The Energon Pub

[o.supreme]

Why are we talking about fans? The RID line targeted kids,

kids ARE fans...I don't make a distinction...

kids wanted toys for what they saw on the show. They wanted the Windblade that looked like on the show and that toy sold out.

I know there's this idea about "show appearance" being important, but back in the original Transformers era, there were so many toys that were not show accurate, and it really didn't matter (to me at least). Ironhide and Ratchet are probably 2 examples of the worst. Still seeing how cool Ironhide was on the show, and seeing his *different* appearance in toy form didn't stop 8 year old me from wanting him.

Someone can say an alternate *sold out*, but that's like saying TR deluxe wave 5 sold out everywhere...merely skewing something that was produced in extremely limited quantities, and not available to most US fans.

Of course I can say the same about myself. Maybe that pic I took was an aberration, maybe that particular toy sold out everywhere else, and I was looking at a scalping goldmine without knowing it...

Besides, this is not about my personal dislike for Windblade, I honestly couldn't care less. It's not like I work at TRU and purposefully withheld all these toys for months to get a cheesy photo. I just thought it was amusing that at a store that's closing down, there was so much of a single figure. I probably would have done the same if I saw 20 BB's, or Prime's, or whoever...

I took a similar pic of 32 Squeeks toy banks a while back. (amid a mostly empty TF section at a particular walmart) I just think its amusing anytime any particular toy is so seemingly overproduced.

[tmthor]

On the raido the bussiness guy said he heard the Tru lawyers say the $890 million would not be enough to just buy the Canadian stores let alone the US ones. He said it was said he would have to pony up over 2 billion for what he wants. Probably better to use that $890 million to just open up a new store and buy the Tru name later and brand the stores as such.

[Octobotimus]

i don't see what they have to lose. they have lost Toys R us, why are they being picky with money after failing to make money themselves ...... no wonder this store died, the people behind it just suck at managing their store.... now they'll have it die and won't even get money out of it... good on them.

[william-james88]

i don't see what they have to lose. they have lost Toys R us, why are they being picky with money after failing to make money themselves ...... no wonder this store died, the people behind it just suck at managing their store.... now they'll have it die and won't even get money out of it... good on them.

You guys dont understand, Toysrus is still worth lots in real estate. Once the stores all close, you can sell the leases/buildings/lots to others. This is some high profile real estate. Lots of land and in many cases, in populated areas. Ideal locations for other companies that want a foot in. Lets just low ball it and say the 735 locations average out to about 2M$ in real estate each, thats $1.5B! The ones owed money are way better off just selling everything and getting their money back that way than getting pennies on the dollar.

[ZeroWolf]

So it was that the offer was too low then? And given the response he definitely knew and was seeing what he could get away with. We'll see if the offer is increased if he tries again.

[Bronzewolf]

In the wake of Toys R Us Rejecting the buyout bid of the CEO of Bratz, the company has sent out an email confirming that, as of today, clearance sales have now reached up to 40% off, from the 30% they've been holding on to for several weeks.
This all but confirms the initial reports of the sales going up 10% a week, as it now appears the chain just attempted to give themselves a head start of sorts by starting the sales at 30% and holding it at that percentage for exactly three weeks. Now those three weeks are up, and we're seeing the discounts raise as a result. Time will tell if this theory is entirely true, being confirmed if they raise the clearance to 50% next Friday.

As it relates to our own fandom, Seibertronain AlvinC reports that Transformers toys are now 15% off, up from 10%.
Stay tuned to Seibertron.com for more updates during the final weeks of Toys R Us.

[Rated X]

At this point, TRU going out of business sales isnt even relavant to transformers collectors anymore. I went in a TRU last week and they only had a few one step changers left. The entire action figure aisle was looted.

[DeathReviews]

Indeed. The bigger discounts would be wonderful, if everything good hadn't already been taken. There's nothing left but the chum now. Though I did see about 12 boxes of the 'Infernicus' TRU exclusive on the shelf at our nearby TRU, and about 3 'Cybertron' figures.

[Ironhidensh]

Yeah, that 40% off is bullshit. It's only on an extremely tiny selection of items. Most things are only 15% off at most. Hell, the **** Legos are still only 5% off.



Worst. Liquidation sale. Ever.

[chuckdawg1999]

I was going to mention something about the discounts but I see I was beaten to it. My TRU was still nicely stocked though.

[Lucky Logician]

Worst. Liquidation sale. Ever.

This right here. My TRU is still 10% off everything. Normal sales gave discounts for more than 10%.

Want to know the only thing that I saw for 30% off yesterday? The *#$@*&$ 2018 calendars. WTH?

[Absolute Zero]

Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers. I work at store 8007 and check the manifest every day. We might get more studio Thundercrackers in, but even that seems unlikely. The best chance might be finding older releases in June before we expect to close.

[william-james88]

Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers.

If no one wants them, then how come some toysrus stores are completely cleaned out of TFs at only 10% off?

Also, why are all these toys sold out at only a 10% discount when HTS routinely has 20% off and the older stuff just sits there?

[Wolfman Jake]

I went in tonight to see what was shaking now that things are "up to 40%." Of course, I didn't see anything that was actually 40% off, but that's beside the point. The store did claim to have "trucks coming every day" so they could liquidate their warehouses too, so maybe some more Transformers stuff will come before the bitter end. I was happy with what I picked up, though. Mostly just a few TRU exclusives I hadn't gotten yet, like Infernocus and Skullotron from TLK and Studio Series Thundercracker. Also picked up TLK Berserker, as it was the only other movie on the shelves that I needed and didn't have. My partner and I are going to take a trip around the Twin Cities tomorrow to check out the other stores that are still open and see if they've got anything different in stock.

[Absolute Zero]

Aside from some stuff no one wants, like movie figures, TRU hasn't been getting anything in for Transformers.

If no one wants them, then how come some toysrus stores are completely cleaned out of TFs at only 10% off?

Also, why are all these toys sold out at only a 10% discount when HTS routinely has 20% off and the older stuff just sits there?

We have at least a dozen Infernicus. And still have 3 Windblades from RID. The only thing that moved quickly were the Power of the Primes, and those don't appear to be coming back.

As for why things moved at 10%? People are dumb. The sales tax here is 10.1%. We sold out of Switches and PS4s within the first week and they were (and still are) at 5%.

I spoke to the liquidator. We are not getting anything new. What we have in the warehouses is what we are getting. No new lego sets, no new consoles, no new Transformers. If your store hasn't had wave 2 figures by now, then they likely won't get it. Now, it's possible we could get some old MP figures, but we don't know whats in the warehouse, and we don't know what we're getting until a day or two before the truck arrives.

As for the sale being crap, I know. I hear it several times a day. We thought it would be higher, but TRU wants to try to get as much money as possible, and for the first two weeks, we were making Christmas weekend money on weekdays.

[tmthor]

I think we are seeing a company that thinks they will be saved

[X3ROhour]

Not the closest TRU to me, but one about 10 miles out, on the other side of town. LOL...Yeah Windblade is definitely a "fan favorite"....

That's not fair ... that's the BS "face shield" version. Notice the regular version (of which the one shown in your photo was a remold) has been nowhere to be found in quite a while.

i like the face shield version. She becomes my Reformatted SKYFEATHER!
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Skyfeather

[no-one]

Our TRU was a blow out before the liquidation and is an even bigger blow out now. I was there today and was shocked that the vast majority of the store has only increased to a 15% discount.

I will give you a little spot of bright light though. I spotted and purchased the studio series Thundercracker today for just a hair over $25. That figure was not there a week ago.

[Bronzewolf]

Why is it that they can't run a clearance sale correctly? I mean, seriously, I've never been able to wrap my head around their business decisions and their prices when they were a thriving company, let alone now. I'm just scratching my head. In most cases, that 10%-15% only takes the products down to the regular retail price of Walmart and Target. We haven't even hit an actual "discount" on most toys yet. I refuse to still pay $10 for a TLK Leigon class figure, which is what it STILL COSTS, even with the discounts.

[no-one]

Why is it that they can't run a clearance sale correctly?

Well they **** up their normal operations, why should they be capable of a "liquidation" sale.

You're right though, they are only on par with their competition now and 10% only covers sales tax for me.

[lakebot]

That was the most low ball offer I have ever seen, literally pennies on the dollar. TRU Canada's real estate is estimated at close to 1B$

Does TRU own the real estate the vast majority of their stores sit on? I find that hard to believe seeing as how every one I have ever seen has been located in a strip center, most consisting of several other big time retailers. So if they do not own the property and are leasing it, why would that factor into the buy out? That would be for the buyer to deal with once possession was transferred and said buyer had to determine whether to keep said stores located where they are or move locations depending on desired leasing agreement/pricing.

[lakebot]

I was able to stop by our local TRU today and would echo pretty much what was already stated: most toys people would be interested in actually purchasing(IMO anyway) are nowhere near the percentage off the giant signs at the door suggest. They do have what I would consider a fully stocked store though. I mean, when you walked in, had you not known the store was closing, you'd never have guessed.

I think the failure here lies in the fact that most of what is there is obviously not brand new and a lot of it is actually old/older(although finding the new Jurassic World toys there was a treat). Ok, that makes sense as they are closing. Why expect new product? However, as a collector/fan/parent shopping for their kids/whatever label you choose, for me to be driven to buy something, it needs to be something I don't already own or something that I may have passed up (for one reason or another) and now I've been given a new reason to buy it.

Simply put, they're not giving anyone a reason to buy a lot of what is on the shelves. The only figure they have left I'd be willing to consider is Cybertron and it would have to have such a steep discount for me to consider it, at this rate, I don't think it's happening.

[william-james88]

Here's a fun fact. Did you know that there were 93 Toysrus stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined? That's quite a bit of stores for such a small landmass. Other fun fact, all these toys are now owned by Ireland's very own toy chain Smyth's Toys. That's right, the family owned chain which only had 110 stores yesterday will now add these 93 to their tally of owned stores. They also inherit 4 Toysrus websites and will take on all current staff and management.

This is great news since that means it is business as usual for fans, and more importantly Toysrus employees, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also brings Toysrus back to its routes of being a family entreprise.

Here is what Smyth's Toys co-founder Tony Smyth said about the deal: “We are convinced that multi-channel toy retailing will develop positively and that we can successfully introduce and expand our brand in Europe.”

This news was reported by Reuters and sent our way thanks to TF fan Alex.

[Rated X]

And yet another TRU article that has nothing to actually do with Transformers. This obsession with TRUs demise is getting ridiculous. Its a toy store. Someone else will rise from their ashes to sell Transformers. Hello...Transformers anyone?

[ZeroWolf]

Actually this is good news for tf fans in those regions as it means that they can continue to have more choice in where to buy the toys.