The Energon Pub

That's Hasbro Canada, isn't that just a branch of Hasbro, like Hasbro UK? I thought Hasbro proper was based in the US? Well, at any rate, Hasbro Canada seems to at least know how to treat their consumers - by stocking their stores...

Hellscream9999 wrote:That's Hasbro Canada, isn't that just a branch of Hasbro, like Hasbro UK? I thought Hasbro proper was based in the US? Well, at any rate, Hasbro Canada seems to at least know how to treat their consumers - by stocking their stores...

I was partly messing with you. Yes that is Hasbro Canada, but it appears on all the stateside toys as the main adress. That arcee for instance, never ever saw release in canada, thats why I used it as an example. Our generations toys dont come with comics.
Anyways, the next time you get a new toy, check out the legal in the back and you will see that Canada is the main adress for some reason.

william-james88 wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:That's Hasbro Canada, isn't that just a branch of Hasbro, like Hasbro UK? I thought Hasbro proper was based in the US? Well, at any rate, Hasbro Canada seems to at least know how to treat their consumers - by stocking their stores...

I was partly messing with you. Yes that is Hasbro Canada, but it appears on all the stateside toys as the main adress. That arcee for instance, never ever saw release in canada, thats why I used it as an example. Our generations toys dont come with comics.
Anyways, the next time you get a new toy, check out the legal in the back and you will see that Canada is the main adress for some reason.

Huh, you're right... weird... (I forgot that I had a spare Hotspot in box on the top of my shelves...)

I checked the internet's shelf. It's pretty full. They've got a pretty bad markup on Deluxe Groove right now but I think there's a sale next week on it or something.

Real talk: I don't use brick and mortar retail as a primary source for collecting Transformers anymore. Is it fun to walk in a store and get something? Yes. However in this calendar year I think brick and mortar retail has yielded me Sky Lynx, the second RiD Mini-Con 4-pack, and some of the Wave 6 CW deluxes but that was just to take advantage of some saved up TRU dollars. Everything else has been an online purchase, including the third RiD Mini-Con 4-pack which just showed up yesterday which is freaking amazing.

william-james88 wrote:Check the selection AND price!



And its Canadien dollars, so scratch an extra 25% off to see the US value.

Those wave 4 and 5 deluxe collector cards, just sitting right there in packages, waiting to be thrown away instead of sold to me

ScottyP wrote:Those wave 4 and 5 deluxe collector cards, just sitting right there in packages, waiting to be thrown away instead of sold to me

The situation isnt as dire as before though for those not getting the cards. Unlike the previous cards which actually featured artwork different to the backing card (which was quite cool), the 2016 waves dont feature new artwork. Its just the backing card in smaller format, hence why I didnt bother making a news post showing them. There was nothing new

william-james88 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:Those wave 4 and 5 deluxe collector cards, just sitting right there in packages, waiting to be thrown away instead of sold to me

The situation isnt as dire as before though for those not getting the cards. Unlike the previous cards which actually featured artwork different to the backing card (which was quite cool), the 2016 waves dont feature new artwork. Its just the backing card in smaller format, hence why I didnt bother making a news post showing them. There was nothing new

It's not the lack of having the actual content that bugs me, it's having this binder with pages of all the CW cards that skips over the deluxes post-wave 1. At least I have the Protectobots set on the way from the UK.

I still don't know how to feel about those cards. One part of me thinks there cool little pieces of art, the crazy collector part of me wants to hoard them away, the very small rational part of me thinks they're taking up the space of two deck of cards and the rational part's toadie keeps whispering faintly in my ear to just toss them all.

So right now they're just stashed safely away in a drawer where I forget about them until I get another and start this crazy person inner dialog back up.

carytheone wrote:I still don't know how to feel about those cards. One part of me thinks there cool little pieces of art, the crazy collector part of me wants to hoard them away, the very small rational part of me thinks they're taking up the space of two deck of cards and the rational part's toadie keeps whispering faintly in my ear to just toss them all.

So right now they're just stashed safely away in a drawer where I forget about them until I get another and start this crazy person inner dialog back up.

I always just did the same thing with them, but recently I dug out every TF collector card that I own (that I could find) and put them in nice card sleeves. Those ones that fit in three ring binders were really cheap at a local toy/card show, then some cheap binders at Target = done. It's really fun to just flip through them. The MP cards are especially classy, though I wish they had kept the "standard" style for the front instead of changing them up to the action poses starting with Exhaust.

So I visited a few places recently...

Wal-Mart - Denham Springs, LA - 5/20


K-Mart - Natchez, MS - 5/21


Wal-Mart - Vidalia, LA - 5/21


Wal-Mart - Baton Rouge, LA - 5/22


Target - Baton Rouge, LA - 5/23


A different Wal-Mart - Baton Rouge, LA - 5/23

note the leader Starsream

Wal-Mart - Natchez, MS (forgot to snap a pic, but I'll be back later in the week) - 5/23 *edit, plans changed and I didn't get a chance to go back, not missing anything though*

Wal-Mart - McComb, MS - 5/23





EDIT: looks like a broke some pics - they're missing on my side as well - not fixing them btw

woah, they still have silverbolt and Leader Megatron?! We can definitely call those shelfwarming now.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

I live in the UK so RID warriors are Rare (mostly Tesco), Legions are rarer (again mostly Tesco), 3 steps are rare (Sainsburys) Combiner Wars barely ever show up when they did it was only in Sainsburys and that was across several towns. Combiner Wars Legends only really show up in ASDA

Toys R Us couldn't even be bothered to properly distribute their own Transformers Exclusives. and they have so few Transformers they barely beat a small supermarket - what they do have is a huge rack of AOE one-steps and Power Attackers and if you are luck they might have the odd Ironhide or Mirage.

Combiner Wars Voyagers are stuck on the Cyclonus/Hotshot wave and refuse to budge and even then it's only Argos that sells them.

Leader class is impossible to get (outside of say Forbidden Planet).

The distribution on Star Wars is pretty messy too and Marvel Figures are hard to find even the 5 POA ones. But then who wants to pay £20.00 for a 6" figure anyway. The Marvel 3.75" Distribution is messed up globally though not just in the UK - though at least the other places get "something" a bit more often than we do.

As is usual the drought will end around July-September and stock will be around until about Jan 2017 then it will all vanish again until the next June-September There is always 6 Months or so of naff all every year now.

(continued from laughter above) ..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH.

This is an *actual toy store* in Italy.

Brag/Cry? Who knows, but I do get around!

The other Target in Baton Rouge, LA 5/26



And yet another Walmart in Baton Rouge 5/26



How about another nother Walmart in BR, yeah we gots a **** ton of 'em 5/28


Hey a leader Magnus in the wild, three to be exact.

Target Slidell, LA 5/31



Walmart Slidell, LA 5/31


I've been spotting a lot of leader Starscreams lately.

TRU Slidell, LA 5/31 (all three are on the same stretch of road)



Target Hammond, LA 5/31



And finally a little home field advantage at the TRU in Baton Rouge, LA 6/02


Anyone need a Scattershot? They have like 7 of them.

I hit some of my other usual hunting grounds during these trips, but nothing has really changed since my last post.

carytheone wrote:

I don't need to post a picture of my Walmart and its TF collection. This is a dead mirror of it. no joke

Nice Cary, you gyus actually have the Grimlock battle armour minicon set. I hope it gets to canada soon. And your walmart section looks the same as mine. Its only the TRu tf secton that I brag about.

william-james88 wrote:Nice Cary, you gyus actually have the Grimlock battle armour minicon set. I hope it gets to canada soon. And your walmart section looks the same as mine. Its only the TRu tf secton that I brag about.

We've had him and Bee for some time now. Those figures are pretty nice. I only have the OP set, but Grimy keeps catching my eye. The figure looks almost identical to the warrior class figures.

I kinda want Strongarm, that figure looks pretty cool. And you know those minicons need to be mine.

Our distribution of figures seems pretty average. Every once and a while we get stuff early and sometimes we get stuff late. I'm hunting Sky Lynx pretty hard as you can probably see from all my stops. We've had a sighting in-town about a week or so ago, but I was out of town and it's way on the other side of our city by the campus. I really just never get out that way and I'm too lazy to take the time to go over there.

Dr Va'al wrote:(continued from laughter above) ..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH.

This is an *actual toy store* in Italy.

Laugh it up, but see that three-step Grimlock? The "Stealthasaurus" deco one? It ain't out here yet. No sign of it, even online!

ScottyP wrote:

Dr Va'al wrote:(continued from laughter above) ..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH.

This is an *actual toy store* in Italy.

Laugh it up, but see that three-step Grimlock? The "Stealthasaurus" deco one? It ain't out here yet. No sign of it, even online!

You want one?

Dr Va'al wrote:
You want one?

If it isn't out here in two months, yes I'm sure the shipping cost would be about as much as the toy itself!

via Imgflip Meme Generator

Because my Walmarts look the same as all of yours if not worse:

Still waiting on a store to get the new minicons that are not waves 1 and 2....

william-james88 wrote:via Imgflip Meme Generator

Because my Walmarts look the same as all of yours if not worse:

At least yours has fracture and leader 'scream, I haven't even seen leader 'scream in person; and beside's your wal-marts are way better than mine, last I checked they didn't even have any tf figures in stock

I will count myself lucky then. Even so, I do have that nice TRU to brag about

I'm very disappointed in my local Toys R Us right now. Usually they're well-stocked in the TF section, even have some stuff from 1 or 2 years ago, but recently they've been very lean. Most likely due to the influx of Star Wars, Batman vs. Superman, Avengers, and TMNT stuff. So hopefully in the 2nd half of the year they pick it back up. It got so bad I even considered going back into Target, after having sworn them off forever due to their horrible new bathroom policies.