The Energon Pub

I feel ya with the battlemasters. I've seen Earthrise battlemasters exactly twice, once with Smashdown, once with both. Otherwise, the wave 1 Siege guys just stay there. Same with micros, there are still wave 1 and 2 Siege micros on my shelves.

There had been a glut of Siege BM's at some of my local Target's also, I don't know if they just finally shipped them back (to eventually show up at Ross/Marshalls), or what, because I don't recall them ever going on sale, but they did oddly disappear, and I'm sure they weren't all purchased . I'm glad my closest Target finally started getting ER BM's.

On the one hand, I found Snapdragon at a local Target (and promptly snapped him up). On the other hand... THAT SAME TARGET STILL HAD 4 OF SIEGE SHOCKWAVE! JUST SLAP MARKDOWN STICKERS ON HIM AND GET HIM OUT OF THE SMEGGING WAY, TARGET!

One of my local Walmarts was pretty well stocked, though not nearly as nice as the Canadian Walmarts apparently judging from recent news. Not a great picture, I'm tall so trying to catch the whole thing in one shot isn't easy for me. I should start using the wide angle lens...



Wasn't like this a week ago. Still no RED figures, though they did finally add a shelf tag, and then filled it with SS Voyagers so I doubt I'll be seeing those for a while. First time I've seen Skipjack in stores, a few of his yellow tractor brother Scrapper is also mixed in there. Thunderhowl has been there for a week, too, didn't realize we hadn't done a sighting on him yet, oops.

That Siege Shockwave was moved to a clearance spot (at full price) on the opposite shelf and I thought someone bought it, but I guess they probably left it at a price scanner and an employee stuck it back on the clearance section.

And those damn Titan Guardians got restocked AGAIN!

Emerje

Titan Guardians might be the biggest waste of space Walmart has ever had in the toy sections, those things are everywhere and somehow keep spawning more of themselves

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Titan Guardians might be the biggest waste of space Walmart has ever had in the toy sections, those things are everywhere and somehow keep spawning more of themselves

It's really sad that Walmart thinks kids will want these over Battlemasters or even Tiny Turbo Changers at about the same price, things that actually Transform and haven't been on the shelf for 10 years. Seriously, the same figures for 10 years, what are they thinking?

Emerje

Aside from a single SS RoTF Soundwave and some G1 Blasters, my Wal-Mart hasn't gotten any new TFs in about a month. This sucks. I work there and usually check the toy section every day or other day.

One of my local Walmarts:

December 7



December 17



And yes, everything is in the right spot in that second pic (and mostly in the first). Only Earthrise figure left is a lone Doubledealer (full price). I'm guessing all the ER Voyagers hit clearance at some point in the last 10 days, note that they even cleaned out the ones from the overhead space. Interesting that they chose to put an extra spot for Studio Series and Cyberverse Deluxe on the shelf instead of more SS Leaders and Voyagers. Also strange that they took out the spot for Spawn CyGor and added a second SS Leader spot there instead (plus spread out a couple Overloads to fill the space). I'm pretty happy about the Titan Guardians being taken down a peg (pun intended). Overall, not bad.

By contrast, here's Target Friday.



Only new things they've stocked since summer is MP Ratchet, SS Leadfoot (long since sold out) and ER Sky Lynx (and maybe SS Skipjack, can't remember when I first saw him there). The only ER wave 2 they've stocked ever is Doubledealer (back when they did that end cap display), no ER exclusives that I've ever seen. How they could go the entire fall season and only stock three or four new figures is beyond me.

Emerje

Funny that you complain about lack of WFC...

My local store has a pitiful TF section.



All my purchases no need to be made online at different retailers.

So today I had a day off and went to Walmart with my kids. Everything TF related was wiped out. Then I saw this. One of two thoughts I have on this: either someone stole it outright in the store and stuffed the cheap non transforming Soundwave inside, or due to the fact that the box is taped on top, someone actually returned it like this and the people were dumb enough to accept it.

Starseeker wrote:someone actually returned it like this and the people were dumb enough to accept it.

I've been getting a lot of use out of that lately . Is that a RED figure or one of the $5 posable plastic ones, I cant tell the difference.

Anyway, I was surprised to see at my local walmart everything was wiped out except for Cyberverse (not shocking) But about a week before the Holiday they probably had well over a dozen SS leader Class and probably 3-4 ER Leaders. Normally they would take a couple month to move, but all gone. All i can say is, while it might be empty for a while, it will be a good place to find Kingdom early, hopefully.

Starseeker wrote:So today I had a day off and went to Walmart with my kids. Everything TF related was wiped out. Then I saw this. One of two thoughts I have on this: either someone stole it outright in the store and stuffed the cheap non transforming Soundwave inside, or due to the fact that the box is taped on top, someone actually returned it like this and the people were dumb enough to accept it.

I work at walmart and I've seen a few returns similar to this. I just wish I was up at the desk when some scumbag tries it. Obviously 99/100 employees wouldn't know the difference.

Starseeker wrote:or due to the fact that the box is taped on top, someone actually returned it like this and the people were dumb enough to accept it.

100% that scenario. But don't call the walmart employees dumb, they can't know everything. The store sells thousands of different items that change on a yearly fashion. You couldn't tell the difference if it was a product you were unfamiliar with. They have a ton on their plate and plus there's no telling if the person who brought it back made the switch or bought it already switched up and then returned it with that as an explanation.

Instead of blaming the walmart employee, blame the thief. They are the only one who is in the wrong here.

My Closest Target this morning: The Good news...No Shockwaves Seriously though, this reminds me of days gone by, what the toy section would normally look like after the holiday. Unfortunately in recent years such as with TR and Siege, there was so much overstock, it took months to get the new line into stores. I'll take this over a ton of leftover TR wave 4 repacks. Whenever this store does get new product, at least it will go out sooner than later. Of course, I do know they have occasionally put some items back in the stock room in order to reset an entire area, I hope that is not the case here.

william-james88 wrote:Instead of blaming the walmart employee, blame the thief. They are the only one who is in the wrong here.

I'm THIS close to complaining to corporate, or taking it to my local news. This needs proper exposure as a form of shoplifting!

Yep, Target isn't great.


And they still have sales tags up from a sale that ended 12/19 and there wasn't any inventory for in the first place. But it's hardly just Transformers, most of the toy department looks like this.

Walmart was a little better and seemed to be actively stocking the shelves with two large pallets in the main aisle some new things on the shelves I haven't seen in months (like Real Ghostbusters reissues). No pictures, there was a lot of people walking through tonight.

Emerje

2 weeks ago my Wal-Mart got in a shipment of the Netflix figures, 5 of every deluxe and 3 of every voyager. Today, the section is totally void of all SS, ER and Netflix figures, save for 3 Elitas and a Wheeljack. Hopefully the SS 86 figures are on the way. The deluxes have been marked down to $10, so I might pick up Elita for that much. She was pretty badass in the show. I still say she should have gotten a voyager figure.

Rodimus Prime wrote:2 weeks ago my Wal-Mart got in a shipment of the Netflix figures, 5 of every deluxe and 3 of every voyager. Today, the section is totally void of all SS, ER and Netflix figures, save for 3 Elitas and a Wheeljack. Hopefully the SS 86 figures are on the way. The deluxes have been marked down to $10, so I might pick up Elita for that much. She was pretty badass in the show. I still say she should have gotten a voyager figure.

The $10 Clearance is only for the Earthrise ones. Studio Series and Netflix are both still full price according to my Walmart app's price scan. Shame, I would have gotten Elita-1 too, despite the PotP one on my list.

My local Walmart still has two 35th Anniversary Megatrons, for the Clearance price of $17, same as the ER Voyagers. I don't see them going anywhere...

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:My local Walmart still has two 35th Anniversary Megatrons, for the Clearance price of $17, same as the ER Voyagers. I don't see them going anywhere...

This always surprises me to hear since neither of my local Walmarts even got the 35th line to begin with. One of stores still has three Grapples that I was sure people would snap up last week, but no, they were still there Friday. Walmart did finally clearance and sell out all of those Titan Guardian figures, hope we never see those again.

Emerje

Oh well. I figured since the $10 clearance tag said Generations deluxes, Netflix figures were included. I might still get her after seeing her part in the show.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Oh well. I figured since the $10 clearance tag said Generations deluxes, Netflix figures were included. I might still get her after seeing her part in the show.

She'll still be cheaper than the full $20 on Walmart.com, the Deluxe Netflix figures are rolled back to $17.88.

Emerje

william-james88 wrote:

Starseeker wrote:or due to the fact that the box is taped on top, someone actually returned it like this and the people were dumb enough to accept it.

100% that scenario. But don't call the walmart employees dumb, they can't know everything. The store sells thousands of different items that change on a yearly fashion. You couldn't tell the difference if it was a product you were unfamiliar with. They have a ton on their plate and plus there's no telling if the person who brought it back made the switch or bought it already switched up and then returned it with that as an explanation.

Instead of blaming the walmart employee, blame the thief. They are the only one who is in the wrong here.

Oh yeah I hear you, and perhaps I shouldn't have used the word "stupid." Something like this is just preventable is what I mean. I work loss prevention for another large retailer and one of the things we talk about with associates doing returns is to always open the package to make sure everything is in there (and that it is the actual item it is supposed to be) so that the item can possibly be resold. In this case, if this was opened, even if the person doing the return was not familiar with Transformers, they would notice missing pieces. In this case, Lazerbeak and Ravage, and Soundwave's weapon.
I definitely do blame the thief that got away with it more than anything else.

Starseeker wrote:I work loss prevention for another large retailer and one of the things we talk about with associates doing returns is to always open the package to make sure everything is in there (and that it is the actual item it is supposed to be) so that the item can possibly be resold. In this case, if this was opened, even if the person doing the return was not familiar with Transformers, they would notice missing pieces. In this case, Lazerbeak and Ravage, and Soundwave's weapon.
I definitely do blame the thief that got away with it more than anything else.

Which large retailer if I may ask?

Welp, Target is still a barren wasteland. Two Siege Shockwaves, A Cyberverse Buzzworthy Bumblebee Cyberverse Megatron (laying down), and a Cyberverse one step Bumblebee with a few of those bigger ones.



There IS a new endcap display, but that was pretty empty. No pictures of that since I don't like taking photos when people are around, but it had two Kingdom Cheetors, a Paleotrex, a Blackarachnia, three Optimus Primals, an MPM VW Bumblebee, and a SS Hot Rod. Not sure why they needed an endcap for that, surely it would have made more sense to fill the actual aisle first? At least there's sign of stuff being stocked for a change.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:There IS a new endcap display, but that was pretty empty. No pictures of that since I don't like taking photos when people are around, but it had two Kingdom Cheetors, a Paleotrex, a Blackarachnia, three Optimus Primals, an MPM VW Bumblebee, and a SS Hot Rod. Not sure why they needed an endcap for that, surely it would have made more sense to fill the actual aisle first? At least there's sign of stuff being stocked for a change.

Emerje

Endcaps are for attention like "This is on sale" or "This is new", or just for impulse without the need to go to the regular aisle. Faster turnarounds are prioritised it seems.

I haven't seen one at mine, but it too was plucked practically bare. Same with my Walmart's Earthrise pegs.