Great Britain & Northern Ireland Finds (Part 1)

[niftynigel]

Is there a contents list for these two cases posted anywhere? And shops meaning any specific retailer/supermarket?

I was told that the planning of case contents was done by Mattel (corporate HQ). As such Mattel UK no longer knows exact contents until they arrive in the UK and / or Europe. It's unclear why case 994A and 994B were similar as opposed to having one case covering the whole of UK and Europe. The UK could still get 994A, in the same way that 997P with the first release of Rip came to the UK, late!

There are more orders than the 4,000 total for two cases, possibly 994C and 994D, so there will be other cases to fulfil the demand. Clipstrip/end of line sale (AKA 994E) will be one plus the early launch of 2014 series in November. The first two 2014 cases, possibly 994F and 994G will be here before Christmas is they've got their demand predictions right!

It is agreed to produce so many of each character and then case contents for the programme are worked around this. Individual markets add their own requirements and then this means that numbers maybe fine tuned to suit. The US being the biggest individual market (average 15,000 of each case) obviously has a major say over all the matters, although as we have seen even this year some cases get cancelled in the US.

There are production windows for each assortment, usually a week for each case. Remembering that there maybe 25,000 - 30,000 of each case (or similar case for each market, US, Europe or International) in the run.

[yuffie]

The Odd Down Sainsbury's in Bath had it first new case for a least a month out this morning. It was a case v so nothing new and although it had only just been put on the shelf (the box was on the floor with a girl putting other toys out) the Miles appeared to have already gone.

[Joshuasmummy]

I was very excited to find a Prince Wheeliam today in my local Toys'r'us this morning, genuinely thought it was a myth you could even find them in this country!! Must admit though the box it came from (the lady bought the box out for me to look through from the back) was half full of McQueen's, a couple of gearsley's etc-nothing exciting, my Wheeliam was the only one in the box....I whipped it out quick and took it to the till before anyone could beat me to it!

[carscrazy]

Great find on the prince!! I've never seen one in a UK store, gives us hope that we may find him yet

[VANDANCE]

I was very excited to find a Prince Wheeliam today in my local Toys'r'us this morning, genuinely thought it was a myth you could even find them in this country!! Must admit though the box it came from (the lady bought the box out for me to look through from the back) was half full of McQueen's, a couple of gearsley's etc-nothing exciting, my Wheeliam was the only one in the box....I whipped it out quick and took it to the till before anyone could beat me to it!

What a result! superb find! I must admit I did wonder what else was in the case when I saw an old lot in TRU last week. I am going to keep my eyes open now for sure! Great find once again and thanks for the info!

[Joshuasmummy]

I've been so deflated with lots of wasted journeys recently so it made it worthwhile! I've also got the delivery dates for my TRU for the next two weeks so I'm going to go back a few times, if I see more I will pick them up and put a post up :-)
Also got a Queen and Mel Dorado (not quite as impressive and bought the Queen to trade as we have her already) but also came home to an ebay delivery of a brand new Ramone's House of Body Art and the seller had kindly sent two free Ramone's too!...Good day :-)
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[VANDANCE]

Fantastic Joshuasmummy! I love days like that! I shot up to TRU on my lunch today armed with your info & yes! They had stocked up with probably 2 cases. Alas, sadly for me no Prince W to be found and a few gaps on the pegs so I wasn't the first there. Also spotted a delivery of Deluxe and plenty of Queens at Ł4.99 to choose from. Thanks once again for the great info and I WILL track down a Price W sooner or later!! Cheers

[yuffie]

Was that brislington tru as I'm in Bristol and thought about looking on the way home?

[VANDANCE]

Was that brislington tru as I'm in Bristol and thought about looking on the way home?

Naa Cribbs mate, so Bris is deff worth a punt! Good luck

[niftynigel]

I was out and about very early this morning. On my travels I managed to visit a few Sainsburys and Tescos. Most had minimal stock, but those that did, mostly had a few crumbs from the Cars 2 996Y case although a couple of Tescos had the remains of a 994B (1663EAA) case. Sainburys and Tesco don't usually get the same case at the same time. Whoever gets it last out of those two, usually gets the last batches of the case, when another wave is due. Hopefully that is opening up the door for Tesco to get new cases once again? I'm pleased to say that it's only a minority of Tescos that have reduced their toy sections or aisles.

Keep a look out in TK Maxx as it's this time of year they tend to get Cars stuff at lower prices. They got the last three Cars 2 Movie Moments and some Deluxe around this time last year, both on European international cards.

[niftynigel]

I've been so deflated with lots of wasted journeys recently so it made it worthwhile! I've also got the delivery dates for my TRU for the next two weeks so I'm going to go back a few times, if I see more I will pick them up and put a post up :-)
Also got a Queen and Mel Dorado (not quite as impressive and bought the Queen to trade as we have her already) but also came home to an ebay delivery of a brand new Ramone's House of Body Art and the seller had kindly sent two free Ramone's too!...Good day :-)
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Great scores! There were only 250 Prince Wheeliam's on a UK/European card, but the US carded one (as shown) wa also quite scarce and still commands an eBay price of about 20 USD.

[Joshuasmummy]

I also visited a few Sainsbury's and Tesco's-and a lady in Tesco's gave me some interesting news-she said that they expect their toy deliveries to start increasing in size (for Christmas) in approx 2 weeks, she said from then it will be thick and fast. She also told me that they have to do a whole store stock check this time of year and they slow (almost stop) bringing toys/clothes/household etc in to the store for the week(s) around the individual store's stock check. She said after then, that's when the volume of toys is expected...so I may just hold off visiting the supermarkets for the next fortnight and hope that after then the almost empty toy isle's come back to life!

[Joshuasmummy]

Thanks for that info Nifty Nigel! I didn't know that! I'm an opener but now you've got me in a predicament...to open or not to open?!

[yuffie]

No joy. They had a few radiator springs cars - Mario Andretti, ramone, chick hicks.

And home bargains had sputter stop, chick hicks, spare o mint & McQueen launchers.

[VANDANCE]

No joy. They had a few radiator springs cars - Mario Andretti, ramone, chick hicks.

And home bargains had sputter stop, chick hicks, spare o mint & McQueen launchers.

Aw gutted for you, I think if he is about he will be as elusive as those darn super chases in the U.S. Now why can't we get a case 3/4 of P.W and just one LMQ?! Will check Home Bargains at the weekend though...cheers for that!