The Energon Pub

[StingerLAM]

Masterpiece Optimus Prime, located and purchased at the 21st street Toys R Us location in Tulsa Oklahoma on 10/28

This location had several cases on hand, received on the previous day's truck. (The other Tulsa Toys R Us store location (at 71st & Memorial), still had not received even one at that time.)

Prime is being shipped, in quantity now it seems but also apparent is that it's not to every store, or location...yet.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the info and below are some pics from the day.

Enjoy.

[Nemesis Destron]

[Yotsuyasan]

No wonder so many people are having trouble finding them, and pre-orders haven't shipped yet... They've all been sent to this one store!

[El Duque]

Since his initial retail debut a month ago the Toys"R"Us exclusive Masterpiece Optimus Prime has been the source of much frustration to many collectors. Stores only receiving one or two cases at time, which almost immediately sell out, online pre-orders not shipping out when originally scheduled, etc. The whole thing has many fans worried they'll never lay hands on this highly anticipated figure, so hopefully this set of images will ease some of those fears. Seibertron.com member StingerLAM spotted 14 cases of Masterpiece Optimus Prime at a Tulsa, Ok Toys"R"Us just waiting to hit the shelves. That's 28 Masterpiece Optimus Primes in one store! We hope this is an indication that Masterpiece Optimus Prime is about to go from elusive to plentiful.

It should also be noted that StingerLAM managed to get the figure for it's original price of $99.99 by pointing out the price point on the unopened cases.

My dated receipt, 10/28/12, if anyone cares. Note that they gave me an immediate markdown of $20. (This was because I pointed out the $99.99 stickers on the outside of the shipping cases.)

[reluctantyouth]

Total BS to the nth degree! I had a print out dated a week ago from TRU manager in my area showing the price was $99.99 per unit. The same manager in Peoria, Illinois would not give me the discount so I had to pay the full 119.99 for a badly damaged box (justification was that the $99.99 was a "promotional" price)...there are also paint errors and I cannot open the thing until I can get my hands on another. I really hope these do start coming in droves and I'll be damned if I let them screw me over again if I find a sealed case that has the $99.99 price point on the outside of the friggin box!! So nice that the Tulsa store honored the price...kudos to you.

[Bubbah]

This definitely makes me feel a lot more comfortable. I'm still holding out hope on my preorder, and this really helps seeing this!

[ThePrimeFollower]

My guess is their buying them in bulk for the holiday rush/ christmas rush but i could be completly wrong on that.

[Megatron Wolf]

Still say $100 is way to much for it but i think its total bullshit that they receive the figure with a price tag on it then they charge what ever they want, guess thats why the 3 TRUs ive been to in the past month have all had different prices. Just another reason why i dont buy from them anymore. Also just a heads up if the website is selling it for $100 then the store will price match it, all you have to do is mention it at customer service & they should look it up. Im not sure what the sites prices are like but if they are cheaper than at the store point it out. Just keep in mind that this is still at the discretion of the store, some might give the BS answer of that site & store prices are different.

[King Kuuga]

Still say $100 is way to much for it

I'd like to respectfully ask why you think $100 is too much to pay for a very intricate, fairly large toy that transforms from a robot into a semi truck, complete with an opening trailer and a little cart. When evaluating the asking prices of different Masterpiece figures over the years on both sides of the pond, $100 for this seems to me like a great deal, so I'm curious what you see that's dissatisfying. Certainly, there isn't a person around who wouldn't be happy if they could buy it for less money, but that's true of just about anything (I don't think I've ever heard a person say "I'd rather pay more money for this exact same product"). So I'm interested in why you feel this is not a good value for the money.

[Dorkimus]

100$ dollars too much? Well why don't they give them away for free. Maybe that would do? Hell, if you are not interested, then send them to finland. For even though we have TRU stores, we aren't getting any MP Primes.

[Mirage22]

This happened to me to. Stopped at Toys R Us yesterday while hunting and found three unopened cases of Prime on the top shelving area. I jumped up to get one down and managed to get him for 99.99 price point because of the stickers, plus even more off from a coupon. So for 85 bucks, that figure is sooooooo worth it, but anyone who thinks 100 is too much is ka-razy. It is a beautiful figure! Hope this will be easier to find for everyone now! Happy Hunting!

[Autobot032]

I think $100.00 is a fair price, considering what you get. The TakaraTomy original is currently priced at $299.99 over at BBTS, so yeah, this is 1/3 the price and fully complete: Good deal.

However, I will say that it's juuust worth $100.00. The QC is achingly bad on some figures, which I find ridiculous when one spends "ONE....HUNDRED DOLLARS!" *lightning crashes, pinky goes to lip, ominous music plays* Sorry...couldn't resist. *ahem*

In all seriousness, though, the QC needs to be, not should be, better. Paint apps over paint apps, not sealed right and chipping. Arms incorrectly assembled. Chest windows not sitting flush and eating the chrome. (I know went over this in another post, it just bears repeating. Over. And. Over.)

$120.00, $138.00, $150.00? No. Just...no. The $120.00, maybe if you absolutely must, must, MUST have it. (I probably would've caved, I suppose.)

But no, $100.00 is not too much. Just right.

[noctorro]

Total BS to the nth degree! I had a print out dated a week ago from TRU manager in my area showing the price was $99.99 per unit. The same manager in Peoria, Illinois would not give me the discount so I had to pay the full 119.99 for a badly damaged box (justification was that the $99.99 was a "promotional" price)...there are also paint errors and I cannot open the thing until I can get my hands on another. I really hope these do start coming in droves and I'll be damned if I let them screw me over again if I find a sealed case that has the $99.99 price point on the outside of the friggin box!! So nice that the Tulsa store honored the price...kudos to you.

Quit complaining, I'm going to have to pay about 250 for my MP10 cuz of ebay scalpers and horrid airmail costs to Holland!

Damnit, damnit damnit!

[dougpassat]

WAAAAHHHHHH $100 is too much WAAAAAAAAAH! Here in NYC even before they should showed up they had them marked up at $140 on the shelf sticker label. Plus the Tri-State area(NY, CT, NJ) is scalper central where I have called over 15 stores within my reach and they all have them taken by employees and never touch a shelf for resale. So again WAAAAAAAAAAH $100.

[Yotsuyasan]

...they all have them taken by employees and never touch a shelf for resale. So again WAAAAAAAAAAH $100.

I recall when I worked for the late, lamented KB Toys that we had a policy on the occasional high-demand items that employees couldn't purchase them until a short period of time after their shelf date, giving the general public a chance at them. Not to say that wasn't probably sometimes ignored in stores where the manager didn't give a damn... but still, at least the intent was there. Pity such a thing isn't more common. (Although then it would suck to be a genuine, non-scalping TF fan who happened to work at TRU!)

[Rhinox23]

I recall when I worked for the late, lamented KB Toys that we had a policy on the occasional high-demand items that employees couldn't purchase them until a short period of time after their shelf date, giving the general public a chance at them. Not to say that wasn't probably sometimes ignored in stores where the manager didn't give a damn... but still, at least the intent was there. Pity such a thing isn't more common. (Although then it would suck to be a genuine, non-scalping TF fan who happened to work at TRU!)

I actually worked for TRU when I was in high school. This was around the time when the Playstation 2 and Xbox came out. We were only getting about 2-4 of each per week around Christmas time. At least at my TRU, employees always had first crack at them. However, you couldn't get more than one...maybe two. This wasn't a hard and fast rule but management there wanted to give the public a fair chance at this high demand/low supply items. So, I would imagine that this goes on still today. I thought it was a great perk for working there and yet our managers didn't let it get out of control either.

[FellintoOblivion]

Finally got mine here in central Florida.

Went to the TRU nearest work after I got off this morning and they had the tag on the shelf but no actual toys. Being that this TRU is still trying to sell Thundercracker for $86.99 (which they have about 2 dozen of) despite it being available on their website for $74.99 I expected the price for OP to be a little higher then the MSRP but I was still a little surprised to see the tag read $138.99.

Regardless, they were sold out having sold the last one right when they opened at 9:30 (I got there about 9:50) so I called the next closest TRU. They didn't have any but the last one anywhere close to me had two in stock. This TRU was "only" charging $119.99 but between the $10 off coupon I had, the Shopkick bucks I earned and the TRU rewards points I earned I got it for about MSRP.

[mattj972]

I dont know why Oklahoma seems to be getting so many compared to other states. I drove to Norman, OK a few weeks ago to get mine. Their store had the best selection of any toys r us stores I've been to in a long time, got a scout laser beak, vehicon and dead end generations toy too. I got mine for the $99.99 price -$10 with coupon, so is $119.99 official price point now?

[Mindmaster]

About $2800 worth of Prime. Dayum.

Makes me feel a little better, but I pretty much devoted 90% of my time trying to scrape enough money to reserve a copy of Halo 4. MP Optimus will sadly have to wait another month or two.

[roBROmanceFTW]

Cancelled my pre-order. After waiting impatiently for it to someday arrive, my desire for OP was satiated by the influx of photos and reviews. I'm now contemplating ending my collection, after having asked myself numerous times, "To what end does collecting these toys serve me?" Meh...I'm one of those off-and-on collectors, I suppose.

[vectorA3]

Now I know these don't correlate, but I'm getting pissed thinking about why TRU has raised the original price to $120 - when they have been opening up several TRU Expresses in the malls in my area. They have enough $ to do this for a seasonal jaunt til (around mid January a clerk told me), but they can't keep price points on a $100 item? Wtf Geoffrey??

I'm in LA, has anyone else been seeing TRU Expresses pop up in their local malls?? Btw, the 2 I've checked did not have MP Prime (I know, wishful thinkin for a stores with low shelf space). And I emailed TRU this morning concerning my pre-order from September.

If I find this guy in stores I'm takin the printout of my pre-order to avoid any BS at the checkout. Also, just to remind u guys, if you're a rewards member, look for the "$10 giftcard for a qualifying purchase of $75 or more" coupon in emails or physical mail. The catalogs i saw yesterday at a local store had a different back page, not containing the coupon.

[SpacerAM2]

the receipt has 90 days if toys r us decreases the price by Christmas, you can ask for a price match by telling them at the store that it is on sale ,and they give you back part of the difference that you've paid for it.

[vectorA3]

the receipt has 90 days if toys r us decreases the price by Christmas, you can ask for a price match by telling them at the store that it is on sale ,and they give you back part of the difference that you've paid for it.

Thanks. This is a pre-order though, so it may be under different ruling, since I'm not actually charged until the product is shipped. I will take this into account though.


Update - got a reply from TRU CS and they said "we've checked the stock and it is depleted at this time. We'll inform you when it comes on stock again." Not 'in' stock, but 'on' stock -lol. I called TRU.com also and their rep had no info except that they'll let me know a week before the order will be canceled and that the window is 45 days from the time of the order(?) or expected ship date. I forget. Hopefully 45 from the expected ship date. Lol - in some weird way I think I'm being punished since I got MP TC easily and quickly. Haha

[XDMan]

WHAT!? Damn, I can't believe they are so lucky, and it will be hard to find some TRU's in Chicago!

Do anyone in Seibertron know some locations?

[bfett88]

I just picked one up today. I live in Colorado near Denver, I called them and they said they had some. I quickly took my lunch break and drove to the Toys R Us. I walked around and they were not on the floor. I went to the guest service desk and asked to see if they still had some. She said they were not on the floor yet and still in the back. She had the backroom guy bring a case up to the floor. I asked her howmany they had, she told me that she could not tell me, however she said more then 8. I grabbed both and went to walk around, I put the second next to the MP Thundercracker, so someone else might luck out. I then purchased mine for $120. I know it is $20 more than the original price, but I am so happy to get one at retail.