Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

mordhelm wrote:Is the submit news broken? I had submitted the pulse links via the front page news 1 to 2hrs before Nemesis made his post. Normally I get a response but didn't get any indication from the news crew this time.

I ask not to get credit (ultimately his post got the word out so he deserves the credit), but only because we are told to submit it that way. Just want to make sure I am submitting in the right way.

I'm very sorry that you weren't credited in the article, your email is there, but must have slipped through the cracks, especially in the rush to news items like this. Again I apologise wholeheartedly. Please keep sending news in via the email link.

Its all good. I was just worried it may be broken is all. I just had an issue at ikea where they said they sent me an email to create my password. It took 7 days to get to me.

I get that things slip, we are all only human. Glad the info is out there

What is it with the whole "pre-order by this date even though it's still several months out" mindset?

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

I pre-ordered mine through TFsource. It seems like everyone sleeps on them in favor of pulse or bbts. With those other sites they charge tax so for me TFsource is already cheaper than the other two plus they have free shipping and the point system.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

Right and those are indeed big IFs. Plus, that retail distribution applies more to cases, not the individual toys inside the case. So, since exclusives are packed in solid cases, you could end up with more wreck gars in the states than Novastars, which seems to be the case from reported sightings and difficulty to find particular toys. It's become to the point that exclusives are actually more easy to find since you are bound to find them at that particular exclusive retailer instead of hoping a retailer doesnt skip a wave or an item is shortpacked.

steals_your_goats wrote:I pre-ordered mine through TFsource. It seems like everyone sleeps on them in favor of pulse or bbts. With those other sites they charge tax so for me TFsource is already cheaper than the other two plus they have free shipping and the point system.

I am surprised they dont charge tax, I thought the states had new laws that had online retailers charge taxes regardless, hence why BBTS does that now. The one which wont charge you tax is ages3and up since they are located in canada.

william-james88 wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:I pre-ordered mine through TFsource. It seems like everyone sleeps on them in favor of pulse or bbts. With those other sites they charge tax so for me TFsource is already cheaper than the other two plus they have free shipping and the point system.

I am surprised they dont charge tax, I thought the states had new laws that had online retailers charge taxes regardless, hence why BBTS does that now. The one which wont charge you tax is ages3and up since they are located in canada.

I've been ordering from them for years and I've never once been charged tax. Recently I paid for the 3 refraktors I had on pre-order and once again no tax, which is great seeing as I live in New York. Even with their sightly higher prices it makes them either cheaper than other outlets or the same price due to NY taxes.

With TF Source you have to have a minimum of $150 for free shipping, which I rarely if ever do, which is why, even with taxes, usually BBTS is the way to go, for me personally. Or in most cases, its a difference of less than $2 between the two.

I would like to order through Pulse but timing is always bad. It's true, they are better than the old HTS, but their system still could use some improvement.

o.supreme wrote:With TF Source you have to have a minimum of $150 for free shipping, which I rarely if ever do, which is why, even with taxes, usually BBTS is the way to go, for me personally.

Thankfully, TFSource's order stacking saves orders like BBTS's Pile of Loot, and for about twice as long as BBTS will hold your items (6 months instead of 3). So for me, I can gradually add new orders to my stack over time until I reach the $150 mark without putting too deep a dent in my bank account all at once. Sure, it mean I get my stuff later than sooner, but I also end up getting a nice big box filled with a whole bunch of goodies instead of just one or two, making each delivery from TFSource feel like Christmas.

It's time boys. This is happening.

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

Right and those are indeed big IFs. Plus, that retail distribution applies more to cases, not the individual toys inside the case. So, since exclusives are packed in solid cases, you could end up with more wreck gars in the states than Novastars, which seems to be the case from reported sightings and difficulty to find particular toys. It's become to the point that exclusives are actually more easy to find since you are bound to find them at that particular exclusive retailer instead of hoping a retailer doesnt skip a wave or an item is shortpacked.

There's a lot more reasons why Wreck-Gar would be easy to find even if he received a smaller number of figures. Walgreens isn't super high traffic like Walmart or Target since they're pharmacies, a lot of their customers are local regulars or the sick that might have other things on their mind. The same people going into the same store and seeing the same unsold toys isn't going to move figures quickly. Then there's their locations, some people have several of them near by, some people like me have only one (about 14 miles away) and others don't have any. Then you have to factor in that we've had a few good Wreck-Gar figures in the last 10 years or so, not everybody is interested in combiners, and, well, it's Wreck-Gar, not exactly the type of character that would excite kids and casual fans.

You're right, I can't know for sure that the Seacons are limited, but it would be unusual for an exclusive not to be. We can't always look at post release availability as proof of normal release numbers. Look at Legends Grand Maximus, we know for a fact that there's less than 3,000 of those in the world and they're still readily available, sometimes at a discount. Yes, like with any exclusive there's any number of reasons why people may not want an obscure, two foot tall Japanese figure, I'm simply saying availability is no better indication of production numbers than exclusivity.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Look at Legends Grand Maximus, we know for a fact that there's less than 3,000 of those in the world and they're still readily available, sometimes at a discount.

Not sure they are *readily available* anymore.... I know TF Source had them on slight discount a few months back, and BBTS had their blow-out one day sale a couple weeks ago. TF Source actually increased their price on Grand Max after that to $280. I think they may be the only retailer left that has them. Unless of course, you want to pay HUGE markups on eBay

I just put in my pre-order. I'm glad that the more expensive set came out first, to get it out of the way. I'm hoping the next two sets come out around December, since that's when I'll definetely have the money for them.

steals_your_goats wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:I pre-ordered mine through TFsource. It seems like everyone sleeps on them in favor of pulse or bbts. With those other sites they charge tax so for me TFsource is already cheaper than the other two plus they have free shipping and the point system.

I am surprised they dont charge tax, I thought the states had new laws that had online retailers charge taxes regardless, hence why BBTS does that now. The one which wont charge you tax is ages3and up since they are located in canada.

I've been ordering from them for years and I've never once been charged tax. Recently I paid for the 3 refraktors I had on pre-order and once again no tax, which is great seeing as I live in New York. Even with their sightly higher prices it makes them either cheaper than other outlets or the same price due to NY taxes.

Just FYI Will, the new laws were passed by the Feds and made to be State governed laws. I unfortunately live in one of the first 4 states to jump on this tax grab. I not only get charged a State sales tax, but a City tax as well. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before all 50 States jump on these new laws.
I'm pretty sure I remember not paying any sales tax on BBTS before all this went into effect. But for some reason I feel like HTS always charged sales tax, but it wasn't Nebraska sales tax. At least BBTS was kind enough to send a letter stating they had no choice but to include these taxes.

So in the end, it doesn't matter whether I order from TFSource, BBTS, Pulse, Amazon, etc., I'm paying taxes on all online purchases.
Hell! I got charged tax by Ali Express the other day when I ordered a KO sword for PotP Predaking.

Thanks Nebraska! Now could you fix the pot holes in front of my house?

Emerje wrote:You're right, I can't know for sure that the Seacons are limited, but it would be unusual for an exclusive not to be. We can't always look at post release availability as proof of normal release numbers. Look at Legends Grand Maximus, we know for a fact that there's less than 3,000 of those in the world and they're still readily available, sometimes at a discount.

Thats another assumption and far from a fact. The only thing we are sure of is that TTMall got less than 3000 orders, and thats it. We dont know if the ones sold outside japan through different distributors (Hasbro asia, usually), count into that, which is why he does seem so plentiful outside of japan. Hence why i was only referring to the japanese market in my example of combiners. Once again, when it comes to numbers, nothing can be assumed.

$60 for a Voyager and $35-$40 for a Dlx?

NOPE!!!

HasTak is getting beside itself slowly playing these Botcon price games. I skipped Predaking because this, so I'm not about to pay over $200 for a smaller combiner even if the quality is greater.

Overall it's not much different than the Terrocons. So unless Pulse hands out some decent discounts I'll be passing on these.

Manterax Prime wrote:What is it with the whole "pre-order by this date even though it's still several months out" mindset?

And why is the date in question always less than a month from the announcement? Seriously, Hasbro, would it kill you to let us catch our breath?

Is it coming back as a preorder on BBTS?

Below you will find new images of Generations Selects Smokescreen. This toy is not exclusive to a specific retailer and can be ordered from any online collectible store, as well as Pulse and even EB Games in Canada. It will be available in October. You will find the images after this official product info. The new images come to us from TFSource.

Fans can take their Transformers figure collections to the next level with Generations Selects, a fan-dedicated line of figures featuring fan-favorite, special edition characters you can’t find in the main line.

This special edition Generations Selects WFC-GS06 Smokescreen figure portrays the classic G1 character with a G1-accurate head sculpt. Figure converts to a Cybertronian alt mode in 14 steps, deco’d to reveal how Smokescreen would have looked on Cybertron. The deco incorporates Cybertronian numbers into his classic exterior.

With this Smokescreen figure, fans can add to their Praxus-native collection. Smokescreen joins Barricade and Prowl (each sold separately, subject to availability) as the third Praxian character designed in his native Cybertronian form.

The Smokescreen figure comes equipped with a W-45 Acid Pellet Blaster accessory and 2 W-50 Volt-Beam Cannon accessories that can mount on his shoulders or the hood of his vehicle mode.

Classic G1 character

G1-accurate head sculpt
Reveals Smokescreen Cybertronian alt mode
Alt mode deco incorporates Cybertronian numbers into his classic exterior
Accessories: blaster, 2 shoulder cannons that can mount on the hood of the car
Third Praxian character to add to Praxus-native collection (Barricade and Prowl sold separately, subject to availability).

Zeedust wrote:

Manterax Prime wrote:What is it with the whole "pre-order by this date even though it's still several months out" mindset?

And why is the date in question always less than a month from the announcement? Seriously, Hasbro, would it kill you to let us catch our breath?

They raise the price slightly after the said before date.

Zeedust wrote:

Manterax Prime wrote:What is it with the whole "pre-order by this date even though it's still several months out" mindset?

And why is the date in question always less than a month from the announcement? Seriously, Hasbro, would it kill you to let us catch our breath?

Hasbro is in the business of making money. They will not stop until they have sucked all our bank accounts dry!

This here Smokey don't look too bad. They definitely should have added some more paint apps to break up that dark paint on his legs BUT...I'll give him a good home.

They changed the Cybertronian on his doors and hood