Let’s all hate the anonymous scumbag turd who did this.
Paul on RTM tells the tale:
Had to go back to work early Sunday and pick up a flash drive someone left for me and along the way I stopped in at a Wal-Mart, just to have a look around. No new DCUC singles, but what did I see on the bottom shelf? Yes, the fabled DCUC Gotham City 5-pack. I haven’t really wanted the darn thing, but I did sort of want to buy it after seeing it in person. That is until I lifted it up to eye level and immediately saw that Lex Luthor had been replaced by Green Lantern. Not just any Green Lantern, one of the ones with a reversed right forearm. Also, the scalper-scum had added insult to injury by making his own little crude symbol of something that looks like a hand flipping the bird along with the words “GOT FIRST.” I took the five-pack and showed it to a Wal-mart employee and told him what had happened. He acted like he understood, but as I walked away, I saw him head back to the toy department with it….just all-around disgusting.
George
@PrfktTear:
That doesn't mean they didn't put them out, It happened to me as well, I saw them and then went back the next day didn't see it on display; 3 weeks later found them and got it. I think Im going to pull this little stunt, hated the guy for doing it, but Fuck Mattel and Walmart.I'm not going to but the little paper and Ill put in Mullet Supes and Blue Bats, and probably an orion for lex luther….and leave two face and catwoman untouched.
PrfktTear
@Valo487: You're right. If you add up what it would cost for DCSH Catwoman and Two Face alone, I bet it'd be more than the cost of this set. Okay, you want Black & Gray Batman? I haven't looked on eBay for a while, but from what I understand he still fetches a tidy sum. Then you've got classic Superman, and Lex Luthor. I think a lot of thought went into this set, and for only about $60.
Does anyone know how many of these 5-packs come per case? I visited my local WM Super Center on the way home around 3.30 in the morning. I was scoping out the paletes, and saw a case of them, but they were at the bottom and the entire palette was shrink wrapped. Needless to say I didn't bother trying to get at it. I sent out a couple texts alerting friends in the area, and from what I've been told they were gone by 2pm the next day — less than 12 hours.
Valo487
And this set isn't a rip-off all things considered, it's actually one of the better box sets as far as contents go, it has two very hard to find figures in Catwoman and Two-Face, the all new Lex Luthor, and the first Superman in DCUC with his normal look, no long hair or red eyes, and a repaint of the Detective Batman in his arguably more popular colors, as opposed to the hard to come by black and gray Batman from DCSH. To say that because Mattel actually put some thought into the lineup and *gasp and swoon* made every figure worthwhile in their own way so almost anyone has something worth having in the boxset is ridiculous. If you think its a ripoff, then you have no right to anything in it, you don't get to steal something because they were so mean and made you want it.
Scott
@Bman:
Mattel didn't have to put Luthor out as a single and its ridiculous IMO to think they should be "blamed" or punished for not doing it.
He stole the Luthor figure, plain and simple.
Bman
Yeah, the guy is a a-hole, but this has been going on for some time. I remember looking for 12" G.I. Joe figures and finding 12" cheap generic soldiers in their package. I've seen cheap CORPS figures in 3&3/4" Joe sets too. Not just at Walmarts, but at Toys R Us and Target. If I feel bad for anyone in this, it's the collector that got excited when he/she found it at Walmart and got this guy's dumb ass GL with note attached.
Bman
I see it a few different ways. Yes, what he did was dishonest and juvenile, but he also now has a Lex Luthor figure that is only available in a set of 5 figures costing $55 (if you find it at a walmart). Online it's upward of $100+. Lex is the only really unique fig in the set. The Superman and Batman are repaints that are coming out by themselves later. Two Face is a repaint of the DCSH version and Catwoman is not classic Catwoman, but based on a modern video game appearance I believe. So partly I blame Mattel for not just making Lex a carded figure. Next, yes if there is one thing Walmart customer service employees need to be trained in, it's returns like these, but truth is they don't check, wouldn't know, don't care, aren't trained to do so or all of the above. That's managment's fault. Hourly employees shouldn't have to train themselves. Hey I collect these and this doesn't bother me too much. I'd probably laugh if I saw it, because I feel this set is a rip off anyway.
Monty Python
WHY would you even do that?!
americanhyena
@Poe:
I gotta call highly unlikely on the guy doing the swap in store for a variety of reasons.
A) The idea that he would have the Green Lantern with him would mean he would either have to be carrying around a doctored Green Lantern figure with him while he went toy shopping OR that he saw the package in store, left to go get the Green Lantern and came back. So either he's a complete wackjob or he's going to leave a super rare, highly sought after item behind in a store to play a prank.
B) Getting that particular figure out of that particular box is not going to be a quick "slash and grab" process. He's got to have a blade with him to get through the tape, THEN get the tray far enough out of the package to get to the center figure, THEN cut through the rubber bands or struggle to get the figure free of them. You'd have to be SUPER ballsy to try that in a crowded store like Walmart.
americanhyena
Meh…the store clerks knew I was doing it and had no problem putting the stuff back on the shelves. Anyone else buying the set got the exact same toys I did in the exact direct-from-the-store condition. So…*shrugs* not feeling to terribly guilty, no.
Scott
@PrfktTear:
Except of course for the fact that they weren't really defective and that would be a lot of wasted merchandise.
PrfktTear
@americanhyena: More power to you I guess then. Please don't take this the wrong way, but even thats a little morally gray if you ask me. Its one thing to cherry pick from whats on the shelf, but buying up several sets only to re-seal them and return them, eeh… I suppose there is nothing really illegal going on, as long as you're returning the merch as opened/defective.
americanhyena
That should say "opened them very carefully"
Apparently I can't use the edit feature from my phone.
americanhyena
I was musing on how easy it actually is for them to do this not long ago with box sets.
I know because if I find a box set I usually buy up all of them very carefully and cherry pick the best painted figures before resealing the ones I don't choose in package and resealing and returning it.
Or at least I did with the Marvel Legends box sets because of the paint. The DCUC 2-packs it was more about finding figures that weren't warped.
I never took liberties myself but I couldn't help thinking the that it must be so easy to do so. All you have to do is slit the tape and slide the tray out.
Frowny McBeard
I actually ended up benefiting from a situation like this. . . guy had an Eradicator from Wave 5 up on eBay, except it was quite obviously ML Bucky in the package. If you looked closely enough at the pic, though, you could see the CAC bit was still in the package. I didn't give a shit about Eradicator, so I got the bit fairly cheap.
It was still a dick move on the part of whoever did it initially, but it still worked out for me, because it was the last part of Metallo I needed, so win? I guess?