darkSpyro

I just want to complain about how horribly the release of Superchargers has been handled, compared to previous Skylanders releases.

This morning, Toys R Us did not have the Dark Edition starter pack for PS3. They were not sold out; we were the first ones in the door at opening. There was not even a spot for it on their shelves. Furthermore, they did not have any Dual Packs on the shelves ... can't tell you how awkward it looks to have a large section of the display just plain empty on release day.

Target did not have ANY Superchargers items on their shelves this morning. None. A guy with a name tag that read "new associate" had to go in the stockroom and pull out the unopened boxes. They also did not have any Dark Edition starter packs for PS3 in the store or stockroom.

Best Buy and GameStop do not open for two more hours ... hopefully they will do better ... or ya know, at least actually have the Dark Edition starter pack for PS3. At this point, though, my expectations have to be low, which means that Skylanders has hit a new low, for me, at least. And that is pretty sad, considering I have been a loyal fan and consumer for 3+ years now.

You can order the PS3 Dark Edition on Best Buy's website right now. Might be worth it just in case you strike out some more, you can always cancel/return if you do find it. Last year the XB1 Dark Edition was absent at TRU on release as well.

ITA about the combo packs, but the 2 TRUs I went to had plenty of Dark Editions for every console. An unexpected bonus was I was able to get an Amiibo Splatoon 3-pk at TRU. I haven't seen those since they first released. The first Target I went to didn't have any SuperChargers out. The other Target had its stuff out, but as expected the selection wasn't as good as TRU.

Really it's not a big deal and it's probably not skylanders game fault , some department stores don't put stock out straight away . I know lots last year that didn't put out stock till after lunch. You can't expect stores to have everything ready at first thing in the morning. Shelving the new release game probably isn't the most important thing on their list , and the items arnt allowed to be shelved prior to release date so they can't do it the day before. So unless they have night shift workers it isn't gonna happen.

Really the only place you can expect everything to be ready is actual game stores coz thats their one main job.

Quote: defpally

You can order the PS3 Dark Edition on Best Buy's website right now. Might be worth it just in case you strike out some more, you can always cancel/return if you do find it. Last year the XB1 Dark Edition was absent at TRU on release as well.

You read my mind, Defpally. After my above post, I ordered the Dark Edition PS3 on Best Buy's website for same day pick-up in Blakeney. I can't believe how much things change from year-to-year with regard to retail store readiness for Skylanders releases and stock. Post-Giants release, Target was, hands-down the best source for Skylanders. During SwapForce and (especially) Trap Team's release cycle, Toys R Us was absolutely dominant. Now it seems those two stores have dropped the ball pretty badly, and possibly Best Buy will be our new "go to" location for SuperChargers? Seems almost unthinkable, since a couple of years ago, Best Buy essentially ranked dead last (behind Wal-Mart!!) for Skylanders, in my book. But after last weekend's total disappointment fiasco at TRU's "preview event" , and today's pathetic display at the Pineville TRU store, my store loyalty is totally up for grabs. Unreal.

Quote: GamerDrone

the 2 TRUs I went to had plenty of Dark Editions for every console.

That's just the thing ... my local TRU had Dark Editions for every console ... except PS3. Like I said, there was not even a space/spot for it in the display, which is comical, because I know TRU sends the stores a schematic that shows them exactly how they want the display to look (including 2 dozen empty pegs for the Dual Packs). The store either simply forgot to include PS3 Dark Editions in their order, or they did not receive it in their shipment, or some other error. If my opinion of TRU hadn't already been soured by the debacle of last weekend's "preview event" failure, I might be more forgiving right now. Maybe TRU set my expectations too high, because their release day stocks for SwapForce and Trap Team were just SO awesome. But if those two release days were "10 out of 10", then today rates a 3 out of 10, at best. Sad.

No Dark Editions at any Wal-Marts around me, was hoping to save $ with wife's employee discount, guess not.

the tru i went to had dark editions for everything! walked out with a wii u dark starter. no wave 2..

Got everything I needed at TRU, including my four starters I'm getting now and they had everything set at Target when I got there and they guy was really trying to sell me stuff (and paid no attention to the fact I said I only needed one thing).

Waitin' at Best Buy now...

No Wave 2 or 2-Packs anywhere, but I wasn't expecting to find them, so I'm okay with that.

Not finding any Wave 2 yet or 2 packs. My BB had nothing out on the shelves but they were able to get me their exclusive just fine. Aside from the surprising lack of Wave 2 this time around, no real complaints from me.

Remind me again all, who's in these two 2=-packs

The dual packs are Terrafin with Shark Tank and Jet Vac with Jet Stream. I went to two different Toys R Us and neither had the PS3 Dark Starter, but many of the other consoles' dark editions.

The TRU here received 3 or 4 PS3 Dark Starters ! Went VERY fast ! Thats what the few there wanted.. DieHard PS3 owners !

atleast in our area we don't have to worry about any stores in my area running out of superchargers every store except BB had a ton. The only exception is the wii U dark edition was far an few between.

guy at walmart tried to say that they weren't being released til tonight at midnight, lol had to tell him he was wrong, but he was a typical walmart lackey that knew absolutely nothing.

Bestbuy.com has the dual packs listed with a street date of 10/2. So looks like that will be wave 2 or wave 1.5 at least.

No sight of any Wave 2 in Montgomery, AL. TRU and GameStop were ready to roll, Best Buy and Target hadn't bothered to stock the shelves yet (3rd release in a row), funny how they got the Infinity stuff out right away though.

Quote: B-BOB358

Really it's not a big deal and it's probably not skylanders game fault , some department stores don't put stock out straight away . I know lots last year that didn't put out stock till after lunch. You can't expect stores to have everything ready at first thing in the morning. Shelving the new release game probably isn't the most important thing on their list , and the items arnt allowed to be shelved prior to release date so they can't do it the day before. So unless they have night shift workers it isn't gonna happen.

Really the only place you can expect everything to be ready is actual game stores coz thats their one main job.

I disagree if they list the items as available in their ads, then they should be available when you get to the store. We had an interesting morning. Hit TRS first, they were scrambling to get things out but were very nice about letting us dig in boxes and very apologetic that the night team that came in specifically to set up didn't get it all done. Then we hit Target, four employees were staring at the boxes as we walked up, when we asked for Superchargers, one (the boss?) told someone to help us and three employees walked off. The one who stayed didn't act very helpful and walked off to do something else. We got our Nitro and left. Then we got to Best Buy and they had the preorders ready but didn't know the rest of the product released today so none of it was out or available. Didn't try Walmart, but GameStop actually had things out and shelved and knew what Superchargers were. The only confusion was over Fiesta, but his variant looks similar so that's understandable. I realize it might be easier for a speciality store to prep. for a launch, but dept. stores have people in charge of their various depts. and if they are advertising things as available and ready, they should tell their employees to prep. for it. They seem to be able to get other entertainment (books/movies) out on time, so I don't know if it's game specific or the Sunday release dates that confuse them... (We had trouble with The Infinity 3.0 Sunday release as well, but Amiibos that released on week days were better prepped for).

Every where i went there were issues with the figures and no one could help me find anything. I am truly disappointed to not get the dual packs and gamestop failed to deliver the comic for pre-ordering the game. One of the walmarts i went to had nothing out and said they weren't getting anything. Failing with product delivery is one of the reasons that skylanders is now going to become the 4th place seller of games to life. Failure to improve over the years and screwing over their fans are other reasons.

So TRU like i said was great, target had a few things out, bestbuy i had to ask for their exclusive it was in back. walmart had nothing out at 2pm my 9yr old son absically asked for it and they released they hadnt put them out yet. We did get to go thru all they had for chase stuff, nothing seen.

Walmart had the 2=-packs listed on their sheet but had none of them, tru also had shelf space for them but had none.

Also another note to add. My walmart got 2 copies of trap team for the xbox one and NONE OTHER. Unless they had them lost in the back, I was told by the girl thats all they had.

Also, they had out 2 copies of Legos new game thats due out next week. Its prob locked so i didn't bother.

TRU probably figured why would they want people to buy a double pack when they could make more on a double. And especially with Jet Vac where he's their exclusive, they want people to pick him up.

TRU had everything I expected to find out and on the shelf when I got there as the door opened. Target had their exclusive on the shelf so I started out 2 for 2. I went to WalMart for whatever absent minded reason thinking they too had an exclusive to find that they didn't have anything on the shelves, not even starter packs. They did have Chewie and Han Infinity on the shelf but the register lock wouldn't let me buy them Gamestop when they finally opened at 11am (they opened at 9am for Infinity) had Fiesta. Best Buy was the biggest bust of all. Nothing on the shelf and no one to be found that could understand what I was asking for. After 15 minutes someone appeared that actually knew what Skylanders were and took me to the front because the exclusives were being stored up at customer pickup...except they weren't. So after 20 minutes of standing around they told me it would take a few minutes to look in the warehouse to get them, I declined waiting any longer and decided to order online for store pickup and I'll just grab it today after they pull their heads out of their butts.

The whole launch was lackluster all the way around, kind of like Force Friday was for Star Wars. No longer is the big section at the front of TRU dedicated to big releases it seems. No big reset for Infinity, Star Wars and now Skylanders. Kinda baffling since that has been the routine for 3 years now.

-Grishnaar

It is 10pm on day 1 and my Walmart still has no SSC out on the floor.
The sales rep said that they only received the 3.0 Star Wars. I had to explain that, that was Infinity and Skylanders were different. He said that they are back order.
Really!, I would say don't quit your day job but it is 10 at night, so it is what it is. Glad I went to TRU/BB/GS/Target that was 30 minutes away.

Went to Walmart at 8 PM and no SuperChargers anything. The shelves hadn't been touched on two weeks. Target though was still well stocked and had everything wave one outside of dark starters. Didn't buy anything but I was curious to see how things were doing for Skylanders. I'm sure TRU was well stocked as that's really the only place locally to get your Skylanders without messing around with stores and bad stocking policies. They close early on Sunday though.

NEVER, NEVER go to Wal-Mart for launch day releases. It has been mentioned on these forums many times that Wal-Mart is the worst in that regard. Fortunately, there wasn't a Wal-Mart exclusive, so I didn't have to waste time going there.

I called the Walmart 30 minutes away to see if they had the same results (No Stock) and she told me that they will be getting them in on the 27th.
Weird that they have a different start date, they may suck on release date but they still had them on the same day as other stores in the past.
I wonder since they are going towards DI and did not opt in for a Skylanders exclusive, Activision gave them a different release date.
Makes sense to me.

There was already a super long thread about Walmart getting out of the Skylanders game since some stores have already done away with them and 98% or so stores poorly manage stock/restocks. At this point, it's best to have zero expectations with Walmart and Skylanders...consider yourself lucky if they stock Superchargers at all. Walmart seems to have de-prioritized it to the bottom of the barrel as far as Toys to Life is concerned. An obvious sign should have been no exclusives and no weekly ad presence upon launch.