Jeddostotle7 wrote:TF-fan kev777 wrote:sol magnus wrote:When I posted on here I was going to pick up a Grapple, when I got to the store I totally intended to get him. However, there were only two Starscreams and like 5 Grapples. There was a bit of a debate about how many and what mix of figures in a Voyager case, but it turns out it's two - one of each.
That is actually incorrect according to the Target employee that got me my Starscream and Grapple from the back and Entertainment Earth's case listing. The wave 1 cases are 2x Grapple and 1x Starscream which matches up will with what you saw in store and any time I've seen them.
Yep, we've known for a bit that for Earthrise they changed the Voyager case size from two figures to three.
Okay. Fair enough, but that actually makes Grapple seem a bit better. Especially since you can't find any that aren't at Best Buy.
So, I went to 4(!) Walmarts today looking for the Netflix Voyagers and Leader. Came up with nothing. However, there were observations. Two of the Walmarts I went to had shelves for all the price points. The other two only were carrying the Voyagers. There was no shelf space for Ultra Magnus. Of course, there were none to be found, and so I've come to some other conclusions.
The first and foremost conclusion is that whatever Hasbro intends in terms of audience for Generations toys to be, the true audience is G1 fans - I DON'T BELIEVE FOR ONE SECOND A BUNCH OF PARENTS BOUGHT OUT ALL THOSE NETFLIXFORMERS FOR LITTLE KIDS AT HOME. NOT FOR A SECOND.
I've long disbelieved the theory that moms with little kids are the primary people buying Generations toys, especially when shelves are awash with Cyberverse toys, which these supposed little kids would actually have a context for. If I wanted an entire collection of Cyberverse figures, I could have bought evcey single one of them today. We can have this argument in full later.
Secondly, we're living in the age of scalpers. I don't believe likewise to the kid thing, that it's Transformers fans running up in droves to buy out the entire selection of Netflix Transformers for their own collections. Not everyone is us - who participate in forums, go to conventions, basically live to collect Transfomers. They're a lot more...casual.
So what does that leave? The neckbeard, who has to have his AND yours, so he can sell it on ebay or trade it on some 4chan forum - or worse yet, sit on it for a year then return it to Walmart to trade for whatever's next. The armpit of collectors, who open figures to put in ones that don't match the box, sometimes don't even match the brand. And with the COVID-19 situation, it's every man for himself. If I want a Megatron, I can get it today on ebay fo a 20 dollar markup. But hey, capitalism right? Now this neckbeard business isn't the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last. But I do think we need to stop pretending it's 7-10year olds (or their parents) buying these toys.