I know what you mean. I just came from my local Walmart and someone and bought and returned the new wave of Marvel Legend minus all the Terrax pieces.

I still think scalpers are ruining the hobby more, since they're more prevalant.

I really don't get some of these thieves, though. One guy took a lot of care to switch out a DCUC Shazam with a different toy version of Captain marvel, which I thought was a bit odd. And I swear those multi-character packs like Star Wars are the worst.

I hate to say it, but if Walmart and Target really cared, they would pay more attention to this. I recall a recent post about how TRU wouldn't take back "collectibles" anymore, and everyone was up in arms. Personally, I say good for TRU. I have to believe if you presented the store manager with an actual broken item, TRU would take it back. I'm betting it's the scalpers who return repacks and unsellable items that TRU has been focusing on catching.

I wish I could find the regular version. I've only seen full cases of these at TRU. And over the last 3 or 4 weeks my TRU (Nanuet NY) has had 5 cases of these and every time they've opened them they were the variant cases. I saw one lone regular Iron Man figure at Target, but didn't think of scanning it to see the DPCI #, but yes thieves suck

Hey, PJ, I have a regular. If you can find a variant, I'll cheerfully swap with you. If so, let me know.

"I took the damaged merchandise to management and told them what happened, but they seemed oddly unconcerned."

Probably because raving about Captain America's variant ionic shield being stolen wouldn't make any sense to them. You have to take into account that not everybody is as dependent on toys for their emotional fulfillment as you are. On top of that, some hourly worker is probably not going to freak out over the loss of a mostly still saleable (the FIGURE itself was still there) product with a retail price of, what, $8? Especially since there were probably still dozen( just like it (to the untrained eye) on the racks.

A little perspective, man. Just a little.

I thought the whole reason for moving to the new board format was to get rid of this kind of post...

The first (and only) case of these I've come across had the pieces from Terrax pieces from the Hope figure missing - from the factory! At least as far as I could tell, package didn't look opened and re-sealed, and the full case was hanging on the pegs. I always make sure to check every figure over as much as possible before purchasing. While I don't endorse the stealing, I can somewhat understand it.

Thanks for jumping to unfounded conclusions! And either poor reading comprehension or gross misunderstanding of the price point doesn't help. Marvel Legends are running $15, almost double your guess of $8. And I didn't complain to management about the ionic shield variant versus the regular shield; I simply pointed out the the packaging had been opened very badly and noticeably, and that a major accessory had been stolen. (Plus, in the state of the package, future theft or damage of more had been made much, much easier.) And no, there aren't dozens on the shelf; it was the only one, given that they received one (1) case, with one (1) per case.

As for "perspective," I wonder what level of theft you find acceptable? Obviously, you think stealing something of less that $8 in price is OK, based on your incorrect assumption of the price point. Would you have been OK if they had also stolen the guns? How about the BAF piece? How about the whole figure, *if* your (incorrect) $8 price had been accurate? At what threshold does it move from "lack of perspective" to "theft" and "loss prevention"?

I thought that with the move to the new board, we'd see a better class of troll. Alas.

Wise choice, anonymously noting your public condoning of theft. If I held such a view, I wouldn't want folks to know it either.

I'll see if they get another case on their next truck. And if it's another variant case I will pick up another Rogers for you.

I thought this thread would be about how Hasbro and Mattel are charging us $10 for a $3 action figure and $15 for a $7 figure.

When the MU Secret Wars packs were still relatively new, I bought a pack (I think it was Wolvie and Human Torch or something like that) from Target. Wolverine's arm was broken, which I didn't see until after I opened it, so I went back and tried to return it, and they wouldn't take it, saying that they couldn't refund collectibles but only exchange it. Luckily, they had one left, but a lot of times there are none left, and I wonder what would have happened in that case.

My TRU had a case of the ML Series 2 today. Variant case I think? It had a maskless Dark Wolverine and a white costumed Spider-Man. I picked up the Captain America then I held the rest until a local collector I had texted got there to get the rest. It looked like the case was 1 of everyone except Captain America who was 2 per case.

I then took my UPC to Target and scanned it and saw they had ML in the stockroom so I finally got my regular Series 1 Commander Rogers

I've never had Target give me any kind of problem returning broken items. In fact I open my more questionable products (DCUC and MU for me) in my car in the parking lot and take them back immediately if they don't pass the joint testing test. Intuitively, it seems illegal for a company not to take back a broken item that is being returned within a reasonable period of time but I am guessing. In any event, any store manager worth his/her salary would make the exchange in a heart beat regardless of a difficult employee's actions at the return desk. This I know for certain.

Is the tone just because the person is Anonymous?

They said they don't endorse it - however they can see why someone might do it.

They still acknowledge it's a crime and they've attempted to put themselves in the shoes of a thief and can see the thief's rationale; does not mean they approve or would do the act themself.

Nothing there says that's public condoning of theft.

It's a horrible practice. Scummy. A real dirtbag move.
But are action figure collectors cheap? I think so. I constantly hear of people buying a ML at TRU to get it early, then return it once they go to Target, find it cheaper, and take all the time and effort to take that one back to TRU. And for what? To save 4 dollars? These are people who have a lot of time on their hands and are cheap as hell.

Don't feed the trolls.

Regarding your initial post, I know how you feel, had the same type thing happen to me recently. I wandered into a Wal-Mart in the middle of Georgia and found a case of the first edition of Mega-Bloks Marvel figures. While I was debating just buying the whole thing, I thought I had better check out the contents. When I did so, I noticed that the bags looked a little strange. Long story short, someone had sliced every one of the bags open and taped up the cuts. Who knows what was in there.

I actually went to the trouble of flagging down a Wal-Mart employee and telling them what happened and they told me they would take the case off the floor and start an investigation. I doubt they did, but, hey, maybe they did.