Target Cancelling Orders for Studio Series 102 ROTB Optimus Prime

G1OptimusPAX wrote:Announced last night. There are a number of Target stores closing due to retail theft, so this could be the beginning of a trend moving forward. Target has lost a ton of money over the past few years for a bunch of reasons.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:Announced last night. There are a number of Target stores closing due to retail theft, so this could be the beginning of a trend moving forward. Target has lost a ton of money over the past few years for a bunch of reasons.

Nine stores out of nearly two thousand, and in only four states. I wouldn't overgeneralize on the impact, especially from a toy collecting perspective.

G1OptimusPAX wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:Announced last night. There are a number of Target stores closing due to retail theft, so this could be the beginning of a trend moving forward. Target has lost a ton of money over the past few years for a bunch of reasons.

Nine stores out of nearly two thousand, and in only four states. I wouldn't overgeneralize on the impact, especially from a toy collecting perspective.

There was the clothing incident with the LGBTQ... they lost tons of money... and "from a collecting perspective ", where is the money coming from to sustain this company? Preorders on toys? Hell, transformers toys and others are being stolen too. At an ALARMING rate. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped stocking the majority of toys that are in a certain price range.

G1OptimusPAX wrote:"grievance"...? I'm talking about target losing money. I could give a damn about target and their politics. I have no idea why people preorder from places like Walmart an target. You don't have to worry about these type of issues with BBTS or TF SOURCE.

First-Aid wrote:

G1OptimusPAX wrote:"grievance"...? I'm talking about target losing money. I could give a damn about target and their politics. I have no idea why people preorder from places like Walmart an target. You don't have to worry about these type of issues with BBTS or TF SOURCE.

Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Second, WalMart and Upscale WalMart (aka Target) don't seem to have a good record on preorders. I'm seeing a constant stream of "WalMart/Target cancelled my preorder again" on this forum and on multiple FB groups. While not good business practice, these preorders don't even register as a teensy blip in their overall gross income so they won't do anything differently in the future.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

First-Aid wrote:Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Yeah, but who's doing the suing?
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/target- ... ndise.html

"America First is a nonprofit group headed by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump.

"The lawsuit is the latest in a legal battle in which conservative legal groups and Republican legislators are challenging corporations that have enacted policies on social issues such as race and gender."

Are you being overly credulous by calling them "stockholders," or do you support the suit?

AcademyofDrX wrote:

First-Aid wrote:Yeah, I agree with you on both counts. First, didn't seem like a grievance just a reference to their recent multi billion dollar losses (that they are being sued by stockholders for, so it's well documented).

Yeah, but who's doing the suing?
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/target- ... ndise.html

"America First is a nonprofit group headed by Stephen Miller, a former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump.

"The lawsuit is the latest in a legal battle in which conservative legal groups and Republican legislators are challenging corporations that have enacted policies on social issues such as race and gender."

Are you being overly credulous by calling them "stockholders," or do you support the suit?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Back on Track Please...

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Back on Track Please...

First-Aid wrote:I'm sad no one got my movie reference....

blackeyedprime wrote:Isn't the figure just a reissue anyways? Hope the stock levels balance out and it becomes available again for those that want it.

blackeyedprime wrote:Isn't the figure just a reissue anyways? Hope the stock levels balance out and it becomes available again for those that want it.

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje

Dude, let it go. You can say "I told you so" if there's a widespread outbreak a la The Last of Us, but the case for toxic mold is even thinner.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje

Dude, let it go. You can say "I told you so" if there's a widespread outbreak a la The Last of Us, but the case for toxic mold is even thinner.

Emerje wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje

Dude, let it go. You can say "I told you so" if there's a widespread outbreak a la The Last of Us, but the case for toxic mold is even thinner.

Why should I let it go? What I'm saying is just as valid as what others are saying, why am I the only one not allowed to say what I think it is? When several people say it looks like mold and one person says it's mold release fluid with no experience in the figure molding process what makes his theory any more credible than anyone else's? We've all seen mold before, I guarantee that guy has never seen dried mold release fluid (which may or may not even exist). The fact that Hasbro Pulse canceled all of their pre-orders instead of telling people it's fine just wipe it off speaks volumes to me.

Emerje

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First Gen wrote:I wonder if this is related to the mold issue other figures had. Perhaps whole shipments were contaminated and not sellable.

It was only one other figure and it wasn't mold at all; it was a release fluid (don't...) that wasn't properly washed off.

According to one person with no knowledge of the subject. Best I can tell commercial injection molds don't use release fluid. I've watched some videos and the parts just pop out and don't get washed.

Emerje

Dude, let it go. You can say "I told you so" if there's a widespread outbreak a la The Last of Us, but the case for toxic mold is even thinner.

Why should I let it go? What I'm saying is just as valid as what others are saying, why am I the only one not allowed to say what I think it is? When several people say it looks like mold and one person says it's mold release fluid with no experience in the figure molding process what makes his theory any more credible than anyone else's? We've all seen mold before, I guarantee that guy has never seen dried mold release fluid (which may or may not even exist). The fact that Hasbro Pulse canceled all of their pre-orders instead of telling people it's fine just wipe it off speaks volumes to me.

Emerje

You're entitled to do whatever you want, you can ignore me. But in my opinion, it's silly to keep fighting a battle that will never be resolved. I also like the implication that Hasbro made Pulse cancel all their orders to protect the public, but was perfectly happy to let Amazon keep poisoning people. Also I'm pretty sure mold release fluid exists, and that dried mold release fluid can exist, even if the material on the figure isn't that.

My theory is just that Pulse didn't want to deal with returns costs, while Amazon is willing to write that off because they're used to it. And the main reason why there would be so many returns? Hysteria from certain fansite posts.

There has been no evidence whatsoever that this is something biological, let alone harmful. The defect is always on the exact same part of the figure, which suggests some kind of localized contamination from production--like the mold--than something growing which would spread. Like, this is comparable to a whole crate of bread being tossed with moldy spots in the exact same part of every loaf.

The fact that this mold theory is now spreading into completely unrelated threads, like this one over a different figure's cancellation, suggests that everyone has lost perspective. I think we as a fandom should move on, but if you want to keep ranting about it, I'm going to keep rolling my eyes and pushing back.

Emerje wrote:Also about the mold moving on to different parts than the wings, I'm not sure what the sprues look like for the seekers, but if they used some sort of contaminated plastic with something organic that got mixed in it would have only affected the parts that that specific batch of plastic was used to make, which in this case would be a large batch of the wing sprues. So if the wings are moldy it doesn't mean that mold would travel to a part that isn't contaminated.

First Gen wrote:I have a hard time accepting this is a somewhat common thing, as is being presented, when its never been reported prior. But, that being said, it still would raise concern for Hasbro to cancel shipments or product deliveries as a general response to not have consumer backlash.

Perhaps the figures themselves, or this time, the packaging suffered. Maybe its the paper products that are the issue. Either way its better to not ship then ship a load of damaged stuff.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:All this because some random guy stated it was mold, something bad so everyone automatically took it for truth... Yet a big(ger) figure in the overall community (Dave Willis aka ItsWalky for the record) with a more plausible answer gets overlooked (M. Sipher agrees with him however)... Let's just keep it as an isolated occurrence, not connect it to anything, and move on.

Back to SS RotB Prime and its order cancellations, is it just Target US canceling orders, or have other places canceled theirs as well? It could very well be that stock allocation is a wee bit lopsided towards Asia or other places.

DeathReviews wrote:It's all just guesswork. Short of sending a private investigator to the production factories to gather evidence? We'll probably never know what really happened with those Nacelle figures, or with Buzzworthy OP. Hasbro wouldn't willingly make any kind of statement that would make themselves look bad, or damage sales. So they're sure not going to say, 'Yeah we made a bad batch of moldy, poisonous figures and had to toss 'em.'

It's like pulling hen's teeth to even get them to admit that they've been messing things up with distribution, never mind confessing if their production standards are off. When they failed on my Leader Snarl order, they didn't even alert me. It took TWO ticket submissions to Pulse to get their attention, and even then, they didn't get me the second copy of the figure I'd bought. They just cancelled the second one, said 'we apologize for the inconvenience', and never said anything about getting a replacement. Boooooo!

First-Aid wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:It's all just guesswork. Short of sending a private investigator to the production factories to gather evidence? We'll probably never know what really happened with those Nacelle figures, or with Buzzworthy OP. Hasbro wouldn't willingly make any kind of statement that would make themselves look bad, or damage sales. So they're sure not going to say, 'Yeah we made a bad batch of moldy, poisonous figures and had to toss 'em.'

It's like pulling hen's teeth to even get them to admit that they've been messing things up with distribution, never mind confessing if their production standards are off. When they failed on my Leader Snarl order, they didn't even alert me. It took TWO ticket submissions to Pulse to get their attention, and even then, they didn't get me the second copy of the figure I'd bought. They just cancelled the second one, said 'we apologize for the inconvenience', and never said anything about getting a replacement. Boooooo!

I say we make like the History Channel and blame it on aliens....

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:It's all just guesswork. Short of sending a private investigator to the production factories to gather evidence? We'll probably never know what really happened with those Nacelle figures, or with Buzzworthy OP. Hasbro wouldn't willingly make any kind of statement that would make themselves look bad, or damage sales. So they're sure not going to say, 'Yeah we made a bad batch of moldy, poisonous figures and had to toss 'em.'

It's like pulling hen's teeth to even get them to admit that they've been messing things up with distribution, never mind confessing if their production standards are off. When they failed on my Leader Snarl order, they didn't even alert me. It took TWO ticket submissions to Pulse to get their attention, and even then, they didn't get me the second copy of the figure I'd bought. They just cancelled the second one, said 'we apologize for the inconvenience', and never said anything about getting a replacement. Boooooo!

I say we make like the History Channel and blame it on aliens....

I already have to deal with that with my father-in-law...

First-Aid wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

First-Aid wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:It's all just guesswork. Short of sending a private investigator to the production factories to gather evidence? We'll probably never know what really happened with those Nacelle figures, or with Buzzworthy OP. Hasbro wouldn't willingly make any kind of statement that would make themselves look bad, or damage sales. So they're sure not going to say, 'Yeah we made a bad batch of moldy, poisonous figures and had to toss 'em.'

It's like pulling hen's teeth to even get them to admit that they've been messing things up with distribution, never mind confessing if their production standards are off. When they failed on my Leader Snarl order, they didn't even alert me. It took TWO ticket submissions to Pulse to get their attention, and even then, they didn't get me the second copy of the figure I'd bought. They just cancelled the second one, said 'we apologize for the inconvenience', and never said anything about getting a replacement. Boooooo!

I say we make like the History Channel and blame it on aliens....

I already have to deal with that with my father-in-law...

He's an alien? Cool!

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Emerje wrote:Also about the mold moving on to different parts than the wings, I'm not sure what the sprues look like for the seekers, but if they used some sort of contaminated plastic with something organic that got mixed in it would have only affected the parts that that specific batch of plastic was used to make, which in this case would be a large batch of the wing sprues. So if the wings are moldy it doesn't mean that mold would travel to a part that isn't contaminated.

Do you actually believe in this theory, or are you just making up stuff on the spot to try to justify your vibes? Because I don't think that's how anything works, and I would be very surprised if this was mentioned in all those commercial manufacturing videos you watched.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:My take is simply that someone within Target's distribution centers screwed up and didn't set aside the number correct number of pre-orders and released all of them into the distribution centers for all the retail locations. Target's wonky pre-order system of having to confirm you still want an item after whatever peroid of time probaly doesn't help this.