JoeCanuck

Just curious what other Canadians think about Joes these days. Maybe it's the fact that another year has gone and very few Joes (and Joe knockoffs) have made it to Canadian toy shelves that has left me kind of disillusioned. I know that we can order online or hook up with someone in the States to pick up things for us but am I the only one who actually enjoyed walking into a store and finding something new? When I was a kid I collected the Adventure Team (waaaaaaaaaay back in the 70's) and there were tons of figures and accessory packs to be found. Even Super-Joe was easy to find after the 12" figures went the way of the dinosaur. When the 80's came and the 3 3/4" figures and vehicles came out they were everywhere. I remember the drugstore in my small hometown getting all of the figures and most of the smaller and mid-sized vehicles. Of course, with the success of the Joe figures came the various companies who made knockoff figures which sometimes were just as cool as the Joes (remember General Patch?).
These days I walk into Toys R Us and find a few leftover Corps sets which have sat in the same spot for two years and no new Joes. Actually that's not entirely true. The manager of the Toys R Us closest to me said they go in one case of the figures with Venomous Maximus for Christmas. hooray.
For some reason we are being left out of the army builder sets, the Toys R Us repaints such as the Cobra Ninjas and other six packs, almost all of the vehicles and there isn't much out there to replace it. Walmart gets a lot of Transformers and Batman figures but not much else.
After thirty-some years of collecting Joes I think I'm finally getting tired of looking anymore. Just curious if anyone else is in the same boat.

I just heard from a friend that they watched something on the news about Toys R Us closing all of it's Canadian stores. Anyone else hear anything about this?

I know one shouldn't complain since we are finally getting the new waves of figures - although they come and go so fast you have to be quick- but does anyone think we are actually going to get the new TRU 6-packs, comic 3-packs, single packs or any new vehicles in Canada? I have to admit that the shaky distribution of Joe products is really killing my enthusiasm for the line. While on-line stores are the logical alternative I really miss going into a store, looking through the selection and just buying what I want without having to worry about shipping, insurance, exchange rates, etc. Yes, we Canadians are getting a bit of what's out there but wouldn't it be great to have access to the whole collection? I'm curious if anyone who went to the convention asked Hasbro reps if things were going to get better for us.

if Giant Tiger in Edmonton carries the 3 3/4" Power Team / World Peacekeepers figures and vehicles? I contacted Gordon Chin from M&C toys and he said Giant Tiger was the main distributor in Canada. After reading about some people who can't find any of the figures or vehicles at Giant Tigers across Canada I'm wondering if I should drive to Edmonton to check it out or just ask someone already there. I've tried to get a phone number for Giant Tiger but have come up empty handed. Help!!!