Advertisement

Register for free to remove this ad

Originally Posted by mickeyp Why is he hard to find, not many in a box? or is he really good? maybe I should go back, don't really feel like making a trip, but he is a main character.

I believe he's 1 to a case, similar to how Soundwave was/is. I think animalspinner posted that above somewhere. But maybe not

Well Ratchet and Voyager Megatron were gone when I went back. Oh well, hopefully I will get Ratchet next time.

Originally Posted by jbz I believe he's 1 to a case, similar to how Soundwave was/is. I think animalspinner posted that above somewhere. But maybe not

Yea, Ratchet, Arcee and Soundwave are one to a case in every wave.

Megatron goes up to two per case in Wave 2 of the voyagers, which is just Optimus x 2 and Megatron x 2.

When the Vehicon comes out in Wave 3, he is also one to a case.

If anyone sees a spare Ratchet when they are hunting and wants to help me out, let me know! The shelves here have nothing but Bumblebee. I doubt I will ever, ever see a Ratchet / Arcee on the pegs, because other than the Soundwave I got before the line launched, I've never yet seen one of those either.

Well I did pick up arcee I have a lot of stores near me so hopefully they will get more shipments in. I already saw soundwave twice and returned one and still saw that one the next day. Makes no sense to not have more characters in the box.

Originally Posted by mickeyp Makes no sense to not have more characters in the box.

This is the official words from Hasbro:

1) Kids love Bumblebee, which is why they pack so many in. Three Bumblebees in wave 1, three in Wave 2. According to Hasbro, he's far and away kids favorite character, they can't get enough of him.

2) Kids don't like Decepticons. This is why they are always short packed.

3) Kids don't buy female figures. This is why they are always short packed or just simply not made if toy companies can avoid it.

Who knows how true that all is, but its what Hasbro keeps saying. As a kid, I wanted villains to fight against my heroes and I didn't want 10 variations on the same figure. I imagine most kids now are just fighting Bumblebees against each other.

I doubt I would have been a fan of Transformers during the 80s (and remained one to this day) if there was nothing but one character ad-nauseum like with Bumblebee. We had a ton of characters, a ton of choices and a nice ratio of good to bad guys. Everyone had a different favorite it seems.

These days, you only get a handful of characters to choose from with the emphasis on, in my opinion, one of the weaker characters in the series. I wasn't a fan of Bumblebee in the 80s, I'm certainly not one now.

Originally Posted by animalspinners 1) Kids love Bumblebee, which is why they pack so many in. Three Bumblebees in wave 1, three in Wave 2. According to Hasbro, he's far and away kids favorite character, they can't get enough of him.

It's true - the kid market is still far bigger than the collector market.

One piece of anecdotal evidence - when Amazon was running deep discounts on KREO sets around Christmas time, the only set that was sold out prior (and thus was selling for above retail price) was Bumblebee.

Yes I get that, but once the kid has bumblebee and he goes to the store he is not going to buy the same one again.

Originally Posted by animalspinners This is the official words from Hasbro: 1) Kids love Bumblebee, which is why they pack so many in. Three Bumblebees in wave 1, three in Wave 2. According to Hasbro, he's far and away kids favorite character, they can't get enough of him. 2) Kids don't like Decepticons. This is why they are always short packed. 3) Kids don't buy female figures. This is why they are always short packed or just simply not made if toy companies can avoid it. Who knows how true that all is, but its what Hasbro keeps saying. As a kid, I wanted villains to fight against my heroes and I didn't want 10 variations on the same figure. I imagine most kids now are just fighting Bumblebees against each other. I doubt I would have been a fan of Transformers during the 80s (and remained one to this day) if there was nothing but one character ad-nauseum like with Bumblebee. We had a ton of characters, a ton of choices and a nice ratio of good to bad guys. Everyone had a different favorite it seems. These days, you only get a handful of characters to choose from with the emphasis on, in my opinion, one of the weaker characters in the series. I wasn't a fan of Bumblebee in the 80s, I'm certainly not one now.

The funny thing is collectors buy female and minority characters in hopes that they will be worth more in the long run. (like the old series of figures).

Hasbro has it figured out. I wish they were better organized internally though...Or made exclusives actual exclusives instead of selling them on their website.

Originally Posted by animalspinners Yea, Ratchet, Arcee and Soundwave are one to a case in every wave. Megatron goes up to two per case in Wave 2 of the voyagers, which is just Optimus x 2 and Megatron x 2. When the Vehicon comes out in Wave 3, he is also one to a case. If anyone sees a spare Ratchet when they are hunting and wants to help me out, let me know! The shelves here have nothing but Bumblebee. I doubt I will ever, ever see a Ratchet / Arcee on the pegs, because other than the Soundwave I got before the line launched, I've never yet seen one of those either.

Same here. I went to my TRU last week and there was 6 Bumblebees sitting there and nothing else But these things are selling. Both my Walmart and Target had empty pegs and just the tags/prices where they once were.

Hasbro is right in a way.

Kids do love Bumblebee. Odds are if a kid under ten is with a parent in the Transformers aisle, they'll be talking about Bumblebee.

However, they're also wrong.

Kids do not love Bumblebee this much.

I was at Toys R Us today. There were 27 FE Bumblebees and 1 Arcee. There were 29 Leader Bumblebees and 1 Sentinel Prime. There were 4 PRiD Bumblebees and no other PRiD figures.

Where are all these Bumblebees going to go? People are obviously not buying them, and if you haven't bought DOTM Leader Bee by now, you're probably not going to.

Hasbro is playing retailers. On the one hand, retailers ask for Bumblebee because most of them have no idea about the product they are selling, and they only know Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. They will then request them. Hasbro is only too happy to comply.

But Hasbro is also counting on collectors, fans, and scalpers to buy up the one-per-case unfortunates. The idea is that the retailer then has to order another case to sate demand.

The only problem is that many of them won't because there are Bumblebees everywhere. In Canada, we never got past Wave 1 of DOTM Human Alliance because all those Bumblebees and Skids nobody wanted sat there. Nothing new ever got ordered. Customers and retailers got screwed. Hasbro screwed themselves: they lost out on all the product they could have moved.

This is happening and will continue to happen with PRiD. Retailers will order some, but will they really continue ordering new cases? I doubt it. Most of them have no idea about the product. They literally do not understand when customers say they have the item, but not the right one. Most people who work in retail have no idea about case assortments, shortpacking, or different figures with the same stock ID. Bringing these requests to store employees does not get translated into orders. They get forgotten or dismissed as mistaken/deranged/weird customers. I have talked to people who only work in toy departments and have no idea what I am talking about.

Hasbro can play this game for a little while, but it's not going to end well. They'd sell far more with balanced cases that actually tracked demand. Stores will order more if they can't see any product or if their computer system says that they're out, and that will happen much more often if the cases are balanced.

They are also at risk of alienating everyone.

Today I managed to get Soundwave and Wheeljack. But rather than feeling really good about it, I realized I'm going to have to do the same thing all over again for Arcee and Ratchet.

My favorite online retailer no longer stocks Hasbro crap. They couldn't deal with the leftovers. Their customers only wanted the shortpacked figures, which left them with tons of Bumblebees, Primes and Mindsets that they practically had to give away.

The current situation is starting to remind me of things like "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". It was really popular for awhile. So popular that the network put it on every night and back-to-back. After all, if some is good, more must be better, right?

Except people got tired of it. There's only so much you can take before you've had enough of the same thing. Hasbro's response to customers right now seems to be to churn out Primes and Bumblebees until everyone chokes. But then what? How long can you count on that as a strategy?

well said. I agree 100%.

For those TRU Reward members, I just got an emailed coupon for 25% all Transformers figures, one time use. Starting tomorrow. This might make the mark up at my TRU bearable. Might. It still doesn't scare away the hoarders.

Originally Posted by jbz For those TRU Reward members, I just got an emailed coupon for 25% all Transformers figures, one time use. Starting tomorrow. This might make the mark up at my TRU bearable. Might. It still doesn't scare away the hoarders.

I got one of those as well.

Last night my local TRU just had 3-4 Bumblebees and a couple Cyberverse Bees. Target had 14 Bees and 3 Cliffjumpers.

If anyone's looking for an Ultimate Optimus Prime, I saw one red tag clearanced for $40 at a Walmart Super Center over the weekend. I think Walmart's clearances are YMMV, so take that for what it's worth. It had been marked down to $59.99 before clearance. Movie Voyagers were red tagged at $15.

Originally Posted by blandstalker Hasbro can play this game for a little while, but it's not going to end well. They'd sell far more with balanced cases that actually tracked demand. Stores will order more if they can't see any product or if their computer system says that they're out, and that will happen much more often if the cases are balanced.

What I don't get is that it already hasn't ended well for Hasbro.

With Marvel Universe, they packed as many Iron Mans, Spider-Mans and Wolverines into their waves as they could. Kids like them, but kids don't like them to *keep buying them repeatedly*. Collectors don't want that many. Most stores sat on them, which led to stores dropping the line entirely and not being able to move what they move.

Hasbro learned their lesson -- none of the 2012 single packed figures include Iron Man or Wolverine. The only comic two pack that features Iron Man packs him with a highly in-demand character. Spider-Man still appears but its only the variations collectors have asked for and then in only one wave.

They brought back Marvel Legends and did every figure one to a case, Iron Man gets two to a case. That's a fair distribution in my eyes.

Ask any G.I Joe fan about Arctic Destro. Hasbro packed G.I Joe cases with so many damn Arctic Destros that almost *TWO YEARS LATER* I can still find them on the shelves at Target.

Hasbro learned their lesson -- future G.I Joe cases have everyone at one to a case and the troop builders are two to a case, as it should be as they sell quicker.

I know Star Wars had a big problem with Hasbro doing uneven case ratios too -- as of 2012, they are doing case ratios where every figure is even.

It is *only* with Transformers now that they focus on one character exclusively and keep flooding the pegs with him. Three Bumblebees in Wave 1, fine. Why three in Wave 2? Why another one in Wave 3??

My local Target has six Bumblebees for Deluxes and nothing but Cyberverse Bumblebee. According to other people in my area, every single store in Tampa has nothing but Bumblebees with the occasional Wheeljack and Cliffjumper. I'm talking 30 + stores.

Unfortunately, it's going to take stores to stop ordering Transformers and pulling it from the shelf before Hasbro learns. And they will, now that there is no movie tie-in. If Hasbro keeps this up, we will see stores dropping the line by the end of the year. I don't get why they stopped making these mistakes with every other line but continue to do so here.

Hasbro should ask Mattel how well it went with the He-Man 200X line, where Mattel did five He-Mans to a case and one secondary character. It didn't end well.

Human Alliance Leadfoot is down to $15 clearance at some Targets.

Here was my experience:

A guy lasted night posted on TFW that a local store had 10 for $15.

I call the store at 8 a.m. Employee says they have more than 10, but can't hold one because of company policy. I say okay, you got plenty, I'll go on my lunch break.

I call back at 12:30 to confirm they are still there. "Sorry man, some guy came in and bought every single one a few hours ago, we have no more left. This happens often, I'm sorry."

Seriously, wtf. I just pre-ordered everything Transformers Prime on BBTS, done with retail for good.

Originally Posted by animalspinners What I don't get is that it already hasn't ended well for Hasbro. With Marvel Universe, they packed as many Iron Mans, Spider-Mans and Wolverines into their waves as they could. Kids like them, but kids don't like them to *keep buying them repeatedly*. Collectors don't want that many. Most stores sat on them, which led to stores dropping the line entirely and not being able to move what they move. Hasbro learned their lesson -- none of the 2012 single packed figures include Iron Man or Wolverine. The only comic two pack that features Iron Man packs him with a highly in-demand character. Spider-Man still appears but its only the variations collectors have asked for and then in only one wave. They brought back Marvel Legends and did every figure one to a case, Iron Man gets two to a case. That's a fair distribution in my eyes. Ask any G.I Joe fan about Arctic Destro. Hasbro packed G.I Joe cases with so many damn Arctic Destros that almost *TWO YEARS LATER* I can still find them on the shelves at Target. Hasbro learned their lesson -- future G.I Joe cases have everyone at one to a case and the troop builders are two to a case, as it should be as they sell quicker.

Do NOT get me started on the half-assed Marvel Universe distribution... even with the better case assortments, Hasbro has pissed off enough retailers that a lot of stores don't regularly stock/carry them so you miss waves at a time. Outside of Toys R Us I haven't seen GI Joe figures since the first wave of Renegades stuff too. I bought one Arctic Destro... I've probably seen 50 pegwarming.

Originally Posted by animalspinners Human Alliance Leadfoot is down to $15 clearance at some Targets. Here was my experience: A guy lasted night posted on TFW that a local store had 10 for $15. I call the store at 8 a.m. Employee says they have more than 10, but can't hold one because of company policy. I say okay, you got plenty, I'll go on my lunch break. I call back at 12:30 to confirm they are still there. "Sorry man, some guy came in and bought every single one a few hours ago, we have no more left. This happens often, I'm sorry." Seriously, wtf. I just pre-ordered everything Transformers Prime on BBTS, done with retail for good.

I'm considering preordering the Bulkhead/Starscream Voyager set on BBTS. But part of me in some twisted way likes the thrill of the hunt LOL. Even though I get screwed out of things more often than I win.

Originally Posted by georox Do NOT get me started on the half-assed Marvel Universe distribution... even with the better case assortments, Hasbro has pissed off enough retailers that a lot of stores don't regularly stock/carry them so you miss waves at a time. Outside of Toys R Us I haven't seen GI Joe figures since the first wave of Renegades stuff too. I bought one Arctic Destro... I've probably seen 50 pegwarming.

You think Marvel Universe is bad? Try Marvel Legends.

7 figures per wave, but in Wave 2, the variants are *completely new figures.* To make matters worse, stores either get a regular case or a variants case and it seems like entire regions get one or the other, but never both.

So now distribution screws you out of completely new characters!

Originally Posted by Bloomy I got one of those as well. Last night my local TRU just had 3-4 Bumblebees and a couple Cyberverse Bees. Target had 14 Bees and 3 Cliffjumpers. If anyone's looking for an Ultimate Optimus Prime, I saw one red tag clearanced for $40 at a Walmart Super Center over the weekend. I think Walmart's clearances are YMMV, so take that for what it's worth. It had been marked down to $59.99 before clearance. Movie Voyagers were red tagged at $15.

Stopped in to my TRU and they had 7 Deluxe Bees for Prime. They did have all of the Cyberverse guys, so I picked up one of each for my kids. Was going to hold out using the coupon to see if I could score a Ratchet/Arcee, but didn't want to chance it.

In other news, I ended up buying a Masterpiece Skywarp (the US Walmart exclusive one) on Ebay. I'm a fan of the seekers and I regret passing him up @ Walmart a while back when I saw him on the shelves. $57 total. Anyone remember how much these guys sold for at retail?