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Toys R Us stores closing down


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#41 Gothneo

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 08:05 AM

Is JCPenney even around anymore?



#42 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 10:21 AM

 
That is straight up sorcery -- it would have been ten years at that point. That is amazing, sir.

I bet it was 35 Rikers and 2 of the other figures, lol.

#43 Whirlygig

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 10:30 AM

The other sad truth here is that Hasbros toys in particular (see their Jurassic World line compared to Mattels) are made seemingly on the cheap. 

 

These would seem to be the words of someone who does not collect much of either.

Legends and Black Series are miles beyond Multiverse in terms of quality: including paint, sculpt, materials, presentation, diversity and frequency of offerings.

 

The buzz about Jurassic during Toy Fair was how surprised everyone was that Mattel's offerings looked great, because nobody expected as much given the above.



#44 Gothneo

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 03:41 PM

Yeah, hasbro's game on Marvel Legends really stepped up... When they took it from Toybiz it suffered... and went on hiatus... but this year there is an ungodly amount of product coming and its really good.



#45 1701D

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 05:22 PM

Legends though in the UK are rarely stocked at toy stores. Theyre not seen as toys for kids in this country. Im talking about ACTUAL TOYS FOR KIDS - legends and black series have always been geared towards older fans and collectors. The Star Wars TOYS have clogged up toy stores like TRU and not shifted at all and thus when the Force Awakens came, toy stores over ordered and suffered for it. TRU, on top of their already disastrous financial situation, bet on Star Wars toys to sell and they didnt.

Lines like Black series, the upcoming vintage collection and the Marvel Legends lines will improve and go from strength to strength because... everybody now.... its adults who are buying them, not kids.

#46 Gothneo

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Posted 04 April 2018 - 06:11 PM

Your right that ML has a strong collector following. It gained it back when ToyBiz made them, But at least in the US I think they do sell to kids because with with the advent of the Cinematic MU, they have been re-directing to a pretty even mix of movie figures and classic comic figures, when they used to mix in a movie figure every now and then.

 

I don't know what the mix of sales are... but I'd guess there might be a good number of teenagers buying some too... and this is just me guessing.. but heck I was at the eye dr a few weeks ago and couple teenage girls started talking about every marvel character... describing their abilities and ranking them as to which they liked best... that never happened when I was a Teenager as comics and were pretty much the exclusive domain of geeky boys. Still I agree that the strength of those lines aren't resting upon boys between the ages of 6-12 anymore. 



#47 bgiles73

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Posted 05 April 2018 - 01:52 PM

No doubt all the unsold Star Wars crap contributed to Toys R Us demise. Ive gone to Toys R Us several times since the announcement of closure went public and that mountain of unwanted stuff still sits there undiminished. I think too many lines, and too many scales has killed what was once an enjoyable pastime. Im hopeful that in the case of Star Wars, the Kickstarter route may reinvigorate the 3 3/4 scale the way it has with Bossfight and Marauder Task Force. The figures they deal with arent licensed properties but maybe Hasbro will shoot for the same levels of realism with theirs.The HasbroLab concept has me really wishin that Hasbro would try exerting that Star Trek license once again but with 3 3/4 Figures an a $500 Enterprise playset/ship.

#48 Whirlygig

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Posted 05 April 2018 - 09:58 PM

Legends though in the UK are rarely stocked at toy stores. Theyre not seen as toys for kids in this country. Im talking about ACTUAL TOYS FOR KIDS

Ok then, maybe you should go check out the basic line of Infinity War figures, which are so good they almost have this adult collector contemplating shifting gears to pay half as much and collect ACTUAL TOYS FOR KIDS instead...

#49 1701D

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Posted 06 April 2018 - 06:18 AM

Ok then, maybe you should go check out the basic line of Infinity War figures, which are so good they almost have this adult collector contemplating shifting gears to pay half as much and collect ACTUAL TOYS FOR KIDS instead...


Good for you, Id agree with you! The Infinity war basic figures do look good, reminiscent of Kenners old Jurassic Park figures, if there was ever a toy line to contemplate your very existence, it would certainly be the Marvel Avengers Infinity War basic figures. In these financially uncertain times I dont blame you for wanting to shift gears and return to collecting that which you most certainly had as a child. I myself are contemplating the excellent Mattel Jurassic World line! Those toys look great!

However, I would be keen to see how well those basic 5 inch figures are selling to kids and not just the dozen fanboys visiting this site but regardless I was talking about Star Wars, not Marvel - it wasnt the lack of sales of Marvel toys that helped (not caused) the closure of TRU.

Star Wars is also a far bigger toy line than Marvel and pretty much anything. Toy companies like TRU bank a lot on Star Wars toys actually selling so to use Marvel toys as some kind of an excuse seems redundant.

#50 bgiles73

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Posted 06 April 2018 - 10:37 AM

Yall know, I actually prefer the 5POA Star Wars figures more than the 6 inch or Super Articulated Vintage. Crazy times these are!

#51 Whirlygig

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Posted 06 April 2018 - 01:04 PM

so to use Marvel toys as some kind of an excuse seems redundant.

 

My thread of discussion here with you so far has been to call out your nonsense claim that Hasbro toys do not compare well to Mattel toys, not to tie any of that in with anything about TRU's situation.

 

If you want to get on with TRU finger-pointing, well, consider that here in the US, even though Star Wars has WAY TOO MANY different active lines (which even an idiot can see...I don't know why nobody at TRU could see it...for crying out loud there was a Hot Wheels and a Titanium line simultaneously for a couple years -- yet another department where Hasbro trumped Mattel, AHEM)....... they still only accounted for about one aisle of your typical TRU store, out of countless (I dunno maybe 50-60?) other aisles...  So unless they were stockpiling Star Wars in the back to a ridiculous degree, which who knows, they might have been, it seems a bit silly to pin it all on Star Wars.



#52 Gothneo

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Posted 06 April 2018 - 02:00 PM

There are only 3 or 4 isles (at best) dedicated to action figures or other things most collectors are after.... Lots of Barbie type stuff... Games, Kiddie cloths, car seats, Bikes, electric cars and such. 



#53 1701D

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Posted 06 April 2018 - 07:20 PM

 
My thread of discussion here with you so far has been to call out your nonsense claim that Hasbro toys do not compare well to Mattel toys, not to tie any of that in with anything about TRU's situation.



Where exactly do I claim to say that Hasbro toys do not compare to Mattel toys?

Nonsense? Its just an opinion so chill out. If I recall, I said that Mattels Jurassic World Toys are far superior to that of Hasbro's; meaning Hasbros Jurassic World Toys. My general opinion of Hasbro has been rather critical of late however as their TOYS FOR KIDS have been lacking and have felt cheap when compared to their 2008 offering - anyone remember the Big Millennium Falcon - thats not to say that ALL of their lines are rubbish because certainly their lines geared towards collectors are anything but and as you pointed out, the 5 inch Avengers line, albeit something smaller than anything they do for Star Wars currently, is rather good. Hasbros Star Wars toys for kids are really terrible though.

I feel Mattel (the second biggest toy company to Lego) are doing better things with their toys for kids than Hasbro right now. The Imaginex lines are brilliant, their Jurassic World line looks really a lot of fun and driven by variety and quality, HotWheels, Barbie and Mega Construx, Mega Bloks... the only area I think Mattel are behind in is their DC lines, but if WB got their act together and finally sorted out their film franchises, perhaps Mattel would feel a bit better at making a proper go of their Multiverse line.
 

If you want to get on with TRU finger-pointing, well, consider that here in the US, even though Star Wars has WAY TOO MANY different active lines (which even an idiot can see...I don't know why nobody at TRU could see it...for crying out loud there was a Hot Wheels and a Titanium line simultaneously for a couple years -- yet another department where Hasbro trumped Mattel, AHEM)....... they still only accounted for about one aisle of your typical TRU store, out of countless (I dunno maybe 50-60?) other aisles...  So unless they were stockpiling Star Wars in the back to a ridiculous degree, which who knows, they might have been, it seems a bit silly to pin it all on Star Wars.

Ive not once pinned it all on Star Wars but I have suggested that one of the main reasons for Toys R Uss decline is their over reliance on Star Wars toys selling at the rate they sold at 10 years ago. I think Im not far off when I say toy stores in general put a lot of their eggs into the Star Wars basket when The Force Awakens released. That backfired as a year later, shops like TRU still had a massive stock of TFA toys still clogging up one or more aisles with even more toys for Rogue One coming in hot... it was and has been overkill with Star Wars and a huge reason as to why we havent got as much for Last Jedi and Solo.

So no Im not pinning all the blame on Hasbro and Star Wars, in fact none of the blame really. While Hasbro toys for kids are lacking the quality they had 10 years ago, the rest of the blame is on TRUs poor management; they were so out of touch with what kids wanted that they ordered a ton of Star Wars stock and stocked toys that kids just arent as Into now as they once were.

They failed to change with a changing market, they didnt act quick enough and its those who are working in their stores that are now paying the price for such a massive error in judgement, not just relying on Star Wars to save them, but Lego (another company whove seen sales decline) and other massive toy lines that were once big money makers but are now not as big.

TRUs downfall both in the US and the UK was due to incompetence in the board rooms, huge losses in recent years due to over ordering and a lack of interest from consumers, huge greed on the part of their executives who will pick apart whats left of TRU and run with the money, leaving those whove worked at store level making the sales and greeting the customers, without work, without a pension or any finciancial aid, and an unwillingness or just out of sheer ignorance and greed to accept that parents were no longer interested in visiting these large soulless warehouses and that kids were no longer playing with traditional toys but were moving to new technology and toys that offered some kind of interactivity.

As for HotWheels vs Titanium... what line still exists today... hmmm... oh yes! HotWheels...

As for Hasbro... as a complete sidebar to this topic but perhaps still as a result of TRU going under, I cant really see Hasbro staying around for much longer. Give it a few more years and theres likely to be another massive casualty of a collapsing toy industry. Like Kenner, I can see it being bought out by either another toy company like Mattel or by Disney (of which was a rumour a couple of years ago) as it becomes survival of the fittest toy manufacturer.

All of Hasbros lines that are more geared towards kids have lost so much of what made them popular for both kids and collectors. Their comparatively speaking smaller Marvel toy line perhaps being the one exception to that rule but not immune to it. The biggest toy lines they produce toys for right now; Star Wars, Transformers... both have suffered in recent months and years in a decline in sales and that IMO is down to there being such a divide in both price but also quality between their basic budget kids range and their collectors range. The day that toys just used to be toys for either kid or collector is kind of gone.

The 5 POA figures and vehicles lack detail and quality most collectors look for and the collector lines are often too expensive for parents to justify spending on kids who are more into playing video games.

Put aside what the reason might or might not have been for TRUs closure, one thing that is certain; the toy industry has and will continue to have to change in order for it to survive in a world where kids just arent interested in playing with ships or action figures anymore.

#54 Whirlygig

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 07:56 AM

I showed you where you said it just a few posts ago, it was the one thing I quoted when I first addressed you. Duh? And in your last post, after asking me to show you where you said it, you went on to acknowledge it was your opinion and then imply it at least twice more. And yes, it is your opinion, a nonsense one. As is the idea Hasbro will die any faster than Mattel will. :P

A year ago, Toys R Us had 2 stores in my local metro. One in the poor part of town, one in the wealthy part. Neither one moved product very fast, but especially the one on the poor side. It was always my first stop to check for new releases. And I collect both adult, and kid toys, for myself...plus "girl toys" for my daughter...and video games...so my eyes were all over the stores, not just the "adult toys" section. None of it moved very fast.

It was extremely obvious to me this situation could not continue forever...one store would have to go, if not both, in the long run.

So what did TRU do? Well, a few months ago, they opened another store! An "outlet" in an outlet mall which nevertheless became my new best bet for finding new releases (how that works at an "outlet" is beyond me...and how outlet prices are identical to normal stores also beyond me). Just 10 mins away from the other 2 stores!

I can't make any sense of that. It was no surprise to me that the poor side TRU was among the first ones marked for shutdown when this began, and I was surprised it was only that one.

To me, this means it is a folly to try and look at toy manufacturers or toy lines for the answers to "why". It was simple buffoonery at the highest management level. On such basic issues as "how many stores do we need to service this area where everything is within 10-15 minutes of everything else and merchandise doesn't move at any of them?"

#55 1701D

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 01:34 PM

Ugh, does it really matter Whirlygig? Because if it matters to you then fine but you know what... who cares.

Toys R Us for whatever reason is gone, the crisis here is that there are thousands of people out there whove lost their jobs and their livelihoods and here we are, the same ridiculous rabble of men who are perhaps too old to be buying toys for themselves at TRU and who are certainly too old to be getting so worked up about the opinions of others, arguing over some irrelevant nonsense about whether or not one toy company produces cheaper tat than the other...

You know what guys, Ive been thinking about this for a while now, probably a little too long to be honest but I think Im actually done right now.

I have come here often and been outspoken, right, wrong, ridiculous and perhaps some here think of me as rude, and ok thats fine but you know, that isnt who I am in reality, this place just winds me the hell up as does internet fans in general and for that reason Im out, this forum brings out the worse in me so, thats it.

Wait for me to close the door on this party before you break out the champagne 😉

#56 VulcanFanatic

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 02:24 PM

Good bye 1701. Not sure if you see it or not, I may be on ignore but it's been a blast..

#57 s8film40

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 03:24 PM

I have come here often and been outspoken, right, wrong, ridiculous and perhaps some here think of me as rude, and ok thats fine but you know, that isnt who I am in reality, this place just winds me the hell up as does internet fans in general and for that reason Im out, this forum brings out the worse in me so, thats it.

I've always viewed this and some other forums as a way for fans of a select thing to passionately discuss and argue the minutia that makes following these things so great. We can have a long drawn out argument over these small details of our fandom, but at the end of the day we're still friends. When you take a step back it's just toy's about a TV show. I've enjoyed discussing things with you even when (and maybe especially when) we disagreed. I hope you can see it that way and not see it as a negative.

 

Speaking of TRU, at least they're going out with a bang. They continue to bring in the crowds and seem to be set up to sell through a lot of stock at only 10% off.

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#58 Alteran195

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Posted 07 April 2018 - 03:39 PM

I have come here often and been outspoken, right, wrong, ridiculous and perhaps some here think of me as rude, and ok thats fine but you know, that isnt who I am in reality, this place just winds me the hell up as does internet fans in general and for that reason Im out, this forum brings out the worse in me so, thats it.

Wait for me to close the door on this party before you break out the champagne

I think this forum winds a lot of us up, we're passionate about this stuff and there is nothing wrong with getting wound up about it. Debates/discussions are rather fun. 

 

Even if I don't agree with everything you've posted in the past, I'd hate to see a member as active as you are stop coming here. This forum is already pretty slow as it is. 



#59 Gothneo

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Posted 08 April 2018 - 05:17 AM

1701D, I know I encouraged you to put me on ignore... so I don't know if you'll see this, but I did so only because you did seem to be getting wound up over some opinions on my grammar,  but I'd hate to see you go, and I certainly won't be celebrating it.

 

Personally, I find you to be an interesting dichotomy... a right hand not aware of the left hand kind of thing... or at least you come off that way as exemplary from your last couple post where you argue ad nauseam... and then complain that everyone else argues ad nauseam and you don't like it.

 

Its this type of activity that,  while maybe you don't intend it.. or maybe don't realize it... as a body of work on this forum, you often come across as contradicting yourself... regardless,  I think you had some worthy points to offer over the years, and  I found myself agreeing with some of them, but I often find it a challenge to work out exactly what your opinion is due to your style.

 

I can also tell you that way back my early days of chatting on forums,  I often didn't get the responses I expected... or wanted... and realized that in some manner it was the way I was presenting the information or trying to communicating. I still fail at that sometimes, but my advice would be that if you take a break, and if you miss it, maybe try some different approaches when you return.



#60 bgiles73

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Posted 08 April 2018 - 07:49 PM

Dont want to see you jump ship either 1701D. I do agree that sometimes forums about things we are passionate about can sometimes bring out the worst in us, the fact that we can communicate about it here among like minded beings has always been desirable. I tend to like similar collectibles to the type you enthusiastically discuss, Megaconstrux especially. I was also very much hoping that Hasbro would have done the missile firing, Nerf gun USS Enterprise for 3 3/4inch Figures or that Playmates would have somehow returned on the scene with a modern continuation of their 4.5inch line. Sadly no animated series has ushered in a new preteen fan-base yet!




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