Force Friday, Sept 4 in NZ

[Edward26]

I was the warehouse in Manukau, having some guys in costumes was a plus! Great Atmosphere.
everyything went flying out the door.

[Reverend Strone]

Hey friends. Glad to hear folks had fun so far.

Here's my night in a nut shell.

The good:
Great fun hanging out with an awesome group of people in the lead up to midnight. The Lyall Bay Warehouse staff members were enthusiastic and kind, having put out refreshments and chairs along with a big screen tv for us to enjoy ROTKJ on while we waited. To begin with it was all our regular Rebels/Clone Wars tv evenings crew, so I chuckled at knowing everyone standing around. As we got closer to 12 more people showed up till we must have had around 30 or so but everyone was super cool and polite. Sam and Phil in their armour were fantastic and really helped lift the occasion from just being a bunch of us all sitting round watching Jedi while we waited, adding a sense of occasion. When the toys came out it was a bit of a shambles in that really only two or three people could get to the figures at a time, so it wasn't really fair, but I have to give credit to everyone, people didn't hog the space to badly, though it was a bit awkward with staff having to push around us to try and put stock out as we snatched it up.

The bad:
Allocation sucked. We got severely shorted. Captain Phasma was the sought after figure of the night and while some folks who were in quick got two, most people never even saw her. It seemed like every other character was in ample supply. I got the Rey and Zuvio I was after with no problems. Phasma will go on the wish list for now. In time I doubt I will have any trouble.
No wave 2 (not surprising to be honest)
No Mission series 2-packs.
No Rey's Speeder.
No Falcons.
No Micro Machines of any description.
No Armour Up Figures.
No giveaway posters, but the staff did take our details so we will be alerted when these show up.

OMG, the prices. Thank goodness for the BOGOHF sale pricing, because that took some of the sting out, but I couldn't believe it when I looked at Finn's speeder and saw $65. Poe's X-Wing as $120. That's nuts. And 5POA figures now cost what SA figures did a few months ago? I will say I thought the toys all looked MUCH better in person than pictures on-line have suggested, but I am still suffering some sticker shock. In the end I only bought two basic figures, but I went in with a huge list. Unfortunately almost everything I wanted wasn't available. I'm curious to hear what others didn't find, but it appears to me that NZ got shorted a big chunk of the launch range.

Still, even though I came away with much less than expected, it was a fun night and I enjoyed getting into the spirit of things with my buddies. It's a shame things weren't in better supply.

[stylie_steve]

What did Toyworld have? I didn't quite get there before closing as I was at Lyall Bay Warehouse. A bit disappointing they didn't have the display already set up and the boxes were just getting pillaged before making it to the shelf.

I picked up the 4 6" Black figures I was after and cracked on a few basic figures (Kylo, Phasma, Flametrooper and Stormtrooper). Almost picked up the Snowspeeder but left it for now. Also picked up the TIE Fighter, hoping it is better than the pictures suggest.

X-Wings a plenty and heaps of basic BaW figures, Ren and Phasma were flying out the door. Lots of the Speeder Bikes, Walkers and Finns Landspeeder. LEGO aplenty!

No Armour Up, thank god! but no Mission Series so no BB-8 for me today :-(
No Falcon either or Reys Speeder. Any other stores get those?

[wanderlustin]

That was SO much fun! Aw man, the atmosphere was so cool, the workers were so excited.



Yeeaaahhh! All the Rey! Oh yeah, and the Toyworld in Albany had Micromachines but they were blind picks ):

[MattG]

...
No Rey's Speeder...
No Micro Machines of any description.
No Armour Up Figures...

Toyworld has Rey's Speeder ($50 early discount pricing - same on Finn's Speeder, IIRC). Blind bagged MMs only, and all the Armour Ups ($19.99 early discount pricing).

Just sorting through photos now.

[Sledgehama]

Awesome night in Albany too! Helpful and friendly people at both Warehouse and Toyworld, both staff and customers. We had to wait for Warehouse staff to stock the shelves at 12.01 as everything was still in shipping boxes, but they did a really good job in a short time. Black Series Rey and Kylo Ren were the hottest tickets at The Warehouse but Toyworld had a better range with the armor up 3 3/4 figures plus the big vehicles (X-Wing & TIE) plus Rey's speeder, along with a more fun atmosphere with costumes and awesome Lego display. Quite a few faces from the Warehouse crowd headed over to Toyworld after the initial purchasing which was fun too.

Awesome to see hardcore SW toy fans out there! Would have been nice if it had been on a weekend so there could have been some kids there, but it was just great to hang out with fellow fans and get our hands on these things (legitimately) first in the world!

[Craigorski]

I was the warehouse in Manukau, having some guys in costumes was a plus! Great Atmosphere.
everyything went flying out the door.

thanks for the pics I really need to mod my shoulder strapping big red getting a bit too big

You lot seemed to grab stuff faster than they could stock the shelves. It didn't look like the lego stuff was touched, but the figurines, well the shelves looked pretty empty!
The warehouse staff were expecting more stuff than they got. By that I mean things like lightsabres and all that.

If anyone really wants I guess I can check out local warehouse/toyworld stores for stuff. no promises, but if you did miss something there may be a long wait while they restock the global shelves...

[Bazzack]

Was pretty cool watching the Warehouse Albany staff open the cases, and stock the shelves in super quick time.
Gave everyone a chance to line up the items they were going for in the initial rush.
All of the punters were very patient and respectful, but a few of the items lasted about a minute I'd say. Phasma in particular, along with the 6" Stormtroopers.

Fortunately there was plenty of stock at Toyworld to finish off my initial want list.
I'm looking forward to hitting a couple stores today to check out the items with more time and space. I expect I'll be picking up a few more figures while the specials are running.

[MattG]

Was pretty cool watching the Warehouse Albany staff open the cases, and stock the shelves in super quick time...

That was an interesting way to do it! I got some photos of all that up here: http://swnz.dr-maul.com/moretext.php?fo ... ousealbany

Will probably cross paths with you today, if you're out checking a few more stores.

[MattG]

That was SO much fun! Aw man, the atmosphere was so cool, the workers were so excited. ...

I'm actually really pleasantly surprised, to be honest, at the extent to which the stores got in to it, and the number of people who showed up. Out of all the regions, Albany with its two midnight madness stores in walking distance was at the highest risk to not be well patronised, but both Toyworld and The Warehouse saw plenty of punters (many switching between the two once they'd gotten their first wave purchased).