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Don't live near a Toys 'R Us? Not concerned because you've used online retailers like RobotKingdom, Toy Arena or BigBadToyStore to purchase the figures exclusive to the store? It appears you may have to change your shopping habbits.

Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.

Skyfire wrote:Site sponsor Kapow Toys has received word that Toys R Us exclusives will no longer be available at wholesale via China, in a move that is not unexpected Hasbro and Toys R Us have apparently knuckled down on wholesalers no longer allowing them to purchase these items and sell them on to the rest of the world.

The full post can be seen here.

Do not dispair folks, for there are a lot of really nice members of Seibertron.com who often have surplus stock nearby and can get them to you if you need it. Feel free to visit the Carbombya: Buy Sell Trade forum and make a new friend today!

This is bull crap. I'd never have gotten a MP Grimlock without these online retailers getting them too.

Nice one Hasbro you screw over people outside of the US and Canada and thus also screw over yourself.

Very smart move. Guess i won't be getting MP Roddy then /sigh.

I can SORT OF understand the reasoning behind this, but at the same time it's a stupid move on their part. Because now Wholesalers won't buy however many of them they need....giving both TRU and Hasbro a profit, and TRU now has to ensure they put these in stock and on shelves otherwise they won't sell and bring in money. Trust me...this won't end well especially if these go the way of the RTS/Generations figures most of us never saw.

This won't necessarily be too bad if they make sure to stock enough of these exclusives to make finding them easy in stores. I've still never seen a single Animated Arcee since it was supposed to have been launched. I don't know how the cases were divided, but there seems to be Ratchets (still being stocked) but not a single Arcee. This is a little unfortunate for people with no TRU nearby though.

I'm pretty sure this is Toys R Us, NOT Hasbro's doing. Just pointin' blame where blame is due.

Wondering if they're doing this because of price gouging on their exclusives.... Hmmmm.

Megazarak wrote:This won't necessarily be too bad if they make sure to stock enough of these exclusives to make finding them easy in stores. I've still never seen a single Animated Arcee since it was supposed to have been launched. I don't know how the cases were divided, but there seems to be Ratchets (still being stocked) but not a single Arcee. This is a little unfortunate for people with no TRU nearby though.

I've seen quite a few Arcees back when they came out. Even saw 2nd and 3rd shipments. Although it probably helps that I can easily pass by two different TRUs during the week.

Most probably there were others in your area buying up the stock when they saw it. Hopefully a majority were by people who actually wanted it for their own collection. But overall, it seems TRU did a decent job getting this "wave" and the 2nd exclusive "wave" of Rodimus and C. Ratchet (or was it Ironhide?) in. I even saw a restock of Roddy recently.

However, I did have to e-bay my 2nd Animated Arcee once I thought I would get a custom head and plop her in my Classics collection. Thankfully, I only paid a few $ on that bid with shipping versus buying in the store that I previously passed. Still haven't order that custom head...

Well, when we can't find exclusives like MP Roddy, we know who to blame. Dumb move TRU

eBay scalpers rejoice. What a complete buch of dumbasses, it'd be fine if there were TRUs in most parts of the western world and Europe, not just the US and UK. But there aren't, meaning the (already exorbitant) prices I had to pay to get the likes of Animated Arcee / Rodimus / Ratchet alone, will shoot thru the f***ing roof.

necr0blivion wrote:I've seen quite a few Arcees back when they came out. Even saw 2nd and 3rd shipments. Although it probably helps that I can easily pass by two different TRUs during the week.

Most probably there were others in your area buying up the stock when they saw it. Hopefully a majority were by people who actually wanted it for their own collection. But overall, it seems TRU did a decent job getting this "wave" and the 2nd exclusive "wave" of Rodimus and C. Ratchet (or was it Ironhide?) in. I even saw a restock of Roddy recently.

However, I did have to e-bay my 2nd Animated Arcee once I thought I would get a custom head and plop her in my Classics collection. Thankfully, I only paid a few $ on that bid with shipping versus buying in the store that I previously passed. Still haven't order that custom head...

The second wave was actually Rodimus and Ironhide. They stocked this wave incredibly well, as sometimes they would sell out very quickly and replenish in no time. They were easy to find, unlike the first wave, for me at least (maybe being in Canada has something to do with this). I also have 2 TRUs pretty close by and checked them both quite a few times to no avail. Even Ratchet was scarce back when the wave was first released (although oddly he's popping up quite often all of a sudden, maybe I'll be lucky and see an Arcee among them one day). With her ridiculous prices online, it doesn't really seem viable to purchase her through there.

As for MP Rodimus, as long as he's stocked properly there shouldn't be a problem. With MP Grimlock, of the 2 TRUs nearby, one of them had them constantly sold out, while the other had something like 12 of them in stock (during a 40% off sale no less) and continued to have a good number of them for a few weeks. Maybe it has to do with the location I guess. It would be nice if all the TRU's were consistent.

Yeah, mine generally stays the OPPOSITE of consistent... whatever that is.

Scalpers rejoice my butt. TRU employees rejoice. TRU is the worst place to get collectors items. The employees buy everything off the truck and have it on ebay before the damn stores even open.

Well, isn't this lovely?

I actually live (realatively) near a store and I still don't like using them. Getting my Grimlock was an adventure odyssey I prayed I'd never have to repeat because their website is general **** compared to what they actually carry in-store, only surpassed in awfulness by actually calling the damn store and trying to get some useful information. Because you know they're only going to stock like 3 for the season.

You may want to take note that only Kapow Toys are noted. I usually go straight to TRU for their exclusives, provided I want them to begin with, instead of online retailers. I'm still curious if further word is mentioned regarding the other online retailers.

gambit020480 wrote:Scalpers rejoice my butt. TRU employees rejoice. TRU is the worst place to get collectors items. The employees buy everything off the truck and have it on ebay before the damn stores even open.

Maybe where you live, but not here. In fact the employees and managers know all the TF collectors by sight, if not by name. Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.

Midnight_Fox wrote:Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.

ZOMG.

gothsaurus wrote:

Midnight_Fox wrote:Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.

ZOMG.

Yeah, it's awesome when you get there first thing on the days they get their shipments. The fun thing about living in the Springs is that I've managed to grab everything(that isn't OOP)I've wanted for retail or less(that to Craigslist or Ross/similar).

@gambit020480: Then you swoop in and scalp what's left. Where do you live? I need to make sure my wife never puts in for a base there.

And this was affecting their stockholders, how?

They can't honestly think that price gouging or low stock of the exclusives is hurting their reputation?! Most of the time the TRU exclusives (y'know, Masterpiece) are meant to pander to adult collectors anyway! Some people are just friggin ignorant.

gambit020480 wrote:*snipped*

Depends on if the manager cracks down or not, usually not, thus why scalpers are typically a problem where ever you go. Another possibility is that the employees are too dumb and oblivious to know about the gold mine sitting underneath them. The final and least likely possibility is that the employees are nice people, but it happens, just not where I live.

and people still wonder why i hate TRU, hasbro & exclusives as much as i do

Does anyone know the release date of the TRU MP Roddy? Over here the only thing I gotta worry about is the Comic store owner trying to buy them all out. The employees don't seem to care enough over here to try and buy this stuff up. It's one of the very few perks to living in this redneck state. Plus, the guy I'm always talking about only goes on Saturdays to the store- too lazy to get up during the week- which gives me time to beat him there.....

Mkall wrote:

Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.

just as an FYI, skyfire is red leader (he changed his FMH name) who is (as far as I am aware) andy of kapow toys.

headsortails wrote:Does anyone know the release date of the TRU MP Roddy? Over here the only thing I gotta worry about is the Comic store owner trying to buy them all out. The employees don't seem to care enough over here to try and buy this stuff up. It's one of the very few perks to living in this redneck state. Plus, the guy I'm always talking about only goes on Saturdays to the store- too lazy to get up during the week- which gives me time to beat him there.....

From BotCon pictures, July 2011 for $49.99; what may help you is to know that TRU restocks on Tuesday/Wednesday (at least in this area). So you have a few days before your competitor makes his way out. Well, at least THAT competitor...

ArmadaPrime wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.

just as an FYI, skyfire is red leader (he changed his FMH name) who is (as far as I am aware) andy of kapow toys.

Is he? Good to know for the future. Thanks

if that is the case maybe they can have a limit of one per person per day/week idk if they have to come back 4-5 times a week to get an exclusive theyll be more for the rest of us. personally im getting this for my nephew as he loves his titanium rodimus.

Mkall wrote:

ArmadaPrime wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.

just as an FYI, skyfire is red leader (he changed his FMH name) who is (as far as I am aware) andy of kapow toys.

Is he? Good to know for the future. Thanks

i could be mistaken, of course.
but i dont think i am.