Only a small number of stores did the midnight release. Just go in the morning and pick one up. I went to a midnight release and casually picked up a couple copies. They had plenty. The other Targets who didn't participate will have a bunch in the morning. I'm stretching to figure out what you're complaining about. The release was fun, and everyone got to hang out with some like minded people. We got our copy 8 hours before some others will.... this is not a big deal.

Will they get their's in the next few weeks? Yep, but not everyone is going to be able to get the Target boxes so we have to wait a little longer too.

Ah hell. I'm going to sleep.

I think it's a little **** that international players won't be able to do anything for at least another two weeks.

Either release it worldwide or don't. simple as that.

Well international commerce does have its complications. Everything from import taxes to black market dealings plague international trade making a world wide all at once release very difficult.

I used to be on the other side of this rock too once or twice, I understand the pain mate.

Oh of course,but I would have thought that with all the secrecy and everything about this that everyone had their heads on straight.

Instead ONE chain in ONE country gets the sets for FF, and the rest of the poor saps in the rest of the world have to just sit there and take it for another two weeks.

Also doesn't help that Aftermath was delayed in my country til the 16th as well....so its not just an FFG problem in my eyes

Who cares? Honestly, I just wanted my new core set. You can look up the DCPI as most targets in my area have it listed as in stock, but are not participating in the toy release.

Just buy it, what does it matter if your LGS didn't get it first. If that matters to you, then just wait. Complaining about it doesn't do anyone any good.

It's called venting. And I laid out my point in a logical-ish manner. I wasn't raging but after a day of calling around to game stores to get info then surfing through my groups to get more info it got a little frustrating that no one knew what was going on until just this hour. No emails or anything.

And my area has a big X-Wing crowd and there are only so many Targets so they will go fast.

But if all you see is someone complaining then sorry you don't get it. Also complaining about complaining solves nothing. Not a complaint just pointing it out,

First, I don't think you understand the futility of your venting though. Disney is in the market of selling toys, so it doesn't give a crap about dealing with tons of small mom & pop specialty shops for it's big launch.

Second, how have you not heard that Target, Walmart, and Toy'r'Us were the only stores partaking and only certain stores. I don't think you really did do any research. A quick Google search turns that up real fast, including pages that will tell you exactly which retailers are participating. It seems like you are completely misunderstanding how business works. Just because you see it as a miniatures game sold at specialty stores doesn't mean that Disney executives see them as anything more than toys. Go where Disney sells toys. Also, this.

It's still lousy. FFG shouldn't tease at GenCon that "if you're out there on Force Friday we'll have something for you" when select Target stores only stocked 6 -12 sets. They knew demand would outstrip supply and some people may feel misled. I think that's where some of the disappointment may be coming from. Messaging is very important for a business and its customers.

My wife just texted from Target. Said there are 12 guys in line waiting to get in. I hope they are gentlemen and let her in first.

And yeah! She got one. No problem.

At least we get Disney stores and toys r us in europe.

We just dont have any target stores, looks like we're going to have to wait a fortnight for the new core set.

Now that is stupid marketing not to do simultaneous global release.

either way i bet some price gougers are cleaning up on ebay right now selling to the euro market for £100 a set

edit: i stand corrected they are advertising core sets on uk ebay at £28 with a delivery date of 9th sep... cant see that happening though.

edit2: but some lovely chap in the states has a set for £130 'buy it now' ... bargain..

So someone in those queus went straight home and onto ebay to do everyone a favour by gving them a chance to get it at five times the price, how thoughtful.

How is this different from when FFG sold Wave IV and Wave VII ahead of the street date when the rest of us have to wait a few weeks to a month for them?

What early release? You mean GenCon? A lot of game companies bring new stuff to GenCon but that's not a gimmick sale, it's the largest promotional games sale in the country and the best time to make new announcements and show off new products. It happens every year and I know which of my companies are selling new stuff early.

So your point is that Target or any major chain stores are inappropriate venues for advance sales of XWMG products? I can understand if you're an LGS owner trying to pull in new customers but it's rather irrelevant to me where they sell their products. What's relevant to me about this is I have to wait a few weeks to get my hands on it while some of you in the US were able to run out to Target to get it already; not that I'm really complaining.

I guess I don't understand the reason for putting up a fuss for a once in a blue moon and out of the ordinary Star Wars Toy launch event.

Probably on the definition and treatment of the word "Toy". Now are all games are "toys" well you can argue they functioned the same way as toys in providing simple entertainment much like Video games were placed in toy stores ever since the classic NES days. However should all games be treated as "Children's Toys". Well I don't think you would want any child under the age of 10 playing cards against humanity, not to mention how often are people annoyed about parents buying their child M rated games like Call of Duty only to hear their plethora of profanity over the voice chat.

For us the better question asked is how much exposure does this give X-wing and bring new players to the game. Tough to say, hopefully some, but definitely not with the midnight event.

You are looking really hard for reasons to get mad, no?

Go or call your local Barnes and Noble. They have the new core. I got one just 30 minutes ago.

Half the people picking it up at midnight did not know what they were holding. I'd say this was a great plan. And a 2-3 week delay for in-stock at LGS is something we see once a year anyways.

It was not suppose to turn into a huge deal

On a thread titled "Stupidest Idea?"

You're obviously new to the Internet

I simply don't get this attitude.

I mean maybe if you live somewhere that won't get the new core for 2-3 weeks, but even then, it's 2-3 weeks, not 6 months. If an adult finds waiting that long to get a new toy is unacceptable, they do not IMO deserve the title adult.

The only reason someone really would have good cause to get upset by this is if they have a tournament this weekend, and somehow some people there may have the new core with the improved X-Wings.

As far as the LGS, having the core set sold at Target can actually be good for them. Target won't carry the expansions and 'that's where the real money from the movie is made.' A LGS would rather have someone new buy the core set and come there for expansions then have the only people buying the core being existing players, because they will make more money in the long run that way.

Myself I'm thinking I'm going to go pick up a core today at lunch, not because I don't want to support my LGS. But rather because by doing so that means he'll have another core set to sell to a new(er) player... He has issues getting and keeping them, and it's not good to get someone new to try the game and tell them "sorry but I don't have any core's to sell you"

We should all care about big box stores and Internet discounters getting preferential treatment over the real value adding resellers. It will hurt our hobby.

Stores that hold events generally aren't the type of business that are making anyone rich, but they are the biggest driving force in expanding and supporting the market.

FFG should take the time and effort to figure out how to legally give preference to the good LGSs. It can be legally done with a little effort. Our LGS certainly made a lot of sales through other resellers on X Wing and Armada because of inability to get enough product. Eventually, guys who own these stores are just gonna quit. The good ones can mostly get better jobs or go into better businesses whenever they decide to.

It's easy, and foolish, to look at a spreadsheet and think you made a lot of sales off a deal with Target. It's BS. FFG likely made less margin than if they had sold those boxes to their better partners, let them build the reputation of the game, and then let the other resellers push it out to the general market. If the big boxes play tough, then tell them to stuff it because eventually Wal Crack and the like will kill companies the size of FFG and not care at all.

I don't think you understand, this was Disney's event, not FFG. To Disney, X-Wing is a Star Wars toy and Star Wars toys were sold by these stores. Like it or not, enough people didn't care and went out and bought them anyway.

Perhaps I don't understand. I am not privy to the agreement between FFG and Disney. I do find it really hard to believe at this point in time that they had an agreement for an exclusive for a must have X Wing product designed to screw the best supporters of the product line. I don't understand why if FFG really had an understanding of how this is received by LGS owners, will affect the support they may get on other products, and didn't think they needed to care they wouldn't have convinced Disney it wasn't in their mutual best interest to do this. I don't understand how you missed the part about this event not being the only problem. And finally, I don't understand how someone who is a big fan of X Wing couldn't understand his last comment helped make my case while embarrassing its author who apparently disagrees with me for some hard to understand agenda. Well, I do understand actually because while most of the fan base is fun loving, there is too often one of "those guys" around. Are you "that guy" all the time, or was this an aberration?

I do find it really hard to believe at this point in time that they had an agreement for an exclusive for a must have X Wing product designed to screw the best supporters of the product line.

As far as Disney is concerned, X-Wing miniatures is simply another product with the Star Wars brand on it. One that while it sells well, still sells quite a few less units then say Lego's does, or action figures.

So when Disney set up the Force Friday for all toys, that included the X-Wing game. FFG would of had no say in the matter, unless they wanted to give up a very lucrative IP.

I'm fairly sure that if it were up to FFG alone, they would of released it everywhere at the same time, because they actually do understand that the LGS is the lifeblood of X-Wing miniatures.

Yeah, do not underestimate the amount of control LFL has over it's licensors.

I do find it really hard to believe at this point in time that they had an agreement for an exclusive for a must have X Wing product designed to screw the best supporters of the product line.

As far as Disney is concerned, X-Wing miniatures is simply another product with the Star Wars brand on it. One that while it sells well, still sells quite a few less units then say Lego's does, or action figures.So when Disney set up the Force Friday for all toys, that included the X-Wing game. FFG would of had no say in the matter, unless they wanted to give up a very lucrative IP.I'm fairly sure that if it were up to FFG alone, they would of released it everywhere at the same time, because they actually do understand that the LGS is the lifeblood of X-Wing miniatures.

Where do you get this info? Also, if you tell me about your job and industry, I can likely explain it in terms you understand.

The bottom line about caring is that it doesn't add to the bottom line in the long run. Intentions and results aren't always intertwined all that well.

Where do you get this info?

Simple logic, and basic understanding of how both Disney, LFL and retail work.

Yeah, sorry. Simple logic doesn't cover it. The amount of info we don't know here is so great we don't know what we don't know. I interact with game companies weekly for our LGS, and I've done deals with plenty of Fortune 100 companies over my career (which is why I can likely give you a revelation on the subject knowing your industry and job). This whole Target thing could easily have never generated a contract and been coordinated mostly over emails and teleconference.

You wouldn't believe the amount of silly looking things that are in some contracts anyway. Some actually silly, others only silly if you don't know some salient yet arcane facts. On top of that, the amount of business conducted in two comma amounts on really open contracts is amazing as well if you don't understand why it's done that way. Every industry is different, and maritime has to be the strangest in my experience. Insurance people actually do not respond to what other people may find perfectly reasonable logic at all.

I will tell you one thing that was generated by this Target thing though - an ugly look and shaking head from the owner of our LGS. He has a college degree and plenty of choices. At some point, like the one that closed the last LGS I practically lived at, he will get tired of creating profits for nameless people at places like Target and Miniature Market who make more than he does. The last LGS owner didn't even care about the money, he quit over the emotional aspect of it all.

I've found that people respond to non monetary stimuli a lot in the short term, and money in the long term. We often don't even realize our motivations anymore than Pavlov's dog understood his own drooling. We just respond. These sorts of things kill good LGS's. They just do.

Blame Disney. And if you want to see true disappointment, the figures were all gone in 2.5 seconds. Those were some sad peeps. X-Wing was still on the shelf at 12:15 where I was, no climbing required.

Which figures were sold out? The Black Series action figures?

Also, did you observe the demand on the BB-8 droid? I heard it was all the rage.

We should all care about big box stores and Internet discounters getting preferential treatment over the real value adding resellers. It will hurt our hobby.

Stores that hold events generally aren't the type of business that are making anyone rich, but they are the biggest driving force in expanding and supporting the market.

FFG should take the time and effort to figure out how to legally give preference to the good LGSs. It can be legally done with a little effort. Our LGS certainly made a lot of sales through other resellers on X Wing and Armada because of inability to get enough product. Eventually, guys who own these stores are just gonna quit. The good ones can mostly get better jobs or go into better businesses whenever they decide to.

It's easy, and foolish, to look at a spreadsheet and think you made a lot of sales off a deal with Target. It's BS. FFG likely made less margin than if they had sold those boxes to their better partners, let them build the reputation of the game, and then let the other resellers push it out to the general market. If the big boxes play tough, then tell them to stuff it because eventually Wal Crack and the like will kill companies the size of FFG and not care at all.

I don't think you understand, this was Disney's event, not FFG. To Disney, X-Wing is a Star Wars toy and Star Wars toys were sold by these stores. Like it or not, enough people didn't care and went out and bought them anyway.

Perhaps I don't understand. I am not privy to the agreement between FFG and Disney. I do find it really hard to believe at this point in time that they had an agreement for an exclusive for a must have X Wing product designed to screw the best supporters of the product line. I don't understand why if FFG really had an understanding of how this is received by LGS owners, will affect the support they may get on other products, and didn't think they needed to care they wouldn't have convinced Disney it wasn't in their mutual best interest to do this. I don't understand how you missed the part about this event not being the only problem. And finally, I don't understand how someone who is a big fan of X Wing couldn't understand his last comment helped make my case while embarrassing its author who apparently disagrees with me for some hard to understand agenda. Well, I do understand actually because while most of the fan base is fun loving, there is too often one of "those guys" around. Are you "that guy" all the time, or was this an aberration?

See, Disney makes these films and those films act as commercials for their product/retail lines, such as toys, clothing, etc. Disney has so much clout, they are able to bully every product manufacturer, including Hasboro, to have their Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys available for Force Friday. They then had enough clout to get the 3 largest toy retailers in America to hold an event at midnight to launch these toys. In fact, they have so much control over the industry, they control manufacturing, distribution, sales, presentation, the film industry, and have even rewritten the copyright law to ensure they never lose the rights to their properties.

Now, I presume you clearly didn't hear what Hasboro did to FFG regarding Imperial Assault. See Hasboro is one of the largest toy manufacturers and they forced FFG to reclassify it as a miniatures game instead of a board game because they own the rights to make board games. So FFG was bullied by a company that was bullied by Disney. It doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to understand that FFG, a small licensee of the Star Wars line, had no choice in the events that took place.

Now let's go back to Disney. Their product lines are so large and in such high demand (did you forget Frozen?), that they can bully the largest retailers in the world (eg Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Amazon, etc) into carrying the products they want, when they want, where they want, and how they want. If you're looking to make a few billion in sales in the span of 1 hour, would you rather consolidate to a few of the largest retailers or spread it all over every tiny store that carries games and/or comics because a few tabletop gamers would get upset?

Maybe you haven't been following that much. Maybe you didn't see the leaks 2 weeks ago. Maybe you have never heard of Google. The fact stands that this information was readily available for a while.

You do know that the game shops have a TON more exclusives on X-wing than Target, right? Target doesn't carry the expansions. Which is where the real money is. Honestly, getting the core set into the bigger stores is only a benefit for the smaller stores.

And I have a good idea of how the LFL licensee relationship can work. Well aware of what went on with Decipher. This Target deal was likely part of the deal to get approval to make TFA stuff, with info well, well ahead of the movie's release.

You do know that the game shops have a TON more exclusives on X-wing than Target, right? Target doesn't carry the expansions. Which is where the real money is. Honestly, getting the core set into the bigger stores is only a benefit for the smaller stores.

And I have a good idea of how the LFL licensee relationship can work. Well aware of what went on with Decipher. This Target deal was likely part of the deal to get approval to make TFA stuff, with info well, well ahead of the movie's release.

Also my real attitude didn't happen until knuckleheads decided to go straight for the insult instead of just making a logical point.

Also all the Target Stores in my area are sold out of X-Wing as of now. Didn't last just like I figured. (Our local group is reporting store stocks while they're were at the store.)

This Target deal was likely part of the deal to get approval to make TFA stuff, with info well, well ahead of the movie's release.

That's exactly what it was, a promotional event for the movie (which is ironically a promotional event for the toys) where you guy to buy lots of plastic toys. That was in the press release....

but it does take the sales that the small game stores would have made.

That's going to be a fairly small amount though. A lot of gamer types will wait until the LGS has it anyway. Sure some will buy now rather the later, but that's honestly a fairly small loss, and those people will be buying their expansions at the LGS.

In a way this is almost like advertising for LGS'... They may lose money on some sales, but they are likely to make that up and more with new customers.

Even if that's not true and this ends up being a net loss for the LGS. It's not like FFG had much choice in the matter.

but it does take the sales that the small game stores would have made.

That's going to be a fairly small amount though. A lot of gamer types will wait until the LGS has it anyway. Sure some will buy now rather the later, but that's honestly a fairly small loss, and those people will be buying their expansions at the LGS.In a way this is almost like advertising for LGS'... They may lose money on some sales, but they are likely to make that up and more with new customers.Even if that's not true and this ends up being a net loss for the LGS. It's not like FFG had much choice in the matter.

I am fairly confident though that since all the Core Sets sold in our area already that those sets went to current players waiting with drool hanging from their lips. But in the end the LGS's do really make their money on the expansions and now that Target is out players will be preordering their sets from their LGS now anyways. So it does all workout even if it is annoying.

Yep I went to the target this morning that did not have a midnight release, they opened at like 8...I couldn't make it there until about 9 (I figured all the crazy people who HAD to have stuff would have went the night before). But basically there wasn't a thing left worth buying. So to all those who questioned my saying there would be scarcity on this product, I was right. Every target in my area is sold out and theres already copies of the set on ebay for 80 bucks. Plus, all the black series figures were gone. I literally think 2 or 4 guys went in, and bought up everything cause I saw a few people with huge bags of just star wars stuff they beat me to it.