Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Tarkin Found! + Seperation of Twins Exclusive!
To make a long story kind of short... The Tarkin figure that I've been trying to locate for some friends was packaged with the Wal-Mart exclusive Separation of Twins figures. Sunday night I did a run and at one local Wal-Mart, just before they closed at midnight, I got the staff to open a box that said SW Exclusives + Basic Figures. I purchased the Tarkin, Count Dooku and 3 pair of the Bail and Obi-Wan figures holding the Leah and Luke babies. I placed the figures in the car and returned for more. I asked a manager this time, and he agreed to open up another box. When we arrived at the pallet the boxes with the figures had been moved. I told him that I was pretty sure that I saw 4 boxes total, and now they were gone. I think the lady that helped me put the rest away to avoid me taking too many.
Next I drove to the 24-hour Wal-Mart and found more boxes of the exclusives. After opening one when no one was around and grabbing a Tarkin and Count Dooku figure, I asked a worker for help and he allowed me to take another Tarkin, Dooku and twins pair. I then tried to call a friend of mine who excels at late night runs, but the phone at the Wal-Mart was broken. At home I called him and he informed me that he hit the jackpot, to which I asked if he found the exclusive figures at Wal-Mart. He asked me if I had just been there, and I explained that I was and told him where to look for the boxes that I saw on the pallet. He couldn't find them, so we guessed that the staff had moved them. I quickly drove back to Wal-Mart, now 2:15 a.m., and found another 2 boxes that my friend overlooked. Staff was nice enough to let us go through the boxes and take what we wanted. I grabbed another pair of the twins figures, and gave the Tarkin from the box to my friend who needed it. So, when all was said and done, late Sunday night/early Monday morning, I came away with 3 Tarkin and 5 Count Dooku figures, 5 pairs of the Bail and Obi-Wan figures carrying the twin babies, and a couple other hard-to-find figures that were packed in the exclusive case! Not too bad for one late night/early evening. My friend said it was probably the best single find yet!
The next morning a saw my friend at the local Target, who then informs me that I was right in guessing that the first Wal-Mart put away the remaining 3 boxes that I thought I had originally seen. He explained that they had plenty of twins figures, and he bought 3 more Tarkin figures. I asked how he managed that with the local collectors and he said that he drove by on the way to K-Mart and noticed that the store was open, so he quickly ran in at about 6:45 a.m. He thought that the collectors had already been there, but to his surprise, apparently they weren't aware that the store was operating under holiday hours and had opened an hour earlier than normal, at 6:00 a.m.
Arriving at home from work today I called a collector friend who lives near the 24-hour Wal-Mart and he informed me that he found a Tarkin figure earlier in the day. Knowing that this figure comes packaged with the case of exclusive figures, led me to believe that I was again correct in thinking that the staff at the 24-hour Wal-Mart put away the other cases I had originally seen that my friend could not find. Still, my friend and I got enough figures for ourselves and our friends, and I feel better about being correct in believing that staff at both Wal-Marts hid boxes after I originally seen them. It was my eyes playing tricks on me after all!
Click on this link to see a picture of the spoils!
http://www.frankgemignani.com/images/tarkintwins.jpg
Next I drove to the 24-hour Wal-Mart and found more boxes of the exclusives. After opening one when no one was around and grabbing a Tarkin and Count Dooku figure, I asked a worker for help and he allowed me to take another Tarkin, Dooku and twins pair. I then tried to call a friend of mine who excels at late night runs, but the phone at the Wal-Mart was broken. At home I called him and he informed me that he hit the jackpot, to which I asked if he found the exclusive figures at Wal-Mart. He asked me if I had just been there, and I explained that I was and told him where to look for the boxes that I saw on the pallet. He couldn't find them, so we guessed that the staff had moved them. I quickly drove back to Wal-Mart, now 2:15 a.m., and found another 2 boxes that my friend overlooked. Staff was nice enough to let us go through the boxes and take what we wanted. I grabbed another pair of the twins figures, and gave the Tarkin from the box to my friend who needed it. So, when all was said and done, late Sunday night/early Monday morning, I came away with 3 Tarkin and 5 Count Dooku figures, 5 pairs of the Bail and Obi-Wan figures carrying the twin babies, and a couple other hard-to-find figures that were packed in the exclusive case! Not too bad for one late night/early evening. My friend said it was probably the best single find yet!
The next morning a saw my friend at the local Target, who then informs me that I was right in guessing that the first Wal-Mart put away the remaining 3 boxes that I thought I had originally seen. He explained that they had plenty of twins figures, and he bought 3 more Tarkin figures. I asked how he managed that with the local collectors and he said that he drove by on the way to K-Mart and noticed that the store was open, so he quickly ran in at about 6:45 a.m. He thought that the collectors had already been there, but to his surprise, apparently they weren't aware that the store was operating under holiday hours and had opened an hour earlier than normal, at 6:00 a.m.
Arriving at home from work today I called a collector friend who lives near the 24-hour Wal-Mart and he informed me that he found a Tarkin figure earlier in the day. Knowing that this figure comes packaged with the case of exclusive figures, led me to believe that I was again correct in thinking that the staff at the 24-hour Wal-Mart put away the other cases I had originally seen that my friend could not find. Still, my friend and I got enough figures for ourselves and our friends, and I feel better about being correct in believing that staff at both Wal-Marts hid boxes after I originally seen them. It was my eyes playing tricks on me after all!
Click on this link to see a picture of the spoils!
http://www.frankgemignani.com/images/tarkintwins.jpg
