The Energon Pub

We got some fun news from a Transformers fan currently at Universal Studios Singapore. Andrew wrote to us to let us know that he found Prime Wars Repugnus at the Transformers ride shop. They also had the G1 reissues such as Devastator, Starscream and most notably Hot Rod, making this the first global sighting of the toy.

I've spotted the Prime Wars Repugnus on sale at the Transformers the Ride shop at Universal Singapore this morning. They had a healthy supply of that and the Prime Wars Blastoff figure as well.

This may mean that these toys could also be found at Universal Studios in the US. If you find them, lt us know!

So Hot Rod is getting packed backwards, and Devastator is getting packed upside down.

hausjam wrote:So Hot Rod is getting packed backwards, and Devastator is getting packed upside down.

wouldn't have noticed if you mentioned that... but... yeah... they aren't supposed to be packaged like that.

I'm also planning on heading to Universal Orlando next weekend, so if I see any of these while there, I'll be sure to report it! Unless someone else beats me to it.

hausjam wrote:So Hot Rod is getting packed backwards, and Devastator is getting packed upside down.

also, is mixmaster just straight up missing?

megamanfan wrote:

hausjam wrote:So Hot Rod is getting packed backwards, and Devastator is getting packed upside down.

also, is mixmaster just straight up missing?

Most likely he's there, but since the inner packaging is upside down the remaining three figures are behind the picture of Devastator and the weapons are visible in their place instead of hidden.

Emerje

What's with other countries getting this stuff first?! Say what you will but the U.S. is where the money is and where you have the largest concentrated collector fan base.
The most fans with the most disposable income should equal the most product on shelves (or at least product on shelves first).
It really ticks me off when I see these stories of Singapore or Canada (or wherever) with plenty of desirable product on shelves and we have next to zero here in the U.S.

Emerje wrote:

megamanfan wrote:

hausjam wrote:So Hot Rod is getting packed backwards, and Devastator is getting packed upside down.

also, is mixmaster just straight up missing?

Most likely he's there, but since the inner packaging is upside down the remaining three figures are behind the picture of Devastator and the weapons are visible in their place instead of hidden.

Emerje

Actually, its even worse than that. Because of the offset on the inner package, you can only see 2 of the 6. Hook and Long Haul are in each other's windows, but Mixmaster is up behind the Transfomers logo with the other 3 behind the picture of Devy. Boy, what a package fail.

jruss1975 wrote:It really ticks me off when I see these stories of Singapore or Canada (or wherever) with plenty of desirable product on shelves and we have next to zero here in the U.S.

Your disgruntledness makes me happy.

But seriously, countries other than the U.S. have been getting figures before the U.S. for a long long time. Why, there was that time back in the 90's when the U.S. didn't even get any of the figures at all!

Good times. Good times indeed.

Burn wrote:

jruss1975 wrote:It really ticks me off when I see these stories of Singapore or Canada (or wherever) with plenty of desirable product on shelves and we have next to zero here in the U.S.

Your disgruntledness makes me happy.

But seriously, countries other than the U.S. have been getting figures before the U.S. for a long long time. Why, there was that time back in the 90's when the U.S. didn't even get any of the figures at all!

Good times. Good times indeed.

No, hey, that's fine. If Hasbro is actually into losing money and letting product sit on shelves until it all inevitably goes to discount bargain retail stores then great, flood those foreign markets with stuff they can't afford. But if they wanted to get it sold and get it sold fast (and at full price) it's absolutely an unarguable fact that the U.S. is the place for that to happen.

jruss1975 wrote:No, hey, that's fine. If Hasbro is actually into losing money and letting product sit on shelves until it all inevitably goes to discount bargain retail stores then great, flood those foreign markets with stuff they can't afford. But if they wanted to get it sold and get it sold fast (and at full price) it's absolutely an unarguable fact that the U.S. is the place for that to happen.

This entire post ... it's just wrong. You are incorrect about everything!

Hasbro got their money, they sold the product to retailers. If anyone loses money, it's the retailers! Stock sitting on shelves may affect future sales, that's all.

To say foreign markets can't afford stuff? Good grief, how ignorant are you?

But to fix that you want it sold in the US? Do you have any idea how much stock sits on shelves until it goes on clearance in the US?

Good grief.

jruss1975 wrote:No, hey, that's fine. If Hasbro is actually into losing money and letting product sit on shelves until it all inevitably goes to discount bargain retail stores then great, flood those foreign markets with stuff they can't afford.

What exactly do you think of when you think of Singapore?

But if they wanted to get it sold and get it sold fast (and at full price) it's absolutely an unarguable fact that the U.S. is the place for that to happen.

It is very arguable since lots of your fellow american compatriots are currently saying that Predaking is not worth full price. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=110048&p=1979507&hilit=predaking#p1979507

Thats aside from the fact that many americans also wont buy toys until they end up on clearance at Ross.

Collectors say a lot of things but then act differently with their wallets when it's in their face at the store. The problem is that seeing a Titan class figure in a US store is like finding a unicorn. I saw the Titan class Metroplex figure ONCE at local retail. I never saw a Tians class Devastator or Fort Max. All four waves of POTP have been next to impossible to find here. Toy hunting here in the States has become all but extinct and it's a shame. It's a bigger shame when we see all sorts of online articles of very desirable product on shelves (and in mass) elsewhere.

To answer your other question of what I think of when I think of Singapore? I have no doubt it is a fine place, however it has a GDP of $297 billion (in US dollars), while the US has a GDP of $18.57 trillion.
The collector market here is much larger and there is a lot more money to be made here versus other countries, that's all I'm saying. It isn't anything personal it's just numbers.

Burn wrote:

jruss1975 wrote:No, hey, that's fine. If Hasbro is actually into losing money and letting product sit on shelves until it all inevitably goes to discount bargain retail stores then great, flood those foreign markets with stuff they can't afford. But if they wanted to get it sold and get it sold fast (and at full price) it's absolutely an unarguable fact that the U.S. is the place for that to happen.

This entire post ... it's just wrong. You are incorrect about everything!

Hasbro got their money, they sold the product to retailers. If anyone loses money, it's the retailers! Stock sitting on shelves may affect future sales, that's all.

To say foreign markets can't afford stuff? Good grief, how ignorant are you?

But to fix that you want it sold in the US? Do you have any idea how much stock sits on shelves until it goes on clearance in the US?

Good grief.

No, I'm not ignorant of this subject at all. While I don't visit the countries in question I do see quite a lot of online articles about new, collector-oriented Transformers stock found in countries that cannot hope to compete with the U.S. market. I have no idea why Hasbro would choose to distribute in this way, it makes no sense.
You said one thing that is true though, a lot of U.S. Transformers stock does indeed go to clearance, however that stock you're speaking of is the overwhelming amount of movie themed toys we get here. You can go anywhere right now and get all of the Last Knight stuff you want. The trouble is that no one wants it.
The point is, and the point I was trying to make the whole time, is that the products seen in the photos of this article (and other things along the same line, i.e. G1 reissues, waves 2,3,&4 of POTP, etc.) are things collectors want and also the things we barely (if ever) see at all.
And yes, there is by far a larger concentration of collector-minded fans here in the U.S. with a lot more cash to burn. And no, I'm not being ignorant in saying that. Just a few examples of this would be California (by itself) has a larger GDP that the entire UK. The state of Texas has a larger GDP than Canada. Heck, even little, back-woods Alabama has a larger GDP than New Zealand.
So yeah, I feel very confident in stating that Hasbro leaves a ton of money on the table when the more collector-oriented Transformers product hits ANYWHERE other than the U.S. first.
It isn't personal concerning these countries, I have no doubt they are great places, it just comes down to numbers. More collectors are here, more money is here, and yet less desirable product is here.

jruss1975 wrote:To answer your other question of what I think of when I think of Singapore? I have no doubt it is a fine place, however it has a GDP of $297 billion (in US dollars), while the US has a GDP of $18.57 trillion.
The collector market here is much larger and there is a lot more money to be made here versus other countries, that's all I'm saying. It isn't anything personal it's just numbers.

You do realize Singapore is about the size of a big city, right? You can't compare countries like that. They're GDP may be only $297B, but they're ranked #3 in the world per capita (USA is #11). It doesn't matter what they're GDP is if they have a dense population with a strong income and a strong collectors market making them a prime target for Hasbro.

You can go anywhere right now and get all of the Last Knight stuff you want. The trouble is that no one wants it.

This isn't true for everyone. All of the Walmarts around me cleared out their TLK stuff after Christmas, Target just cleared out the few remaining figures they had left. But that doesn't really matter since the line was still financially successful for Hasbro as all movie lines have been.

Emerje

US median income is $59,764 times 162,245,000 in the workforce.
Result is $9,696,410,180,000 of total spendable income.

Singapore median income is $67,152 times 3,657,000 in the workforce.
Result is $245,574,864,000 of total spendable income.

The difference is a total of $9,450,835,316,000. So sure, Singapore has a higher per worker income, but still, look at the big picture numbers. It makes my point, I don't think I need to say anything else.

jruss1975 wrote:US median income is $59,764 times 162,245,000 in the workforce.
Result is $9,696,410,180,000 of total spendable income.

Singapore median income is $67,152 times 3,657,000 in the workforce.
Result is $245,574,864,000 of total spendable income.

The difference is a total of $9,450,835,316,000. So sure, Singapore has a higher per worker income, but still, look at the big picture numbers. It makes my point, I don't think I need to say anything else.

But why look at big picture numbers when in the end it is an individual buying a toy, not an entire nation. You just proved that a Singaporean has more money to buy toys than an American does. Toys are a luxurious good, non essential. So a market like that will more likely florish in a place where people have more disposeable income.

And if we are looking at big picture, then remember that the US has a 15% poverty rate, so you have a huge percentage of peple who cant even buy toys. Compare that to other countries who get these colelctable toys like Canada where the poverty rate is only 1% and you can see how some markets are more favourable.

Plus logistics in the US is a nightmare due to how spread out the population is. There are lots of obstacles for the US to be a collector's paradise.

Not to mention the Hasbro that supplies North America is a different Hasbro from the one that serves Europe or Asia. If something shows up in Singapore it doesn't mean it was taken from stock intended for the US, it means Hasbro Asia managed to do a better job of getting them to people.

And if you still question the disposable income of Singapore all you have to remember is that this tiny little city state has it's own Universal Studios theme park (among others). Tourism is a pretty big part of their economy so there's a lot of money circulating there.

Emerje

Okay, great, so by using your same logic it would stand to reason that the Dallas Fort Worth metro area (which is almost exactly one-to-one comparable in population and median income level) should receive the same product distribution attention as Singapore, and yet it doesn't.

I see articles like these all time and have for years, on this site as well as on tformers.com as well as others. This is just the first time I've ever spoken out about it.

Mark my word, when these toys get to the end of their shelf lifecycle there will be articles about how these exact same toys that were overly distributed in foreign markets are dropping to clearance when most of us here in the States didn't have a chance to see them at all. And I promise you, if a store around here were stocked with the same items seen in the photos in this article they would never have a chance to be on clearance, they would be gone.

jruss1975 wrote:Okay, great, so by using your same logic it would stand to reason that the Dallas Fort Worth metro area (which is almost exactly one-to-one comparable in population and median income level) should receive the same product distribution attention as Singapore, and yet it doesn't.

How on Earth did you jump to that crazy conclusion? You're not listening. Singapore is under Hasbro Asia, it's an entirely different supplier to the Hasbro that handles North America. Plus Hasbro isn't even the biggest factor in these showing up in the US, they're Walmart exclusives here, it's up to Walmart to decide how to distribute them, not Hasbro. These are already in stores in Canada because the Canadian Walmart branch HQ decided to sell them that way. In the US it looks like Walmart had decided to make these online-only just like they did TLK exclusives. Hasbro Asia appears to have decided to make these Universal Studios exclusives in Singapore, other parts of Asia may make them online-only or exclusive to some other department store. Every region handles things differently.

Mark my word, when these toys get to the end of their shelf lifecycle there will be articles about how these exact same toys that were overly distributed in foreign markets are dropping to clearance when most of us here in the States didn't have a chance to see them at all. And I promise you, if a store around here were stocked with the same items seen in the photos in this article they would never have a chance to be on clearance, they would be gone.

Go ahead and explain why you think they'd be unpopular in foreign markets when previous reissues from both Takara Tomy and Hasbro have been demanding high prices on the aftermarket for some time. Believe it or not, but things that are popular in the US are also popular in other countries, too. Asia isn't just a bunch of third world countries (Singapore is a first world country) full of shanty towns, they're developed nations with just as many collectors as we do here. You seem to have some sort of weird collectors xenophobia, like only we deserve nice things. It isn't their fault that our distribution is messed up and what they get has no effect on what does or doesn't show up here.

Emerje

Look Emerje, this is getting ridiculous. You ask how on earth did I get to my "crazy conclusions". If you think they are crazy then so be it, I'm not going to rehash it for you all over again, go back and read my original posts if you don't understand my thought process on this.
And no, there is no xenophobia here, there is only logic and numbers. Numbers don't have the ability to lie nor do they have an opinion, they just are.
Hasbro Asia is NOT an independent company, it's a division of Hasbro Corp. If you've ever worked for a global corporation before you'll know how these things work (I'm guessing you haven't). Directions are sent down from on high (corporate HQ) and everything trickles down from there to the subordinate satellite divisions all over the world. Hasbro Asia (and the others) don't do anything without the corporate HQ blessing first. Having said that it all goes right back around to my original argument about Hasbro (corporate) making bad decisions with their distribution.
Listen to ANY American based Transformers podcast and you will hear constant gripes about product that collectors want not being on store shelves. So it isn't just me and it isn't just in my area, it's all over the place unless you live in a foreign market that seem to have plenty based on online stories I read at least two or three times a month.

I just think its wrong to assume fans will buy everything at full price when we regularly see Transformers toys shelfwarm in the US. Especially movie lines aimed at older kids/collectors.

You can see it right now in the Studio Series line, which is clearly aimed at an older crowd.

jruss1975 wrote:So it isn't just me and it isn't just in my area, it's all over the place unless you live in a foreign market that seem to have plenty based on online stories I read at least two or three times a month.

Mate, you need to realise, distribution issues are worldwide.

Where I live, I'm no where near a capital city, I'm rural Australia. I've had to sit back and watch as Americans reap praise on new figures they've gotten. This often happens for months before I have to sit back and watch as my fellow Australians reap praise on new figures they've gotten. This goes on for weeks before I find them, often having to travel over an hour (60 miles) to find them.

PotP wave 2 though? For some crazy reason I was one of the first in Australia to find them locally.

So I don't know what stories you're reading, but believe me, the "foreign market" you speak of is not flooded with figures as you seem to think.

I've read loads of the type stories I spoke of previously, however I don't believe I've ever seen one from Australia. It always seems to be Canada and the Asian markets getting all of the distribution love from Hasbro.
The situation you spoke of about your difficulties sounds very mush like here in the States. If you're hearing about American's getting the latest Transformers collectibles it's probably because they have pre-ordered them from one of the many sites out there. Finding desirable Transformers toys at a physical store however is very difficult here, and I'm not in a rural area at all.
My whole point to all of this is indeed, as you said yourself above, distribution issues. It SEEMS as though if you live in Canada or one of the Asian markets your store shelves are crammed full of the good stuff while pretty much everyone else gets nothing but scraps.

jruss1975 wrote:If you're hearing about American's getting the latest Transformers collectibles it's probably because they have pre-ordered them from one of the many sites out there.

Nope. I get the News Group e-mails for local sightings (physical stores) which are then turned into news stories so people know to get out on the hunt.

I know WJ-88 has a list of figures NOT spotted at retail that he asks people to keep an eye out for, it's a pretty short list last time he mentioned it.

I think we just need to accept that there is no right or wrong here, just varying perspectives based on varying locations.

I doubt that there's any part of the world that is NOT affected by distribution issues, Canada may seem to be getting along okay but that's because of WJ-88's Canadian bias when it comes to newsing Canadian sightings.

Burn wrote:I doubt that there's any part of the world that is NOT affected by distribution issues, Canada may seem to be getting along okay but that's because of WJ-88's Canadian bias when it comes to newsing Canadian sightings.

I will fully admit to that bias. However, there is a point I want to bring about: finding an item at one store does not mean it will be found at all stores.
Lets take these G1 reissues for instance. Yes Devastator has been found in some Canadian Walmart stores. Some. So some people can get them and some cant.

However, Deavastator has appeared on Walmart.com. Meaning that any US fan wanting a G1 Devastator and who has an internet connection can get him. So in this case, the US is far luckier since you are not affected by distribution issues store to store.

Also, jruss1975, the US is one of the only countries where you can get that G1 Hot Rod (the other being Singapore, as stated above). there is no sighting yet of that toy in Canada.

the US has been first for many toys this years, its actually been the default.

The first global sighting for wave 1 of POTP was at Target in the US. The US is also the first place where we found the latest POTP toy, Novastar.

And just this morning, someone spotted a brand new Studio Series special edition toy we didnt even know everything about. And guess where it was found? The US, at a California Target.

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ces/41879/

Oh and lets not forget that the US is the only place where we can currently get a throne of the primes set. Or both of the exclusive dino casettes. The US is the only place in the world where a consumer can order directly from hasbro, thats pretty crazy.

So the US is being catered to greatly, more than it should especially since as proven above, the US has a ridiculously high poverty rate for a first world country.

So yeah, the US gets most of the new stuff and some US fans will still wait to buy at clearance, making stuff like the Studio Series shelfwarm.