Hey guys,

I had a strange find today at Wal-Mart.

I picked up the Gung Ho, Cobra Viper two-pack because instead of the Cobra Viper, it's a CORPS action figure. He fits right into the bubble. I checked the packaging tape, but it appears to not have been tampered with. I imagine that this could be proof that these toys are manufactured at the same factory.

I can try and post up pics if noone's familar with this. I know it may sounds like a fake, or a scam, but it's not. I just don't know much about Joes. I'm a MOTU and Transformers guy.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

-DF

I'd like to see a pic of this. You might have a ingenous figure-swapper that you fell prey to. I presume it's still in package?

Yeah, I'll try and get picks up. Trust me, it hasn't been swapped. Tape and card at seams are perfect. But I'm sure me being a new guy, and claiming I have some wierd rarity is strange, and even I would suggest a swap.

I'll try and get pics up.

-DF

:D I'm not much older around here than you. Just joined about a month or so ago.

I actually don't even focus on variants or the sort, unless it's been pointed out in post that I run across or I notice it while perusing the archives.

Other, more experienced posters here, can most likely probally help you out here in regards to this than I could.

Still like to see pics of the front and back though. I've picked up the entire 2003 Commando Force CORPS run and and seen a few GH/Viper packs on shelves where I didn't notice any discrepancies. Seeing a Lanard fig mixxed with a Hasbro would be pretty interesting.

As an aside, I looked at the MISB Justin Case I bought today to army build a few of them for Beachhead to command and saw that the package said Kowloob, HK as the manufacturing origin (Manf HQ?). Does anyone know the specific manufacturing locale of Joes made in HK? Maybe this could provide a clue as to the possible same manufacturing locale for these lines?

I hate to disappoint you but it sound like you got a 2 pack that a figure swapper had his hands on. It is easy to open from the back and reseal it to like new condition. I bought one when i first started collecting again last november and it had a custom duke figure and something else in it. I thought it was an error. After examining it close when i got home and after i made a similar post I noticed a fingerprint on the sticky side of the tape which there shouldnt be any there. Due to the high demand of the viper and a lot of people dont want 100 gung ho figures unlike myself (Semper Fi) they are shoplifting the figures. And yes that is shoplifting. I hope this was helfpul.

I at least hope they did a good job on the custom Duke. :D Do you still have it?

I at least hope they did a good job on the custom Duke. :D Do you still have it?

No. I returned it in discust. I believe it was partially from the one that comes with the voice fx 12 inch duke. And some of the legs were from the other figure in the 2 pack. they were all mixed up. It was very strange. One of them had a different head of some kind also. I have i pic if interested.

I certainly would like to see a pic.

http://photos.yojoe.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=4697

Here is a link to my photos in Yo Joe. I just set this up so if there is a problem Let me Know. If you notice the lower halves of the legs have been switched also.

Wow, that's weird. I didn't realize the package was that easy to open.

Many recent Joe packages are easy to open since it is "normal" for the tape around the bubble to be crinkled

Can you do that with the TRU 6 packs too?

Sorry man, i think you have been duped, I myself have almost bought some 2 packs in my walmart (I thought at first they were rare variants) however upon closer inspection I found out they have been figure-swapped. That was late of last year. Since then it has been almost common in that same walmart for "rarities" to surface in between the racks but good thing no one is buying them.

One other thing that clued me in on your situation is, people buy the gung-ho vs cobra viper 2 pack for the cobra viper (xcept for some 'Semper Fi') anyway just so you know there is a cobra viper variant where the cobra logo is not present on the viper's chest. If I were you, return the 2 pack immediately while you still can & tell the store manager about figure swappers so no other poor soul will ever be duped again. Hope this helps.

I agree that is what i did with mine, however I had to remove it a couple more times before the right manager sent it back. I was lucky to find 2 of the variant vipers at the same store one day. Semper Fi

Hey you guys, thanks for all your help. I swear, the toy looks unopened but I bet if it was done by such a diehard Joe fan that wanted the Viper, he knew what he was doing. The thing looks perfect.

Yeah I'll prolly take it back tomorrow to Wal-Mart.

Thanks fellas.

-DF

I used to work for Wal-Mart in loss prevention. The reason this is so easily done, is because you will almost never find a collector working in customer service at one. The store I worked at got lucky, because of me being in that position. There was a guy that bought an entire case of JvC figures, before they could unpack it. All of the packs in the case, apperently, had the red Alley Viper in them, and he brought all of them back with cheap Corps figures (and not the cool ones from now adays, but the old, really crappy ones) in the place of the Alley Vipers. I just happened to be standing at the counter when he brought them back, and recognized the fuax pa. When the manager came up to authorize such a large return, I pulled him off to the side, and informed him. Another lucky break, one of the locol police that comes into the store from time to time was already there and they spoke to him about it. He came back over and told the guy that what he was doing was shoplifting, and asked that he leave the store. We also got a Criminal Trespass citation on him, meaning he was not allowed back into the store or on the gounds for 90 days.

As a side note, he was back in the store the following week, and we had him picked up for trespassing. Unfortunbately, not all scammer/swapper stroies end this way, but I was more than happy to have a hand in this one.

Oh, and dude... sorry, but you're a swapper victim.

-Jim

Good eye on that. I am an officer in Clarksburg, WV and I also work in uniform at our Local Wal Mart, which is the busiest in the district, Wal mart has some laid back attitudes. The older guy who works at the customer service desk helps us a lot however he can tell the management that this item was stolen and they still have to give them a gift card even if they don't have a receipt. At least now they have a 3 returns only without a reciept now but they still hardly enforce it due to the customers complaining or shall i say thieves. I could go on forever with other incidents.

Oh, I know exactly what you're saying. That's one of the reasons I quit. You try and do your job (loss prevention) and they tell you to let it go if someone decides to play the scene out. "Don't want to offend someone... better to takew the loss" they say. I couldn't take too much of that.

-Jim

yes I am friends with our loss prevention and they feel the same that you do. They can guarantee that someone committed shoplifting and they are threatened to be fired if we cant find the product on them. So we will charge the suspect with destruction of property if we know they are a cockroach just to save their hyde. I did inform them about figure swapping also they are good at their job so i leave it to them I just do the paperwork and I am a deterent although the theives will talk to me like i am their friend and steal from me when i turn my back.

... although the theives will talk to me like i am their friend and steal from me when i turn my back.

Or while you're still looking at them sometimes. Anyhow, I quite Wal-Mart a while back Amazing, though. I am currently the security supervisor of a major tourist attraction here in Fort Worth, and still run into the same problems. We have certain rules and guidelines to enforce, but the admins such a weenie, that when we don't enforce them, of course, he jumps my case, and if we do enforce them and someone complains about the rulkes, he jumps my case. I have come to the conclusion that we are not there for security... we are there so he has someone to blame when his BS rules don't work out the way he wants. Anyhow, that'sd a topic for a different place. Just thought I'd vent.

-Jim

I understand! but the bottom line is that I believe he was juped.

Juped? LOL, I know what you mean, and yes, I agree. Take that crap back and get your money, dude. You got ripped!

-Jim

wasn't the fact that VM on the front card art had no head a dead give away that it was a swap?

Y'know, I really was trying to leave that part alone. :D

-Jim

While only having heard of figure swapping until about three years ago...I wonder how many of the people here actually do it. Anyone know of someone on the board who has admitted to doing it "once or twice" and the reaction from the other readers?

On a side note, shoplifting is such a lucrative crime because of the reluctance to enforce the rules...but man when they do...they do...case in point...I worked at a mall and I was working on December 24...it was about 2 in the afternoon and some chick was brought down for shoplifting...due to the time and date and the fact that it was a Friday...this chick was not going to get out of jail until MONDAYright through Xmas.......how do you explain that to your child??? Thats all I could think of....was it worth it ??? Hardly

I also would comment that security is there as a DETERENT to crime...and not prevention or enforcement...I can sympathize with enforcing the rules and having it blow up in your face...It's even harder when you KNOW you arent supposed to comply with a superiors request when it itself breaks policies and endangters those around them as well as the individual themself...thats why I finally left after 4 years in that place....Tired of the outright violations in our face and refusal to reinforce..but no back-up when you did what you were "suposed" to do

Finally... someone that feels my pain! After Wal-Mart, I went to work for a security patrol company out of north Dallas. I worked for them for 3 1/2 years before I finally got away from them. Anytime there was something that happened on the property, if we didn't catch it in progress we got jumped by the management and our own bosses. But if we did catch something and stop it, the managers of the properties wouldn't do anything to the person, but blow the whole thing off, and our bosses would yell at us for letting it keep going on. A true lose-lose situation. Eventually, they closed the office I supervised, and let everyone go. They tried to place me on a slum property in south Oak Cliff (you boys from the area know what that means... I'm white and in uniform!) and when I refused it they threatened to fire me. But the way they worded it, in front of a patrol room full of officers was, "Either you can take it or we can lay you off." I took the lay off. They, of course, tried to back out of the statement and backpedal on it, but I threatened to force the issue in court. Needless to say, I won. Now how on God's green earth did that happen!? :confused:

-Jim

i was at walmart the other day. i was at customer service counter returning a car battery for my core deposit. anyhow a guy in front of me was claiming the following....
he bought a digital camera (in the case btw) and got home and oppened it. and guess what? the camera was missing. he was saying he got the display box. customer service rep was telling him that was impossible cause the display box is in the back room not on the floor. he was getting on her case saying he was right. i pulled a manager over that was there and let her know that this happened to me at kmart with some camcoders and the guy was lying through his teeth. told her that he had the camera and was trying to score a 2nd one. she said she will inform the boss.
now my take. if i buy something that high and the box is oppened i sure as heck am checking it before i leave. that guy was lying through his teeth. i have no idea if he got it or not but knowing walmart they gave him a new one.

Well I agree figure swapping and a first time shoplifting shouldn't end you up in jail. especially over the holidays. However 3rd offense in WV is a felony which is 1 yr in jail so figure swapping could land you a healthy sentence if it would be your 3rd offense. Personnally most of the people that i see do jail time do deserve it. They are the same people in my city that neglect their children due to their drug habbit. And they are the ones that are breaking into homes and businesses and beating people with bats to take their narcotics. So the way i see it some of them deserve a 1 to 3. I'll be glad to put them there however it takes. But again the occassional child or adult who just messes up a time or 2 does deserve a fine as a deterent and that is our officers choice here on how we want to handle it. Most of the time they dont take care of the ticket so we have to dismiss it and reissue it as a warrant for their arrest. Some people don't appreciate a break. Figure swapping is BAD!!

I love these threads. no offense to any of you who are duped, but I love the way that the swap is rationalized and logic thrown right away as if the three stooges work at the factories just throwing in every other toyline into different packages. hate to break it to you, but if you find a frankensteined figure in a package...it isn't a variant. and if you find a Barbie crushed into a Joe pack, it doesn't mean they make them at the same factory.:)

I could post that I found a rare Gung Ho/Viper error packed with a toothbrush in place of the Viper and someone would ask for pics...I'll post them when I list it on ebay. :)

I love these threads. no offense to any of you who are duped, but I love the way that the swap is rationalized and logic thrown right away as if the three stooges work at the factories just throwing in every other toyline into different packages. hate to break it to you, but if you find a frankensteined figure in a package...it isn't a variant. and if you find a Barbie crushed into a Joe pack, it doesn't mean they make them at the same factory.:)

I could post that I found a rare Gung Ho/Viper error packed with a toothbrush in place of the Viper and someone would ask for pics...I'll post them when I list it on ebay. :)


watch it get like 50 bucks lol