By mid November, we had hoped to have received a great many more items than what our November 2001 Arrivals section shows, thus enabling us to offer more new introductions for the holiday season. While there are some hopeful signs that a number of late comers will still trickle in, the fact remains that there’s going to be slim pickings going forward until the issues plaguing the supply chain get ironed out.
For instance, we had hoped that over a dozen new items from Corgi would arrive before Thanksgiving. Late yesterday we learned that barely four new products are expected this month: a single Tiger tank and a trio of 1:72 scale aircraft. It remains to be seen if the balance of their 2021 releases will arrive by year’s end or whether they will put into port in early 2022. Keep in mind that Corgi traditionally likes to announce their yearly lineup in January, so this year it appears as if they’ll be doing so while any number of 2021 introductions have still to put in an appearance.
Other manufacturers aren’t faring much better although we are still hopeful that both the September and October Hobby Master shipments will make it in time for the Thanksgiving banquet. Likewise, we haven’t heard anything further from the FOV camp, and with their very spotty track record of missing release dates, we’re inclined to believe that their late 2021 releases will more than likely show up in early 2022.
We aren’t expecting anything from Panzerkampf until early 2022, but we are crossing our fingers that both DeAgostini and PMA merchandise will be in more plentiful supply for the holidays. Other than that, there really isn’t all that much to crow about this holiday season since the port congestion issues continue to worsen despite efforts by the Administration and others to alleviate the congestion. And with transportation costs on the rise and inflation fears chiming in, it could be some time before our diecast ship rights itself and returns to the sea lanes as before. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there’s only so much good tidings we can sing about this holiday season.