The Energon Pub

Don't forget that Hasbro didn't set out to make an all new Cosmos figure, he and Override were supposed to be simple retools of other figures. That's pretty common with exclusives. The increased desirability came from Takara Tomy showing Hasbro they can make an all new mold of both at the same cost as a retool. The problem was that Hasbro tried to sell Walmart on how important this was, but Walmart and Walmart alone made the decision to short pack it, Hasbro didn't expect that. But since it's an exclusive Hasbro is at the mercy of Walmart to make it right, there's absolutely nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Don't forget that Hasbro didn't set out to make an all new Cosmos figure, he and Override were supposed to be simple retools of other figures. That's pretty common with exclusives. The increased desirability came from Takara Tomy showing Hasbro they can make an all new mold of both at the same cost as a retool. The problem was that Hasbro tried to sell Walmart on how important this was, but Walmart and Walmart alone made the decision to short pack it, Hasbro didn't expect that. But since it's an exclusive Hasbro is at the mercy of Walmart to make it right, there's absolutely nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Emerje

I didn't know that about the case packing/assortments...
Very interesting and thanks for that insight.
So Walmart is the party that chose to have Cosmos short-packed...
You have to wonder if that's due to his alt mode not being a car or truck, but being in a line based on a race...

Sowndwave76 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Don't forget that Hasbro didn't set out to make an all new Cosmos figure, he and Override were supposed to be simple retools of other figures. That's pretty common with exclusives. The increased desirability came from Takara Tomy showing Hasbro they can make an all new mold of both at the same cost as a retool. The problem was that Hasbro tried to sell Walmart on how important this was, but Walmart and Walmart alone made the decision to short pack it, Hasbro didn't expect that. But since it's an exclusive Hasbro is at the mercy of Walmart to make it right, there's absolutely nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Emerje

I didn't know that about the case packing/assortments...
Very interesting and thanks for that insight.
So Walmart is the party that chose to have Cosmos short-packed...
You have to wonder if that's due to his alt mode not being a car or truck, but being in a line based on a race...

Yes, I am 100% certain this is alt mode based. Walmart is still operating under the assumption that the target audience is kids/parents and thus favour standard vrhicle alt modes, especially since these particular toys would be sold in alt mode. That could explain why Cosmos was mot chosen by Walmart to be repacked in wave 2.

He also suffers the double whammy of just being the flag waver in the story, not nearly as interesting as being a racer in Walmart's eyes I'm sure.

Emerje

The things I do for free postage...Road Rockets on the way, hopefully they do the other G2 bike at some point at the very least but it will be a nice odd duck to have with my other modern G2 stuff.

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Don't forget that Hasbro didn't set out to make an all new Cosmos figure, he and Override were supposed to be simple retools of other figures. That's pretty common with exclusives. The increased desirability came from Takara Tomy showing Hasbro they can make an all new mold of both at the same cost as a retool. The problem was that Hasbro tried to sell Walmart on how important this was, but Walmart and Walmart alone made the decision to short pack it, Hasbro didn't expect that. But since it's an exclusive Hasbro is at the mercy of Walmart to make it right, there's absolutely nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Emerje

I didn't know that about the case packing/assortments...
Very interesting and thanks for that insight.
So Walmart is the party that chose to have Cosmos short-packed...
You have to wonder if that's due to his alt mode not being a car or truck, but being in a line based on a race...

Yes, I am 100% certain this is alt mode based. Walmart is still operating under the assumption that the target audience is kids/parents and thus favour standard vrhicle alt modes, especially since these particular toys would be sold in alt mode. That could explain why Cosmos was mot chosen by Walmart to be repacked in wave 2.

That makes it all the more bewildering. I've been checking Walmart's website every few hours (it feels like). And to this day, I do not recall ever seeing Velocitron Cosmos on their site - at all. Behold! https://www.walmart.com/search?q=velocitron

Even "Galaxy Shuttle" is there - listed "out of stock" yes, but it's still there. But Cosmos is plain non-existent. If Walmart is supposed to have Cosmos as one of these exclusives, and if it's purely 'their decision' regarding how he's stocked, then why isn't he anywhere on their website? They could at least post him, and show 'out of stock' like Galaxy Shuttle - just to let us KNOW he's part of their online selection. It's like they decided they weren't going to list him online with the others. Making finding him truly a matter of dumb luck catching one on the shelf.

Because Lord knows, he's never in stock on Hasbro Pulse...

DeathReviews wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:

Emerje wrote:Don't forget that Hasbro didn't set out to make an all new Cosmos figure, he and Override were supposed to be simple retools of other figures. That's pretty common with exclusives. The increased desirability came from Takara Tomy showing Hasbro they can make an all new mold of both at the same cost as a retool. The problem was that Hasbro tried to sell Walmart on how important this was, but Walmart and Walmart alone made the decision to short pack it, Hasbro didn't expect that. But since it's an exclusive Hasbro is at the mercy of Walmart to make it right, there's absolutely nothing Hasbro can do about it.

Emerje

I didn't know that about the case packing/assortments...
Very interesting and thanks for that insight.
So Walmart is the party that chose to have Cosmos short-packed...
You have to wonder if that's due to his alt mode not being a car or truck, but being in a line based on a race...

Yes, I am 100% certain this is alt mode based. Walmart is still operating under the assumption that the target audience is kids/parents and thus favour standard vrhicle alt modes, especially since these particular toys would be sold in alt mode. That could explain why Cosmos was mot chosen by Walmart to be repacked in wave 2.

That makes it all the more bewildering. I've been checking Walmart's website every few hours (it feels like). And to this day, I do not recall ever seeing Velocitron Cosmos on their site - at all. Behold! https://www.walmart.com/search?q=velocitron

Even "Galaxy Shuttle" is there - listed "out of stock" yes, but it's still there. But Cosmos is plain non-existent. If Walmart is supposed to have Cosmos as one of these exclusives, and if it's purely 'their decision' regarding how he's stocked, then why isn't he anywhere on their website? They could at least post him, and show 'out of stock' like Galaxy Shuttle - just to let us KNOW he's part of their online selection. It's like they decided they weren't going to list him online with the others. Making finding him truly a matter of dumb luck catching one on the shelf.

Because Lord knows, he's never in stock on Hasbro Pulse...

He was originally listed, people here ordered him. The thing is since he is packed with a bunch of other figures they were never going to restock him unless the others sold out, but they didn't (and they won't with the price jacked up to $37) so they removed the listing. If the others had sold they probably would have delisted them too. Galaxy Shuttle on the other hand is in a solid case, he isn't dependent on other figures to be restocked and likely will be.

They could have ordered a solid case of Cosmos if they wanted to, but as Will pointed out they didn't have enough confidence in him to repack him for wave 2 so that was never going to happen.

Emerje

This greediocy makes me wish "justified arson" was a thing. </hyperbole>
If they're not going to restock Cosmos, they should relinquish the mold rights instead of just uselessly sitting on them.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:If they're not going to restock Cosmos, they should relinquish the mold rights instead of just uselessly sitting on them.

Even though giving up the exclusivity rights probably isn’t possible (not that you meant it is),
this just sounds good, and justified…
I get we’re talking about one toy, but relatively speaking, this situation is extremely annoying and frustrating.
And I have a copy!!

Even as an exclusive, this figure shouldn’t be this difficult for people— who are willing to search and do extra legwork to have—to get ahold of.

Zelda, I have rarely agreed with your posts about contacting Hastak to get certain changes made to different figures. Mainly because those were heavily opinion-based.
But this Cosmos crap is different.
And I truly hope that Hastak is paying attention to all of this.
I get this Walmart BS is because of Walmart.
But Hastak should be a good company with this situation, figure out a solution, and make an official statement to the general public.
If nothing else, a statement that at least acknowledges that they are aware, and never intended this to happen. They don’t need to point fingers at all, but something to the point that there is a plan which involves doing something with this figure when it’s possible… That’s really not asking much.

I get it, this is a situation with an exclusive which involves a contract.
But if they were willing to “listen to the feedback of fans” about removing battle damage paint apps on Galvatron, they really need to step up in this situation.

Again, relatively speaking, this is ridiculous.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Even as an exclusive, this figure shouldn’t be this difficult for people— who are willing to search and do extra legwork to have—to get ahold of.

Zelda, I have rarely agreed with your posts about contacting Hastak to get certain changes made to different figures. Mainly because those were heavily opinion-based. But this Cosmos crap is different. And I truly hope that Hastak is paying attention to all of this. I get this Walmart BS is because of Walmart.
But Hastak should be a good company with this situation, figure out a solution, and make an official statement to the general public. If nothing else, a statement that at least acknowledges that they are aware, and never intended this to happen. They don’t need to point fingers at all, but something to the point that there is a plan which involves doing something with this figure when it’s possible… That’s really not asking much.

I get it, this is a situation with an exclusive which involves a contract.
But if they were willing to “listen to the feedback of fans” about removing battle damage paint apps on Galvatron, they really need to step up in this situation.

Again, relatively speaking, this is ridiculous.

Hear, hear. If 'being short packed' is any kind of excuse, then why is Velocitron Clampdown visible on the Walmart website, while Cosmos is not?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... /962461624

Clampdown was every bit as 'short packed' as Cosmos, but Walmart still has Clampdown listed as an online buyable option. More expensive yes, but still there. Why did they erase Cosmos so utterly and completely? No matter where or how you search on Walmart's web pages, you can't find Cosmos anywhere. There are only 2 places you can find him: 1) Hasbro Pulse, where he's listed, but is eternally 'out of stock' so you still can't buy one. 2) Hyper-inflated scalper sales on Ebay.

It's ludicrous. If the UK got a whole bunch of solid cases which are warming shelves, then Walmart ought to buy some from the UK just to replenish their Cosmos stocks in the US, and then post them online as a buying option.

DeathReviews wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Even as an exclusive, this figure shouldn’t be this difficult for people— who are willing to search and do extra legwork to have—to get ahold of.

Zelda, I have rarely agreed with your posts about contacting Hastak to get certain changes made to different figures. Mainly because those were heavily opinion-based. But this Cosmos crap is different. And I truly hope that Hastak is paying attention to all of this. I get this Walmart BS is because of Walmart.
But Hastak should be a good company with this situation, figure out a solution, and make an official statement to the general public. If nothing else, a statement that at least acknowledges that they are aware, and never intended this to happen. They don’t need to point fingers at all, but something to the point that there is a plan which involves doing something with this figure when it’s possible… That’s really not asking much.

I get it, this is a situation with an exclusive which involves a contract.
But if they were willing to “listen to the feedback of fans” about removing battle damage paint apps on Galvatron, they really need to step up in this situation.

Again, relatively speaking, this is ridiculous.

Hear, hear. If 'being short packed' is any kind of excuse, then why is Velocitron Clampdown visible on the Walmart website, while Cosmos is not?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... /962461624

Clampdown was every bit as 'short packed' as Cosmos, but Walmart still has Clampdown listed as an online buyable option. More expensive yes, but still there. Why did they erase Cosmos so utterly and completely? No matter where or how you search on Walmart's web pages, you can't find Cosmos anywhere. There are only 2 places you can find him: 1) Hasbro Pulse, where he's listed, but is eternally 'out of stock' so you still can't buy one. 2) Hyper-inflated scalper sales on Ebay.

It's ludicrous. If the UK got a whole bunch of solid cases which are warming shelves, then Walmart ought to buy some from the UK just to replenish their Cosmos stocks in the US, and then post them online as a buying option.

Clampdown was repackaged in wave 2 while Cosmos wasn't. That's why he's available.

Also playing devil's advocate for a moment, why would walmart do that anyway? They're probably moved on to whatever line is replacing Velocitron with (that capsule line with G2 Grimlock?). Best chance for Cosmos mold is a redeco in a line like Buzzworthy or Selects.

I have no interest in a red or black Cosmos so a redeco doesn't necessarily help much. And TBH they shouldn't need to have to redeco him as long as He's in a different package and doesn't include the flag, plus Exclusivity generally runs out after a year or two.

Personally I'd prefer Generations Selects release over Target because they're far easier to get via either Pulse or Amazon etc. As short packed an in demand as Cosmos is/was I suspect a Buzzworthy release would sell out fairly quickly once listed.

DeathReviews wrote:It's ludicrous. If the UK got a whole bunch of solid cases which are warming shelves, then Walmart ought to buy some from the UK just to replenish their Cosmos stocks in the US, and then post them online as a buying option.

Till-all-R1 wrote:I have no interest in a red or black Cosmos so a redeco doesn't necessarily help much. And TBH they shouldn't need to have to redeco him as long as He's in a different package and doesn't include the flag, plus Exclusivity generally runs out after a year or two.

Personally I'd prefer Generations Selects release over Target because they're far easier to get via either Pulse or Amazon etc. As short packed an in demand as Cosmos is/was I suspect a Buzzworthy release would sell out fairly quickly once listed.

But if this is a Target exclusive, then it’s actually available in stores as well, which may be easier for some to get.
Now, none of the following were as wanted as Cosmos, but I found Buzzworthy Cliffjumper, Kup, and the Creatures Collide set in-person, and have seen far more in that line that I just never wanted.
I didn’t necessarily see it all often or for very long, but most of it I saw multiple times.
I’d personally say a Buzzworthy release in a year and a half would be a decent solution.
New package, sans flag, and if they need to, just barely, hardly noticeable color variation changes.
Heck, throw in a couple small blast effects that were already used with another figure.

That would be fine if I lived in a City with a Target or even five of them so that I could increase my odds, sadly I do not and by the time I can get to a target closest to me that 80 miles away they're bone dry of anything I'm after. Only by chance did I manage to get Origins Bee thanks to inventory tracker. Never saw Cliffjumper or Kup.

Luckily they made enough of the Collide sets and and of Silverstreak to go around those two were quite easy to get. Cosmos I don't think would be as easy due to demand, and I'd rather just be an easy click to order on Amazon. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Question for all of you. Which of you does not have a cosmos yet and wants one?

Till-all-R1 wrote:I have no interest in a red or black Cosmos so a redeco doesn't necessarily help much. And TBH they shouldn't need to have to redeco him as long as He's in a different package and doesn't include the flag, plus Exclusivity generally runs out after a year or two.

Redeco alone isn't enough, it would also require retooling like a new head, that's the only reason we were able to get Goldbug.

Emerje

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Even as an exclusive, this figure shouldn’t be this difficult for people— who are willing to search and do extra legwork to have—to get ahold of.

Zelda, I have rarely agreed with your posts about contacting Hastak to get certain changes made to different figures. Mainly because those were heavily opinion-based. But this Cosmos crap is different. And I truly hope that Hastak is paying attention to all of this. I get this Walmart BS is because of Walmart.
But Hastak should be a good company with this situation, figure out a solution, and make an official statement to the general public. If nothing else, a statement that at least acknowledges that they are aware, and never intended this to happen. They don’t need to point fingers at all, but something to the point that there is a plan which involves doing something with this figure when it’s possible… That’s really not asking much.

I get it, this is a situation with an exclusive which involves a contract.
But if they were willing to “listen to the feedback of fans” about removing battle damage paint apps on Galvatron, they really need to step up in this situation.

Again, relatively speaking, this is ridiculous.

Hear, hear. If 'being short packed' is any kind of excuse, then why is Velocitron Clampdown visible on the Walmart website, while Cosmos is not?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... /962461624

Clampdown was every bit as 'short packed' as Cosmos, but Walmart still has Clampdown listed as an online buyable option. More expensive yes, but still there. Why did they erase Cosmos so utterly and completely? No matter where or how you search on Walmart's web pages, you can't find Cosmos anywhere. There are only 2 places you can find him: 1) Hasbro Pulse, where he's listed, but is eternally 'out of stock' so you still can't buy one. 2) Hyper-inflated scalper sales on Ebay.

It's ludicrous. If the UK got a whole bunch of solid cases which are warming shelves, then Walmart ought to buy some from the UK just to replenish their Cosmos stocks in the US, and then post them online as a buying option.

Clampdown was repackaged in wave 2 while Cosmos wasn't. That's why he's available.

The real answer is Clampdown isn't Cosmos. I say this because before we even got Wave 2, Clampdowns would be on the shelf with no Cosmos in sight.

Meanwhile in Canada, and specifically my local Walmart, I never ever saw Crasher. Even online, she barely landed on the site before being sold out.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Meanwhile in Canada, and specifically my local Walmart, I never ever saw Crasher. Even online, she barely landed on the site before being sold out.

I haven't seen anything from wave 2 in stores yet myself. I just need Galaxy Shuttle, I got Crasher and Shadowstrip from Pulse. I overheard the toy department manager at Walmart Tuesday morning tell somebody that was looking for a board game that the reset is coming in two weeks so hopefully I'll see him at the end of the month.

Emerje

Looking at the facts, I'm not sure a rerelease of Cosmos is warranted, business wise. Sure, it will help some who didn't get it, but looking at the market price (40-50 USD), it's pretty tame for something deemed super rare. And as we saw in the UK, this bot can shelfwarm. Not sure who would want to bet on that MOQ just to satisfy a few fans.

william-james88 wrote:Looking at the facts, I'm not sure a rerelease of Cosmos is warranted, business wise. Sure, it will help some who didn't get it, but looking at the market price (40-50 USD), it's pretty tame for something deemed super rare. And as we saw in the UK, this bot can shelfwarm. Not sure who would want to bet on that MOQ just to satisfy a few fans.

Agreed, as I said earlier, Walmart sees all this as being in the rearview mirror.

Fine with me because it will just save me more Money as I've decided not to buy anymore Transformers until I can get Cosmos.

william-james88 wrote:Question for all of you. Which of you does not have a cosmos yet and wants one?

I never got one. I know I'll never see one in the stores, and I haven't yet pulled the trigger on buying one from scalpers. The last time this happened, with Netflix Soundwave, I listened to the people who said, "Don't let the scalpers win," and that just made me lose out. It's pretty clear that they're not re-releasing Soundwave, and now the secondary market price has already doubled. I don't plan on making that mistake twice.

Glarryg