The Energon Pub

I've only seen one - at Target, 79.99.

I ordered and received my Rodimus Prime through Target.com, but I’ve never seen him, nor the Ark, in any store in the Twin Cities area. In fact, I still haven’t seen any sign of Kingdom Deluxe wave 3 here as of yet. I found them at a Target in Easton, MD while I was visiting my mom a few weeks ago.

I received my Rodimus last month from Amazon. However, I was looking at brickseek a couple of days ago, and it did show a "limited stock" of Rodimus at the Target closest to me, while I did not personally see it in store myself, I'm sure they probably got one shipment in. I've not seen Rodimus physically in any store yet. This closest Target to me is also where I got The Ark at the end of July, and I know they restocked it at least 2 times since then, which also sold relatively quickly.

Also it seems very likely that Pipes and Slammer got pushed back which is unfortunate, but would also explain why we've seen very little of them (one short video review of Pipes, and only a few pics of Slammer) whereas Waspinator and Shadow Panther had early reviews months ago.

o.supreme wrote:I received my Rodimus last month from Amazon. However, I was looking at brickseek a couple of days ago, and it did show a "limited stock" of Rodimus at the Target closest to me, while I did not personally see it in store myself, I'm sure they probably got one shipment in. I've not seen Rodimus physically in any store yet. This closest Target to me is also where I got The Ark at the end of July, and I know they restocked it at least 2 times since then, which also sold relatively quickly.

The reason I ask is to maybe get closer to answering your question about ho many they made. With knowing how many target got per store, we could make an estimate of how many got allocated to Target and that would show us a number of one of the 2 biggest stores in what might be the biggest market/nation where TFs are sold. There are 1,897 stores. If there is an allocation of 4 per store, then we already start with 7588. Walmart orders systematically and are technically bigger (what I mean is they will order it whether or not they stock it in store), so since it's been seen at one already we know they order it too. So we get to 14000. Then we have Amazon, would they order as much as Target? Don't see why not, so we get to 21000. Doesn't include BBTS or any other online store or smaller collectible store. It could be 40 000 just the US (in there I also include the stock needed for Target's online store which I had not written before). Yes, I made up that number, but I am extrapolating, based on the amount of retailers and possible demand. I am looking for a believable number to then get to the next part, could be higher, could be lower (but I doubt it's much lower). We had a stat from hasbro that US allocation for an exclusive Transformer (the only info we ever had on this) was 33%. So, let's say there are 40 000 Rodimus toys being sold in the US, that would mean over 120 000 Rodimus toys made. Of course, could be lower. If only 30 000 rodimus toys are made for the US, then the global output would be over 90 000, still what I see as a pretty big number.

So when talking about economies of scale, yeah we have multiples of ten compared to the proposed out put of something from Haslab.

And here is the only info on global production we got from hasbro (it was a pretty big leak). It's for the exclusive Fortress Maximus Titans Return toy that was a redeco of the later released Fortress Maximus.

There were 9000 made (at least that's how I read it, unless the 3000 US allocation is an addition to that 9000, but I'll keep the numbers conservative).

So 9000 of this exclusive that is a fraction of how many of the regular release exists. How many of us own that regular release compared to the exclusive release? What's the fraction? Don't know, but the number can't be low. If it's a factor of 10 (which would not surprise me), there you are again with a 90 000 - 100 000 units made of a titan class Transformer (not including the extra units made for this exclusive and brave max, I am seeing them apart, just trying to figure out how much of the regular release there are)



All I mean to say by all this is what people mean by economies of scale. Rather than 10 000 units, we are looking at 100 000 or more. And using the only numbers we have ever been given.

Awesome, I appreciate you digging in and trying to do the research. I'll definitely keep an eye on Brickseek, and check every Target I go to in person. Another factor is, I've discovered, at least with the Titans, is that only 3 stores of 20 in my area have actually had them in stock (the same 3 stores for Scorponok last year and the Ark this year), so not all get them.

CC may have a *bit* of a wider distribution due to only being about half that price, (seems like more stores had Skylynx last year), but I'll defintely keep my eyes open. Still there was the odd incidence last year of Target getting 2 MPM toys (Starscream and Ratchet), I saw probably 2-4 of these at almost every Target I went to, unfortunately most ended up going on clearance, definitely not one of Targets better strategies. I see they are not investing shelf space for MPM currently, probably for the best.

*Wow that kind of blows my mind away that there were 9000 of the *exclusive* Fortress Maximus made. I remember this coming out for SDCC in 2016, but I'm sure it was made available for other conventions around the world as well. It also sold out eventually on Hasbro Toys sore IIRC? (maybe not? would nto surprise me if it took a while to move even 3K of those), but personally, I don't know anybody who owns one. I always felt the standard edition was good enough. I got Legends Grand Max which came with the Master sword. But if I ever wanted my Fort Max to have any accessories, there are plenty of 3P kits out there.

Speaking of Grand Max, I just recalled this. The first time a crowdfunding endeavor was attempted:

Grand Maximus was released as a TakaraTomy Mall exclusive; he was available for preorder starting October 11 at 12:00 am until November 2 at 1:00 pm. A minimum of 2000 orders were required for the figure to be produced, this target was reached on October 27. Upon 3000 preorders or more, he would have included a new Pretender Suit retooled from Power of the Primes Micronus's decoy armor, presumably intended for Waverider, which can transform into a weapon, store Gran's Headmaster, or attach to a Prime Master in weapon mode. Unfortunately, preorders did not reach this level within the three-week deadline.

So while limited only to customers in Japan, and with a 3 week order window, they reached the 2000 production goal, but not the 3000 stretch goal, which is kind of sad. But other than some Botcon exclusives which range in the low 100's to sometimes 2000's, It is nice to know I own a toy that we know less than 3000 of exist in the whole world.

o.supreme wrote:Still there was the odd incidence last year of Target getting 2 MPM toys (Starscream and Ratchet), I saw probably 2-4 of these at almost every Target I went to, unfortunately most ended up going on clearance, definitely not one of Targets better strategies. I see they are not investing shelf space for MPM currently, probably for the best.

Target is carrying MPM Bumblee Prime, so they are allocating some shelf space for him in some stores. I've seen him in 2 different stores and he sold immediately.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Still there was the odd incidence last year of Target getting 2 MPM toys (Starscream and Ratchet), I saw probably 2-4 of these at almost every Target I went to, unfortunately most ended up going on clearance, definitely not one of Targets better strategies. I see they are not investing shelf space for MPM currently, probably for the best.

Target is carrying MPM Bumblee Prime, so they are allocating some shelf space for him in some stores. I've seen him in 2 different stores and he sold immediately.

(just writing in general here)
The MPMS are produced in big quantities too, despite their higher prices. That's because unlike the Takara MPs (which granted are never said to be limited either), they are Hasbro initiatives and sold with the same acessibilit/channels as other Hasbro toys and thus comes with the same big quantities. Which yeah has lead to discounts. I have had the same thing happen in Canada with most MPM releases. The supply was bigger than the demand in the past but with MPM Prime, it might be different as TF fan Kev points out.

Nemesis Primal wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Also, it could be a 3.5 wave that appears in select markets. We don't know.

o.supreme wrote:It could be a repack wave, or it could just be coincidence those 2 toys were in stock as well. Stock from different waves can be on the shelf at the same time.

I guess it could be a weird interim wave, but I thought Hasbro stopped doing those, since the late TR and PotP waves got messed up by interim restock waves and they haven't done one since? Also the store employee specified that those four figures all came in the same case, so unless the store employee is lying or just plain wrong, these aren't leftover Tracks/Paleotrex's from earlier waves, that just is who's in Wave 4 whatever that wave is I guess.

william-james88 wrote:The pic of the bug you posted doesn't have the same venom like eyes as the toy so I really don't understand. Please post them side by side so that I can see what you refer to because I am not sure we are looking at the same toy.

Let me see if I can explain this better: the OG Beast Wars Waspinator has round eyes on the front of his head, right? I think we can all agree on that, but to illustrate my point, here's both a shot from Beast Wars cartoon and a pic of my soon-to-be-replaced T30 Waspinator, since it emulates the cartoon's bug head design:

Waspinatorhappyatlast.jpg

T30 Waspinator.jpg

Now, actual wasps have almost cashew-shaped eyes that wrap around the sides of their heads rather than sit on the front of them. To illustrate this, the same Google image result as before, as well as the Wikipedia image for wasp:

zoology-animals-insects-wasps-detail-compound-eyes-close-up-distribution-worldwide-animal-insect-X5T16K.jpg

wikipedia wasp.jpg

This brings us to Kingdom Waspinator, who, wouldn't you know it, has cashew eyes on the sides of his head, which shouldn't be a surprise considering it's well-established that Kingdom is doing realistic alt-modes over cartoon-accurate alt-modes for the most part:

Kingdom-Waspinator-05.jpg

Kingdom-Waspinator-04.jpg

Kingdom Waspy's head is also slimmer and has more pronounced mandibles when compared to the original design & T30 figure, which again matches the real animal.

One problem, Waspinator is based on a specific wasp called a green yellow black wasp which has the cartoon style almond eyes.



The WFC figure is neither cartoon nor real wasp accurate, the T30 version remains the most accurate in both regards.

william-james88 wrote:The reason I ask is to maybe get closer to answering your question about ho many they made. With knowing how many target got per store, we could make an estimate of how many got allocated to Target and that would show us a number of one of the 2 biggest stores in what might be the biggest market/nation where TFs are sold. There are 1,897 stores. If there is an allocation of 4 per store, then we already start with 7588. Walmart orders systematically and are technically bigger (what I mean is they will order it whether or not they stock it in store), so since it's been seen at one already we know they order it too. So we get to 14000. Then we have Amazon, would they order as much as Target? Don't see why not, so we get to 21000. Doesn't include BBTS or any other online store or smaller collectible store. It could be 40 000 just the US (in there I also include the stock needed for Target's online store which I had not written before). Yes, I made up that number, but I am extrapolating, based on the amount of retailers and possible demand. I am looking for a believable number to then get to the next part, could be higher, could be lower (but I doubt it's much lower). We had a stat from hasbro that US allocation for an exclusive Transformer (the only info we ever had on this) was 33%. So, let's say there are 40 000 Rodimus toys being sold in the US, that would mean over 120 000 Rodimus toys made. Of course, could be lower. If only 30 000 rodimus toys are made for the US, then the global output would be over 90 000, still what I see as a pretty big number.

Funny, I wrote a very similar thing in the HasLab Victory Saber topic this evening. We came to pretty similar conclusions though I dropped my estimate down to 80K from originally writing 100K as what I think is a conservative minimum.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:One problem, Waspinator is based on a specific wasp called a green yellow black wasp which has the cartoon style almond eyes.



The WFC figure is neither cartoon nor real wasp accurate, the T30 version remains the most accurate in both regards.

...while I certainly see the resemblance, I have honestly never heard this before or seen this particular wasp before, and more importantly, this inspiration is mentioned nowhere on the wiki, which leads me to feel safe assuming that the current design team may not have known about this either, and when told to design the figure to look like a realistic wasp, they checked the wiki (since we know Hasbro has based things off specific images/quotes on the wiki at the cost of accuracy before), saw all the places on there he's just referred to as a generic "organic wasp", and then just checked places like Wikipedia and Google Images for generic wasps to reference like I did rather than look for that wasp specifically. The details on the wasps I found match Kingdom Waspinator enough that I'm convinced it was intentional, and if that is what they did they would have had to look for a while to find this guy. Does that make it inaccurate? I guess technically, but I'll be honest, I still think Kingdom Waspy looks better.

Also that particular wasp still has the eyes on the sides of the head rather than directly on the front, since that's how compound eyes have to be placed to function properly, so at least that aspect of the comparison stands regardless.

Oh wow, who knew Waspinator was so beautiful. I'm going to need to update some of my assumptions about that character.

I received an email from Pulse early this morning. I guess the Tricranius/Blast Effects pack will be shipping soon. That will be nice to actually get something a couple weeks early.

o.supreme wrote:I received an email from Pulse early this morning. I guess the Tricranius/Blast Effects pack will be shipping soon. That will be nice to actually get something a couple weeks early.

That and Sideswipe / Skywarp.

sol magnus wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I received an email from Pulse early this morning. I guess the Tricranius/Blast Effects pack will be shipping soon. That will be nice to actually get something a couple weeks early.

That and Sideswipe / Skywarp.

Amazon still has my SS and SW set for November still.

Overcracker wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I received an email from Pulse early this morning. I guess the Tricranius/Blast Effects pack will be shipping soon. That will be nice to actually get something a couple weeks early.

That and Sideswipe / Skywarp.

Amazon still has my SS and SW set for November still.

I wish Pulse still had it set for November, not for nothing. They have several products that have been delayed but several others that are now shipping early. Of every possible complaint I could level against Pulse, it would be around that because it blows up budgets pretty easily. Skorponok got delayed twice, and now he's shipping too - which is sending my September 'bill' to Hasbro nearly to 300 bucks and that's just as of today.

I'm in the same boat: Tracks, Ark, Scorponok, Tricanicus, Galvatron, Sideswipe, and probably some I forgot. I just got Rodimus and Rhinox from other retailers this week.

Bad for my wallet, but on the other hand, I'm going to have an unwrapping party for one sometime in the next few days.

Greetings Seibertronians!

While the reveal of Draculus may have taken the shine away from Road Rage, today is a big day for her as she is now available to order from Target!



Road Rage is also confirmed to be a Target Red Card Exclusive, just as Siege Red Wing was.

Road Rage herself is a redeco of Transformers Kingdom Deluxe Class Tracks who was released as part of Kingdom's 3rd Wave of Deluxes.

To see more images of Road Tage in all her glory, click here!

Click here to place your order now!

What do you think of Road Rage? Have you ordered her already?

Shout out in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Tricanius arrived a week ago for me in UK from pulse. My green power ranger finally showed up a year later too (my day 1 preorder was cancelled and I ordered him from elsewhere) but the curse of Internet shopping he has a blemished painted visor.
Passing on wave 4 deluxes if that's what wave 4 is and I've passed on Scorponok Kingdom bw figures haven't been what I've wanted from them so far with the exception of airrazor, upcoming ravage and maybe tigatron (though I might as well go for mp version).

Looking forward to seeing Tricanius combos in the forums with the rest of the fosilizers, I think disassembling transmutate might be too much for me hahaha

I got my Galvatron today. The wrong detail is facing up in the package, and based on shoulder placement I think it's misassembled. How common are the correctly assembled ones in-package? Wondering if I should hold onto it to try to replace with one I find at B&M retail, or just own up to fixing it myself or living with it as-is. I recently swapped hip parts between a defective PotP Ricochet and Jazz--with an assist from my wife--so I figure I'm capable of the swap if I really want to do it.

I'm probably going to bust him open, I'm not even sure I prefer the "fixed" version.

blackeyedprime wrote:Looking forward to seeing Tricranius combos in the forums with the rest of the fosilizers, I think disassembling transmutate might be too much for me hahaha

Yes. My Transmutate should arrive on Monday, and if Pulse is any indication, items get to my door about 10 days from when they say they are getting ready to ship. So by month end I should have Tricranius and a complete Heroic Fossilizer Combiner ready to show off. Now I am just awaiting a *hopeful* announcement of a Selects release of a Predacon repaint for Wingfinger.

IDToys in the UK posted mine today. Should have it by Monday. Its for somebody's Christmas to go with their MP Road Rage. Gonna be prepared this year for once.

Do we have any idea if Road Rage is ACTUALLY a Red Card exclusive, or if she's just Red Card exclusive to start out like T-Wrecks? I'm really hoping it's that second option, the fact that her page said nothing about requiring a Red Card until today is incredibly frustrating.

AcademyofDrX wrote:I'm probably going to bust him open, I'm not even sure I prefer the "fixed" version.

After everything I reversed Galvatron's arms and put the plugs from Larkin's Lair or JRC in.. I might even have extras if you need em.

Nemesis Primal wrote:Do we have any idea if Road Rage is ACTUALLY a Red Card exclusive, or if she's just Red Card exclusive to start out like T-Wrecks? I'm really hoping it's that second option, the fact that her page said nothing about requiring a Red Card until today is incredibly frustrating.

We do have an idea. She's definitely Red Card exclusive.

sol magnus wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:I'm probably going to bust him open, I'm not even sure I prefer the "fixed" version.

After everything I reversed Galvatron's arms and put the plugs from Larkin's Lair or JRC in.. I might even have extras if you need em.

I was fortunate that the Galvatron I purchased from Target on Monday was correct. However I've seen so many comparison pics. I've seen the ones with the misassembled shoulders and the *rough* edges on top etc... , and frankly, if not for the internet, I probably wouldn't have even known if I had purchased an incorrect one. If it doesn't effect Transformation, I'm not sure what the big deal is. I hear a lot of people say the shoulders look off "sitting so low", honestly, the difference is miniscule if at all. But if anyone feels compelled to fix a defective version, more power to them.

ZeroWolf wrote:Greetings Seibertronians!

While the reveal of Draculus may have taken the shine away from Road Rage, today is a big day for her as she is now available to order from Target!



Road Rage is also confirmed to be a Target Red Card Exclusive, just as Siege Red Wing was.

Road Rage herself is a redeco of Transformers Kingdom Deluxe Class Tracks who was released as part of Kingdom's 3rd Wave of Deluxes.

To see more images of Road Tage in all her glory, click here!

Click here to place your order now!

What do you think of Road Rage? Have you ordered her already?

Shout out in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!

Thanks for the heads-up!!
Not sure I'll keep her, but I went ahead and preordered.