The Energon Pub

Scored POTP Inferno at O'Fallon IL Wal-Mart today. Woo.

Flashwave wrote:

Rodimus Knight wrote:

Emerje wrote:
I just hope wave 3 doesn't hit before I can get the last two Dinobots now that I finally have Grimlock coming in the mail ($25 on Amazon for a short time this morning!).

Emerje

Finally have Grimlock coming? Like you couldn't find him in stores? Him and Starscream were really common around these parts.

I saw Grimlock maybe twice. Starscream was around more frequently, but I can still count the number of his sughtings on one hand...

Same here. Back in probably February I saw two at one Walmart and one at another (none at Target). They sold pretty quickly and never restocked. Starscream lingered for a while longer (maybe another two weeks). I'm guessing we're not alone as his prices has been ridiculously high online for a while, this was the first time I've seen him online this close to normal retail. I'm guessing we can thank wave 3 for that.

Emerje

YoungPrime wrote:FOC isn't pristine but it's not bad enough to make me buy this PotP version to replace him. Which still remains my point.

yeah FoC (with or without dinoarmour upgrade) may not be perfect but it sure beats the crap out of PotP Grimlock who simply fails to look at all appealing in any of it's three modes. PotP Grim has of the most godawful, blandest, crappiest, blockiest Grimlock robot modes ever too (I think only Energon Grimlock looks crappier).

That 'evergreen' design saw art of a couple weeks ago would make a fantastic G1 Grimlock, sculpted well, dynamic form, with lots of details. I know the simple cyberverse (or whatever it is) figure is based on it but a proper generations figure of it would be nice.

I must say, I am very impressed with the fandom here. This Facebook post by the Transformers page about Abominus has gotten an overwhelming number of people commenting on how they haven't seen wave 2 yet, and pretty much everyone has been very respectful and no one has tried to shout or anything:

https://www.facebook.com/transformers/p ... 0452848139

FoC Grimlock is also better than Animated Grimlock and his stubby tail and ridiculously weird elbows. What the heck were they thinking there?





Would have been so much better if you could have slid the black portion up into his upper arm.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:FoC Grimlock is also better than Animated Grimlock and his stubby tail and ridiculously weird elbows. What the heck were they thinking there?



Would have been so much better if you could have slid the black portion up into his upper arm.

Emerje

...You can. The arms in that pic aren't pushed in all the way.

EDIT: Or maybe I'm thinking of how mine's arms can since I did the shoulder mod that was posted back when all those early Animated QC fixes were being posted.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:FoC Grimlock is also better than Animated Grimlock and his stubby tail and ridiculously weird elbows. What the heck were they thinking there?



Would have been so much better if you could have slid the black portion up into his upper arm.

Emerje

...You can. The arms in that pic aren't pushed in all the way.

EDIT: Or maybe I'm thinking of how mine's arms can since I did the shoulder mod that was posted back when all those early Animated QC fixes were being posted.

That's probably the case.


Mod on the right.

Emerje

Shoulder mod?

Yep. That one of the right is a much closer match for mine.

I did that mod, along with Bumblebee's stinger mod, Lockdown's wrist mod, and Cybertron Mode Megatron's cannon mod. Made all four figures so much better.

Mine never needed a mod, just a bit of finesse

Ladies and Gents, I give you: StarKaiser!!!





I did learn something very important here: be careful with Starscream's shoulders. I had to take mine apart because the ratchet went off kilter and would not straighten back out. I fixed it though.

Starkaiser- I like it but i am curious as to what you're watching there d-max...

ZeroWolf wrote:Starkaiser- I like it but i am curious as to what you're watching there d-max...

Looks like one of Jeff Dunham's stand up routines. That's one of his puppets, named Peanut, who's a real smart aleck and (despite Jeff being the one controlling him) actually manages to annoy and upset Jeff with his wisecracks and attitude.

ZeroWolf wrote:Starkaiser- I like it but i am curious as to what you're watching there d-max...

Thats Peanut. He belongs to a Comedian

Thanks guys for the answer, it was one of those annoying questions that I just had to figure out.

Sorry to beat a dead horse (or in this case maybe a dead dinobot?), but really, I'd like to know what the deal is with Wave 2 of PotP?

I mean, sure I had a couple brief sightings a couple months ago, and I did what seemed "logical", and purchased the short packed figures (Blackwing & Moonracer), figuring the Dinobts would be easy to get, since the wave 1 ones were (still are in fact). But now they seem to be nowhere...

I've looked at all the 3P sites sponsored here, and HTS, none of them even have them in stock. Target at Walmart in my area are selling PotP deluxes (plenty of wave 1 still arriving) at (US) $16.82 and $16.96 respectively, when you add tax (8.25% in my area), that comes to $18.20 and $18.36. Now I know MSRP is $19.99, and I would not mind paying...$23-24 in a pinch, to get these shipped to me, but as it stands right now, scalper prices on eBay and Amazon have these at $33 (the lowest I saw for Sludge) and $45 (the lowest I saw for Snarl)...that is absolutely ridiculous! 2-2.5X MSRP...forget that!

Sorry for the negativity, I'd love to talk about how much I enjoy the new toys I have...but you really cant do that if you cant find them. I know patience is a virtue. But I feel sorry for all those still patiently waiting for wave 5 deluxe TR to show up. I even sent an email to Hasbro Customer Service, basically asking them in a more eloquent way.

Jerry Seinfeld wrote:What's the deal with PotP distribution?

Shockingly I haven't received a response, but I don't know what to do at this point. Part of me (sadly) is almost hoping that WFC is such a departure from the Prime Wars trilogy, that I wont want to collect the toys anymore, so I can go back into the self imposed exile I had in the previous decade.

I'm sorry to hear about your distribution woes, but to be fair what answer would you expect from hasbro? They are probably confused as to why they got an email like that as in their view, they are sending the toys out like they should. Again, this looks to be more a retailer problem then anything hasbro has done. Sorry again, but there isn't any conspiracy involving hasbro. They aren't doing this on purpose. Have you tried seeing if anyone living in states (or Canada) where they can be found is willing to work with you to get what you need?

ZeroWolf wrote:Have you tried seeing if anyone living in states (or Canada) where they can be found is willing to work with you to get what you need?

That's just it though, the problem is not just mine. It is a nationwide problem for most fans currently in the United States. It's even worse for some in other countries. Also we have some amazing fans here, willing to help others out. I've done the same. But with shipping costs so expensive, especially from Canada, I don't think it would be worth it, and I would never ask any fan to take a financial loss for myself, let alone anyone else.

Still I guess I'll put it out there...If anyone is able to (without taking a loss)ship to me the PotP wave 2 Dinobots Sludge & Snarl (packages in tact) for say US $22 for one or $42 together (I live in the Sacramento area, so count the cost accordingly), PM me.

o.supreme wrote:

ScottyP wrote:I think lumping Takara releases into Waves is a poor use of the term. They release figures monthly, on a more-or-less predictable schedule. They plan the release to happen once, and only a limited number of one-off figures see any redistribution. This is not what a "Wave" is.

Idk how I got so grumpy this afternoon and I'm sorry.

No worries. but it does ring something to the fore. How amazing would it be for To have a release schedule like this. a few items each month, on pretty much a guaranteed date, and guaranteed to be in stock at larger B&M chains, and available online....Sure I know covers a much bigger portion of the world than does, but one can dream...

I love the monthly release schedule. You know what's coming and when down to the day, like a big videogame or movie. I'm not sure the toy industry could support it en masse, and I certainly wouldn't want it to ape the comics direct market (which already has a toy arm), but moving the product generally aimed at the "collector" segment to something more mature than the wave distribution of the 1990s is long overdue.

ScottyP wrote:

o.supreme wrote:

ScottyP wrote:I think lumping Takara releases into Waves is a poor use of the term. They release figures monthly, on a more-or-less predictable schedule. They plan the release to happen once, and only a limited number of one-off figures see any redistribution. This is not what a "Wave" is.

Idk how I got so grumpy this afternoon and I'm sorry.

No worries. but it does ring something to the fore. How amazing would it be for To have a release schedule like this. a few items each month, on pretty much a guaranteed date, and guaranteed to be in stock at larger B&M chains, and available online....Sure I know covers a much bigger portion of the world than does, but one can dream...

I love the monthly release schedule. You know what's coming and when down to the day, like a big videogame or movie. I'm not sure the toy industry could support it en masse, and I certainly wouldn't want it to ape the comics direct market (which already has a toy arm), but moving the product generally aimed at the "collector" segment to something more mature than the wave distribution of the 1990s is long overdue.

But would the Retailer side support it? Or would they care?

Or, would thry continue ordering stoxk more or less quarterly like they are, and we ebd up shorted on the middle month releases? Or end up with mid month releases plugging the distribution up when the next quarter startshould have been ordered? Say Walmart sayd "Ha ha ha that minthly stuff is cute. We'll see you in April."

Flashwave wrote:But would the Retailer side support it? Or would they care?

Or, would thry continue ordering stoxk more or less quarterly like they are, and we ebd up shorted on the middle month releases? Or end up with mid month releases plugging the distribution up when the next quarter startshould have been ordered? Say Walmart sayd "Ha ha ha that minthly stuff is cute. We'll see you in April."

Walmart, and even Amazon to some extent, are precisely the problem. The watered down business metrics that say "just do a few big orders and/or resets a year" are very likely the correct way for them to do business as it relates to the wider public in most circumstances.

My idea of how to "fix it" is probably not palatable to the Walmarts of the world, but I'm clock watching at the office so whatever, I'll keep typing. I'd like a beer and cannot have one, so we're going to pretend that Power of the Primes is a craft beer made by a brewery that got bought by AmBev (Budweiser's parent company). Bud Light will be analagous to all of Hasbro's other Transformers toys intended for use by and designed for kids.

AmBev is going to brew tons of Bud Light, a terrible "beer", because if you don't like beer or want to just drink 48 beers without dying, it's a great option. However, it's usually never a problem to still get whatever fancy craft product of theirs that you want. While most customers go into the store, buy Bud Light, and gtfo with a stupid grin on their face while they get ready to unleash their inner Chad, the super cool TF collector that wants a Sculpin can also go to the store and be happy because they'll have that too. Maybe not several 48 packs, but at least something.

This is because there are independent, contracted distibutors for the large brewhouses like AmBev on a local level that have dudes that drive to even the local gas station, see what sells, and make sure they stock it right in cooperation with that owner. They both have incentives to do so. The system works.

Don't drink.

Anyhow, I think that could work for toys and we already see it on a small scale with online retailers. Unfortunately, Hasbro treats these places like third class citizens when it comes to orders so they can't make up for the demand gap. The Chosen Prime got Wave 3 Deluxes in this last week, but if you were even a hair too slow you missed them. I'm sure they'd love to sell more and now, but actors like Walmart have become increasingly aggressive in making sure that your local bottle shop (The Chosen Prime, Captured Prey, TF Source, et al) where you tend to get your limited run Double Imperial IPA (Masterpiece figures, etc) can't get an AmBev craft beer (Power of the Primes), something Walmart doesn't sell much of, by threatening to lower orders of Bud Light (all the other toys) if Hasbro starts leveling the playing field for smaller retailers.

Maybe if somewhere like Walmart wanted to expand profitable revenue in toys, they could hire well compensated, incentivized local managers to work with the distributors and buyers on a more focuaed level to ensure consumer demands were met. They'd be like your local beer dude, making sure you get your tasty dankness while Chad crushes his Bud Light.

Unfortunately, Walmart is evil and just wants to drown you in stale old 48 packs of Bud Light on a Monday, because then you're going to need more toilet paper and maybe some Hot Pockets and 18 other more profitable things for the same amount of money you would have spent on one freaking Snarl c'mon.

...that was a really good example. Also good to see another fantastic of craft beer (here in UK, it's craft ale to help distinguish from American beer and lager imported from the continent). Now excuse me while I'll go back to my blonde ale

ScottyP wrote:Don't drink.

I don't, never have, it just doesn't interest me. But man...was that great illustration. Even if I don't see any PotP in the next couple days, at the very least you improved my mood. Thanks for that. Even though I don't, I've been the DD at more friends parties than I care to remember, so I know how it all works.

ZeroWolf wrote:I'm sorry to hear about your distribution woes, but to be fair what answer would you expect from hasbro? They are probably confused as to why they got an email like that as in their view, they are sending the toys out like they should. Again, this looks to be more a retailer problem then anything hasbro has done. Sorry again, but there isn't any conspiracy involving hasbro. They aren't doing this on purpose. Have you tried seeing if anyone living in states (or Canada) where they can be found is willing to work with you to get what you need?

It's easy to say it's a store's fault, not Hasbro's, and often that's the case, but when it's a nation-wide issue and the figures are so scarce that even Hasbro themselves can't stock them in their own store, then it's definitely a Hasbro issue. This isn't a case of the unbalanced distribution that we've become used to (the only PotP figures I know I can go out right now and buy are wave 1 PMs while other people are chocking on wave 1 Deluxe), this is a total lack of supply in specific waves that has been plaguing the entire Prime Wars trilogy.

As for the whole thing about releasing figures on a schedule, we already know that can work at Walmart just by looking at every movie line release to date and their scheduled wave 1 street dates. What Walmart could really use is a better point of sale system that does a better job of tracking what's on the shelves and sends that information directly to the warehouse for automatic resupply. I don't know what their current method is, but it doesn't work.

Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Starkaiser- I like it but i am curious as to what you're watching there d-max...

Looks like one of Jeff Dunham's stand up routines. That's one of his puppets, named Peanut, who's a real smart aleck and (despite Jeff being the one controlling him) actually manages to annoy and upset Jeff with his wisecracks and attitude.

Ding! Christmas Special to be exact. Love that one.

I've left StarKaiser as he is and Dezarus separate. I really like Starscream with the Breastforce guys