The Energon Pub

Went to 3 Walmarts. Most still have wave 4 Deluxes, and tons of Kingdom Leader Megatron. The small Walmart near me did get a new case of Deluxes this morning...but it was Kingdom wave 3...

Local Target for some reason seemed to get a huge repack of Kingdom beast Megs, Cyclonus, Rhinox, and Origin Bee. So much so that they have an endcap dedicated to them. Only new stuff has been core Ravage and Shockwave at Walmart. Tons of studio series Blurr, Kup, and Sweeps shelfwarming as well. Yikes!

Starseeker wrote:Local Target for some reason seemed to get a huge repack of Kingdom beast Megs, Cyclonus, Rhinox, and Origin Bee. So much so that they have an endcap dedicated to them. Only new stuff has been core Ravage and Shockwave at Walmart. Tons of studio series Blurr, Kup, and Sweeps shelfwarming as well. Yikes!

Blur and kup are repacks, so I wouldn't call it shelfwarming. Your lucky to have such plentiful shelves, many used to complain about empty shelves for years

So I go into Wal-Mart last night. There's 1 Kingdom Blaster on the shelf along with 1 Tigatron. Gleefully I grab Blaster and with my groceries I head for the checkout. Blaster doesnt ring up. The attendant checks him and says he's not in the system because he's not supposed to be on the floor yet. WHAT?! So I offer to get another item from the same slot (Tigatron) to scan in place of Blaster. She refuses that and doesn't even give me Blaster back. It was after work and I was too tired to argue so I just left. I'm going back today and hopefully Blaster will still be there (it was the only one I spotted in my entire town, so I doubt it) if they put him back out and this time I'm bringing him and Tigatron to check out just in case. Stupid **** like this just aggravates me.

I went through that a few years back at Walmart, with one of the wave of Titan masters. They didn't ring up and the cashier was going to deny me them because he thought they were a "choking hazard" .... Not your call to make dude...

I argued and said I'd take them straight to customer service. The CS Rep ended up just entering some random code, and entered the price manually. I understand sometimes if you are tired it's just not worth it. But if I have something in hand, I am determined.

Since then, if I even suspect I'm going to have an issue like that, I'll take another same-price toy and just do self checkout and leave the older toy behind. They say it "throws off their inventory", but lets be honest, their inventory isn't really that accurate to begin with, and between loss prevention, and returns, damaged goods etc... it's not going to make a big difference.

One of the biggest Walmarts in my area is ALL self-check now. Most other stores are at lest 50% self check. I can't remember the last time I actually had a cashier at Walmart run my groceries. Of course I only shop in store once a week for my mom, we get home delivery for my household.

Well when she went to check for the reason it didn't ring up, she took the box with her. So I couldn't get the figure back unless I physically tried to pry it from her. I asked about the substitution and she rejected it so I assumed she wouldn't give me Blaster back either. She put it behind the counter and I just thought screw it, I'm going home. I'll try tonight if the big boy is still there. I was just amped up because distribution in my area has been ridiculous for a year now, and it's the 1st time I saw this figure after looking for it for a couple of months.

Rodimus Prime wrote:So I go into Wal-Mart last night. There's 1 Kingdom Blaster on the shelf along with 1 Tigatron. Gleefully I grab Blaster and with my groceries I head for the checkout. Blaster doesnt ring up. The attendant checks him and says he's not in the system because he's not supposed to be on the floor yet. WHAT?! So I offer to get another item from the same slot (Tigatron) to scan in place of Blaster. She refuses that and doesn't even give me Blaster back. It was after work and I was too tired to argue so I just left. I'm going back today and hopefully Blaster will still be there (it was the only one I spotted in my entire town, so I doubt it) if they put him back out and this time I'm bringing him and Tigatron to check out just in case. Stupid **** like this just aggravates me.

Ah man, that SUCKS! This happens to me at self checkout sometimes (I only do self checkout as it's always been faster for me) and when it does I just take whatever I have and put it back in my cart and go back into the shopping area to get another toy that I know will ring up (along with the one i want of course). I then go back, ring that toy instead and give it to the attendant at the end saying I don't want it anymore.

I'm like OSupreme, very determined. It has happened enough times that a toy I want I only ever saw once (Earthrise Sunstreaker is a good example, as is Black Series Mandalorian) that if I see a toy in the store I want for the first time, it will come home with me.

I tried, but she never even gave it back to me after I asked for a swap.

william-james88 wrote:I then go back, ring that toy instead and give it to the attendant at the end saying I don't want it anymore.

I wonder if Canadian Walmart self checkouts are dumber than the US ones? I feel like doing something like this would definitely bring things to a stop and call over an attendant on me. Often times I'll scan something, put it down, reorganize my bag (Maine has a plastic bag ban so you either make the best of what you brought or buy a new reusable bag), pick it back up and put it in my bag which triggers the alert. It plays back an overhead clip showing me moving stuff around. I was told this was done specifically to keep people from scanning one thing and putting something different (presumably more expensive) in their bag instead so I feel like it would notice if I scanned one figure and put a different one in my bag.

Dumbest thing I've ever been denied a sale on was a bag of chips, I was told they don't sell that specific flavor and would have to pull them all off the shelf.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:I wonder if Canadian Walmart self checkouts are dumber than the US ones? I feel like doing something like this would definitely bring things to a stop and call over an attendant on me.

I'd say the opposite of anything. Emerje-, Sounds like your Walmarts have that small town "we can get away with anything" overreaching authority mentality. I experience it more with outlying Walmarts.

Whereas in the larger cities, the self check employees have this apathetic, "don't give darn" mentality, as folks basically loot the place running out with big ticket items, alarms blazing, and not much they feel their minimum-wage position can do about it.

I see stuff left behind by other people all the time, it usually just ends up in a basket to go back to the shelves, unless it's damaged. Sometimes I feel like I have prying eyes watching my every move. Other times...Twice I've actually walked out and accidentally forgot to scan items under my cart. I do the right thing and go back and pay for them and get a look of shock.

So no...legit paying for an item that wont ring up, by scanning another of equal description/value shouldn't get you in any trouble at all.

All the Walmart's around me suck @$$ and have so for a long time. I broke down today and got me a Kingdom Rodimus on eBay because he was one I got fed up waiting for to hit shelves.


You know where the pickin's are next to nil for me? Places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx... .

Nemesis Destron wrote:You know where the pickin's are next to nil for me? Places like Marshall's and TJ Maxx... .

They suck for most of us. But that's because they are dependent on other stores not selling their product. Shelves were empty after christmas, so there was a ton of space for walmart and target to put all their stock, so no reason to offload it for pennies on the dollar to TJMaxx.

Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Ross were great for many of the Kreo sets that never made it to U.S. retail for some reason, not much else to speak of however beyond that.

IMHO it was during the Combiner Wars run that I last saw figures in discount retail stores.

Nemesis Destron wrote:IMHO it was during the Combiner Wars run that I last saw figures in discount retail stores.

In my case it was after Siege that Generations died out there. Other lines like Rescue Bots and Cyberverse still find a place there.

Ollie's still has them coming in now and again, but that chain is limited to certain states.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Nemesis Destron wrote:IMHO it was during the Combiner Wars run that I last saw figures in discount retail stores.

In my case it was after Siege that Generations died out there. Other lines like Rescue Bots and Cyberverse still find a place there.

Ollie's still has them coming in now and again, but that chain is limited to certain states.

My local salvage shop, Marden's, is pretty swamped with BotBots right now and for some reason some Siege Micromasters.





Emerje

The siege micromasters are everywhere. They were at my discount shop too. And when they had that TRU reopening in a Jersey mall at Christmas, they were the only Transformers product from any Generations line.

I still need to get the shuttle micromasters

Anyone seeing anything in their area? It's April 1st and there's been nothing new other than core class Ravage and Shockwave for the last two months. Two Walmarts and a Target in my area and nada. I'd hope to see the Bee movie deluxes at least. Not a trace of Legacy either. Kingdom Blaster never made it to my area either.

Starseeker wrote:Anyone seeing anything in their area? It's April 1st and there's been nothing new other than core class Ravage and Shockwave for the last two months. Two Walmarts and a Target in my area and nada. I'd hope to see the Bee movie deluxes at least. Not a trace of Legacy either. Kingdom Blaster never made it to my area either.

I've never seen Blaster as well. The only new stuff in stores I see is the Selects stuff. Nothing new mainline. No Legacy, no kingdom wave 5, no SS 2022 wave 1 aside from the core figures.

I don't feel like it's "brag-worthy", but finally, it seems that newer figures are making their way to my area.
For the rest of the week I'll probably be stopping by Target and Walmart to see if I can find Legacy Kickback and Dragstrip.
I was able to snag the last Legacy Blaster and 1 of 4 Silverstreaks this afternoon from my Target.

My local Target had Legacy Wave 1, Kingdom Wave 4, and a few stray Blackarachnias.

Not really bragging, just an observation that I find so damn odd. One of my Walmarts has turned the action figure aisle into a hodge podge of different lines. They did get a whole bunch more Cyberverse product and instead of figuring out how to make coherent space, they just mixed it all in there. And it's not people messing it up, the tags are all there. So you'll have Batman or Sersi from Eternals right between transformers.
This really does not help me believe that the modules are followed to the T (I called BS on that when it was first mentioned and I keep my stance, that shelf map is not followed to the letter)



Also, I wanted to just post this video, just for one line at the begining. o.Supreme intriduced me to Scott's channel where he talks of toys from the point of view of an industry professional and I found it pretty cool that when he evaluated the toy section at target, he was highlighting the transformers brand as being one of the bigger and more proven sellers, being placed next to Batman and Jurassic park which both have a bigger push now since it's a movie year. The video is not about that, but I found that quick fact fun since I don't see much movement in my shelves when it isn't the holiday season (as is typical of any toyshelf).

I did appreciate that, but I even responded in the Video, that despite his positive comment, the TF section still looked quite empty.

Now I know it's YMMV. Some Targets in my area are just now finally starting to get a decent amount of stock of Generations both SS and Legacy, after months of nothing but Cyberverse and Buzzworthy. I know the world still isn't back to normal, but I hope the shipping backlog is closer to being over.

Sort of way OT, not sure how this would be done, but I was wondering if someone at Seibertron would reach out to Scott for an interview? He seems quite accessible, and while he is no Transformers expert, I'd like to know if he had any personal affinity for the brand as a kid ( what his history is if any) and where he thinks it could possibly go in the future?

Scott has actually said that he'd like to do more Transformers videos to help diversify the channel, I think he'd be game.

(edit) Realized I didn't actually finish my thought. What I meant to say was that I think for us it would be interesting to get his perspective on what is happening with Transformers these days while we might give him some ideas for his own TF video content. Since he likes to name drop sites it might lead to a bit of free advertising for us. Win win.

Incidentally after I watched that video the other day I checked Target and, yeah, the only Marvel Legends figures I could find were the Doctor Strange ones on an endcap.

Emerje