Just got my Kreo figures and ships. Love the gorn. We've built the "Space Dive" and of the figures head lights up. I'm easily impressed. My kids can't wait to build the Enterprise but they'll have to, as its night here. My boy hates the capes. Anyway my husband is heading to the US next month. Is there anywhere I can send him to buy Star Trek toys in actual shops? It has to be easy to find or he won't do it.
There really isn't much to find in actual shops, unless he's going somewhere that has a good comic store that might carry the Diamond Select items. With the exception of the Kreo at Toys r Us, none of the big American box stores carry any Star Trek toys (there were some of those little deformed "Squinkie" Trek toys available for a while at Toys R Us, but they have all been largely clearanced and are gone from the shops in my area). I actually live in a large metropolitan area where one would thing it would be possible to find stuff in stores, but I buy almost all of my stuff online.
My Kre-o Vengeance has just arrived. I have followed the advice and not waited for my husband to 'find' it in the US.
They made the kre-o toys which aren't selling well at all and a few hot wheels ships that did sell very well. Mattel canceled the Star Trek line though so there will be no more Hot Wheels Star Trek ships.
Kreo's not selling well? where did you get that info? Granted, they aren't being carried at Wal-mart or anything, but my Local TRU, (in Kentucky of all places) would sell out of trek Kre-o's within days of them being on the shelf. the Employee I talked to there said alot of people would ask for them, some calling them "star trek lego's". I hear they are fairly popular on Amazon. I was under the Impression that the Kre-o sets and the Hot Wheels Ships sold quite well. (for trek stuff). perhaps I was wrong.
I'm guessing what killed the Hot Wheels ships is that it appears that none of the big box stores ordered them, only the smaller retailers. As these big box stores represent the lion's share of Mattel's true customer market, that lack of faith was likely what torpedoed the line. And I don't blame the big retailers, in 2009 the Hot Wheels line pretty much flopped because Mattel had too many repaints, plus the hot property of the time, ST'09, didn't hit the shelves in a timely manner.
I thought the main complaint was that people were complaining that they couldn't find them at all? That suggests they are selling out or not getting the distribution.
I think a model of John Harrison with the dual blasters and coat from the klingon fight would be really cool.
A Japanese company recently displayed prototypes of their forthcoming Kirk and Spock figures, which - if sales warrant - will be followed by Uhura and Harrison.
No that's not the case at all, the Kre-o STID toys are out but no one wants them. The main complaint is that they are low quality etc, so I heard. I think toys r us mostly sells them and that by itself says a lot, toys r us used to be the #1 toy store but now they've fallen far from their once great position. I could have easily bought them but I only bought the Venqeance.
The deluxe DVD/Blue Ray/Digital Copy/Polaroid-print-whatever is in Wal-Mart with the "villain ship." That is the only Trek Hot Wheels ship in the store, and the ship comes on a bubble card. I don't know what the dedicated Hot Wheels Vengence packaging looks like, but the bubble card has a nice clear plastic top and bottom--to the point that--if you filled it with resin or plaster of paris, it would make a nice ship replica on its own, minus the nacelles--and the saucer would be unbroken.
At my nearest Toys R Us, they couldn't keep them--particularly, the deluxe Enterprise--in stock for very long. They did sell out fairly quickly there when they initially arrived, with only the Klingon ship available for awhile. As far as the #1 toy store, Walmart wins solidly in regards to sales by virtue of being the biggest general retailer and being able to blackmail--um, I mean demand--greater discounts from manufacturers than Toys R Us can.
There is no #1 toy store now, Target and Walmart are in perpetual battle for the #1 spot, lately target has been getting more stuff than Walmart but that could alternate back and forth. A lot of TRU stores still have merchandise from the 2009 movie. I go to both Target and Walmart a lot, enough to know who's doing better with toys. Walmart is dropping the ball lately.
So there is an excess of stock? And yet people can't find them? The reviews I've seen have been very positive, but Lego collectors prefer they were Lego. I bought the blindpacked aliens (opened) on eBay and they were fun to assemble and look really great! Kre-ons aliens by Therin of Andor, on Flickr Grasia, Keenser, Klingon, Gorn, Captain Nero and Lieutenant Sprog
It depends on how you look at it. Toys R Us is indeed the biggest actual toy store chain (as in specializing in toys), but Walmart sells more toys by volume. It's actually (by share of the toy retail market): #1 Walmart (30%) #2 Toys R Us (18%) #3 Target (17%) http://www.ehow.com/info_8479565_biggest-toy-retailers.html
Another website with unsubstantiated numbers? Heh As a consumer I know more about the toy market than this site does. I've been collecting since I was a kid, I played with most of the toys as a kid but now I don't play with them since I'm an adult. That website doesn't know shit, I know first hand that Target gets more merchandise more often than Walmart. Walmart's ability to move merchandise pales in comparison to Target. Target is a more upscale retail chain as well.