My final word:
Since I first heard that Hasbro were going to do Deluxe Leadfoot in a twin-pack, I've deliberately been avoiding a duplicate figure. But since this news I've finally bought Deluxe Topspin.
Funny thing the day after I picked him up too...I was in my local Toys 'R' Us doing the usual rounds (price-checking, mostly) and noticed that (surprise, surprise) the Deluxe DOTM line was packed with Cyberfire Bumblebee, Specialist Ratchet and Mudflap, with only the odd other character in the mix. Here's the thing; my local Toys 'R' Us are ABYSMAL at pricing...A month or two ago the price of the Deluxes were dropped from £12.99 to £9.99. Logically this would help shift some stock. Only, weeks went by and they still weren't moving (even with a 3 for 2 deal...By the way, all the Laserbeaks sold fast and not much else...Should've grabbed one...) anyway, peg-warmers...So what did the store do? They put the price back up to £12.99!
And they've been full-price for over a month now. So...The other day I was scanning the Doctor Who stuff on the other side and I notice that a mother and her young lad approached the Deluxes and after careful consideration, they picked up a Cyberfire Bumblebee. Had they passed me, I would've said that they're cheaper at Tesco (and Argos, but I didn't find that out until later), but thankfully she put him back, saying that she needed to withdraw cash. This is where you either see me as crazy or strange...I wrote a quick note along the lines of; 'If they can't be sold at £9.99, they will *NOT* sell at £12.99!' I shoved it onto the same peg that the mother placed the BB back on, ensuring that if the staff don't catch it, she certainly will. Afterward, I looked in the nearby Tesco...Yep, discounted Deluxes and (wait for it) a healthy variety of figures! Of course there were the customary Bumblebees, but at least there were plenty of copies of other figures...Y'know, ones that people actually want! Around 30 in total! So I got a Deluxe Starscream. ^^ (They didn't have Laserbeak *grumble*) Thing is, Hasbro said the retailers haven't got the demand, but throughout this thread it's been shown that clearly it's the customers who have the demand and the distributers/retailers can't see past the profit margins...!
I slightly digress, but the point is, if you want to grab the Deluxes you want (before they're gone completely), UK fans, then Tesco and Argos are your best bets...At the moment... (Hey, they may show up at Home Bargains or T.K. Maxx soon, but there you go) ^^
Voyagers are also down at said places (not TRU) but I'll assume most people have what they need
Blimey, this post has gone a bit, hasn't it? Okay, really final word; in the same vain as the Hunt for the Decepticons line, Hasbro needs to continue the Movie Trilogy Series, otherwise it isn't a 'series' with just one figure. The potential to bring back previous figures that were cancelled is *there* (Sideways Sneak Attack, Megatron Rising, that mysterious-yet-accurate Jetfire-Powered Voyager Prime, etc) and as for the DOTM figures, they could relaunch both Deluxe and Human Alliance Soundwave with the nice silvery paint-job he had when he was first revealed (and same goes for Deluxe Sideswipe), and of course they can get Que, Leadfoot and Dino (whom we were promised for 2012 in both Deluxe and HA form). And as a bonus they could re-deco the Deluxe Ratchet in his previous movie/ROTF paint job; a) that mould is a great little mould and the best transformable representation of Ratchet & b) they did the same thing with the Voyager (other way 'round, obviously).
But who knows...As someone pointed out earlier, it may be too early to tell. All that's said were 'no plans'...The words 'cancelled' weren't actually used, so yeah maybe it *is* the end...But I prefer to think that it's on the shelf for the moment and there may be a bit of hope.
AM