The Energon Pub

[Starseeker]

Just a heads up if anyone is interested, Amazon has Runamuck available for $17.88 and Airwave for $13.88!

[sol magnus]

Just a heads up if anyone is interested, Amazon has Runamuck available for $17.88 and Airwave for $13.88!

Thanks for the tip. Picked up Runamuck!

[o.supreme]

Just a heads up if anyone is interested....and Airwave for $13.88!

Hmmm... Wonder if Amazon is price matching Walmart, or vice versa? I reported that price for Airwave at Walmart in the steal of a deal thread

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

So, if anyone was wondering, the Deluxe-size Zarak figure from Scorponok would be classified as a Super Titan Master. I say this because that's what Cerebros was classified as in the official commercial for Fortress Maximus

[Sowndwave76]

It's been close to (if not more) than 3 weeks since I've seen any ER figures (minus the Clone 2 pack, and battle masters) at the local Target or Walmart...
I'm hoping this means any day now shelves will be full and the selection will be beyond what it's ever been in the last 6 months.

[Emerje]

It's been close to (if not more) than 3 weeks since I've seen any ER figures (minus the Clone 2 pack, and battle masters) at the local Target or Walmart...
I'm hoping this means any day now shelves will be full and the selection will be beyond what it's ever been in the last 6 months.

Yep, my local Target's and Walmarts' pegs are well stocked on Cyberverse, but there are only a few SS figures and no Earthrise Deluxe figures anywhere and Netflix is basically sold out at my two Walmarts.

I'm honestly curious how Target keeps getting exclusives from Hasbro in general, not just Transformers. Not only do they badly botch all of their exclusive releases, but they barely give any shelf space to their retail products. Walmart gives most classes multiple pegs and ample shelf space (despite passing on Battle Masters and Micromasters), same for things like G.I.Joe and Ghostbusters. Target, on the other hand, only gives each Transformers class one peg and the shelf space is a disorganized mess, while Ghostbusters get one peg and G.I.Joe gets one peg that's supposed to hold both regular and exclusive figures (and in my case currently full of overflow Ghostbusters figures). For some reason it feels like Target would rather people ask employees to get stuff from the stock room than to actually put stuff on shelves.

This is my Target as of last Friday. Too much old Siege stock (mainly that peg full of Battle Masters, a Megatron, and a few Shockwaves), too many things on the wrong shelves (that packed peg of Ghostbusters is supposed to be the 6" G.I.Joe peg), too much stuff on the wrong pegs and shelves (those Cyberverse Deluxes on the left are supposed to be on the right, Voyagers should be shifted over to the right), and that empty space in the middle under the Voyagers is for the Seeker 2 pack that they have never, ever had in stock. Does Target even have dedicated toy department staff? I never see any employees in that section while at Walmart there's always one or two people in the area stocking and arranging shelves.

At least they had two Leadfoots, I bought mine online because I had no faith in him showing up in store.

Emerje

[King Kuuga]

It's been close to (if not more) than 3 weeks since I've seen any ER figures (minus the Clone 2 pack, and battle masters) at the local Target or Walmart...
I'm hoping this means any day now shelves will be full and the selection will be beyond what it's ever been in the last 6 months.

Yep, my local Target's and Walmarts' pegs are well stocked on Cyberverse, but there are only a few SS figures and no Earthrise Deluxe figures anywhere and Netflix is basically sold out at my two Walmarts.

I'm honestly curious how Target keeps getting exclusives from Hasbro in general, not just Transformers. Not only do they badly botch all of their exclusive releases, but they barely give any shelf space to their retail products. Walmart gives most classes multiple pegs and ample shelf space (despite passing on Battle Masters and Micromasters), same for things like G.I.Joe and Ghostbusters. Target, on the other hand, only gives each Transformers class one peg and the shelf space is a disorganized mess, while Ghostbusters get one peg and G.I.Joe gets one peg that's supposed to hold both regular and exclusive figures (and in my case currently full of overflow Ghostbusters figures). For some reason it feels like Target would rather people ask employees to get stuff from the stock room than to actually put stuff on shelves.

This is my Target as of last Friday. Too much old Siege stock (mainly that peg full of Battle Masters, a Megatron, and a few Shockwaves), too many things on the wrong shelves (that packed peg of Ghostbusters is supposed to be the 6" G.I.Joe peg), too much stuff on the wrong pegs and shelves (those Cyberverse Deluxes on the left are supposed to be on the right, Voyagers should be shifted over to the right), and that empty space in the middle under the Voyagers is for the Seeker 2 pack that they have never, ever had in stock. Does Target even have dedicated toy department staff? I never see any employees in that section while at Walmart there's always one or two people in the area stocking and arranging shelves.

20201114_171744.jpg

At least they had two Leadfoots, I bought mine online because I had no faith in him showing up in store.

Emerje

Sometimes when I see the toy section in a mess I'll try to clean up the TFs at least. I don't care about the other stuff and obviously I'm not going to devote too much time, but I figure I can at least put a few things back in the right spot.

[alekese]

I'm honestly curious how Target keeps getting exclusives from Hasbro in general, not just Transformers. Not only do they badly botch all of their exclusive releases, but they barely give any shelf space to their retail products. Walmart gives most classes multiple pegs and ample shelf space (despite passing on Battle Masters and Micromasters), same for things like G.I.Joe and Ghostbusters. Target, on the other hand, only gives each Transformers class one peg and the shelf space is a disorganized mess, while Ghostbusters get one peg and G.I.Joe gets one peg that's supposed to hold both regular and exclusive figures (and in my case currently full of overflow Ghostbusters figures). For some reason it feels like Target would rather people ask employees to get stuff from the stock room than to actually put stuff on shelves.

Target gets a seat a the exclusives table because Toys R' Us' seat is now empty, as seen by the nearly 1:1 correlation between US target exclusives and canadian TRU, leadfoot included. Just file it away as another casualty of TRU's demise.

This is my Target as of last Friday. Too much old Siege stock (mainly that peg full of Battle Masters, a Megatron, and a few Shockwaves), too many things on the wrong shelves (that packed peg of Ghostbusters is supposed to be the 6" G.I.Joe peg), too much stuff on the wrong pegs and shelves (those Cyberverse Deluxes on the left are supposed to be on the right, Voyagers should be shifted over to the right), and that empty space in the middle under the Voyagers is for the Seeker 2 pack that they have never, ever had in stock. Does Target even have dedicated toy department staff? I never see any employees in that section while at Walmart there's always one or two people in the area stocking and arranging shelves.

From my personal retail experience, at Toys R' Us of all places, (Stayed to the bitter end!) there's a combination of factors behind sloppy toy aisles (and retail aisles in general):

1. Customers are lazy and don't take the time to put things back in the right spot after looking at it, or if the changed their mind later. Especially if it's something the kiddo grabbed from three aisles over and only just now showed off only to be rejected. It's always worst in the toy and apparel departments, but it happens in every part of every store. Reshop, which is staff putting things back where they belong, helps with that, but it's time and staff intensive, so it's one of the first things to fall by the wayside when understaffed, especially in departments that don't have perishables.

2.There's a lot of departments in a store, and back of building storage is at a premium. Toys are only one department out of many, so only so much room in the back of house storage area is used for them. The rest is stored at distribution warehouses, who fill up semi trailers and send them out to multiple stores in a large area. The in-system requests for more stock generally occur only when something runs out, but that doesn't matter if the distribution center flat out doesn't have it. Even then, it can take up to two weeks for it to go from restock request to back on the shelves, on a first come first serve basis. If every store runs out, there's only so much product to go around to replace it.

3. If they run things similarly to TRU, which they likely do, since there's only so much wiggle room for different ways to cut corners on staffing to "optimize" payroll to profit ratios, there's 1-2 staff bolted into place at customer service, 1 stapled to the counter in electronics as theft deterrent, 3-5 hot glued to the checkout aisles as cashiers, and everyone else is responsible for every part of the store. There might be some degree of designated department, but that goes out the window the second a customer asks for help. Most places require employees to drop everything to help a customer, even if it takes them to the other side of the store from their current task. All of this is made worse by the fact that, if it takes a shift of 15 people to accomplish everything that needs to be done at high quality, but 10 people can get 95% of it done at barely adequate quality, 9 people are got scheduled and only 7 showed up.

4. Full shelves matter more than diverse shelves. The perception that the store is well stocked matters. If there are a multitude of gaps where GI Joe, Marvel and megablocks should be, the customer's thought process is (in theory) that the store doesn't bother keeping things in stock and so shops elsewhere. But if they instead see wall to wall transformers, bakugan and star wars, then the customer's thought process, if they even notice the lack of Joes, is that those are temporarily out of stock but the store is otherwise well stocked. To use a metaphor, looking busy working is more important than working productively. I think it's bogus, but that's what we were told.

5. While the other reasons are year round, this one only applies to this week. It is two days before Black Friday. There NEEDS to be stock on the shelves Black Friday, especially in the toy department. They absolutely are holding and have been holding stock to put out Thanksgiving night for the following day. They would rather have disappointing shelves for two weeks, and restock then, than restock now and risk things selling out before black friday and having disappointing shelves then.

All of these reasons feed into and exacerbate each other. If a customer puts something back on the wrong empty peg, an overworked staffer will put out the matching case that's all they have from the stockroom on that peg so it looks full without checking to make sure it's right because they have seven other tasks to do in the next 15 minutes alone because two of the five people on the floor got called up to work register for the next hour due to a rush, but their work still needs doing.

[Gauntlet101010]

Finally got some wave 2 guys and Fasttrack. They were at a Toys R us further away from me ... they've been there for a few weeks, so I guess I'm lucky to have them now.

I decided to impulse buy Arcee. In the end I wanted to see how she was in-hand. I do like her better than just from pics, but ... yeah. The old one is just better overall. The new one is nice if you remove the backpack, but that's the only way she can win in bot mode and the old Arcee kills the competition in vehicle mode.

With an Alicon in my pile of loot at BBTS, I got the last two members I need for a fighting force of Alicons. His transformation is worse than the 3P Alicons, but he's still a very fun figure overall.

Fastrack was also there, so I guess I missed out on Runamuck for now. I like the Weaponizers. I wouldn't want a line of them, but there's just enough to keep them interesting. Not too many to make the entire concept lame, but enough to be varied.

[Emerje]

*long post*

Honestly, I was never happy with the way TRU handled exclusives and really don't miss them as a retailer. As much as I complain about Target I have had far, far more success getting their exclusives.

Most of the problems in that picture aren't customer related, they're simply stocked wrong.

Unlike most retailers that put stuff on the floor as it comes off the truck it's well known that Target keeps additional stock in the back, you can check it on the price scanners and ask someone to get it for you.

And I've mentioned saving for Black Friday a few times recently, but that Earthrise peg they put that sale sticker on hasn't had anything on it since they did that endcap over the summer.

Anyway, speaking of Target, my Runabout shipped.

Emerje

[Nuclearxpotato]

Anyway, speaking of Target, my Runabout shipped.

Emerje

This seems to confirm that Target never even processed my Pre-order (despite sending me through the entire process). By the time I realised they weren't listed under my account, it had been an hour and the pre-orders ran out. I'd suggest anyone else to check their Target account details to make sure it actually pre-ordered.

Here's to hoping any Targets I check actually stock him. :/

[aronjlove]

Amazon says the Paradron set shipped today but still no word on the Autobot Alliance other than 'expected Friday' and that doesn't fill me with confidence. Did anyone here receive the Autobot Alliance? Not a huge fan of Prowl but he's needed to finish the ER Datsun trio since I have the Siege trio, and I really like the little details in the earth mode update for Ironhide/Ratchet.

[sol magnus]

Amazon says the Paradron set shipped today but still no word on the Autobot Alliance other than 'expected Friday' and that doesn't fill me with confidence. Did anyone here receive the Autobot Alliance? Not a huge fan of Prowl but he's needed to finish the ER Datsun trio since I have the Siege trio, and I really like the little details in the earth mode update for Ironhide/Ratchet.

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

Anyway, I got mine when it was originally due in early Nov.

[aronjlove]

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

I mean, if I had to miss out on a Datsun, I'd rather it be Prowl than Bluestreak or Smokescreen.

[Sabrblade]

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s and IDW turned him into a jerk.

The first really cool guy to bear the name was Animated Prowl.

[sol magnus]

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

I mean, if I had to miss out on a Datsun, I'd rather it be Prowl than Bluestreak or Smokescreen.

To each his own. I mean, I'm not going to miss out on any Datsun, but if there's one I'm not missing it's gonna be Prowl. Anything else doesn't compute.

Now granted, I swapped this release's head with a Siege head, but it was an easy decision to make.

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s and IDW turned him into a jerk.

The first really cool guy to bear the name was Animated Prowl.

Bluestreak wasn't really anybody, either. Neither was Smokescreen for that matter. But, I've always loved the character from his bio card (which almost all of my main perspectives come from). I've only seldom been swayed by comic book or television portrayals (and that's mostly Sky Lynx and Brawn). But even, visually, he looks 'cooler' than the other Datsuns to me.

[o.supreme]

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s

I'm pretty neutral when it comes to the Datsuns, they were never my favorites, but I didn't dislike anything about them either. Well Bluestreak was a little jerkish at times, but I digress... Not sure where that comment is coming from as the Original Prowl is one of the most popular characters from all indications I've seen, this coming from someone who has taken no effort to really seek out any of their toys since the Commemorative series back in 2004.

[Sabrblade]

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s

I'm pretty neutral when it comes to the Datsuns, they were never my favorites, but I didn't dislike anything about them either. Well Bluestreak was a little jerkish at times, but I digress... Not sure where that comment is coming from as the Original Prowl is one of the most popular characters from all indications I've seen, this coming from someone who has taken no effort to really seek out any of their toys since the Commemorative series back in 2004.

Police cars are an iconic type of car. That's probably his biggest appeal.

[sol magnus]

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s

I'm pretty neutral when it comes to the Datsuns, they were never my favorites, but I didn't dislike anything about them either. Well Bluestreak was a little jerkish at times, but I digress... Not sure where that comment is coming from as the Original Prowl is one of the most popular characters from all indications I've seen, this coming from someone who has taken no effort to really seek out any of their toys since the Commemorative series back in 2004.

Police cars are an iconic type of car. That's probably his biggest appeal.

Back to his original question, or part of it, I just got charged for my Ratchet and Lifeline.

[aronjlove]

Back to his original question, or part of it, I just got charged for my Ratchet and Lifeline.

Cool. Hopefully, everyone that pre-ordered will receive their order without any delays. Distribution has been so weird.

[chuckdawg1999]

Amazon says the Paradron set shipped today but still no word on the Autobot Alliance other than 'expected Friday' and that doesn't fill me with confidence. Did anyone here receive the Autobot Alliance? Not a huge fan of Prowl but he's needed to finish the ER Datsun trio since I have the Siege trio, and I really like the little details in the earth mode update for Ironhide/Ratchet.

As it is now, I'll be getting the Ratchet set before the Ironhide set.

[Rodimus Prime]

"Not a huge fan of Prowl"? WTF?

Let's face it, he was kind of a nobody in the 80s and IDW turned him into a jerk.

The first really cool guy to bear the name was Animated Prowl.

Not quite. He was fairly prominent in the Marvel comic's early run, and later Furman turned him into a jerk in G1 way before IDW.

But yeah, in the cartoon he wasn't very high profile. And in IDW he wasn't a Datsun, if I recall correctly.

As for the set, I canceled mine, because I didn't like Ironhide. So if anyone doesn't want their Prowl, PM me.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Prowl was hardly a nobody in the '80s, especially not if you count the Marvel comic (which is where him being a prick originates). He wasn't as prominent in the cartoon as, say, Hound or Mirage, but he still had a decent presence.

Skids, on the other hand...

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I remember back in 2006, when Classics was 'just' a filler line between the end of Animated and the delayed live-action movie. When three Seekers were retail and three were Botcon exclusives and the only Combiners we were seeming to get were Energon repaints.

And now... the four Micromaster Bases. I own updated versions of the four Micromaster Bases. This is so cool, you know? Like, for those of us who collected back in 2006, did you ever imagine we'd get to this? I didn't! I thought I'd be lucky to ever get the 1984 wave done!

[sol magnus]

I remember back in 2006, when Classics was 'just' a filler line between the end of Animated and the delayed live-action movie. When three Seekers were retail and three were Botcon exclusives and the only Combiners we were seeming to get were Energon repaints.

And now... the four Micromaster Bases. I own updated versions of the four Micromaster Bases. This is so cool, you know? Like, for those of us who collected back in 2006, did you ever imagine we'd get to this? I didn't! I thought I'd be lucky to ever get the 1984 wave done!

Talk to me when they redo Action Masters.