Matty sale on retro-super heroes

[Blue Meanie]

My TRU still has wave one Sinestro's and Lex's and they still want $19.99. I laugh every time I go in there. TRU is just an ABSOLUTE JOKE!

[megocrazy]

so they raise the price 10 percent before the 30 percent off sale? Who's running that place? Used car dealers?

I am amazed at Mattel and some of their practices. This is one of the biggest toy companies out there. The biggest successes they currently have is Barbie and Hot Wheels. 2 concepts nobody currently with the company had anything to do with developing. They've done well with the Masters line too but they completely cut the middleman out of that by only offering it through their site.

I still can't figure out why someone like Walmart hasn't developed their own die cast cars and doll lines. If I was them I would be using my buying power to develop my own stuff and do exactly what Matty did with He-man. Buy the Johnny Lightning line and the Bratz line and simply phase Hot Wheels and Barbie out eventually. If they offered enough collectible pieces and rotated the line with inserts and chase pieces they could develop their own following.

If you de-tramped the Bratz line you could grab a lot of the Barbie buyers with the same game plan. I'm not saying you could completely take over but since you would be the manufacturer you could price slash and make the thrifty consumers take notice.

If Walmart put a quality car out for .75 Mattel would have to drop price to compete. That would be crippling combined with WalMart dropping the line. The financial hit would be staggering. I assume Walmart is their biggest buyer and then they would need to take 25% off their asking price to all their other retailers to compete. Same deal with the dolls. Offer quality and knock the retail down the amount you used to pay Mattel.

[jacoblb]

Mattel has done really well with Monster High.

My youngest daughter got a blue zombie MH girl on 3-3-12 and we've looked at TRU and a few different locations of Wal-Mart for more dolls for her and they're always SOLD OUT.

I think these Monster High dolls have been around for a while, but since the stores I frequent can't stock them then I guess they're very popular.

[megocrazy]

I don't go to stores toy departments often because I don't collect anything that's not vintage but I know I've seen the Monster High dolls on the shelf when I've been out shopping. I know they have a following but I don't see that much of a market on it. They may have a following but I can't see this ever becoming the next Barbie. I'm sure those dolls stand and are far better quality than any of the Retro Heroes were.

[MEGOMAN]

I don't go to stores toy departments often because I don't collect anything that's not vintage but I know I've seen the Monster High dolls on the shelf when I've been out shopping. I know they have a following but I don't see that much of a market on it. They may have a following but I can't see this ever becoming the next Barbie. I'm sure those dolls stand and are far better quality than any of the Retro Heroes were.

I'm right there with you. My daughter is 10. She loves Barbie. When Monster High came out she thought it was great. We bought her a couple of dolls. She played with them for a short time. Then she was back 100% with Barbie. She like Barbie so much better because of all the clothes and accessorise. Monster High cannot compete with Barbie.

[MEMEGO]

I am surprised at how Mattel sells out of a certain figure, only to have it restocked a few weeks/months later, How can this figure still not be a reissue? unless they hold back stock and are creating a false demand/sell out. What do you all think, I would like to know, so let me know.

[Audiorij]

Some people think they hold back stock and claim a sell out and then put out the stuff they held back. They do say they hold back stock in case they have to reship stuff to people that ordered and had a problem.

Another thing could be that they (Mattel) got them back from stores that never sold what they had instead of the stores discounting them. I have worked for record labels that use a distributor that will take back stock from stores that never sold what they were given. The distributor will actually hold off paying you for the stock until they see how many returns they get.

[livnxxxl]

I had to shop for a birthday, and my TRU had one whole peg of Flash and Captain Cold. I don't know if it was a big return or they restocked. I hadn't seen any retros there in months, and they only take returns for 90 days. Bittersweet to see them.

My first thought is that a scalper bought up a bunch of them anticipating to cash in on the market. Little did that person know at the time of purchase that the line would fail and they would eventually be found for less than retail price on line. IF this was the case then it was to bad that the scalper got to take them back for a full refund. It would have been nice to see him get stuck with all of them and have to eat the price on them.

[cricketts99]

Dakseid and Shazam/Captain Marvel are now priced at $15.40. The other retros are sold out. Intrepret that however you will.

[stars]

Guy, Sinestro and John Stewart are also still available. Wasn't $15.40 the initial offer price or has it since gone down?

[jwyblejr]

Don't know why they just don't send them to TJ Maxx.