With the exception of TFs and Bionicles, this has been a horrific year for my collector's hobby.
First off, I'll start with Megabrands.
I've been collecting their Neo Shifters line of robot construction sets ever since they came out a few years ago. They sort of look like Bionicles, but are typically taller and transform into spheroid shapes and include a tiny symbiotic robot that also turns into a sphere and fits in the chest. There have been many different sets over time, from multi-mode sets to mini vehicles, robots that link to the internet game via infra red, to a really cool electronic energy drilling platform playset.
The frustration comes from the fact that there are 8 remaining sets to the line, 4 humanoid and 4 vehicles that were shown on Mega's website shop back last January that never got any kind of wide distribution and have been listed as "out of stock" since forever. These things were supposed to be released last May, but they are nearly impossible to find except for ridiculously inflated prices on Amazon.
Megabrands have been of no help whatsoever, their "consumer service" department telling me of stores that supposedly carry them, but turn up completely empty. I found them once at TRU Canada, and as I was happily plunking in my credit card number the site told me that they do not ship to the U.S., so out of luck once again. Mega will not even tell me if they are discontinued or not, stating that they "don't know", which is unacceptable.
I've been buying Mega's crap for years, Blok-Bots, Mag-Warriors, Dragons, as well as Neo Shifters. This year long fruitless search has sucked the fun right out of collecting Mega, and frankly, I've had enough. Now they've released an inferior follow-up to Neo Shifters called "Neo Machines", which are utter piles of cheap crap that I will pass on, along with Halo Wars and anything else they trickle out to the public. Thank God Lego doesn't have this trouble.
Secondly, I'd like to add Bandai of America to the list of companies I will no longer do business with. I've been collecting Power Rangers since the beginning, evidence being that the half of my toy room not drenched in TFs has been dedicated to them. The latest series, RPM, has had such tremendous distribution issues that it evokes memories of how Mattel ( curse that name to the pits of toy hell! ) absolutely massacred the 2000 MOTU line through the same kind of mindless BS. The second wave of figures, vehicles, and Megazords that were supposed to be released MONTHS ago have only been trickling out here and there across the country making for months of hair-tearing frustration and much wasted gas. It seems that BOA simply pulled the plug on the line before its time so they could release the new line of get this, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers scaled down to a pathetic 3 3/4 inch size (fine for Joes and Micronauts, lousy for Rangers which have always been 5 inches). Mere chance and persistence alone has allowed me to obtain the RPM pieces that I have, but there are some like the Full Throttle Silver Ranger that are impossible to find without spending triple through 3rd party sellers. At this point, I merely want to finish the RPM line, being that it is the last "new" Ranger series we'll get here, and then bid an acid farewell to the incompetent jerks at good ol' Bandai.
[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
