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.

Submitted by: Loucheish

The Problem: See Loucheish’s description below.

What It’s Supposed to Look Like: This and this.

Loucheish writes:

Both of the attached items were found at a Toys R Us in Queens, NY.

The tale of these sets goes back over a couple of months. (The date stamp on my camera is wonky, so I can’t be sure just how long.) The DCUC set was first seen several weeks ago. It has to be at least two months, now. I snapped the pic, but never sent it in because, sadly, it’s just so run-of-the-mill now; Lightray swapped with a Cyclotron? Yawn. And I believe that the Orion was swapped the wave 1 non-removable helmet version. But still — it’s aggravating to find, but hardly interesting anymore.

I told employees about the swaps, but found the same set there a week or two later. So I told them about it again. About two weeks ago, I stopped by the store on my way home. It was rather late – just before closing. What did I find but the same set out again. But this time it was joined by what is seen in the second photo (which I’ll describe in detail in a bit). I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did explain my find to a manager. Today, there was no sign of the swapped DCUC set, but those two Marvel Legends sets were back out on the shelf.

After taking a few pics, I made yet another explanation to the manager on duty about what is wrong with them and why they should not be selling them. So what is wrong? Well, at first glance, one might notice the empty pocket where the unmasked Clint Barton head should be. And that skirt Elektra is wearing? Yeah, that doesn’t belong there. Upon closer inspection the reason for the skirt becomes apparent: she has no legs. Oh, and Ronin’s arms have been swapped. (All the nifty weapons were left, though. Odd…)

The cretin did not stop with effectively stealing Ronin’s arms, spare head, and Elektra’s legs, however. Looking over the pack, I noticed the UPC looked tampered with. So I scanned it at the price checker, which told me it was a DCUC vs. MOTUC pack for $34.99. Yup.

So it appears that someone bought two of these sets – likely on clearance for $18, screwed them up horribly, then pasted a photocopy of a UPC from the He-Man/Superman set over the real bar codes, returned the ruined sets to the store and walked away with $34 profit. (Unless he bought the ML sets at full price, in which case he only made 20 bucks.)

Karmic Payback: It’s difficulty to know what punishment to pronounce here, as there may be more than one perp. That said, whoever did the job on the Elektra set is clearly a douchebag who knew exactly what he was doing. I was trying to think of something suitably deserving, but it occurs to me that he no doubt lives a sad, soulless life; disliked by his family; alone but for a few feckless acquaintances; unable to sustain a romantic relationship; and without a single achievement to his credit, with the exception of making a few bucks by stealing from a toy store. Pathetic.