The only thing I would add is that in your second scenario, that only applies to the bigger etailers that can order directly from Hasbro. The distributors can't even offer items for presale to commercial customers until the embargo dates. So unless you are a store like BBTS or Entertainment Earth, e-tailers can't even place their orders until the pre-sale embargo date. That is the situation that will really prevent any start-up companies from competing in any tangible way.

 

Hmm. Odd. I thought I read one source say 382 stores, but I got that wrong. Apparently it's 106,

Toys "R" Us - Wikipedia

and another says 85...

Toys R Us UK | Store Finder

I guess it's 106. Which does make more sense.

Anyway I went to TRU Brent X last night, stuff is now 'up to' 30% off, but I bought a couple of 20 pk AA batteries at £2.50 each. Which is amazing value.

 

Of course, I assume Nevermore isn't wording it to purposely discredit me. We are through the looking glass here.

This has been going on in different forms since late 2014. Phantom solid cases, LOL-surprise-leftover-repack "solid" cases, TR Fort Max and G2 Superion/Menasor LOL surprise in stock, etc. The last Hasbro order I put in was that wave of SWB with Sabine and Revan, which ended up a no-show at general retail, which was likely the only reason I got it in a relatively timely manner. Force Friday was a mess that year because no distributor was giving specifics and then not delivering what you did order until well after Christmas. POTP showed up at Target before any of the sites I watch offered them and the one account I maintain all but dropped Hasbro after TR W1. If I seem a little disconnected lately, it's because I stopped putting up with distributors and Hasbro at any level.

 

Yeah, most stores here have at least 3-5 people always present in the store in general (and that's not counting shifts), and our toy stores are much smaller in size than the ones in western europe.

 

Those numbers were already corrected. There are 106 stores in the UK, so ~30 people per store. If you have 4-5 people on the floor at any given time, that means your overall staff has to be 20-30 people.