Thread 11509140

(And target)

These companies don't even stock the shelves weekly. Not even monthly. Everything was so much better when dedicated toy stores existed like kb and toys r us. Now, you only have 1 sliver of one aisle, and if your toy isnt there, go to amazon. Its a huge bottleneck that leads to every problem domestic toys have.

They won't even stock japanese toys, despite Gunpla being in every store in japan.

I'm not a communist, but profit driven corporations have gone too far in search of making more money. Outside of toys going completely extinct, i can't imagine it getting much worse than it already is.

Also fuck the 90$ devastator two pack.

>>11509140 (OP)
>They won't even stock japanese toys, despite Gunpla being in every store in japan.
They simply don't have the shelf space, they have to make room for all the Skibidi Toilet and Mr. Beast shit.

>>11509140 (OP)
Amazon ruined toys. Why go to Toys R Us when you can save gas, stay at home, and order online? Why bother stocking shelves at Walmart when you can keep all the shit in the warehouse and ship it directly to someone's home? The whole "fuck it, I'll check online" mentality is the nail in the coffin.

>he doesn't buy his toys online
You mean to tell me you actually go out onto the world and deal with society? Lol. Lmao even. I make it a point to leave my house as little as humanly possible. It's just not worth it anymore. Too many crazies, sell entitled weirdos, and people looking to get my attention when I'm out in public. I was at Target recently and encountered some tiktokers in the wild and it was the weirdest, cringiest plea for attention I've ever seen. Buying online is way easier and less of a bother.

>>11509140 (OP)
Even with KB or R Us, toy collecting was still a huge problem with low stocks and inconsistent inventory. I still remember things like Toybiz and even Hasbro's post-hiatus Marvel Legends and various Transformers being hard to find. we even had more toy stores like Sam Goody, Tower Records and Suncoast to help with niche/collector lines like Toynami, Mezco and the up and coming first Play Arts. The only online stores that existed was ebay, and BBTS still didn't even have everything. I never even paid attention to EE or Toywiz outside of research purposes because I still valued going out.

In the end, it's always been an America problem since forever. When I moved for high school in Manila, already noticed the giant difference in the toy market. All their departments and various chains like Toy Kingdom and Toy Town always had shelves filled to the brim with whatever they had available. Their stores didn't have every toyline the US had, but it was always complete lines of 2002 He-Man, both regions of Zoids, Digimon and TF Armada, then whatever remaining Mattel/Toybiz 5poa capeshit. All alongside things like Bandai Mega Man X plamos, Disney Magical Collection, those shitty DBZ toys, and non-Hasbro Pokemon moncolles. I didn't even become a collector til after I moved, and I was just so disappointed after I moved back to the US because the previous experience opened my eyes.

>>11509140 (OP)
Yeah, if you wanna go to the store for thrill of the hunt that's fine.
Nowadays, it's all about preordering/hunting online.

I go to the store with low expectations so if I see something new or clearanced it gives me a little chub.

>>11509144
Don’t forget a whole isle of Lego botanicals and black box 18+ sets.

>>11509140 (OP)
>>11509151
People wanting cheap, near worthless, often low quality garbage is the cause of this. My city is large enough that we have a few small toy stores that primarily carry toys for kids, or puzzle stores that also carry some toys, and I know most areas don't have those. It's not stuff I am interested or would buy, but I'm sure people who do want this stuff appreciate being able to go and look at it and buy what they want and return it easily.

I bought something from Walmart, where I actually wanted a specific toy and got a chase variant that I don't want since I am army building this particular model. Now I have to fucking ask for a return label and then go to a fucking UPS or other place and drop it off to be guaranteed I'm going to get my refund and the retailer (it turned out to be a Walmart Marketplace retailer although it was a toy sold by WM originally and it's not some old toy but something released last fall). The fucking retailer claimed to have three left but apparently they are all this fucking chase variant. All they had to do was use that photograph and I wouldn't have wasted my time ordering from them.

>>11509140 (OP)
They also demand shortpacked figures and exclusives that make sure it's a bitch to keep up with your collection for "foot traffic"(TRU did this too) and sometimes they get exclusives and just shitcan them before they reach the stores to some godforsaken hole in the wall liquidator, it's why I don't have the jakks gold sonic figures, the cocksuckers dumped them all on burlington coat factory

>>11509151
online shopping still makes up a tiny portion of retail sales. COVID made a dent in retail sales, but it's small.

Walmart literally ruined toys, more than OP knows.

Walmart actually started dictating to toy companies what they can and how to produce them. NECA's Pacific Rim toyline had its budget cut, so articulation and paint apps were dumbed down, because Walmart wanted a lower price point. Ultimately, Walmart never stocked NECA's PR line in their toy sections, but the damage was already done.
They did the same thing with GI Joe in the mid-00s. GI Joes was selling very well and had two animated DVD/TV movies that were popular enough to create an on-going TV show. However, Walmart felt that GI Joe didn't have enough shelf presence, despite the 3.75" figures being sold in two packs. They convinced Hasbro that more expensive, larger figures was the future and gave them more shelf space too. So Hasbro created two toylines for the upcoming TV series, 8" figures and the other as bulky "mission sets" for a 2.5" figures that came with playsets/vehicles. Both lines bombed.

In general Walmart is why there's fewer products types made today. They only want to carry the top 10 of any available product, so less variety is made. Companies like Brachs Candy used to make 2-5 dozens of different types of candies every year, but now they make half a dozen. This is true across hundreds of different companies who want Walmart to carry their shit. Companies bend over backwards just for the possibility of Walmart to carry their products.
Other retail stores try and copy their business model too. However, this doesn't scale down. Basically, a specialty store would do better business if they carry a billion types of model kits, because people who are into that shit will just go to your store because you have a billion model kits. By copying Walmart and only carrying the 10 top... why even bother going to that model shop if they have the same shit as Walmart or Hobby Lobby?

I'm a Transformers fan. Preaching to the converted.

>>11509996
>tripfag has to share his garbage opinion

>>11509180
So why is the US like this?

>>11509140 (OP)
>They won't even stock japanese toys, despite Gunpla being in every store in japan.

This point is retarded. Also Target carries Figuarts and Gunpla

>>11510185
But how much of them? In Japan, you get walls and shelves of them. Otherwise here, you get what fits on a single peg with little else in the back

>>11510193
>But how much of them?

You're a fucking retard for thinking it's reasonable for an American retail chain to dedicate shelf space to niche collector product from a foreign country

>>11510199
So you agree that US retail is trash then. ok

>>11510199
all toys are from a foreign country

>>11510199
Ace Hardware sells Gunpla, fucking moron. A store that actually sells toys can do the same.

>>11509140 (OP)
KB Toys I will give you. I miss it so much. They were a bit expensive but they always had a big variety of toys.
ToysRUs was overpriced and rarely restocked anything, based on my experience. It going away felt like a 'oh yeah that makes sense'. It was so bad in its last years. I wasted so much time going there and walking out empty handed. Targets at least restock fairly regularly. Well, there is one near me that has a Disney aisle section that stinks (I blame the Disney section for that). The rest are decent. Walmarts are usually not good and rarely restock based on my experience, which has always been the norm.
Miss KB Toys. TRU I am fine with going away.
However if TRU looked like this >>11509180 then I would change my tune.

>>11510185
>>11510193
True. Fucking Target doesn't even carry the full variety and selection of shit they carry, a good example is NECA.

Even more mainstream shit, like the Retro Superman Movie figures that Target is supposed to be carrying are barely in any stores. And these cannot be blamed on a fake scarcity play (ala McFarlane) on the part of NECA or SpinMaster.

>>11510247
a few Ace Hardwares sell Gunpla, and the stock is probably a small one like Target's.

Here's the Sonic section at a Singapore TRU, specifically in Tampines

and here's a Mario section in a Mega Don Quixote in Shibuya

>>11509140 (OP)
Scalpers ruined toys. Retailers are done dealing with these people buying up all the sought after items leaving shelf warmers clogging up their store and having product returned when it won't sell for enough to turn a profit anymore. Also figure swappers.

>>11510652
You mean Americans? Because this issue is only a problem in America.

>>11510652
Scalping was always a thing. You just didn't know about it before eBay if you were somewhere that didn't have any conventions.

Stores and manufacturers are stuck in a downward spiral of jacking up prices to counter falling sales resulting from jacking up prices. Smaller production runs cost more per unit. At the same time, manufacturers are doing _nothing_ to court smaller buyers (to reach economies of scale beyond shrinking Walmart orders).

Hasbro, Mattel, etc won't deal with you at all, so you go to distributors like EE and then don't get enough margin to make any money. Back when Marvel Legends retailed for $20, Hasbro paid about $3 from the factory. But the absolute best price you could get from EE was about $18 shipped. If ONE figure in a case of 8 didn't sell, you were in the red. Most cases had at least 3-4 shelfwarmers, so good luck, because there's only so high you can upcharge the good stuff before people shriek about being raped. Every brand is like this, priced to the absolute max for perfect conditions that never materialize. It is damned _hard_ to make a buck and passion for toys/fiction only carries you so far.

But, as I said, they only want Walmart's abusive business so they can suffocate all the way down.

>>11510654
Scalping toys is a uniquely capitalist enterprise. But only poor capitalists who think they're somehow winning by getting a $10 profit off 3 hours of work

>>11509140 (OP)
>They won't even stock japanese toys
Based lmao

>>11510652
this is only a thing with people like McFarlane creating fake scarcity because Todd is an imbecile who thinks he will benefit from FOMO even if he see's no money from scalpers.
At least idiots like Taylor Swift and Beyonce get a high amount of money per tickets sold even when resellers are also making out like bandits. Todd isn't getting diddly.
Figure swappers is a different issue.
Those people are essentially shoplifters, who are taking advantage of the fact that clerks at Walmart and Target are underpaid and don't give a fuck beyond obvious shit.

>>11509140 (OP)
most stores stock toys every day they get a truck, which is anywhere from three to four times a week.

You're just mad that they aren't stocking the toys you want.

The stores themselves don't decide what they will recieve. That's a decision between corporate and the warehouses (I work an analyst role at a Target Distribution Center) . It's all based on sales trends.

Let's say for example you want that Gamerverse Target exclusive thing with Psylocke and Thanos. Well, you know how Marvel Legends have been selling like shit?

Yeah.... That's gonna affect how many Marvel Legends that Target orders for their stores. As for Gunpla....uh..Target DOES stock those. But like...they maybe have two or three kits to choose from. You want a real gunpla selection? go to a fucking hobby store, or just buy online

The "it being in every store in Japan" has got to be the dumbest argument I have EVER heard.
Japan is a completely different culture and Target does not exist in Japan. Wal-Mart BARELY has any sort of presence in that country (it's not even close to what is in every single city in America)

>>11509140 (OP)
Not stocking Gunpla is a grudge from the 2000s. Bandai shipped Walmart a bunch of Zeta Gundam toys to coincide with the planned Cartoon Network airing, but they had to be switched out for SEED at the last minute and Walmart was left with unsellable merchandise. Also
>Gunpla being in every store in japan
Toys R Us in Japan only has a small shelf of HGs and SDs alongside the Mini 4WDs. It's not like hobby stores.

>>11511292
they're scalping labubu straight from the factory in communist china right now. it's not an explicitly capitalist issue, it's just basic supply and demand.

80’s fag here. I remember when toys were in great abundance. You could go to any Toys R Us and they’ll have the figure you’ll want for that year. Even when Mom & Pop stores existed, guess what, they had toys in stock too (remember getting Action Masters regularly at one).

First time I recall a toy shortage when when Power Rangers launched (I remember news stories about it) and that was because no one actually thought it’d take off and they were in short supply but only for a short time.

>>11511399
Makes sense to me. Now the little marvel legends they do get all sell out. They've been getting one case per week of the fantastic four movie legends from what I can tell. Just gotta show up early enough to get them. Thankfully most toy collectors are slobs who sleep til 1pm.

>>11509140 (OP)
Yeah it’s been a long time since I have been in a Walmart toy aisle but it’s probably because they have been depressing for years. Idk when they started going downhill but I remember in the early 2000s my Walmart had like 8 aisles or so. And most of it was decent or cool stuff that I understood would appeal to someone even if not me. I feel like Walmart toy aisles are smaller now and filled with a bunch of filler crap. Some of it may also be the state of the toy industry. Back in the 2000s there was probably. A lot more cool stuff you could stock.

>>11509180
the main appeal of KB toys and toysrus was specifically the fact they had unpredictable stock that was the main reason it was exciting to go there. They f you went to KB or TRU specifically hoping to find something, that was a gamble. But if you went there hoping to just find something cool, you usually would. Before I was using the internet regularly I never know what toys even existed unless I saw them in person somewhere. And KB and TRU having shit that was also multiple years old sometimes worked out for that reason because I found stuff I never would have encountered orherwise

>>11511677
Except that was also a bad thing. I go to any store because I want something. if it's not there, then I wasted my time. I could use that time to get or do other things, but now I'm spending money I could be saving instead or simply wasting a weekend. The other appeal of old days shopping was that there were more stores that sold toys, like Tower Records, Suncoast or a small business, and that companies were delivering more product because they had the outlets to sell them. With TRU gone, companies don't even try anymore, and things get cancelled just as easily.

>>11511685
Worked on my machine. If I didn’t find what I wanted I would still find something cool anyway. It was almost impossible to leave empty handed. Many of my favorite toys I got were random things I found at kb toys just browsing aimlessly. That’s why nothing else will ever compare, it was an experience going and browsing and seeing such a large selection of shit. it was the closest thing I guess to just being online clicking on random shit. KB especially gave me that feeling of being in a dragons cave and being surrounded by all sorts of treasure and artifacts when I was a kid especially because as I said before maybe the thing you found was old stock from half a decade ago. It was based.

>>11511542
>Thankfully most toy collectors are slobs who sleep til 1pm.
Scalpers get up early and are there at opening when new hard to get shit is hot.

Been this way since forever.

In the 90s, i thought i was a genius for actually talking to store employees and gettign them to tell me when they'd get new shipments for STar Wars toys. I managed to convince my mom one summer morning to take me to ToysRUs before it opened and i had to race against 5 adults to finally get a Speeder Bike.

Kids shouldn't that shit, and it's why eventually Walmarts, TRUs and KBs started punching holes in their toys packaging, because it would deter resellers from buying shit.
Not quite a common practice, it was widespreed on and off for almost a decade depending on the manager across the US.

It's not that bad.

>>11510258
>KB Toys I will give you. I miss it so much. They were a bit expensive but they always had a big variety of toys.
>ToysRUs was overpriced and rarely restocked anything, based on my experience
You must have rose-tinted glasses or something, because KB was always way more than TRU. At least, maybe until KB folded, then maybe TRU increased prices since their main competition was gone, but it always felt like KB was more expensive than anywhere else.

>>11514076
Yep, KBs were more expensive despite those little red stickers that were TOTALLY HAND WRITTEN SALE PRICES, because they were a mall toy store and mall toy stores are almost always have their prices marked up.

had.
who knows now.

>>11514265
NTA, I got some of my best deals at KB …again- worked on my machine. but that was me being a kid trying to find something cool with the money I had and not me looking for something specific. Medabot figures were super cheap. Was able to buy like 20 for 1.99 each or something. found cool megabloks robots there for cheap I had never heard of before. (Gyrofighters or something like that) If you went there with an open mind to find something “new” to (you) you could get a lot of cool stuff on sale most likely because it was shit from like a year ago or more. I remember those RC battle robots you swiped the card through. Got those for cheap discounted also.


I do remember once seeing transformers armada figures there and them seeming really expensive though. BUT they also sold me an opened Optimus prime missing its minicon for 1.00 instead of throwing it away because I asked if I could have it. i also remember getting obscure shit form there like NAKNAKS. MONSTER MICROPETS. SD GUNDAM FIGURES. And MORE!!


(enjoy my schizopost I’m falling asleep)

>>11514380
You can find rock-bottom prices anywhere, though. If you're wiling to get cheap clearance stuff, you can even find it today. You can still get things for cheaper than everywhere else from a store that normally charges more for their "normal" prices.

Then again, back in the day when places like KB and TRU were still around, a GI Joe would be like $3 at TRU and $4 at KB, or a Kenner figure would be $5 at TRU and $6 at KB. We'd love those prices now, but that was like 30 years ago and to this day people will still balk at a $1~$2 price difference between stores.

>>11514412
>then again, back in the day
>then again, let me pull out a wholesome little boomerism
>then again, let me reminisce over that bad ass kB toys and those low low prices

is there anything more pathetic than Americans thinking their culture cares about toys

>>11514433
Is there anything more pathetic than a SEA Pedophile like you Athena blabbing your mouth? My word is on no you child raping pedo

>>11514448
Trump fucked up your economy real good

>>11514450
You got raped by niggers because you’re a seanigger Kenneth Tan, we know, thats why you can only think of Americans, because Americans raped your tiny gookhole wider than the mariana trench while your gay little gook pedophile ass moaned, we know you prefer raping little boys like Robos son you pedophile gook Kenneth Tan but you will be raped by the Niggers and Americans you hate so much you chinese faced Singapore pedophile kikeseanigger, have fun getting uber raped by Americans you pedophile Gook

>>11514455
enjoying those trumpy tariffs and having to pay double for everything at bbts? :)
I had a table at wonder festival have you?

>>11514456
You enjoying being raped as a child Kenneth Tan? I am sending Ricin to your house and am gonna nuke your little seanigger swamp village irl, and burn all you disgusting gooks alive, like you deserve for being child raping slant eyed sea kikes

>>11514433
>>11514450
>>11514456
>gibberish posts
Lost.

>>11514412
I was at Target looking for the Superman the Movie Target exclusives and they had an entire aisle with clearance figures and toys, including some McFarlane DC for as little at $7, some WWE for about the same, and a few other things, and loads of Fisher Price/Spidey and Friends kinda stuff - literally, one half on an entire aisle in one of the large Super Centers.

I've seen people post shelves with yellow Walmart clearance stickers and there are no WM near me, but when I do hit a store in the nosebleed parts of my County, I rarely find anything on clearance, not even HotWheels or crap no one wants, like BLDR.

Big Lots has closed near me, ditto 99 Cents Only, and we don't have Ollie's and Ross and Burlington are hit and miss, so we're left with shit like $5 Below.

>>11514632
a little hunkacino right there

>>11514380
Like the other anon said, every store has a clearance section

And your example for how cheap KB is is actually a good example of how much more expensive they are, because i found Medabot figures for 99¢ at TRU. I pretty much bought the entire collection without getting doubles. About a month later they were 50¢, but way less selection. So even at clearance prices, tRU Was better.
Also, KB tended to hold onto toylines forever without getting good clearance prices. People bitched about TRU about this, but wooof, KB was 10000x worse.

... but for everyday shit that i actually bought? KB Marvel LEgends or GI Joes was always a buck or two more expensive than TRU. And TRU was usually same price as Target/KMart/Walmart, except back in the day, Target/KMart/Walmart had a sale at least once a month where they were about a buck cheaper.
KB was useful, because it was just another place to hunt for toys, so i never minded the price.

>>11511698
>Worked on my machine. If I didn’t find what I wanted I would still find something cool anyway. It was almost impossible to leave empty handed. Many of my favorite toys I got were random things I found at kb toys just browsing aimlessly.
The thing I've realized about /toy/ is that a lot of people here don't really like toys for being toys, they like them as representation of IPs they like. This is why fiction accuracy is in so high demand and why people here are articulation junkies, they just want to own a character.
I also liked discovering new lines at KB too. It was a fun time for toys

>>11509151
Literally they did. Their partnership with Toys R Us helped Bain capital scoop them up for cheap.

>>11515000
I like lego, but not licensed lego sets. I like lego original themes. I mainly collect city and creator 3 in 1 and the classic parts boxes. The reason eveything is now a license, is because media has figured out how to brainwash people into buying BRAND, even with the laws about commercializing toys introduced in the late 90's.

>>11515015
Funny how Japan does it better and makes better toys too. Guess Americans are retarded and have low standards while the rest of the world actually cares about the quality of the product.

>>11515000
I do collect mcfarlanes purely because it is the most readily available (lol) and sometimes only option to get some characters right now. I view them like neca tigures i have. They suck as toys, but it is a tangible physical way for me to further enjoy characters ive enjoyed for decades. Most everything else i have is more toy like action figures that had cartoons while i was a kid. I enjoy posing and creating scenes with gi joe, i try to tell small sories with how things are posed with my gi joes and thats pretty damn close to how i played with them as a kid, only now i dont actually vocalize their interactions now. He man is most actual play with figures type playing i do, you know punching, stomping banging them around in their battles blah blah. I guess that probably how i did it as even younger kid but its what i feel to do when i pull some motu off the shelf. I never had many transformers growing up so i just think they look cool but now that im getting into tian class and mini cons im hoping to develop a type of city kinda like a train track type idea, where most everything is alive and interacting, like an imaginary ant farm sorta.
So yeah, idk why im rambling, sorry.

I went to a Toys R Us today (I'm in Canada) to look for the new Lego sets. They had none of them and they said that Lego is now keeping the new sets exclusive to the Lego store for the first 2 months to get the most sales. I went to a Walmart right afterward, and they had some of the new One Piece sets (though nothing else). Toys R Us also didn't have any Superman movie toys while Walmart did. Toys R Us did have some Jurassic World stuff, though. I hope Walmart doesn't drive Toys R Us in Canada out of business; it's a great store.
>>11515029
We could get Japan's best toys if Hasbro was localizing the new Sentai seasons. At this rate, Toei will globally distribute Sentai on Youtube in a few years like they're doing for Kamen Rider now. This means that aside from HLJ, we'll get none of the Zords or roleplay collectibles, and we won't get any of the good West-exclusive toys like Zordbuilder or Micro Zords -- at most, you'll see some Figuarts in comic book stores.
Global distribution of Tomica would also be nice, but I'm glad Japan isn't in charge of making toys -- it would be nothing but model kits, roleplaying toys, combining/partsforming robots, card games, battling toys, really high end figures, and really cheap 3POA figures. The gems we do have, like Hot Wheels, non-licensed Lego, Hasbro's Transformers, and moderate-quality, moderately-priced action figures would be gone.

>>11509140 (OP)
I work there
>toys are still stocked every day
just not the shit you want to buy, things like Star Wars black series languish on pegs for months and even years (4 fucking landos have been here close to 5 years now)
only thing remotely stocked consistently are hotwheels and thats only because hotwheels collectors steadily buy em not to mention cheap for kids as well
>wont even stock japanese toys
they're deemed collectibles so end up in electronics and 9 times out of 10 they sit there until they're marked down, stole or go on clearance.
my store we've had an 5 or 6 budget figuarts gokus shitting on the shelves for months now and a nearby store has the same issue with a pile of figuarts Luffys

Also toys is treated as the red headed stepchild department 10 months out of the year and every christmas less and less fucks are given as kids no longer want toys nor parents can afford some of this bullshit.

Only time we have good toy sales is when clearance is happening and unless you know when the pricedrops are happening you'll probably miss it.
FYI: Legos, Lego endcap, and the mini stuff is resetting this week but good luck trying to find anything.
>mfw got the lego bumpy, knuckles mech, ashoka platform, the camp cretacious allosaurus, and the the big dreamzzz raven for slightly over $100

>>11511542
hasbro specifically have a huge issue with consistently resupplying boys toys for as long as I can remember.
stores might get 2 cases of ML this week but they might see another case for 3 to 6 months even if every single figure sales the day those first 2 cases were stocked.
Same applies with GI Joe, and the Black Series.
Fucking Lightning Collection when they had it some stores could be lucky to get a case or 2 in per year.

On the flipside more and more of their product is stagnating on the shelves as they've repeatedly raised prices, cut shelf space, cut accessories, paint apps, things like the build-a-fig parts.

Mattel somehow generally keep a semisteady steam of toys.

>>11509165
>Lol. Lmao even.

You're an NPC!!!FACT!!!

>>11514076
Now that I think about it, there was a KB Toys at a mall I visited around the time they were shutting down. I was shocked at the prices of most stuff, and their selection wasn't as good. But the one at another mall had a much better layout and selection. It is probably rose tinted glasses because I was younger then and didn't go toy shopping independently until years after KB closed down (2008, 2009ish). I had a lot of dead ends with ToysRUs for years. I got tired of their prices compared to other places, like Walmart and even Target beating them. One ToysRUs in a mall was about $5, sometimes $10, more expensive than MSRP. It was appaling. My memory of ToysRUs has been mostly neutral to negative, but KB Toys was mostly positive. At the very least, KB Toys seemed to have a better selexction in my memories. Could have been based on my location.

>>11509165
This unironically, I just hate people too much to bother.

>>11514894
I don’t even remember how much the medabots were, they very well could have been 0.99. But the point is they were cheaper than either target or Walmart which used to have like 10 pegs dedicated to them. I was able to go in and buy a shitload. That’s all that matters.

Kb holding on to the toys forever I already explained was a good thing because in theory this is what meant you could find a lot of obscure shit there which would be impossible in any other chain store. yeah they would have lots of shelf warmers too but as I said it was usually the only store that consistently got me excited to go and look at. I went to kbtoys to find cool toys. not to find some specific thing but half the time they would have that also. In my small town we didn’t have a comic book store so this was basically the closest thing to a hobby shop which would have lots or random shit and I respect them for that because they were simply a chain retail store. You know how comic stores sometimes hold shit for like a decade? So sometimes you find really unexpected stuff? Kbtoys was like that to me. but better because it was just toys.

I liked toysrus and enjoyed going there but I had a more consistently interesting experience at KB toys. going there was a gamble and going to a different KB toys in an other town was equally exciting because their old stock could be different. A toysrus in one town would probably have more or less identical stock to a toysrus in an other town. This is just the way I remember it. I enjoyed both. I miss both.


>>11515000
>finding random shit
yeah that’s basically why I have such fond memories of KB. they sometimes had stuff like transformers I had never seen before (because they were old stock) so to me it was like they were brand new. Unrelated but I also liked the general atmosphere and layout of the store. had a nice aesthetic not as overly bright as most stores, more comfy.

>>11517052
I think you're just remembering KB through your dumbshit kid eyes.

I don't actually remember when KB started doing their deceptive price sticker game, but I started being able to remember and compare prices by the late-80s for toys i wanted and i never bought from KB from then on unless they were the only store that had what i wanted.
Take picture for example. This is an Mortal Kombat toy and these were 2.99 brand new at places like TRU and Target. KB's prices were almost always more expensive if the toyline was current.

When it came to OLD shit? Or rebranded OLD shit? KB was basically the toystore version of Ross or Ollies, because they got a bunch of old shit that no one wanted anymore. You could find old stock for ExoSquad, Swamp Thing, or Secret Wars for real cheap. So kids like you probably thought KB was the cheapest toystore, just because they carried dead stock no one wanted like those Medabots for real cheap.
I think it's funny that there's currently a MASK thread on toy, because why would they revive that old dead series when KB used to carry their shit almost all the way into the 00s under another name?

I mean, years later, these Mortal Kombat toys were switched from being HALF price to being 3 for $8, along with Hasbro's Street Fighter figures. Basically, the sale price from TRU/Target/KMart/Walmart/etc.

>>11517403
nta, but while I recognized that KB toys was more expensive than other places(every dollar counts when you're on a budget of $1s and $5s, sometimes a $10, and the occasional lucky $20), the fact that they'd keep old toylines longer was also a feature, not a bug to me. As a kid with a limited budget, I couldn't get all the toys I wanted within the span of time, so KB having them available years later on discount was a bonus to me.
There's also the fact that locally, even the clearance bins could be better stocked than a lot of places like Wal-mart were here even when the lines were new.

>>11517403
>>11517435
That's why I was a fan of the 3 for $10 toy bin.
Good times if you stopped by in the late 90s!

>>11509140 (OP)
I'm glad, I hate going to both stores and they don't deserve my custom:
>cameras everywhere, it seems I'm a criminal suspect
>zombie employees standing around never offering to help
>retarded members of the public everywhere
>only self checkout open, do everything myself while a member of staff eyeballs me and cameras record my every move
>stores dirty and in disarray
I buy direct or used from another collector, fuck the blood sucking middle men

>>11517403
>ExoSquad, Swamp Thing

To be fair, those were pretty good toylines.

And it isn't like this shit hasn't changed. Its just that now places like BBTS have taken up the mantle of overcharging for most shit, which often means that they'll still have stock of something when it is out of stock everywhere else.

>>11509151
Because amazon is a bunch of fucking cock gobblers who abuse their staff. Fuck them.

>>11510635
Are those prices in fucking pesos or something? What the fuck. 40 fucking dollars for an action figure? 17 for some tiny ass shit? They better put that fucking bong down.

>>11515477
>kids no longer want toys
Cause why? Videogame skins instead I guess? Sad because I imagine roleplaying with toys is better for the brain. Maybe there's more interesting electronics now.

>>11518759
the answer is simple, Americans are retarded and brainwash their children to value tiktok over all

>>11518759
It's sad how much value a server-based skin is more than an actual toy. Maybe that's advantage for us collectors, but it's still very sad and worthless that they throw money on something that will easily blip out of existence

>>11518759
>Sad because I imagine roleplaying with toys is better for the brain.

Well yeah, because it encourages imagination, creative thinking, etc. Think of all the storylines and abstract concepts you probably thought of as a kid.

>>11518765
you can blame the kids for tiktok
they can't make change at their wage slave fast food jobs without the cash register because they can't do basic and simple math in their heads
they can't do proper customer service because they refuse to talk on the telephone
they can't write or answer emails, much less do a fucking proper letter or correspondence because they let Chat GPT write their essays for them and consider texting the height of writing
they can blame their attention span on their own shitty lives

>>11509165
>I make it a point to leave my house as little as humanly possible.
>>11515914
>this unironically

>>11518986
>you can blame the kids for tiktok
I blame the parents for encouraging sharing of personal information and trends catching on because of celebrity culture

>>11517452
walmart used to be fun (target too) back in the 2000s and what i remember of the 90s. it wasnt always this bad. some of my favorite memories i have growing up ironically was going with my family to these places and finding cool shit. the stores had a different atmosphere then though. i hardly have been to a walmart for about a decade but it almost feels like a totally different store. just the general vibe inside. target not as much but still not as comfy. beginning of the end was them replacing walmarts happy face logo with whatever gay corporate minimalist shit the new logo has been.

>>11515657
a KB layout was pretty different in every town i went to one at. thats what made them cool. i dont think i ever went to one where i didnt find at least something i wanted ever. they were the king of "i didnt know this even existed but now i want it"

>>11518759
Give my brother and his wife as a prime example
>give every one of their kids phones from the time they could crawl
>none of the 3 of them can even sit through a 30 minute tv show let alone a 1+hr movie
>for the girls their attention span last just as long as it takes to destroy any physical toys given to them
>nephew does legos but it's at most build it, break it down, toss the instructions, and the tote of legos grows deeper
Without wifi their oldest (15) goes into depression, the 2nd oldest starts raging and destroying shit until wifi returns, and the nephew just lays there not moving until the phone works again.

With kids like that toys are just a lost cause and unfortunately to many parents have doomed their children with 24/7 acess to online through phones.

>>11520553
Christ, what an awful family.

My son also can't sit through a movie.
I'm sad cause I thought we could at least bond over Disney movies I bought before he was born.
I let him play with my toys so there's some imagination at play.
First it was classroom roleplay with Darth Vader as the teacher and R2D2s as the students.
Then he got into One Piece/Demon Slayer so the play got a little more interesting.

He hit 10 so I'm still battling screen time versus play time.

>>11521140
Just don't give him ANY. You're the dad, you're in control. Take the device away. You're using defeatist language even though you basically legally own your kid.

>>11520553
>the nephew just lays there not moving until the phone works again
kek it's like that onion parody where the parents campaign to euthanize their unresponsive teenager.

They say that storytelling is key to learning, i.e. that crafting narratives yourself builds reasoning skills, so you can reason about why things happen, and hypothetical scenarios. Toys are static objects, you actually have to bring the imagination.

>>11521140
>My son also can't sit through a movie.
>Then he got into One Piece/Demon Slayer
Wait, like he can watch 20 minute episodes, but can't focus during something like a 1.5 hour movie? Interesting.
I bought up a lot of dvds and blu-rays with Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, Schoolhouse Rock, Dr. Seuss, etc. with the intention of watching them with my (hopefully) future kids. Zoomers know what that is, but I'm not sure if the next generations will or do. I would also be excited to know what toys and hobbies my kids will gravitate too. Maybe one day I'll be fortunate enough for that.
I would do what >>11521296 said though.

>>11522484
To be fair anime is so slow you don't need to hold your focus through each episode

>>11522484
I think your future kids will still enjoy stuff like Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes. Dr. Suess, if they are the right age, yes, and especially if you also go to your library and check out the readers for them to both read to 'em and to help them learn how to read. Stuff like Schoolhouse Rock and anything so music based will depend on how they react to older music.

>>11521140
>>11520553
Jeez Louise, I wouldn't suggest people need to beat or spank their children, but you can discipline them and do things like take away their phones or limit their time. I grew up with landlines because we were in a rural small town and there were no to few towers so cell service was expensive. My dad eventually got a second landline because I had two sisters but we easily got limits and got boundaries on our use.

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>>11510636
Getting Hungry just seeing it like that all sharp and sprinkly, like dried sugarwater&jello with mexican cactus

>>11509140 (OP)
These companies can't put out anything quality without them being stolen or destroyed, you know exactly why and by whom. You cannot compare a homognus high trust society with the shit pot that is western 1st world nations.

For fuck sake Lego is all locked up at the stores near me and pretty much every isle has stolen toys or Pokemon cards littered about. Just a few months ago I caught a neckbeard ripping packs right out in the open too.

>>11510652
>Scalpers ruined toys. Retailers are done dealing with these people buying up all the sought after items leaving shelf warmers clogging up their store and having product returned when it won't sell for enough to turn a profit anymore.

companies love scalpers because it sells the product quick. If they didn't, companies like mattel would update their websites so scalpers couldn't buy out every fucking new release they put up.

Walmart can blame their own stupid asses for shelf warmers. They are bad about ordering too many sonics and recolors of shit no one asked for

>>11511292
>Scalping toys is a uniquely capitalist enterprise.

anon, china has issues with scalping too. They do dumb shit like go to the US and JP and buy up various things to fill their luggage and then come back to flip. Its often weird shit you wouldnt think about like baby formula or chocolates wrapped in gold tin

>>11509140 (OP)
For me I've noticed it's only "collector" toys that they never have in stock. My local Walmart has tons of the more 'standard' stuff kids would want, but there's no Marvel Legends or Black Series figures that really come through. I've weirdly been able to find some of the retro carded Spider-Man figures that I've been collecting, but that's about it

>>11509140 (OP)
toy stores and general stores existed alongside each other for a century. you're just a low IQ child who cannot see the world or history outside of his personal experience in the exurb of the medium-sized flyover town he grew up in, and so projects those shortsighted observations onto society at large.

Toys R Us died because nobody is having children anymore, and modern kids don't care for physical toys regardless. even when the store was around, the video game section was the most populated the majority of the time from the late 90s onwards.

>>11510654
>another episode of europoors inventing things to be angry about

>>11511292
>zoomer retard doesn't know socialist societies have entire dual economies based on black markets where people resell shit at huge markups because it can't be obtained legally due to socialist economic policies

>>11509140 (OP)
toys r us in canada isn’t even that great anymore. my local TRU looks like it hasn’t been restocked in months. so many empty shelves.

>>11510654
Athena

>>11521140
Yeah its reached the point where anytime I have to watch the nephew I will randomly unplug the wifi.
I can go outside, have tons of movies and tv shows, read, draw, color, work on a model kit, legos, etc
>took him to see Godzilla x Kong
>made him cut off phone
>30 mins in he's rocking in his chair
>hour in he's ready to go
>end of movie tells me we dont need to sit through the credits
>make him sit through the credits to the very end before we leave
>before we're outside his phone is on and he's voice chatting his friends
Ever have kids they wont know what a cell phone is before they're teenagers

>>11521140
>>11524249
>indoctrinate your children with non stop media
>act like a surprised boomer when they don't want to do anything else besides engage with the media

>>11522607
It's a issue with them trying to save a buck and wasting 10 to save that 1
>cut salesfloor associates
>keep cutting til you have 5 of less on GM side typically all day long
>less people in areas lead to more stealing
>lock everything in cases
>now you need someone with keys to open said cases
>said person has to walk the item up front so the person wont steal it
>get to much negative complaints, emails, calls, etc to market or home office and either the glass outnout the cases are removed or the locks are taped open.
Also on the case about cards
>vendor item
>store just essentially rents out the sales space for the shit
>store loses nothing if they're stole, gets some of the money if they're bought
>most APs give absolutely no fucks about cards being stolen as long as they arent an employee.
If anything Management gets more pissy about the card shelves being empty so often when they're restocked once a week and usually emptied out within an hour by scalpers

>>11510199
Bullshit. There are stores near me that sell Tomicas.

>>11510636
stuff like this doesnt interest most zoomers.

>>11510636
All I see is a wall of garbage.
Do the japanese really think we're that simple?..

>>11510125
>why?
Everything is now about cost cutting. Toy retailers got graped by Amazon, Walmart, and private equity firms. Kids prefer iPads and video games, at younger ages, and far more than before. All disincentives to create a genuinely great in-person retail experience when it comes to toys. It’s happened in lots of physical businesses, especially since 2008.
>gyms
>fast casual restaurants
>hardware stores
Sloppification.
>>11511537
>80’s fag here. I remember when toys were in great abundance. You could go to any Toys R Us and they’ll have the figure you’ll want for that year. Even when Mom & Pop stores existed, guess what, they had toys in stock too (remember getting Action Masters regularly at one).
Same here. In the 90s every aisle was stuffed, every toy line imaginable at the time, two or three rows deep on most things. I was a little too young for power rangers but remember the furby shortage/craze.