The Energon Pub

[kurthy]

no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

[william-james88]

no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Dammit, you saw right through me.

Whats sad though is that you have more options in the US (if you start counting Krogers and Walgreens) so i think its more in relation to inventory management which is easier in a smaller population

[kurthy]

no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Dammit, you saw right through me.

Whats sad though is that you have more options in the US (if you start counting Krogers and Walgreens) so i think its more in relation to inventory management which is easier in a smaller population

Walgreens only stocks deluxe and cyberverse. Anything more than $20 l, they don't touch. I have no Kroger's or Ollie's near me, so I can't speak to them. Walmart and Target are pretty happy with empty shelf spots leading into Black Friday.

[Skritz]

Well, if we end up with rows upon rows of shelf-warming Optimal Optimus then I'm sure customizers who want a Primal Prime will be happy.

[Zeedust]

Unfortunately only Hasbro knows when on the 13th the SDCC exclusives will be made available, and they aren’t telling. Last year at Hascon, they just featured TR Grotusque at a panel that Friday morning and basically said “Go get him now on HTS!” with no warning, and it was sold out in short order.

Good thing the Throne set is getting s general release by Takara later. Hopefully there'll be enough to go around once that happens.

[Rodimus Prime]

I was never over the moon about OpOp or even the Thrones version. If I see it in stores, I'll pick it up just for my Prime collection. I'm still hunting for the deluxes and voyagers I missed out on.

[mordhelm]

Most Kroger stores will stock master through deluxe for Generations. Studio series seems to get both deluxe and voyager. From the 10ish I have been to.

[ScottyP]

no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Target will probably stock it during the holiday season.

[RiddlerJ]

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

[kurthy]

no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Target will probably stock it during the holiday season.

My local targets usually don't stock leaders between September and December. When they do, it's the first wave of a new line. The last time I saw a leader in the fall was AOE Grimlock (and that kept shelf warming for another 6 months after).

[Sabrblade]

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

[steve2275]

I like that armor look

[o.supreme]

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

I do...for a great many things...

But all that aside, I guess one good thing perhaps about this *brand unification* is that seemingly (although it could just be coincidence) when it comes time for the factory to manufacture the toys for Takara, Hasbro can put in an order for more volume since the toys are the same. I believe this is why we have seen a resurgence of wave 2 since its initial run was so sparse (perhaps why Hasbro was able to respond to a request form fans, whereas in times past they were not able to).

Like I said it could be coincidence, but the dates of Takara releases, and the return of Wave 2 to U.S. store shelves just seems to match up. The End of August seems to be the release date of Optimal Optimus in Japan, though he has yet to show up anywhere in the U.S. IIRC. Perhaps we will start seeing him sooner than later if that is the case.

[william-james88]

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

But siege is awesone, i wish it could come out sooner

[Lunatic Prime]

Does anybody customize their Prime Masters?

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I plan on customizing mine, painting all the details and such, I just haven't got to it yet.

I hear you saying there will be a Wave 4. But, if we're honest with ourselves, we all know that no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4. Too much glut from Wave 1 or 2 will be clogging shelves. Or they'll be waiting for Siege to come out.

What glut? The only glut I've seen with Power of the Primes has been Skullgrin/Dauros with the Liege Maximo Prime Master., and Skrapnel for a while (but even he's managed to shift more than Maximo), with the shelves and pegs picked nearly or entirely clean of every other POTP product in every size class - aside from the Studio Series, the Transformers sections were looking like ghost towns for a while! And now that the Wave 2 restock has finally hit, it seems to be selling at a decent rate.

[o.supreme]

^ It really does vary form store to store. In my area alone some walmarts and targets are getting wave 2 now, and it is selling well. Others as you say are "Ghost Towns" -especially the bigger walmart near me, had a ton of SS, which is managing to sell well somehow, virtually no PotP on the pegs, I don't know what in the world they are waiting for (it would be a perfect time to get wave 3 there...), and another one, that got like 2 cases of wave 1 deluxe a month ago, yeah that is going to sit for a long...long time.

Other than Inferno, I have seen no wave 3 in my area, had to get my Prime Masters and Terrorcons from BBTS.

[william-james88]

^ It really does vary form store to store. In my area alone some walmarts and targets are getting wave 2 now, and it is selling well. Others as you say are "Ghost Towns" -especially the bigger walmart near me, had a ton of SS, which is managing to sell well somehow, virtually no PotP on the pegs, I don't know what in the world they are waiting for (it would be a perfect time to get wave 3 there...), and another one, that got like 2 cases of wave 1 deluxe a month ago, yeah that is going to sit for a long...long time.

Other than Inferno, I have seen no wave 3 in my area, had to get my Prime Masters and Terrorcons from BBTS.

The wave 1 dinos sell quite well though, every where i go, especially with the wave 2 dinos also being on the shelves.

[o.supreme]

I think if any go, it probably will be the Dinobots, but they all seem to not be moving at that one store. What's odd though, is that there are a couple stores, where a single PotP deluxe will sit, and sit, and sit...and nobody will by it. I've seen a single, lonely Swoop, Dreadwind, and Rippersnapper sit at 3 different stores for weeks on-end...nothing comes, nothing goes...it's kind of sad. I'm hoping that one store keeps them until they go on clearance though. I could use another swoop at 7 or 8 dollars to replace the one I have now that has a broken foot.

All this talk of "what stores have what" has me motivated to make a YouTube video, or even just take some pics...Of course it would require a whole day to devote to such a project, and blocking out a whole day isn't something I really can do at the moment.

[Dr. Caelus]

Now I'm no toy engineer but I think POTP could have made good use of the pre-existing engineering of CW and TR to deliver the Thirteen Primes as actual figures while minimizing the engineering cost. Now granted this would have made such an alternate POTP a very, very different line.

If we can imagine for a moment...

On the subject of what-could-have-beens for the Thirteen...

Having so many of them be deluxes would have been a big disappointment to me, not even considering the bad paint jobs. I think I'm glad we didn't get those - at least with most of them unmade that improves the odds of it happening at some point.

And it's a shame, because a true Power of the Primes line would have been pretty great, even if it used a lot of retools and redecos.

SCOUT/Minicon Sets
=> Skyfall from Combiner Wars Powerglide
=> Megatronus's Requiem Blaster from Combiner Wars Shockwave.
=> Prima's Star Saber from Armada Star Saber minicons, recolored blue.
=> Nexus's Omni Saber from Energon Star Saber minicons, recolored black.
=> Solus's hammer from a new set of minicons.

DELUXE
=> Nexus Prime Limbs - seven options to choose from, because Nexus Prime should have lots of combinations!
==> Clocker from Combiner Wars Breakdown
==> Mainspring from Combiner Wars Trailbreaker recolored blue/red
==> Pinion from Combiner Wars Swindle recolored blue/red
==> Chaindrive from Combiner Wars Nosecone recolored blue/red
==> Landquake from Combiner Wars Brawl recolored red/blue
==> Breakaway from Combiner Wars Air-Raid recolored red/blue
==> Topspin from Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo recolored red/blue
=> Various 'lesser' Primes
==> Nova Prime from Energon Rodimus
==> Zeta Prime from Reveal the Shield Scourge
==> Sentinel Prime from Combiner Wars Rook recolored orange and blue (homaging both IDW and Animated)

VOYAGER
=> Heatwave/Cannonspring from Combiner Wars Onslaught recolored blue, with Victorion's sword as the Cyber Caliber
=> Solus Prime from combiner Wars Pyra Magna, retooled with a crane instead of a ladder
=> Onyx Prime from a Heavy retool of Animorphs Visser 3
=> Amalgamous Prime from Robots In Disguise 1.0 Galvatron (with a new head)
=> Alchemist Prime from a heavy retool of Age of Extinction Hound
=> Liege Maximo from a retool of ...??? I'll admit, he's so distinctive he's hard to fit.
=> The Last Autobot from a recolor of Cybertron Vector Prime

Leader
=> Prima from a pretool of Rodimus Prime, recolored in gold (homage to G1 Primus, pre-Cybertron)
=> Megatronus Prime from a retool of Age of Extinction Megatron
=> Rodimus Prime (same as Power of the Primes)
=> The Fallen from a recolor of Megatronus Prime

'Platinum Edition' store exclusives with improved paint apps
Titans Return Alpha Trion => Alpha Trion
Cybertron Vector Prime & Safeguard with => Vector Prime & Micronus Prime

[Wolfman Jake]

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

But siege is awesone, i wish it could come out sooner

Siege does look pretty great, but honestly, I would have been fine with one more calendar year of Prime Wars. Two more complete waves of Titans Return and two more (at least) of Power of the Primes would have made a world of difference. Siege, in all honesty, could have waited another year. Starting off a brand new trilogy in 2020 has a nice ring to it too. I'm not sure why Hasbro was so hot and heavy to get War for Cybertron started so soon. They could have let Prime Wars run its natural course, made that much more money on ideas they already had ready to go, and then start with their brand new stuff, and they'd be almost a year ahead of where they are now in terms of R&D.

[ZeroWolf]

I can't claim to know any more than you do about why the line was shortened but it probably had something to do with money, and maybe the timing of cyberverse. Also why not directly connected, the fact that we're getting a new IDW continuity in 2019 has worked well as I can see the new creative team jumping off Siege.

[Munkky]

I'm not sure why Hasbro was so hot and heavy to get War for Cybertron started so soon. They could have let Prime Wars run its natural course, made that much more money on ideas they already had ready to go, and then start with their brand new stuff, and they'd be almost a year ahead of where they are now in terms of R&D.

I can't claim to know any more than you do about why the line was shortened but it probably had something to do with money, and maybe the timing of cyberverse. Also why not directly connected, the fact that we're getting a new IDW continuity in 2019 has worked well as I can see the new creative team jumping off Siege.

I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion that the higher ups at Hasbro ordered a back-to-basics fresh start for 2019 after The Last Knight bombed, so Power of the Primes was cut short as a result of that, and we're only still getting Cyberverse and the Bumblebee movie because they were both too far along in production to cancel without Hasbro losing even more money. Of course I have no way of proving this, it's only wild speculation.

[bodrock]

As much as I am sad that PotP will be ending soon, the Prime Wars Trilogy brought me back to full-on toy collecting....and introduced me to toyphotography. :p

Thanks to my sis, I received the Throne of Primes -- and Optimal looks fantastic.

IMG_4795.JPG

IMG_4798.JPG

And as bad as distro has been, I was happy to track down Bludgeon and the Prime Masters. Megatronus has been especially fun, same with Vector Prime.

IMG_4718.JPG

The only bots left on my list now are Novastar and Punch....

I'm not as excited for Siege, but I certainly need Cog and dem Micromasters!

[ZeroWolf]

Love those shots bod! Shame the scale is so off in bw megs vs g1 megs

@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?