The Energon Pub

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Thu Sep 19, 2019 9:38 pm

Canada is making up for a dry spell with Transformers sightings that lasted half the year. They are now the first country in the west to have Transformers War for Cybertron Siege deluxe Mirage, Impactor and Barricade. Those were found in a Walmart in Scarborough. The sighting comes from Primetyme who posted it in the Cybertron.ca forums.

This is not the only new Siege sighting in Canada. At Walmarts across the nation we can now find the wave of Battle Masters that includes Smashdown and the latest Micromasters with Powertrain and Highjump. Even Thundercracker was spotted in an Ontario Walmart as KIDCHUCKLE pointed out in the same forums.

When it comes to Studio Series, the voyagers Long Haul and KSI Boss were found at Walmart and leader DOTM Optimus Prime is now shipping from amazon.ca. This makes Canada up to date on all Siege toys before the final wave and all the Studio Series toys of 2019.

News Credits: 42 · by **TF-fan kev777** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:29 am

Isn't the final wave of battlemasters Singe and Rung and not Smashdown?

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 7:57 am

TF-fan kev777 wrote:Isn't the final wave of battlemasters Singe and Rung and not Smashdown?

Yes, will correct.

by **MGrotusque** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:29 am

Good to see the shelves are getting stocked again but i've kinda given up on transformers at retail stores. SO long without shelves being stocked that i've given up all together.

News Credits: 2 · by **mattysan** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:35 am

I don't know the business, so I don't know why this is, but Hasbro needs to do a better job of getting these in the hands of U.S. collectors sooner. Why are these and Ratchet out at Canadian retail but not even a peep from U.S. sellers? As far as I know, Barricade has not even gone up for pre-order anywhere yet, including Hasbro Pulse. I'm also getting pretty tired of the exclusives; Target is the worst by far what with the RED Card exclusive Redwing, followed by Walgreens and their lack of any information regarding Ratchet, then Walmart (a store I just hate walking into because every one of them has the same rancid hot dog smell).

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:49 am

mattysan wrote:I don't know the business, so I don't know why this is, but Hasbro needs to do a better job of getting these in the hands of U.S. collectors sooner. Why are these and Ratchet out at Canadian retail but not even a peep from U.S. sellers? As far as I know, Barricade has not even gone up for pre-order anywhere yet, including Hasbro Pulse. I'm also getting pretty tired of the exclusives; Target is the worst by far what with the RED Card exclusive Redwing, followed by Walgreens and their lack of any information regarding Ratchet, then Walmart (a store I just hate walking into because every one of them has the same rancid hot dog smell).

All those specific woes are at the retailer level, not Hasbro's.

Wave 4 deluxes are due out in October, not before. Them being in canada before the US is just because one Walmart store put them up before the calendar date (which they do not care to respect).

Ratchet was always coming to Walgreens for the holiday season, not before. Hoping to see it before they stock up their holiday selection is only setting yourself up for dissapointment. They do that every year for their exclusives.

Target chose to make redwing a red card exclusive, that's on them.

News Credits: 2 · by **mattysan** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:56 am

Completely disagree; Hasbro has a lot more control over this.

If Walmart isn't playing by the rules, then stop giving them exclusives.

If you think Hasbro had zero say in Redwing being a RED Card exclusive when it was so prominently advertised on their site, you're delusional. Of course they had a say in that. Target had to get the OK for that from Hasbro.

EB Games in Canada has Ratchet available. Walgreens could do the same. Again, if EB Games is somehow not playing by the rules, then Hasbro should stop giving them exclusives.

And I believe, but hey I could be wrong here, that Hasbro has complete say on what Hasbro Pulse does. They could be at least putting Barricade up for pre-order. They could offer us a special paid membership tier that gave us direct access to exclusives so that we don't have to step foot in Walgreens, Target, EB, Walmart, or any other brick and mortar location. Less cost, fewer middlemen that way. It is 2019 after all, it's idiotic not to provide this as a service to die hard collectors.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 9:15 am

Toys R Us Laval.

Damn. No Siege wave 2 so no Ironhide. But at least, W3 is here and there is a small sale too. Cyberverse Spark Armor Ratchet and Shockwave too. Plus a full restock of the Seige Refraktors 3pack!

News Credits: 42 · by **TF-fan kev777** » Fri Sep 20, 2019 10:41 am

mattysan wrote:Completely disagree; Hasbro has a lot more control over this.

If Walmart isn't playing by the rules, then stop giving them exclusives.

Hmm, so lets see, toy sales and sections of stores in general have been shrinking for years, and there are limited brick and mortar stores that will even carry those toys nowadays. In the US it is basically Walmart or Target with Walgreens sort of in a distant third place nationally. Sure there are some regional chains like Meijer, or dissappearing chains like K-mart in there as well.

And your solution for Hasbro to start getting toys to be released on their desired schedule is to cut off the largest chain that will carry their products from exclusives? Sure, lets cut ourselves off at the knees with Walmart, the largest retailer, makes sense.

mattysan wrote:If you think Hasbro had zero say in Redwing being a RED Card exclusive when it was so prominently advertised on their site, you're delusional. Of course they had a say in that. Target had to get the OK for that from Hasbro.

Do you actually have any facts to back this up, or just speculation? It has been a number of years since Target had any exclusives, and with TRU now out of the way, Hasbro needs other retailers like Target to pick some of these up. If I was in Hasbro's place, I'd want the second largest retailer in the US to want to carry my exclusives much more that I would worry about butthurt fans complaining about the method Target want to sell them.

mattysan wrote:EB Games in Canada has Ratchet available. Walgreens could do the same. Again, if EB Games is somehow not playing by the rules, then Hasbro should stop giving them exclusives.

You are completely lost here. EB is doing nothing wrong, they are providing the products when they are ready for release. It is Walgreens that is delaying putting Ratchet out until they reset their toy section for the holidays. It has been this way every year from TR Brainstorm, the TR clones though PotP Wreck Gar last year and will be the same this year. Your butthurt on Canada getting Ratchet first shouldn't be aimed at EB or Hasbro, but rather Walgreens. Next you will probably say they shoudl pull the exclusives from Walgreens. While I would prefer that personally, it would be a terrible business move for Hasbro to cut of any retailer outlet in today's market.

mattysan wrote:And I believe, but hey I could be wrong here, that Hasbro has complete say on what Hasbro Pulse does. They could be at least putting Barricade up for pre-order. They could offer us a special paid membership tier that gave us direct access to exclusives so that we don't have to step foot in Walgreens, Target, EB, Walmart, or any other brick and mortar location. Less cost, fewer middlemen that way. It is 2019 after all, it's idiotic not to provide this as a service to die hard collectors.

Do you understand the draw for having an exclusive product in your store as a retailer? If someone can only get this product in my store or on my website, then it increases the chance of me selling them something else from my store that they could get from my competition.

Hasbro wants to be able to sell products in as many ways and locations as possible and that requires working with your retail outlet partners, not working against them just to please die hard collectors. There are a hell of a lot more opportunities and potential customers at regular retail than there are die hard collectors. Plus, they also know the die hard collectors will be much more likely to jump through a few hoops to get the exclusives we want than the general public would be to get the basic product at regular retail. So navigating this from Hasbro's point of view requires throwing your retailers a few bones to their retail partners on exclusives.

Did it suck signing up for a RedCard? For sure
Will it suck waiting for November for Ratchet? It will
Is a bunch of pissing and moaning from die hard fans (who apparently don't understand the retail environment) going to change anything? Big fat nope

News Credits: 3 · by **bvzxa** » Sun Sep 22, 2019 3:39 pm

mattysan wrote:Completely disagree; Hasbro has a lot more control over this.

If Walmart isn't playing by the rules, then stop giving them exclusives.

If you think Hasbro had zero say in Redwing being a RED Card exclusive when it was so prominently advertised on their site, you're delusional. Of course they had a say in that. Target had to get the OK for that from Hasbro.

EB Games in Canada has Ratchet available. Walgreens could do the same. Again, if EB Games is somehow not playing by the rules, then Hasbro should stop giving them exclusives.

And I believe, but hey I could be wrong here, that Hasbro has complete say on what Hasbro Pulse does. They could be at least putting Barricade up for pre-order. They could offer us a special paid membership tier that gave us direct access to exclusives so that we don't have to step foot in Walgreens, Target, EB, Walmart, or any other brick and mortar location. Less cost, fewer middlemen that way. It is 2019 after all, it's idiotic not to provide this as a service to die hard collectors.

Dont waste your time here debating since the entire staff works for Hasbro and has degrees in Business and Administration and or work high level management jobs for major retailers...these guys know everything :roll:

TBH Hasbro is notorious for bad distribution for a long, long time. During the Unicron Trilogy it was rampant especially during the lasts waves of Energon. TF Prime toys had terrible distro during the release of the First Editions that showed up all over Canada and trickled down to TRU in the States later on. Does Hasbro have control over distro? Yes!! It sucks but the way it is it will always be that way because it's Hasbro.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Sun Sep 22, 2019 3:45 pm

bvzxa wrote:TBH Hasbro is notorious for bad distribution for a long, long time. During the Unicron Trilogy it was rampant especially during the lasts waves of Energon. TF Prime toys had terrible distro during the release of the First Editions that showed up all over Canada and trickled down to TRU in the States later on. Does Hasbro have control over distro? Yes!! It sucks but the way it is it will always be that way because it's Hasbro.

Of course the last thing a toy company wants to do is sell their toys to consumers, hence why they go out of their way with this distribution to make sure you guys dont get your toys.

News Credits: 3 · by **bvzxa** » Sun Sep 22, 2019 10:37 pm

william-james88 wrote:
bvzxa wrote:TBH Hasbro is notorious for bad distribution for a long, long time. During the Unicron Trilogy it was rampant especially during the lasts waves of Energon. TF Prime toys had terrible distro during the release of the First Editions that showed up all over Canada and trickled down to TRU in the States later on. Does Hasbro have control over distro? Yes!! It sucks but the way it is it will always be that way because it's Hasbro.

Of course the last thing a toy company wants to do is sell their toys to consumers, hence why they go out of their way with this distribution to make sure you guys dont get your toys.

Thanks Hasbro!!!

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 12:59 am

bvzxa wrote:
Thanks Hasbro!!!

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:45 am

With the Siege Micromaster 10 pack found at Toysrus Canada earlier, it was only a matter of time before the other target Exclusives came as well. And they have. Both the Transformers War for Cybertron Seeker 3 pack and the Transformers Cyberverse Spark Armour Cheetor have been spotted at Toysrus stores across the country. The seekers are at a rather economic $99.99 CAD ($75 USD) while Cheetor is selling for $5 more than the other similarly sized Spark Armour figures like Megatron and Optimus. The SKU for the seekers is 073876 so that is the number you can use to identify them when calling or asking in a store if that set is available. Speaking of availability, while Siege Cromar was already spotted, several Toysrus stores are waiting until October 4th to sell him, which explains why several stores still do not have him on the shelves.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:38 am

100$can for the Rainmakers set! That's pretty damn cheap! :shock:

Especially considering that the Refraktors set is the same price and single voyager is 40$CAN.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:06 am

-Kanrabat- wrote:100$can for the Rainmakers set! That's pretty damn cheap!

Especially considering that the Refraktors set is the same price and single voyager is 40$CAN.

I didnt think of it that way, 3 voyagers for the price of the 3 deluxes set, sounds good.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:33 pm

william-james88 wrote:
-Kanrabat- wrote:100$can for the Rainmakers set! That's pretty damn cheap!

Especially considering that the Refraktors set is the same price and single voyager is 40$CAN.

I didnt think of it that way, 3 voyagers for the price of the 3 deluxes set, sounds good.

I don't get it. Is this a "potahto-poteito" thing?

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 5:15 pm

Considering the price of other multipacks in the past I think 100 dollars does sound pretty decent here for those 3.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 5:22 pm

Deadput wrote:Considering the price of other multipacks in the past I think 100 dollars does sound pretty decent here for those 3.

I expected at least 120$CAN, meaning the price of a regular voyager times three. Plus maybe 10$ more because reasons. But the price of voyagers on sale? Sign me up!
...That is, for those who care about the set. I will limit myself only to Thundercracker for another Siege seeker for my sealed TC collection.

News Credits: 54 · by **Deadput** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:08 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:
I expected at least 120$CAN, meaning the price of a regular voyager times three. Plus maybe 10$ more because reasons. But the price of voyagers on sale? Sign me up!
...That is, for those who care about the set. I will limit myself only to Thundercracker for another Siege seeker for my sealed TC collection.

I must collect all of them, didn't do so for Classics since I was just a kid then and I love army building, especially with my head canon universe my collection takes part in where Transformers mostly didn't pick their looks but rather were placed into pre built designs.

The Seeker body design was a cheap mass produced design to build up a global Air/Space force to police Cybertron as well as be it's military, Seekers would come from many different backgrounds such as being forged into those bodies from the get go, from Cybertronians who owed big debts and thus joined the Seekers to pay them off, Criminals who were forced to convert into cheap bodied that could be easily monitored, those who volunteered for whatever reasons, etc

Coneheads were a head design used as a mark of shame to Seekers who committed actions of great heresy as running from battle, the procedure is usually done in such a way that it is irreversible, basically a conehead is a permanent dunce cap.

The body type is simple but maneuverable and depending on the importance of the individual their frame materials would differ in quality, for examples Seekers from criminal backgrounds would get very low quality alloy that isn't very durable at all.

Ah anyways I hope we are able to get Red Wing somehow at some point.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Sun Nov 10, 2019 3:13 pm

Many Canadians recieved the Toysrus catalogue within the past week or so. While the Transformers are not headliners like last year (since no movie came out this year), they are still represented with some good sales. Several are 20% off. The most important are the two brick and mortar exclusive Siege sets; the Refraktor 3 pack and the Seeker 3 pack which have a spotlight deal for themselves of 20$ off (even though it is still 20% off like the rest). The deals on Transformers (and many other toys) end November 20. Oddly enough, the voyager class is not on sale.

Toysrus is going all out this year for the holiday season. Their Transformers stock is filled to the brim, taking up the entire side of a row. Omega Supreme and other big ticket items are in stock and the entire store is decorated for a festive look. They also have many activities planned until Christmas with the main one being a visit from Santa Clause next week-end (check here to see when Santa comes to your store).

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Sun Nov 10, 2019 3:49 pm

The Rainmakers are also on sale at 80$CAN. An amazing deal for those who want to army-build seekers.

Oh, and I used my Club-R privileges to get refunded the sale difference on the Refraktor set that I bought many weeks ago.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Sun Nov 10, 2019 3:54 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:The Rainmakers are also on sale at 80$CAN. An amazing deal for those who want to army-build seekers.

Yes, thats written as well:

william-james88 wrote:The most important are the two brick and mortar exclusive Siege sets; the Refraktor 3 pack and the Seeker 3 pack which have a spotlight deal for themselves of 20$ off (even though it is still 20% off like the rest).