The Energon Pub

[LE0KING]

If it's any consolation I'm in indiana and never saw wave 1...

[Moody magpie]

So it's OK for the toy shops to clog up the shelves with aweful Bayformer figures, but not the figures the fans want! What bunch of dingoes kidneys!

[william-james88]

So the long and short of it is this:

"The total amount of figures sold has reached the required amount for shipping new stock too late to be eligible for Wave 2. Therefore, Europe will get the later Wave 3 instead."

If that's the case, it proves assortments available for immediate order by stores gets rotated every few months, even if nothing gets ordered. The boat for Wave 2 has sailed for Europe it seems.

I feel so bad for you guys! I wont complain as much in Canada anymore.

[Katarn84]

Alessandro, from Italy here.

First no Generations figures, than no AoE figures, then Wave 1 CW to give us hope and now this?

Hasbro...

GO "F" YOURSELF!

[Shockwave7]

Well I guess I shouldn't complain too much about Wave3 not being available en masse in the US quite yet. No wave2 in the EU at all? Because they didn't meet 'quantity requirements'?

Does that mean wave 1 didn't sell enough units in the EU and they're writing them off as not worth it? Or that they didn't manufacture enough units so they have to cut off some markets that don't seem to be doing as well?

I thought the CW line was selling pretty well - hard to fathom it NOT selling in other places like the EU. It's certainly hard to find in stores, although my local wal-mart seems to have a monopoly on all the Wave1 Voyagers. Every new shipment on the shelf is another clutch of Silverbolts and Optimuses.....

The local TRU has about 10 wave 2 CW figures on the shelf - but I think that's because TRU has started charging $19.99 per deluxe. It's likely scaring off the casual buyer. Really, $20 smackers for one deluxe? May as well order from BBTS....

[RhA]

Que a gargantuan violin.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

So the long and short of it is this:

"The total amount of figures sold has reached the required amount for shipping new stock too late to be eligible for Wave 2. Therefore, Europe will get the later Wave 3 instead."

If that's the case, it proves assortments available for immediate order by stores gets rotated every few months, even if nothing gets ordered. The boat for Wave 2 has sailed for Europe it seems.

I feel so bad for you guys! I wont complain as much in Canada anymore.

And the worst thing is that it has happened before. This is what happened in The Netherlands:

1) During Prime Robots in Disguise, the figure assortment was... wonky. It did not follow the figure order at all, leading me to believe that some assortments were skipped with some lucky carryovers (like a wave 2 figure in a wave 3 case) appearing later than planned. We did get all Deluxes eventually, either as first release or imported backstock, and almost missed Voyager Starscream.
2) Again during Prime, Beast Hunters this time, Deluxe Wave 2 was skipped entirely, going straight to Wave 3 with Skystalker, Ratchet and Dreadwing. Starscream was carried over into later waves, but Shockwave, Ripclaw (I'm so sad! ), Smokescreen and Bulkhead never made it here.
3) Further back during Energon, Hasbro just plain gave up. The only completed combiner was Superion Maximus, Bruticus Maximus was skipped entirely, and Constructicon Maximus, well... the first two limbs (Duststorm and Sledge) were released, the last two (Bonecrusher and Wideload) were at the very end of the line... Yeah...

So yeah, I'm not that surprised with the skip.

Well I guess I shouldn't complain too much about Wave3 not being available en masse in the US quite yet. No wave2 in the EU at all? Because they didn't meet 'quantity requirements'?

Does that mean wave 1 didn't sell enough units in the EU and they're writing them off as not worth it? Or that they didn't manufacture enough units so they have to cut off some markets that don't seem to be doing as well?

I thought the CW line was selling pretty well - hard to fathom it NOT selling in other places like the EU. It's certainly hard to find in stores, although my local wal-mart seems to have a monopoly on all the Wave1 Voyagers. Every new shipment on the shelf is another clutch of Silverbolts and Optimuses.....

Here we still have wave 1 all over the place, depending on how much space a store has set aside: an Intertoys near the Dam Square in Amsterdam had an entire endcap of CW! It's the price that turns most people off: you're practically paying the price of a US Voyager for a simple Deluxe!

[Katarn84]

Here we're cluttered with wave 1 from Legion to Voyager (no leader, obviously...) in just some store chains and some stray cats in normal shops, but they're not advertised in any way... no TV spots, no sheets or ads in magazines, nothing.

And since Hasbro is a d**k at distribution, and has been for years since ROTF, collectors go straight to BBTS or RK and a give good middle finger at Hasbro Italy which by the way sells a 9 $ toy for 12 € (around 13,50 $).

But we got almost all Prime figures (at crazy prices, I paid Voyager 1 Predaking 42 €, 45 $)

[william-james88]

Hey wait a sec. Does this mean that the wave 2 deluxe cards are now Canada exclusive? And is Canada the only one to get the international versions now? Who else could have had them, Russia? South Africa? Because I know HongKong gets the comics

[Heckfire]

WHAT?! I'm not even IN the EU and I know that's unfair and wrong! What the Hell, Hasbro? The European fanbase kept G1 alive longer than the US, dammit, you don't pull crap like this on them!

[peaces]

it's not hasbro's fault that stores didn't order wave 2

[Cobotron]

What a freakin' kick in the pants.
Big business = broken dreams.
&

[fenrir72]

WHAT?! I'm not even IN the EU and I know that's unfair and wrong! What the Hell, Hasbro? The European fanbase kept G1 alive longer than the US, dammit, you don't pull crap like this on them!

Remember back in G1 when Perceptor was not sold in the UK? deja vu again

[megatronus]

Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

[peaces]

usa is only now starting to get wave 2

[Syn_13]

Really disappointed by this. I've been looking forward to buying these guys in the stores. As much as I can easily buy them off the online UK retailers like Kapow and Masterforce (as I like to support them too), I do enjoy hunting them down in my local stores. I tend to save my online purchases for exclusives and 3rd Party figures that I can't get in the shops.

I guess I'll have to commit to buying this wave online then, or else Drag Strip is going to be a very lonely Stunticon and Superion will continue to be missing a left leg.

[Editor]

So.... If anyone with the extra cash can, think about grabbing an extra wave 2 figure and helping out a mate across the pond by selling without mark-up.
They shouldn't have to suffer for poor ordering by their retailers.

[hinomars19]

Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

[peaces]

pretty much everyone crapped on menasor. the retailers could have felt the same way or were swayed by everyone saying menasor sucks.

[Editor]

Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

[VonDoom]

Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

Agreed with every new series in oz we find Wave 1 will choke up store shelves for ages with overstock and some waves will be skipped. With Combiner Wars and RID we seem to be lucky so far as the shops aren't ordering as much and the transformer displays are smaller so they seem to have learned from all the Wave 1 overstocks of the past few years. Does mean a lot of empty shelves but at least restocks are normally something new now.

[hinomars19]

Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

I know there is no conspiracy and what not, but what most people call 'business practice' I call 'business dickery'! It surprises me how little care Hasbro has for it's product-I know it's not the retailer's job to know or care what they carry (though, you'd think it should be...) but why bother making product if you don't see it given care and attention? Mind you, I'm no expert but I read enough here-it worries me how little control any company has on distribution; being at the hand of retailers just seems...bah why bother. It's business. who gives 2 hoots right? It's what the rules say so blah blah blah...
Not like it matters. Hasbro will still have phantom money in it's pockets to crank out more products that half of us won't be allowed to buy and the cycle just keeps going whilst we let the wind blow by us.

What a funny ol' world.
Cobotron said it best.

[megatronus]

I know there is no conspiracy and what not, but what most people call 'business practice' I call 'business dickery'! It surprises me how little care Hasbro has for it's product-I know it's not the retailer's job to know or care what they carry (though, you'd think it should be...) but why bother making product if you don't see it given care and attention? Mind you, I'm no expert but I read enough here-it worries me how little control any company has on distribution; being at the hand of retailers just seems...bah why bother. It's business. who gives 2 hoots right? It's what the rules say so blah blah blah...
Not like it matters. Hasbro will still have phantom money in it's pockets to crank out more products that half of us won't be allowed to buy and the cycle just keeps going whilst we let the wind blow by us.

What a funny ol' world.
Cobotron said it best.

Huh?

[Agamemnon]

How many individual stores does Hasbro provide product for in the world? How would they even do as some here are suggesting and not go bankrupt? Realistically, as long as Hasbro sells product (not individual waves) to retail, they do business. Sure, it's highly inconvenient for us collectors. But, it's not a big deal to most who buy the products.

[KillerOh]

Hey wait a sec. Does this mean that the wave 2 deluxe cards are now Canada exclusive? And is Canada the only one to get the international versions now? Who else could have had them, Russia? South Africa? Because I know HongKong gets the comics

Not quite: here in Brazil we've already gotten the Wave 2 of deluxes with the cards (Air Raid and the stuntucons, sans Dragstrip obviously) about two months ago, along with Wave 1 of voyagers (Optimus and Silverbolt; already have my "Superion" with three stunticon limbs ), legends (Bombshell, Powerglide, Thundercracker and Windcharger) and leaders (Both megatrons). Damn, even Platinum inseticons and Blitzwing/Astrotrain and YOTG Optimus and Soundwave are here, but no comics for us...