The Energon Pub

Ok, slew of questions time. These are all questions that I've been pondering since Walmart originally posted these a couple of months ago.

1. How are Walmart, Target and Toys R Us able to surpass the supposed "toy gun" law that we keep getting told about that prevents us from getting a G1 Megatron reissue here in the States?

2. Don't these retailers have a "responsibility" to abide by our laws or is this not an actual law at all?

3. Does this law not apply to sales on the Internet? If it does not apply to Internet sales, then why did eBay take such drastic measures earlier this year to prevent sales of non-orange capped Megatrons with their service?

4. What about the whole Optimus Prime short smoke stacks debate? How about Starscream's missiles? I'm starting to wonder if these are issues on which Hasbro has self-regulated themselves to avoid potential lawsuits and such.

5. If that's the case, why wouldn't a company like Walmart, who has far more money at stake than Hasbro, take even less chances with issues like toy gun safety laws and drop tests in regards to Starscream's missiles and Optimus Prime's smokestacks.

6. Why are the prices so high? Is it because there's a middle man involved here? The prices are too consistent between these big three that it seems like Distributoys is taking a huge chunk of the profit here to resell these items back to these major retailers.

7. Why are these 3 companies not dealing directly with TakaraTomy's distributors instead of an American-based distributor that is already marking up the prices? Walmart is notorious for eliminating the middle man ... it seems like this is the perfect opportunity for them to do it.

8. Are the prices so high on these 4 items that it means these 3 store chains will ignore or look over some of the areas of concern Hasbro has expressed through their past actions by changing Starscream's missiles, castrating Prime's smokestacks and simply not releasing the reissue of Megatron?

9. How is it that Hasbro doesn't have more control over how the Transformers are distributed in the U.S.? Some of you might disagree with this next statement, but it seems kind of scary for Hasbro if the major retailers can just import the Japanese figures and bypass Hasbro altogether.

10. Why didn't Hasbro have G1 reissues available at retail stores in time for the movie this year? It's very obvious that the major store chains want these products available to to sell. I think it's a shame that these retailers simply found another avenue to bring us these reissues. That means less money in Hasbro's pocket which is a bummer ... I want Hasbro to make as much money as they can with this brand so that our hobby will continue as long as possible.

I'm sure I have other questions and thoughts regarding this, but the above list will give you guys enough to chew on in the mean time.

This news is not surprising to me in the slightest. Granted, I knew about Wal-Mart having these on their site. And, now with TRU selling them as well on their site, as I said, it isn't surprising. TRU seems more geared up toward people with money anyway. Take the two that were in Wichita, Kansas. They closed one and turned it into Babies R Us. The only remaining one is on the east side, where all the rich people live.

Gaijin wrote:This news is not surprising to me in the slightest. Granted, I knew about Wal-Mart having these on their site. And, now with TRU selling them as well on their site, as I said, it isn't surprising. TRU seems more geared up toward people with money anyway. Take the two that were in Wichita, Kansas. They closed one and turned it into Babies R Us. The only remaining one is on the east side, where all the rich people live.

They did the same thing here. Turned the Lansing one into a Babies R Us and kept the Okemos one.

Sad thing is, the Lansing one was the better of the two stores. The Okemos one is one of the worst TRU I have ever been to stock wise.

Wow, thats more like what I expect people in Europe and the Pacific would have to pay for them...

Anyone else think they (along with Target and Walmart) are gouging the prices to really cash in on the Movie's popularity?

Gaijin wrote:This news is not surprising to me in the slightest. Granted, I knew about Wal-Mart having these on their site. And, now with TRU selling them as well on their site, as I said, it isn't surprising. TRU seems more geared up toward people with money anyway. Take the two that were in Wichita, Kansas. They closed one and turned it into Babies R Us. The only remaining one is on the east side, where all the rich people live.

actually there are as many rich people living northwest now as there are east. It's just the "old money" staying east. Besides neither toys r us was profitable enough to justify having both open under the same venues.

on a different note, I've been pondering the same questions as seibs...I've always heard that there was a law saying toyguns had to have the orange barrel, but i've never seen proof of such.

Perhaps having the pricepoint set so high moves them into a different category of sales.

Ya i need a new G1 megatron but one problem arent the toy laws saying that toy guns can not look real and im pretty sure megatron falls in that area.

Seibertron wrote:Ok, slew of questions time. These are all questions that I've been pondering since Walmart originally posted these a couple of months ago.

1. How are Walmart, Target and Toys R Us able to surpass the supposed "toy gun" law that we keep getting told about that prevents us from getting a G1 Megatron reissue here in the States?

2. Don't these retailers have a "responsibility" to abide by our laws or is this not an actual law at all?

3. Does this law not apply to sales on the Internet? If it does not apply to Internet sales, then why did eBay take such drastic measures earlier this year to prevent sales of non-orange capped Megatrons with their service?

4. What about the whole Optimus Prime short smoke stacks debate? How about Starscream's missiles? I'm starting to wonder if these are issues on which Hasbro has self-regulated themselves to avoid potential lawsuits and such.

5. If that's the case, why wouldn't a company like Walmart, who has far more money at stake than Hasbro, take even less chances with issues like toy gun safety laws and drop tests in regards to Starscream's missiles and Optimus Prime's smokestacks.

6. Why are the prices so high? Is it because there's a middle man involved here? The prices are too consistent between these big three that it seems like Distributoys is taking a huge chunk of the profit here to resell these items back to these major retailers.

7. Why are these 3 companies not dealing directly with TakaraTomy's distributors instead of an American-based distributor that is already marking up the prices? Walmart is notorious for eliminating the middle man ... it seems like this is the perfect opportunity for them to do it.

8. Are the prices so high on these 4 items that it means these 3 store chains will ignore or look over some of the areas of concern Hasbro has expressed through their past actions by changing Starscream's missiles, castrating Prime's smokestacks and simply not releasing the reissue of Megatron?

9. How is it that Hasbro doesn't have more control over how the Transformers are distributed in the U.S.? Some of you might disagree with this next statement, but it seems kind of scary for Hasbro if the major retailers can just import the Japanese figures and bypass Hasbro altogether.

10. Why didn't Hasbro have G1 reissues available at retail stores in time for the movie this year? It's very obvious that the major store chains want these products available to to sell. I think it's a shame that these retailers simply found another avenue to bring us these reissues. That means less money in Hasbro's pocket which is a bummer ... I want Hasbro to make as much money as they can with this brand so that our hobby will continue as long as possible.

I'm sure I have other questions and thoughts regarding this, but the above list will give you guys enough to chew on in the mean time.

Well I would think, and this is merely my assumption, that somehow, Target, toys R' Us and Wal-Mart are Labeling these as Collectors Items 18+ and up. Which means all toy safety laws are irrelevant, as these are no longer toys or labeled as such.

Again this is just my assumption, there's nothing in the sites to suggest this.

But I see no other logical reason to how they can sell these without the required modifications.

Of course they could just entirely be bypassing Hasbro.
Hasbro cannot control what Wal-Mart, Toys R' Us or Target buy, and from whom and then likewise cannot control to whom Takara/Tomy sells things. Independent entities and all.

Of course this is all my own speculation. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Hey Sludge*loves*beer I dealt with that exact same seller on ebay for the encore set for $187. She told me the same deal about customs holding up the shipment. I waited two months, finally reported her to paypal and ebay and then she finally refunded my money. Be ware, I know her feedback is really high but that encore set from her is a huge hassle.

HI, Im confused by these different releases of soundwave.
Im looking for a soundwave release that, unlike the Takara reissue edition,
does NOT have the "hinge" (correct english word?) that holds the cassette-door "externally" attached to the rewind/forward buttons.

Wich release should I go for? Thanks!

Actually , the Takara release is exactly the one you want. Encore Soundwave.

The American Release is the Soundblaster repaint that has the double cassette door, so it looks like it protrudes from the body.

The Takara Encore Release is AFAIK the normal-flush-with-the-body-single-cassette door.

Original Takara Re-issue:


Current Encore Re-issue


American Toy's R Us Classics Re-issue

This is what I meant,


You can see that the cassette door hinges on the transport buttons. Personaly I find it ugly. Th transport buttons are also larger. So can anyone confirm for shure the encore edition doesnt have this as shown in the picture?
That picture you show of takara-japan/hobbyclub?, I dunno , I dont trust that one.
Might as well they just copy that picture from an old folder or something.

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shortround wrote:So toy r us.com jumped on encore band wagon doesn't suprise me anything to make a buck I guess.

That's the purpose of business.

Screw that Ill just buy encore starscream for 30$ on amazon.

Don't buy it. Their prices are outragious like Walmart and Target. Maybe when they see no one buys them online they'll lower the prices. They should try selling those encores on their department stores at a more affordable price if they want to see successful sales.

JTKranix wrote:

Gaijin wrote:This news is not surprising to me in the slightest. Granted, I knew about Wal-Mart having these on their site. And, now with TRU selling them as well on their site, as I said, it isn't surprising. TRU seems more geared up toward people with money anyway. Take the two that were in Wichita, Kansas. They closed one and turned it into Babies R Us. The only remaining one is on the east side, where all the rich people live.

They did the same thing here. Turned the Lansing one into a Babies R Us and kept the Okemos one.

Sad thing is, the Lansing one was the better of the two stores. The Okemos one is one of the worst TRU I have ever been to stock wise.

That is also with the two in Wichita. The one on the west side was the better of the two- better selection and knowledgable staff. The one on the east side, which is still TRU, is run by idiots and hardly has anything worth the drive out there.

Rockbot2007 wrote:This is what I meant,
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a158/ ... ve-alt.jpg

You can see that the cassette door hinges on the transport buttons. Personaly I find it ugly. Th transport buttons are also larger. So can anyone confirm for shure the encore edition doesnt have this as shown in the picture?
That picture you show of takara-japan/hobbyclub?, I dunno , I dont trust that one.
Might as well they just copy that picture from an old folder or something.

[/img]

Encore Soundwave looks like that. I think all re-issue Soundwaves have the big buttons so you'll probably have to get an original Soundwave if you want the smaller buttons.