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william-james88 wrote:Woah woah woah, skywarp and greenlight are not even close to this. Both those toys had a nice window and they were available for everyone online in northamerica (at least). Those who didn't get them are the ones who were either way too late or the ones that were waiting for a discount due to not wanting to pay the higher prices of a multipsck. I had a solid 2 months to order greenlight when she was available to ship but chose to wait for a discount that never came. That's on me.
With the conehead 2 pack, Amazon NEVER delivered them to many collectors who preordered them, including me.

This is not even close to the same thing.

Skywarp & Greenlight are over $200 on ebay. So they need to be reissued. Obviously, there aren't enough to go around. It doesn't matter if they had a nice window to order. They sold out too fast compared to others like the Barricade/Punch set. What matters right now is anybody who wants one can't get one for a decent price.

We're not talking about Botcon exclusives that were only available at 1 convention on 1 weekend. You are all forgetting 1 little detail. These are specifically called "exclusives". Which means they are exclusive to 1 seller. Nowhere in the description does it say "LIMITED edition". You guys are treating these as limited editions but they are exclusives, there is a big difference. All it says is "AMAZON EXCLUSIVE". Which means they shouldn't be limited or totally under-produced like Botcon attendee exclusives. You are acting like there is some rule saying these can only be sold 1 time for 1 month. There is no such rule. Hasbro can produce as much as they want to fill the demand. Just like they did with Omega Supreme, Jetfire & Scorponok.

I watched a Youtube video recently & the guys at Mattel said that if Target sees the interest, they will keep ordering more (talking about Target's Keldor 2-pack) they are not limited. That's how it should be with all exclusives. When Amazon sold out of Skywarp & Greenlight but people still wanted them, they should have been able to simply order more. Again, these are NOT limited editions, they are only exclusives. So Amazon should be able to continue to order as many as needed.

Hasbro said that the Target Cobra Island GI Joe figures are NOT canceled or out of production. They are still in production. Hasbro specifically said they are still in production. So then why the hell can't Target get any more of Baroness or the 1st wave? It doesn't make any sense.

Skywarp, Greenlight, Dirge/Ramjet, Ratchet/Lifeline & Ironhide/Prowl need to be reissued. Or if they're not out of production, Amazon should be able to continue to order more to fulfill all the pre-orders they took. Any figure that shoots up to over $200 in a month or two needs to be reissued so everybody can get one for a decent price. Same as they did with Omega Supreme, Jetfire & Scorponok. Nobody should have to pay over $200 for a little $20 chunk of plastic.

Stop acting like "exclusive" is the same as "limited edition" because they're not! GI Joe Classified & Cobra Island are not "limited editions" either.

Hasbro said they are going to look into the Dirge/Ramjet situation. If they look into it & decide to make more, that means they can do the same thing with all the others. There is no rule or law that says these can only be produced 1 time, for 1 month & if you miss'em you're **** out of luck. Hasbro can get more out to us if they want to. As they have already proven with Omega Supreme, Jetfire, Scorponok, Earthrise Skywarp/Thundercracker & the Rainmakers.

Dude, exclusives have always been limited regardless of the venue. They don't make the same amount of exclusive items in a production run that they make for mass retail items. The words "exclusive" and "limited" are synonyms.

It's only been recently that Hasbro has ever taken to doing additional production runs of exclusive items, something that was virtually unheard of just a few years ago, and which has largely been done because of the pandemic ruining Hasbro's distribution, so they make more to get around that issue. But, that's not normal for exclusives and defeats the point of them being exclusive.

We're lucky to have gotten additional production runs on any of these limited items. I would have killed to see some older exclusives from years ago get this kind of additional production treatment, but that didn't happen because that's not how exclusives are supposed to be treated. The fact that any of them have gotten rereleased as such is a godsend for those specific ones that have.

You're entitled to your opinion, but every single one you make just reeks of an entitlement that Hasbro, Takara, or anyone else is not obligated to fulfill. Sure, they would absolutely like for you to own their products that your want to buy, but as the old saying goes, your can't always get what your want. Be thankful for the things that you are able to get, even if it there's more out there that eludes you.

There's lots of stuff out there that I've wanted for years and missed out on, but you don't see me making a scene over it in almost every post I make. Life's too short to get so bent out of shape over the distribution failings of little plastic men and women. Sure, it sucks sometimes, but it's not worth crying a river of entitlement over. We all play the same game you do. We all know the nature of the beast. You win some, you lose some. That's just how it goes, and ya gotta role with it. Adaptation is in the name of the brand, even. Transform and transcend.

There's also the simple fact that to do other production runs for these figures, they have reconfigure the production line to accommodate this. They don't simply press print. The Titans were probably reproduced in between shipments of the current Titan being made. Also, less figures produced? What are you talking about? It might have escaped your noticed but there was a global pandemic that messed everything up. Besides that, hasbro/Takara are making more figures then ever before.

Let's look:
G1 Retro Walmart Headmasters reissues
Transformers: Kingdom
Transformers Studio Series (including SS86)
Transformers: Netflix
Transformers Selects
Transformers Shattered Glass
Transformers Cyberverse
Transformers Authentics
Transformers Masterpiece*
Transformers Movie Masterpiece
Transformers Buzzworthy Bumblebee
Transformers BotBots
Transformers Takara Selects*
Transformers Premium Finish*

* = Takara led lines, same factory though. If I've missed any please feel free to add below

ZeroWolf wrote:If I've missed any please feel free to add below

I think just RED.

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:If I've missed any please feel free to add below

I think just RED.

Maybe also the Prime 10th Anniversary releases? I don't think they technically fit into any of the other categories above.

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:If I've missed any please feel free to add below

I think just RED.

I keep forgetting about RED

ZeroWolf wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:If I've missed any please feel free to add below

I think just RED.

I keep forgetting about RED

Don’t worry, everyone else forgets about RED too!

You're missing two HUGE points here:

[list=]
[*]Hasbro does not sell direct through these retailers to us. They do not give a Rattrap's Fender about resale and secondhand marketing as long as it does not hurt their sales with THEIR DIRECT CUSTOMERS, the Retail Stores. See next
[*]The Stores THEMSELVES purchase the stock from Hasbro. THEY set the Supply levels, based on what risk they feel they can take. Its a gamble: how many Sky Lynxes have we seen sitting ar Meijer? Every one of those is $80 that Meijer cannot access. Would you want to have $80,000 you cannot spend? No. So when it comes time for Rodimus Prime, are you going to order that many, because 7 months from now some people who did not get him are going to pay $140 for the toy on EBay? No, because you don't care. You care about recouping your $80 and the guy who scalped all those Rodimus Primes paid you for your product.]
[/list]

Now let'ts take Thrust. Ibthink we can all agree if Target commisioned another run from Hasbro, it would still sell, but where is the cieling? How many people still want a Thrust? 1,000? 10,000? If the Break-Even point for a Voyager is 15,000 units and you can only sell 12,500 you are upside down on 2,500. Whoops! What if your initial run was a lot closer to market capacity though, and your Vocal Demand is only 6K units? Your minimum run is 15,000, So you are going to eat 9,000 figures? Or do a Universe Side Burn where you are literally repainting old stock to resell it?

Hasbro does not care. That's up to Target to decide if they want to throw the dice. And yeah, maybe sometimes Hasbro takes our pleas and goes to Target, or Amaxon, but what they are saying is "We really think if you buy abother run of our figures you will be able to sell them.

Now, I am not saying Scalping is not wrong or should be allowed to run rampant, but I AM saying Business Capitalism is not designed to be merciful. You think this is bad, look at Model Train markets, where EVERYTHING is made based on a preset Pre Order. If you will ever want something, you had best pledge now to buy it. And I fully expect the rest of the economy is heading that way. MTO Automobiles, anyone? Don't laugh, its really *not* that illogical

The pandemic didn't create exclusive retail logistical problems, but it certainly made things worse. It's not just Transformers, but also GI Joe and Star Wars. It's not just Hasbro, it's also Mattel and NECA and Lego. It's not just toys, it's also trading cards and other collectibles. It's not just nerd media, it's also electronics and sneakers and ....

I'm not going to say it doesn't suck. I wish Hasbro and retailers knew exactly how much would sell, and everyone who wanted a toy could get exactly as many toys as they wanted, but that's not how it works. I wish scalpers didn't have as much success at locking out the market using bots and hitting the pavement, but they have.

Hasbro might not care enough to reform the entire retail marketplace, but they're trying to do right by at least some fans through Pulse, which has quantity limits and basic bot detection. I know it's only in a handful of markets, but it's clear with the UK expansion that they want to reach more people. It's not great, but it could definitely be worse.

The fact that it took months for greenlight to sell out from Amazon tells me Hasbro produced as much as they should have.

Also if the argument is that Hasbro should reissue figures that sell a lot on the aftermarket, then they better reissue G1 Bmudgeon before greeight.

AcademyofDrX wrote:The pandemic didn't create exclusive retail logistical problems, but it certainly made things worse. It's not just Transformers, but also GI Joe and Star Wars. It's not just Hasbro, it's also Mattel and NECA and Lego. It's not just toys, it's also trading cards and other collectibles. It's not just nerd media, it's also electronics and sneakers and ....

I'm not going to say it doesn't suck. I wish Hasbro and retailers knew exactly how much would sell, and everyone who wanted a toy could get exactly as many toys as they wanted, but that's not how it works. I wish scalpers didn't have as much success at locking out the market using bots and hitting the pavement, but they have.

Hasbro might not care enough to reform the entire retail marketplace, but they're trying to do right by at least some fans through Pulse, which has quantity limits and basic bot detection. I know it's only in a handful of markets, but it's clear with the UK expansion that they want to reach more people. It's not great, but it could definitely be worse.

Not sure about those other companies being affected, but definitely makes sense.
I'd agree with all of this, and wanted to add that imo it really does say something that Hastak has tried to do some with Pulse to help people out.
If the pandemic really did effect everything as much as we assume, then I also don't blame them for not trying to push more with Pulse-- maybe, just maybe things will get better once we're really clear of the pandemic.

*Edit
I will say that I agree with the thought that Hastak "Knows what's going on".
It's not crazy to think that they have really accurate records on the sales of figures by character... Until we have facts that show otherwise, I wouldn't doubt at all if they adjust the production runs of figures based on this info.
I just don't believe that all voyager class figures (or any figures of any class) are made at the exact same number. And I get why someone would think so; the allotted budget for a certain class has to be close to the same for each figure.
But based on what they've figured out will sell well and what's more risky, with every figure added into the equation, it can be extremely substantial to match production with demand.

Nemesis Reformatted wrote:There is no way in hell that:

#1. Hasbro doesn't know what's going on.

#2. Hasbro can't make a ton more of all the exclusives so everybody can easily buy one & put a stop to scalping.

#3. These figures have to have such a tiny window/time limit.

#4. The only exclusive that has been mentioned so far is the Dirge/Ramjet pack but nobody told Hasbro about Siege Skywarp or Greenlight.

And not only exclusives. I think it's completely ridiculous how titan Scorponok showed up for only about 1 month last year, sold out everywhere & immediately shot up to $200 or $300. Now I've been waiting a full year for more to be restocked. Let that sink in, 1 FULL YEAR! What a load of BS! I didn't pre-order him because I wanted to buy him closer to November or December. But you can no longer choose when you want to make a large purchase like that. Now if you don't pre-order immediately you don't get it. And some Targets had him IN STORES but none in my area, all the Targets near me are tiny stores. I wasted time hoping to find him in a store. Then I learned that none of the stores near me would be carrying it.

This entire situation is F'in ridiculous! I have a Scorponok pre-ordered at BBTS, it says it's due in June. But I can't count on that. I'm expecting June to come & go & Scorponok won't show up. Because that's exactly what happened to my Quintesson Pit Of Judgement at HasbroPulse. They delayed it by 3 months. I won't be surprised if they delay it again.

Hasbro made some horrible changes in the past couple years. Less figures being produced, tiny cases & stores taking more pre-orders than they can fulfill. Hasbro needs to revert back to the way it was. These new changes are absolutely horrible. It's perfectly ok to go back to the old ways when you try out something new & it doesn't work. No shame in that.

Target's exclusive Thrust was packed 2 per case. That nonsense NEEDS TO STOP IMMEDIATELY! Thrust should've been packed at least 8 per case. Those are the kinds of new changes that don't work & need to be corrected immediately.

I don't think they can make it any more difficult to collect this crap. And if you look on Youtube, collectors from all of Hasbro's lines are going nuts. And also NECA collectors. And Master Of The Universe collectors. Mattel, Hasbro & NECA are driving all toy collectors insane. If it gets much worse collectors are going to start murdering each other over this crap. https://www.fox6now.com/news/fight-over-trading-cards-outside-brookfield-target

I've recently learned that toy companies do smaller runs of exclusives to ensure they sell out. If they make more they run the risk of the items sitting on the shelf and not selling, worse they become discounted and the toy company has to reimburse the retailer for the loss. They rather make their sales goals and "Leave money on the table" then take the chance on a loss.

william-james88 wrote:The fact that it took months for greenlight to sell out from Amazon tells me Hasbro produced as much as they should have.

Make me regret not having bought two, keeping one sealed just in case. There's no way to know what Amazon sets will blow up on the aftermarket. The two Siege ones that are still available at Amazon (Sideswipe and that 3 pack with Mirage) that seems to never sell out are proof enough.

I feel like I'm late to this conversation, but there is something to add to this.

There is also the chance that if they reissue, those that wanted the reissue are only a small number, and then the reissued stock has be clearanced off, and kinda loses the point of being reissued.

I believe Battle Unicorn from Beast Machines had this happen? It was very rare, so BBTS got a full reissue of it, and then the stock never sold and it was heavily discounted. Same i think with Alternators Nemesis Prime if I remember that TFWiki article right?

Either way, some reissues do more damage than good.

well it didn't take long for the seeker elite 2 pack to sell out again in like a few hours it seems
what gets me is making exclusives out of figures that shouldn't be exclusives these would sell well at normal retail

Ultra Markus wrote:well it didn't take long for the seeker elite 2 pack to sell out again in like a few hours it seems
what gets me is making exclusives out of figures that shouldn't be exclusives these would sell well at normal retail

Is it sure non exclusives are sure to be more readily available? Is Kingdom Inferno easy to get right now?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Same i think with Alternators Nemesis Prime if I remember that TFWiki article right?

In Hasbro Asian markets and Australia which wasn't as easy to import from back in 2006 as it is now. Definitely not readily available in the US at a good price, I was one of the poor saps back then suffering from Hasbro Toy Shop lagging and freezing and missing out. He's one of five Alternators I don't own (the other four being Camshaft, Swerve, Decepticharger, and Hot Rod).

william-james88 wrote:Is Kingdom Inferno easy to get right now?

Are any Voyagers easy to get right now? I saw Cyclonus, a figure that came out in December/January, for the first time in a store Saturday. I've yet to see a SS86 Scourge at retail. Voyagers in my area seem to sell out nearly as fast as they get stocked (aside from SS Starscream).

The advantage of being a non-exclusive is it opens avenues to get them from. If Scourge was a Target exclusive I would potentially be in trouble resorting to camping Target.com (as I have all of my WfC exclusives), but since he's mass retail I got him from Amazon (eventually), but if that failed maybe I could have gotten him from Walmart.com or BBTS or TFSource or any number of other sites. Mass retail figures are more readily available by default, doesn't matter if you get to take advantage of it or not.

Emerje

TBH, I no longer really care whenever my local shops get stock or not. In this world of online shopping, there's so many online options with either cheap or free shipping even for Canada. Unless it's for some hardcore exclusives like Target's or Pulse's, it's not too bad.

Now if only Japan would relax their normal postage restrictions and we could do some Mandarake shopping without getting screwed over by their "no deal" DHL...

-Kanrabat- wrote:Now if only Japan would relax their normal postage restrictions and we could do some Mandarake shopping without getting screwed over by their "no deal" DHL...

Sure isn't helped by Japan Post now raising rates on EMS "tentatively" (I think/hope they mean temporarily) by a non-insignificant amount starting June 1st. I thought I also read something about Japan raising ground rates to Canada, but can't find that now.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Is Kingdom Inferno easy to get right now?

Are any Voyagers easy to get right now?

Fair point, I don't see many voyagers at retail. I didn't check for the other Kingdom voyagers online, but I know inferno is not currently available anywhere at the moment, which I found interesting.

I have 0 evidence, but I have the feeling that even though Thrust is an exclusive, there was more made of him than the Quintesson judge. You want to talk about a mass release toy not readily available, man that judge was just non existent. And on a similar note, there is no real evidence one way or the other that exclusives of lines like Earthrise, and Siege, are more limited than non exclusives. All I can say is that both a sealed Siege Ratchet (an exclusive) and a sealed Siege Ironhide (a non exclusive) go for about 80$ USD right now on the aftermarket. So one doesnt seem more limited than the other, or else Ratchet would be far more expensive.

I agree in that many stores I go to are mising voyagers (and Leaders as well). But the are starting to trickle in. I see SS Hotrod fairly often. Scourge a handful of times Kingdom Primal often. Cyclonus twice ( and the second time was only because I was at Target when the doors opened hoping to get Rhinox Last week, and turned out to be only more wave 1).

I've seen Dinobot twice but never Inferno. The scalpers or fans that wan him get it quick.

As for ER. I never saw the Quintesson or Megatron at retail. But both are still readily available. BBTS for instance appears to have all the standard retail ER voyagers at basically normal price. They have the Villains 2 pack as well.

The good thing about the current line. Even though Inferno isn't currently in stock anywhere, at least we know there are more coming as sites are still taking pre orders.

I've been recently active on WFC2005 lately. But i'm not gone here

I just purchased Smashdown, aka the Chicago Bulls hammer. Initially i though he was weird but he's fun. One the instructions and most reviewers don't mention from stock footage his arms can wield his handle it as a gun. Hammer looks good on Optimus but the hammer handle it a b***h to get into the slot

The blast effect is cool for Grimlock using Pteraxadon's gun mode. But my favorite image is Smashdown has a fan-made mode a Boombox (basically don't add the handle a and make someone hold it)

I was wondering if Hasbro was going to repaint studio series scourge into Alpha Trion. Then I got tired of waiting so I just went ahead and did it myself. I posted this in customizations but I thought I’d put it over here to since this is a very doable repaint of a figure we wanted for decades.

Considering the cyber verse Alpha Trion I would think they would do this in the near future. I could see it being a generation select figure.

TK415 wrote:I was wondering if Hasbro was going to repaint studio series scourge into Alpha Trion. Then I got tired of waiting so I just went ahead and did it myself. I posted this in customizations but I thought I’d put it over here to since this is a very doable repaint of a figure we wanted for decades.

Considering the cyber verse Alpha Trion I would think they would do this in the near future. I could see it being a generation select figure.

Perfect idea for a Select repaint. And it would have made way more sense to post this into the Select thread than posting it in the ER thread, where this post is DOUBLE off-topic.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

TK415 wrote:I was wondering if Hasbro was going to repaint studio series scourge into Alpha Trion. Then I got tired of waiting so I just went ahead and did it myself. I posted this in customizations but I thought I’d put it over here to since this is a very doable repaint of a figure we wanted for decades.

Considering the cyber verse Alpha Trion I would think they would do this in the near future. I could see it being a generation select figure.

Perfect idea for a Select repaint. And it would have made way more sense to post this into the Select thread than posting it in the ER thread, where this post is DOUBLE off-topic.

I was thinking with the Cyberverse Alpha Trion toy and the main line so G1 they may repaint Scourge into Alpha Trion for the main line. So, not off topic, just a fan made prototype to get a visual representation of a speculation for the main line. Those two forums would be the specific spots but it is also a general idea to consider in a main line forum.

Like the Seacons could have been main line, but were selects, King Posiden definitely makes sense as a selects toy.

I repainted Air Razor as well, but I'm not going to post that here. I have wanted an Alpha Trion toy for decades, and Scourge has the cape/wings, beard, spaceship mode, he works so well. the pic was so we can see how well it works, and isn't off topic in this forum.

Do you think Alpha Trion will get a toy in the near future? New mold or Scourge? Main line or Selects or not at all?