[TheBlueMarvel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwyss234

@TBM, just a heads up but GS has Thor and Iron Man listed on their site with a $5 markup.

Hey, thanks, jwyss234, I nabbed Thor. He and Iron Man are the only ones I would have paid a little bit more to get a little bit sooner. I would have gotten Iron Man also, but for whatever reason, he had a street date. Weird.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boy Blunder

It's funny, because I've noticed it flip-flops between who gets them first, at least around here. I'd assume that B&M stores would've, well, basically tried to pay Hasbro's favor, especially in the wake of TRU, to get the product first, but the local toy shop here gets all their orders through online services, and half the time they get the waves first.

So who friggin' knows any more.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Every time I think I've got it sussed out, it does a 180 on me. I go Dorkside - it ends up BBTS. I revert to BBTS - Dork. I wait for the store release - BBTS and Dork get it. It's been ridiculous for a while, but now it's really, really ridiculous. I give up...

Quote:

Originally Posted by En Sabah Nerd

I have been having similar thoughts. It's frustrating to see that people have been finding these figures in stores going back to middle or even early July and then login to (in my case) Dorkside just to see the very same items still at the pre-order phase. I usually consider myself sufficiently patient but Hasbro's practically spoiled us into expecting a more instant gratification with their modern practice of dumping so much new product in quick succession.

I have no intention of pursuing one but I was looking at the SDCC Hulk online to see exactly how different it looks in-hand from the two-pack version. Aside from the obviously unique head sculpts and accessories it's just the paint that's different but it interests me how I feel that the SDCC version did some parts better and some worse. Coloring his nails, veins, and the fraying around the tears in his pants are nice touches but in most reviews I've seen the area around his eyes has this weird runny mascara effect. The coloring on his skin appears to lack the tone shifts that the two-pack version has.

It is frustrating. To add insult to injury, many of the B&Ms have their own online presence where you can also get spot items - not all, adding additional layers of inconstancy and aggravation. Had they tightened their distribution game, not only might they've compensated for the 15% TRU void, but they might've been on the road to greater saturation in both the collector and casual markets. But hey, it's just money left on the table...no bigge, right?

Dude, I buy every Hulk. Sure, I wasn't saying it was better than our brand spanking new Sal-Hulk...but it was WELL worth the money IMO. But keep in mind that I haven't met many Hulks that I didn't buy and this tracks back to my early childhood.