The Energon Pub

by **Towline** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 11:16 pm

I'm too chicken to pick an online store for the combiner wars toys.
Big Bad Toy Store, or Hobby Link Japan, or robot kingdom. Or other websites.
Help Seibertronians. :michaelbay:

News Credits: 1 · by **SkyWarpt** » Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:27 am

I'd recommend a store on US soil if you are from the U.S. The Chosen Prime,BBTS, and TFSource. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe HLJ and Robot Kingdom are going to run you on shipping. If you look to the right of the page and at the top of this thread, you'll see a long list of stores that sponsor this website. They are all really good IMO, if they weren't people would be very vocal here to the point where it wouldn't make much sense for them to advertise here.

News Credits: 650 · by **ScottyP** » Thu Nov 12, 2015 3:00 pm

This advice would apply if you live in the US:

BBTS, TF Source, Captured Prey, The Chosen Prime, Amazon, Hasbro Toy Shop, Entertainment Earth, Toy Dojo, Toy Arena: this is the plethora of places that are going to run you about the same amount of money, give or take a few bucks, and are all reliable. Being a Prime member, Amazon is my "go-to", with BBTS being a place to pre-order as backup in case Amazon takes forever to get anything. Captured Prey has great prices and even better customer service, but they don't get as much stock and charge up front for preorders.

Big box retail sites such as Walmart, Toys R Us, and Target's sites are also options, but these aren't always on the cutting edge in regards to having the newest product in stock.

I do not recommend Robot Kingdom, only on the basis of cost, and even then it's only the shipping that hurts it. For early availability, reliability, and quality they're just fine.

I do not recommend Kmart.com, because you may order Deluxe Class Combiner Wars Prowl and receive Age of Extinction Power Attacker Strafe. I'm not joking. Avoid them.

Japanese retailers such as Hobbylink Japan do not stock mainline Hasbro product, but if you want to buy the Takara equivalent toys in boxed sets (Unite Warriors), they're a great option. This will run you more money - think of these as "premium" versions.

Hope that helps!

Like Cyberstrike on Facebook · by **Cyberstrike** » Thu Nov 12, 2015 3:16 pm

ScottyP wrote:Big box retail sites such as Walmart, Toys R Us, and Target's sites are also options, but these aren't always on the cutting edge in regards to having the newest product in stock.

I know Wal-Mart and I'm pretty sure that Toys R US have what they call site-to-store where you can buy an item online and have sent to a store near you, you print out receipt/invoice email sent to you and then you can pick it up at you convenience. I'm not sure if Target has this or not although it seems likely that would have it.

This might save you some money on the shipping costs but the trade off is having to drive to the store nearest you which might be more costly if you live in a rural area, but if you live in an urban area or you frequent a local store a lot it might be a feature to consider. You should also check and make sure if there is a time factor of picking up an item in a certain amount of time because some store might only hold an item for you for a limited time.

News Credits: 4838 · by **william-james88** » Sun Nov 15, 2015 9:16 pm

Walmart and Toysrus are my favourite places to shop. They dont get the items first usually but they have sales more often and lower barriers for free shipping. And they eventually always get the stock.

So you have to wonder what your priorities are and if you value more saving money or getting the product asap. If its saving money, go for the big box stores such as walmart and toysrus' sites. If it's to get the stock asap and getting it regularly at full price, then tfsource, capture prey and BBTS do the job fine. It all depends on what you value more.

by **Glarryg** » Sun Nov 15, 2015 11:00 pm

I bought CW Deluxe Wave 2 from BBTS. Their price was just a hair above the cheapest price at local retailers, but I was already buying some online-exclusive things from them, so I didn't mind the extra couple of bucks (nor the shipping charge). It's also been my experience that their customer service is excellent.

I've also bought from TFSource; if you're buying a lot at once, you can save on shipping (as you can see on their ad above). I've had good experiences with their service as well, although they seem to be out of a lot of their CW stock lately.

If you do end up going the Unite Warriors route, I've shopped at HLJ quite a bit, and I think their shipping charges are pretty reasonable compared to shipping from other out-of-country retailers I've seen.

If you want to try brick-and-mortar, Meijer stores (if there are any in your area) have the best prices, followed by Target. TRU is pretty expensive, but they're the only local ones I've found with decent stock of the Voyager and Leader class figures.

Glarryg

by **Towline** » Tue Nov 24, 2015 10:34 pm

ScottyP wrote:This advice would apply if you live in the US:

BBTS, TF Source, Captured Prey, The Chosen Prime, Amazon, Hasbro Toy Shop, Entertainment Earth, Toy Dojo, Toy Arena: this is the plethora of places that are going to run you about the same amount of money, give or take a few bucks, and are all reliable. Being a Prime member, Amazon is my "go-to", with BBTS being a place to pre-order as backup in case Amazon takes forever to get anything. Captured Prey has great prices and even better customer service, but they don't get as much stock and charge up front for preorders.

Big box retail sites such as Walmart, Toys R Us, and Target's sites are also options, but these aren't always on the cutting edge in regards to having the newest product in stock.

I do not recommend Robot Kingdom, only on the basis of cost, and even then it's only the shipping that hurts it. For early availability, reliability, and quality they're just fine.

I do not recommend Kmart.com, because you may order Deluxe Class Combiner Wars Prowl and receive Age of Extinction Power Attacker Strafe. I'm not joking. Avoid them.
Thank you Scotty P.
Japanese retailers such as Hobbylink Japan do not stock mainline Hasbro product, but if you want to buy the Takara equivalent toys in boxed sets (Unite Warriors), they're a great option. This will run you more money - think of these as "premium" versions.

Hope that helps!

Yes is does. thank you