Well, actually a couple of twists. First and foremost, the finding is from a retail Toys “R” Us in Utah, and reports that they have found Blind Bag Wave 5 in stores. So, the first question is… where is Wave 4? Perhaps Wave 4 is impending as well…
But the second and more pressing issue in my mind is there appears to be a lack of blind bag codes. This was reported on some Transformers Kre-Ons a short while ago, and unfortunately the tactic has officially passed along to the G.I. Joe side as well. I’m certainly not happy about it, and this will probably result in me just picking and choosing the loose figures on eBay or some other service. I don’t have a local Toys “R” Us, so I’m certainly not going to make a special 120 mile round trip just to buy an armful of Kre-Ons and hope I get the ones I want.
I kind of understand why Hasbro is doing it, but I don’t much like it.
Check out the image below and thanks to Edward G on Twitter for the info.
The fifth wave of G.I. Joe Kre-O contains the below list of figures, and a gallery from ComicCon can be seen right here.
- Zarana
- Bullet Man (!!!)
- Lifeline
- Outback
- Stinger Driver
- Dial Tone
- Techno Viper
- Ninja Ku
- Leatherneck
- Tele Viper
- Iceberg
- Battle Damage B.A.T.
No codes = lame. I mean, blind bags are kinda fun, but they should just do what they did with the D&D figs – clear-package them and let folks pick who they want. I have ONE kreo – the adventurer from series 1 – and it was strictly luck that I got him, as I didn’t have any clue about the codes when I bought him. I have no stake in this, but if I wanted one, I certainly wouldn’t buy a ton just to find the single fig I wanted.
Shnikies. I haven’t even seen wave 3. Gladly trade/sell for cost series 5 extras if I ever see them and luckily I’m a 5 minute walk away from a TRU.
I think part of the appeal of blind bags is the surprise aspect. Like baseball cards. It’s low stakes gambling. Codes on the bag just gave people in the know a way to cheat the system. Of course, no codes on the bag just leads to grown-ass men feeling up the bags which is even worse. Maybe they should package the figure inside a plastic shell inside the bag. Or blister package the bag. Or go with a blind box format.
I just really want to discourage people from feeling up the packages. It’s gross and kind of pathetic. There’s only like $3 at stake. Just grab one and take the chance.
I know they think they are clever, but people will just rip a small hole in the package to see which fig it is. I’ve already seen that several times.
No codes likely means I won’t get any, primarily because I don’t want fourteen Bullet Man and no one else.
..
That was supposed to have a photo . . .
Here’s the link: http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/ww197/NemesisFrank/New%20Album%202/hansel_beer2.png
Ok, so I stopped at another TRU in Utah(or the same one, hell I don’t
know) and I saw something else Kre-O that was weird…Wave 2 case of
singles.
So here’s what I think happened. The online warehouse is trying to clear
stuff out and started sending clearance items to stores hoping that
people will buy them if they actually have them in hand. I see it happen
all the time. But, someone wasn’t paying attention and sent 1 box of
wave 5 instead of wave 2 or 3. I don’t think it’s some weird missing
wave 4 conspiracy. Sadly, it doesn’t account for wave 5 NOT having
codes. That’s going to be SUPER annoying. Still, at least we know that
TRU has them and is just waiting for the right time to ship.
Since I’m kinda obsessed with finding Wave 4 Zartan, I called hasbro. They said that wave 5 was accidentally shipped before wave 4. So wave 4 should be coming to TRU in a couple weeks. That’s why wave 5 is on their site, and wave 4 isn’t.
Oh very cool. Thanks for the info! I’ve since seen many more boxes of Wave 5. Lending credence to your story and not mine, lol. Ultimately I guess it doesn’t really matter what order these arrive. Although I’m not sure I’ll trust that couple weeks time frame. Last time I called Hasbro with a problem they weren’t that knowledgeable. Real nice and tried to be helpful. But just didn’t really know what was going on.
I’ll still keep an eye out for them.
Found wave 4 in Columbus at Gemini TRU. Picked up Zartan, Nemesis Enforcer, and a Viper. FYI.
I couldn’t find most of Wave 1, so I ended up passing on this entire line altogether. Looking for codes for each figure was annoying enough, having them being true blind bags just sucks horribly. I’m glad I never got into these in the first place.
Would a Kre-O figure with accessories fit in one of the weapons lockers from the Raft/VAMP sets?
Maybe Hasbro should clear polybag the minifig & accessories, stuff it in a weapons locker, and then blind bag it or card it. Then even if you don’t get the figure you wanted, you still got a useful accessory with the weapons locker. I’d pay $4.99 for that.