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Hi, Jakks collector and retail employee here! You're completely right about how they handle those cases, they ship in cases of 6 with 3 of Sonic and 1 of everyone else. What makes it especially frustrating is the fact that they all share the same info in most retailers' systems, meaning even if a store does have figures in the back they very well may not have what you're looking for, but instead just more Sonics. A little perspective about how frustrating this line is to collect: I spend 40 hours a week in my local Target. I've seen the Super Silver/Jet wave coming and going since March. They usually get snapped up the same day we put them out. I only got ahold of those two figures last week, after almost 3 months of seeing nothing but that Classic Sonic reprint.

As a previous retail worker- you’re correct about how the cases are packed but the stocking is incorrect. We’re not in the back going “ ew who is this, I’m only putting out Sonic 😡”. I know at least where I was- our job was to break down as many boxes as we could. Didn’t matter what it was, could be 80 Sonic’s, could be a whole assortment of different characters. We needed to break down the boxes/cases and get them on the shelf so that we had room in the back for upcoming shipments, overflow, damages etc.etc. You empty the entire case and then move onto the next. So no, no one is sitting there hiding all of the Silvers or Jets in the back. We don’t care. It’s just first come first serve, and such few figures in a case go so quickly.

My theory of 2023's mess of distribution is that Jakks prioritized the fulfillment of Mario movie toys over Sonic toys. Chinese New Year is a month long holiday where factories shut down and considering Mario was coming out in April, they had to prioritize the product that was most relevant this year.

The sequel we both didn’t need but yet also needed

I’m curious as to why Sonic toy lines don’t do specific game tie-ins anymore? Jazwares did Unleashed, Black Knight, All-Stars Racing, and Generations had figures near their respective games. Something like a Sage figure or plush near the release of Frontiers would have been neat.

can't wait to watch "The Problem with Sonic Toys 73" with my great grandchildren in 2094

I work at a toy store and I notice this problem a lot. We usually have one wave of the plushies at a time. The last wave we had was Might, Ray, Sonic and Jade Wisp. We were left with the Jade Wisp and ordered another bulk of plushies, now we have 2 Jade Wisps and no other sonic plush, which led my boss to not order more of the other plushies. Same with one of the figure waves. The one with Sonic, Tails, Espio and Eggrobot. Sonic and Tails was gone rather fast, followed by Espio, and i had to tell costumers looking for Sonic merch that the Eggrobot was even a Sonic character. And now almost 6 months later we still have the Jade Wisps and the Eggrobot in our store.

A MISTAKE WITH SONIC TOYS 3 FOR THE FUTURE

This all reminds me of a Walmart exclusive wave of transformers. The Velocitron line. In prepackaged packs of 8 figures, with about 4 separate characters released. The only figure 95% of fans actually wanted was packed 1 to a box. It’s been almost a year now and I’ve never seen one on shelves in person. The short packed characters already are a pain, but make it a store exclusive and problems just appear.

My 6 year old nephew would love a knight sonic. He wouldn't know why sonic is a knight, but he'd cherish it anyways.

This video is indeed relatable. I’m in Canada and these figures/plushes are so rare to find like in Walmart or usually it would just always be Sonic or something else, but know there has been a lot more variety. We really need a Blaze figure, she’s been gone for a while 👀

This video really touches on all my issues with Jakks. I love the line & I’ll gladly buy more figures, but it’s taken me three months of consistently checking every Target in town to get Super Silver & Jet, & even then I JUST found them 2 days ago. My other big gripe is the variety for figures rereleased. Change up Modern Sonic’s shoes, give Tails something from Adventure or Skypatrol, give Knuckles his cowboy hat. I don’t like buying duplicates without at least some change, but I’m so tired of the SAME Sonic EVERY. SINGLE. WAVE.

You're not wrong about the stores that sell toys. I used to work at a supermarket with a toy section, and I always personally tried to get things from the back when asked, no matter the item. Sadly, when I had to ask help from a colleague who actually stocked the toys, they told me to say we're out of stock because it's too much effort. Some people just don't care. It was fun to see Sonic toys come in and see characters I haven't seen in a long time.

it's cool to see all the stories from retail employees and collectors in the comments section. Was a great read. I'm wishing all of you the best and hope things get better

I pretty much 100% agree with this video. I've been collecting action figures for decades, and I've worked in department stores for a spell so I've seen both sides of it. I'd definitely say the strongest fixes Jakks could apply are delving into Sonic variants such as Riders, Soap Shoes, Caliburn, etc; as well as providing an online store front. Another thing to look into is more 3 packs for the obscure characters. Right now there's a 3 pack that has what is essentially Team Super Sonic from Sonic Heroes, and it's doing pretty well. It usually shows up 6 at a time, but yet only stays on the shelf for 2 weeks at best. Stuff like the Babylon Rogues could come in a pack like this.

The unfortunate part of the availibality of Sonic figurines by Jakks Pacific is that they are some sold by other resellers, and of course, some sell them twice their intended price.

I feel confident that jakks is going to hold the Sonic license for a long time (considering that they have had the Nintendo license for almost 10 years now). I like the direction each figure wave is going (both 2 inch and 4 inch). It's crazy to think that jakks might end up being the first figure line to complete the "main" roster of characters and side characters (only about 7 characters left). The real issues really just come down to distribution and stock (and overall release schedules).

My only issue with these toys is the distribution. Here in Australia they basically just don't release at all. I got really lucky earlier on and found Classic Eggman, Mecha Sonic and Mighty, and then later found Espio, Egg Robo and Newtron, but I don't think we ever got Omega, Big, Chaos, Rhinobot etc., they just don't come out at all. What makes it worse is how any store stocking them (which is basically just Target and maybe Mr Toys Toyworld) doesn't make it clear if they actually have any either. It's normally just a vague "Sonic figures" assortment of an old wave with no specific examples of which ones are available and which ones aren't, or if they've gotten any newer waves with newer figures. You basically have to go check every store and see if you get lucky and find a new figure they never mentioned anywhere online, but most of the time it's just the same old Movie 2 stock that never sells, or a line of Classic Sonic's holding chilli dogs.

One time, I saw an employee stocking Super Mario figures and he let me look through a case of the most recent Mario wave. I noticed that while there were multiple Marios in the box, there were also multiple of the other characters (in that wave) included in the box! I think there was one character who had one figure per case, but for the most part, other characters had multiple copies per case. I guess that's because Mario is just slightly more popular to the majority of the world. Can't confirm if that's how most Mario waves are distributed or not because I don't follow that line as closely.

These Sonic toy videos are the most "first world problems but I relate heavily" videos I've ever watch. Not much competition for that oddly specific type of video but I digress.

Distribution is just a nightmare period for collectors right now. Between that and the awful waiting time for product to be released, this is becoming quite a tedious hobby.

I’m so happy we got the highly anticipated sequel to “the problem with sonic toys”

IMO the problem isn't with having a SOnic in every wave - it's if you look at other franchises, they tend to have variants. Luckily we have that with Sonic Prime now, but they're not really the most interesting for the most part for Sonic himself(just gloves and shoes). Sonic Boom had them too ,but they weren't the most exciting. Obviously it'd involve different sculpts so could be pricier, but I'd love to see a Sonic Adventure 1 model style Sonic for example, an S3K Style classic Sonic, American Box Art Sonic - stuff like that. Even just straight up recolours, or like Blank paint your own Sonics would be a big hit with certain sorts of fans. And of course, Sonic with various accessories he's had in the games, especially the first 2 Adventure games. Why haven't we seen a Knuckles with Shovel gloves? Like with other toylines too you can just flat out make shit up, too, like why not have Sonic in a full pirate outfit? Sonic in a chili dog chef outfit? There's a lot of fun stuff. People liked the wintery outfits from the movies. I'm sure there's a lot you can do, even with simple changes so you don't have to resculpt - like 2.5" Chaos Control Shadow you can slot an emerald into his arm and have him do the pose.

Mark: "I do have trouble talking to women" Also Mark: Is married to a girl 8 yrs older than him

I think the biggest thing that burns me about Sonic toys is how rarely characters from side material got attention, even back in their time, and now we're at that stage where such things are highly unlikely to ever get made nowadays. Would've been cool to get a Grimer action figure, or Scratch and Grounder quarter machine toys, Snively as a drinky bird?? There are a ton of dudes we're probably never gonna see in real anytime soon.

Former GameStop manager here: The bit about stock being sent in waves is *kinda* correct. We do get them in bulk, yes. But that doesn't mean we always get the whole wave in a shipment. It's differs based on the supplier but often times its completely up to them which figures get sent out. When the figures come out is when we're most likely to get the whole wave, so you're not 100% wrong, but it still isn't the case all the time. Not to mention the amount of figures we get with HUGE quality control problems. If I see one more sonic with a full blue ring around his eyes I'm gonna shit

I'll be real with ya, I've worked at three different retail super stores and if it's not on the shelf... it really isn't in the back 90% of the time. Especially Toys.

Walmart associate here. Because of the way Walmart in particular handles it's inventory, case packs that can't fit in the shelf locations have to return to the back room unopened. Instead of asking for particular figures, try asking to see an unopened case of the assorted ones. The upcs for these particular toys are pretty strange as well, with different models having inconsistent pricings or locations which causes certain issues for employees hunting for them.

I unironically cannot believe that most Jakks toys have fixed poses on the arms. Like that's just amazing. Damn.

Man, I can relate to that Silver figure bit. Too many times have I searched for a specific figure or merchandise, but they bring me the standard shit. Always bugged me out.

I hope the Lego Sonic sets are successful enough to get a second wave. Getting Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, maybe even a brick-built Omega would be really cool. They've got options so I hope they don't play it safe like the first wave is rn

1:50 It was really nice of your friend LS Mark to help out with the video sponsor 😄

This is the same case for me. Whenever I go to Walmart, all I'll ever find is the 4 inch Jakks Sonic, and I rarely find different characters. One time, when I went, I actually found the 4 inch Silver on the very top shelf, but that doesn't mean they always have characters like this.

You have no idea how happy I was when I saw a new Super Silver action figure

I mostly get my figures online, so the whole going into the store and finding 3 Sonic’s and no one else isn’t as big a deal for me, but there’s always the nice satisfaction of finding something you want in a store. Even though I do get most of my figures online, Amazon still doesn’t have any Super Silvers or Jets on the website yet, and I have no clue when they will go up on there. I need me my Super Silver. Also, I hope Jakks doesn’t lose the license because, even though getting the figures can be a pain sometimes, they’re still knocking it out of the park, and I would love to see them make more.

1:50 It was very cool of you to let LS Mark cameo in your video

It’s so kind of your friend LS Mark to record himself for your sponsor

This whole situation kinda reminds me of the Amiibo hunt of 2014/5 Where there were multiples of Mario ones while the others were scalped/hard to find.

Walmart is definitely special. They're really bad at ordering what is actually needed on the shelf, the distribution center (or DC) will often send tons of stuff that we don't need even if counts are accurate, like I stock in frozen, some items they'll send literally 20+ cases or more for a feature (can take several months in some cases for one to materialize so said overstock just sits in the back while new freight keeps coming in), meanwhile the items that are actually out of stock will stay that way for a while sometimes. Sometimes the counts are so fucked that we don't actually know if we have something or not, as it says we have say, 5 of something, but there's only one on the shelf, we are then told to not set the on hand to 1 for the one on the shelf, since the other 4 could just be sitting in some other part of the store somewhere or in the backroom, so they sometimes never send more because we technically, according to the all powerful computer systems (I'm genuinely convinced that the higher ups think this is how our computers work), we still have 5 even tho the other 4 are nowhere to be found. And yeah, stockers often have no real control over what they stock, at Walmart for instance, you're assigned an area every night to stock, you cannot choose what area to stock unless you are going to help another area finish (and management doesn't find you first), I've been in frozen for 2 years now, and have tried just picking my own area and got in trouble for it. It's usually entirely on the retailer themselves. Walmart is just, awful at actually getting things they need, because they somehow always have too much of what they already have. It's frustrating, especially as a collector.

Mark I agree with all your points. I spent 3 months looking for chaos, omega, charmy and silver and I only got chaos.

So nice of the famous KZfaqr lsmark to make an appearance in the sponsor. Hope to see more collaborations soon!

Super Silver seems like such a random choice as a figure release lol

I ended up with two Espios last month, and my grandma also saw an Omega at her local Walmart, but my brother thought I would want the Espio more since he didn't know I was already going to get one from my aunt, and yeah, I had two. When I refunded the Espio from my grandma at her Walmart with the receipt she still had, the Omega was still there (which I got), but the rest of the Sonic figures were a bunch of Sonics and surprisingly some Tails'. I could tell most of them were from different waves because they had different items. I considered buying one of the Sonics since they looked better than the one I have and were from newer waves, but I decided not to get one anyway.

1:21 the fact that this is official artwork means that mobians canonically lack toes, thanks goodness

Most anticipated sequel ever:

Forget Spiderverse 2, THIS is the most anticipated sequel of all time

I put sonic toys in jars lol!!!!!!!!

Missed opportunity to call it " the NEW problem with sonic toys"

I missed out on the Jazwares line, but the Jakks Sonic is a huge step up compared to the Resaurus line from the Adventure era.

Babe wake up, a new Sonic toys video.

Classic Knuckles was the hardest one for me to find. I got the Advent Calendar last year and got most of the other characters I needed.

As a person who has collected Bakugan, Mario kart Hotwheels, Digimon, amiibo, and jakks sonic, I can confirm that collecting sonic figures is annoying. Shout out to my friend for finding me a newtron today

Adding to this: here in Mexico sonic 2 merchandise only showed up on shelves when the mario film premiered, if anything the toy ailes were either sonic, Mario or unsold lightyear merch.

9:07 Speaking of modern sets, it would be funny to see a frontier island. Imagine just trying to find something you don’t have in a wave, and just see Kronos island that cost like $60+, more then the game itself 😭

The issue I'm seeing in my area is that only the other characters seem to be popular. When you walk into a Walmart or Target, they'll have a bunch of Sonics chilliing on the shelf. It makes me wonder if the retailiers in my area just don't want to restock until somebody buys all of these Sonics.

Seriously do NOT get me started on the whole "Stores not stocking anything" mess. EVERY store I go to just has boxes of stuff piled up because employees are too lazy to unload anything. 😑

Sonic hedgehog In jar!!

I completely agree with you, the UK store close to me is packed with nothing but sonics. I will always regret not getting that omega figure.

The problem where I'm from is that when I go into any store like Walmart, Target or even Meijer's, pretty much all the time without fail it's always either just one sonic figure, or a whole row of them.

He did not just call gemeral an IDW character he originated in sonic, advanced three

Rouge bat figure inside a jar hahaha!!

Sadly, i work at Walmart. I check the toy section often for new sonic figures but the moment we get a non sonic (like tails, omega, silver, etc) character they get bought up immediately, its not often but its led to there just being a whole shelf of ONLY sonic and no one is buying him lol

Dude I know exactly what you mean, I've been trying to find a regular Shadow and Silver 2.5 inch figures for months. I've found a 4 inch Silver figure yesterday at a Walmart I've had to drive far out to get to.

7:02 This is actually something I've seen in a store once. I saw a fuck ton of RhinoBots just sitting in a shelf at Walmart. I saw a Ray in the back, literally nobody was buying them.

all im saying is JAKKS needs to do what Jazwares did. The way they had all their characters easily available.

In my country we don’t even get the Sonic Jakks figures unless it’s like Christmas season 💀 each individual store has to either import them by themselves or buy them from another company that imports them, making their price double or triple

The classic sonic in your thumbnail actually looks pretty good.

I know at Walmart if they have the toys in the back they specifically are actually told they cannot bring them to the front until the ones in the front are sold. I worked at a Walmart for 5 years at one point. They said it was illegal due to how the contract is for how they sell them.

Classic Metal & Ray never appeared here in Ireland. Modern Amy isn't out until next month. The Eggmobile had a bizarrely limited release.

Can't wait for The Problem With Sonic Toys 3: Revenge of the Collectors.

I would LOOOVE sonic variants based of videogames like Sonic's soap shoes and powerups (like the fire ring, magic melody) as well as Sonic Adventure and powerups, Sonic Unleashed, Black knight, secret rings, etc.

2:14 hopefully in the next Sonic game they have more of Sonic skateboarding.

So from working at a couple of retail jobs. Some days we might only just get Sonic figurines and none of the other characters. I've noticed we stock a lot of stretchy Sonic toys or we might get big Classic Sonic sets but I've never seen anything special like Super Silver

some of this issues get even worse when you dont live in the states i'm in argentina so most of this figures have to be imported. wich means even less of them are likely to get here since imported licensed stuff is expensife AF so if you ever find a figure of a character you're looking for, you don't know if this is the only figure in the entire country. the only reason i've got my chaos figure is because i managed to find him on an online listing at 2am. that's the other thing. at the time of wrriiting this, the latest wave of figures to arrive here was wave 11 so we're gonna have to wait a lot longer for the most recent waves if they even arrive here

Honestly I really enjoy seeing the Jakks Pacific Sonic toys. They're fun to collect especially when they can be found in Walmart checklanes for cheap AF. And their line of toys is getting kids across the USA into or back into the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise outside of the new films. I've seen it first hand. Young kids rummaging through the sets and getting genuinely excited to their parents that they had whatever character in there. I think this is not only great for the franchise as a whole, but it's also great to bring a new generation into it as well. Seems like Sonic has been just infested with 20/30+ year olds for the past decade.. 🙄 Just my take as a diehard Sonic fan since 1999, the Sonic circle has shrunk massively as years go by. Those who couldn't see that are blind.

9:39 I LITERALLY THOUGHT OF THE SAME THING, LIKE THE SHOES ON THE FIGURES POP OFF, WHY NOT SELL THEM SEPARATELY AN LIKE TO POP OFF AN JUST POP OFF ON THE FIGURE.

Finally, a new splash dash video

9:05 S... Six years? Mania is SIX YEARS old?? I classify that as one of the more recent Sonic games what the hell-

Recently, it seems that sage products are also being planned. I am very happy

Damn, i can't believe Splash Dash got completely unrelated KZfaqr LS Mark to appear in his ad read

It's a good thing Mark is married to the Donkey Kong queen.

Basically since Rouge's wave I haven't seen ANY non-Sonic figures. The last figures I've gotten were Rouge and Omega. After like a year I finally found a Ray and a Big. Whenever I go to any store it's always just a load of modern or classic Sonics. Not even a Tails or Knuckles.

Another problem with Sonic Toys and Merch in general is that..... In certain countries, there's barely any. Aside form the games, Sonic Toys are so hard to find. I literally only found one store that *had* Sonic toys. The rest just didn't have any at all. And if I look online, I have to have Sonic stuff shipped overseas, since no local store in my country has Sonic Toys.

I don't usually go for merch, but that motobug plush, dude

I didn't know most of those figures existed, I never saw them at the store. (Then again I'm only actively looking for the mini figures)

I honestly wish I could just stop collecting these, But they keep making characters I love so I can't stop and but I can't find them anywhere I freaking hate it

4:17 teils? That got me cracking 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

My problem with Sonic toys is that I can’t really pose them or do anything interesting with them. I’d like to see Sonic figures with as much pose-ability as something from Amazing Yamaguchi.

the jet figure isnt even available in the UK at all.. but at least sonic has seen consistent new character releases. Fans of the mario line have been waiting ages for what you think would be obvious 4" figures like daisy and rosalina

The sequel finally 😭

Wait a minute... this isn't a video about Sonic's Spin Dash at all...

3:06 I NEED HIM

1:54 if factor is so good, then, why didn’t you eat it yourself instead of getting your good friend LS Mark to eat it?

The Badnik plush is... so cute... kinda need it

Transformer collector here, i understand your pain. Hasbro is notorious for crap distribution or bone headed decisions. Like making an important character an exclusive to a store, and that store not existing in other countries so those fans are left out completely.

Really slept on the CHAOS release figure like it wasn't the biggest sonic figure reveal ever lmaoo

the green hill studio, bless and flying battery he toys are called playsets, and there is already a sonic product called dioramas gave 2 figures and accessories to the respective zones

The long awaited sequel…

I think we should have a Soap Sonic. It’s perfect seeing as how, well, he’s still Sonic, so stores would want to put him on the shelves. And the kids buying it would probably not even care. And they can just call him something dumb like grinder Sonic to avoid copyright.