State of the Shelves: Before the Storm

August 31, 2015 at 12:00 am | Posted in Star Wars, Toys & Collectibles | Leave a comment

In preparation for “Force Friday”, retailers are clearing out the shelves to make room for all The Force Awakens products. The end result is some sad looking toy aisles and chaotic clearance sections. Whether it’s Walmart or Target, there are deals to be had if you can find them among the mess. Here’s an idea of what’s out there.

Star Wars Command figures

Walmart and their rollback prices at work!

Star Wars LEGO

Star Wars LEGO sets were hit and miss, but one Walmart I went to had a lot of LEGO sets in their clearance section hidden in Lawn & Garden.

Star Wars Rebels

This display was at a Kohls. Note of all the retailers, Kohls’ discounts were the most insignificant of all. No fire sales there.

Another Kohls display. Can you spot Sabine? I did. Couldn’t find Hera or Chopper though.

While some stores had lots of Star Wars on clearance, others were looking empty like the sad display above.

Black Series

If you were looking for the Black Series deluxe figures, Jabba and the Scout Trooper could be found and some decent discounts. Considering these retailed for $39.99, you could find them for as low as $17.98 at Target.

Funny how some stores seemed to have only one kind of Black Series figure available, like Obi-Wan whose peg warming like a boss.

Or Greedo whose hoarding the shelf space.

It was hide and seek at some stores where the clearance sections were disaster zones. Here’s an Obi-Wan in hiding.

Even in the more orderly clearance aisles it was a challenge finding the Star Wars items as they were spread out amongst all the other brands. Look closely above and you’ll see one of those giant non-articulated X-Wings and a Black Series Jabba plus a Phantom vehicle.

More Obi-Wan peg warmers at Walmart. Some Walmarts were selling at $15.00, other’s were $9.98, so it pays off to look around.

If you’re picking up a Black Series Scout Trooper with Speeder Bike, be sure to inspect the figure.

Look closely at the decal on the nose. Some of them are horribly out of alignment, like the one above which is paint offset to the extreme right.

This one is offset to the left.

This one, however, is fairly centered, though there is still some warping to the visor. With the design of the packaging, the plastic shell has a tendency to warp the right side of the visor.

Some stores have the fancy new box displays out in the aisles with the latest wave of the 3-3/4″ Black Series figures which are nearly $13 each. As much as I liked some of the new figures, the price tag scared me off.

Soone the shelves will look quite different as Star Wars invades in full force with waves of brand new The Force Awakens produces. For now, the toy aisles are a scary sad place for Star Wars figures, but there are some deals to be had. Happy hunting!

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.