The Energon Pub

I'M ANGRY! SO ANGRY!

...Figuratively speaking, of course.

I'm Canadian. Québécois to be exact. And I don't know why, but all the stores EXCLUSIVES just stay in the USA.

At TrU, there's NO MP Rodimus, NO scan series, NO blind-bag Ponies gift set.
We don't have Target over here. I heard Zellers is the equivalent. Still, NO RotF repaints for the exclusive DotM set.

Amazon.com dont ship to Canada. I have to go to Amazon.ca AND STILL NO UNICRON.

Beside, even if collectors like to have a rare figure, it make the toys artificially rare and the scalpers take them all anyway. So I have no choices, but to pay inflated prices on Ebay.

Jeez, I had to buy MP Rodimus for 90$ with shipping. That's 20$ extra if I could have bought it locally. As for the Scan Series, I have to pay DOUBLE the regular price if I count shipping. And don't get me starter on that goddamn Unicron.


The new MP-10 Optimus Prime is coming out. Of course, it the super über expensive Trailer Edition from Japan. Hasbro WILL release it relatively soon. Mark my words, it will again be a damn (that store) EXCLUSIVE and non-Americans will never EVER be hable to buy it locally at a reasonable price.

At least, DotM Deluxe Optimus Prime is aplenty at my local Walmart and I did saw MP Skywarp too when I wasn't collecting. (Missed him...) If MP-10 come over here as a damn exclusive, make it Walmart's. At least, THEY make an effort to have them in Canada.

So, any non-Americans out there who find the Exclusives totally UNFAIR?
Jeez, I bet even some Americans feel the same way....

Amazon will ship Unicron to select countries. Burn got his shipped to Australia for $10 so they will probably ship to Canada. However, it is believed that Unicron will be coming to Costco in Canada.

There is also good news on the Target front. They are going to convert many Zellers into Targets soon. Although it sucks to have to pay so much for MP Rodimus and the scan series.

Probably a bad time to mention that TRU Australia had Rodimus and the scan series ...

And LC said, I did get Unicron sent out (and I still can't believe it only cost me $10 and arrived in two weeks) but that's because we don't have a dedicated Australian Amazon store (yet). Will Amazon US not ship to countries that have their own dedicated Amazone store?

I don't blame it on Canada. I blame it on you being a Quebecois.

Valandar wrote:I don't blame it on Canada. I blame it on you being a Quebecois.

The saddest thing is it's true. They are too lazy to put the required french translations so we get screwed...
But I really wonder why...

TO ANY AMERICANS OUT THERE: TAKE ONE OF YOUR AMERICAN BOX, LOOK AT THE BACK, AND SEEK OUT THE ®HASBRO. It was made in china, of course, but WHERE WAS THE TOY PACKAGED? Go on, I'll be waiting.

Prepare to **** bricks.

dude, you get stuck like that again, let me know
i've seen plenty of on shelf MPs to grab a spare
no need to bug out

I'm not really bothered by exclusives. Sometimes it's fun to get a toy that's not easy to get a hold of. The chase is better then the catch and so on.

Honestly it's the Japanese ones that irk me the most. I want most of them. Obtaining most of them is often difficult and I only have two kidneys.

Burn wrote:Honestly it's the Japanese ones that irk me the most. I want most of them. Obtaining most of them is often difficult and I only have two kidneys.

You also have skin, blood and hair. You're a walking investment to yourself!

sometimes you just have to get lucky with the takara toys. i try to go to chinatown(san francisco) atleast once a month. a couple years ago i was able to get takara reissue fortress maximus for 50 bucks! check out any small(asian) markets around your area that imports japanese toys.....you might get lucky

Burn wrote:Honestly it's the Japanese ones that irk me the most. I want most of them. Obtaining most of them is often difficult and I only have two kidneys.

Pfft! You don't need both to survive. Just ask my girlfriend. I'm equal parts joking/serious.

Oh yeah, don't bug out about exclusives. Makes friends, put yourself out there, create a network for yourself. Are you on a social networking site like facebook? Use it. Most of all, be cool (Counterpunch's advice). People usually don't have any issues helping their friends out. I don't, I try to help out my buds whenever I possibly can. It isn't incredibly often that I can help (or that they need it) but I do when it's possible. If you are able to attend Botcon, TFCon or any other specific shows like them, do it. Talk to folks, exchange contact info. It is the easiest way to create the kind of network you'll be wanting. You'll be making new friends as well with similar interests. I try to stress this part constantly.

Flux Convoy wrote:

Burn wrote:Honestly it's the Japanese ones that irk me the most. I want most of them. Obtaining most of them is often difficult and I only have two kidneys.

Pfft! You don't need both to survive. Just ask my girlfriend. I'm equal parts joking/serious.

My father was only born with one, and he's done alright for 69 years. Though we joke that he only had me and my sister for spares.

Burn wrote:Will Amazon US not ship to countries that have their own dedicated Amazone store?

They will. I just ordered Unicron from Amazon.com and Im in the UK and we have a .co.uk store. Shipping and handling £11.52 and import fees £10.33. Cant complain.

My first world problem #1 that I keep ranting about recently? poopy toy distribution.
Mainly, THAT EXCLUSIVE BULLSHIT!

/Start rant/
I'm Canadian. I dont give a **** about stupid repaints like Botcon's. But every **** Masterpiece or special editions must be bought through Ebay scalpers because they keep being "Store X Exclusives". Even if these exclusives get a Canadian release, they don't come in Québec because there's no French on the box, which russtle my government's jimmies.

Then, at a later date, I read on forums that "that X Exclusive is shelfwarming all over the place at clearance prices and nobody buy!". Well, HOW ABOUT YOU DISTRIBUTE THEM IN EVERY STORES IN ALL THE PROVINCES, STATES, AND COUNTRIES WHERE YOU WONT RELEASE THEM? Maybe these shelfwarmers will all be sold at full price instead of below the cost?

SCREW EXCLUSIVES.

Picture related is a miracle haul I got at a lost toy clearance shop on a freeway border. They are the only one that have HA Leadfoot in Québec. I know he's worth jack-shit but I was overexited at 18.50$ total for each. They still have 30-40 of those. How they came in Québec? Just a easely removeble sticker that say "Chocking Hazard, 3yo+". THAT'S IT! So why TrU are too lazy to do this?
Sigh...

MP-10, look like I'll have to get you on Ebay and pay 50$ extra...
/end rant/

Again, I live in Asia. There are no Targets, Wallmarts or any of that. Thankfully, TRU imports everything, so we got MP Skywarp too.

The downside is deluxes costs $22 at retail here.

Just ask someone in the US to get help your out with them, that way it'll cost you retail + shipping + maybe a little extra for his/ her time.

gavinfuzzy wrote:Again, I live in Asia. There are no Targets, Wallmarts or any of that. Thankfully, TRU imports everything, so we got MP Skywarp too.

The downside is deluxes costs $22 at retail here.

At least TrU allow you to buy anything online. I don't know if they have change their fearful policies, but TrU would net sell anything in Québec that have no French on the packaging... EVEN ONLINE!!!

Jesus.

Well, even with your 5$ extra for deluxe, you have a (hopefully) better access to all these Asian exclusives an the Takara/Tommy premium stuff.

Dead Metal wrote:Just ask someone in the US to get help your out with them, that way it'll cost you retail + shipping + maybe a little extra for his/ her time.

When the time is right, I will create a thread or something to ask a fellow American or Canadian Seibertronian to help me out. Someone trustworthy, of course.

Still, I find it completely retarded to have to rely on that. Store exclusives should not exist at all and onlu one type of packaging should exist for each continents.

Why not having a Japanese-Chinese-Korean-English packaging for Asia, a over 9000 languages for Europe, a English-French-Spanish-Portugese for the Americas?

Why such a simple thing so hard and complicated to do? A little less adds for "also available" should not hurt.

Ravage XK wrote:

Burn wrote:Will Amazon US not ship to countries that have their own dedicated Amazone store?

They will. I just ordered Unicron from Amazon.com and Im in the UK and we have a .co.uk store. Shipping and handling £11.52 and import fees £10.33. Cant complain.

I've tried several times to order stuff from Amazon.com (not all of it was TF related either). Whether I was trying to order from Amazon themselves or from one of their sellers, EVERY time I've tried to place my order I got the obligatory 'error' message.

Anyway, I think the obvious solution would be to just move.

Suck it up. Seriously, I'm not trying to be rude or anything but going off against a system that can't change wil not change anything. As a fellow Canadian (Victoria-based) I have a further handicap that I'm nowhere near any retail outlet for 3 weeks straight, meaning that if something exclusive does come, it's picked over by scalpers before I get back.

Accept the fact that up here, moreso than the States, you have to pay to play. There's a lot of good online stores, some are even Canadian based such as Automaton Toys who will do most of the importing for you and S/H costs less than many of the stores in the states. Myself, I've never used them, but I've ehard good things about them.

There's a lot of people on this board who are willing to help you out. People have connections when they are in a bind. Sure you have to pay a little more, but as I said before, you must pay to play.

tl;dr - Ranting won't help you, but there are people who will.

Mkall wrote:There's a lot of good online stores, some are even Canadian based such as Automaton Toys who will do most of the importing for you and S/H costs less than many of the stores in the states.

DAT LINK

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Mkall wrote:There's a lot of good online stores, some are even Canadian based such as Automaton Toys who will do most of the importing for you and S/H costs less than many of the stores in the states.

DAT LINK

It's what I do.

Step 1: Realize reality for someone
Step 2: Offer rational advice based on reality
Step 3: Recieve free toys in gratitude

Right???

Seriously though, you're welcome.

Just to put things in perspective, you are complaining about a few store exclusives. Well most of the time we don't even get the regular lines down here (Mexico).

Generations, Reveal the Shield were completely absent, as were most of the later waves of the Movie figures.

We've just started getting the R.I.D figs down here.

So basically down here Its all online, and about 30 bucks shipping just to start.

Mkall wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Mkall wrote:There's a lot of good online stores, some are even Canadian based such as Automaton Toys who will do most of the importing for you and S/H costs less than many of the stores in the states.

DAT LINK

It's what I do.

Step 1: Realize reality for someone
Step 2: Offer rational advice based on reality
Step 3: Recieve free toys in gratitude

Right???

Seriously though, you're welcome.

Just being able to buy that 3rd party Megatron without having it raped by a orange cap is enough.
Oh, and Terrorcon Cliffjumper. Don't mind if I do.

Oh, and when the Hasbro MP-10 come out, I WILL ask a fellow Canadian Seibertronian to middle-man me one.

I feel your pain amigo. Sometime (more often than not), exclusives are a pain in the el burro!

Especially with the likes of henkei Skywarp (thank god for Hasbro TT and Thrust) but you get my drift?

As for the rest, well no choice but to live with the pain.........and the lack of funds.

Most often than not, I'll have to limit my purchases on G1 figs(the real vintage blocky ones and not the modern recolors) save me a lot of heartache.

As for the MP series, TomyTakara all the way.............though at present, still on the fence with Rodimus Convoy(btw, got the MP-10 already)and Starscream part trois is looking mighty tempting!