The Grinch is Here!

Menards has jumpstarted the Christmas Holiday decorating season by releasing their coveted Grinch Lighted Yard Decor blow mold figure already.  He is made by Gemmy and stands about 2 ft tall, with two lights in the back.

This is the 2nd year the Grinch has been produced, and Gemmy made some changes for this year.  The plastic seems a bit thicker, especially in the pointed feet where it was common last year to see dents.  As well, the paint is different and it seems to have a better adhesion or thicker paint possibly this year. 

Another change is the quantity they produced.  Last year, there were fewer than 10 at most Menards stores.  This year, the stores I checked are showing 20 in stock, in addition to the reserves at the distribution centers.  For more context on quantity, the first box I picked up yesterday indicated it was #550 of 666 cartons, and each carton contains 2 Grinches.  Then I had some delivered today from their online order delivery.  That box says box # 195 of 855.  So what does that all add up to?  If there were only 2 lots of Grinches, 855 boxes + 666 boxes = 1521 boxes x 2 Grinches/box = over 3,000 new Grinches this year.  Minimum.  

So if you go on eBay or Mercari or other sites and see people still asking $100-$200+ for these, you can laugh to yourself, pray for those who spend that much, and educate your collecting friends about how prevalent the Grinch mold is this year.  I'm sure someone at Menards can give more exact numbers, although twice as many as last year seems like it should make a decent dent in the supply and demand curve.  In the interest of full disclosure, I've personally put a few on Mercari for a very reasonable price in an attempt to put a damper on the exploitation, to the extent it will help.  I did get some kudos from folks just thanking me for making them available for less so at least it did some good.  I also have a couple available for direct purchase here through our website www.undreamt3d.com and www.blowmoldstore.com  
This is just for convenience in case you need some top notch blow mold parts or accessories, and figure you might as well grab a Grinch too while you're at it :)

So kudos to Menards for stepping up and ordering up a whole ton of Grinch molds for this year & helping to reduce the number of actual Grinches out there exploiting the blow mold craze.  It was very smart of them to get ahead of the rush this year.  I know that, like me, many of you are also awaiting any other molds they decide to come out with this year.  There is definitely a market for the right pieces at the right prices (& with the right paint job) so let's hope they made some other good decisions for this year.  Speaking of which, the officially licensed Rudolph blow mold was also a hit last year and it appears dozens of stores in Ilinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Wisconsin received a pair each, so maybe others will more them too!

With Menards' approach this year, hopefully everyone that wants a Grinch can get one without paying excessively high prices, and we can all save our money for some great finds in garage sales and thrift stores, or maybe for replacing a missing candle flames, reindeer antlers, or other fun and exciting replacement parts.  

As always, let us know here at Undreamt3D if you need any parts or accessories for your Blow Mold display.  We'll be adding a few more products this week and next so stay tuned! 

Happy Blowmolding!
-Eric & Matt