The Energon Pub

So I've found some threads about this on tfw2005 and generally the majority of people in the uk seem to prefer online services.

I'm suggesting we compile (I will try and update - and am happy to listen to suggestions)
a list of vendors (from a UK perspective) with some details about quality of service for each voice.

I'm glad to start off, but haven't been living in the UK for long and need some help with the listing all stores (just available ones [e.g. thus not cybertoys]), but including non uk based vendors aswell.

KAPOW TOYS:
STORE: warehouse somewhere in East Anglia, not really an option for most. apparently 'Andy' makes great tea (looking for info)
ONLINE: Good for third party figures, masterpieces, generations and most tf products outthere. Suffers a bit in comparison to other international online toy vendors in regards to range and availability but is by far the most equipped in uk as far as range of products is concerned.
http://www.kapowtoys.co.uk/
PRICE: Varies, even if generally good. May be more expensive during hypes (release of new figures etc). Usually decent (eg. thirdparty fansproject figures sold at 50 pounds. same figure bought from tfsource 85 dollars shipping included. buying from Ebay, u can find figures from china at 80$ (shipping included) or from us 69$ + some 15-20$ shipping; so kapow is selling to you as if it was shipped from abroad - 50pounds more or less 80 $)
PROBLEMS: availability

Forbidden Planet:
STORES; usually have few transformer figures
ONLINE; good range of availability, mostly for generations and classic hasbro figures. Has a few Masterpiece for sale.
https://forbiddenplanet.com/
PRICE: pricey
PROBLEMS: very little choice.

TOYSPIN/ T&G
Stores: ?????
Online: Has most official Hasbro/takara toys (masterpiece/generations,deluxe etc etc.) and a decent range of third party tf toys, Not as supplied as Kapow.
http://www.toyspin.co.uk/new-category-5/
Price: seems pricey (acid storm and soundwave mp are more expensive than at toysrus)
Problems: availability

TOYRUS.uk:
STORES: will generally have toys targeted for younger audiences (transformers prime, beastwars etc). Masterpiece sold by toyrus are only GENERALLY available online (they don't think a mother of a 7 year old will agree to paying 140£ for soundwave) so bigger stores only shelf MP's.
ONLINE: see above; toysrus has recently had a couple of masterpiece exclusives (soundwave and acid storm) might have more in the future. Good also for generations figures.
http://www.toysrus.co.uk
PRICE: awesome if not just plainly ,... baudacious. generations figures cost the normal retail price, however the masterpiece figures offered pretty good deals (particularly mp soundwave which included 5 cassettes at the price of 130£ (more or less)
PROBLEMS: Not really usefull if you want a specific figure they don't have (all other MP, thirdparties, reissues etc..)


TESCO:
stores: ????
Online: Mostly Transformers Prime toys
http://www.tesco.com/direct/search-resu ... tamp_slot7
Price: normal

THE ENTERTAINER
Stores: ?????
Online: Transformers Prime, Kreo, bot shots and other such official products.
http://www.thetoyshop.com/Transformers/ ... rice-desc#
Price: normal


TOYMASTER:
Stores: ????
Online: Mostly Tranformers Prime
http://www.toymastershop.co.uk/c-825-tr ... s.aspx?sm=
price: normal

ASDA:
Store: couple of children transformers on the shelfs motsly
Online: some transformers
http://direct.asda.com/Transformers/AD1 ... lt,sc.html
price: normal
problem: choice

ARGOS:
Store: ????
Online: transformers prime, constructor bots
http://www.argos.co.uk/
price: normal


this is the end of the uk sellers i know.

EBAY:
i have made use (MP prowl) of sellers from Taiwan or Hongkong (free of shipping) and have had no problems.
The price is good even if the shipping can take a while.
Of course ebay requires for attention, i generally buy from online retailers, not from individuals. etc..

TFsource:
have no experience with them. (cant find a fansproject casualty breakdown in uk might get it from them.. will let you know.




Thats all.
I'll keep updating if anyone finds the thread interesting/useful

Try here: united-kingdom-transformers-sightings-t42.php

This is usually where this sort of thing would be discussed. Welcome to the UK

Tempted to move this directly into our thread, actually.

Thx.. but 800 pages of thread is beyond me..
beside that thread seems to contain a lot of 'chat'

Maybe we could keep updating/editing the first post of this thread as a stickythread if it becomes good nuff?

Hmmmm. Lazy hey?

I'll add Toymaster, The Entertainer, Tesco, ASDA, Wilkinson, B&H, Home Bargains as chains for occasional goodies.

Toyz and Gamez (now Toyspin online) for import stuff. Kapow! Toys is not North London but Norwich, as is T&G.

TRU do have Masterpieces in store, unless your experience is just with smaller shops rather than the big stores. Forbidden Planet are stupidly expensive in my experience with them.

Va'al wrote:Tempted to move this directly into our thread, actually.

If you merge it into the UK sightings thread it would vanish pretty quick, then it would end up a hunt to find it.

Would it be possible to set up a new thread separate from the UK sightings, and have it stickied?

ill try and update the info u gave later. if the first post of the thread remains relevant/uptodate It would be easier to trackback to and make/keep it usefull. can I allow other to edit the first post? i assume not.

wondering if its worth adding a link to each voice.

what are T&G and toyspin? i haven't found them, ill give a better look later tonight.

cheers and thx for the welcome.

SkyWarpsGhost wrote:

Va'al wrote:Tempted to move this directly into our thread, actually.

If you merge it into the UK sightings thread it would vanish pretty quick, then it would end up a hunt to find it.

Would it be possible to set up a new thread separate from the UK sightings, and have it stickied?

That is true.

I'm not sure about a sticky thread, but we can definitely refer back to this one.

Kapow Toys bricks and mortar store is somewhere north of London? I'm somewhere north of London too! Maybe I should pop down there and have a looksie.

Hi chaps.. good idea on the thread - reasonably useful. One thing I am confused about is the weird variation in prices across sites. Mainly I am just bitter how we pay the same in £ for what US people pay in $!!

I have used Kapow once. Looking at T&G / Toyspin they look to be waaaay more expensive. Bubblebee pre order is £50ish on Kapow compared to £70/£75ish on T&G. I don't follow the retail / import scene much so have no idea why there would be that variance. Kapow themselves are £25 more expensive on ie Acidstorm and Metroplex than Toys'r'us.. are Kapow's versions the Takara ones or something?

One thing I would find interesting is knowing how people think the current high-end transformers sold by Toys'r'us are going to move in price. Does anyone think there will be a sale (and if there is would the sale prices be available online or would you have to go to a store) after a while when TRU havnt sold many AcidStorms at £75 for example? Ditto Metroplex.. I might buy him at £50 or £60, but wouldn't ever at £125. Or would TRU just offload their stock to discounters (again im not familiar with how they do business in general)? I got my MP Hotrod/Rodimus from TRU and admittedly his case was broken.

My current collection is all masterpieces - 25th Anniversary prime, takara soundwave + minions, Grimlock and prowl, Hasbro Starscream, Skywarp & Thundercracker. In looking to add to this.. do people think a Hasbro Sideswipe will materialise?

Cheers,

PadForce

EDIT: Lol, just re-reading my post and it has been auto-modded to talk about trying to get by the spam filter.. all I used was a pound symbol!

ARGOS: they have multiple figures under one catalogue number (for example all TFP deluxes have the same catalogue number) so you can't buy online as you have no control over what they'll send. You can go into a store and ask to view what they have. They're good at getting first waves but like most UK brick and mortars, they have a hard time getting later waves.

craggy wrote:Kapow Toys bricks and mortar store is somewhere north of London? I'm somewhere north of London too! Maybe I should pop down there and have a looksie.

Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia.

Mykltron wrote:

craggy wrote:Kapow Toys bricks and mortar store is somewhere north of London? I'm somewhere north of London too! Maybe I should pop down there and have a looksie.

Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia.

I think he was being snarky.

I updated some voices. I left out home bargains, B&H and wilkinson as they had the least choice.

Pleas do let me know if I missed any.

Maybe we could also compile a list of ebay vendors and our experience with them, particularly those shipping from asia.

ciao

PadForce wrote:Hi chaps.. good idea on the thread - reasonably useful. One thing I am confused about is the weird variation in prices across sites. Mainly I am just bitter how we pay the same in trying to get by the spam filter.. NO. for what US people pay in $!!

I have used Kapow once. Looking at T&G / Toyspin they look to be waaaay more expensive. Bubblebee pre order is £50ish on Kapow compared to £70/£75ish on T&G. I don't follow the retail / import scene much so have no idea why there would be that variance. Kapow themselves are £25 more expensive on ie Acidstorm and Metroplex than Toys'r'us.. are Kapow's versions the Takara ones or something?

One thing I would find interesting is knowing how people think the current high-end transformers sold by Toys'r'us are going to move in price. Does anyone think there will be a sale (and if there is would the sale prices be available online or would you have to go to a store) after a while when TRU havnt sold many AcidStorms at £75 for example? Ditto Metroplex.. I might buy him at £50 or £60, but wouldn't ever at £125. Or would TRU just offload their stock to discounters (again im not familiar with how they do business in general)? I got my MP Hotrod/Rodimus from TRU and admittedly his case was broken.

My current collection is all masterpieces - 25th Anniversary prime, takara soundwave + minions, Grimlock and prowl, Hasbro Starscream, Skywarp & Thundercracker. In looking to add to this.. do people think a Hasbro Sideswipe will materialise?

Cheers,

PadForce

EDIT: Lol, just re-reading my post and it has been auto-modded to talk about trying to get by the spam filter.. all I used was a pound symbol!

before I answer your post check out this site. its in the US but lets you choose the shipping methods which helps a lot on saving some cash

http://acestoystore.com/store/

about the toys r us masterpiece stuff:

a- if they don't sell enough masterpieces they might not strike similar deals with takara/hasbro in the future.
b- even if such figures are discounted, I assume this would happen on a store to store basis. You know, u usually 'buy' a franchise name and pay for the supplies etc... Then again, not all toysrus stores shelf the masterpieces, so you'd have to keep checking a store that does (the bigger ones I assume) hoping they don't run out of stock.

Susha wrote:I updated some voices. I left out home bargains, B&H and wilkinson as they had the least choice.

Pleas do let me know if I missed any.

Maybe we could also compile a list of ebay vendors and our experience with them, particularly those shipping from asia.

ciao

As I said before, and others have confirmed, Kapow does not have a physical shop.
It's not in the North, but East Anglia. Toyz and Gamez is down the road from the same warehouse, in Norwich.

TRU does carry Masterpieces in store.