Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com. Also, please note: I’m deliberately being over-the-top with my condemnation of these people–I don’t actually wish bodily harm upon them. Just severe mental anguish.
Today’s edition of Toy Aisle Trolls comes courtesy of Mark D.
“I was getting some supplies at a local Walmart near my college campus in San Diego, CA,ĆĀ where I spotted something odd. Many collectors by now have read about the Masterpiece Skywarp figure is on clearance for $30, from the regular price of $60. Well, it seems like the person who returned this made this Skywarp more than meets the eye. Not only is the main figure missing, but he was kind enough to put in some replacements (ROTF Arcee and others)…Attached are 2 photos from my iPhone.”
I think I speak for everyone when I say: really, Walmart? I mean, really. One of those things is clearly not like the other ones.
Karmic Payback: One day, the fellow who perpetrated this crime is walking down the street when he spots a wallet lying on the sidewalk. Inside the wallet is some ID and a hundred-dollar bill. At this point the fellow has three choices: take the $100 and turn in the wallet to the police, take the $100 and toss the wallet away, or turn in both the wallet and the $100 to the police. Given his nature, he takes the $100 and tosses the wallet. As it turns out, the wallet belongs to an undercover cop who was recently murdered by drug dealers.
When the police find the wallet, they find our Skywarp-loving friend’s fingerprints and track him down. He isn’t charged, but due to the anxiety from the brutal interrogation, he develops a phobia to printed money and is incapable of ever making a cash purchase again. His over-reliance on credit cards eventually catches up with him in the form of massive debt, finally driving him, ironically, into mugging people and stealing their wallets (though due to his fear of printed money, he has to handle bills with a pair of fireplace tongs at all times). He’s eventually caught by the police, arrested, and sent to jail for five years. Meanwhile Walmart lowers the clearance price of his mispackaged Skywarp another 5%.
Jii Dee
Amen.
Dead Man Walking
Maybe you should stop giving these assholes publicity, and other potential assholes ideas.
JoshMiller
You know what's nutty? There seems to be parts from at least 2 toys in that Skywarp, 2 of which are 10 dollars each, one of which seems to be another Skywarp.
So basically, the thing sells for 30 bucks and they spent at least 30 bucks to put the crap in it.
Though they may have simply had the parts already broken and laying around.
PS, here's some I found a while back around the launch day of ROTF Toys.
http://joshmiller.posterous.com/exclusive-new-uni…
http://joshmiller.posterous.com/more-exclusive-tr…
Monty Prime
My god, are the Walmart employees doing this on purpose?
dayraven
@Monty Prime: you'd almost have to think that, wouldn't you? it would explain a lot, if the wallie's employees are the ones perpetrating these henious crimes.
Mark
I would deffinently think it is Walmart employess doing it…surely they have security cameras?
@Dead Man Walking: Totally agree.
PrfktTear
@Poe: I love the title of this article! š Nice play with words.
This boils my blood… MP Skywarp just got clearanced at WM's around me, and I'm still holding out. If I can get him for $20 or less, I might give. If not, I won't cry.
@Dead Man Walking: I couldn't agree less. Although the actions of these miscreants gets my blood boiling, I think its important to expose this stuff, and hopefully have a cathartic laugh. Plus, I highly doubt anyone scummy enough to pull this kind of shit needs any assistance.
I also can't fathom how any WM employee could look at this and not think something was fishy. So the guy returned the product… but it not only gets accepted (and no doubt refunded) but it also gets restocked? I can understand an employee not being able to tell the difference between a Dewback and an AT-ST, but this is just absurd. Then again, WM employees do not care. They are simply there to collect a paycheck. They are not paid to think.
The Flash III
Wal-Mart should have everything that's returned photographed and tied to the person's receipt that they signed for a refund or exchange so that when they catch this stuff, they can go after the person or at least let them know that they know. It might be costly at first, but it would discourage BS like this.
Dead Man Walking
@PrfktTear: I couldn't disagree more. You would have no need for that cathartic laugh had you not seen the pics of these crimes here, which as you say, boils your blood.
Look, we all know this type of stuff happens. But 99.9% of the time we don't think about it, unless we see it for ourselves IRL. So why would you want to expose yourself to it online, and get all riled up?
On top of that, if any of these miscreants have caught wind that their crimes are being posted online, they are probably getting a huge kick out of it, and it may be prompting them to keep doing it for the attention.
Not to mention, it may be putting the idea in some collectors' heads to do this too, since they see how easy it is to get away with.
PrfktTear
I think its mostly in good humor. Though, were I to stumble upon this Skywarp, and it was the only Skywarp box on the shelf, I would be singing a different tune. Does it really boil my blood? No, my heart does not skip a beat. The only thing I can agree with you on is that, yes, it may show other collectors how easy it is to pull this off.
PrfktTear
One solution I can offer is that we report these if we see them. Then again, the average WM employee making $8 an hour isn't really going to care, are they. I guess another solution is to reply to the WM Survey on the coupon and mention this. They give you a chance to win $1,000. I've actually never filled one of their surveys out, but I imagine it can't be too time consuming.
Andrew
Not only are Wal-Mart customers not paid to think, they are paid minimum wage and treated like shit by everyone who walks in the door. They have no vested interest in your satisfaction. It does not matter if they do their jobs well, because any given employee could go above and beyond every day for ten years until, one day, a customer who has been served well by that same employee many times does not get their way . . . and all of it goes out the window and is forgotten.
Poe
It annoys me that Walmart and other stores reshelve these things, but it's also fair to say we have no idea how many such repacks don't get re-shelved–which is why I save most of my ire for the people who actually did the repacking.
Dead Man Walking
Wow, you guys must have some really shitty experiences with Walmart employees.
I have to say that the majority of the time I find Walmart's employees to be very helpful, even if not particularly cheery. They can rarely get stuff from the backstock, but I've had numerous ones who try, or at least try to find out the status of instock items not on the floor.
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the quality of service I get at Walmart, especially if they're only making $8-$10 an hour.
MechaShiva
Wow,that's terrible.
misterbigbo
So what happens with Wal-Mart's stock that they never sell? Do they farm it out to other retailers, or send it back to the manufacturer for partial refund? I've never worked retail, so I honestly don't know. You'd think if Wal-Mart and the other retailers were that pissed about their losses to turds like this that they'd arrange new packaging with the manufacturers. Or, more likely, their profits aren't hurt enough to care.
George
My store has them at 60 still
Shawn
Masterpiece Skywarp is on clearance for $30? Maybe? Too bad Wal-Marts are so long of a drive for me.
Motorthing
Y'know I read all the rsponses about getting bent out of shape about this but Come on – the guy that got away with this is a Criminal Genius on the scale of any of Batman's less goofy Nemisis' – someone chime in with the plural for that….Nemisi?
This could not possibly have gotten back on a shelf without a little deliberate "help" from some jerk on the Store payroll.
dayraven
@Motorthing: nemeses is the plural of nemesis. just remember, casanova frankenstein correcting captain amazing. š
Motorthing
@ Dayraven – thank you sir – how could I have forgotten my Mystery Men…..I hang my head accordingly.