Hasbro Responds to Distribution Woes of Transformers Power of the Primes Wave 2

Survivefan23 wrote:I was going there to pick up Battleslash & Roadtrap. I wasn't expecting to find them. I got my mom to let me get both.

I have put my mom in that same situation many times! lol

william-james88 wrote:You can't say Hasbro doesn't listen to us, as this statement we now have clearly shows. The Official Transformers Facebook page was flooded with comments regarding the lack of Power of the Primes Wave 2 product in stores. This was in response to Hasbro posting that Wave 3 was coming soon, leaving many fans worried that Wave 2 was going to be skipped by the stores they frequent.

Hasbro saw all these comments and responded in the same facebook thread with the following:

Hasbro wrote:Hi Transformers fans! We’ve heard that Wave 2 of Power of the Primes sold out relatively quickly, but they aren’t extinct yet. Consumers can expect to see these out again in stores and online in the U.S. this Summer.

There are a few things to take note here. Firstly, this just refers to the US, specifically. Also, while this is good news, Hasbro had given the same statement regarding the Seige of Cybertron set from Titans Return last year, which never did get restocked by the exclusive retailer, BBTS.

The big takeaway here is that Hasbro does indeed listen to us and try to comfort us every way they can. Our distribution woes are not getting unnoticed.

That's all fine and good... But when they were NOT stocking Wave 2, we (or at least I -) got an ASSton more Wave 1. So... Now those are all just going to shelf-warm like crazy.

Please, please let this actually happen... I am not paying Amazon's prices for Sludge and Snarl.

Aimless Misfire wrote:They need to totally change their distribution methods. The old assortment thing doesn't work anymore. Stores are sick of getting stuck with crap that has to go on clearance.

This summer we'll get wave 2, we'll never see wave 3 & wave 4 will show up at Ollies in September of 2019.

Not that I want to be cynical, but I have to say, this comment is probably and sadly accurate.

Rodimus Knight wrote:

Aimless Misfire wrote:They need to totally change their distribution methods. The old assortment thing doesn't work anymore. Stores are sick of getting stuck with crap that has to go on clearance.

This summer we'll get wave 2, we'll never see wave 3 & wave 4 will show up at Ollies in September of 2019.

Not that I want to be cynical, but I have to say, this comment is probably and sadly accurate.

My suggestion: have stores put an order limit to prevent too much Wave 1 stock from being sent out only to rot on the shelves and pegs. That has plagued Movie lines time and time again.

There are more and more moving parts with distribution the more I think about it. Another which is harder to fight is incompetence/apathy of store employees. I mean I went to the closest walmart to me yesterday (which is one of the worst so I try to avoid it), but they were in the middle of inventory. and wouldn't you know...a whole case of RiD Warrior class, and PotP wave 1 Voyagers came out. Now I've seen many stores lately restock wave 1 PotP Deluxe, but not Voyagers, so I'm sure this was siting around in the back room for some time. I've many times been tempted to ask a store manager if I can have access to their stockroom to work the TF section myself (hey its free labor for them), but I know there are many policies that would prevent this. I mean I don't expect employees to be experts on every toy line, but when you ask... if an employee can check the back for something and they come at you with that automatic "no we don't have any", you know that they don't care, and the consumer is denied as a result. I mean I worked at a retail store 20 or so years ago, I worked exclusively in the stock room offloading trucks and moving product around the store, never worked in the store itself. But when I was identified by a customer, I always went out of my way to get them what they asked for.

Just picked up the entire first wave of Takara's PotP courtesy of Amiami. Compared to Hb Optimus, my version is free from paint smudges (the silver stripe on his truck cab)

The rest, like Rodimus etc, has much finer/neater paint apps.

No crimped foil decals (still looks a bit cheap) on either Optimus or Rodimus.

Boxes have two to three JP translated labels over the Int'l box parts. Same with the instruction. It also got an extra JP decal and the print, compared to my Hb Optimus is a lot less blurred.

My first time to see a Beachcomber....my! The mold is a site for sore eyes! Excellent update. Same with Windcharger. So G1 cartoon! Though I also own his RTS version (equally awesome) this one is just as good!

Slash is too cute for words! Jazz also has the MAGA symbol with the black paint apps less smudgy looking. Too bad HB/Takara ditched his rim jobs as seen on his boxart (yet they can afford to give Beachcomber those gray ones and Wincharger that silver strip on his bumper).

The Primemasters(Dowlos/Skullgrin) paint apps are much neater on his skull piece. Same with Metalhawk and Phoenix/Cloudburst. Much neater in my version. Really sad that Metalhawk is blue instead of yellow or gold.

Megatron Wolf wrote:They better not do revised waves again cause thats just going to make things worse just like titans return. What they need to do is release wave 3 on schedule then after that re-release wave 2 or even wait till after 4 if there is one (havent been following wave assortments). And they also need to stop having multiple lines out at once, having studio series & generations fight for shelf space is stupid and detrimental for both consumers & hasbro and is part of the problem here. Hasbro needs to completely rethink things

W3 is already in transit, and probably state side somewhete bwtqeen Hasbro and Dist.

I'm glad to hear Hasbro is responding to the requests and problems. Hopefully we will see lots of Wave 2 and 3 this summer.

Wolfman Jake wrote:So, according to Hasbro, Wave 2 "sold out" quickly. To me, that says that they sold what they anticipated was the demand and it was bought up by retailers ready to sell it. I wonder how much of Wave 2 got snatched up by Toys 'R' Us right before they decided to completely go out of business? There could be a LOT of Power of the Primes product sitting in their old warehouses and distribution centers. Even though some product go pushed out to the local stores during liquidation, there wasn't that much coming in for any Transformers products, period. I'm wondering if TRU made a deal with Hasbro to sell back their stock, or if perhaps they're looking to sell what they have to other retailers to make up some more cost. If that's in the works, then maybe that's how Wave 2 will get a resurgence "this summer." We might also consider that Walgreens are sitting on a fair number of Wave 2 deluxe figures as well. Titans Return Wave 2 was a big seller for them the year before last. Walgreens puts out very few Generations deluxe figures at a time, so they could have a bunch at their distribution centers, waiting to trickle out as needed over the coming year or so.

Thats a thought, however there is an interesting post from Orson @ Captured Prey on the same Facebook post where he says his Distributor that Hasbro didnt fill the Distributors order... So from that, I think there might be more at play