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I hate finding a toy I want, but discovered it was switched with another


Doom Saber

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I am so gettin tired of seein joe sets with the wrong toys in them. Just the other day, my brother and I went to Walmart lookin for the new two packs. At the Walmart we went to, they had two Tripwire vs Cobra Commander packs. Upon closer inspection, however, all the tripwires have been replaced with the ram cycle breaker. Disappointed, we went to a Target that is at least 3 miles and discovered two shipwreck vs copperhead sets, but with the copperhead toy being replaced with a comic coloured Cobra Trooper from the 5 pack.

 

I know we have all seen sets that had the wrong joe in it, but it is strange that more than one set, yet alone those with unique figures have been replaced with the same crappy joe/cobra toy. Most likely, the girl/guy who swapped the copperheads and Tripwires with Cobra troopers and Breakers is the same person and may have either wanted to army build those figs or wanted to gave all the modified packs with the same toys.

 

I am a bit annoyed since finding a changed toy at my local stores is very rare. Seein how two stores have gotten "modified" sets, however, is a pain since l wouldn't be suprised if l am going to start finding altered sets at the local walmart and target.

 

I so wanted that comicpack with tripwire, but seein how it was replaced with a figure no one wants, what is the point of getting it? Sadly, someone may mistake these as a error package.

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give it to the toy manager thats whta i do

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This will never stop until Hasbro stops packaging figures that nobody wants with figure that people do want. Copperhead is a figure a lot of collectors would like to have but that Shipwreck? Not so much. Of course I've even seen figure swapping on ebay done with single carded figures. Though I'd imagine it would be much more difficult to pull off.

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I've read before that even when people point things like this out to management, they never seem to care. Why is that, I wonder? Is it because from a retailer's perspective, there are still two action figures within a 'two action figure' package? I don't know. I remember last summer I found a Cobra 5 pack butchered. Someone was missing a head, accessories were missing, bodies were switched out, it was crazy how something like that could make it back out on the shelves.

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I've read before that even when people point things like this out to management, they never seem to care. Why is that, I wonder? Is it because from a retailer's perspective, there are still two action figures within a 'two action figure' package? I don't know.

 

Its an item under $10.

Their profit margin on the thing is probably $3 or less. Its simply not worth it to police something that meaningless--especially if its a major retailer. Their losses in a month could exceed a couple thousand.

So if the item APPEARS whole, it'll be considered saleable put put back on the shelf and if it sells.....hey, they've made their money.

 

The issue here is actually between Hasbro and the retailer, because if their product is tampered with, and sold in a tampered state, it reflects more on Hasbro than it does the retailer. The retailer is just in it for a sale, Hasbro wants their products sold as they made them. If the retailer can sell the tampered item, even to someone oblivious to it being tampered, then they will.

Hasbro technically should be the one putting pressure on the retailers, but again.....its a handful of items being tampered with, and thus the loss is very small.

 

And besides, the retailers have already paid Hasbro for the merchandise by the time it gets to their stores ( technically speaking), so the problem for Hasbro is one of image. The only ones freaking out about this are the collectors that take the time to bring it to the attention of the store.

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you know... i'm gonna be honest here and say that whenever i first heard about this kinda thing....figure swapping and such, which i found out about on here, btw, a long long time ago...it kinda made me want to do it too and it made me think how easy it would actually be. I never did though, either out of cowardice or some sort of honor i think that i have. really though it looks really freaking easy to pull off... I've only seen this sorta thing one time in person. at a tru in ohio somewhere.

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This may be slightly off topic, but...speaking of Anniversary two-packs, I found the Cobra Commander/Tripwire set last night, and I was kinda afraid I'd be tempted to get it since it looked so great in online pics. Bah! I was so disappointed. Tripwire's sculpt maintained Flash's quilted padding armor, which I was afraid he would. And it was a shame since the rest of the figure looked so good. And the Cobra Commander head on the Crimson Guard's body I thought was such a great idea? Ruined by the horrendous yellow plastic they decided to use for his scabbard and other details. Blech!! I also found the Lt. Falcon/Nemesis Enforcer set, and Lt. Falcon's paint job was awful. The Nemesis Enforcer was HUGE though. Kinda cool-looking actually...

 

But ANYWAY...I've seen a few swapped figures is stores before. But I think very little can be done about it unless they hire a collector to stand up front when they bring this stuff back to inspect it. (lol) Otherwise I'm not sure anyone really cares, as ARROW implies. We only care as collectors because we get the shaft when it happens.

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l have neveer bothered to tell the ppl workin at Target and Walmart since I know they would not do anything about it. I had to complain to Walmart through an email just to get a VvV Wild Wessel vs GungHo for a price comparsion simply because the cashier I showed the advertisment to believed that only the jinx/some ninja set was on sale since it had a pic of that set even though it said all VvV figures. I had to go back there a few days later to buy the toy on sale.

 

So yeah, if it took me a hard time to have a toy priced compared, I am sure it would go to deaf ears in complaining about a swapped toy.

 

Also, my brother said that people could use many reasons why the toy is swapped if they were ever caught such as they might lied and said they bought it like that.

 

I think Hasbro should go back and glue the bubbles rather than usin tape. lt would be harder for average joe to swap the toys if it was glued as opposed to taped.

 

As for retailerz, they would rather sale a tampereed toy than have it rott in storage or toss them out.

 

Gluing the boxes would make it more noticable for retailers to not put it back on the pege and reduce the amount of tampered toys at retail

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I have seen this before with Star Wars figures and Transformers

 

As for now until Hasbro can come up with a better idea with its packaging there is nothing that can be done

 

Stores don't care......They really should since the employees gave the swapper his money back for a used figure

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I have seen this before with Star Wars figures and Transformers

 

As for now until Hasbro can come up with a better idea with its packaging there is nothing that can be done

 

Stores don't care......They really should since the employees gave the swapper his money back for a used figure

 

Thing is stores are too concerned at making the customer happy. If a clerk behind the counter realized the "customer" was doing a figure swap the customer would probably throw a stink and the manager would be called over and end up giving him the refund anyway. Basically someone could come in with a handful of dog turds and they would get a refund because God forbid Dog Turd Man not "shop" at their store anymore.

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I recall speaking to a Wal-Mart manager about just such an incident. She mentioned honestly that the only thing they could do was return it to the supplier/manufacturer for credit. It won't lower the recurrence or step up oversight -- the store has neither manpower nor incentive to watch a single aisle of the dozens in their store they have to worry about. And toys are generally loss leaders.

 

But it definitely happens often enough that it's not just your area. Seen it a few times here. Meh. They're pieces of plastic, not food, rent, or health coverage. I love getting that giddy feeling I so rarely got as a kid when I finally got the toy I wanted too. But if it's that important to someone that they have to descend to the level of stealing/cheating/ripping off anyone else, especially fellow collectors, go ahead an' keep it. Keep them all. I'm not paying for overpriced crap on eBay. And I've got better things to do than fight with other (theoretically) grown men over some toys. You "win".

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It's starting to get to the point that there is really nothing that anyone can do about it. The other day I came across a Mass Device set that had all the figures swapped out for the McDonalds or BK (whichever it was) Joe toys from several years ago. No DVD, swapped out figures, yet it still have the Mass Device piece. I just sighed and moved on. I just think that the people that do this are real scum. If you don't want both figures in a two pack or the figures in a multipack then just don't buy it. If you have to swap a figure to get then you really need to get a clue about what's important in your life. Different packaging won't help because I've seen it happen even to the plastice incased toys (like the old Toy Biz Marvel Legends). The person I really think this hurts is the poor kid who's parents just got him something because they know he's into it (my mom used to pick me up Joe figures all the time when I was younger because she knew I played with them) and has no idea what she's buying. She picks up some random figure and goes home to give to "Tommy" and he's just like WTH? I just swear I will eventually run into the guy(s) that do it around me and I go off on them.

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I recall speaking to a Wal-Mart manager about just such an incident. She mentioned honestly that the only thing they could do was return it to the supplier/manufacturer for credit. It won't lower the recurrence or step up oversight -- the store has neither manpower nor incentive to watch a single aisle of the dozens in their store they have to worry about. And toys are generally loss leaders.

 

Yep, major retailer toy aisles are not great money makers.

Make note how the toy aisle always seems to be the one that is trashed. The rest of the store can be pristine and tidy, but the toy department will look like a tornado roared through it. Its accepted that kids will open up stuff right in the aisle to play with it, rearrange stuff at a whim, and man-handle anything they can get their hands on ( before mum and dad......or a scalper grabs it away)

Because the merchandise is so badly handled by consumers ( again, kids), a lot of it is damaged within days of purchase and inevitably returned.

 

I've heard that retailers like Walmart include them simply because its one more thing that gets families in the door, and to them.....that increases the odds of a sale in some other part of the store.

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unless someone makes a HUGE stink they will just keep putting out the damaged toys again and again.

 

i went to target and they had a couple single carded troopers without any guns or helmets staped back onto the card. i told the guy there on monday. saw them out again on wed and told someone. on sat i saw them again and FINALLY had to go to the team leader on duty for the whole damn store and tell them in deatil what was wrong with them.

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I recall speaking to a Wal-Mart manager about just such an incident. She mentioned honestly that the only thing they could do was return it to the supplier/manufacturer for credit. It won't lower the recurrence or step up oversight -- the store has neither manpower nor incentive to watch a single aisle of the dozens in their store they have to worry about. And toys are generally loss leaders.

 

Yep, major retailer toy aisles are not great money makers.

Make note how the toy aisle always seems to be the one that is trashed. The rest of the store can be pristine and tidy, but the toy department will look like a tornado roared through it. Its accepted that kids will open up stuff right in the aisle to play with it, rearrange stuff at a whim, and man-handle anything they can get their hands on ( before mum and dad......or a scalper grabs it away)

Because the merchandise is so badly handled by consumers ( again, kids), a lot of it is damaged within days of purchase and inevitably returned.

 

I've heard that retailers like Walmart include them simply because its one more thing that gets families in the door, and to them.....that increases the odds of a sale in some other part of the store.

 

Ya it seems the toy aisle is now the babysitting area for parents who don't care to watch their kids.

I was at the post office on Friday where a mom came in with a 2-3 year old. She just walks up to the window & chats with the clerk while her kid runs around without any supervision at all. The kid even had a pacifier in his mouth. To me that is just trouble waiting to happen.

People just don't care anymore. @grumpy@

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I will agree with that. I know when i was younger I would have had been in so much trouble. Besides, Swaping out a figure is stealing. I say we start putting the fear of GOD back into people and give them HELL!!!!

 

Sorry been listening to Shawn Hannity.

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I know I have been a vocal complainer about this but today at Walmart I came across the same DVD pack that has been switched out for everything except it's Mass Device part and right above it was a Topedo that had a 5-pack SS in it and two comic pack that had all four figures switched out. I just had to take out my phone and get a couple pictures. I might just have to start a new thread for people to post pictures of swapped out figures. It's just getting to the point of it being ridiculous now.

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