The Energon Pub

I would strongly suggest suing Target for this because “limited quantity” is a very poor excuse for them to just cancel your order out of nowhere when you’ve paid good money for that figure and you’ve been waiting very patiently for its arrival.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:Announced last night. There are a number of Target stores closing due to retail theft, so this could be the beginning of a trend moving forward. Target has lost a ton of money over the past few years for a bunch of reasons.

Nine stores out of nearly two thousand, and in only four states. I wouldn't overgeneralize on the impact, especially from a toy collecting perspective.

There was the clothing incident with the LGBTQ... they lost tons of money... and "from a collecting perspective ", where is the money coming from to sustain this company? Preorders on toys? Hell, transformers toys and others are being stolen too. At an ALARMING rate. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped stocking the majority of toys that are in a certain price range.

G1OptimusPAX wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:Announced last night. There are a number of Target stores closing due to retail theft, so this could be the beginning of a trend moving forward. Target has lost a ton of money over the past few years for a bunch of reasons.

Nine stores out of nearly two thousand, and in only four states. I wouldn't overgeneralize on the impact, especially from a toy collecting perspective.

There was the clothing incident with the LGBTQ... they lost tons of money... and "from a collecting perspective ", where is the money coming from to sustain this company? Preorders on toys? Hell, transformers toys and others are being stolen too. At an ALARMING rate. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped stocking the majority of toys that are in a certain price range.

Yeah, no thank you, I'm full up on culture war grievance. Have a nice day.

"grievance"...? I'm talking about target losing money. I could give a damn about target and their politics. I have no idea why people preorder from places like Walmart an target. You don't have to worry about these type of issues with BBTS or TF SOURCE.

G1OptimusPAX wrote:"grievance"...? I'm talking about target losing money. I could give a damn about target and their politics. I have no idea why people preorder from places like Walmart an target. You don't have to worry about these type of issues with BBTS or TF SOURCE.

Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Second, WalMart and Upscale WalMart (aka Target) don't seem to have a good record on preorders. I'm seeing a constant stream of "WalMart/Target cancelled my preorder again" on this forum and on multiple FB groups. While not good business practice, these preorders don't even register as a teensy blip in their overall gross income so they won't do anything differently in the future.

First-Aid wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:"grievance"...? I'm talking about target losing money. I could give a damn about target and their politics. I have no idea why people preorder from places like Walmart an target. You don't have to worry about these type of issues with BBTS or TF SOURCE.

Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Second, WalMart and Upscale WalMart (aka Target) don't seem to have a good record on preorders. I'm seeing a constant stream of "WalMart/Target cancelled my preorder again" on this forum and on multiple FB groups. While not good business practice, these preorders don't even register as a teensy blip in their overall gross income so they won't do anything differently in the future.

AMEN Brotha, AMEN.

Mods have spoken, no reason to keep this post up

AcademyofDrX wrote:

First-Aid wrote:Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Yeah, but who's doing the suing?
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/target- ... ndise.html

"America First is a nonprofit group headed by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump.

"The lawsuit is the latest in a legal battle in which conservative legal groups and Republican legislators are challenging corporations that have enacted policies on social issues such as race and gender."

Are you being overly credulous by calling them "stockholders," or do you support the suit?

"Yeah, no thank you, I'm full up on culture war grievance. Have a nice day."

That didn't last long at all

AcademyofDrX wrote:

First-Aid wrote:Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Yeah, but who's doing the suing?
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/target- ... ndise.html

"America First is a nonprofit group headed by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump.

"The lawsuit is the latest in a legal battle in which conservative legal groups and Republican legislators are challenging corporations that have enacted policies on social issues such as race and gender."

Are you being overly credulous by calling them "stockholders," or do you support the suit?

DOn't care as I don't own stock, just stating that there are lawsuits as a fact not a judgement. ALL Stockholders lost money and there are multiple suits. It's their right to expect competent business leadership and usually the loss of monetary value of this magnitude is a red flag. Suits like this are commonplace. Politically, don't give a rats patoote as I hate both sides equally.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Back on Track Please...

HELLO? (Hello?....hello...?)
ECHO! (Echo!...echo...)
PINCH HITTING FOR PEDRO BOURBON...MANNY MOTA! (Mota!...mota....)

The reason people preordered with Target in the specific case of this ROTB Optimus Prime figure, as opposed to preordering with either BBTS or TFSource, is because the figure in question is a Target-exclusive Buzzworthy Bumblebee figure. BBTS and TFSource wouldn't get this one in stock. So Target canceling preorders for this one figure is disconcerting because Target is the only venue from which this figure is available.

I've actually seen the figure in person at my local Target maybe once or twice, so it is at least out there in the wild, physically. For those who still want it, happy hunting.

I look on the cancellations as just an ancillary continuation of the general lack of reliable supply and distribution of some figures. Especially ones that seem to be in demand. After what happened with Velocitron Cosmos, the Centurion Drone pack and other figures, why should another troubled release come as any surprise?

It was a miracle none of this happened with Hasbro Pulse (unlike Nacelle)

Isn't the figure just a reissue anyways? Hope the stock levels balance out and it becomes available again for those that want it.

I'm sad no one got my movie reference....

First-Aid wrote:I'm sad no one got my movie reference....

Airplane.

blackeyedprime wrote:Isn't the figure just a reissue anyways? Hope the stock levels balance out and it becomes available again for those that want it.

The Bumblebee movie Optimus that recently popped up on Pulse is the reissue. This is an almost entirely new mold with very few parts borrowed from Beewun Prime.

blackeyedprime wrote:Isn't the figure just a reissue anyways? Hope the stock levels balance out and it becomes available again for those that want it.

Nope, this RotB Optimus Prime is a Buzzworthy exclusive: it hasn't appeared in the regular Studio Series lineup.

I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

Pretty sure Target cancellations are automated. They set a release date and when they don't come into stock they send you an email to approve the delay, and they keep doing so until it just outright cancels the order. The same day I got the first notice for Prime I got a notice for an upcoming Masters of the Universe figure set also being delayed at the exact same time. Every time I got delays approval notices for both products it was the exact same time and they both got cancelled at the exact same time. There's still a possibility that these will be in stock later. Any issues Target is having with theft in stores would have no correlation with online cancellations. Also they don't charge you until it's in stock and there's no guarantee so I don't know what you'd sue them for.

On a happier note, got a "shipping soon" notice for my two BB troop builder 4 packs.

Emerje

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

My order that I placed back in May was canceled yesterday. Leading up to this for weeks I was getting emails from Target asking me to approve later delivery dates. This happened for at least 5 weeks and each time they kept pushing back the delivery until I woke up yesterday to find they canceled the order and that they were sorry for any inconvenience but that was the extent of any cause or reason for the cancelation. Limited stock is a pretty lame reason since it's a Target Exclusive. And on a side issue with Target I have noticed almost all Tranformers have disappeared from their website (not including 3rd party sellers) with only the upcoming Troop Builder 4-pack, RotB Scorponok and Nest Ratchet being the only ones avantine online from Target.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje