Alright here's my story for today. I had just got off a double shift from work feeling pretty tired and really wanted to go home and get some rest. But I had to buy my pet cats some food so reluctantly I drove over to my local Target. Picked up the cat food and even though I knew there weren't going to be TFs on the shelves, I said why the hell not, and went to the toy section. Sure enough the shelves were empty. There was a person pacing back and for muttering to himself why Target hasn't stocked the shelves. As I got closer to the TF area and started looking around, he told me that I'm just wasting my time because Target will never restock their shelves again. I nodded and told him that I was just browsing and hoping they'd have a Concept Bee in stock. He then told me that he purchased 12 of the Concepts and sold them on eBay for $40-50 apiece a few weeks back. My stomach churned and I wanted to wipe the floor with this guy! He then walked away saying you gotta make your money anyway you can... I thought, what an @$$hol3!!! So I kept browsing and a few seconds later and associate rolled up with a cart and started filling the bottom shelves with Leader Class Brawl. There were six in cart...I told her I couldn't bare seeing her bend over and over again, that it would be best just to transfer the figures in my cart. So she did, ALL SIX. Just as I was walking toward the checkout, the @hole scalper came across my way again and his eyes widened when he saw 6 LC Brawls. He asked me if I could split it with him and that he could make a killing on eBay with these. I ignored him and proceeded to get in line for checkout and started to place the figures on the belt. A kid in front of me saw it and got all excited. His dad asked me where I found them but I told them there weren't any more. I simply handed the kid one and I picked one up and held it in front of the scalper and told him that it would cost him $80.00 if he wants one right this moment. He turned red and stormed off. Pretty damn funny if ya ask me...So now I have five Leader Class Brawls...well four...the girlfriend is faster than a scalper when it comes to whisking away precious figures! Two will be for myself and the other two will probably be used as trades if I can't get any G1 repaints of Jazz/Starscream. If not well, it'll be available to you guys here. No Markups, just 39.99+tax+shipping and a finders fee of two thumbs up!

whatever dude

Hmm...you get off this time.

I doubt Brawl will be hard to find at Target.........unless of course some Scalper stopper plays hero and buys them all......Oops!

And winning is only half the battle

I'm not looking for a Brawl, but you can have 3 thumbs up.

....

I call complete BS on the story and expect those are all on eBay already hahahaha

*has no interest in Brawl so can laugh at the irony*

A scalper's cohort!

well good find and if your story if legit kudos for what you've done and you really should of hit that guy

everyone's so cynical. but i bet one of the current crop of naysayers has pm'ed you to inquire about one! and if you really handed one off to the kid, then you are alright in my book


BUT, why couldn't you stand seeing her bend over? again and again...

Not only did I want those figures in my cart before mr scalper returned...she was also a very unattractive middle aged lady that seemed to be wearing the Michelin Man's outfit underneath her Target uniform.

kudos my friend for giving one to a kid
as far as brawls availability all 7 targets in my area have it in stock between 4-6 on the floor and when i check for the dcpi number its still says available in the stock room so it will be a common figure(i think)

Thank ya! Well I'll wait a bit and see if anyone is in dire need of this figure. The boxes aren't in perfect shape so I hope you guys are planning to open yours if any decide to pick them up from me.

Gotta justify Hording somehow right!?!?!?! I'll give you one of these since you have plenty of leader brawls

::Applauds:: well done Sir, while I dont agree with the "hording" you've just dont, I do agree with the reasons, and to give it to a child while you were at it was the best way to rob the scalper, and to then offer some of them up to others for retail is honorable...Well done. I'd buy one from yah but I just got Payload, Longarm, Dreadwing, and Dropkick, and thats my Tformer spending $$ this week..

I haven't really had any run ins with any scalpers on my hunts, but I had my share of dealing with a band of power scalpers back in my Super-K days.

They are scum of the highest order, and not just for the act of buying and selling all the hard to find figs. They have absolutely ZERO respect for anyone or anything. The worst thing is that the greedy bastards have the gall to brag about how much they'll get for them.

I'd like to think all that bragging will eventually lead to one helluva ass kicking! One even threatened to wait for me when I got off work and kick my ass because I basically cut them off. They had our routine down and every night they tore apart all of the toy pallets and made a huge mess all over the place in doing so. I politely told them I didn't mind if they looked for what they wanted, but only if they didn't leave such a mess.

For a little while, they were better. But then it got a lot worse. One of them (the same guy who later on was supposedly gonna kick MY ass) would always tell me how much he was selling figs for. I didn't really care.

When I started holding toy pallets back they tried to get me fired saying that my manager and I were buying them all for ourselves. It was really pathetic.

Anyway, after that jag made threatening comments about me to some of my co-workers I actually stayed around every day after work waiting for him! I wanted the punk to show up, that would have been the WORST mistake of that Blotheads life I can tell you that!

I also did something that was rather unheard of at the time. The store policy was NEVER turn down an opportunity to make a sale no matter what. Most places in those days were that way. They didn't care so much about who bought what and why they bought it, so long as they did.

I explained the situation to the manager. I also explained how they were hoarding all the more rare stuff for profit while cheating the rest of our customers from even having a chance of ever finding this stuff.

So at that time we began to randomly stock figures and collectible items throughout the day so that more people have a fair chance of getting them. And if approached and asked about them, the policy and it's reasons was explained. You always knew the scalpers cuz they got REALLY mad while most people tended to feel a little disappointed, but also felt that it was fair under the circumstances.

Who knows, maybe I started the policy you see so many stores use today. Though most who do have that policy don't really follow it very well....but it's there!

FINDERS FEE??

Now who is the scalper?

I work at Target and we got some in a few days back and will get mine there with my discount

I can't find anything thank to scalper you sure showed him

At FAO, TRU, and KB, my experience with scalpers is that they are as big or bigger douches in person than they are in business.

yeah he has a real high "finders fee" all he asked for was 2 thumbs up

Oh please. This story is so unbelievable. Who buys 6 $40 toys to stop scalping. The Scalper didn't get em but neither did little Billy or the other neiborhood collectors. I'm not mad, I know multiple other Targets still have em and I'm not as pressed about finding every toy (after the burn of Alt Nemesis Prime) but it's just crazy to read.

Cool. I managed to bag a Dreadwing and a Final Battle Jazz at Wal-Mart.

i think the finders fee was two thumbs up. so unless you're thumbless, it's not that big of a deal...

Decent people with disposable money do exist, and this guy knows he's getting his money back. It may not go to neighborhood collectors, but he can be pretty sure it's going to somebody who's going to value the figure (non-neighborhood collector) if he's selling it on a transfan forum. Doesn't seem so unbelievable or despicable to me.

On the other hand, I just bought three DVD Primes when I found out they were ringing up cheap. Why? Because I wanted one, and two of my friends want him as well, and I can afford to go without the hundred bucks until they pay me back.

Ahhh, Say that dirty word everybody.... Socialisem!

Haha... I prefer karma, to be honest, but it works either way. One of those friends recently gave me half a dozen G1 figures, some for fixing up, some in great shape. I already paid her back by refurbishing her G1 Soundwave and G1 Prime, but it never hurts to do nice things for people. (Unless they're bad people who use you. But my friends aren't.) The other friend just got into toy collecting as a result of seeing my collection, and he's giving me a bunch of G1 figures, as well, once he gets down to his parents' house. (His mom says they're all in great shape!) One good turn deserves another, I figure.

But I'd have bought the figures for them anyway, having discovered the clearance/glitch/whatever that caused them to ring up cheap. (They were on a clearance rack but not marked down, along with a bunch of other stuff that rang up at the marked prices.) Some of us collectors are just damn hippies and communists who want to pass the good deals on to other friends and collectors. If I'd had more money to blow, I might have cleaned the Walmart out and posted the Primes in the Endcap forum, at cost. I passed the tip on in the toy sightings forum, anyway. That's sortof the point of a community of collectors, isn't it?

I went to the Target in Alhambra and a little kid bought the only Ldr Brawl on the shelf.

I talked to him about TFs. I was looking for LDR Megatron or 08 BB. He really wanted a LDR Prime.

It was kinda neat to see the enthusiasm from a real kid's perspective.

I really cant see the value in all this hoarding mentality.

I still have two LC Brawls left if you want one. My friend is going to buy the other one from me. I also have an extra LC Megatron if you're interested. The packaging on these figures aren't all that great. The LC Brawl's box has a significant crease on the corner of the clear window at the top right. The LC Megatron has a crease running along the back of the box. Let me know if you want these figures. The total for both figures total $86.58 if my math is correct. I'm going to sweep that area (Glendale/Pasadena/Alhambra). I'll let you know if I find anything.




Good for you buddy. That's why associates aren't allowed to pull stock from the back...the employees are buying them at a discounted price. I would give you two thumbs up, but for some reason the middle fingers are more appropriate this time...moron...