The Energon Pub

Glad you guys are having fun wtih what I wrote. But seriously, I just got G1 hardhead and whe I handled him I saw all the complaints people were havig now but doubled. I think people forgot how these toys were like.

Anyways, here is another proposition: Brainstorm will be exclusive to Walmart Canada. Exclusivity is at a national level and Walmart Canada has been known to pick up Exclusives for stores that arent wide spread. Like that two pack of AOE Flip and Change Grimlock and Optimus that was KMart exclusive, or more recently the Platinum RID toys. And they mistakened the country it was heading to.

This would be awesome news for Canada since Walgreens is practically non existant here.

At least there are more 'marts than 'walls in my neighborhood. But then again, Walmart's selection last time I was there consisted of two RID onesteps and an AoE lanky brick Drift

william-james88 wrote: Glad you guys are having fun with what I wrote. But seriously, I just got G1 Hardhead and when I handled him I saw all the complaints people were having now but doubled. I think people forgot how these toys were like.

That, and they might be stuck behind a barrier of ERMAHGERD MAH CHELDHERD

... *ahem* Nostalgia filters aside, personally, I respect the G1 toys, but I am of the opinion that they are not 'good' toys, at least not by today's standards. I'm honestly surprised that the reissues sold at general retail sell well enough to people other than collectors to actually be worth making...

To be fair, I've heard good things about Predaking.

And I think if I found a G1 Nightbeat or Hot Rod at retail I'd go for them. I love them so much.

Sigma Magnus wrote:

william-james88 wrote: Glad you guys are having fun with what I wrote. But seriously, I just got G1 Hardhead and when I handled him I saw all the complaints people were having now but doubled. I think people forgot how these toys were like.

That, and they might be stuck behind a barrier of ERMAHGERD MAH CHELDHERD

... *ahem* Nostalgia filters aside, personally, I respect the G1 toys, but I am of the opinion that they are not 'good' toys, at least not by today's standards. I'm honestly surprised that the reissues sold at general retail sell well enough to people other than collectors to actually be worth making...

They have their charm and some are fun for playability (like the Return of Convoy bases). In terms of playability, G1 Fort Max is as great now as he ever was and Scorponok still feels very modern in his city mode and scorpion mode due to all the articulation his claws had. And Skylynx is still a very good toy. I also like Pradaking and the deco on the G1 Dinobots and Insecticons make them look like jewels. And G1 Megatron has a fun transformation and really cool playability, its just his look and articulation that is off. I find the animal casettes really fun too. G1 ravage looks better than MP ravage. But others like Blaster, Soundwave, the Seekers and Optimus Prime really show their age and cant be compared to today's standards. Until Titans Return I did hae a soft spot for the headmasters because of all that playability bt it has been perfectly recreated and perfected in Titans Return.

Cobotron wrote:Someone got their Wals mixed up.
Very curious indeed.

Even more curious - I contacted Hasbro to ask about this and this is the reply I got:

Daniel,

I apologize for the information you've located on the internet; however, the Titans Return Brainstorm is not an exclusive to any specific retailer. The information in the link you provided is not correct.

Regards,
Veronica

Rotoraptor wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Someone got their Wals mixed up.
Very curious indeed.

Even more curious - I contacted Hasbro to ask about this and this is the reply I got:

Daniel,

I apologize for the information you've located on the internet; however, the Titans Return Brainstorm is not an exclusive to any specific retailer. The information in the link you provided is not correct.

Regards,
Veronica

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

Rotoraptor wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Someone got their Wals mixed up.
Very curious indeed.

Even more curious - I contacted Hasbro to ask about this and this is the reply I got:

Daniel,

I apologize for the information you've located on the internet; however, the Titans Return Brainstorm is not an exclusive to any specific retailer. The information in the link you provided is not correct.

Regards,
Veronica

Yea - pretty much. I responded with a link to the official SDCC card for this figure that clearly says "Walgreens" on it -
http://www.bwtf.com/files/news/hero/138 ... 1276_o.jpg


and I also provided them a link to the head of Walgreens Toy purchasing dpt "Steven Ann" who was providing details on twitter - but weirdly enough his entire Twitter account is now gone...

http://tformers.com/sdcc-2016-titans-re ... /news.html

Ladies and gentlebots, I give you:

Rotoraptor wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Someone got their Wals mixed up.
Very curious indeed.

Even more curious - I contacted Hasbro to ask about this and this is the reply I got:

Daniel,

I apologize for the information you've located on the internet; however, the Titans Return Brainstorm is not an exclusive to any specific retailer. The information in the link you provided is not correct.

Regards,
Veronica

#BRAINGATE

Hmmm......

Nope, still don't believe it. He could've grabbed Brainstorm online and took a picture of him with the receipt of another TF purchase (It's not like the reciept says Brainstorm). Smartphones are more common than wallets, so why not take a picture of some Brainstorms on actual pegs in a Walmart aisle?

YoungPrime wrote:>:oP Hmmm......

Nope, still don't believe it. He could've grabbed Brainstorm online and took a picture of him with the receipt of another TF purchase (It's not like the reciept says Brainstorm). Smartphones are more common than wallets, so why not take a picture of some Brainstorms on actual pegs in a Walmart aisle?

That theory would be a lot more believable if any of these figures had actually been sited at Walgreens already....

That's also a whole hell of a lot of trouble to go through just to troll fellow collectors, so it makes little sense to assume that's what happened without reason.

What's more likely?

a) Hasbro mistakenly sent WG Exclusive items to a Walmart?
b) This figure is not actually a WG Exclusive?
c) Someone found the figure, purchased it, drove to another store, purchased a different deluxe figure, and then took a picture to trick people about which store they got it at?

Uhmmmm I'm going to go with A or B there.

Well, I plan to stop at a Walmart, a Target, a Toys R Us, and a Walgreens today, so I'll let you guys know if I see anything.

Guys, I've worked in retail for 20 years and this happens all the time. It sounds like a simple warehouse error and they are more frequent than you think. I currently work at a grocery store where we have gotten "store brand" product with our direct competitors labels on it.

I also have received Target exclusive gelato.

99.9% sure a case just slipped through to the wrong spot, which explains why it wasn't in the system.

I just want the thing to come online or show up anywhere a Canada can get it.

YoungPrime wrote:>:oP Hmmm......

Nope, still don't believe it. He could've grabbed Brainstorm online and took a picture of him with the receipt of another TF purchase (It's not like the reciept says Brainstorm). Smartphones are more common than wallets, so why not take a picture of some Brainstorms on actual pegs in a Walmart aisle?

The receipt has the UPC unique to branstorm, this is real.

Rotoraptor wrote:

YoungPrime wrote:>:oP Hmmm......

Nope, still don't believe it. He could've grabbed Brainstorm online and took a picture of him with the receipt of another TF purchase (It's not like the reciept says Brainstorm). Smartphones are more common than wallets, so why not take a picture of some Brainstorms on actual pegs in a Walmart aisle?

That theory would be a lot more believable if any of these figures had actually been sited at Walgreens already....

That's also a whole hell of a lot of trouble to go through just to troll fellow collectors, so it makes little sense to assume that's what happened without reason.

What's more likely?

a) Hasbro mistakenly sent WG Exclusive items to a Walmart?
b) This figure is not actually a WG Exclusive?
c) Someone found the figure, purchased it, drove to another store, purchased a different deluxe figure, and then took a picture to trick people about which store they got it at?

Uhmmmm I'm going to go with A or B there.

Cool, how about you go out and start the hunt on Brainstorm at local Walmarts or even Target and TRU for that matter and if you spot one I'll buy you a Coke.

May or may not become a newspost.

#BRAINGATE continues! According to fellow Seibetronian Rotoraptor, Hasbro currently claims that our information on the exclusivity of the Transformers Titans Return Brainstorm is not accurate - this would explain how the figure made it to Walmart instead of Walgreens.

Rotoraptor wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Someone got their Wals mixed up.
Very curious indeed.

Even more curious - I contacted Hasbro to ask about this and this is the reply I got:

Daniel,

I apologize for the information you've located on the internet; however, the Titans Return Brainstorm is not an exclusive to any specific retailer. The information in the link you provided is not correct.

Regards,
Veronica

However, we were told and shown at San Diego Comic Con 2016 that Brainstorm would indeed be an exclusive, and definitely to Walgreens. You can see this in the image below:



To add to all this, the original Twitter account that first confirmed the exclusive status, Steven Anne, has now been deleted. Some are speculating that the box was just a mistake in delivery, but that does not explain the email from Veronica at Hasbro.

Which begs the question: who is Veronica? Are they intentionally lying about toy agreements, or is this an honest mistake? If you rearrange the letters of Veronica, you obtain 'I've no car', an allusion to the fact that the employee may be crying for help due to lack of funds to buy transport, or expressing rage at those darn machines. Veronica also almost sounds like Arcana, the original Brainstorm's Headmaster partner. Brainstorm has been proven recently to be a double-crossing agent working for the Decepticons - could this be part of a bigger plot? Is our universe only one of many, as originated in his suitcase?

Stay tuned for more.

#Braingate2016

I love it.

Also confusing as all get out. But mistakes happen. Cool find nonetheless!

The latest response from Hasbro since I sent them them SDCC photo and Twitter link - I guess they're as confused as we are:

Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your email.

I understand and appreciate your frustrations and will be happy to check into this further for you. Please keep in mind all information, including which retailers the product will be released to, and release dates is always subject to change. However, I've shared this email thread with our team and will notify you once I hear back.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards,

I guess I'll update if they provide any additional information, but it seems like we might just be left to wait and see how this all shakes out.

When you're told that Brainstorm is a Walgreen's exclusive, but someone finds it at Walmart. Then Hasbro says it's not exclusive at all.

#Braingate

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:When you're told that Brainstorm is a Walgreen's exclusive, but someone finds it at Walmart. Then Hasbro says it's not exclusive at all.

#Braingate

I would be thrilled if it turns out not to be. For some reason none of the Walgreens in Philadelphia seem to even have Toy Departments, and the few that do don't sell larger or more expensive toys like Deluxe class transformers. If it does turn out to be exclusive, I'm going to be stuck paying obscene ebay markup.

#BRAINGATE is still roaring! Rotoraptor updates us on the situation at Hasbro, as they try covering up their misstep in revealing the existence of a terrifying conspiracy!

Rotoraptor wrote:Hi Daniel,

Thank you for your email.

I understand and appreciate your frustrations and will be happy to check into this further for you. Please keep in mind all information, including which retailers the product will be released to, and release dates is always subject to change. However, I've shared this email thread with our team and will notify you once I hear back.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Regards,

You will see that there is no name attached to the response - has Veronica been 'disappeared'? Will we ever find out who they really were? How far does this story go? And will Europe ever see Brainstorm in any form of retail? (No.) These are the questions we are trying to answer.

This is just too good. Doc V's posts are awesome

Interestingly enough, I recently did the online chat thing with Hasbro's customer service. And I received outstanding service. And the customer rep I dealt with was none other than Veronica. Same Veronica? We may never know.