I have some news. Before I finish this, let me make it abundantly clear, this is not guaranteed. This is guess work (but it fits, I'll explain) and as such it must be taken with a grain of salt until we see otherwise. I repeat, not guaranteed.
I went to Wal-Mart this morning to get stuff for my dad and decided to stop by toys. They were working frantically to move a bunch of TFs and Spider-Man stuff, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I saw her, a Hasbro rep helping them with the layout.
I walked up to her and asked her about Masterpiece Starscream and she said "I'm sorry. I've heard absolutely nothing about it. Obviously you have, otherwise you'd not be asking. I'm guessing you got your info from the internet?" I said yes, showed her the UPC all of it, yada yada yada. She said "You'll find out about it long before I will. I'm just here to help push things along on what's currently available. I can't give you any of the info that you're asking for because I simply don't have it."
So the Toy Department manager said "No problem. I'll go check in the back on the inventory computer and check our warehouses." So as he was heading off I gave him the UPC and said "Hasbro told me in an email that they're shipping to Wal-Marts nationwide, as we speak." He said okay and walked back.
The woman had me follow her to her cart full of paperwork and started flipping through it, she showed me what's out and what is to come. (BTW...the Allspark Power line *is* due in January. Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader Classes. Second-third week of the month. This I saw with my own eyes, she even reaffirmed it for me. This part is 100%.) Well she's flipping through all of it and guess what? Masterpiece Starscream doesn't appear in any of her pages. Not for Wal-Mart, Target, Toys "R" Us, K-B, any of it. Nada, zip, zilch. She asked me if I knew I had the right item and I told her how it was packaged, pieces have hit eBay, etc. "Oh it's in Hasbro packaging? Well then, that means he's being produced and he's a legit item, plus that is a TransFormers designated upc you have. It's really odd that it's not showing up in here. I have a list of all figures, including exclusive figures through summer 2008."
So we waited for the guy to come back. Five minutes later, he shows up and says "Not in our warehouses, not on any invoices, none here in the store, none in any of the stores for at least a 100 mile radius. Nothing." He asked me again if I was sure it was an exclusive and I told him and her all about BotCon and how it said November, A-HQ said October, etc. I mentioned Black Friday and right then, both of them had the idea light bulb over their heads (not literally, figuratively. I say I say, listen son. Pay attention.)
The guy said "Well you might just have your answer right there." I looked at him really puzzled because he knew more than he was saying and I had to kinda get it out of him.
He said (and I quote!):
"Black Friday items aren't in the computers until a week in advance. The home office and the printing company that handles the circular are the only ones who know what will be coming that day, long in advance. So if he's a Blitz exclusive, that explains why he's not registering on any computer. Also, you said he's currently shipping to us, well that can take months. All of our freight involving items like this come by surface mail from China. That literally takes weeks to cross the ocean because of all of their stops. Plus it has to go through customs, and then sits at the docks in California for a couple of weeks before being processed for our warehouses. With all of that, Black Friday sounds like a reasonable time frame. It covers the shipping time, it covers his exclusivity, and why we can't find him in the computer. Not to mention, that would explain why a Fall item doesn't show up on any of the mods."
The rep then piped up and said "That also explains why it's not in my paperwork. My guess is he *is* a Wal-Mart exclusive, but most likely a Blitz exclusive, and I have no information on those. That's handled by corporate and the retailers. It's a deal between the two of them, we the middle men are left completely out when it comes to something like this. You say he's in the process of shipping to stores now, well the November time frame would fit. They most likely started shipping him at the beginning of September, end of August."
So we had the guy run through his Telzone once more just to be sure and he said "Not on file. If I was a betting man, I'd almost bet the house he'll be here for Black Friday. That does present a problem though. We cannot order anything, we're only given a specific number of said item and if it's still in stock after 11:00, great. If not, you're screwed. So if it is a Blitz item, be here and be in line, because you're going to have to beat the crowds to get him."
The rep said "With the sales of these figures as they are, I wouldn't doubt he'll sell out, so if you want one, you better be here early, like he said. In fact, TransFormers is one of our top five hot Christmas brands. Now with the movie out on DVD, the toys will sell even more."
I thanked them both, and walked away.
So to recap...
1.) He *is* shipping to Wal-Mart as we speak. (This was confirmed by emails to Hasbro.)
2.) He will arrive around November if he's in shipping right now. (confirmed by rep)
3.) He is a Wal-Mart exclusive, but it remains to be seen whether or not that's a Black Friday Blitz only exclusive, or a store exclusive, period.
4.) Black Friday Blitz items do not appear in the computer until one week before the actual sale, so if they tell you it's not in their system, they ain't lyin'. They can't get access to his info.
So while it's not 100% concrete, this does look like this is the scenario. A Black Friday Blitz exclusive. That would explain the price, the hush hush about all of it in the computers, people being out of the loop.
I'm hoping it's not a BFB exclusive and can be found regularly, but if it must be a BFB exclusive...I'll be there. Oh yes, I shall be there.
Sorry to burst any bubbles people. But hey, at least we're getting him.
Bonger wrote:But I don't wanna warm up with Autobot032.
Aww. That's a shame...I like to cuddle.
shortround wrote:What is black friday it sounds really bad.
The biggest shopping day of the year. It's the day after Thanksgiving. All the major stores have a "Blitz" of Early Bird specials. 6a-11a you can find items they normally don't carry or ones they do, but at really low prices. Or 2-for-1 deals, etc. It's an extremely busy day and very difficult to deal with. If he's a Blitz exclusive, I'd recommend you be in line around 4:30 am or so.
NOTE: Realize that I am not a perfect Christian, nor do I profess to be. I apologize if anyone's ever offended by me, I'm not perfect. Don't hold my posts and opinions against other Christians.
Thanks!
