Case Contents for Wave 4 of Transformers Power of the Primes Leader Class Possibly Revealed

I'll keep my preorder for Optimal Optimus

That...is such good news.

I hear you saying there will be a Wave 4. But, if we're honest with ourselves, we all know that no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4. Too much glut from Wave 1 or 2 will be clogging shelves. Or they'll be waiting for Siege to come out.

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

william-james88 wrote:

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

kurthy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Dammit, you saw right through me.

Whats sad though is that you have more options in the US (if you start counting Krogers and Walgreens) so i think its more in relation to inventory management which is easier in a smaller population

william-james88 wrote:

kurthy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Dammit, you saw right through me.

Whats sad though is that you have more options in the US (if you start counting Krogers and Walgreens) so i think its more in relation to inventory management which is easier in a smaller population

Walgreens only stocks deluxe and cyberverse. Anything more than $20 l, they don't touch. I have no Kroger's or Ollie's near me, so I can't speak to them. Walmart and Target are pretty happy with empty shelf spots leading into Black Friday.

Well, if we end up with rows upon rows of shelf-warming Optimal Optimus then I'm sure customizers who want a Primal Prime will be happy.

o.supreme wrote:Unfortunately only Hasbro knows when on the 13th the SDCC exclusives will be made available, and they aren’t telling. Last year at Hascon, they just featured TR Grotusque at a panel that Friday morning and basically said “Go get him now on HTS!” with no warning, and it was sold out in short order.

Good thing the Throne set is getting s general release by Takara later. Hopefully there'll be enough to go around once that happens.

I was never over the moon about OpOp or even the Thrones version. If I see it in stores, I'll pick it up just for my Prime collection. I'm still hunting for the deluxes and voyagers I missed out on.

Most Kroger stores will stock master through deluxe for Generations. Studio series seems to get both deluxe and voyager. From the 10ish I have been to.

kurthy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Target will probably stock it during the holiday season.

Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

ScottyP wrote:

kurthy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Lucky Logician wrote: no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4.

Want to bet?

I'd take that bet on American B&M stores. We all know you'll have plenty of options in Canada.

Target will probably stock it during the holiday season.

My local targets usually don't stock leaders between September and December. When they do, it's the first wave of a new line. The last time I saw a leader in the fall was AOE Grimlock (and that kept shelf warming for another 6 months after).

RiddlerJ wrote:Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

I like that armor look

Sabrblade wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

I do...for a great many things...

But all that aside, I guess one good thing perhaps about this *brand unification* is that seemingly (although it could just be coincidence) when it comes time for the factory to manufacture the toys for Takara, Hasbro can put in an order for more volume since the toys are the same. I believe this is why we have seen a resurgence of wave 2 since its initial run was so sparse (perhaps why Hasbro was able to respond to a request form fans, whereas in times past they were not able to).

Like I said it could be coincidence, but the dates of Takara releases, and the return of Wave 2 to U.S. store shelves just seems to match up. The End of August seems to be the release date of Optimal Optimus in Japan, though he has yet to show up anywhere in the U.S. IIRC. Perhaps we will start seeing him sooner than later if that is the case.

Sabrblade wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

But siege is awesone, i wish it could come out sooner

Does anybody customize their Prime Masters?

I plan on customizing mine, painting all the details and such, I just haven't got to it yet.

Lucky Logician wrote:I hear you saying there will be a Wave 4. But, if we're honest with ourselves, we all know that no retailers will be stocking any Wave 4. Too much glut from Wave 1 or 2 will be clogging shelves. Or they'll be waiting for Siege to come out.

What glut? The only glut I've seen with Power of the Primes has been Skullgrin/Dauros with the Liege Maximo Prime Master., and Skrapnel for a while (but even he's managed to shift more than Maximo), with the shelves and pegs picked nearly or entirely clean of every other POTP product in every size class - aside from the Studio Series, the Transformers sections were looking like ghost towns for a while! And now that the Wave 2 restock has finally hit, it seems to be selling at a decent rate.

^ It really does vary form store to store. In my area alone some walmarts and targets are getting wave 2 now, and it is selling well. Others as you say are "Ghost Towns" -especially the bigger walmart near me, had a ton of SS, which is managing to sell well somehow, virtually no PotP on the pegs, I don't know what in the world they are waiting for (it would be a perfect time to get wave 3 there...), and another one, that got like 2 cases of wave 1 deluxe a month ago, yeah that is going to sit for a long...long time.

Other than Inferno, I have seen no wave 3 in my area, had to get my Prime Masters and Terrorcons from BBTS.

o.supreme wrote:^ It really does vary form store to store. In my area alone some walmarts and targets are getting wave 2 now, and it is selling well. Others as you say are "Ghost Towns" -especially the bigger walmart near me, had a ton of SS, which is managing to sell well somehow, virtually no PotP on the pegs, I don't know what in the world they are waiting for (it would be a perfect time to get wave 3 there...), and another one, that got like 2 cases of wave 1 deluxe a month ago, yeah that is going to sit for a long...long time.

Other than Inferno, I have seen no wave 3 in my area, had to get my Prime Masters and Terrorcons from BBTS.

The wave 1 dinos sell quite well though, every where i go, especially with the wave 2 dinos also being on the shelves.

I think if any go, it probably will be the Dinobots, but they all seem to not be moving at that one store. What's odd though, is that there are a couple stores, where a single PotP deluxe will sit, and sit, and sit...and nobody will by it. I've seen a single, lonely Swoop, Dreadwind, and Rippersnapper sit at 3 different stores for weeks on-end...nothing comes, nothing goes...it's kind of sad. I'm hoping that one store keeps them until they go on clearance though. I could use another swoop at 7 or 8 dollars to replace the one I have now that has a broken foot.

All this talk of "what stores have what" has me motivated to make a YouTube video, or even just take some pics...Of course it would require a whole day to devote to such a project, and blocking out a whole day isn't something I really can do at the moment.

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Skritz wrote:Now I'm no toy engineer but I think POTP could have made good use of the pre-existing engineering of CW and TR to deliver the Thirteen Primes as actual figures while minimizing the engineering cost. Now granted this would have made such an alternate POTP a very, very different line.

If we can imagine for a moment...

On the subject of what-could-have-beens for the Thirteen...

Having so many of them be deluxes would have been a big disappointment to me, not even considering the bad paint jobs. I think I'm glad we didn't get those - at least with most of them unmade that improves the odds of it happening at some point.

And it's a shame, because a true Power of the Primes line would have been pretty great, even if it used a lot of retools and redecos.

SCOUT/Minicon Sets
=> Skyfall from Combiner Wars Powerglide
=> Megatronus's Requiem Blaster from Combiner Wars Shockwave.
=> Prima's Star Saber from Armada Star Saber minicons, recolored blue.
=> Nexus's Omni Saber from Energon Star Saber minicons, recolored black.
=> Solus's hammer from a new set of minicons.

DELUXE
=> Nexus Prime Limbs - seven options to choose from, because Nexus Prime should have lots of combinations!
==> Clocker from Combiner Wars Breakdown
==> Mainspring from Combiner Wars Trailbreaker recolored blue/red
==> Pinion from Combiner Wars Swindle recolored blue/red
==> Chaindrive from Combiner Wars Nosecone recolored blue/red
==> Landquake from Combiner Wars Brawl recolored red/blue
==> Breakaway from Combiner Wars Air-Raid recolored red/blue
==> Topspin from Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo recolored red/blue
=> Various 'lesser' Primes
==> Nova Prime from Energon Rodimus
==> Zeta Prime from Reveal the Shield Scourge
==> Sentinel Prime from Combiner Wars Rook recolored orange and blue (homaging both IDW and Animated)

VOYAGER
=> Heatwave/Cannonspring from Combiner Wars Onslaught recolored blue, with Victorion's sword as the Cyber Caliber
=> Solus Prime from combiner Wars Pyra Magna, retooled with a crane instead of a ladder
=> Onyx Prime from a Heavy retool of Animorphs Visser 3
=> Amalgamous Prime from Robots In Disguise 1.0 Galvatron (with a new head)
=> Alchemist Prime from a heavy retool of Age of Extinction Hound
=> Liege Maximo from a retool of ...??? I'll admit, he's so distinctive he's hard to fit.
=> The Last Autobot from a recolor of Cybertron Vector Prime

Leader
=> Prima from a pretool of Rodimus Prime, recolored in gold (homage to G1 Primus, pre-Cybertron)
=> Megatronus Prime from a retool of Age of Extinction Megatron
=> Rodimus Prime (same as Power of the Primes)
=> The Fallen from a recolor of Megatronus Prime

'Platinum Edition' store exclusives with improved paint apps
Titans Return Alpha Trion => Alpha Trion
Cybertron Vector Prime & Safeguard with => Vector Prime & Micronus Prime

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Why couldn't we get more figures for Wave 4, even if it was just repaints? I need extra limb bots.

Blame Siege.

But siege is awesone, i wish it could come out sooner

Siege does look pretty great, but honestly, I would have been fine with one more calendar year of Prime Wars. Two more complete waves of Titans Return and two more (at least) of Power of the Primes would have made a world of difference. Siege, in all honesty, could have waited another year. Starting off a brand new trilogy in 2020 has a nice ring to it too. I'm not sure why Hasbro was so hot and heavy to get War for Cybertron started so soon. They could have let Prime Wars run its natural course, made that much more money on ideas they already had ready to go, and then start with their brand new stuff, and they'd be almost a year ahead of where they are now in terms of R&D.

I can't claim to know any more than you do about why the line was shortened but it probably had something to do with money, and maybe the timing of cyberverse. Also why not directly connected, the fact that we're getting a new IDW continuity in 2019 has worked well as I can see the new creative team jumping off Siege.

Wolfman Jake wrote:I'm not sure why Hasbro was so hot and heavy to get War for Cybertron started so soon. They could have let Prime Wars run its natural course, made that much more money on ideas they already had ready to go, and then start with their brand new stuff, and they'd be almost a year ahead of where they are now in terms of R&D.

ZeroWolf wrote:I can't claim to know any more than you do about why the line was shortened but it probably had something to do with money, and maybe the timing of cyberverse. Also why not directly connected, the fact that we're getting a new IDW continuity in 2019 has worked well as I can see the new creative team jumping off Siege.

I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion that the higher ups at Hasbro ordered a back-to-basics fresh start for 2019 after The Last Knight bombed, so Power of the Primes was cut short as a result of that, and we're only still getting Cyberverse and the Bumblebee movie because they were both too far along in production to cancel without Hasbro losing even more money. Of course I have no way of proving this, it's only wild speculation.

As much as I am sad that PotP will be ending soon, the Prime Wars Trilogy brought me back to full-on toy collecting....and introduced me to toyphotography. :p

Thanks to my sis, I received the Throne of Primes -- and Optimal looks fantastic. And as bad as distro has been, I was happy to track down Bludgeon and the Prime Masters. Megatronus has been especially fun, same with Vector Prime.
The only bots left on my list now are Novastar and Punch....

I'm not as excited for Siege, but I certainly need Cog and dem Micromasters!

Love those shots bod! Shame the scale is so off in bw megs vs g1 megs

@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

ZeroWolf wrote:@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

That's my recollection too. The movie itself was the flop, in critical reviews (nothing new there), fan support (the first one fans universally disliked), and worst of all...box office gross! The toys did fine, though later waves were hard/impossible to find in the U.S. It's got to be something else that urged on Hasbro to fast-track the new War for Cybertron trilogy. I joked before that Hasbro simply got "bored" with Prime Wars, but now, that doesn't seem as too big of a stretch.

ZeroWolf wrote:Love those shots bod! Shame the scale is so off in bw megs vs g1 megs

@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

Thanks ZeroWolf! It's a good thing in the BW cartoon they explained the difference in scale between the G1ers and Beast Wars (efficiency, iirc)! ;p

But yeah, I'd prefer them to be head-to-head as well.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

That's my recollection too. The movie itself was the flop, in critical reviews (nothing new there), fan support (the first one fans universally disliked), and worst of all...box office gross! The toys did fine, though later waves were hard/impossible to find in the U.S. It's got to be something else that urged on Hasbro to fast-track the new War for Cybertron trilogy. I joked before that Hasbro simply got "bored" with Prime Wars, but now, that doesn't seem as too big of a stretch.

Thanks, knew I wasn't imagining it Yeah, if anything, the later waves of TLK were just a precursor to all the distribution problems that fans have had in places.

Times like this I wish we had contracts within hasbro, to leak notes from the meeting were they decided to switch to the year long model. The answers will be in there, and I suspect it has something to do with money

bodrock wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Love those shots bod! Shame the scale is so off in bw megs vs g1 megs

@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

Thanks ZeroWolf! It's a good thing in the BW cartoon they explained the difference in scale between the G1ers and Beast Wars (efficiency, iirc)! ;p

But yeah, I'd prefer them to be head-to-head as well.

still a cool image, and the better megs is winning

How's black opop in hand then? Will you fill his staff with prime masters? Or collect the titan masters of his enemies?

Munkky wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:I'm not sure why Hasbro was so hot and heavy to get War for Cybertron started so soon. They could have let Prime Wars run its natural course, made that much more money on ideas they already had ready to go, and then start with their brand new stuff, and they'd be almost a year ahead of where they are now in terms of R&D.

ZeroWolf wrote:I can't claim to know any more than you do about why the line was shortened but it probably had something to do with money, and maybe the timing of cyberverse. Also why not directly connected, the fact that we're getting a new IDW continuity in 2019 has worked well as I can see the new creative team jumping off Siege.

I don't know for sure, but I have a suspicion that the higher ups at Hasbro ordered a back-to-basics fresh start for 2019 after The Last Knight bombed, so Power of the Primes was cut short as a result of that, and we're only still getting Cyberverse and the Bumblebee movie because they were both too far along in production to cancel without Hasbro losing even more money. Of course I have no way of proving this, it's only wild speculation.

The higher ups said that Transformers were their best performing toys and that the film doing poorly had no effect on the toyline which sold better than Star Wars.

Think of it, that AOE Bee repaint sold out and since none of us fans cared for it, that means it was mostly bought by kids' parents. Not only does that prove how well the brand is doing in regards to toys but it also proves how little of an impact we fans have in terms of sales. Kids still move the most product and movie toys still sell well, especially Bumblebee.

ZeroWolf wrote:

bodrock wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Love those shots bod! Shame the scale is so off in bw megs vs g1 megs

@Munkky wouldn't they have started work on Siege though before they got sales data from the last knight and haven't they said that the toys performed better than the movie?

Thanks ZeroWolf! It's a good thing in the BW cartoon they explained the difference in scale between the G1ers and Beast Wars (efficiency, iirc)! ;p

But yeah, I'd prefer them to be head-to-head as well.

still a cool image, and the better megs is winning

How's black opop in hand then? Will you fill his staff with prime masters? Or collect the titan masters of his enemies?

He feels pretty good, and the paint apps look good. Not too sloppy for the sticker apps as well. He onviously doesn't feel as girthy as the original Optimal, but I really like him. I may very well have all the Primes at this point, except for the ones who came with Predaking and Punch -- I will be placing my favorites in the thing, based on their power/design.

So I don't know if anyone will be able to tell me, but how much would shipping be for the Throne of the Primes set on HasbroToyShop? Specifically if it were to be delivered to a Southwestern states?

Caelus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Skritz wrote:Now I'm no toy engineer but I think POTP could have made good use of the pre-existing engineering of CW and TR to deliver the Thirteen Primes as actual figures while minimizing the engineering cost. Now granted this would have made such an alternate POTP a very, very different line.

If we can imagine for a moment...

On the subject of what-could-have-beens for the Thirteen...

Having so many of them be deluxes would have been a big disappointment to me, not even considering the bad paint jobs. I think I'm glad we didn't get those - at least with most of them unmade that improves the odds of it happening at some point.

And it's a shame, because a true Power of the Primes line would have been pretty great, even if it used a lot of retools and redecos.

SCOUT/Minicon Sets
=> Skyfall from Combiner Wars Powerglide
=> Megatronus's Requiem Blaster from Combiner Wars Shockwave.
=> Prima's Star Saber from Armada Star Saber minicons, recolored blue.
=> Nexus's Omni Saber from Energon Star Saber minicons, recolored black.
=> Solus's hammer from a new set of minicons.

DELUXE
=> Nexus Prime Limbs - seven options to choose from, because Nexus Prime should have lots of combinations!
==> Clocker from Combiner Wars Breakdown
==> Mainspring from Combiner Wars Trailbreaker recolored blue/red
==> Pinion from Combiner Wars Swindle recolored blue/red
==> Chaindrive from Combiner Wars Nosecone recolored blue/red
==> Landquake from Combiner Wars Brawl recolored red/blue
==> Breakaway from Combiner Wars Air-Raid recolored red/blue
==> Topspin from Combiner Wars Alpha Bravo recolored red/blue
=> Various 'lesser' Primes
==> Nova Prime from Energon Rodimus
==> Zeta Prime from Reveal the Shield Scourge
==> Sentinel Prime from Combiner Wars Rook recolored orange and blue (homaging both IDW and Animated)

VOYAGER
=> Heatwave/Cannonspring from Combiner Wars Onslaught recolored blue, with Victorion's sword as the Cyber Caliber
=> Solus Prime from combiner Wars Pyra Magna, retooled with a crane instead of a ladder
=> Onyx Prime from a Heavy retool of Animorphs Visser 3
=> Amalgamous Prime from Robots In Disguise 1.0 Galvatron (with a new head)
=> Alchemist Prime from a heavy retool of Age of Extinction Hound
=> Liege Maximo from a retool of ...??? I'll admit, he's so distinctive he's hard to fit.
=> The Last Autobot from a recolor of Cybertron Vector Prime

Leader
=> Prima from a pretool of Rodimus Prime, recolored in gold (homage to G1 Primus, pre-Cybertron)
=> Megatronus Prime from a retool of Age of Extinction Megatron
=> Rodimus Prime (same as Power of the Primes)
=> The Fallen from a recolor of Megatronus Prime

'Platinum Edition' store exclusives with improved paint apps
Titans Return Alpha Trion => Alpha Trion
Cybertron Vector Prime & Safeguard with => Vector Prime & Micronus Prime

Wwhere do I begin mate...Oh, I know. Firstly, the Armada Minicon molds are worn out, as has been stated by Takara. Secondly, reusing older molds (I'd say maybe 2009 and before, if not 2012) isn't viable for Hasbro to do in a mainline. The reason that figures now are lighter, smaller, and made from worse plastic is because of a shift in the economy and in oil prices. That is partially why reissues and reuses of old molds cost so much to produce, so using a mold like Energon Rodimus couldn't really work for a modern deluxe price point position, instead probably costing as much as or more than a modern voyager figure. I agree that actual figures of the thirteen would have been nice, but at the very least some of the ideas you suggested here aren't feasible.

They cant blame it on oil prices. They have continued to go down.

Just wanted to put some facts down so we dont get into conspiracy theories:

1. TLK toyline sold well from Hasbro's perspective.
2. Transformers in General are doing well in the toy market and actually show growth
3. Hasbro has been working on Seige since early summer 2016
4. Hasbro actually reads these message boards and wants their products carried in stores

So, the main thing I get from all this is that all the higher ups want is for there to be more product and for it to go as smoothly in retail stores. Since retail stores are more likely to stock what is new AND label figures from the same line as being the same product, it would make sense that Hasbro wants to shorten lines so that retailers stock everything that comes out.

This would probably be an answer to many complaints of stores not stocking the final wave of Combiner Wars, for instance and we are just seeing the results in POTP due to the 2 year product cycle.

I really wouldnt complain about a 1 year cycle, it further helps stores not to accumulate in product they think is old which usually makes them not order the final wave. If we see Novastar at a prominant US retailer (Target, Amazon or Walmart), then we will know this strategy to have worked.

william-james88 wrote:Just wanted to put some facts down so we dont get into conspiracy theories:

1. TLK toyline sold well from Hasbro's perspective.
2. Transformers in General are doing well in the toy market and actually show growth
3. Hasbro has been working on Seige since early summer 2016
4. Hasbro actually reads these message boards and wants their products carried in stores

So, the main thing I get from all this is that all the higher ups want is for there to be more product and for it to go as smoothly in retail stores. Since retail stores are more likely to stock what is new AND label figures from the same line as being the same product, it would make sense that Hasbro wants to shorten lines so that retailers stock everything that comes out.

This would probably be an answer to many complaints of stores not stocking the final wave of Combiner Wars, for instance and we are just seeing the results in POTP due to the 2 year product cycle.

I really wouldnt complain about a 1 year cycle, it further helps stores not to accumulate in product they think is old which usually makes them not order the final wave. If we see Novastar at a prominant US retailer (Target, Amazon or Walmart), then we will know this strategy to have worked.

On the other hand, why can't retailers learn that they are wrong and that their ordering practices are their own fault? "Why accomodate when you can educate," is basically what I'm asking. I don't think stores understand at all what perennial brands are when it comes to toys, especially ones with high collector interest. It just seems like everything about retail has gotten dumber and more expensive over the past decade or so.

The action figure retail system is broken in the modern era.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Just wanted to put some facts down so we dont get into conspiracy theories:

1. TLK toyline sold well from Hasbro's perspective.
2. Transformers in General are doing well in the toy market and actually show growth
3. Hasbro has been working on Seige since early summer 2016
4. Hasbro actually reads these message boards and wants their products carried in stores

So, the main thing I get from all this is that all the higher ups want is for there to be more product and for it to go as smoothly in retail stores. Since retail stores are more likely to stock what is new AND label figures from the same line as being the same product, it would make sense that Hasbro wants to shorten lines so that retailers stock everything that comes out.

This would probably be an answer to many complaints of stores not stocking the final wave of Combiner Wars, for instance and we are just seeing the results in POTP due to the 2 year product cycle.

I really wouldnt complain about a 1 year cycle, it further helps stores not to accumulate in product they think is old which usually makes them not order the final wave. If we see Novastar at a prominant US retailer (Target, Amazon or Walmart), then we will know this strategy to have worked.

On the other hand, why can't retailers learn that they are wrong and that their ordering practices are their own fault? "Why accomodate when you can educate," is basically what I'm asking. I don't think stores understand at all what perennial brands are when it comes to toys, especially ones with high collector interest. It just seems like everything about retail has gotten dumber and more expensive over the past decade or so.

I think hasbro have worked out that this is the easiest and cheapest way to deal with the situation.

Skritz wrote:The action figure retail system is broken in the modern era.

Yep, and no matter how people try to defend it I still place the blame on Hasbro. How does the country they operate out of constantly miss out on entire waves of figures from various classes? This isn't just a Walmart distribution problem, it's a Target, Amazon, Hasbro Toy Shop, and everywhere else that sells toys online and off problem. Even when a store like BBTS or TFSource do get figures that are hard or impossible to find at B&M stores they're in very limited quantities and rarely restocked. And then stuff just randomly turns up at discount stores. It's a very defective distribution system they're using.

Back during CW I only saw the Deluxe Protectobots once at a Walmart and never again, I never saw Hot Spot anywhere (and still don't have one). The opposite was true for the Combaticons, I never saw the Deluxe figures in stores (until I saw a few at T.J.Maxx), but did see Onslaught at a Walmart once. I never saw either of these teams at Target at all. It was basically just Deluxe waves 1, 2, 4, and 6 that were easy to get. I had passed on the wave 4 Autobots because I didn't want them at the time (I've since changed my mind and might end up with the UW version) and passed on wave 6 because I never found Sky Lynx (not even at T.J.Maxx) so I ended up going with UW on that set. I ended up missing a lot of figures because of the crazy distribution and in some cases going with Takara Tomy's version as a result. (OK, I only "had" to do it with the Lynxmaster set, the Protectobots are the only really glaring gap in my collection and the Mandarake prices are way better than the aftermarket Hasbro price.)

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Skritz wrote:The action figure retail system is broken in the modern era.

Yep, and no matter how people try to defend it I still place the blame on Hasbro. How does the country they operate out of constantly miss out on entire waves of figures from various classes? This isn't just a Walmart distribution problem, it's a Target, Amazon, Hasbro Toy Shop, and everywhere else that sells toys online and off problem. Even when a store like BBTS or TFSource do get figures that are hard or impossible to find at B&M stores they're in very limited quantities and rarely restocked. And then stuff just randomly turns up at discount stores. It's a very defective distribution system they're using.

Back during CW I only saw the Deluxe Protectobots once at a Walmart and never again, I never saw Hot Spot anywhere (and still don't have one). The opposite was true for the Combaticons, I never saw the Deluxe figures in stores (until I saw a few at T.J.Maxx), but did see Onslaught at a Walmart once. I never saw either of these teams at Target at all. It was basically just Deluxe waves 1, 2, 4, and 6 that were easy to get. I had passed on the wave 4 Autobots because I didn't want them at the time (I've since changed my mind and might end up with the UW version) and passed on wave 6 because I never found Sky Lynx (not even at T.J.Maxx) so I ended up going with UW on that set. I ended up missing a lot of figures because of the crazy distribution and in some cases going with Takara Tomy's version as a result. (OK, I only "had" to do it with the Lynxmaster set, the Protectobots are the only really glaring gap in my collection and the Mandarake prices are way better than the aftermarket Hasbro price.)

Emerje

Thing is there's an article on tfwiki that argues the exact opposite. Does this mean it's possible that the truth is in the middle of these views and that everyone has their share of the blame.

Am I the only one who got a misassembled Throne Primal ?

From the first day, I noticed he was not able to move his left shoulder up completely.
No issue on right shoulder, neither on my 'regular' potp Optimal Optimus.



So despite my broken hand, I decided to unassemble him.

Not complicated to do, but it took me time to find the issue, I was desesperately looking for somthing blocking, some sprue etc.

Then looking very very closely the articulation, I finally found it.




Do you see it ?

Yes, it's not 100% symetrical. The peg of the articulation is not centered. If you want the shoulder to operate normally, you need to have it in the position of my picture, with the circle axe on top.

Now it's working fine.



I felt it was necessary to share this, seeing how subtle it is, I'm sure there's plently of misassembled Primals in the wild. How is yours ?

Can anyone give me an estimate as to how much the Throne of the Primes set weighs in pounds? I'm trying to calculate shipping from HTS.

Decepticon Stryker wrote:Can anyone give me an estimate as to how much the Throne of the Primes set weighs in pounds? I'm trying to calculate shipping from HTS.

Just start an order for potp rodimus unicronus, whi is also leader class. You will get full shipping cost before the end if checkout

Hopefully the Takara version of the Throne won't suffer from QC issue. That's basically my first Japanese import for a Transformers ever. Probably the last one for a long, long time too given that Hasbro and Takara merged the brand.

I want to give a quick thanks for putting up with me and all my questions, but I have just one last thing to ask: What specific time would the SDCC exclusives be made available? Will I have to get up at midnight to get them?