ML Retro Spider-Man figures

[anthonywayne]

Thanks to popfindr, went to a local Target today with six SSM figs, so I got my pick of the litter...that was the one I definitely wanted to find in the wild as I think it has the most potential for jacked up paint.

They didn't have anyone else from the wave.

[FlexionDynamo]

Not happy with the paint application on SSM. Not happy enough to leave it in the package until I find a better one.

[TFitz]

Picked up both Shocker and Armored Spidey today. Amazing sculpts on both of them with the pinless tech. Such a great time to be a collector.

[FlexionDynamo]

Nice! I grabbed an Armored Spidey Because he was there next to SSM. I don't know if I want to keep him, but I have fond memories of that comic as it was one of a few SM comics I had.

[EnigmaticClarity]

This is Target reset week, yet all week Shocker is the only one my 15 Targets have had from this wave or the Doc Strange wave. Reddit has multiple confirmations of others also only finding one seemingly-random figure at their Targets. They're going out slooooowly.

[Roufuss]

The majority of my stores have only had:

Armored Spiderman
Hammerhead
Shocker

Wong
America Chavez

Popfindr says stores further out from me got 3 Ben Reilly but Popfindr hasn’t been that accurate for me using TCINs and I’m not driving out there to find 0. No Symbiote or Hobgoblin in the area at all.

[EnigmaticClarity]

Popfindr hasn’t been that accurate for me using TCINs and I’m not driving out there to find 0.

Popfindr's data comes directly from Target; they're just a middleman showing you some of the same data the Target web site does. But the data Target exposes to Popfindr includes all inventory in and en route to the store's back rooms, stocking carts, and shelves, so the only way you can know where they actually are for any given store is to call and ask an employee if they're in the store and on the shelves.

All you have to do is call, ask if it's in the store, and ask if they will hold it at customer service. Two-thirds of the time they will do it, a third of the time they will either say they don't know where it is--which is quite possibly the truth--or that they don't want to do it for (fill in reason here). Mostly they're very helpful, but it's certainly not uncommon to find employees who don't like going to the back or asking someone else who knows where stuff is in the back to do it for them.

[panther10]

The stores around here are less than helpful over the phone. Anytime I try calling a Walmart or target to ask if they can check their inventory for a specific figure they just hang up on me. That’s the biggest reason why I’ve given up on hunting and have restored to BBTS on all of my legends orders


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[EnigmaticClarity]

The stores around here are less than helpful over the phone. Anytime I try calling a Walmart or target to ask if they can check their inventory for a specific figure they just hang up on me. That’s the biggest reason why I’ve given up on hunting and have restored to BBTS on all of my legends orders

Walmart won't do it in-store or on the phone, period. Or at least that's my experience after 5 to 10 attempts, so if anyone has had any kind of consistent luck with getting Walmart to check the back let me know. There's a very good reason they don't want to check the back--for the most part it's useless because Walmart VERY consistently gets products to shelves within 12 hours. I've seen that dozens of times from something first showing up on Brickseek to going in and seeing it on the shelves. Their cycle is predictable--inventory comes in overnight and hits the shelves the next morning. If it's in the back for more than a day they're doing a reset, and if that's the case finding any given item is VERY difficult for most of them. I don't mind Walmart not looking for stuff since they're usually pretty great at getting it on the shelves quickly.

Target is generally pretty slow getting product to shelves. It almost always takes days, but it can sometimes take weeks during their multi-week resets. They also tend to have inane street or shelf dates (street date means they don't put it out and the register prevents check-out, whereas shelf date means the register allows check-out but they don't put it out) that Hasbro rarely asks for yet Target assigns them for who-knows-what-random-reason, and if there's a shelf date product can sit in the back for weeks or months waiting for a display to get set up that they go in or for some imaginary date to pass. However, I have NEVER had Target hang up on me after hundreds of calls, aside from when I'm on hold too long and the system automatically hangs up on you. Unfortunately that's how their system works and the employees can't change it.

Ideally a Target employee will tell you to call again and ask for their name if they have to check the back, but the worst case with the system auto-hanging up is you ask if they have it, then they say nothing except "I'll be right back"--only to put you on hold while they or someone else checks the shelves and/or stockroom for 5 to 20 minutes. As long as they don't abruptly put me on hold I ask their name and if I can call back and ask for them. 90% or more of the time they agree.

[panther10]

Yeah this is usually an insta hang up. And because my nearest target is already a $35 Uber ride round trip, I’m not making the trip if I can’t be helped over the phone first. So the money goes to BBTS every time


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[EnigmaticClarity]

Yeah this is usually an insta hang up. And because my nearest target is already a $35 Uber ride round trip, I’m not making the trip if I can’t be helped over the phone first. So the money goes to BBTS every time

You must be rural if your Uber is $35 and you only appear to have one option. The other reason an Uber would cost that is if you're in a very large city in which case you probably have dozens of Targets around you, so if one store has a crap store manager it should be easy to try another.

I'm in central Virginia in Richmond, and we have 15 Targets in the metropolitan region within 20 miles of me. None of my Targets hang up on me.

[panther10]

I live in the busier northern suburbs of Chicago. Approximately 10-14 miles outside of the city depending if it’s from north side to south side. My closest target is in the next town over roughly 5-6 miles from my condo and is around $17 each way via UberX. A ride from the city to my home is roughly $80 round trip. Chicago is an expensive place to live and the taxes especially make all ride sharing fares a monumental pain in the rear.


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[EnigmaticClarity]

Don't know your zip, but browsing areas north of Chicago I see Targets littered everywhere that are spaced out about like mine are. Is there really only one Target within a half-hour of your suburb?

Within 50 miles of me I have 15. The furthest one takes about an hour one way to get to, but since it's somewhat rural a few times they have been the ONLY one that has something, so I've made that trip twice--but only when I knew it was being held for me at customer service.

But I've got a car, whereas it sounds like you don't. So getting to any of my 15 would be naturally easier. Still, I would think you're an Uber away from more than one unless you're in a particularly isolated Chicago suburb.

[panther10]

I live in downtown Skokie. So the two closest targets are either in Niles, which is west of me and Evanston, which the next town over to the east. There’s also a smaller target outlet on Dempster street right in Skokie but it doesn’t carry figures.

And yeah I don’t have a car. I actually stopped driving the day I first got my drivers license because I tend to get easily distracted and I passed my drivers test by the skin of my teeth. Since I knew it was unsafe for me to be behind the wheel I made the safe and responsible choice to not drive.


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[EnigmaticClarity]

If I had to pay a minimum of $35 every time I wanted to go to Target I'd definitely stop shopping locally, so I suppose it's redundant--but I see more Targets within 20 miles of you than I do within 20 miles of me. Most of them are Southeast of Skokie on the way to Chicago. I bet most of the others aside from the one you usually try don't hang up on you.

Or maybe it's regional culture. But Target employees universally make at least a show of making an effort to help, or more likely honestly want to be helpful as I most often see. That HAS to be a training thing when Walmart's employees universally just won't do jack in my area. But I don't know if that training culture is unique to my region or if it comes from corporate.