darkSpyro

Who got their Giants stuff at midnight at Walmart last year? What was your experience? Were you able to get everything without a problem? Was it crazy busy? Did they put the stuff out on time?

I went to TRU in the morning last time, and that went well. But Walmart is cheaper and you can get the stuff sooner. But I thought I'd see what sort of experience people had last time at Walmart. Of course, if I don't get everything at midnight, I can always go wait in line at TRU the next morning (and/or Target, since they have Nitro Magna Charge).

Well, first you should preorder it.

I did that when pre-orders first became available. The starter is coming from online, so that has no bearing on where I pick up everything else.

Well, then wherever you preordered is where you are going!

I went to Walmart for Giants release at midnight and caught the lady putting the figures out, and helped her put them out and picked out who I wanted to buy and then went back the night after and the same figures were still on the shelves.

I was there with 4 or 5 other people, so there were plenty of figures for us all.

I was there with about 4 other people. They had a ton of figures, and everyone got 1 of everything.

i was there with 6 other people 2 of which were scalpers. the clerk let me and the other dad who was there get what we wanted first. Ill be going back this time also.

Great, thanks all. Midnight at Walmart it is. It's lovely that it's a Saturday night; no worries about getting up for work in the morning.

Quote: bensdady

i was there with 6 other people 2 of which were scalpers. the clerk let me and the other dad who was there get what we wanted first. Ill be going back this time also.

Anyone who buys up Wave 1 stuff in large numbers is just asking to lose money. I'm hoping scalpers learned their lesson last year when shipments kept coming in.

I had went to Toysrus on day 1 late in the day, a quarter to 7 at night, and they still had tons of figures, I got everyone I could afford (only Crusher and Pop fizz at the time, along with the portal owners pack.) I'm hoping they will be as well stocked as they were last year. Still nearvously excited though!

I'm actually more concerned that they overstock this go round. Two big hits, lots of figures sold and everyone knows how Activision loves to milk their cash cows. There still needs to be some sort of hunt for figures, that is part of the fun - it is always a rush to get find a new figure you want. If stock levels are too high, then figures sit on shelves - and cause retailers to back off down the road.

I went walmart at 5am on giants release date and they only had a small display, you are better off going toys r us because they will run the buy 1 get 1 40% deal, they always do even with infinity.

The Walmart I went to last year had a couple guys buying ALL the exclusive console starter packs off of the shelf. Luckily they left the red headed step child known as the 3DS starter pack and we picked up that one to get the GITD Cynder.

It's always nice when retailers allow single scalpers to clean out their entire stock of exclusives.

There was NOBODY at ALL of the stores we (some of my family) went to.They had't even really pulled the stuff out, we got to go through the boxes and buy everything we wanted. It's a really good memory for me.

I'm just hoping there isn't going to be a "rare" figure. Like S2 bash. I mean, dang if I had known it would've been nearly impossible to find later, would've gotten it sooner. Oh well

We got one in a triple pack or something and didn't want it, then I think we barely got it to sell...

Quote: bunglebud

I went walmart at 5am on giants release date and they only had a small display, you are better off going toys r us because they will run the buy 1 get 1 40% deal, they always do even with infinity.

I was thinking that too---until you realize they increase all prices by a buck. So technically it's like a BOGO 25%

We bought everything at TRU because of the BOGO 40% off. I can't imagine the other stores sold many Skylanders until the sale ended.

Quote: wombatandchips

Who got their Giants stuff at midnight at Walmart last year? What was your experience? Were you able to get everything without a problem? Was it crazy busy? Did they put the stuff out on time?

I went to TRU in the morning last time, and that went well. But Walmart is cheaper and you can get the stuff sooner. But I thought I'd see what sort of experience people had last time at Walmart. Of course, if I don't get everything at midnight, I can always go wait in line at TRU the next morning (and/or Target, since they have Nitro Magna Charge).

Sadly no walmart by me is 24hrs unless I drive thru NYC to NJ and go there to a 24hr one and even that would take abt 1-2hrs depending on traffic, plus a $12 toll- so that's prop not happening. If it werent for my new job weekend job i'd prob be in PA around Harrisburg where they have them during launch but sadly I cant take off atm. So 7am start here for swap force, with target at 8 and tru at 9:00-9:30


Quote: defpally

Quote: bensdady

i was there with 6 other people 2 of which were scalpers. the clerk let me and the other dad who was there get what we wanted first. Ill be going back this time also.

Anyone who buys up Wave 1 stuff in large numbers is just asking to lose money. I'm hoping scalpers learned their lesson last year when shipments kept coming in.

Sadly they prob didn't and sadly I wouldn't be surprised if some of them returned the figures just before the return policy ends.


Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: bunglebud

I went walmart at 5am on giants release date and they only had a small display, you are better off going toys r us because they will run the buy 1 get 1 40% deal, they always do even with infinity.

I was thinking that too---until you realize they increase all prices by a buck. So technically it's like a BOGO 25%

i hate TRU for this reason. Lately thou giants has been correct in my store along with other items, prob cause I keep price matching them to tru.com and elsewhere (i doubt im the reason). They do this with TMNT, Power rangers and many other items. I tend to only use TRU when I have to or when they have a good sale (like the 20% off last weekend). Keep in mind you can always use their ad to price match in target/walmart (which I plan to do)

I forgot about the buy one get one at 40% off thing at TRU. Do we know for sure they are doing that this year?

I went at midnight and there was only me and another parent. The stuff was not out so I hunted down an employee and I was able to go in the back and cherry pick what I wanted.

I plan to be at Walmart at midnight. The TRU deal hasn't officially been announced yet in my area. I would rather buy extras and return a few than miss out on some of the harder to find ones. Plus, there's always the chance at finding a launch day chase variant.

My Walmart was practically empty it was just a boy with his dad and me waiting for Giants once Midnight struck we actually had to ask one of the employees where the Giants were, if I remember correctly they were CLUELESS about the whole thing and it took them forever to get them onto the store floor...

My girlfriend, her brother, my nephew, and I went to Walmart last year at midnight. There were two other guys there. One guy with a shopping cart stalking the skylanders section. Once they rolled the Giants out, the guy with the shopping cart grabbed every Giant he could get his hands on and threw them in his cart. Only the actual Giants, nothing else. Spent ~$600 on all of it. The manager was awesome though and only put out a few boxes and once the scalper left, he brought everything else out. In total, it was my group, the other two guys, two gamestop employees that showed up later, and woman buying for her son. I left with the PS3 starter and a Pop Fizz and Slam Bam.

So I see an image with everyone just staring at the guy while he loads up his cart while giving everyone looking at him a sarcastic nasty look while he cleans them out. Does that sound about right?

Quote: czs716

My girlfriend, her brother, my nephew, and I went to Walmart last year at midnight. There were two other guys there. One guy with a shopping cart stalking the skylanders section. Once they rolled the Giants out, the guy with the shopping cart grabbed every Giant he could get his hands on and threw them in his cart. Only the actual Giants, nothing else. Spent ~$600 on all of it. The manager was awesome though and only put out a few boxes and once the scalper left, he brought everything else out. In total, it was my group, the other two guys, two gamestop employees that showed up later, and woman buying for her son. I left with the PS3 starter and a Pop Fizz and Slam Bam.

Wow what a jerk... It's people like these that drive me crazy, in front of the games target audience too aka the little boy, poor kid hope he didn't cry when the selfish scalper wiped the shelves of every Giant.

I've heard many horror stories about scalpers.

Honestly, I am glad to be in an area that doesn't have any issues with scalpers...Just wish I had nabbed my S2 Bash when it was still on the shelf everytime I passed it.

I've read stories where people in those situations complain and the manager will limit the amount that one person can buy. Generally, all it takes is one person to say something and then the other customers will chime in. Managers don't want a mob scene and there is not really too much a scalper can do at that point. Stores reserve the right to sell to whomever they please.

I was at TRU when Ninjini came out and there was a group of people waiting for the manager to bring out the figures. There was clearly a couple there wanting to buy multiple figures but didn't try it because of the crowd. The manager handed out a single Ninjini to each family until they were gone. No complaints, no fuss.

Quote: wombatandchips

Who got their Giants stuff at midnight at Walmart last year? What was your experience? Were you able to get everything without a problem? Was it crazy busy? Did they put the stuff out on time?

I went to TRU in the morning last time, and that went well. But Walmart is cheaper and you can get the stuff sooner. But I thought I'd see what sort of experience people had last time at Walmart. Of course, if I don't get everything at midnight, I can always go wait in line at TRU the next morning (and/or Target, since they have Nitro Magna Charge).

I'm not sure what it was like in my local area last year due to being out of town and right near the beach with friends (not vacationing, going to a Halloween event), but...

My friends and I walked from our motel across a couple of parking lots to the local Walmart around 10:00-11:00 PM when we realized that Swap Force launched the next day, went to electronics, and saw where they had 2 of each of the starters, most single figures and giants as well as a bunch of other random merchandise. After the lady working nearby confirmed she couldn't release the stuff from the caged cart it was on until midnight, we paced in the area waiting for it to drop. Other than a few people who kept coming back there to check out faster than at the clogged, poorly manned front registers (which freaked us out, since we kept thinking each new arrival was someone who was cutting us off in line since we weren't stacked up at the counter), there was nobody there and nobody other than us cared. At about 15 minutes til, the lady responsible for putting the stuff out came over and asked each of us what we wanted, stacked everything up for us and at 12:01 AM (just to make sure the system didn't freak out) rang us both out. The next day we went by Target before heading home and ended up stumbling into an untouched Giants display with a ton of Granite Crushers and then stopped by GameStop to pick up the few figures Walmart didn't have (or didn't have put out).

Depending on how many Skylanders fans you have in your area, your milage may vary, but at many Walmarts, I anticipate that this is the norm for such midnight launches simply because so many other retailers go out of their way to make sure people can preorder things, get special bonuses for doing so, etc.

-Doug

Wal-Mart in Canada wasn't open at midnight, but I did go before the Sunday 7am opening and it was D-E-A-D. I then went to Target in USA at 8am opening, and it was also D-E-A-D. However, I heard from many people that the line up was wrapped around the building at TRU Canada...EBgames was fairly busy too at noon. I guess most people don't get up super early, or most people are buying the stuff at game oriented stores.

Quote: defpally

I'm actually more concerned that they overstock this go round. Two big hits, lots of figures sold and everyone knows how Activision loves to milk their cash cows. There still needs to be some sort of hunt for figures, that is part of the fun - it is always a rush to get find a new figure you want. If stock levels are too high, then figures sit on shelves - and cause retailers to back off down the road.

So True!

When I went with my dad we were the only ones there. And the only skylanders they had were the starter packs, dragonfire battle pack, and lightcore drobot eruptor and prism break.