My Amazing Find at Ollie's

[Devilbat]

My wife and I just got home from a weekend getaway, and I just had to share my amazing find with you all: On the way home we stopped by this local discount store called Ollie's, and it's like Big Lots, but much bigger with better stuff. Anyway, upon entering the front door, I see this big banner with "Collectible Figure Buy-Out" emblazoned on it, and underneath on a big shelf in the middle of the store was a whole stack of Mattel's Movie Masters 12-inch Superman figures!! They were all still in their white mailer boxes, with only a select few taken out for display. I scored all three of them; Superman, Lex Luthor, and General Zod. They were only $29.99 each!! I've seen them online for much more than that, but when I got home to check the more recent eBay auctions, they were anywhere between fifty and seventy bucks, so it's still a pretty good deal. Even if it wasn't I was thrilled to find these. They're much more impressive in person than I previously thought. The packaging is simply gorgeous. It has really cool movie graphics throughout, and there's this cool little cardboard case that slips out of the side that holds all of their accessories. I laughed out loud at Luthor's...there a set of three intergangeable wigs included for him to wear. (lol) And Zod's looks like it's coming out of a bookcase in the oval office, and in the package it looks like he's standing over the broken Presidential Seal, as if he's in the White House like the scene in the movie.

 

These are just great. Are these starting to show up everywhere on the cheap, or did I just score something amazing?

[BigBot84]

I've read that people are finding them at discount places, but I haven't checked any places nearby to see if that's happening where I live.

[apocalypse484]

a pretty good find. Buy before the sculpers do.

[Draven79]

I think they have only hit Ollies. I would have liked to have maybe gotten the Superman but would need to see one in person though. And congrats DB!

Draven

[CaptainTriumph]

I've seen them at 3 different Ollie's in my area.

 

There war so many of them, that I couldn't imagine them selling out that quick.

 

Glad I never bought them at full price now.

[imacyray]

Planing on collecting to resell at a later date

[Devilbat]

Well, I took a closer look at these, and the packaging wasn't so great for Superman and Zod. There was a white stress mark across the clear plastic on the front of Superman's package. Also there seemed to be what looked like glue that had spilled down into the compartment where his accessories went, and had dried in splotches. My problem with Zod was more of a nit-picky one...one of the inside flaps was warped and crooked. Otherwise, his box was mint. There may have been a scuff on the top-right side of the box. So I decided to return them today in the hopes that I could score better packaging. I was kinda worried that they'd be gone, but I worried for nothing because they still had quite a few of them left. I think people simply don't know about them. And I knew I was taking a chance on getting packages with issues again, bacause you couldn't just open them up and check every single one. I just figured if they were bad again, I'd have to just suck it up and keep them.

 

Anyway, I went to a register to ask for an exchange, and I explained to the lady helping me why I wanted to exchange them. Do you know how hard it is to be OCD in the first place, and then try to explain to the average layperson why miniscule imperfections in the packaging of a toy just won't do? (lol) She understandibly opened them to check them out and asked me if there was anything wrong with them, to which I replied no, that the packaging was just messed-up and I wanted new ones. She was very nice and just told me to get what I needed. So I went over and sorted through the stacks to pick out what I thought were mint mailer boxes, and while I was looking, the lady helping me came over to me, as said "Now why were you wanting an exchange, because I checked the boxes, and they match the characters on the inside." I guess I hadn't been clear, and perhaps she was beginning to get a little suspicious. I had to explain to her that I was a collector that liked to keep stuff in mint packaging, and I gave her specifics as to why I was returning them, that basically there was nothing at all wrong with them, I was just really picky. Then she seemed okay with it. They also had the SDCC Movie Masters Kilowog that I wanted really bad, and some Young Justice figures that looked pretty cool. I don't know if any of them were also exclusives, but I did get the Superboy that comes in some sort of a cloning chamber that lights up. It looks pretty awesome. But I took it back to the register to make my exchange and pay for the Superboy, and the lady asked me if I was planning to sell the figures on eBay. I said no, that I have been known to do that from time to time, but these were for my collection. It didn't seem as if she was prying as to why I seemed so particular about these toys, it was as if she thought it was kinda cool and was making small-talk. It was funny, because on my way out the door, an elderly lady with her husband stopped me and said, "Oohh...Superman! That's a collector's item. You should put that away and take care of it!" I told her I was a collector and I planned on it, and her husband asked me about it also; what I had paid, etc. I explained to them that it was a pretty-good deal, that I had only seen them online before, that they had inexplicably shown up there at the store, and the lady went on to tell me about how she tried to save some of her son's collectibles over the years from her grandkids. (lol) It was just neat to talk collecting with an elderly couple that you wouldn't think twice about talking to about stuff like that.

 

But anyway, I got home, opened the figures up, and they're both in mint shape. I was so pleased and relieved. But then I noticed my Lex Luthor has a warped panel inside the packaging just like the first Zod did. I just kinda laughed to myself and shook my head...I don't think I can bring myself to show up a third time wanting yet another exchange. (lol) That really would look suspicious. I guess I was just so disracted by the awesomeness that is Lex Luthor/Gene Hackman that I hadn't noticed. (lol)

 

I just love these figures. They're nowhere near in the same ballpark as Hot Toys figures of course...but they're pretty awesome in their own right. They just look so dang cool in their packaging; they look exactly like what we should have gotten back in 1978. They definitely have the vibe of the movies going on. I highly recommend them to any comic book fans, especially fans of Superman.

[nonameshmo30]

I found thses at ollies too a few weeks back along with green lantern movies masters green man and DCUC raven. LEX and ZOD are more impressive in person. I did not get them due to lack of funds bbut i did get superman and while i am glad to have him it is not as impressive.I have both hot toys and now mattels superman and hot toys wins hands down but for 30 bucks he is still worth picking up.

 

Another ollies had HE-RO from the MOTU line and the jlu green lanterns hal 3 pack. This store for now rocks the socks if you have one near you check em out

[Devilbat]

I agree noname...when I first got these, I just couldn't seem to take my eyes off of Luthor. I'm not usually one to get excited over clothed 12-inch figures...they often look more toy-ish than smaller-scaled, completely sculpted figures. I guess it's the clothing; it often looks disproportionate and simply makes the figure look like a doll to me I guess. And to be honest, Luthor's sport jacket looks just as toy-ish as most other 12-inch clothing. But I can't help it, the figure looks great in his outfit, and he comes with some great accessories. It probably is the best-looking figure of the three.

 

On a side note, I was looking at some of the signs and stuff in the store, there was one sign with an arrow pointing out the front door, and it said "Customer Complaint Department", and another one was asking customers to keep America beautiful by wiping their feet before they leave the store. (lol) It's just a great store, and I hope they keep getting stuff like this.

[Devilbat]

I stopped by Ollie's again today, and I grabbed the Movie Masters Kilowog. I was so very careful, sorting through all of the boxes in order to pick out the best one I could find, the most mint, with nice, clean, sharp edges and no dents, dings, or creases...only to get it home and spill my Diet Coke all over it. (lol) Thank goodness it didn't soak all the way through the box and packing tissue to ruin the actual package inside. Good grief...it's really a sweet-looking figure though.

 

I actually managed to have the same lady ring me up that had helped me exchange my Superman figures, and I was telling her about how I got home and discovered the Lex Luthor package was messed-up as well, and she kindly offered to exchange it for me too if I'd bring it back. She also revealed to me that she had kept my original receipt, so I think that's why she was more than happy to exchange the Luthor figure. Heh...I must have made an impression on her, because she said to me, "I was just talking about you earlier today to another customer." I laughed and said, "I hope it was something good!" And she said, "Her son was a collector too, and I was showing how to check the boxes to make sure the packages were mint." (lol)

 

Y'know, these things may not be worth anything tomorrow, but it was so very cool to walk into a store and unexpectedly find something that awesome. It was one of the best scores I've had in a long time, if ever as a collector... not necessarily because of the price or the secondary worth of the items. It was just so mind-blowingly cool to stumble across some cool toys that I had been looking at anyway online for inflated prices, and to just find them one day out-of-the-blue like that, in mint condition no less, still in the original mailer boxes, and knowing they were previously online exclusives only...it's just been a huge rush for me that I can't seem to get over. It's just one of those scores you live for as a collector I guess. At least it was for me.

 

Oh yeah...I was tickled to report in my other thread about Green Lantern toys that I had found some for three bucks apiece; Ollie's had some today for $1.99. I'm really gonna start going out of my way from now on to check them out frequently. Who knows what else I've been missing out on. They say they get close-out stuff in all the time.

[BigBot84]

Wish Texas had this store, it sounds cool.