TRU Exclusives Will No Longer Be Carried By Online Retailers?
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 10:56am CDT
Categories: Toy News, Company NewsPosted by: Mkall Views: 38,598
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Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.
Skyfire wrote:Site sponsor Kapow Toys has received word that Toys R Us exclusives will no longer be available at wholesale via China, in a move that is not unexpected Hasbro and Toys R Us have apparently knuckled down on wholesalers no longer allowing them to purchase these items and sell them on to the rest of the world.
The full post can be seen here.
Do not dispair folks, for there are a lot of really nice members of Seibertron.com who often have surplus stock nearby and can get them to you if you need it. Feel free to visit the Carbombya: Buy Sell Trade forum and make a new friend today!
Credit(s): Skyfire of FullMetalHero
This article was last modified on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 12:32pm CDT
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Posted by Lord Onixprime on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:15am CDT
Posted by DMSL on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:26am CDT
Very smart move. Guess i won't be getting MP Roddy then /sigh.
Posted by AutobotMR2 on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:31am CDT
Posted by Megazarak on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:35am CDT
Posted by gothsaurus on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:43am CDT
Wondering if they're doing this because of price gouging on their exclusives.... Hmmmm.

Posted by necr0blivion on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:50am CDT
Megazarak wrote:This won't necessarily be too bad if they make sure to stock enough of these exclusives to make finding them easy in stores. I've still never seen a single Animated Arcee since it was supposed to have been launched. I don't know how the cases were divided, but there seems to be Ratchets (still being stocked) but not a single Arcee. This is a little unfortunate for people with no TRU nearby though.
I've seen quite a few Arcees back when they came out. Even saw 2nd and 3rd shipments. Although it probably helps that I can easily pass by two different TRUs during the week.
Most probably there were others in your area buying up the stock when they saw it. Hopefully a majority were by people who actually wanted it for their own collection. But overall, it seems TRU did a decent job getting this "wave" and the 2nd exclusive "wave" of Rodimus and C. Ratchet (or was it Ironhide?) in. I even saw a restock of Roddy recently.
However, I did have to e-bay my 2nd Animated Arcee once I thought I would get a custom head and plop her in my Classics collection. Thankfully, I only paid a few $ on that bid with shipping versus buying in the store that I previously passed. Still haven't order that custom head...
Posted by D-340 on June 14th, 2011 @ 11:58am CDT

Posted by NamelessOne on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:07pm CDT

Posted by Megazarak on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:09pm CDT
necr0blivion wrote:I've seen quite a few Arcees back when they came out. Even saw 2nd and 3rd shipments. Although it probably helps that I can easily pass by two different TRUs during the week.
Most probably there were others in your area buying up the stock when they saw it. Hopefully a majority were by people who actually wanted it for their own collection. But overall, it seems TRU did a decent job getting this "wave" and the 2nd exclusive "wave" of Rodimus and C. Ratchet (or was it Ironhide?) in. I even saw a restock of Roddy recently.
However, I did have to e-bay my 2nd Animated Arcee once I thought I would get a custom head and plop her in my Classics collection. Thankfully, I only paid a few $ on that bid with shipping versus buying in the store that I previously passed. Still haven't order that custom head...
The second wave was actually Rodimus and Ironhide. They stocked this wave incredibly well, as sometimes they would sell out very quickly and replenish in no time. They were easy to find, unlike the first wave, for me at least (maybe being in Canada has something to do with this). I also have 2 TRUs pretty close by and checked them both quite a few times to no avail. Even Ratchet was scarce back when the wave was first released (although oddly he's popping up quite often all of a sudden, maybe I'll be lucky and see an Arcee among them one day). With her ridiculous prices online, it doesn't really seem viable to purchase her through there.
As for MP Rodimus, as long as he's stocked properly there shouldn't be a problem. With MP Grimlock, of the 2 TRUs nearby, one of them had them constantly sold out, while the other had something like 12 of them in stock (during a 40% off sale no less) and continued to have a good number of them for a few weeks. Maybe it has to do with the location I guess. It would be nice if all the TRU's were consistent.
Posted by gothsaurus on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:15pm CDT
Posted by gambit020480 on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:36pm CDT
Posted by Requiem Prime on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:39pm CDT
I actually live (realatively) near a store and I still don't like using them. Getting my Grimlock was an adventure odyssey I prayed I'd never have to repeat because their website is general shit compared to what they actually carry in-store, only surpassed in awfulness by actually calling the damn store and trying to get some useful information. Because you know they're only going to stock like 3 for the season.
Posted by Blackstreak on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:40pm CDT
Posted by Midnight_Fox on June 14th, 2011 @ 12:55pm CDT
gambit020480 wrote:Scalpers rejoice my butt. TRU employees rejoice. TRU is the worst place to get collectors items. The employees buy everything off the truck and have it on ebay before the damn stores even open.
Maybe where you live, but not here. In fact the employees and managers know all the TF collectors by sight, if not by name. Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.
Posted by gothsaurus on June 14th, 2011 @ 1:00pm CDT
Midnight_Fox wrote:Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.
ZOMG.

Posted by Midnight_Fox on June 14th, 2011 @ 1:21pm CDT
gothsaurus wrote:Midnight_Fox wrote:Cases here go up complete and the employees have to wait until the end of their shifts to grab what they want.
ZOMG.
Yeah, it's awesome when you get there first thing on the days they get their shipments. The fun thing about living in the Springs is that I've managed to grab everything(that isn't OOP)I've wanted for retail or less(that to Craigslist or Ross/similar).
@gambit020480: Then you swoop in and scalp what's left. Where do you live? I need to make sure my wife never puts in for a base there.
Posted by Vicalliose on June 14th, 2011 @ 1:34pm CDT
They can't honestly think that price gouging or low stock of the exclusives is hurting their reputation?! Most of the time the TRU exclusives (y'know, Masterpiece) are meant to pander to adult collectors anyway! Some people are just friggin ignorant.

gambit020480 wrote:*snipped*
Depends on if the manager cracks down or not, usually not, thus why scalpers are typically a problem where ever you go. Another possibility is that the employees are too dumb and oblivious to know about the gold mine sitting underneath them. The final and least likely possibility is that the employees are nice people, but it happens, just not where I live.
Posted by Megatron Wolf on June 14th, 2011 @ 1:39pm CDT
Posted by NTESHFT on June 14th, 2011 @ 3:14pm CDT
Posted by ArmadaPrime on June 14th, 2011 @ 3:29pm CDT
Mkall wrote:
Skyfire of FullMetalHero has received an interesting note from Kapow Toys, a seller located in the United Kingdom who has often alerted the fandom to interesting turns in the marketplace.
just as an FYI, skyfire is red leader (he changed his FMH name) who is (as far as I am aware) andy of kapow toys.