[scarrviper]

I was shocked to find one full case of wave 4 at target today on the pegs. These are the first joes I've seen in a retailer since last summer. I couldn't believe it. I got Flint and Lady Jaye. It was so refreshing to find something in a store at long last. Went ahead and cancelled my gamestop preorder for them.

Both are really nice figures, I'm very impressed. I had less QC issues than with Zartan. Flint only needs a few minor paint touchups. Both of them required the hairdryer to get their hips joints moving, they were really stiff. Same goes for Lady Jaye's elbows. They were frozen solid. I had to heat the elbows several times to get them to move at all and it took a few hours before they started to loosen up from posing. Be extra careful when you first get her, I could see the elbows tearing or snapping.

The articulation is excellent. I like their accessories, but I am going to give them some real guns from the valaverse prototype armaments set. Lady Jaye's swappable hair/hat pieces work way better than I expected, they stay attached and don't fall off easily.

If hasbro ever gets their act together, this line would be gold. I'd love to see more characters done to this standard. I'm glad I decided to jump on this line now.

[Cyclopswc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scarrviper

I was shocked to find one full case of wave 4 at target today on the pegs.

So what consist of a case of wave 4?

[MeLikeJinx]

Most people are only gonna buy one Lady Jaye and one Flint, so I'd imagine finding them both shouldn't be as hard assuming they hit hard everywhere. If I ever see them I would probably buy them since IMO they work as a stand alone unit and I wouldn't need any other Joes to go with them. The Duke repaint looks pretty good too IMO.

[SpasticPlastic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclopswc

So what consist of a case of wave 4?

I think, though I could be wrong, that it's 2 of each; Flint, Lady Jaye, and Cobra Commander.

[En Sabah Nerd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticPlastic

I think, though I could be wrong, that it's 2 of each; Flint, Lady Jaye, and Cobra Commander.

This is what Entertainment Earth lists the wave 4 case as, so I think you're correct.

[Cyclopswc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeLikeJinx

Most people are only gonna buy one Lady Jaye and one Flint, so I'd imagine finding them both shouldn't be as hard assuming they hit hard everywhere.

You know I thought the same thing about Zartan, I figured that he'd be hanging on pegs every where by now, especially since he's not an exclusive, but yet, I have yet to see him in stores.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpasticPlastic

I think, though I could be wrong, that it's 2 of each; Flint, Lady Jaye, and Cobra Commander.

Cobra Commander? Huh, I would have repack the Red Ninjas, but what do I know?!? Anyway, so if I see couple of Cobra Commanders hanging on the shelve, then I'd know I missed Flint and Lady J. Thanks!

[SpasticPlastic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclopswc

Cobra Commander? Huh, I would have repack the Red Ninjas, but what do I know?!? Anyway, so if I see couple of Cobra Commanders hanging on the shelve, then I'd know I missed Flint and Lady J. Thanks!

That's exactly how I know I missed them.

[MeLikeJinx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclopswc

You know I thought the same thing about Zartan, I figured that he'd be hanging on pegs every where by now, especially since he's not an exclusive, but yet, I have yet to see him in stores.

Touche! For some reason though it seems like the Zartan wave only hit Walgreens and local shops and Gamestop pre-orders. And from watching toy hunt vids... the Zartan wave is finally showing up at Target this week at the same time as wave 4... like either your Target gets Wave 3 or 4 it seems like.

[Black Arbor]

If anyone wants to buy Zartan, Regal Cobra Commander, Profit Director Destro and two standard Cobra Troopers loose for retail price, feel free to send me a PM. I've got all the accessories, I'm just burned out on this line already and wanna wash my hands of it. Wanna sell them as a lot though, not looking to piece them out.

[scarrviper]

While on a road trip this morning I got to check out 2 walmarts, 1 target, a walgreens, and a books a million. Between all those stores, I only saw two wave 1 Roadblocks. One at a walmart, the other at books a million. He has to be the biggest pegwarmer of the line so far. The local shop has a whole shelf of him. I'm guessing the awful excuse for a weapon and gold paint have sealed his fate. The target only had one peg, and it was for the viper so I'm guessing they've had nothing new since January.

I also was checking for neca stuff. That's 3 walmarts now that I've been to whose neca sections are completely empty. That third wave of alien anniversary figures are as impossible to find as wave 1.

[scarrviper]

Flint by scarrviper II, on Flickr

[Harbinger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scarrviper

Flint by scarrviper II, on Flickr

God that flint is awesome. He shoulda been the leader not danger prone duke.

[Dr Kain]

Duke wasn't the leader though, Hawk was. Duke was just there to whip the Joes into shape.

[usernamedustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Kain

Duke wasn't the leader though, Hawk was. Duke was just there to whip the Joes into shape.

No.
Duke was the field commander.
SGT. SLAUGHTER was there to whip the Joes into shape.

[firmpulse]

Quote:

Originally Posted by usernamedustin

No.
Duke was the field commander.
SGT. SLAUGHTER was there to whip the Joes into shape.

^ This

[Dr Kain]

Are you talking comics or cartoon?

Because Marvel Comic Duke comes in stating he has been brought in to retrain everyone.

[Nutimus Prime]

Finally found some in the wild. Zartan and new Scarlet. Thanks for delaying my preorder 3 times Hasbro.

Somebody already bought the others but a coworker did hook me up with a Lady Jaye from BBTS that had a little tear in the cardboard. He's a mint in box collector so, great $12 buy for me lol.

[MeLikeJinx]

Just saw the Cobra Island Major Blood on ebay... he looks pretty damn cool I must say. I don't know why Hasbro is rumored to be waiting until June to announce all the Cobra Island re-issues... they need to do that ASAP to instill some confidence in the Classified line IMO... the current situation is very disheartening.

[Harbinger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeLikeJinx

Just saw the Cobra Island Major Blood on ebay... he looks pretty damn cool I must say. I don't know why Hasbro is rumored to be waiting until June to announce all the Cobra Island re-issues... they need to do that ASAP to instill some confidence in the Classified line IMO... the current situation is very disheartening.

It sire seems like hasbro is offering half of their joe and star wars lines as target exclusives. Really starting to piss me off as regular figs are already in mediocre supply. Hasbro needs to pull its collective heads out its asses and quit with exclusives and focus on putting attainable figures on shelves at a better supply.

[GizmoTron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeLikeJinx

Just saw the Cobra Island Major Blood on ebay... he looks pretty damn cool I must say. I don't know why Hasbro is rumored to be waiting until June to announce all the Cobra Island re-issues... they need to do that ASAP to instill some confidence in the Classified line IMO... the current situation is very disheartening.

Because they promoted the Snake Eyes movie stuff instead which will be out first? I don't know, but given Hasbro's usual M.O. for these type of things chances are there isn't going to be a big reissue announcement, you're just going to get an e-mail from Pulse or some other fan channel someday saying that preorders are open.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harbinger

It sire seems like hasbro is offering half of their joe and star wars lines as target exclusives. Really starting to piss me off as regular figs are already in mediocre supply. Hasbro needs to pull its collective heads out its asses and quit with exclusives and focus on putting attainable figures on shelves at a better supply.

Supply issues need to be better addressed to answer the demand, sure, but exclusives are never ever going away.

[Harbinger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GizmoTron

Supply issues need to be better addressed to answer the demand, sure, but exclusives are never ever going away.

Yeah but the problem is hasbro is making characters who shouldnt be exclusive exclusives. Main line characters and troop builders should never be exclusives.p, especially these days. Something like pimp daddy destro as an exclusive is fine because its a redeco thats not essential. Other examples would be like red and silver baroness, red and silver crimson twins, etc etc. but normal characters like bludd, beachead firefly vipers and troopers should be normal retail releases. Things like tigerforce, nightwatch and other redeco figs could be exclusives instead of regular characters and troopers.

It just seems that hasbro has focused on feeding scalpers rather than committing to making sure that actual fans/collectors can get the figs at retail without resorting to scalpers online.

[Trivial Psychic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GizmoTron

Supply issues need to be better addressed to answer the demand, sure, but exclusives are never ever going away.

You're correct that exclusives aren't going to go away, but it's the marketing strategy that Hasbro is currently employing them with. Right now as it stands, nearly half of the G.I.Joe Classified figures in the entire line are an exclusive of some sorts...with the worst offenders being the Cobra Island waves, which has incorporated both core characters and army builders as exclusives, with only one figure thus far (the Infantry trooper) being re-released and no announcements for more in the future thus far.

This was a strategy that's not all that different from the one Hasbro employed in the late 2000s with the Marvel Legends line, where entire waves became extremely hard to find store exclusives, which killed collector interest and ended up shelving the line for years. If Hasbro doesn't change things up and soon with the way their handling the line, they are doomed to do the same with Classified.

[GizmoTron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trivial Psychic

You're correct that exclusives aren't going to go away, but it's the marketing strategy that Hasbro is currently employing them with. Right now as it stands, nearly half of the G.I.Joe Classified figures in the entire line are an exclusive of some sorts...with the worst offenders being the Cobra Island waves, which has incorporated both core characters and army builders as exclusives, with only one figure thus far (the Infantry trooper) being re-released and no announcements for more in the future thus far.

This was a strategy that's not all that different from the one Hasbro employed in the late 2000s with the Marvel Legends line, where entire waves became extremely hard to find store exclusives, which killed collector interest and ended up shelving the line for years. If Hasbro doesn't change things up and soon with the way their handling the line, they are doomed to do the same with Classified.

The exclusive thing is annoying, but it's nothing new, and right now thing of it is that we live in a time where every single figure in these lines are in high demand no matter what it is or where you have to buy it. Right now it doesn't seem to matter if it's a solid case of Cobra Troopers at Target or two Cobra Infantry in an assortment found everywhere when either way it's going to sell out and people have to chase them down or turn to eBay prices. It's hard to answer that kind of demand, especially when it's with G.I.Joe and that demand seemingly came out of the same nowhere this past year as paper products and Baseball cards.

The only strategy that can really solve that I think is to fix the supply issues, make it so that even if it is say a Major Blood only available at Target and they sell through the first case of him that maybe there can be enough at the warehouse so that that store can maybe receive at least a second case. That's likely easier said than done when dealing with factories and production schedules, but I think Hasbro recognizes that it needs to be done because at least the Cobra Island reissues are on the table. Unfortunately the deal with Target that created the Cobra Island line in the first place is also on that table, and if you're into buying this line than for now we're just going to have to live with it.

[jwyss234]

The Cobra Island Viper and Firefly are available on Pulse to members.

[Archangel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwyss234

The Cobra Island Viper and Firefly are available on Pulse to members.

And they are gone...

This gives me hope for a couple CI troopers, if I’m lucky enough to catch the release.