Thanks for the great piccies Kar, I am a bit useless when it comes to that kind of thing!
Well it didn't all go to plan. I took the kids to the local shopping centre (they have a fab playground and on Saturdays they have a big bouncy castle too) and rocked up to the counter at 10.30 and the dnotty nosed kid behind said I had to wait 3 minutes as they were still serving breakfast. I sat glaring at them for their 3 precious minutes, then marched back up only for them to tell me they weren't serving those toys yet (tried to get to pick from 3 nonsense generic toys). Perhaps it was the tone of my response, but the manager floated over and said if I came back in another 10 minutes they would be available - she would go and get them from out the back. So 10 minutes later I went back again - they had StarSong pony - but no Bakugan. So my son took one for the team and got a pony.
Feeling sorry for him we decided to get Dad a Happy Meal on the way home from the restaurant one closer to home so he could get a Bakugan toy. They informed us that the still only had one type of Shrek toy left and they weren't sure when the new ones would be available.
So both stores were still trying to flog off their old toys after the tv ads & website clearly stated the toys available now were My Little Pony & Bakugan. And yes they say you can swap your unopened toys later when they do have them in, but from experience they usually don't let you do that for the really popular new ones - again they try to fob you off with their unwanted leftovers.
So I am a bit cranky (obviously) about it at the moment, but I do have 3 StarSongs - one spare, one for me, and one my daughter has already combed into an afro. But it is just rude. I let it rip on their feedback form on their website, but I am sure they aren't really concerned about lil' ol' me....
Oh and for those MIB collectors - the ponies may be the same as the US ones but the baggie has 'Australia' all over it. If any one would like some please just let me know - I can see quite a few chicken snack wrap/apple slices/apple juice Happy Meals for my lunch in the next month!
And no, unfortunately none of the stores near here allow you to buy the toys without a meal... but I'll try the city when I am at work tomorrow - or at least try to swap my Rumplestiltzskin...