Weekend Toy Run: Black Friday / Cyber Monday Online Toy Deals Round-Up (Updated)

Want to avoid the crowds on Black Friday, or resting your feet after spending all night at the stores? Kick back, relax, and shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals from the comfort of your home (or wherever you may be visiting from)!

I apologize in advance for any duds – I haven’t had the chance to check all of these out myself. But what else are we gonna do today? 😀 Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Some Good Deals at TFAW’s Gray Days of November Sale

There’s almost 500 action figures on sale during TFAW’s Gray Days of November Sale, which is on right now. I’ve found prices there start a bit high to begin with, so it takes some exceptional discounts to make it a good deal. So you may not find the prices that you’re looking for in their Hasbro (with Star Wars and G.I. JOEs as the bulk of the items) or Mattel DC sections, but look through and you will come across some gems.

For example, the excellent Ultraman, Power Ring, and Superwoman Crime Syndicate figures from DC Collectibles are under $13 each, and the Danaerys and Ned Stark Game of Thrones figures from Funko are under $14 each. I just did a quick run through, so there’s probably more deals worth pursuing that I missed. Happy shopping!

Weekend Toy Run: Entertainment Earth 4-Inch Action Figure Stands (25 for $6)

With Black Friday approaching, I’ve been getting ready for deals on action figures. So I was psyched to see that Entertainment Earth is running a pre-Black Friday sale. While I was less than enthused by the offerings in the action figure category – less than a dozen in total from Bandai (1), Bif Bang Pow! (7), DC Collectibles (2), and Jazwares (1) – something in the sale did catch my attention. They have stands for 4-inch action figures on sale – 25 stands for $6.

From time to time I get questions from readers on where to find stands. Back in the day, McFarlane sold them online, but stopped several years back. Pro Tech stands have been the de facto stand-in, but start at 44 cents a pop, although they get cheaper in big quantities. But at 24 cents a stand, the EE deal is pretty damn good; the cheapest the Pro Tech stands get are 33 cents each, but you have to buy over 500!

EE has got five color options – clear, white, tan gray, and black. These should work with all your Hasbro 4-inchers – G.I. JOEs, Marvel Universe, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones (although I don’t know many who have these) – and 4-inchers from other lines, like Playmates Star Trek figures.

Hopefully we’ll see some better deals as the week progresses, but for now, cheap stands are a decent start. Happy shopping!

Weekend Toy Run: Mimoco USB Drives are Great Stocking Stuffers

Mimoco USB Drives at Woot.com

Mimoco USB drives have returned to Woot.com for a sale that ends on Monday. Yeah, I know – how many of these USB drives do you actually need, what with everything moving to the cloud. But at close to half off, you may want to check out them out. After all, even if you’re not buying for yourself, they’d make great stocking stuffers for your friends and family.

Mimoco has licenses for most of the top pop culture brands, including Star Wars, Star Trek, DC Comics, Transformers, G.I. JOE, and many more. I’m particularly fond of their versions of Admiral Ackbar, Storm Shadow, and Bruce Lee. They’ve even got a Stormtrooper that reveals Han Solo or Luke Skywalker when unmasked. Pretty cool, right?

Soapbox Sunday: Latest Mattycollector Sale Shows Shortcomings; How to Turn it Around

Mattycollector Shortcomings

Remember the good (or bad, depending how you fared) old days when there were toys that you actually wanted to buy on Mattycollector on their monthly sales dates? Those toys would sell out in hours, sometimes minutes. And while that truly meant missed opportunities through lost sales, the quick sell-outs became the barometer for successful products.

Fast forward to today. We’re a couple of days past the Mattycollector sale for October, and looking at the sale page, there’s not a single item on the page that’s sold out. There’s not even a single item that’s marked with the “Almost Gone” tag that Mattel would add to give you a sense of urgency to grab up those soon to be sold out toys. And for a company whose marketing team is so fond of saying “We’ll keep making them as long as you keep buying them,” I’ve got to wonder how much longer Mattel will keep making them, because we certainly not buying them – at least not like we used to.

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