end. They know two things--the toys are selling as soon as they hit the stores, and there's buzz. That's helpful, but it doesn't tabulate the number of people who would buy the toys if they could find them. That's the only way to adequately measure demand, and there's no way to quite know the answer. Anything they could do would only be a best guess, and since they've underestimated demand to this point, I'm betting their best guess is a bit on the low side. Demand is increasing, the game and figures are flying off the shelves, and it's not just a matter of whether Activision can sustain that demand, but whether any toy at all could. I doubt G.I. Joe, Barbie, Star Wars, My Little Pony, or any other top-name brand could endure what's going on with Skylanders right now and still keep stocks shelved. To me, there's no reason to believe that a company like this, on their first-ever foray into the toy market on such a scale, is going to be able to do what even the established brands couldn't against this level of demand, and keep shelves stocked with figures. I do expect a brief surge, but I can't imagine anything keeping up with this demand.

I wish I had known this before my mom got Cynder on amazon. Hopefully this is true so I can get Whirlwind and the other skylanders I want.

That would be nice, to be able to go anywhere and be able to pick them up.

Personally, around the Cleveland OH area, they're still incredibly scarce. I just sold an extra Whirlwind from a 3 pack for $20. And that was the lowest of the ones I've seen for sale around here.

Quote: outerdragon

Theres loads of people out there who cant even 100% complete because they cant find that perticular skylander and where i live where lucky if we get wave 1 and 2 sets never mind wave 3

If you have one of each element (which generally, everyone mostly does at this point) you can get 100%.

I don't know if they'll catch up with the demand, but there's no way somebody from Gamestop would know this. Even if they are getting a shipment, they wouldn't know about other retail chains.

I have a friend who works for GameStop (He's the General Manger) They get 3-5 shipments a week from their warehouse. The day of shipment he usually (not always) gets a manifest to know what to expect. In regards to Skylanders, his manifest will usually say 1 box or 1 case, the case is always 6 adventure packs or figure combo packs, the box is always 6 figures at random.

He doesn't have the ability to order or request additional for his store, that is done at the regional level. They have gotten several memos from their district managers informing them that they are trying to meet the demand and that they are to instruct employees that there will be no holds on figures or sets and that they be put out on the sales floor when shipments arrive.

Hope this helps explain a few things.

This may help but I was told by one of my ebgames in town that you can prepay/order adventure sets but not singles. I know this to be true cause I did it with empire of ice. He did say how ever that they are not openingly doing so. Im going back tommorrow to see if they already have a skew for dragons peak.

Sort of similar to what Brutungo said above, one of the Targets I visited today had rain check papers on the pegs where the Skylanders normally are.

I didn't bother to ask anyone about them because there was no one around and I wanted to get back for the game lawl

Quote: spyroflame0487

That would be nice, to be able to go anywhere and be able to pick them up.

Personally, around the Cleveland OH area, they're still incredibly scarce. I just sold an extra Whirlwind from a 3 pack for $20. And that was the lowest of the ones I've seen for sale around here.

Quote: outerdragon

Theres loads of people out there who cant even 100% complete because they cant find that perticular skylander and where i live where lucky if we get wave 1 and 2 sets never mind wave 3

If you have one of each element (which generally, everyone mostly does at this point) you can get 100%.

going off these forums it seems like everyone got one of each element, but if u look else where alot of people dont and i can see why there not happy i would bto if i couldnt get 100%

Just walked into Target here in Woodstock, GA and picked up the 3DS starter pack for $49.99, and the Whirlwind, Double Trouble, Drill Sergeant 3 pack for $19.99 - They were stocking the pegs when I got here. They also have the Flameslinger 3 pack , and the Stealth Elf 3 pack, didn't see any single figure packs.

My target had wave 2 and 3 figures Friday nite two hours before closing. I went back early Saturday morning and everything was gone! I don't know if someone/people bought them all or if employees bought them after closing?

Morgan Elf,

Wow, I didn't think places actually stock new things on a Monday.
Cool.

-M

Well this is sooo frustrating. How many times did I talk to Target over the past few weeks and was told over and over that they only get new stuff on M W F. Then today you find out that Target did get them in on Friday, but just held them until Sunday (like someone already mentioned) because they had a "sale" (which looks like the same price as always to me) and of course now they're all gone. sucks.

The manager for the GameStop in my town also expects significant shipments in February, but he isn't %100 certain. This news does support what he said, thank goodness.

Quote: scout_post

Well this is sooo frustrating. How many times did I talk to Target over the past few weeks and was told over and over that they only get new stuff on M W F. Then today you find out that Target did get them in on Friday, but just held them until Sunday (like someone already mentioned) because they had a "sale" (which looks like the same price as always to me) and of course now they're all gone. sucks.

I think I read from gamemaster's post that the skylanders weren't in the normal target shipments that arrive mwf, but they were "drop shipped" from UPS. In my area I think they arrived late afternoon on Friday and some targets stocked them as they received them. Others held them and stocked on Sunday. Unfortunately with these UPS shipments I don't think the targets know when they're getting them. The store that usually has the most knowledge on their shipments seem to be gamestop. Even that is a toss up, but people usually hover in the gamestop stores waiting for the ups guy...

That's nice, no wonder I can't get them at Target, they have been telling me I have to be there on Mon, Wed or Fri at 8 AM when they open to get them... and they never have them...

I ordered a wave one from sainsburys and it never came, so this morning I emailed in to ask and they said it would come the beginning of February, because of a huge stock intake, presumabley meaning the arrival of wave three in the UK, and they said they would be fully stocked for a while.

I got lucky and found cynder and double trouble at a random Target on Friday. I went out looking on behalf of my friends on Saturday and only 1 out of the 4 Targets I went to had any skylanders. The rest had empty shelves, not sure if they were waiting to stock them on Sunday or if they had sold out already. I found the skylanders in an area in my city that doesn't have a lot of families. Not sure if that helped?

I need whirlwind and cynder! Good thing I got 10$ for Christmas and my friend gave me 10$ for my sonic boom.