Personally, I'm still down with collecting this line, but then I don't buy the troop builders so I'm not out trying to hunt down multiples of a single Target exclusive. Once I nailed down Beachhead and Baroness from the first round I was done and then I wasn't even interested in Firefly but got lucky. If I were trying to troop build like I used to with the 3 3/4" line I'd probably be as frustrated as a lot of others. Yeah, I can go along with that for the most part. I'm pretty happy with the team I've got so far and as far as Cobra goes we know Storm Shadow and Bludd are coming and I'd be shocked if the twins don't get pushed out at some point. I also believe BBQ was leaked in one of the listings from late last year ... he and Bludd were actually listed as being part of the same wave as Flint and Lady Jaye originally, but I'm guessing they've stretched their waves out after having to move around the movie stuff.
Although conceptually I have no need for generic grunts on my Joe team, the Devil’s Due Greenshirt is just a great design that I need a toy of and Snake Eyes is really a pretty straight forward mod into him. In fact, making a classic o-ring DD Greenshirt out of some BF2000 parts, I believe, was one of the figures that got me into customizing in the first place when those comics first came out nearly 20 years ago.
I'm honestly at this point not even really that interested in Classified anymore. I mean, I LOVE the figures. They look really good, particularly the Cobra side. BUT... For the amount of work it is to get certain figures, I'd rather be looking for toylines I know I can generally find easy like Marvel Legends and Transformers. Heck, even the NECA TMNT stuff has gotten easier to find around me now. If I ever see new stuff on the shelf, I may still pick them up, but not going out of my way anymore to search. I guess I just got burned out on driving from Target to Target for the first Cobra Island wave and having to ask Target employees to find what it was said they had online in the back. I met some nice Target employees and some as soon as they heard or saw it was "G.I.Joe" you were looking for, quickly got pissy with me for even asking, knowing they'd been probably asked a bunch before me. Honestly, the whole Cobra Island thing has been the biggest blow to this attempted revival of G.I.Joe I'd say. I feel before they even started with exclusives we should have gotten a few waves into the line maybe. Let the casts fill out a bit, make troop builders the way Hasbro did them for Marvel Legends and even Power Rangers recently with Pulse. The exclusives should have been maybe variants of characters. Like instead of Cobra Vipers, make the exclusives Python Patrol Vipers. Stuff like that. Instead, the line has become a scalper's dream come true as they swoop into stores, have their bots online at the ready and buy up everything before normal people can even arrive to the stores or finish their orders online. It makes me sad when I see people post online how they've given up and willingly paid those scalpers over $100 for a figure they should be able to find at retail for retail price. Don't do that. Don't pay $100 for a single figure. Yeah, you might like the toyline, but come on...$100 for a single troop builder figure. I could almost buy a Leader class Transformer plus a Voyager and Deluxe for that price. (Taxes making it just a bit higher) And the rumors of a THIRD Cobra Island wave with Crimson Guards as the troop builders I'm hearing...yeah, I can't se the Classified line lasting more than another year if this keeps up. Just too many people obviously getting sick of the distribution and other issues in this line. Just sharing my thoughts on the line right now here, that's all.
Grabbed the Scarlett repaint from Dorkside, this morning. Guess that was a bad move since this line is being declared DOA or whatever. And my bet for the Cobra Island wave 3? Shipwreck and the BATs, just to push the Target employees complety over the edge. They'll be pelting everyone named Joe with NECA Turtles.
Same. I don't need to be a completist or troop build large quantites though. So far I've been able to get every figure I've wanted
Me too. I guess a handful of us will keep it going. I'll admit, I've been EXTREMELY lucky with the CI stuff, so that helps. Who knows if I'll be able to keep that up. But I've loved everything, so far. I can't remember the last time an entire line grabbed my attention, like this.
Poor Sales? They can’t Get Enough stock for it to stay on the Shelves! Classified seems to have out preformed by a mile. And I hate to break it to you, a couple of collectors like us complaining online is a fart in the wind compared to the Target reps gushing over how much people are asking about their exclusive sub line and selling out as soon as they hit the shelves. Weird as it is to say that as for as longevity of this line, it’s Much, MUCH better for these to sell out quickly rather than hang around taking up shelf space and having to be discounted. Hopefully Hasbro can up production without over compensating and glutting up the market.
So your mileage may vary but I think Target is doing shenanigans with popfindr inventory. My local Target showed no vipers in stock yesterday, and there was one hanging on the pegs at opening when I got there. Then today, I noticed that the same store’s availability for Firefly on the Target.com changed from “not carried at this store” to “out of stock”. Well when I went, there were three Fireflies on the pegs. So maybe don’t rely too much on popfindr right now.
I’ll keep going on Classified, but I think I’m going to limit myself to only getting figures I can PO from etailers. No more CI at all for me...unless I just happen to find them randomly. All of the hunting at Target last year has me burnt out on chasing stuff. The main reason I was able to find the CI figures last year was due to me being in the store while hunting NECA TMNT stuff. And since I’m just about done with that line, my Target days are numbered.
Yeah, this was recently talked about in a collector group I'm in charge of on Facebook. I've personally found Firefly, the deluxe and voyager Studio Series 86 Transformers, and deluxe, voyager, and leader Kingdom Transformers at Targets that Popfindr claims have nothing in stock. I'm actually not surprised this has finally started happening as corporate has been looking for a way to block these inventory checkers for some time now from what a couple of my manager friends have told me.
We should organize and plan for the next G.I. Joe Fan Friday event and every question and response should be stop with the Target exclusives, sell troopers by the case.
I was all set to be all in...first time getting into a toy line at the start. Inability to get Baroness, Viper and Firefly has freed me from having to be a completionist. I guess the biggest bummer is comparing/contrasting the excitement I felt when Snake Eyes was first revealed (and again in hand) versus the feeling I experience checking PopFindr. Sucked the joy out of it. I will also say that there are times when the hunt can be enjoyable...the first time you round the corner and see something on the pegs next to the Ghostbusters when it is normally empty. Great vibe. In the before times, in the long long ago, I would prefer to find the figure in the wild, rather than preordering online. Only if it was hard to find in my region would I submit to online purchases. I’d just like to have that option for the entirety of the line, or know that it is coming down the road. Heck, I missed the preorder for Zartan and Cobra Soldier, non-CI figures. I’m reasonably sure they’ll be available eventually BUT would I be surprised if they become impossible to get? No, not at this point. Again, this reality versus the hype and hope felt when Snake Eyes was shown...
I actually have an extra preorder for both zartan and the cobra infantry if you're interested, was gonna cancel the spares but if it'll help a fellow collector out I'll hang on to them
Wow. I clearly wasn’t paying attention to the product reveal or reviews about Firefly. No idea his backpack could hold all his gear (specifically the data pad).
Honestly, the ability to store all accessories is pretty awesome. Almost every character can hold or store their stuff (not all though).
Yeah. That’s my main issue with the classified Storm Shadow. Especially when the OG ARAH did it SO well
