The Energon Pub

[Ericus Prime]

I hope I'am able to get '08 Bumblebee before I have to go on my trip.

[Autobobby1]

Apparently my Target gets a new shipment of something by Wednesday. For now, all they have is TECH, Real Gear, Robot Replicas, Robot Heroes, Blasters, and basically everything except for the regular TF's. The same goes for the 20 or so other stores I've been to lately. Of course, they made a million Protoform Screamers. FTW, Hasbro? F. T. W.

[tom brokaw]

i have been seeing plenty of robot replicas.... maybe hasbro is just releasing these to give them more time to manufacture more TF action figures since they are on a "shortage." they need something to get all the kids and collectors busy, so they release the robo reps to create a diversion. just a thought.

[D-340]

Apparently my Target gets a new shipment of something by Wednesday. For now, all they have is TECH, Real Gear, Robot Replicas, Robot Heroes, Blasters, and basically everything except for the regular TF's.

Well I'll have to check back at Target again, cuz I went a couple days ago, and NADA. If no new regular TFs til November, at least I can get caught up on Robot Heroes. When you were there last, were there any of the new FABs, or are they gonna fall in line with the November release?

[Ragnorok64]

So... is the rumor that there's not going to be more Deluxes released till Oct/Nov at all or just in Target? Or is this one of those sit back and wait because we really don't know anyting situations?

[Liege Evilmus]

It's time, fellow collectors. This is the week when all our whining and searching shall finally, hopefully, come to an end.

This is the week when Target refreshes their stock. It's August 1st, meaning we should start to see some trickle before the storm on the 3rd and 4th.

If anyone sees any sign of the refresh, post it.

I've toured them all, Hasbro shipes to my area every Thursday night for Friday.

Now it's Sunday night 1 week into August and !!!NODDA!!!

I've been noticing that outside of filler things like Replicas and Teck, regular class bots are being release quarterly as apose to monthly.

I noticed this trend begining when Cyberton first hit the shelves.

I did however score a RealGear MeanTime this weekend at a local TRU. It wasn't ment to be on the shelf yet, but the casher let it slide which only promotes the quarterly notion to me!

September should be a good month for collectors!

[009*]

Okay, so Hasbro's going to be a ***** about the regular movie toys, but this shouldn't affect the release dates for Ultimate BB and MP Starscream, right?

[Autobot032]

So... is the rumor that there's not going to be more Deluxes released till Oct/Nov at all or just in Target? Or is this one of those sit back and wait because we really don't know anyting situations?

No one, except those at Hasbro, know for sure.

Target seems to be sticking to the whole Oct/Nov thing, but it might be the same way for all retailers. I've been to a couple of TRUs, a couple of Targets, and about 6-8 Wal-Marts and other than getting the '08 Bumblebee case once (which I constantly missed out on....) they've not restocked with anything new since.

The Wal-Marts I mention, along with K-Mart got the wave one and wave two cases in. (Wreckage/Scorponok and Swindle) Long after they had been in stores and sold out the first time. I didn't expect them to sell out, but they did. FAST.

But I haven't even seen the older figures except what's left in overstock.

After seeing a few Wal-Marts and Target finish their resets and no new Deluxes....it leads me to believe they're all waiting for the middle of Fall. =\

[ultra tron]

is it marketable and profitable for a company to release toys in the fall for a SUMMMER movie that is out already?

I also heard that a month before the movie hit Bumblebees and others were well on the shelves...Hasbro is doingthings backwards to me...

[Wheeljack35]

You guys think this is bad?

Try summer of 05 when nothing came out

[tom brokaw]

ok heres the thing.... my conspiracy on hasbro and their tf movie toys....
....because of their easy bake oven fiasco, which cost them millions, they need something big to make up for the loses. also because of the easy bake oven fiasco, the public eye has now distrust in hasbro.... moms dont want to buy their children hasbro toys anymore. however, with the increasing popularity of the TF movie, kids want the toys.... as a result, kids nagging at their parents to buy them the TF toys.... however, because the children wants these toys really bad, hasbro is holding back so the popularity of the TF toy line increases. this then forces moms and dads to drive around store to store, target to target trying to find these toys only to be rejected because they are "sold out." and genereally, because of this, the TF toy's popularity increases because its the "hot" new item wanted by kids.... next thing you know its gonna be on the top 10 list of christmas toys kids want as presents. therefore parents frantically searching for the darn hard to find, sold out toys. as a result, these toy's popularity increases so much that it becomes the next "furby.".... everyone frickin wants one! and therefore, this is hasbro's big comeback which gets them millions back from their easy bake oven fiasco and also increases popularity with parents and children. just a thought .

[Barrelass]

Went to target today, like everyone, no deluxes, but there were some that I think may have been titanium? Blaster, Hotrod, and someone else. Didn't look too close at them, but they looked pretty cool. I couldn't find a titanium Blaster on the transformers website, maybe I will go back tomorrow to confirm if no one else has seen them.

[Autobot032]

Well, I got some new news. (If this is deemed worthy of it's own post in news, feel free to do what needs to be done.)

I just got back from Wal-Mart and they had just finished their reset. The fourth Wal-Mart I've been to in a single day and during the reset, I asked the employee to scan the peg barcodes to see if they had any in back, or on order.

...this is where it gets bad ladies and gentlemen.

She said, and I quote:
"Oooh. Sorry. None in stock on the shelves as we both can see, but there's none in the back, and none in the warehouse. We have absolutely zero on order. Oh wait, there's something on here." so she presses a few buttons, and gives a puzzled look. Re-reads it and said "Only the toy manager can make an order and hers have been denied. States that there's a major shortage on all things TransFormers."

So, there we have it. It *IS* a shortage. I'm guessing this is why Hasbro said they'd up production on '08 Bumblebee figures?

Now before you say anything, I went ahead and asked one other question... "So why have other stores all over the nation and in Canada been receiving shipments? Granted, it's sparse for sure, but they've been receiving them nonetheless."

She smiled and said "You've been doing your homework on this one. Haha!" I turned into:

I nodded and she then said "Since there is a shortage, that means the case assortments they got were parts of the final shipment our warehouses received before the shortage. A computer handles the ordering system, and it's first come, first serve. If we can order a case before the store in the next town, we'll get it. And vice versa. It wouldn't hurt to continue looking around because some stores just have bigger orders than others."

So, if you guys don't find Bumblebee, (or any Deluxes, for that matter....) in the next few weeks, or by chance...your options are to wait 'til Thanksgiving, or eBay.

=\ I certainly hope that Hasbro learns their lesson from this fiasco, so when Classics/Universe 2.0, and Movie 2 come out...they'll have all the stock they need.

Buuut...knowing our luck, they'll go overboard this time, sell in the beginning, hope for someone to buy up all the clearance items, and then for Movie 3...probably go back to this situation.

A happy medium? Nah. Hasbro's plan = Wrecking ball, Logic = wall, well...you get the picture.

[twee]

Oh well. It looks like for the next few months I'll be prowling the K-Marts, Sears, and KB Toys for Classics toys. I'm really regretting that I passed on Classics Optimus a month or so ago.

[AlienQuiksilver]

Does this sound familiar?

"OooOOOhhhh, I work at Target ... there are boxes and boxes of Transformers in the back waiting to be stocked on the shelves @ the 8-5 reset!"

Unreal.

My new hobby is to travel to every Target, TRU and WM within a 30 mile radius ... to stare at empty shelves. I'm getting pretty good at it, too!

[Autobot032]

TFans had a bit of news, one none of us thought of apparently. China has been hit with excessive flooding, and it, most likely is to blame for the shortage of figures.

I mean, let's look at it logically for a second:

1.) Big flood.

2.) People are concerned with surviving first and foremost.

3.) Getting toys shipped to the Americas (and anywhere else for that matter) takes a distant...100 on the list.

4.) Until the flooding stops, and the people can actually rebuild their lives, we're not going to see anything new for a while.

Now, after hearing that (and it seems to be the reason too...) I feel bad for what I said about Hasbro (in this case) and I fully admit I was wrong. To anyone at Hasbro that might be reading this, I apologize. I still find major issues with your distribution and your level of stock in general though. Before this happened, you had no excuse (and you don't here either. At least I would hope you wouldn't cash in on the flood thing as an excuse...) past a certain point. Certain sections of this country (and the world!) were just getting screwed, while others were getting laid...like a nice carpet.

[pcsguy88]

But, but, but... I still want my LDR Brawl and MP SS.

O'well, Halo 3 comes out in a month and I have Dirt to hold me until then. I'd rather drive in digital mud, than drive to see empty shelves.

[Phenotype]

Hrm, so there is a shortage of figures. If the flooding in China is to blame then that's completely forgivable. However, if Hasbro's doing this to either A) build hype, or B) make sure there's enough stock for the Xmas season then that's just stupid. Who cares if they sell out now or around Xmas time? They're obviously selling out either way, what difference does it make if they sell them now or wait?

Hasbro really needs to issue a press statement regarding this situation. We (fans) aren't the only ones who can't find TF's, kids all over America is desperately trying to find these figures as well. Hasbro needs to address this issue and do it soon.

[Versa]

China should have had a backup plan for that then because Project: transformers needs to ALWAYS be working! Flood shmood... Send those TFs!!! hahah jk...


That was so cold in insensitive, LOL!

[lanzajr26]

Hrm, so there is a shortage of figures. If the flooding in China is to blame then that's completely forgivable. However, if Hasbro's doing this to either A) build hype, or B) make sure there's enough stock for the Xmas season then that's just stupid. Who cares if they sell out now or around Xmas time? .

Well, seeing as how the Thanksgiving/Christmas season is by far the most profitable time of the year for most retailers, I wouldn't say it's stupid for them to be holding back stock. If this is true though, they could be making a mistake by missing out on a lot of movie's hype and losing casual fans when they can't find a single toy on the shelf.

For collectors like us, we'll buy the toys no matter how late they come out so Hasbro really has nothing to lose when it comes to us. We just don't make up a huge portion of the market so I hope they know what they are doing

[Maldroth]

sorry not going to buy into any conspiracy theories. Honestly I think its an issue of no idea of the demand the movie has created on the movie toys.

Case and point we had one walmart run out completely of figures so they set out some of the classics peg warmers and those sold out within three days! There IS a demand right now and if stock is on backorder then we may not see anything new until October as was stated in another thread.

All I can say is wow, impressive.

[decepticonjon]

ok heres the thing.... my conspiracy on hasbro and their tf movie toys....
....because of their easy bake oven fiasco, which cost them millions, they need something big to make up for the loses. also because of the easy bake oven fiasco, the public eye has now distrust in hasbro.... moms dont want to buy their children hasbro toys anymore. however, with the increasing popularity of the TF movie, kids want the toys.... as a result, kids nagging at their parents to buy them the TF toys.... however, because the children wants these toys really bad, hasbro is holding back so the popularity of the TF toy line increases. this then forces moms and dads to drive around store to store, target to target trying to find these toys only to be rejected because they are "sold out." and genereally, because of this, the TF toy's popularity increases because its the "hot" new item wanted by kids.... next thing you know its gonna be on the top 10 list of christmas toys kids want as presents. therefore parents frantically searching for the darn hard to find, sold out toys. as a result, these toy's popularity increases so much that it becomes the next "furby.".... everyone frickin wants one! and therefore, this is hasbro's big comeback which gets them millions back from their easy bake oven fiasco and also increases popularity with parents and children. just a thought .

wow, this is journalism at it's best. great in depth look there tom.

[ultra tron]

Well I'm gonna be real optimistic.

Look on the bright side, when the DVD comes out you can have a fresh 08 bumblebee in stores at the same time.

[Maldroth]

we aren't going to see DVD's until January I'm guessing

[BlueBat5]

Ive been to 3 in my area. nothing but empty pegs for the past 3 weeks.