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So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

Yeah, not sure how collectors are supposed to read this as anything except pessimistically. It's already a crapshoot finding anything from Hasbro at retail (not just Transformers, but SW Black Series, Marvel Legends waves, and ESPECIALLY GI Joe Classified)

I suspect I will never get the things I want without pre-ordering ever again. This distribution model is just way to vulnerable to scalping. This model is why people are thinking about buying that overpriced SS movie Autobot boxset just for Ironhide, because he is just that costly right now due to limited supply (since, as the article states, they're already doing this with SS figures).

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

They still might show up, just not in the line you'd expect

Spider5800 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

Yeah, not sure how collectors are supposed to read this as anything except pessimistically. It's already a crapshoot finding anything from Hasbro at retail (not just Transformers, but SW Black Series, Marvel Legends waves, and ESPECIALLY GI Joe Classified)

This news is specifically NOT about any of those lines

william-james88 wrote:

Spider5800 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

Yeah, not sure how collectors are supposed to read this as anything except pessimistically. It's already a crapshoot finding anything from Hasbro at retail (not just Transformers, but SW Black Series, Marvel Legends waves, and ESPECIALLY GI Joe Classified)

This news is specifically NOT about any of those lines

They specifically mention the Snake Eyes movie, which had a Classified wave get tied up from the movie's delay.

The bigger point I was making is they are already using this model (they specify Legacy and SS already do, at least), and it is BAD. It makes it harder to find figures at retail and encourages scalping. That they are putting MORE lines on this model is bad news.

Spider5800 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Spider5800 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

Yeah, not sure how collectors are supposed to read this as anything except pessimistically. It's already a crapshoot finding anything from Hasbro at retail (not just Transformers, but SW Black Series, Marvel Legends waves, and ESPECIALLY GI Joe Classified)

This news is specifically NOT about any of those lines

They specifically mention the Snake Eyes movie, which had a Classified wave get tied up from the movie's delay.

The bigger point I was making is they are already using this model (they specify Legacy and SS already do, at least), and it is BAD. It makes it harder to find figures at retail and encourages scalping. That they are putting MORE lines on this model is bad news.

The difference between the last movie line and today is the existance of Hasbro Pulse. That makes availability a completely different ballgame, beign able to order from the source rather than have to hunt multiple stores. As far out in the middle of nowhere as I am, Pulse has been a lifesaver as even my local Walmart (almost an hour away) rarely has squat. I've just been ordering direct. Pulse was created for collectors and I can't see Hasbro not making figures available on the site when the lines are due.

First-Aid wrote:The difference between the last movie line and today is the existance of Hasbro Pulse. That makes availability a completely different ballgame, beign able to order from the source rather than have to hunt multiple stores. As far out in the middle of nowhere as I am, Pulse has been a lifesaver as even my local Walmart (almost an hour away) rarely has squat. I've just been ordering direct. Pulse was created for collectors and I can't see Hasbro not making figures available on the site when the lines are due.

Sure, if you're constantly watching for toy news so you can be on the site when pre-orders go live. The problem is they are constantly "selling out" pre-orders within a day or two of them going live. You can go to the site now and see a list of items that have not released yet and are already "sold out".

This is on top of other issues, like having to tack on shipping costs (because they got rid of free shipping unless you pay an extra subscription) rather than just being able to buy the item for retail price while you do your normal shopping at Target or wherever.

Hasbro Pulse is just a band-aid for the bigger issues Hasbro is having with distribution, in my eyes, and not really a good one. If I have to pre-order toys months or years in advance to have a chance at getting them, MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE MORE OF THOSE TOYS.

First-Aid wrote:The difference between the last movie line and today is the existence of Hasbro Pulse..

Yeah now things sell out to scalpers in minutes on HP and end up popping up for pre-order right after on ebay. HP does not help the situation at all from my experiences.

Spider5800 wrote:

First-Aid wrote:The difference between the last movie line and today is the existance of Hasbro Pulse. That makes availability a completely different ballgame, beign able to order from the source rather than have to hunt multiple stores. As far out in the middle of nowhere as I am, Pulse has been a lifesaver as even my local Walmart (almost an hour away) rarely has squat. I've just been ordering direct. Pulse was created for collectors and I can't see Hasbro not making figures available on the site when the lines are due.

Sure, if you're constantly watching for toy news so you can be on the site when pre-orders go live. The problem is they are constantly "selling out" pre-orders within a day or two of them going live. You can go to the site now and see a list of items that have not released yet and are already "sold out".

This is on top of other issues, like having to tack on shipping costs (because they got rid of free shipping unless you pay an extra subscription) rather than just being able to buy the item for retail price while you do your normal shopping at Target or wherever.

Hasbro Pulse is just a band-aid for the bigger issues Hasbro is having with distribution, in my eyes, and not really a good one. If I have to pre-order toys months or years in advance to have a chance at getting them, MAYBE THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE MORE OF THOSE TOYS.

I have yet to pre-order anything on the site with exception of the HasLab projects. I have never had an issue getting any of the mainline (Stress this word!) figures on the site. It doesn't take long to restock and things are rarely permanently out of stock on the site. I don't think it's a band-aid. I think it's the fix, and it makes sense from a financial standpoint; you can very easily assess how many figures you need based on previous sales and don't have to spend the extra capital to over-produce. It's a way of refining their profits. Think about it. You send a few figures out to the stores, but sell the majority on your own site, giving you extremely accurate sales figures and further refining your process to the point where you don't over produce at all. that means no excess overhead used. I think it's going to be the way things go in the future.

Whooptie doo. Pretty much irrelevant here as shelves and pegs have been largely empty for several years. They want to spread out all the nothing they've been shipping so we can get more nothing throughout the year? That's some first-class thinking right there.

Spider5800 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Spider5800 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So basically, like what happened in past movie years with the final wave not showing up en mass at retail if at all, the same thing could happen now but with whole assortments of figures, not just a wave or two.

Yeah, not sure how collectors are supposed to read this as anything except pessimistically. It's already a crapshoot finding anything from Hasbro at retail (not just Transformers, but SW Black Series, Marvel Legends waves, and ESPECIALLY GI Joe Classified)

This news is specifically NOT about any of those lines

They specifically mention the Snake Eyes movie, which had a Classified wave get tied up from the movie's delay.

The bigger point I was making is they are already using this model (they specify Legacy and SS already do, at least), and it is BAD. It makes it harder to find figures at retail and encourages scalping. That they are putting MORE lines on this model is bad news.

Just to be on the same page, THEY mention none of that. I did, in an attempt to interpret this news in a way we could understand it.

This is all that was said, specifically mentioning Preschool Transformers toys and not much else:

Tried and tested models still have their place, especially when you’ve got a Consumer Products program that leans on core pillars like toys and games. What is interesting now is that we can test and learn. Instead of dropping products based on seasons, we’re now looking to where a rollout could be more relevant to a culture in one of our specific markets.

If the content is pushed back and we experience a delay at retail, or there are problems getting product on the water, it’s better to be flexible and have a softer, more phased-out launch instead of using a big, all-encompassing 360 strategy.

This is especially important for Hasbro’s “vault” brands such as Transformers, Peppa Pig, and My Little Pony, which exists in highly competitive toy categories, most notably preschool. To have a major rollout fall flat due to timing problems is not an option, so the company is expanding its arsenal of marketing and engagement tools.

Now to respond to what you wrote, I don't see how the current model encourages scalping when any mainline toy can be ordered directly from Pulse, or from a myriad of online retailers. There hasn't been a serious scalping issue with mainline toys for years now.

Which toy from the Legacy or Kingdom mainline has eluded you to the point where you had to rely on a scalper?

Cyber Bishop wrote:

First-Aid wrote:The difference between the last movie line and today is the existence of Hasbro Pulse..

Yeah now things sell out to scalpers in minutes on HP and end up popping up for pre-order right after on ebay. HP does not help the situation at all from my experiences.

Same question to you, Cyber, which figure from Legacy and Kingdom mainline sold out and got scalped to the point that you had to pay more for it on the secondary market?

Cyber Bishop wrote:

First-Aid wrote:The difference between the last movie line and today is the existence of Hasbro Pulse..

Yeah now things sell out to scalpers in minutes on HP and end up popping up for pre-order right after on ebay. HP does not help the situation at all from my experiences.

oh man, I gotta say, that made me laugh

Wait, how about if certain lines are only found in certain stores and countries? I'd LOVE to see that, I'd get a free show every time I open this webpage.

william-james88 wrote:Which toy from the Legacy or Kingdom mainline has eluded you to the point where you had to rely on a scalper?

I never buy from scalpers. But if you're going to seriously argue that the WFC trilogy, including Kingdom, wasn't a pain to collect, I don't think we have much else to discuss here. Constantly bare shelves, constantly delayed or sold out online, entire waves skipping areas, and "exclusives" that just never materialized in large numbers was the norm in that whole series. Jury is still out on Legacy, but it looks like more of the same to me.

This conveniently ignored the Studio Series. There's a reason some of these figures are already going for 5 times their original retail price, and that line was just started 4 years ago. I can get rare RotF figures from 2009-10 for the same price as an SS Ironhide. It's absurd how hard these lines are to collect.

Spider5800 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Which toy from the Legacy or Kingdom mainline has eluded you to the point where you had to rely on a scalper?

I never buy from scalpers. But if you're going to seriously argue that the WFC trilogy, including Kingdom, wasn't a pain to collect, I don't think we have much else to discuss here.

The exclusives were a huge pain, it was real bad. When Amazon exclusive preorders cancel on you, like what happened with some earthrise releases, it's bad. But I was just talking about mainline releases, and no collector who preordered off BBTS or other online retailers ever had a problem. I have no clue why you or anyone would use "empty shelves" as an excuse when online retailers had these toys readily available. We literally have a sponsor news post every week for all of them. I'm about to post another one right now.

If you (or anyone) are willing to pay full MSRP price on the mainline toys, then just preorder off of BBTS (or TFSource, or Entertainment Earth or whoever). You will get all the mainline toys. It is literally scalper proof and avoids you distribution woes which can be company specific and independent of Hasbro.

I will ask you, or anyone else, again: Which mainline toy has eluded you? Which Kingdome toy couldn't you get? Which one was scalped? I am legitimately curious because I do not understand how anyone can still be afraid of mainline toys being scalped when we have so many online retailers selling these toys. I just don't see any scalping happening. Everyone is free to answer and illuminate the situation.

PS: I did see your comment on the Studio Series toys. I got all the ones I wanted as did many fans who ordered online, I don't know why you did not get the ones you wanted, you could tell me. A toy released last year or two years ago being more expensive now means nothing. The idea is to have product to satisfy demand at the time of release. The demand 2 years from now is irrelevant to the conversation at hand. Here's an example, EVERYONE IN THE US had time to order the Seige Skywarp and Siege Greenlight toy. Some chose not to want to pay full MSRP, they eventually sold out, and now are worth a pretty penny. This is not scalping, and irrelevant to the availability of the products when they were released. They were plenty available, but people snoozed and they lost. And yeah, those people include me, but I'm not complaining, and I'm not saying distribution was bad, it was just a choice I made.

Spider5800 wrote:I never buy from scalpers.

So which mainline toy did you have to forfeit never getting?

While Rise of the Beasts is not written on this toy's packaging, this Smash Changer Optimus Prime was initially listed as a Movie 7 toy and the listing later got turned into a toy for the Cyberverse line. Regardless, this toy still depicts Optimus Prime in the robot mode from Rise of the Beasts and it is now available in stores in the US and on Amazon in the $30 price range. There have been sightings in Meijer and Walmart stores, all within the past week.

Amazon link https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WXGMGNF?ta ... formers-20

Original listing for retailer:
TRA MV7 Smash Changers Optimus Prime

Current listing for retailers:
TRA Cyberverse Smash Changers Optimus Prime

It should also be known that not all ROTB toys are going to become Cyberverse toys. There are upcoming ROTB One Steps that will be coming out in the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line in about a month, so maybe then we will get even more early designs.

Why do I like this figure? I don't want to like it but I do based strictly off of photos.
I need to watch a review but the gimmick seems fun

Dibs, Dibs, I call review Dibs! Like that'll ever work. I ordered from Amazon and I'm supposed to get it next Tuesday.

Lots of random Transformers Rise of the Beasts news to get to and they all relate to the mass market toys aimed at kids. Thanks to TF fan in the know Silver Optimus, we have some news regarding one of the more enigmatic listings we've had in the line: Beast Mode Bumblebee. Three full containers of just this toy arrived in ports, so we know it's coming and in big amounts. And we also know that it is 2 per case, meaning that it will be a big toy, like other Transformers toys packed 2 per case (leader class bots). So expect Beast Mode Bumblebee to be a big ticket kid friendly toy, similar to the Power Charge Bumblebee we got in the Bumblebee movie toyline. We still have no idea what animal it turns into.

Speaking of Bumblebee, the same source states that the one steps made for the Rise of the Beasts toyline have been repackaged to be in the Buzzworthy Bumblebee toyline. This is a bit more unexpected since these toys are the type that we find everywhere during a movie line, ever since Age of Extinction. It could be that the ones released now will be in that Target exclusive line while they will be rereleased in the actual Rise of the Beasts toyline next year. We'll see if these pop up before the end of the year, and there is some excitement for them since that would be a way for us to see the movie designs early.

Lastly, there is a new listing for ROTB Flex Changers. Hasbro does have a Bend and Flex subline it uses for other properties so it could simply be that they will be incorporating Transformers characters into it. Some of the toys in this line already have transforming elements, like vehicles turning into armour.
The specific listings for these are:
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Flex Changers Cheetor (Hasbro Code: F4639)
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Flex Changers Nightbird (Hasbro Code: F4638)

Didn't we know about the flex changers listings, like, weeks (maybe months) ago? I just remember submitting it....

RodimusPrimeUkraine1 wrote:Didn't we know about the flex changers listings, like, weeks (maybe months) ago? I just remember submitting it....

Like I said, we need help with the news. So if you find a story you'd like posted or shared with the community, write an article here (in your own words) and send us the link so we can refine it and post it.

The "Big" Hasbro investors event was today but sadly, there wasn't much in it for fans. There was indeed a trailer for Rise of the Beasts but it was a closed door event, it wasn't released for the general public. There were a few slides pertaining to Rise of the Beasts. They unveiled Optimus's "new" look, which is mostly the look we had already seen both in Bumblebee and in previously revealed merchandise. The big difference are those plates above his chest windows.

We also have a very tiny image of a mock up for the display in the toy aisle for the ROTB toyline, with a big Optimus cutout. Hasbro is going hard on merchandise and toys for both the ROTB film and Earthspark, as can be seen on one of the slides below. Both toylines are aimed at children, while there will be some ROTB characters in the Studio Series line that older fans can also enjoy alongside kids.

Speaking of Earthspark, it was confirmed that the show will have a second season coming as well, and the same slide showing us the ROTB cutout also has out first look at Spin Changer Optimus' alt mode. And in other Transformers media news, they confirmed that there is still an animated Transformers movie coming out in 2024. We have selected the images and slides that may be of importance below. Some of the images come from TFW2005.com.

Saw this on some Youtbe comments; nice to see that Optimus is still doing similar poses as before.

I have hopes for the animated '24 movie.

RoTB will be a streaming viewing in a couple of years, I just don't have any enthusiasm for it at all. So far only Scourge intrigues me. Maybe future reveals will change that.

Pretty much same with Earthspark. If I like it once it's out, I might get into it. So far, no vibes at all, good or bad.

While so far we have seen Smash and Change Optimus Prime in stores, we just got news that there will be at least 2 more toys like this coming out for the Rise of the Beasts (or Cyberverse line). Whichever line they are packaged in, they will definitely be the Rise of the Beasts designs, at least the preliminary ones. Thanks to a report from Silver Optimus, we know we will get a Rhinox and Optimus Primal done in the same gimmick/style. It will be interesting to see how animals are done in this gimmicky transformation of smashing down a figure. Below are the listings for the toys in this subgroup. They are all currently on US shores though we do not know when Primal and Rhinox will appear at retail.

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Prime
Hasbro Code: F4642
Alternate Hasbro Code: F8067
Product Name: TRA MV7 Smash Changer Optimus Prime
Alternate Product Name: TRA Cyberverse Smash Changer Optimus Prm
EAN: 5010993958474
Alternate EAN: 5010994183769
Case Breakdown: 3 Per Case

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Smash Changer Rhinox
Hasbro Code: F4643
Product Name: TRA MV7 Smash Changer Rhinox
EAN: 5010994113643
Case Breakdown: 3 Per Case

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Smash Changer Optimus Primal
Hasbro Code: F4641
Product Name: TRA MV7 Smash Changer Optimus Primal
EAN: 5010993958801
Case Breakdown: 3 Per Case