The Energon Pub

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Cobotron wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:[ I bet that whether or not this has been fun depends greatly on success rate.

True. True. It will also depend if the three pending Deluxes get shipped without a hitch.

Most of the problems seem to be happening for non Prime members. I will no longer take my membership for granted.

With that said, I'm glad I signed up for the 30 day free trial last week. Here's hoping I can cancel it before the trial ends and still get what I ordered, complete with free two-day shipping. If not...then I guess I'm going to have to shop Amazon a LOT more often.

Just a sketchy FYI, I did the 30 day trial 3 times before I actually signed up for paid membership.
I shop Amazon just often enough to make it worth the expense, but I also use Prime video, a lot. There are a lot of advantages to a Prime membership other than 2-day shipping.

In the past I've said I really hope Amazon can get TF exclusives. It would make life so much easier. A few folks outside the US didn't agree. But I think for us in the US, this has worked out very well.

So any guesses on when Blast Off starts shipping? I find it a bit weird that he was the last one made available since Robot Kingdom is already shipping them. My guess would be this month so that the 3 exclusives would release in the order of the line they represent CW, then TR then PotP. But he's being sold similarly to Punch/Counterpunch with no delivery date yet.

Emerje wrote:

nycPrime wrote:In the past I've said I really hope Amazon can get TF exclusives. It would make life so much easier. A few folks outside the US didn't agree. But I think for us in the US, this has worked out very well.

Target exclusives weren't really any good for them either so there's really no one-size-fits-all answer aside from Hasbro doing a better job of finding homes for their exclusives in all of their markets. We'll see how far outside of North America all of these exclusives get.

Emerje

You should have seen the **** show that was Target in Québec. They were trying to compete with Wal Mart, which basically had a monopoly since the late '90, especially after Zellers really went down under and imploded. The thing is, for all the pomp and circumstances when these fancy, newly-renovated Target store opened quite a few issues emerged:
-Target was several $$ more costly.
-Target had way less products in stock.
-They also had little to no staff and the upper management was filled with, from what I understand, Americans and anglo-Canadians. Now this may not seem like a big issue at first, given most people under 25 are bilingual in the more metropolitan areas but this caused problems with the main clientele of target, which often were older people (40+).
The end result? Last I checked most if not all our Targets are closed.

It's odd. Target seems to be doing pretty well in the United states, despite not having as much of a selection, and far fewer stores than Walmart. I know my wife prefers to go there for several reasons:

1. The quality of product and food is generally better (even if a little more expensive)
2. The employees are more customer-service minded, competent, and friendly
3. The general customers are also more friendly/cleaner
4. Stores are not as crowded
5. Target does not permit any soliciting outside its stores

As for Transformers, its a mixed bag. I think Target is more balanced about what they carry in stock, (about even across 3 lines when all 3 are fully in production), whereas Walmarts will seemingly go all out. Some have tons of RiD, some have tons of Movie (Now Studio Series) product, very few have a sizable selection of Generations, except the store closest to me, that just got in 3 cases of Deluxe wave 1 PotP (while other stores are getting wave 3...??? )---yeah that's going to sit until clearance time, at least I know I don't have to look at that store any time soon.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So any guesses on when Blast Off starts shipping? I find it a bit weird that he was the last one made available since Robot Kingdom is already shipping them. My guess would be this month so that the 3 exclusives would release in the order of the line they represent CW, then TR then PotP. But he's being sold similarly to Punch/Counterpunch with no delivery date yet.

I managed to order Blast Off on Sunday, which I posted on here but nobody seemed to notice, and it said that Blast Off came out yesterday and that I will have him in-hand tomorrow by 8 PM.

Amazon gave me dates for Repugnus and Punch/Counterpunch as well, they're coming for me on August 3rd and September 19th, respectively.

Maybe Target is doing fine in the US but here it was a pitiful try of oversized, overly renovated and fancy-looking 'high grade Walmarts' with entire aisle being empty and what content remained was overpriced.

Skritz wrote:Maybe Target is doing fine in the US but here it was a pitiful try of oversized, overly renovated and fancy-looking 'high grade Walmarts' with entire aisle being empty and what content remained was overpriced.

It's a real head scratcher as to why a certain store succeeds in one country, but fails in another. Canada gets to keep TRU, and United States gets Target...Is that an even trade...who knows.. But one thing I do miss is diversity and shopping options in general.

I believe Canada has several options when it comes to multi-purpose department stores, as does a good portion of the United States. Still, for someone as myself, living in the most Populated State, and arguably one of the most culturally diverse, the utter *lack* of selection on where to shop is a bit sad...

I can't go searching for it right now, but William-James had newsed an article about the failure of Target in Canada ages ago. I seem to remember it was mostly based on the fact that they were trying to run those store via their corporate offices in the US as opposed to run it from a Canadian based office. Target took a huge hit business wise over the whole ordeal.

slightly off topic though, but talking with WJ, my understanding is that Canada's only options for B&M retail for Transformers is currently Walmart and TRU. Talk about lack of diversity.

Cobotron wrote:I can't go searching for it right now, but William-James had newsed an article about the failure of Target in Canada ages ago. I seem to remember it was mostly based on the fact that they were trying to run those store via their corporate offices in the US as opposed to run it from a Canadian based office. Target took a huge hit business wise over the whole ordeal.

slightly off topic though, but talking with WJ, my understanding is that Canada's only options for B&M retail for Transformers is currently Walmart and TRU. Talk about lack of diversity.

Pretty much, even if a few years back we...oddly...had Generations (circa Combiner Wars( being the primary Transformers line on the shelves of larger Renaud Bray libraries. I recall my first time seeing Combiner Wars (since Transformers was kind of in a 'dead' point for me, back then, having fallen off the fanbase after TFPrime) figures lined up on top of the shelves of the scifi and fantasy novels and later seeing those moved to a toy and boardgame section. However by the time Titans Return rolled around it seem the idea had been abandoned and I only found mere scraps and leftovers in these shops, like my Battle Core Optimus Prime which became my Nova Prime. In general it seems like action figures are the least likely type of toy to be found in the toy section of various shops.

Nowadays you're correct, it's either Wal-Mart or TRU and both tend to stock up movie and RiD toys way more than Generations.

Emerje wrote:Yeah, aside from the slow starts leaving us hanging this has been exclusives done the right way. I'm tired of hunting around stores in hopes of finding an exclusive they may never get in the first place because distribution sucks everywhere these days (my local Walgreens never got TR Brainstorm or Cyber Shockwave for that matter). I hope both Amazon and Hasbro looked at this positively and there's more to come in the future. I hope that like Hascon and NYCC last year with TRU, Hasbro sticks some SDCC exclusives on Amazon. It wont happen, but I can dream.

Emerje

This. Yup it is getting tiresome. Thank Primus there's an Amazon , RK, amiami etc

Now that TRU type stores are gone, online seems the way to go......

To be fair, Brainstorm was available online on BBTS and still was months ago.

o.supreme wrote:It's a real head scratcher as to why a certain store succeeds in one country, but fails in another.

For Target, it was a rather simple and stupid reason why it didnt succeed: they forgot about the metric system.

Cobotron wrote:I can't go searching for it right now, but William-James had newsed an article about the failure of Target in Canada ages ago. I seem to remember it was mostly based on the fact that they were trying to run those store via their corporate offices in the US as opposed to run it from a Canadian based office.

Yup, that was the main problem here. And when it comes to retail, the biggest thing a retailer could forget is that Canada operates on the metric system. And the people filling out the inventory software were americans, who were not accustomed to the metric system and wrote stuff in ounces instead of mls. But all the products the stores would be getting would be in mls. And extrapolate that to entire shipments. So the entire inventory was offset and now we know how long a retail company of over 100 stores can function without a precice inventory management system: less than 2 years.

It was a dumb mistake and it cost them millions (billions?). To do well in a foreign country (no matter how close it looks to yours) you NEED to use human resources from that place.

Toysrus Canada, Walmart Canada, McDonalds Canada all built their canadian operations as new independent businesses, really aclimating themselves to the culture. And learning from that specific culture to further cater to them and become part of that landscape. Toysrus is a great example but to be fair the main reason it does well is because its only competition is Walmart which does not have that much variety or stock (Amazon canada does not have its act together with uncompetitive prices and a crap selection).

Well, I'm certainly glad all you US-ians are having a good time with your Amazon exclusives. I just slipped in an Amazon US order for the Three Prime Wars Stooges, addressed to a family friend over there from whom I can pick up later (luckily it seems Australians aren't geo-blocked from accessing the US website entirely). But for anyone here without that luxury, this is pretty much the only option I've found:

and it's not even an option for the other two exclusives (nor Nemesis Prime) at this time. Why is it that even toys exclusive to international online retailers still just can't be accessible to everyone who wants them...


(On a more positive note, thanks for the heads-up nycPrime! At least now I theoretically have a Blast Off in the bag, so I don't need to worry about it as much any more.)

After a constant fluctuation between in- and out-of-stock over the last few days, it appears that the Amazon listing for Prime Wars Blast Off and Megatronus (representing the Combiner Wars portion of the Prime Wars Trilogy) is finally here to stay. Though listed as "Temporarily Out of Stock", Blast Off can now be ordered and is promised to deliver once stock arrives - whenever that may be.

If this figure is up your alley, check it out at the listing here and purchase (pre-order, basically) if your heart desires. If you're not sure, consider checking out some in-hand comparison images from earlier this year to help make your mind up!

Will you be grabbing this figure before it's all gone? Have you done so already? Let us know on the Energon Pub Forums, and keep an eye on Seibertron.com for more Transformers news in the future!

Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Blast Off and Megatronus Prime Master
Includes a special edition Deluxe Class Blast Off figure with premium deco
Includes the special edition, clear Megatronus Prime Master figure
Comes in special edition packaging; celebrate the Prime Wars Trilogy with this collectible set
Includes Deluxe Class Decepticon Blast Off figure, special edition Megatronus Prime Master figure, 2 accessories, and instructions. Ages 8 and up

Well i didnt grab a nemesis prime, but i managed to glom onto all three of the prime wars deluxe figure. Honestly lookong fowqrd to getting these. I hope they do more amazon exclusives considering distribution for brick and mortar retqil exclusives can be spotty, and Toys R Us is dead. Hopefully hasbro provides enough stock for Amazon so they dont sell out immediately.

While I'm not so interested in Repugnus or Nemesis Prime, I'll surely try to get the other two in one way or another. I don't know who Blast Off will combine with but I'll find someone.

While I'm sure some people a sick of repaints, I still wish they would toss out a few more combiner limbs. They keep giving us torso's with nobody to go with them. (Starscream, Inferno, Cyclonus)

Got mine pre-ordered. I will be moving this Blast Off onto my Bruticus. CW Blast Off will get a new name and become part of the Starscream combiner. I just need one more limb and he will be ready to go. Probably another jet, but which one, I don't know.

Crosscheck wrote:Got mine pre-ordered. I will be moving this Blast Off onto my Bruticus. CW Blast Off will get a new name and become part of the Starscream combiner.

This seems to be the general consensus. I know It's what I'll likely do too.

Crosscheck wrote: I just need one more limb and he will be ready to go. Probably another jet, but which one, I don't know.

Know I'm wishing I'd picked up that ugly faced BotCon Terrorsaur when I was there.

RiddlerJ wrote:While I'm sure some people a sick of repaints, I still wish they would toss out a few more combiner limbs. They keep giving us torso's with nobody to go with them. (Starscream, Inferno, Cyclonus)

To be fair, with the May Mayhem figures and now THIS Blast Off paired with the "mind-control-to-use-anyone-as-a-limb" thing from Galvatronus kind of lends itself to having all the extras that get replaced by Blast Off/May Mayhem.

For Starscream I do the Dreadwing bros plus Terrorsaur and SG Starscream. But those are club/con exclusives, so that's not very fair.

For Inferno it would have been SO damn easy to give us a Ratchet and Red Alert.

DecepticonFinishline wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:While I'm sure some people a sick of repaints, I still wish they would toss out a few more combiner limbs. They keep giving us torso's with nobody to go with them. (Starscream, Inferno, Cyclonus)

To be fair, with the May Mayhem figures and now THIS Blast Off paired with the "mind-control-to-use-anyone-as-a-limb" thing from Galvatronus kind of lends itself to having all the extras that get replaced by Blast Off/May Mayhem.

For Starscream I do the Dreadwing bros plus Terrorsaur and SG Starscream. But those are club/con exclusives, so that's not very fair.

For Inferno it would have been SO damn easy to give us a Ratchet and Red Alert.

I do the same. I managed to get Windsweepet for $40. Him, dreadwind and Darkwing and Skyblast(jet blast off) are my Starscream combiner. I was using Thrust but I like Grand Galvatron too much to keep him separate