The Yak Shack Forum

I haven't seen these at my Wal-Mart or Target yet.  Has anyone seen them?   ???

They were at my local Wal-Mart in Massachusetts.  I bought three packs.  I didn't get a costume, but I pulled one A card and one B card that I needed.

There are a ton of people on eBay with guaranteed packs.  One seller has four of these packs in one auction.  I wouldn't hold out much hope of pulling a costume from an open box in a Wal-Mart of Target. :-\

Well, the last time I checked those stores was 2 days ago.  If they have arrived since then I'm sure someone has picked over them by now.  I'll check those pack auctions, thanks!

I went to Wal-Mart on Tuesday to buy the GOF DVD and watched a clerk open a fresh Evolution box and put it on the shelf in the trading card area.  I had hoped for good luck, knowing no one had searched the packs.  Oh well.  I'll try again when we take the kids to the comic book store.  The employees don't search the boxes, which are kept right at the register so no one else can search them.  I've had good luck with the packs I've bought there. :)

Nothing where I'm at either. i've been looking so I can buy some.

I was at Target yesterday and I saw nothing LOTR!! My local Wal-Mart doesn't have anything either!! >:()

We're relying on you to find them so you can sell your spares to us poor LOTR-collectors here in the UK who have none!! ;) :rofl:

I wonder if Tom still has any boxes - does anyone know?

He has some listed on eBay right now, so I'd say he still has some. ;)

Fantastic... I'll email him :D thanks

I just got back from my local WalMart - no sign of any Evolutions!   :P

I ordered some evo retail.  It really isn't a bad buy at a little more than $30 a box.  At least when you compare it to FOTRU TTU (although you had a 1 in 3 or 4 box chance for an auto too) and ROTKU, those were all at a minimum of $50 a box and more for the first two sets.

The cases are 12 box cases too, not the 4 box cases so I would hope the odds are better to get a couple of the rarer costume cards.  We will see I guess.

Yeah I think it's pretty good value too... and as soon as I free some money up I could do to get a few boxes... if Tom has any left at that point. LOL I believe there are other retailers ;) I just haven't heard of any coming into the UK under official channels

I think we'll only see boxes/cases of retail appearing here in the UK after the fuss has died down over the hobby version first. ;)

Does Walmart typically carry these type of collectible cards?  I have only briefly browsed through their card boxes in the past and never noticed anything of interest.  I would assume they only get retail boxes at all though.  What have you found so far?

Some Wal-Marts carry retail boxes and others don't.  At the store near me, I've seen retail LOTR (most of the releases), Batman Begins, and Star Wars.  Now that I think about it, those are all Topps products.  The chain must have an agreement with Topps.

You would think that all WalMart stores would carry the same product but they do not.  Mine here in New Hampshire did carry boxes of Batman Begins but I did not see any Star Wars or Evolutions or any Lord of the Rings from any of the sets.   :P

My husband found a box of retail at a Wal-Mart today and bought me 5 packs.  I got......a Frodo costume!  ;D  And a level A Sam.  ;D  Still nothing at Target.  Does anyone know the odds of pulling a Frodo? I can't find anything on the Topps website.  What are the most rare costumes?

Ermmmm I think it goes .... (from commonest to rarest) something like this -
Frodo Cloak, Pippin Cloak, Merry Cloak, Galadriel Cloak, Gandalf Shirt, Gandalf Cloak, Arwen Nightgown

Hopefully someone else will post the insertion ratios off one of the wrappers for you Kelly, I'm just going on how flippin' difficult some of these are to get! ::) :P

Good going on getting a costume though and a heck of a lot cheaper than having to buy the whole box too! ;) ;D

How stupid of me.  I have wrappers!  Now let me try to find them.  ::)
Got them! 

Here are the odds:
Frodo 1:72
Pippin 1:106
Merry 1:165
Galadriel 1:184
Gandalfs cloak 1:327
Gandalfs shirt 1:464
Arwens nightgown 1:464
(revised odds per Riedelmundos correction post)  ;)

He took them all off the left side if anyone wants to know. ;)  It was also a full box.

I think the only chance of retail in shops in the UK will be Toys R Us. Anyone heard anything? :o=

Hmm... From my 6 retail boxes, the memorabilia cards were all from the right side of the box. :-\

Can you tell just by feeling the packs which one has the Costume card?  This skill would come in very handy if you could go cherry picking for that pack at a WalMart or other similar type store.

Yeeps Ed - are you trying to get us in trouble? He hee. It would be pretty harsh to strip the box... then again it would also be pretty harsh to buy packs from a stripped box... those "guaranteed memorabilia pack"  (http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-1738318-5463217?loc=http%3A//search.ebay.com/search/search.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D%2528Lord+of+the+rings%252C+LOTR%2529+evolution+guaranteed)auctions you see on ebay have to come from somewhere :(

The odd thing is that those packs go for almost as much as a box... which is just plain strange

I can't tell the difference.  But that's okay with me since I usually buy cards by the box anyways, I'm always surprised when I pull an insert. :D

Yes, I could tell with mine.  When I got my 5 packs I bent them just a tad to see if I could tell a difference.  I knew right away that one was stiffer.  0:)

I can tell the difference with HP, but not with any other release.  I usually cherry pick my own boxes and open those packs last.  I really hate to pull the chase card just a few packs into a box and then have nothing left to look forward to. :-\

It should be:

Gandalfs shirt AND Arwens nightgown 1:232 which means that the individual odds for each of them is 1:464.

From opening 3 cases I also know from experience that the Arwen and Gandalf cards are the rarest.

Oh Crumbs that IS a tough pull! How did you do with your cases Ray? Or is it a national secret? :D

You're right.  How ridiculous.  Why didn't they just put 1:464 for each on the wrapper?

No problem, here is the info...........

I opened 3 cases, 36 boxes total. Only 34 had a costume card in it and the breakdown was as follows:

9x Frodo
8x Pippin
6x Merry
4x Galadriel
3x Gandalf's Cloak
1x Arwen
3x Gandalf's Shirt

The first case I opened included all 7 different costume cards. I was :rofl: because I expected I would end up with 3 complete sets from my 3 cases. Well, as you can see, I did not, the other 2 cases were unfortunately not so good.

 :rofl:  I think you have sketch cards on the brain.  I think you meant costumes. ;)

Not that big of a deal....but I picked up 6 packs at my local walmart.  The box looked like it hadn't been sifted through (But who is to tell??)  No costumes, but the cards are gorgeous.  I did get two stained glass cards, and they look great.  The retail box price isnt too bad, maybe I'll pick up two to take a shot at completing a nice stained glass set?  What do you think?  Would I need more boxes than that?  Plus, get a chance at a costume or two.

On that note, does anyone here have any retail or hobby boxes they would be willing to sell?  If not, there is always ebay.

Yeah there's a good insert rate on the Stained glass cards - so yes I'd advise you to grab one and try your luck.

I just came back from my WalMart store and they are not carrying any Evolutions this week either.  I spoke to a few store employees who said that all the stores do not carry the exact same product.  And here I was all set to cherry pick out those Clothing cards!   :P

In Jacksonville only the super Wal-marts have them.  The little Wal-marts don't.
So I guess they really won't be showing up at Target at all?

It's doubtful  >:D They did Fellowship and the Update, and the first Two Towers. Trouble is, people who knew what to look for grabbed all the good cards early on (Yes, including me!!). It might be worth looking in Ottakars too, they did Fellowship ond Return. Why they skipped Two Towers, I have no idea  ???

Rob

I think they must have just missed your branch Rob, I bought my first ever Hobby pack of cards from Ottakars, and it was a pack of the Two Towers  ;D

I stopped mentioning any secrets that I have learned about where and how to find cards. I got chewed out by a Yak Shaker for doing it. BaWaaaaa :'( :'( :'( :'(       :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I think the reason for charging so much for a guaranteed Mem0. Card pack is it's to pay for storage on unsold base sets.  :rofl: :rofl:

Yes, you are right, I edited the post.