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william-james88 wrote:2. It really looks like there will only be 3 leaders in Siege. I read that suppliers did confirm that on other message boards. This is of course only relating to mainline non exclusive toys.

Hip-Hoptimus Rime wrote:I picked up Siege Megatron yesterday, and he's missing one of the little gray wheels under his treads. Doesn't matter to me, I'm taking them off anyway, but I don't recall a QC issue like this on a Hasbro toy... pretty much ever. Hm.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:My Titans Return Megatron was missing a wheel.

o.supreme wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:My Titans Return Megatron was missing a wheel.

...and the Joker got away... Hey!

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:2. It really looks like there will only be 3 leaders in Siege. I read that suppliers did confirm that on other message boards. This is of course only relating to mainline non exclusive toys.

I actually believe Hasbro may be pulling back on the leader class overall for retail releases.
For regular retail releases:
Combiner Wars was 6 Leaders across 3 molds for a 18 month line. And the result was Skywarp shelfwarming pretty bad.
Titans Return was 6 leaders across 4-5 molds for an 18 month line, depending on how you count Sky Shadow/Overlord. And the result was Overlord at heavy Discount for those lucky enough to have an Ollie's.
PotP was 4 leaders across 3 molds for a 12 month line. And the result was Optimus Primal, the fan vote, not really hitting retail until it was almost time for clearance.

What I'm seeing is that apparently Leader class figures just don't move as well in general at regular release. As a parent, this actually makes all the sense in the world to me. I'm not dropping $50 on a toy for one of my kids unless I know they are way into it, have a collection, etc. And even then a $50 toy would almost certainly be reserved for birthday/Christmas, or if they saved up their own money. That would mean that the main buyer for leader class would generally be a collector (adult or kid) as opposed to a casual fan/parent where dropping $20 on a smaller figure would make more sense.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:2. It really looks like there will only be 3 leaders in Siege. I read that suppliers did confirm that on other message boards. This is of course only relating to mainline non exclusive toys.

I actually believe Hasbro may be pulling back on the leader class overall for retail releases.
For regular retail releases:
Combiner Wars was 6 Leaders across 3 molds for a 18 month line. And the result was Skywarp shelfwarming pretty bad.
Titans Return was 6 leaders across 4-5 molds for an 18 month line, depending on how you count Sky Shadow/Overlord. And the result was Overlord at heavy Discount for those lucky enough to have an Ollie's.
PotP was 4 leaders across 3 molds for a 12 month line. And the result was Optimus Primal, the fan vote, not really hitting retail until it was almost time for clearance.

What I'm seeing is that apparently Leader class figures just don't move as well in general at regular release. As a parent, this actually makes all the sense in the world to me. I'm not dropping $50 on a toy for one of my kids unless I know they are way into it, have a collection, etc. And even then a $50 toy would almost certainly be reserved for birthday/Christmas, or if they saved up their own money. That would mean that the main buyer for leader class would generally be a collector (adult or kid) as opposed to a casual fan/parent where dropping $20 on a smaller figure would make more sense.

Flashwave wrote:I agree with most of what you are saying, Hasbro pulling back, Retailers not as interested in big ticket TFs, but I wouldnt be as quick to count Overlord and Primal, simply because they were something of a victim of circumstance. For Overlord, the Ollie's Stock came from TRU, and there were quite a few Sky Shadows in that mix as well. (Sadly, I never got one...) Primal cpuld be the Retailers not ordering stock or it could be Hasbro was late getting him out, but either way I am still more inclined to blame Distribution thsn lack of interest. Although to be fair, Optimal Optimus did not have thr fandom jumping up and down like Prime and Rodimus did.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I would love it if the other lines in the Trilogy gave us some figures for seldom-represented characters from G1, since John Warden is so focused on that era. Straxus and Thunderwing come to mind immediately, with at least Straxus being leader class. I know it's an impossible wish, but one can dream.

Straxus as Leader-class and not Thunderwing?

Him too, but Straxus for sure. He was larger (both taller and bulkier), despite T-wing being a Pretender. And that's another gimmick that could be updated in the upcoming lines, the Pretenders. With today's engineering technology, it certainly can be done.

o.supreme wrote:

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:My Titans Return Megatron was missing a wheel.

...and the Joker got away... Hey!

o.supreme wrote:A couple things... the number of *13* PotP deluxes is only the most basic general release number for the United States, other deluxes which were specific retailer exclusives for the US, were regular releases in other countries.

carytheone wrote:So I swung by a local Target on my way home today and the Siege truly has begun!

20190114_161146.jpg

Something did seem off though

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:
To my knowledge Straxus was only ever between the Seekers and the Insecticons in size. Where was he bigger?

carytheone wrote:So I swung by a local Target on my way home today and the Siege truly has begun!

20190114_161146.jpg

Something did seem off though

william-james88 wrote:Looks voyager class to me

carytheone wrote:So I swung by a local Target on my way home today and the Siege truly has begun!

20190114_161146.jpg

Something did seem off though

carytheone wrote:

20190114_161146.jpg

Something did seem off though

william-james88 wrote:

Flashwave wrote:I agree with most of what you are saying, Hasbro pulling back, Retailers not as interested in big ticket TFs, but I wouldnt be as quick to count Overlord and Primal, simply because they were something of a victim of circumstance. For Overlord, the Ollie's Stock came from TRU, and there were quite a few Sky Shadows in that mix as well. (Sadly, I never got one...) Primal cpuld be the Retailers not ordering stock or it could be Hasbro was late getting him out, but either way I am still more inclined to blame Distribution thsn lack of interest. Although to be fair, Optimal Optimus did not have thr fandom jumping up and down like Prime and Rodimus did.

Which is pretty crazy considering he was the fan vote.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Flashwave wrote:I agree with most of what you are saying, Hasbro pulling back, Retailers not as interested in big ticket TFs, but I wouldnt be as quick to count Overlord and Primal, simply because they were something of a victim of circumstance. For Overlord, the Ollie's Stock came from TRU, and there were quite a few Sky Shadows in that mix as well. (Sadly, I never got one...) Primal cpuld be the Retailers not ordering stock or it could be Hasbro was late getting him out, but either way I am still more inclined to blame Distribution thsn lack of interest. Although to be fair, Optimal Optimus did not have thr fandom jumping up and down like Prime and Rodimus did.

Which is pretty crazy considering he was the fan vote.

Bad altmodes aside (which Optimal Optimus has always had) maybe this further highlights the disparity between the fans that vote on these polls and the wishes of the majority of the fan base, that mostly don't have access to them. I know online polls and petitions are "trending" right now, but hypothetically speaking if you had a fan base of 100,000 people and a decision was made based on a vote from 300, it is going to fail more often than not. Specific to Hasbro/Takara limiting their options with confirmation biased poll groups, not democratic voting in general.