I finally got myself one of the pioneer members of the Avengers, Ant-man. No thanks to the local distributor of Hasbro. As can be seen in the photos, this was sourced from another country. English is an official language in my country so there is no need to add what seems like Chinese labels on the packaging.
Based on another toy blog, these toys are already out in Singapore. A lot of online sellers have this posted on eBay. What is interesting is the price. Despite additional shipping charges and profit margin for the local reseller, some are being offered at competitive prices compared to those in major toy stores. I got my Ant-man at SRP. Other characters are below SRP while "rarer" characters are being sold at a higher price.
Pricing is so unlike the local distributor and major toy stores. All characters are priced equally, villain or hero, popular or not. Other sellers' prices are based on assumed demand. I'm glad that the demand for this figure is not that high. If the demand was high, the stocks should have run out weeks ago but I was able to buy one.
This figure is from the 3rd wave. There are still a lot of peg warmers from the 1st wave and some from the 2nd wave. I don't know if the major local distributor is still interested in distributing the rest of the series. It is the distributor's fault if they don't sell well. They increased the price just because of the re-branding. It's the same old marvel universe figure. I hope they learn from competition.
I also noticed that collectors of these figures are no longer as active in a local toy forum. A lot has stopped collecting these figures for two main reason--first, the increase in price; second, others decided to focus on the better articulated line, the Marvel Legends. This is good for me (less competition in buying). In case the demand eventually died down, and Hasbro decided to stop this line, I can just buy from those who quit collecting and customize the figures to the characters I want.
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