The MU-for-Kids Charity Initiative.
 

we all know what the lines biggest problem is. Pegwarmers
Whenever you find a retail, without the newest wave, you'll find Ironman. or some other figure you already have but isnt rare so its not worth your time with trades.
Because of this situation, Retail stores are sadly dropping MU. One by one, they are carrying fewer figures. In my area, 2 toysrus's, a kmart, and atleast 1 walmart nolonger has them.

So its time to do somthing. We can spend hours of our time petitioning, and making phonecalls, and some of us will be successful, but it'll have a minimum impact.

So I propose the MU Toys for Kids Initiative.

We all know atleast 1 child. Either we are a parent, or an uncle or aunt, cousin, grandparent, or friend of the childs parents. So when you are in Walmart or Target or wherever, and you have an 7 bucks to shill, go ahead and buy that ironman, or spiderman, or whatever you find, and give it to a child.

You'll be helping the stores sell the figure, proving its successfull which will cause them to want more product and circulate it. and you'll be making a kid happy and perhaps, that kid will want more, or show it to their friends and they'll want more.

know a kid whose birthday is coming? MU! Know a kid who just lost his wisdom tooth? MU! The options go on and on. It'll keep the brand selling strong and make kids happy

That's actually really a fantastic idea. It doesn't have to be kids you know, shelters and kids programs would love toys to give to kids.

Yeah. I was thinking Toys for Tots would be good. or some kid in a hospital.

Excellent idea. In a superficial way....you may want to consider what store you decide to buy from. For example....I know in my area Walmart suks at restocking....so I'd do this at Toys R Us because I trust them better to restock the toys

Sounds like a good idea, and making a kid's day with a toy for no specific reason is always cool.

But wait until Hasbro sees that all the Iron Man figures sold so well they decide to include even more in future waves!!!!

I pretty much already do this.... a lot. I do think it would be really cool if a bunch of us started doing it though because we would be helping out kids, although giving Wal-Mart more business would kind of suck, mostly because I just hate that company.

Agreed, in my area there's only 5 stores that sell the figures.A Zellers which will becoming a Target in about 9 months, a Winners store which cares vary little and the prices are usually half retail so I buy as much as I can afford if the figures are of interest. Walmart which restocks but I usually get slim picking regardless when I go there, and 2 comic shops which I usually try to go to on a regular basis and buy from them.. I pay a little more but they'll set items aside for me, or let me make payments, unlike Walmart. I wish these stores offered a Collector's Card that allowed you to access to an online catalog or release dates,pics and details and gave you the option to preorder a case of IM,MU.ML,SPIDERMAN,etc and get the whole thing at a reduced rate with a buy it now or term rate, and if you got doubles or unwanted figures Walmart would just use them as regular stock, but if you make them order a case only for 1 figure ie red skull, then you have to buy another 1 to donate to toys for tots.

Great idea! save your reciepts and you can deduct it from your taxes- it's like getting the fig for free and hooking up some kid.

Future Arkers, no doubt.

Maybe we should make some sort of contest or..something....I dunno

First person who donates $100 worth of toys, or figures get to become a moderator, or a free figure supplied by someone aka a mod.. I dunno, we should get in talks with hasbro about this, they may offer something.

The contest idea is cool and all, but like I said before, it is something I already do. I don't want to ruin the idea of being nice just for the sake of being a good person by turning it into a competition.

This is a great idea. The place I work does a shoebox Christmas to children who are less fortunate. Every kid should have something to look forward too, especially for Christmas! I urge everyone here to buy a comic and a figure to go with that comic to make a kids Christmas and maybe even have an impact on their life and something to reflect on when times are tough. It doesn't matter about contests, it doesn't matter about money. It is helping kids stay out of trouble.

No no no I didn't mean it like a legit contest or anything just like if we had a way of sharing our progress or something then that'd be cool. I'm sorry I used the wrong

EDIT: For example like, if we set a bar such as X figs or Y amount of money between all Arker donations. We could take that figure and say to Hasbro in the next Q and A; "We here at the ToyArk etc etc etc." Pending response from Hasbro, we could possibly influence other communities to do the same."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the motivation to do this stems from the supply and demand of MU as depicted through:

1) Collector attitudes
2) Scalper involvement

This leaves kids kinda screwed though because we as collectors are in a better position to secure these items between transportation, finances etc. But scalpers screw both collectors and kids alike regardless.

By doing this just as Toyarkers we accomplish getting toys to kids. By spreading it to other communities we may be able to change the ATTITUDE of the entire line. A little altruistic but short of witch hunting every scalper and taking their excess wares to the orphanages...this is the best solution thus far

This is a good idea. I just gave 5 figures to my nephew, but I don't do this often enough and to enough kids.

I remember TRU did something like this back in December for Toys For Tots. This was where you would get 2 figures for about the price of one & you can use the spare toy to give to someone or even better buy nopthing but the ones the kids would want & it helps your wallet & the flow of stock. The crazy part though is how it might make thigns significantly easier for collectors & scalpers cause we all want to buy them up so I kinda felt bad taking advantage of it back then because I'd already have the 1st wave of 2011 but I wondered if some kid out there might've thought the new version of Iron Man or spidey was cool & they wouldn't be able to get it before collectors & scalpers do

So are we all following through with this idea? I picked up 5 Marvel Super Squad stuffed dolls to give to the local Children's Hospital. The dolls are: Wolverine, Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, and Capt. America. I usually give away the MU action figures, so I thought this would be a good change of pace. Anyway, I hope you guys are taking this idea seriously because I think it is a good idea and will join in as much as I can afford to.

oh yeah. definently. I havent been to retail lately but last time I was there I picked up a couple MU Ironmans to pass out

What are some organizations you guys are donating to? I need ideas...

just search the internet for your local childrens charities, or just take them to the childrens hospital

I am looking into it myself especially cause the Target by my house has tons of pegwarmers

This is an awesome idea. Count me in for sure. Props to Nexodusrex for bringing this up and to all Arkers who already do this.
My only question, like Tarquinius brought up, is the motivation. I'm sure all of us willing to do this have good intentions but, lets be honest not everyone will. Some will see this as an opportunity to get rid of pegwarmers for new stock.
I know most of us on here would do it for the kids but, how can we guarantee this?

Thing is we can't. But the way I see it, if they are buying pegwarmers for kids but also hoping for better flow of new stock then so be it. It's just killing two birds with one stone.

Sure it may be a little selfish goal in the long run, but I think it's balanced out with giving a kid a cool action figure (admit it, even pegwarmers are pretty cool most of the time).

Why in the world does it matter what the motivation is? Would you really say a little kid with cancer can't have an MU Iron Man because the guy giving it to him only bought it to help get rid of pegwarmers? The guy's motivation is nobody's business but his. The bottom line is that kids are gonna get toys.

To clear pegwarmers I just buy them and return them at the Wal-Mart a town over. However Mr Saint is right, it is no ones business why he/she does what he/she does. In the end the child is ending up with a figure in hand.

It's a mix of both selflessness and demand for new product, if TRU sees 3 figures on a peg they're not in a rush to order more, but if it's empty they are more likely to order a case of fresh figures hopefully from a new wave. I honestly love the idea and when I have some free $$ and time I will start this good deed process. To sound a little greedy $10 lately being used for groceries or rent lol. but when I have some free $$ I will start.