iDance Wall*E

[tikistitch]

So, given our current constraints, mainly, that we have too much frakkin' STUFF, we decided to limit ourselves to one and only one toy from Disney/Pixar's insanely cute new movie, Wall*E. Our rule wrt licenses we don't collect has generally been that we must promise to use the item in daily life. Therefore, even though we don't seek out anime merchandise any more, an Astro Boy umbrella is OK, as it keeps us dry at the bus stop on rainy days.

Thus, we figured iDance Wall*E fit within our guidelines. After all, he plays MP3s. And, we listen to MP3s! Yay!! Thus, 'twas off to the Toys R Us in Bellevue, after a brief stop at the Car Place to get Mr. Tiki's beloved convertible all spit shined and pretty, we arrived at Toys R Us.

Now, tiki doesn't get out to toy stores much any more. But, given that we were looking for an item relating to the newest Disney movie, in fact, the Disney Pixar movie of the summer, we expected to wander in the door, and, after a momentary shudder from the blast of sweet, sweet air-conditioning, wander over to a vast end cap filled with licensed merchandise, from Wall*E inflatable pools to Wall*E electric golf carts to Wall*E charcoal briquettes to Wall*E aluminum siding.

But, there was nothing at the front of the store. Nothing. There was a Batman display, one supposes, aimed at the many 6 year old tots keening after Heath Ledger merchandise.

After a good 20 minutes of wandering around aimlessly, we finally located a Spiderman iDog. Which was, frankly, not what we were looking for. And then we finally found a few Wall*E figures on the pegs, tucked behind the action figures.

But no iDance. And we wanted iDance Wall*E. Dammit.

So, we went to Tar-jay....

Comments

[twotone]

Oh man! We've only been seeing WALL-E toys in Toys R Us so far (both of the TRU's we've been to have had moderately-sized WALL-E endcaps near the front of the store, although in both places the displays weren't as big as the Batman/Indy/Speed Racer ones), so we'd kind of assumed that TRU had some kind of "we get toys early" thing like WAL-Mart sometimes does.

I'll have to ask my husband to start haunting Target for Transforming EVE.

(Can't you collect more WALL-E stuff and consider it part of the Star Wars collection? I mean, he's voiced by R2D2...)

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

I remembered you were looking for EVE, but I didn't see her, either at TRU or Target. But remember, we just went to one of each and came home, so we're not terribly good toy spotters.

I was just a bit taken aback, as Wall*E is like THE Dizzney movie of the summer, and I remember going to TRU back around the premiere of, like, Finding Nemo, and seem to recall the store looked like an aquarium, what with all the little clown fish. Maybe the one TRU we went to was just kinda lame, I dunno. I ran into a couple of Microsoft Moms also in the Wall*e ghetto, looking for something for a kid. Other than the action figures, there were literally only *two* boxed Wall*E toys in the whole store (one of the transforming Wall*E, and one other), and the moms were looking kind of annoyed.

(Can't you collect more WALL-E stuff and consider it part of the Star Wars collection? I mean, he's voiced by R2D2...)

I know! He's practically canon!

The Disney blog had a list of easter eggs people have spotted in the movie so far, I was wondering if there's going to be a hidden R2 somewhere.

[twotone]

My gut feeling is that the poor performance (toy-wise) of Ratatouille may have scared retailers off of investing too much floorspace to WALL-E, especially since the WALL-E toyline doesn't, AFAIK, have any kid-friendly plush or beanies. I think it may be notable that Mattel (I think) broke its record for keeping Disney licenses and let Thinkway Toys take the WALL-E action figure license.

NOTE: These are all educated guesses on my part; the only insider sources we have don't work for Mattel. :p

EDIT: Scratch that, apparently there are plushies.
http://www.thinkwaytoys.com/MccOurToysV2b.asp?SelectMainCat=1&SelectSubCat=37

Hadn't seen any of these at the stores I'd been to.

[tikistitch.livejournal.com]

So far I've only seen Wall*E plushies at the Disney Store. And, their selection of Wall*E stuff wasn't great!! Of course, they're just going through a change in ownership, so that partly explains it. Though it hasn't seemed to have cut off the tap of High School Musical junk.

I love Thinkway - they did those awesome dueling Episode 1 banks. But, I wouldn't think they'd be geared up to be the major licensee for a Disney flick. Hrm. Maybe that's why so little product.

I'm gonna share your link with the LJ Dizney group I'm in - someone was looking for a huggable Wall*E.