The Energon Pub

[Autobot032]

Current info as of 5:41 EST:

TRU exclusives Rodimus Minor, Cybertron Mode Ironhide, and Masterpiece Grimlock are out, but haven't hit saturation yet.

The info, if you need it, is right here:

Ironhide:
Price: $11.99
Item #: 439128
SKU: 282FEC5C
UPC/EAN/ISBN: 653569466956
Manufacturer #: 24414

Rodimus:
Price: $11.99
Item #: 439128
SKU: 35653214
UPC/EAN/ISBN: 653569419808
Manufacturer #: 24414

Info courtesy of: Kibble

Masterpiece Grimlock:
Price: $69.99
Item #: 354815
SKU: 8601623E
UPC/EAN/ISBN: 653569494287
Manufacturer #: 97684

Info courtesy of: TRU.com (he's currently in stock, btw)

FansProject items Munitioner and Explorer are expected to be in stock on RobotKingdom's website this morning (it's now the 20th), which means BBTS and the like should be seeing them soon.

HFTD, Generations, PCC, all in full saturation, but giving mixed sales figures. Doing well in some areas, not so much in others.

Any info you might have, any news that you feel should be put in here, any requests you might have, feel free to post them and this will be updated accordingly.

[Autobot032]

I came up with this idea after two past experiences got me thinking. One of the boards I go to has the same idea for a thread, but until yesterday's events prompted me to move ahead with this idea, it just kinda sat in the back of my mind.

Here's what I'm thinking: We should have a catch-all thread covering the state of the toyline(s), share info (such as demographics of sorts), experiences ("that rotten scalper!"), news, etc. Sightings too, you must post them in your state's sighting thread before posting the info here.

What prompted me to come up with this idea was a shopping trip I made last night. I went to TRU to see if they had Rodimus and Ironhide, of course. And in all of my travels to all of the stores, I noticed one thing: It (the toyline as a whole) is just not selling. Yet, we hear reports of what is selling, etc.

So, I'll go first:

What IS selling:
Masterpiece Grimlock (came and went in less than a day they said)
Battle Blades Optimus Prime*
Banzaitron*
ROTF Toys
N.E.S.T. Toys

What isn't selling:
Power Core Combiners
Activators
HFTD
Generations
Human Alliance
Speed Stars (any size)
Role Play
Exclusives

*= In all of my travels I found only wave 1 of HFTD Voyager Class, and when I did find wave 2, Prime was always sold out and Banzaitron was left behind, but tonight in my travels, it was reversed. Prime was there, but Banzaitron was long gone. (Go figure.)

I've seen waves 1 and 2 of PCC, including both the 2 and 5-Packs, and they're not moving. Neither is wave 1. It just keeps accumulating on the shelves and pegs and it's just not going anywhere.

HFTD is just as bad. We're inundated with Bumblebee, Ironhide, Ravage, etc. You name the size class, our stores have it.

Even Human Alliance Jazz is easy to find! I've seen countless ones of him. Even in backwater, middle of nowhere stores.

What is selling? Jolt, Blazemaster (yes, you heard that right), the Ice Cream Truck Twins of course, and even a few other figures from ROTF. N.E.S.T. Deluxes such as Lockdown, Ratchet, Brawn, and even that ridiculous Sideswipe repaint are gone, gone, gone. Even the number of Mudflaps has dropped. K-Mart doesn't even have him any more.

It mystified me, and I just had to share it. I thought others would like to share their experiences and info, and have a nice discussion thread that would catch all of it. Heck, we might even be able to help our fellow board members find that missing collection piece they're looking for.

We could still keep the sightings and news threads of course, but we could make duplicates of the info and put it in here so you can come to just one thread and find all of what you need and/or want to know. We can keep the first post the news update/state of the toyline info post which would be edited on a constant basis to reflect new happenings.

This thread works very well on the other board, and I think this one could too. So, what do you think? Care to share?

Be openminded here folks, let's at least give this thread a chance and see where it goes. If it doesn't work out after, say... two weeks, I'll have a mod close it and nothing more will come of it, but if it works out, I think it could be a tremendous resource to help a great many of us. Just please give it a chance, just try it and see what happens.

Admins/Mods, if you want me to remove the "Official" part of the headline, I can do that. Just ask. I just went ahead and posted it like that, so I wouldn't have to come back and edit it if this works out.

EDIT: I realize there's a "State of" thread on the boards, currently, which I honestly didn't see when putting this together, but I wanted to clarify: I'm not trying to steal thunder from that thread. That thread's asking the state of how you feel, your opinion, and my thread is more informational than anything else. If discussion happens, that's fine, we'll cover it in here, but information is my main idea for this thread.

[Burn]

Sighting's section covers most of that (not sure about SKU's and prices (nifty to have!) and there's unfortunately no section for Masterpiece).

Wonder if something could be developed to chart how things are selling in various areas...

[Autobot032]

Sighting's section covers most of that (not sure about SKU's and prices (nifty to have!) and there's unfortunately no section for Masterpiece).

Wonder if something could be developed to chart how things are selling in various areas...

Problem is, there are a lot of posters, like me, who don't use those features. We come straight to the threads themselves for the info. Having a handy catch-all post will cover that.

"I wonder where Rodimus has been sighted?" Some will go to the sighting section, but most will wait for the "I found him here!" posts, which will be recorded on record here for quick reference for everyone to see.

It's a real pain in the ass to go from section to section to section to find what you need when a one stop shop could cover all the bases for a lot of people.

And putting up lists of what's hot and who needs help finding them would fit in here as well. As soon as we hit a certain number of requests and filled requests, I'd retire the item(s) from the list so as to ensure that the thread doesn't become unmanageable, plus it will allow for space for upcoming figures that people will need help with.

Oh, and this thread would work for world wide too, not just the US and Canada. UK, NZ, Aus, you name it, post your info, post your requests, show links to news tidbits or things like Elita's instructions when they finally become available.

[Valandar]

I foresee this thread being locked soon...