Pegwarmers Galore, clogging the shelves with unwanted figures

Are Store Pegs Getting Clogged with Figures No One Wants? 

 

The New Star Wars Skeleton Crew Black Series figures have started to ship from Pulse, Gamestop, Amazon, and other fan channel sites, yet I have not seen any in stores. In my most recent Walmart run, I saw a few Acolyte figures, a few Season 1 Andor figures, some from the first Ahsoka Wave, and plenty of the A-Listers/Greatest Hits Darth Vader and Mandalorian. There were also plenty of the Deluxe Paz Viszla, and the Deluxe Grogu and IG-12 set. Yet I never saw any figures from Wave 17 or 19 (for Ahsoka Season 1/Mando Season 3 and Skeleton Crew). 

The biggest complaint about the Acolyte and Skeleton Crew figures was when they announced they would be pegwarmers. For the Acolyte, it could be true in some regions. I know I’ve seen at least one or two restocks of the wave, and most Walmarts have a partial wave. And although they started hitting stores in late July, it wasn’t until September that I saw them in most Walmarts near me.  

 

Now let’s look at the bulk of what I’ve seen on the shelves in the Southeast. 

 

The A-lister wave and Deluxe Paz – All three figures began to hit shelves in April 2024 but were all reissues. This was about the fifth release for Paz Vizsla. He was a Best Buy exclusive in 2019 and was initially reissued to Best Buy and fan channel sites after the initial run. It Launched at $29.99, and I recall seeing it at clearance months later. Three versions were released in subsequent years: Credit Collection, Carbonized, and SDCC exclusive version with a Jon Favreau head. All three either saw price reductions or clearance prices. When a reissue was announced, many fans were not thrilled and were less excited about it when we found out it was a straight reissue of the 2019 figure with no updates to the figure and at a higher price of $33.99. We’ve seen a few other reissues this year, and some of them were very well received by collectors. This one not so much. At the time of release at the time of the reissue, the original was averaging below its original retail price at around $22(https://www.actionfigure411.com/star-wars/6-black-series/deluxe-sets/heavy-infantry-mandalorian-1349.php).

Although I think Paz is essential to any collection, especially a collection focusing on characters from the Mandalorian, it’s safe to say that the market was saturated with figures and did not need reissues, especially if nothing other than the packaging was different. 

 

Now onto the A-listers – The first was a reissue of Darth Vader, based on his appearance in A New Hope (ANH). This was another straight reissue from the original 2017 release with no new joints or variations. In 2022 we had just gotten a Darth Vader from the Obi-Wan Kenobi Series which was similar, and in 2023 there was a remake of the Darth Vader from Return of the Jedi. The original Black Black box ANH was at the $24 the same price as the reissue in April. (https://www.actionfigure411.com/star-wars/6-black-series/force-awakens-2015-2018/darth-vader-anh-257.php) Another figure that was not high in demand. 

The second A-lister might have been the most unwanted of the set: The Mines Of Mandalore Mandalorian (Din Djarin). This one was a reissue of the Glavis Ring World Mandalorian (GRW Din) that was just released a few months before this in January 2024. That figure was a completely new figure, which you can read our initial review of here (https://swtoycollector.com/mando-is-back/). It was a great figure but did not need a reissue of it so close to the original release and with fewer features. It does not have its jet pack (despite the Mines of Mandalore episode featuring it), and the soft goods cape was replaced with the original plastic cape from the old Din Djarin figures. At the time of release the GRW Mando was readily available via most retailers and even now can be found for its original retail price. 

A quick note on reissues: they are not all bad. This year we saw plenty of reissues; a good amount of them were for older figures that had seen their third-party market values triple or quadruple. Many of them were exclusives and were either limited in production or were plagued by poor distribution. They were welcomed by many collectors and allowed new collectors to fill in gaps in their collections. Some of these sold out instantly and a few are still available to order. All of these were reissued in their original packaging. One of the odd things about the A-lister reissues was to fill in gaps in the mural line packaging so in-box collectors could have the characters as a part of the mural for their respective Star Wars media. I think in-box collectors would have wanted to have a new figure to go along with the art. 

 

Reuse and reissues are not uncommon in the Black Series. When the Mural/Galaxy line launched, it featured reissues of the Rebels Crew and Rogue One figures, but these all included photo-real faces or improved head sculpts from their original release. These figures were a huge improvement. Yet with these three that we discussed, there was no improvement or it was a downgrade from the original release. 

 

I think the big question is how long will these figures stay on the shelves! The last peg warmer record went to the Black Series General Lando who lasted from 2021 until early 2024 in most stores. Other figures saw clearance prices but Lando stayed strong at list price. He even carried on the price hike from $19.99-$24.99. These three have been on shelves for 9 months. Some have seen a few sales, but again, figures from other waves have come and gone.  As we approached the holiday season, we saw many newer figures hit low clearance prices of below $10 yet these have only seen temporary discounts averaging around $16. 

 

So what do you think? Were these welcomed additions to the line, or do you agree with our take? I know there is a limited budget for how many figures we get in a year and how many new figures come out. The general consensus is that reissues help pay for new figures but if reissues don’t sell how will they get new figures? I do hope in the future reissues are more strategic based on demand and figures that perhaps got a limited release in the first round.