Yesterday we were discussing the nightmare that can accompany a store exclusive.  The item currently in question is the GameStop Black Series 501st Clone Trooper helmet, along with the “free” collectible 501st coin.

Due to it being from GameStop, it immediately brought to mind the debacle that was the 2008 release of the Stormtrooper Commander from The Force Unleashed.  Of course there have been many exclusives over the years, and in general, they aren’t quite as horrifically handled as that one.  Not every exclusive is the stuff of nightmares.  As time marched on, and various outlets faded away, we were left with the “Big Four” stores, which were Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, and Kmart.  I lived in the New York metropolitan area through the majority of my collecting years, and I was one of those super active hunters.  You could probably fill a supertanker with the amount of fuel I consumed driving around North Jersey.  On my days off, I would sometimes drive for hours hitting up 10-11 different stores, depending on what was available at the time, whether it was the newest wave of figures, some new vehicle, or the occasional exclusive. 

I often found it interesting how my experiences were so different from many other collectors when it came to acquiring store exclusives.  My least favorite of the four - by a VERY wide margin - was Walmart.  To start, I found the stores extra gross.  But that aside, their distribution was very spotty, and their “plan-o-grams” varied wildly from store to store.  Newbie collectors were often fooled by their visits to Walmart, causing the frequent “everybody drink” rumors that they had stopped carrying Star Wars.  But mostly, I found the associates to be hard to find and completely clueless about the product on the shelves.  Getting help from an associate was an exercise in futility and frustration.  There was simply no way to know which store was going to have an item, nor when they might get it, nor when they might stock it on the pegs.  For me, I typically didn’t dread the word “exclusive”, I dreaded it being Walmart.

At number 3 on my list was Kmart (RIP).  While not quite as gross as Walmart, Kmart was definitely depressing.  It was like being in a CVS at night.  The associates were only marginally less unhelpful than Walmart, but I found that the stores were generally pretty consistent in what they carried, and while their exclusives were not as common as the other stores, I never had too much of a problem finding anything.  Once the store reports started surfacing online, I usually scored the item with only a few trips to one or two locations.

At number 2 was TRU (RIP).  It says something about Walmart when another chain is much less gross even when its defining feature is that you have a 50% chance of encountering kid drool, pee, or poop.  TRU also had the world’s worst checkout process.  While all the other chains had upgraded to fast scanning of items, coupons, and payments, TRU was stuck in 1958.  You could find a register with maybe only 1 or 2 customers in front of you, but it was a safe bet it would still take 15 minutes to get out.  The system prices were often incorrect, a court stenographer was responsible for entering coupons by hand (and were usually wrong or not recognized), gift cards caused the overhead lights to dim, and sometimes the person in front of you would pay with Bazooka Joe comics which needed to be hand-tallied and then verified by a notary public.  But despite all that, in my experience, any and every TRU location carried whatever exclusive I was ever looking for.  I never, not one single time, failed to pick up a TRU exclusive on the first attempt.  And that even includes the dreaded final EU wave of TLC red figures.  The Times Square store in NYC was filthy with those.

But my number 1 was always Target.  Targets are far and away the least offensive stores of the 4.  I always found the stock people to be extremely helpful - willing to go to the back room to see if they could find something for me.  And what made that easy?  The DPCI.  Before even asking for help, you could use that number to find item locations and quantities using the little terminals located throughout the store.  If I needed help, any associate was willing to go back and try to find whatever I asked for.  Or they’d check their system and tell me that it was due on the Tuesday truck.  And if they couldn’t find it, they’d confirm if a nearby store had it.  Sometimes I could even go to Customer Service, and they’d call another store and get them to find the item and hold it for me until I got there.  The checkout experience was always fast and easy, and I never failed to get the item I wanted within a reasonable time.  While I dreaded Walmart exclusives, I rooted for Target exclusives.  However, from what I gathered by reading comments in various forums and online communities, I seemed to be in the minority on this. 

So, all that was just a little discussion on exclusives in order to warm up the crowd for this Darth Vader.  It was released prior to ROTS premiering, I believe around the same time as TRU’s Midnight Madness.  If I recall correctly (I probably don’t) it was actually the next morning.  I might be very wrong, but I think I attended TRU’s ROTS event in Times Square, and after returning home to NJ, I had to get up at the crack of dawn to go to Target for this.  Maybe it wasn’t quite that way, feel free to correct me.

The gist of this was that this Darth Vader, known as “Lava Reflection” within the community (probably coined by Curto), was limited to some number per Target location.  Mine happened to have 50, but I’m not sure how consistent that was across all the locations.  The first 50 guests that were waiting on line outside before open were given little “business” cards that were numbered 1-50.  After that, you were out of luck.  That card entitled you to a Vader figure once you got inside.  You can see from the image in the gallery above that I had #39.  Yes, there were 38 people in front of me waiting for the doors to open.  I recall some schmuck on the line repeating to anyone who would listen that he was only there on behalf of his nephew.  We were all either extremely dedicated nerds or extremely dedicated toy scalpers.  Who’s this guy kidding?  He’s embarrassed to admit he collects toys while standing in line with a bunch of toy collectors?  Whatever.  My wife was with me, and she kept laughing at the guy every time he said that. 

Anyway, I recall the doors opening, and there were a group of associates with a basket of Vaders, and if you presented your card (they let me keep mine), they’d check off the number from a sheet, and then hand you the figure.  It required some effort to get up early and get to the store at open, wait on line (it was probably cold), and get the stupid thing, but I got it with zero problem. 

I even went to another Target later that morning because I was looking for some other ROTS figures from the launch waves, and they actually had 3 Vaders left, and let me purchase one.  I wasn’t even trying.  Thanks, Target!

Also available, and pictured above, was an electronic light up Darth Vader gift card.  Sadly, the batteries are dead - I even tried to swap them out to no avail.  But pressing the button lit up a red light that simulated Vader’s lightsaber igniting.  I believe there were sounds as well, as indicated by the little speaker holes on the top left, but I don’t recall what the message was.

And finally, the packaging notes that 50,000 were produced.  As of today there are approximately 2000 Target stores, but a quick Google search shows there were less than 1500 stores in 2006 (probably a bit lower than that in 2005 when the figure was released), which would come out to about 33 per store.  So I guess my store’s allotment of 50 was higher than typical, if every Target even carried them.

Oh yeah, the figure sucks.