Figure Swappers Suck
It’s time to go over the issue of toy repackaging again. No, not the kind that toy companies like Hasbro and Mattel do where they keep making the same figures and putting them in different packages. I’m talking the kind done by scum bags. I know this isn’t a new issue to toy collectors, but since I’m seeing it more and more it’s time to address it once again.
Instead of simply stealing action figures, a segment of the toy collecting community will buy an action figure (most often a set of figures), replace the figures in the pack with ones that they don’t want, and then return them to the store. Now the store is screwed over because they gave paid out a full refund for a toy that they most likely won’t be able to sell and/or is less desirable to customers than the one that it was swapped out for.
This last weekend I encountered it not once, but twice at two different retailers. The first one was an Iron Grenadier and Destro comic two pack that had a swap job done to it. The Iron Grenadier had been replaced with a black Cobra Commander who had an Air Trooper helmet/head. In this instance I actually took the time to bring it to the attention of the nearest employee, who happened to be some teen that I probably confused and frightened with my high level of geekitude.
The second fraudulent return I came across in the same day was at Toys R Us where a Crimson Guard five pack was replaced with four 25th style Strato Vipers and a red Cobra Commander. At least this pack was worth a purchase if you wanted a bunch of Strato Vipers without a lot of hassle. If you wanted actual Crimson Guards, then you were screwed by Mr. Anonymous Figure Swapper.
If you do something like this, I don’t care what your motivations are, you are stealing and it’s wrong. You can’t mix and match what figures you want at a store, just like you can’t mix and match DVDs or video games. Stop being childish and screwing over retailers and other consumers because of your idiocy. You suck.
Retailers need to be made aware that their return desks aren’t checking to see if the toys that are being returned are actually the ones in the package and it’s not that hard, really. If the pictures on the back of the box don’t match the ones behind the transparent plastic, then they aren’t the same. And don’t go saying that the return desk people are too stupid to perform such a task. Most of them are responsible enough to catch all kinds of crazy scams every single day. If they don’t know it’s a problem though, they won’t put in the extra effort to check.
The final issue with fraudulent figure swapping is the idiots who buy the swaps because they think they are highly valuable factory errors. Normally, I wouldn’t care about these fools, but when I have to read posts online from these guys who swear they found something ultra rare or Crom forbid, try to pass them off on eBay, well then that hurts my brain and I can’t have that.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Paul, I have seen some creative ones that really made me laugh, such as switching out like a crappy Valor vs Venom Ace for comic pack Ace. like it’s completely pointless but actually really funny. someone put so much time and effort into it and GOT AWAY with it
it’s not like anyone can’t find an ace vs Wild Weasel comic pack anyway. sometimes I think it is GI Joe Civil Disobedience as I said at Smash the State
but yeah sometimes people are just greedy and being dicks. toy collectors are naturally greedy and should be punished… so what if sometimes the swappers are dangerous vigilantes– but they’re on our side??
November 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’ve seen this a lot and almost always with GI Joes.
Way back in the first 5 packs I found a Cobra pack with a bunch of those generic Joeish figures in it. I took it up front, they said they would deal with it, the next day it was back on the shelf.
One of the more recent ones was a figure two pack where the weapons had all been replaced with Star Wars weapons. Oddly, there were also Star Wars figures with alternate weapons. It’s like someone had done it just to be a dickwad.
November 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
i support anything that screws with the capitalist pigs
viva socialism and the free swapping of toys amongst equals, yo joe
November 4th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I’ve only seen this a couple of times and not anytime recently. I always thought it was weird that someone would go to that much trouble to swap out figures.
What I saw more of when I was collecting Simpsons figures was people pulling out the figure mail away forms and that was even harder to notice, if you grabbed the figures quickly. Luckily I always checked, but I would have been pretty mad if I had bought some figures and the mail away forms were gone.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Yeah, swapping stuff is thievery and it is a dick move.
I do NOT get the guys who get all hot and bothered to the point of going on about how they hope to catch one “in the act” so they can administer a WWE style beatdown, which I’m sure ends with them gettin’ lucky with the cute toy-stocking girl who is swept off her feet by their manliness. Anyone ready to do actual physical violence over toys probably has deep issues.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Dude, I see that alot here but for STAR WARS figures. Not so much joes. Joes pegwarm around here like no tomorrow.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:06 am
I once ran into a figure swapped pack that I bought because it was a hell of a lot better than the original figures. I got a “BIG BEN/WHITEOUT” set in 2001 that had a 2000 Hiss 3 Driver and a 1997 Storm Shadow.
Some of them are hilarious as D. Verburg said. And while I don’t condone it (or like it if it’s a swap of something I want) I don’t really care enough to want to fight some 300 pound neckbeard. Or even bother to wish bad things upon them
November 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
I wish terrible things upon a well known scalper who runs the collectibles shop at the mall. I’m thankful that the economy is hurting his business and hopefully his shop will shutdown and there will be more hard to find product on the shelves.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
[...] a swap of Flash I with Professor Zoom. I can’t begin to describe how angry swapping makes me, oh wait I can. Did You Enjoy this Post? Subscribe to Toy Bender. It’s Free! « Back Home Posted in DC, [...]
March 6th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Man I sounded so bitter last year.
His shop hasn’t had customers in days. MUAHAHAHAHA>