rikfenix Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) I don't know for sure what it means but I sure don't like it. Tekken is one thing but series 17 and 18 on clearance already? Really? Getting minimates for 4 dollars isn't worth the sinking feeling I got when I visited TRU a few hours ago. Don't like seeing a line I care so much about clearanced out like Green Lantern movie figures! In the TRU 18 thread Zach did say that minimates in TRU are not done, and there are possibly even still box sets on the table. We have not heard a word about 19 however and don't see anything TRU-related on the release schedule which goes until May. What is the next planned TRU release? Maybe it is a case of the (new/current?) buyers at TRU being very selective? I know something along those lines has been mentioned in the past. Weren't they specifically requesting obscure characters at some point? I have read before that TRU saved minimatesand helped the line go on for years. Can the line survive without TRU? How is the health of the Marvel minimates line in general? Edited January 22, 2014 by rikfenix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lokash Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) My local tru has ALL minimates on clearance. The price tag doesnt reflect this but the price scanner does.According to the price scanner at the store I visited the Munsters coach was $12.99 and Halo 5 was $7.49. How much was the coach at your store? Sorry, I dont have either of those at my tru. There was ST,TWD,SFvT,Wolverine,Marvel all at the clearance price. Edited January 22, 2014 by Lokash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSTZach Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 In the TRU 18 thread Zach did say that minimates in TRU are not done, and there are possibly even still box sets on the table. We have not heard a word about 19 however and don't see anything TRU-related on the release schedule which goes until May. What is the next planned TRU release?What schedule? The one on ArtAsylum.com? I don't put anything TRU on that, because we don't control those releases. But Series 19 is still planned, as far as I know, and there is also a box set in the works. Minimates is doing fine. I don't think anyone here is worried about Minimates going away entirely, nor should they. I don't know TRU's retail strategy, but putting items on markdown is what retailers do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) Y'know, if the amount of Minimates in your possession only qualifies you as an apprentice, BHM, then what does that make the rest of us? OK I've gotta lot of Minimates ...& for the record it's about time I had quite a few less....but I am in absolute awe of all the people who love this line of toys whether they've got 6 or 6000. Everybody must have six Minimates nobody could have just one could they ? What's happening with TRU is a genuine concern ...nay..... worry to me. The original announcement five years ago that exclusive Marvel Minimates were to be sold at ToysRUs was not good news for me .....I'm an online buyer in the UK & TRU.com wasn't an option for me (or anyone) for quite some time ..........I wobbled big time . I stuck in however & I'm glad I did but my perspective on the whole 'Minimates' brand changed .....I changed from 'casual' to obsessed . I'm 59 next month & with the passing of the years comes perspective * & I really want to know where I'm going with this 'hobby' of mine . Some of the stuff we've seen from TRU has been amazing .....really amazing..... but , & it's a big but , there has been some stupendously odd decisions made over the years . I'm hardly 'fanboy' ...like I said I'm a novice but I ain't no novice when it comes to predicting what will sell in the shape of a Minimate 'cause I've seen them all come & go ,Black Spideys, Blue Stealths, GSX Nightcrawlers, Glowing Pufts ,Western Trilogies ,Desperates & Chefs et al . Yep, I've seen them come & go but I never recall Street Fighter doing anything apart from stagnate on ebay from the moment I started collecting.......& sorry guys CapCom equates to SF in my book . On the other hand I almost single-handedly tried to promote the Playstation mates whose characters I had little affinity to although I just adore the Minimates ............ try finding them cheaply on ebay! You can add Max heroes ,BSG & even Battle Beasts to the list of 'find them with difficulty' . I'm going to stop there 'cause I'm losing my track for the moment ....my point however is that something doesn't quite stack up? * The thoughts of Chairman Butt c2014AD Edited January 22, 2014 by buttheadsmate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcastick Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 It's kind of concerning in my area, there are around 6 - 8 TRU stores in a 30 minutes radius and I have checked all of them recently when things have been turning up on sale, and what I have noticed is that only 1 out of all of those have had ANY newer sets in stock. It also seems that once that stock is gone, that's it........nothing more appears to come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I don't know for sure what it means but I sure don't like it. Tekken is one thing but series 17 and 18 on clearance already? Just a guess, but I'm assuming the 17/18 discount is simply because of the shared item number. The person at TRU deciding the discount is most likely looking at a 'big picture' inventory number and seeing that there is X number in inventory, with no indication that they are actually two different releases, one being brand new. An instance of the shared item number working in our favor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onyx_6 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Yesterday, when I stopped in to my local TRU to score clearance mates, I asked an employee to look up the Tomb Raider Minimates. She did, and they are still on order and have not been discontinued. They are still at "full price." She also mentioned that inventory is this weekend. This could be why much of the Minimates , and many other areas of the store, for that matter, are on clearance. This has happened other years too. TRU holds off on restocking brick & mortar stores, and discounts products, to make everything easier to inventory. I am not worried. I have faith that Minimates will still hold presence at TRU. Marvel may be reduced, both in price and quantity, but I think TWD and Aliens will easily fill that void. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninja Mate Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I got the rest of wave 18 yesterday for $3.98 + 30% off coupon and a few other waves of mates. I think my TRU must have got 2 cases of wave 18. and surprisingly over the course of the two days I was in there, no other packs were purchased. I was the only one who bought them. Still an entire case hanging on the pegs. crazy, I guess. They had two whole pegs of SF mates, Star trek mates, Wolverine mates, and a few other random marvel waves. This was a nice little bonus for me to catch up on some things. I only wish they had more stuff. also some waves like 16 were only marked down to $4.98, unlike wave 18 for $3.98. weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulcansFury Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 (edited) I've hit several TRUs since the purge. There are a lot of missing sets which is a good sign. IM3 is practically nonexistent. Marvel is pretty tapped out except for the pegwarmers (wave 14 is nowhere to be found for me) and even the pegwarmers are disappering due to the sale. But for all the Boomer & Rictor sets, theres no FA Punisher sets. Even the Munsters coach is gone, and it was never clearanced. It still stings missing out on that Thor 2 TRU wave, but hopefully after the purge TRU won't pass on any more waves for 2014. Butthead, I understand your concerns about TRU, but I've seen harsher purges on Star Wars toys and they're still around. They need something to fill the pegs with, and I doubt they will just put out more of the Hasbro Marvel stuff. The only way I'd worry about this purge would be if the mates were still pegwarming at sale prices. They are all disappearing around my stores, and not rotting like those Zhu Zhu pets they couldn't even give away. And the Avengers movie wave was a slam dunk in sales, so we tend to focus on whats left over rather than what sold out like wave 14 etc. Personally, I expect TRU to be on board for Thor 3 when it comes around. Edit to add: The concept of minimates still sell well, so I don't expect TRU to abandon the concept based on one flop (SFvT) and pegwarmers, which every line has Edited January 22, 2014 by VulcansFury Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcastick Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 As I said, I'm more concerned with stores that aren't getting anything new. 2 of the stores i've visited have had the same minimates for months now. One of them has had the same mates since last summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSpiderX Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Sadly the TRU in the mall I work at, seems to not be stocking them anymore for quite some time. The last thing I saw was the Phoenix 4 pack. But they've never had walking dead at all. But this is in Canada and we are the land of the few. I've said it before in posts, TRU is a very badly managed company. They literally tell their employees to put toys "where they fit" and their stock system is a mess. I'm in retail, and if a price changes, it changes company wide. Not in certain locations. Very odd way of doing business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zexion_Armando Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 That's what bugs me most about TRU. Their management of inventory and systems. Working for several retail chains over the past years has just made me roll my eyes at TRU At least getting stock available at everystore at first would seem like an easy thing to do. Not like a box of minimates takes up more room. Unless TRU wants 4 pallet fulls of those 1D dolls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttheadsmate Posted January 24, 2014 Author Share Posted January 24, 2014 The continuing lack of significant news on TRU Marvel 18 & Tomb Raider on here,TRU.com & ebay is IMHO good news* for the moment ,I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at least one element of the TRU hierarchy might realises that it ain't bright to immediately slash the new Minimate stuff. Ebay is already showing signs of being a down-river logjam of cheaply bought peg-warmers & its quite intriguing to see what is now appearing & for how much *for me anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Paco Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 I finally had the chance to get to my local TRU (Blo/No, IL). I found two Gwen/Connors, 12 Daredevil/King Pin, 2 Dexter/Dreadlock Zombie, 1 Carol/Pole Zombie, 1 AvX set(Phoenix Cyclops, Phoenix Killer Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Protector), 1 TaskMaster/Nathan Spencer, 1 Sentinel/FA Ryu, about 5 sets of the Wolverine mates, and a variety of TRU 17 (no Nova/Venom packs left) and a couple of TRU 16 (no Phoenix set nor Capt. America/Scarlet Witch packs). I ended up getting one set of the Wolverine mates, The Sentinel/FA Ryu, Taskmaster/Nathan Spencer, a Hawkeye/Black Widow, two Rescue Armor/RoboHulk, a Carol/Pole Zombie, a Hulk/Marvel Now Iron Man and the AvX box set. All the sets were $3.98 each and the box set was $9.98. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youbastards Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Nice score, especially the Robot Hulks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 After seeing Mez-Itz figures also on clearance, I don't feel nearly as bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulcansFury Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 After seeing Mez-Itz figures also on clearance, I don't feel nearly as bad. Out of curiosity, are they actually selling? Or still sitting on the pegs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPL Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Mez-Itz still aren't selling well at this particular TRU. The one closer to me doesn't even stock them. Compared to Minimates, at a comparable price, I don't see the value. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulcansFury Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Oh I totally agree on lack of value on Mez-itz. It's kind of fun to see what sells and what does not sell, even on clearance. I can still find Zhu Zhu pets and other clearance dregs at TRU's. They aren't the kings of clearance like Target is. In my opinion, if something still sells out at clearance, it's a good product, sometimes it just wasn't at a consumer-friendly price, or they saturated the point the market would bear. Every TRU is still loaded with those Iron Man light bracelets that they tried giving away free with a certain amount spent on Marvel product, so people don't even want those for free. I'm curious if Mez-It will rapidly sell through at clearance or slowly dwindle away. Minimates flew out of all my TRU's. I'm not a Lego fan, but that stuff always flys off the clearance shelves when Target marks them down. I wonder if non-minimate collectors feel the same way I do about those Iron Man light bracelets - I just want to see them gone, I want to see new stuff when I'm shopping. For minimates, who couldn't use extra parts if they are cheap enough? For Mez-itz, what does one do with extras? I wouldn't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Paco Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Thank you, youbastards. I went back to TRU today and I noticed that all the remaining Walking Dead mates were cleared out. I realized I forgot to mention they had a few Star Trek Legacy Mates yesterday. I got one Kirk/Khan and one Sisko/Cardassian. I left two Kirk/Khans on the peg. And today all the Star Trek mates were cleared out. Oh and they had at least two maybe three cases worth of Street Fighter vs. Tekken in the store as well. Today they still had TRU 16 and TRU 17 mates but they were thinned out. I got one more package of Iron Man/Hulk and then added a Wolverine/Reaper. I got a Gwen/Connors and then I grabbed two Daredevil/Kingpin packs. I got a coupon in my e-mail yesterday after I had been to TRU for 30% off which is why I went back today. So they have maybe a total of six cases of Minimates left in the store if you combine all that is left. Since they are having this clearance sale, I suspect they will not stock new Minimates until the current stock of old ones is gone, So no sighting of any TRU 18 Marvel nor any other new waves of mates. Well, better get back to my other chores. Take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystery Man Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 (edited) Really disappointed to see that they're limiting the amount of those Wolverine ninja guys to 3 per customer. I wanted 5 for an army but the thought of paying double shipping chaps my ass. Edited January 25, 2014 by Mystery Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VulcansFury Posted January 25, 2014 Share Posted January 25, 2014 Really disappointed to see that they're limiting the amount of those Wolverine ninja guys to 3 per customer. I wanted 5 for an army but the thought of paying double shipping chaps my ass. Tell me about it! I wanted to order more than 3 of a few sets. I hate that they limit the quantity. I thought about doing a few separate orders to get the free shipping with $49, but I don't want to spend so much. And I've had some bad experiences with them shipping the wrong figures. KMart is notorious for just throwing whatever they have from an assortment into the shipping box, and now it seems TRU has picked up this nasty habit from them. One time, they actually sent me a Ben10 figure in place of a minimate set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Vox Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I hope TRU hangs in there with the Minimates. After doing a 4 store tour recently, I was surprised how many associates knew exactly what I was talking about.. "Minimates?.. are those the small collectibles with lego compatible feet that are usually superheroes?".. why yes, yes they are. For years I have received the blank look and the, "I have no idea".. so to see more recognition has been nice. Almost every favorite unique Marvel character I have purchased in the past 4 years has been a TRU exclusive. Long live TRU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattallica Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 scored today, had my choice from a fresh case of wave 18 at the clearance price and also picked up the tomb raider exclusives(full price) 16 packs of mates for $60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murderofcrows Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I got the tomb raider sets tonight in CoMo crisis averted. carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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