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william-james88 wrote:

Flashwave wrote:Wonder if that means SG will hit Ollie's soon stateside? Kinda wish I had waited for a sale price, but oh well

Its unrelated.

JomasterII wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

JomasterII wrote:30 CAD?! Holy crap!!

...anyone willing to middleman for me? :v

If I find another, I will let you know. Pribkem is shipoing will be like 40 USD

40USD?! Damn, I thought Small Packet from Canada to Australia was cheaper. Canada Post shipping estimates lying to me again... @ ~ @

This wont be small packet, its a big box. What did canada post say?

I chucked in the package dimensions and weight from the Amazon listing because I thought that would be fitting. Destination Australia, sending from a random Quebec postcode I plucked off Google (rounded UP to the nearest decimal by the way, so instead of ‎31.39 x 22.81 x 8.41 cm it's 32 x 23 x 9 and 1.1kg instead of 1.03) - it said about 30 CAD for Small Packet ($31.17 specifically).

This remain without tracking number by snail mail. No tracking, no insurance either.
Then for DOUBLE the previous price, you get tracking and insurance, but it's still snail mail.
Double again, and it's finally air mail.

Now add the covid restrictions on top and the fact that the GESTAPO may prevent your package for ever reaching your local post office and it's a recipe for disaster.

Individuals get really screwed over with postage fees compared to stores.

-Kanrabat- wrote:This remain without tracking number by snail mail. No tracking, no insurance either.
Then for DOUBLE the previous price, you get tracking and insurance, but it's still snail mail.
Double again, and it's finally air mail.

Now add the covid restrictions on top and the fact that the GESTAPO may prevent your package for ever reaching your local post office and it's a recipe for disaster.

Individuals get really screwed over with postage fees compared to stores.

Welp, RIP.

Well, here's a sighting that's worth it.

BWBB Origin Bumblebee is finally available at Toys R Us online!
About freaking time!

https://www.toysrus.ca/en/Transformers- ... 6795A.html

My local Toys r Us is FULLY STOCKED!

Notably with that new Cyberverse 4 pack and BWBB Origin Bee, and MPM-12.

I write a post like this every year just to show how big a deal (or not) this brand that we love is during the holiday season, when more toys are bought. Toysrus Canada released their Holliday flyer a little while ago and decorated their stores. The Transformers section, which had slightly dwindled during the year, is now back to being fully stocked with plenty of exclusives including: the Crossover X-Panse, Draculus and Ectotron, the Buzzworthy line including Worlds Collide and Studio Series 2 packs, T Wrecks and the Masterpiece Optimus Prime from the Bumblebee movie. The only line with deals though is the Cyberverse lines where the roll n' change and roll n' combine toys are on sale until November 17.

It was great to see a big Transformers section still around on a non Movie year. By comparison the Star Wars toy section was really reduced with there being no movies this year. Marvel, however had an even bigger section than Transformers, due to there being 4 films and 3 series out this year (one film being Spider-man with loads of toys). There was also loads of He-Man, Ghostbusters and Power Rangers, a real smorgasbord for anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s. Overall, as you can see below, the store was overloaded with toys. Enjoy.

I don't really collect the toys, (buy the odd figure here and there), but is that Ractonite the biggest peg-warmer TF of all time? I literally see ridiculous amounts of him in every store I go to.

Definitely feel privileged. While it is nice that my local Walmarts are starting to get some toys finally, The pics of that one TRU easily equate to more than any 10 Walmarts or Targets in my area. Also, I know we've discussed quality vs quantity before, but that seems to be a good mix of product from all lines. I'd be blown away to see anything close to that in my area ever again.

Wow!! If only the Canadians had been running the U.S. stores, perhaps they'd still be around. This was the typical scene in a U.S. TRU (at least, around the DC area)... HUGE difference!

That pic is from a recent Target correct? I don't recall TRU having inventory issues until it was made public that stores were closing, and they had filed for bankruptcy, it was just total mismanagement of the business as a whole that lead to it's demise in the U.S.

To be fair, at its peak there were probably 10 times as many TRU stores in the U.S. as Canada to meet the demand at the time. Unfortunately nothing good lasts forever.

transformers_va wrote:Wow!! If only the Canadians had been running the U.S. stores, perhaps they'd still be around. This was the typical scene in a U.S. TRU (at least, around the DC area)... HUGE difference!

20210108_172455.jpg

I live in the biggest suburb (Markham) of the biggest city (Toronto) in Canada. And the Walmarts & TRU around my area is not that much different from this photo for TFs. The WM & TRU in the biggest Mall in the area both dedicate about 1 pane (3-4 feet?) wide for TF only. They scaled back the TF section since around AoE and has been ever sadder since. I given up toy hunting in brick & mortar stores about 4 years ago. It's much more assured to get what I want online.

TRU Canada's website absolutely sucks at listing new items. Walmart.ca's prices are mostly ridiculous and scalpers' paradise. I'm now mostly forced to order sing Amazon.ca & GameStop if I want to get anything that's new.

I miss TRU down here...

o.supreme wrote:I don't recall TRU having inventory issues until it was made public that stores were closing

For years before that announcement, I was seeing shelves that were nearly empty, and the products that they did have, were usually piled on shelves with little to no organisation. The U.S. stores were poorly run, and the employees' wages were laughable

cloudballoon wrote:I given up toy hunting in brick & mortar stores about 4 years ago. It's much more assured to get what I want online.

I agree with you about online shopping, but I like the brick & mortar stores, due to the hunt and reward of finding new characters in the store.. buying them online is generally more reliable, but not as rewarding

transformers_va wrote:

cloudballoon wrote:I given up toy hunting in brick & mortar stores about 4 years ago. It's much more assured to get what I want online.

I agree with you about online shopping, but I like the brick & mortar stores, due to the hunt and reward of finding new characters in the store.. buying them online is generally more reliable, but not as rewarding

I agree so much here.
You can compare this like going into a forest to hunt down a dangerous boar. Then you finally track down the beast and as it charge you, you shoot your arrow through it's eye for an amazing kill. Then you carve the boar in several parts, not wasting anything. You age the meat. You prep it. You skillfully cook it. Then that meal is the best ever...

...Versus ordering takeout.

That was the feeling I got when I found a Beast Wars Megatron reissue at a Walmart two towns over on a toy hunting quest with my friend.

Bleak5170 wrote:I don't really collect the toys, (buy the odd figure here and there), but is that Ractonite the biggest peg-warmer TF of all time? I literally see ridiculous amounts of him in every store I go to.

Yeah I talked about it before and was surprised that in a wave which had a rerelease of Arcee that Ractonite would be just as big a shelfwarmer if not more.

Something was off with the Kingdom deluxes in my area. The ONLY wave ever found in stores for 3/4 of the year was wave 2, that famous ractonite one. I never got wave 1 in stores (had to buy online) and wave 2 just kept coming and coming. Wave 3 was found only at EB Games in my area (but I bought online) and wave 4 was found at Walmart. But Toysrus (as pictured above) only ever got wave 2 deluxe for Kingdom.

o.supreme wrote:Definitely feel privileged. While it is nice that my local Walmarts are starting to get some toys finally, The pics of that one TRU easily equate to more than any 10 Walmarts or Targets in my area. Also, I know we've discussed quality vs quantity before, but that seems to be a good mix of product from all lines. I'd be blown away to see anything close to that in my area ever again.

I am glad it's working out at your Walmarts. friends in the community have been posting nice pics online of their local targets and walmarts since they are surprised to see some good stocking, which was rare even before the panedmic. As for the product mix, it's ok but old. No new Cyberverse deluxes or warriors, No SS voyagers, no Kingdom deluxes past wave 2. The new and bountiful stuff is mainly exclusives, which makes sense since they get all that product for themselves. But we do see all the lines so that's good.

Question for you O.Supreme, if you had to advise a someone looking to buy a present for an 8 year old and had a limited budget (say between 20-30$ USD) and had all the toys shown in my pics to choose from. What would you say? Because I found it quite tricky. My ideal answer would have been Cyberverse Deluxe Soundwave since he's a main character of the current show, has a good transformation which is not too simple but not hard and is basically 2 bots in one due to laserbeak. But sadly, he was not there. Anyways, I was asked, I gave my advice, not sure it was good, and I wanted to know what you would have said.

cloudballoon wrote:

transformers_va wrote:Wow!! If only the Canadians had been running the U.S. stores, perhaps they'd still be around. This was the typical scene in a U.S. TRU (at least, around the DC area)... HUGE difference!

20210108_172455.jpg

I live in the biggest suburb (Markham) of the biggest city (Toronto) in Canada. And the Walmarts & TRU around my area is not that much different from this photo for TFs. The WM & TRU in the biggest Mall in the area both dedicate about 1 pane (3-4 feet?) wide for TF only. They scaled back the TF section since around AoE and has been ever sadder since. I given up toy hunting in brick & mortar stores about 4 years ago. It's much more assured to get what I want online.

TRU Canada's website absolutely sucks at listing new items. Walmart.ca's prices are mostly ridiculous and scalpers' paradise. I'm now mostly forced to order sing Amazon.ca & GameStop if I want to get anything that's new.

You should go to Brampton. They have a lovely toysrus there with a nice solid Transformers section. I like going there since there's also a value village near by that always seems to have fun stuff. Found a Cybertron Scourge last time.

Also, don't know what you mean about Walmart prices. If it's a thrd party, then sure it's the same as Amazon's third party BS. But you can just filter it out and get the good stuff at the right prices. Walmart.ca is where I bought all the Kingdom deluxes I never found in stores.

william-james88 wrote:
You should go to Brampton. They have a lovely toysrus there with a nice solid Transformers section. I like going there since there's also a value village near by that always seems to have fun stuff. Found a Cybertron Scourge last time.

Also, don't know what you mean about Walmart prices. If it's a thrd party, then sure it's the same as Amazon's third party BS. But you can just filter it out and get the good stuff at the right prices. Walmart.ca is where I bought all the Kingdom deluxes I never found in stores.

Thanks for the Brampton idea. I get the thrill of toy hunting too. It used to be fun until it's not when 9 times out of 10 I come back empty-handed, but I still tried for the mass retails ones. Until Covid lockdowns, it just wasn't possible, with gas and time ever so precious, I'm still in my "screw it, not toy hunting to catch Covid" mode, LOL.

Walmart.ca prices seems to me only the ones that's available in store is selling at MSRP, then 2/3 of the listings are 3rd party vendors prices. My computer is behind a VPN & firewall, and Walmart.ca doesn't list the prices when those security are on. I have to disable both to see the site normally. Gamestop sometimes don't even load too with the security on. I hate that...

a real smorgasbord for anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s.

Writer forgot that these toys are intended for people that grow up NOW.

mcfmullen wrote:

a real smorgasbord for anyone who grew up in the 80s or 90s.

Writer forgot that these toys are intended for people that grow up NOW.

I don't see how both sentences are not mutually exclusive.

I'm shocked you guys have "shelfwarming" Ractonites. I have seen that one only maybe 3 times? The closest I've seen to a shelfwarmer from WFC this year has been Arcee, Blackarachnia, Paleotrex, and SS86 Jazz and Blurr. And even then, those were all in waves releases recently again too

This Thursday is Toysrus Canada's Black Friday sale with deals on all Transformers, ranging from 20% off to 60% off. On their flyer, there are the 2 Transformers items heavily featured for their Thursday only sale, which has the biggest discounts. There are Cyberverse warrior class figures, which will be 8.37 CAD each (6.66 USD) and Cyberverse one step changers which will be 7.97 CAD each (6.34 USD). There is a week long 20% off sale on almost all other Transformers, it seems. Would be a good time to get the Toysrus exclusives that are very well stocked at the moment like Origins Bee, Worlds Collide 4 pack and T Wrecks, or higher priced items like Kingdom Rodimus. Below are shots from the flyer and what is on the shelves at the moment at my local Toysrus to give you an idea of current stock which may be available at yours.

I don't trust my local TrU to have any interesting stock.

Ngl when I saw the Wave 1 Deluxes I was hoping they'd reissue the 2018 repaints I missed out on since I need KSI Sentry, DOTM Ratchet, Shadow Raider, and even Clunkerbee as well as Crankcase.

It was Black Friday today at Toysrus and while it looked great on paper, none of you missed anything. Yes, the Cyberverse one steps and warriors had good sales, but it was the same 5 figures/characters and while the promoted sales on deluxes from the Studio Series line, there were almost none in stock, and none of the more pricey products (like Kingdom Rodimus or any of the Crossovers) were on sale.

BUT they did spice it up with some pretty cool decor. All across the stores were large standees promoting their action figure area. While the designs for He-Man and Batman were pulled from more recent sources, the one for Transformers was a surprise. It was Bumblebee as portrayed in the G1 Marvel Comics. You can see it below.

The only thing Generations on sale is the Core figures. 13$ instead of 15$. Woopty-doo.

As for the Cyberverses, the Warriors may have been an interesting deal, but only Bee remained. As for the 1-steps, at least there was some interesting things. Finally, the Battle-Call figures were at some dollars off.

That's effing it.

Black Friday in Canada suck harder than a black hole.