One Clear Sign That The Vintage Collection Is On An Upward Trend

My colleague and personal sommelier, Mr. Belvedere Nomadscout wrote an article HERE detailing his reasons for his optimism for the future of the Vintage Collection following the reveal during the recent Fan Celebration. Well, I wanted to take my turn and give my reasons. Well it's a singular reason, and it's something that I know comes with a degree of angst, but it's a great indicator. And the reason is: another major retailer took on a major exclusive.

Before we get too deep into the meat of this article, I want to preemptively say that I know that the recent Bad Batch 4-Pack completely sold out before many collectors even knew it existed. I empathize with you, and would be eating my guts out if I were in your shoes, but without a shred if inside knowledge, I would stake my life that both Hasbro and Amazon are aware of the situation and will takes steps to remedy. It just may take a bit of time.

So while we fully acknowledge that retailer exclusives represent an inconvenience for collectors, we also know they are a necessary evil. Furthermore, it's a great sign that retail has growing confidence in The Vintage Collection. It's a positive bellwether for 2022 and beyond. HasLab aside, we collectors are not Hasbro's direct customers (I would bet that internally even Hasbro Pulse is treated like a virtual 3rd party). It doesn't matter how much we want to buy something, and how much Hasbro wants to make it, if no retailer wants to stock it. Well, Amazon is now the third major retailer to make a significant exclusive buy, and the fifth retailer overall in 2021. Let's recap:

• Walmart committed to two entire waves of LFL 50th figures, and perhaps more
• Amazon took on an exclusive FOUR PACK
• Target will be offering the Antoc Merrick X-Wing
• Entertainment Earth has the exclusive Gaming Greats Purge Trooper (sponsored)
• Hasbro Pulse and Shop Disney have the exclusive Old Republic Trooper reissue

Given Entertainment Earth's relative size, committing to an exclusive figure is as significant as the big boys' larger buys. Retailers are asking for more Vintage Collection. That's a tremendous indicator of the future health of the line. I guess the only downside to this is that we can probably look forward to having to troll the aisles of Walgreens soon. Their exclusive Sim Aloo will be between the incontinence pads and the Immodium A-D.

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