The Energon Pub

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

megatronus wrote:My one and only goal was to get the Marvel Legends box set. Mission accomplished - I'm happy I got my one 'must-have' item. I would have liked to get my hands on the Stormtrooper, or to get the Combiner Hunters set in with my ML order, but I didn't want to risk it.

It's amazing both TF exclusives (+KreO) are still in stock... the after market likely won't be kind to them.

I think it might be that there isnt the same interest as last year for the SDCC stuff, at least with Devy. This stuff is always more for the fans and their collector space and wallet might be limited to only one release for a guy that size and the general agreement is the Takara version is the preferred one.

Counterpoint: SDCC Metroplex sold like hot cakes (similar price point to Devy).

There's definitely a lack of interest compared to past years - most people seem to prefer the retail version of Devy, and the Combiner Hunters is more or less targeted at the IDW sub-niche of collectors. Tough market.

I gladly accept and expected that counter point. Counter Counter: there was debate over the superiority of that Metroplex and Takara's. There is less in terms of their devys. Both Metroplexes were the same mold with slightly different decos (and different extra little minifigs, IIRC) but with Devastator, Takara's has some new molding and can cost even less than the SDCC one.

And yes, the combinre hunters is a tough market. I could have seen the arcee mold do well at retail if sold individually simply because there is a hunger for that mold at retail.

william-james88 wrote:I gladly accept and expected that counter point. Counter Counter: there was debate over the superiority of that Metroplex and Takara's. There is less in terms of their devys. Both Metroplexes were the same mold with slightly different decos (and different extra little minifigs, IIRC) but with Devastator, Takara's has some new molding and can cost even less than the SDCC one.

Yup! Though that's less a counter counter and more an elaboration of my point.

There a bunch of additional factors here:
-Chrome on SDCC Metroplex was, on the whole, less of a turnoff than the chrome on SDCC Devastator
-The new molding on Unite Warriors Devastator makes the Takara version way, way more desirable
-The rise of direct import retailers makes the Takara version more accessible on a price level

william-james88 wrote:And yes, the combinre hunters is a tough market. I could have seen the arcee mold do well at retail if sold individually simply because there is a hunger for that mold at retail.

Never saw Arcee and Chromia at retail... I have them in my POL at BBTS

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And yes, the combinre hunters is a tough market. I could have seen the arcee mold do well at retail if sold individually simply because there is a hunger for that mold at retail.

Never saw Arcee and Chromia at retail... I have them in my POL at BBTS

You are a cool dude Megatronus, it was fun sharing these insights and I am glad we did it live for all to see our master debater skills

Arcee and Chromia never came to canada to the point where my cheapest recourse was buying the takara rerelease coming out in August.

william-james88 wrote:

megatronus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And yes, the combinre hunters is a tough market. I could have seen the arcee mold do well at retail if sold individually simply because there is a hunger for that mold at retail.

Never saw Arcee and Chromia at retail... I have them in my POL at BBTS

You are a cool dude Megatronus, it was fun sharing these insights and I am glad we did it live for all to see our master debater skills

Arcee and Chromia never came to canada to the point where my cheapest recourse was buying the takara rerelease coming out in August.

Kudos, good sir.

I saw Arcee and Chromia only one time ever, at a Walmart I usually do not shop at (I just happened to be in that part of town that day). I picked up Chromia from there but left Arcee since I wanted Takara's Arcee more, which I did get eventually from a vendor at this year's BotCon.

I get paid on Friday, I'll check out the site then to see if anything of interest is still available.

Looks like SDCC Devy is sold out at HTS.

Edit: NVM, back in stock

carytheone wrote:Looks like SDCC Devy is sold out at HTS.

That's strange you can still preorder them.

carytheone wrote:Looks like SDCC Devy is sold out at HTS.

I just went and looked for shnitz and shniggles, and I'm seeing it still in stock.

Edit: My bad. It does hsow as a pre-order.

Cobotron wrote:

carytheone wrote:Looks like SDCC Devy is sold out at HTS.

I just went and looked for shnitz and shniggles, and I'm seeing it still in stock.

I spoke too soon. The tab was still open this morning and when I refreshed it was out of stock. I should have checked again before posting.

carytheone wrote:

Cobotron wrote:

carytheone wrote:Looks like SDCC Devy is sold out at HTS.

I just went and looked for shnitz and shniggles, and I'm seeing it still in stock.

I spoke too soon. The tab was still open this morning and when I refreshed it was out of stock. I should have checked again before posting.

Ha! All good! I'll be shocked if Devy sells out first. Although if it doesn't sell I hope this doesn't effect Hasbro from doing something big and cool for next year... This has to be the first year where the Transformers exclusives didn't sell out after day one.

I'll have to look at the fine print, but any doubles seem to be getting cancelled. I went though and ordered one of the combiner hunters and each of the Joe and TF kreo sets, and waited a bit to see what was going on. I was able to order another of each kreo set again, but today they cancelled the second orders. Probably not new policy, but not one that I had remembered from before.

Tigertrack wrote:I'll have to look at the fine print, but any doubles seem to be getting cancelled. I went though and ordered one of the combiner hunters and each of the Joe and TF kreo sets, and waited a bit to see what was going on. I was able to order another of each kreo set again, but today they cancelled the second orders. Probably not new policy, but not one that I had remembered from before.

Yea - it's strictly 1 per customer. Same thing happened last year.

If anyone notices that Amiami gets a "restock" of preorders for the upcoming August TAV releases, please post it here. They sold out before any of us were aware.

Sabrblade wrote:I saw Arcee and Chromia only one time ever, at a Walmart I usually do not shop at (I just happened to be in that part of town that day). I picked up Chromia from there but left Arcee since I wanted Takara's Arcee more, which I did get eventually from a vendor at this year's BotCon.

I never saw Arcee or Chromia at retail where I live - anywhere. And I trawl a few different retailers fairly regularly. If they ever were on the shelf, they vanished almost instantly. As of this moment, only Amazon and occasionally BBTS have them. And with them, you're at the mercy of scalper markups.

Shockwave7 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:I saw Arcee and Chromia only one time ever, at a Walmart I usually do not shop at (I just happened to be in that part of town that day). I picked up Chromia from there but left Arcee since I wanted Takara's Arcee more, which I did get eventually from a vendor at this year's BotCon.

I never saw Arcee or Chromia at retail where I live - anywhere. And I trawl a few different retailers fairly regularly. If they ever were on the shelf, they vanished almost instantly. As of this moment, only Amazon and occasionally BBTS have them. And with them, you're at the mercy of scalper markups.

But BBTS has them at straight up retail, and they have had them at this price and availability for months non stop:

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23637&mode=retail

william-james88 wrote:

Shockwave7 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:I saw Arcee and Chromia only one time ever, at a Walmart I usually do not shop at (I just happened to be in that part of town that day). I picked up Chromia from there but left Arcee since I wanted Takara's Arcee more, which I did get eventually from a vendor at this year's BotCon.

I never saw Arcee or Chromia at retail where I live - anywhere. And I trawl a few different retailers fairly regularly. If they ever were on the shelf, they vanished almost instantly. As of this moment, only Amazon and occasionally BBTS have them. And with them, you're at the mercy of scalper markups.

But BBTS has them at straight up retail, and they have had them at this price and availability for months non stop:

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS23637&mode=retail

I should have been more clear. I already have Arcee at the moment. I don't have Chromia. I am not looking to buy another arcee - just Chromia. BBTS is not selling her by herself except for 16.99 - plus their delivery charge. Which would put the cost at about $25. Way too high. Amazon is selling for about 17.99-18.99. It would be cheaper to use Amazon Prime and their free delivery. But overall, I'd prefer to find them in store for the normal retail price of 15.99-16.99.

Shockwave7 wrote:I should have been more clear. I already have Arcee at the moment. I don't have Chromia. I am not looking to buy another arcee - just Chromia. BBTS is not selling her by herself except for 16.99 - plus their delivery charge. Which would put the cost at about $25. Way too high. Amazon is selling for about 17.99-18.99. It would be cheaper to use Amazon Prime and their free delivery. But overall, I'd prefer to find them in store for the normal retail price of 15.99-16.99.

Oh, ok I am sorry. I udnerstand your predicament. Mine is a bit worse since I dont even have your options. Shipping to canada would be far more expensive. That 2 pack from BBTs whch is retail price would come out to 60$ Cdn due to our poor ass exchange. So while the 25$ might be expensive for you, that is exactly what I am paying to get Arcee from japan (the takara version). That turns out to be the cheapest price possible for her right now anywhere in the world:

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail?gcode=FIGURE-008494&page=top%2Fsearch%2Flist%3Fs_keywords%3Darcee%24pagemax%3D40%24getcnt%3D0%24pagecnt%3D1

Oh well, her preorder is now closed. Now I dont feel so bad that I bit the bullet. If you dont get yours for 18.99, you might have to pay even more later.

Well if ever SDCC Devastator sells out from HTS, at least we can always have this guy to fall back on

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191633275967

william-james88 wrote:Well if ever SDCC Devastator sells out from HTS, at least we can always have this guy to fall back on

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191633275967

That's comically dumb and/or silly. No way anyone gets desperate enough to buy that.

I believe that's known as highway robbery.
With a dash of skulduggery.

william-james88 wrote:Well if ever SDCC Devastator sells out from HTS, at least we can always have this guy to fall back on

http://www.ebay.com/itm/191633275967

Hahaha, that guy... derp

Cobotron wrote:skulduggery

I don't know why, but that word makes me think of the The Secret of Monkey Island series.

Woo!! got my shipping notice from HTS!!! yes!

mooncake623 wrote:Woo!! got my shipping notice from HTS!!! yes!

I want one

megatronus wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Woo!! got my shipping notice from HTS!!! yes!

I want one

a shipping notice?