The Energon Pub

Seriously, wtf is up with distribution lately?

Welcome to life outside of the United States.

I"m glad I live in the United States

Distribution is utter crap here and I live in the United States.

The only combiner limbs that really got properly distributed were the Protectobots and Autobot cars. Everything else was very hard to come by.

Legends and voyagers were a little better, but you'd still see about a dozen Silverbolts for every other torso.

Leaders were very hit or miss. Armada-tron was very easy to come by, but I only ever saw Ultra Magnus once and Megatron barely more than that. I don't recall ever seeing the seekers (though I wasn't really looking for them either, so I might have just skipped past forgetting them with a glance, but if so, they still weren't there more than on rare occasions).

Never saw a Devastator.

Too much RID (and sometimes even AOE still) stuff clogging up shelves. I get that it was the current show and all, even if it aired at a really bad times, but most of it just isn't very good quality toys.

Same on Dev at TRU. Not a sign of him. So yes, order online or specialty shops (whichever is convenient.

Optimum Supreme wrote:Distribution is utter crap here and I live in the United States.

The only combiner limbs that really got properly distributed were the Protectobots and Autobot cars. Everything else was very hard to come by.

Legends and voyagers were a little better, but you'd still see about a dozen Silverbolts for every other torso.

Leaders were very hit or miss. Armada-tron was very easy to come by, but I only ever saw Ultra Magnus once and Megatron barely more than that. I don't recall ever seeing the seekers (though I wasn't really looking for them either, so I might have just skipped past forgetting them with a glance, but if so, they still weren't there more than on rare occasions).

Never saw a Devastator.

Too much RID (and sometimes even AOE still) stuff clogging up shelves. I get that it was the current show and all, even if it aired at a really bad times, but most of it just isn't very good quality toys.

I have to agree with Optimum Supreme. Distribution here in Northern California is sporadic. Restocks are rare at my local Toys R Us, and Target doesn't fare any better. Most of the time, I find older RID stock.

Thats why I've gone the online route. BBTS, TF Source, and Amazon are my go-tos. Not only do they carry waves I've yet to see in the wild, but the prices are better as well.

I have 2 Walmarts, a Target and a TRU in my vicinity. Among the 4 of them, I usually find what I'm looking for. I just have to have patience. Otherwise I also go straight to Amazon or eBay. Maybe TRU online. I have never purchased from HTS. Recently, there was a serious influx of the new RiD stuff (not impressed at all) so the CW section got shrunk, but it's still there. And my TRU has 4 or 5 Devastators in stock still. Maybe when they get discounted, I'll pick up another 1 to go with my MPs.

Just be grateful you don't live in the UK without a TRU nearby. There's nothing but Wave 1 RID crap, a few lonely Alpha Bravos and AOE stuff still on the shelves after 2 YEARS. The complex stuff is flying off the shelves but all the simplified junk is shelfwarming something chronic. Hopefully retailers/Hasbro will get the message and stop making shampoo bottles/1 step garbage and start making proper toys again.

Ironhidensh wrote:Seriously, wtf is up with distribution lately?

Toy distribution in the UK (or at least in my area) has never been great, but it doesn't annoy me anywhere near as much as it used to. I started using Paypal in 2014, so today it's easier for me to just buy the figures I want online and not hunt around various shops.

Furthermore, a branch of The Entertainer (a pretty good chain of toy shops) opened near where I live not long ago, and my branch usually does have a good range of Transformers stuff. Before that, for a long time there weren't really any toy shops in my area, only toy sections of supermarkets and discount stores, which didn't always have a wide range of stuff. That being said though, I remember in 2013 when my local branch of Home Bargains got a HUGE influx of Transformers: Prime toys in stock, including every Voyager and most of the Deluxes. I wouldn't have been able to army build Vehicons if it weren't for them. Of course all they have left today is Beast Hunters Over-Sized Legends Deluxe Windrazor.

Delta Magnus wrote:Just be grateful you don't live in the UK without a TRU nearby. There's nothing but Wave 1 RID crap, a few lonely Alpha Bravos and AOE stuff still on the shelves after 2 YEARS. The complex stuff is flying off the shelves but all the simplified junk is shelfwarming something chronic. Hopefully retailers/Hasbro will get the message and stop making shampoo bottles/1 step garbage and start making proper toys again.

I couldn't possibly agree more. TF distribution was good here in WV until AOE hit with its simplified crap. Now 1 steps and RID stuff (along with some Armada Megatrons and wave 4 Deluxes) is all that I see.

This is not a time of year that retailers order a bunch of new toys. Once it gets closer to Easter there should be a minor bump of new stuff. The caveat here is important though - a lot of retailers have switched over to only reordering existing lines once the stock they have is completely sold through. That's not an entirely new development though, and it's also one of the factors in the sparse availability of toys that come late in their line. The newest Combiner Wars stuff? Late in the line, best that we know. Probably not gonna be overflowing on shelves.

In terms of current TF, I never saw leader Starscream or Ultra Magnus hit shelves. Not that it killed me just an observation.

I've given up on my only Kmart and Walmart is just trailing right behind. Target and TRU seem to keep a float in the way of decent distribution and keeping the shelves stocked.


One day I spotted a Scoop at a Target and a Trailcutter at another.

I have four Targets, four+ Walmarts, and a TRU or two all within comfortable driving distance from where I live. I've seen everything in stores at some point except the last two waves of legends and Skylynx. I'm still considering switching over to online only shopping, though. It's just more reliable and I'm kinda getting burnt out on checking all the stores with their unpredictable lag time. I know it's a good problem to have compared to the opposite, but still.

Sorry, didn't mean to rub it in or anything. Just saying going online is a smart move either way!

It's totally opposite where I live. If you want to get Takara / 3P's you either have to pre-order from specialty toy stores or thru group buys in Facebook TF / toy groups. Shipping to the Philippines is expensive because of the "unofficial" taxes the local post office slaps on your items.

Also only a few percentage of people believe in online shopping. Most would rather see the items on hand in the store before they make a purchase.

Most waves, we get it here because the local Hasbro distributor supports the fans. We even have distribution events to ensure that scalpers won't be able to grab all the wanted figures off the shelves before others can get them.

Some old pics from stuff from the shelves. We do have the Onslaught / Scattershot / Skylynx waves in now.

tf2 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

tf3 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

And I do love that Gundam model kits are sold on retail (even with 40% sales occuring).

Gundam2 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

Generator_G1 wrote:It's totally opposite where I live. If you want to get Takara / 3P's you either have to pre-order from specialty toy stores or thru group buys in Facebook TF / toy groups. Shipping to the Philippines is expensive because of the "unofficial" taxes the local post office slaps on your items.

Also only a few percentage of people believe in online shopping. Most would rather see the items on hand in the store before they make a purchase.

Most waves, we get it here because the local Hasbro distributor supports the fans. We even have distribution events to ensure that scalpers won't be able to grab all the wanted figures off the shelves before others can get them.

Some old pics from stuff from the shelves. We do have the Onslaught / Scattershot / Skylynx waves in now.

tf2 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

tf3 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

And I do love that Gundam model kits are sold on retail (even with 40% sales occuring).

Gundam2 by Rye Saldivar, on Flickr

I am SO jealous right now.

I've never seen such incredibly well stocked shelves. That's amazing!

Within reasonable Driving distance of me, by that I mean within half an hour or less, I have quite a few stores. 3 targets, 6 Walmarts, 4 Meijer, and one Toys R Us. Out of all those stores, I never saw a single Protectobots other than hotspot. They all got wave 1 CW limbs, and a few got wave 2, but then there's nothing for months. About 2 months ago, the Target stores got the Autobot limbs in. I did not see those at any other store. A couple weeks ago, the Meijer stores and TRU got the combaticons in. I saw, and bought, Ultra Magnus in one store, and a couple of them currently have a handful skywarps. Most stores still have Armada Megatrons floating around, and a mix of Silverbolt, Hotspot, and Cyclonus on shelves. That's it.

My bad, a literal **** ton of RiD one steps are currently on shelves as well.

those Gundams look awesome. I wish I had official retail stores in my area which sell Gundams at cost