Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Wave 2 Never to Reach EU Retail

That's absolutely ridiculous. Especially the way they split the limbs between waves. UKers you have my sympathy (actually most of the stuff hasn't shown up here either, f'in Hasbro... I gotta buy everything online now).

So the long and short of it is this:

"The total amount of figures sold has reached the required amount for shipping new stock too late to be eligible for Wave 2. Therefore, Europe will get the later Wave 3 instead."

If that's the case, it proves assortments available for immediate order by stores gets rotated every few months, even if nothing gets ordered. The boat for Wave 2 has sailed for Europe it seems.

If it's any consolation I'm in indiana and never saw wave 1...

So it's OK for the toy shops to clog up the shelves with aweful Bayformer figures, but not the figures the fans want! What bunch of dingoes kidneys!

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:So the long and short of it is this:

"The total amount of figures sold has reached the required amount for shipping new stock too late to be eligible for Wave 2. Therefore, Europe will get the later Wave 3 instead."

If that's the case, it proves assortments available for immediate order by stores gets rotated every few months, even if nothing gets ordered. The boat for Wave 2 has sailed for Europe it seems.

I feel so bad for you guys! I wont complain as much in Canada anymore.

Alessandro, from Italy here.

First no Generations figures, than no AoE figures, then Wave 1 CW to give us hope and now this?

Hasbro...

GO "F" YOURSELF!

Well I guess I shouldn't complain too much about Wave3 not being available en masse in the US quite yet. No wave2 in the EU at all? Because they didn't meet 'quantity requirements'?

Does that mean wave 1 didn't sell enough units in the EU and they're writing them off as not worth it? Or that they didn't manufacture enough units so they have to cut off some markets that don't seem to be doing as well?

I thought the CW line was selling pretty well - hard to fathom it NOT selling in other places like the EU. It's certainly hard to find in stores, although my local wal-mart seems to have a monopoly on all the Wave1 Voyagers. Every new shipment on the shelf is another clutch of Silverbolts and Optimuses.....

The local TRU has about 10 wave 2 CW figures on the shelf - but I think that's because TRU has started charging $19.99 per deluxe. It's likely scaring off the casual buyer. Really, $20 smackers for one deluxe? May as well order from BBTS....

Que a gargantuan violin.

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:So the long and short of it is this:

"The total amount of figures sold has reached the required amount for shipping new stock too late to be eligible for Wave 2. Therefore, Europe will get the later Wave 3 instead."

If that's the case, it proves assortments available for immediate order by stores gets rotated every few months, even if nothing gets ordered. The boat for Wave 2 has sailed for Europe it seems.

I feel so bad for you guys! I wont complain as much in Canada anymore.

And the worst thing is that it has happened before. This is what happened in The Netherlands:

1) During Prime Robots in Disguise, the figure assortment was... wonky. It did not follow the figure order at all, leading me to believe that some assortments were skipped with some lucky carryovers (like a wave 2 figure in a wave 3 case) appearing later than planned. We did get all Deluxes eventually, either as first release or imported backstock, and almost missed Voyager Starscream.
2) Again during Prime, Beast Hunters this time, Deluxe Wave 2 was skipped entirely, going straight to Wave 3 with Skystalker, Ratchet and Dreadwing. Starscream was carried over into later waves, but Shockwave, Ripclaw (I'm so sad! ), Smokescreen and Bulkhead never made it here.
3) Further back during Energon, Hasbro just plain gave up. The only completed combiner was Superion Maximus, Bruticus Maximus was skipped entirely, and Constructicon Maximus, well... the first two limbs (Duststorm and Sledge) were released, the last two (Bonecrusher and Wideload) were at the very end of the line... Yeah...

So yeah, I'm not that surprised with the skip.

Shockwave7 wrote:Well I guess I shouldn't complain too much about Wave3 not being available en masse in the US quite yet. No wave2 in the EU at all? Because they didn't meet 'quantity requirements'?

Does that mean wave 1 didn't sell enough units in the EU and they're writing them off as not worth it? Or that they didn't manufacture enough units so they have to cut off some markets that don't seem to be doing as well?

I thought the CW line was selling pretty well - hard to fathom it NOT selling in other places like the EU. It's certainly hard to find in stores, although my local wal-mart seems to have a monopoly on all the Wave1 Voyagers. Every new shipment on the shelf is another clutch of Silverbolts and Optimuses.....

Here we still have wave 1 all over the place, depending on how much space a store has set aside: an Intertoys near the Dam Square in Amsterdam had an entire endcap of CW! It's the price that turns most people off: you're practically paying the price of a US Voyager for a simple Deluxe!

Here we're cluttered with wave 1 from Legion to Voyager (no leader, obviously...) in just some store chains and some stray cats in normal shops, but they're not advertised in any way... no TV spots, no sheets or ads in magazines, nothing.

And since Hasbro is a d**k at distribution, and has been for years since ROTF, collectors go straight to BBTS or RK and a give good middle finger at Hasbro Italy which by the way sells a 9 $ toy for 12 € (around 13,50 $).

But we got almost all Prime figures (at crazy prices, I paid Voyager 1 Predaking 42 €, 45 $)

Hey wait a sec. Does this mean that the wave 2 deluxe cards are now Canada exclusive? And is Canada the only one to get the international versions now? Who else could have had them, Russia? South Africa? Because I know HongKong gets the comics

WHAT?! I'm not even IN the EU and I know that's unfair and wrong! What the Hell, Hasbro? The European fanbase kept G1 alive longer than the US, dammit, you don't pull crap like this on them!

it's not hasbro's fault that stores didn't order wave 2

What a freakin' kick in the pants.
Big business = broken dreams.
&

Heckfire wrote:WHAT?! I'm not even IN the EU and I know that's unfair and wrong! What the Hell, Hasbro? The European fanbase kept G1 alive longer than the US, dammit, you don't pull crap like this on them!

Remember back in G1 when Perceptor was not sold in the UK? deja vu again

Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

usa is only now starting to get wave 2

Really disappointed by this. I've been looking forward to buying these guys in the stores. As much as I can easily buy them off the online UK retailers like Kapow and Masterforce (as I like to support them too), I do enjoy hunting them down in my local stores. I tend to save my online purchases for exclusives and 3rd Party figures that I can't get in the shops.

I guess I'll have to commit to buying this wave online then, or else Drag Strip is going to be a very lonely Stunticon and Superion will continue to be missing a left leg.

So.... If anyone with the extra cash can, think about grabbing an extra wave 2 figure and helping out a mate across the pond by selling without mark-up.
They shouldn't have to suffer for poor ordering by their retailers.

megatronus wrote:Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

pretty much everyone crapped on menasor. the retailers could have felt the same way or were swayed by everyone saying menasor sucks.

hinomars19 wrote:

megatronus wrote:Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

Editor wrote:
Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

Agreed with every new series in oz we find Wave 1 will choke up store shelves for ages with overstock and some waves will be skipped. With Combiner Wars and RID we seem to be lucky so far as the shops aren't ordering as much and the transformer displays are smaller so they seem to have learned from all the Wave 1 overstocks of the past few years. Does mean a lot of empty shelves but at least restocks are normally something new now.

Editor wrote:

hinomars19 wrote:

megatronus wrote:Hold up - people are seriously railing against Hasbro for this? It sounds like retailers, salespeople or other such folks, whether associated with Hasbro or not, couldn't muster enough demand for the figures. If there's no demand, do people expect Hasbro to make an unwise business decision?

Also, I'm still in NYC, and still haven't seen anything wave 2. In fact, a couple wave 3 Legends figures have popped up. So... it's not like I'm in a different boat.

If it was a problem of lack of demand they wouldn't be planning on sending us wave 3 now, would they?

Hot spot has already been spotted in a few Smyths stores, I think. And him and Cyclonus are on their online store. Plus this reply from Hasbro confirms wave 3 is on it's way. I don't know who to blame, but it's business dickery keeping these figures off of our (and apparently your) shelves, not our lack of interest in them.

As always.

Time to pay stupid online prices from ebay then. Since Motormaster and maybe others sold out at places like Kapow in what seemed like seconds from the time they were listed simply because I don't have a bank balance to buy them at the case load the minute the pre-order comes up. As always.

I enjoyed leisurely collecting wave 1 at my own pace and budget from stores...

Sorry but yes, this is retailers likely over ordering on wave 1 or lines just before it, looking at their inventory reports and deciding to skip a selection. It happens all the time, but in many cases it isn't noticed because wave allotments many times will have duplications.

The average buyer doesn't care what characters are in there, or that these are designed to be used together, that isn't their job.

And if as a territory not enough buyers request a wave then Hasbro won't release it.

This isn't a conspiracy, or malicious intent. Its supply &demand business practice.

I know there is no conspiracy and what not, but what most people call 'business practice' I call 'business dickery'! It surprises me how little care Hasbro has for it's product-I know it's not the retailer's job to know or care what they carry (though, you'd think it should be...) but why bother making product if you don't see it given care and attention? Mind you, I'm no expert but I read enough here-it worries me how little control any company has on distribution; being at the hand of retailers just seems...bah why bother. It's business. who gives 2 hoots right? It's what the rules say so blah blah blah...
Not like it matters. Hasbro will still have phantom money in it's pockets to crank out more products that half of us won't be allowed to buy and the cycle just keeps going whilst we let the wind blow by us.

What a funny ol' world.
Cobotron said it best.

hinomars19 wrote:I know there is no conspiracy and what not, but what most people call 'business practice' I call 'business dickery'! It surprises me how little care Hasbro has for it's product-I know it's not the retailer's job to know or care what they carry (though, you'd think it should be...) but why bother making product if you don't see it given care and attention? Mind you, I'm no expert but I read enough here-it worries me how little control any company has on distribution; being at the hand of retailers just seems...bah why bother. It's business. who gives 2 hoots right? It's what the rules say so blah blah blah...
Not like it matters. Hasbro will still have phantom money in it's pockets to crank out more products that half of us won't be allowed to buy and the cycle just keeps going whilst we let the wind blow by us.

What a funny ol' world.
Cobotron said it best.

Huh?

How many individual stores does Hasbro provide product for in the world? How would they even do as some here are suggesting and not go bankrupt? Realistically, as long as Hasbro sells product (not individual waves) to retail, they do business. Sure, it's highly inconvenient for us collectors. But, it's not a big deal to most who buy the products.

william-james88 wrote:Hey wait a sec. Does this mean that the wave 2 deluxe cards are now Canada exclusive? And is Canada the only one to get the international versions now? Who else could have had them, Russia? South Africa? Because I know HongKong gets the comics

Not quite: here in Brazil we've already gotten the Wave 2 of deluxes with the cards (Air Raid and the stuntucons, sans Dragstrip obviously) about two months ago, along with Wave 1 of voyagers (Optimus and Silverbolt; already have my "Superion" with three stunticon limbs ), legends (Bombshell, Powerglide, Thundercracker and Windcharger) and leaders (Both megatrons). Damn, even Platinum inseticons and Blitzwing/Astrotrain and YOTG Optimus and Soundwave are here, but no comics for us...

Meanwhile at Walmart, wave two came in and within the month was marked down for clearance by %50. Makes me doubt that I'll see wave 3.

I do not know if it has been said yet, but I found the wave 1 combiner wars deluxes with comics in my Punxsutawney Walmart over the weekend. No pictures as I cannot upload anything to hear mobily, but I did see them, so they are in the US.

Soooooo.....has anyone yet seen Wave 1 with comics? Just curious....

Agamemnon wrote:Soooooo.....has anyone yet seen Wave 1 with comics? Just curious....

Yes! I saw Drag Strip with his comic today at a TRU. I asked the folks in the Action Figures department, and they said they were getting more stock in tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get all 4 wave 1 figures with the comic pack in on my way to work tomorrow.

Agamemnon wrote:Soooooo.....has anyone yet seen Wave 1 with comics? Just curious....

I did yes. sorry in my original post I forgot to say "Comics" lol. But yes, they are at walmarts now

Quickslinger and Brake-neck are back in stock on Amazon

KillerOh wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Hey wait a sec. Does this mean that the wave 2 deluxe cards are now Canada exclusive? And is Canada the only one to get the international versions now? Who else could have had them, Russia? South Africa? Because I know HongKong gets the comics

Not quite: here in Brazil we've already gotten the Wave 2 of deluxes with the cards (Air Raid and the stuntucons, sans Dragstrip obviously) about two months ago, along with Wave 1 of voyagers (Optimus and Silverbolt; already have my "Superion" with three stunticon limbs ), legends (Bombshell, Powerglide, Thundercracker and Windcharger) and leaders (Both megatrons). Damn, even Platinum inseticons and Blitzwing/Astrotrain and YOTG Optimus and Soundwave are here, but no comics for us...

Ah, thanks! So I that means the south west of the world gets the international packages too. And while you may preffer the comics, a lot preffer the cards. People who bought wave 1 were stuck getting the cards at first, but now that wave 2 has comics, their wave 1 card set wont be complete. And plus, the comics are just reprints that arent always in perfect relation to the toy. And plus, every other class (legends, voyager and leader) come with cards, so there is an obvious gap for anyone who might care about them. From what I have read, more would have preferred just getting the cards.

For the same price, I'd prefer the comics. Same reason why I'd prefer the Hasbro Generations versions over the Takara TG series. Though I do feel gypped that I bought all of Wave 1 with cards without any idea that Wave 1 was supposed to have comics. And now it seems only Dragstrip gets reissued with a comic.

I think the real question for European fans, and any in other underserved markets, is how to teach retailers NOT to over order the first wave of a toy line and pace themselves to make sure they can offer the full variety of products over the course of a year. Likewise, Hasbro probably needs a better distribution strategy. Maybe have at LEAST two assortments ready to launch at any one time and allocate them accordingly when stores make their initial orders, since the stores don't seem to care to do that themselves. Think of how much more impressive it would be to see a display of a new line of Transformers products with EIGHT different characters in a size class instead of just four (or FOUR vs. two for Voyagers and Leaders). After the initial shipments, see what characters sell and which linger and plan out the end of the year accordingly for revision waves.

My sympathies for you UK CW collectors. I'm still hurting from the ONE chain that actually did PROPER AoE Deluxes/Voyagers in the UK, Toys R Us, not getting Hound or Galvatron in.

peaces wrote:it's not hasbro's fault that stores didn't order wave 2

This... right here!

It's also the reason why so many of us on this side of the pond are being screwed out of various waves here as well. The stores don't give a damn, they are just ordering bits and pieces to fill shelf space and those of us hoping to fill in gaps in the collection are forced to drive miles/kilometers out of our way on a mad gamble that MAYBE the one store out in the boondocks that we called up on the phone actually knew what the hell they were talking about and had the figures we were looking for. 9 times out of 10 that gamble doesn't pan out and we've wasted time and gas in the attempt and that too is not Hasbros fault but the fault of the stores.
It is rare that I will defend Hasbro on anything, and what has happened to the fans in the UK sucks on every level, but this is one of the few times where Hasbro isn't to blame.
I know it is no consolation to you folks but many of us here in the states are in a similar situation with locating figures but I'm sure there are many on this site that would be willing to help you guys and gals out and snag what you need and ship it along, probably for a cheaper rate than what the online stores can do it for. This is one instance where the fan community can band together and help each other out.

No real big deal, all of wave 2 is available online at less than UK retailers sold wave 1. A bit annoying but that's all

Allenspurs wrote:No real big deal, all of wave 2 is available online at less than UK retailers sold wave 1. A bit annoying but that's all

Really?!?!

And which of these online retailers actually has any stock of any of the figures?

I hate when I am right, but I called this a couple of months back when the pre release listings on The Entertainers website for wave 2 vanished.

I've picked up a MotorMaster so far but paid £36 (about $55) for him. I grabbed Brake Neck and Quickslinger off of Kapow as soon as they were available, but completing Menasor and Superion is now at best going to be irritating and at worse, expensive.

I have seen the wave 2 figs on eBay for about £75 ($115) for the 4, if I want to risk importing from China. Blackjack on the other hand... Cheapest I have seen him for it about £17 ($27).

I don't blame Hasbro. But I do think they need to adjust their rationale with some of this. If sales don't justify releasing a wave immediately, then hold it off, don't skip it. I gave up with AoE because nothing appeared over here that I actually wanted - I really wanted Hound but now I just don't care.

So yeah, if anyone fancies picking me up a complete set of Wave 2 Deluxes and Legends and send them UK way...

Oddimus Prime wrote:

Allenspurs wrote:No real big deal, all of wave 2 is available online at less than UK retailers sold wave 1. A bit annoying but that's all

Really?!?!

And which of these online retailers actually has any stock of any of the figures?

I hate when I am right, but I called this a couple of months back when the pre release listings on The Entertainers website for wave 2 vanished.

I've picked up a MotorMaster so far but paid £36 (about $55) for him. I grabbed Brake Neck and Quickslinger off of Kapow as soon as they were available, but completing Menasor and Superion is now at best going to be irritating and at worse, expensive.

I have seen the wave 2 figs on eBay for about £75 ($115) for the 4, if I want to risk importing from China. Blackjack on the other hand... Cheapest I have seen him for it about £17 ($27).

I don't blame Hasbro. But I do think they need to adjust their rationale with some of this. If sales don't justify releasing a wave immediately, then hold it off, don't skip it. I gave up with AoE because nothing appeared over here that I actually wanted - I really wanted Hound but now I just don't care.

So yeah, if anyone fancies picking me up a complete set of Wave 2 Deluxes and Legends and send them UK way...

http://masterforce.co.uk/index.php/cPath/1_72

There's one for a start.

Tey typing "Transformers combiner wars wave 2" in Google you will be amazed

http://masterforce.co.uk/index.php/cPath/1_72

There's one for a start.

Tey typing "Transformers combiner wars wave 2" in Google you will be amazed

You'll forgive me if my faith in anyone getting a pre order in of Wave 2 has been somewhat shake! Also no Air Raid on Masterforce

But cheers dude. I had checked them out before, perhaps the lack of ability to have any instant purchase is putting me off. Like many others I use online retail mostly for exclusives as part of my addiction is actually going to shops to find figures.

To the best of my understanding, here's what happened with the European stores.

They ordered a bunch of CW at the beginning. At that time, wave 1 was shipping out.
That stuck around for a long time.
Hasbro switched to offering wave 2 cases for order, but no orders came in from european markets because the retailers were still dredging through their wave 1 stuff.
When the retailers finally got rid of enough wave 1 stuff to order more CW toys, they put in an order, and by this point Hasbro was selling wave 3 cases.

I don't think Hasbro offers specifically wave 1, 2, 3, etc cases as a choice, they just switch periodically and if a store misses it, oh well. I may be wrong.

This now leaves me with a Dilemma.


In order for my purchases to count towards UK/EU stock triggers, I need to buy in store.

That means I should stop pre-ordering online at Kapow or TFExpress, and start going out on the hunt.

But then if I don't preorder a wave, I end up potentially missing out OR having to pay scalper prices to catch up.

It's a bit of a catch 22.






Anyway. So begins the great Air Raid shortage of 2015.

This is already happening. Scalpers are rubbing their hands.

I'm glad I could bring this to everyone's attention, (yup davepolwarth is me, I just don't sign in here too often) my friend has suggested that we all get pitchforks and torches and march on hasbro UK. I'm reasonably sure he was kidding.....i think!

There we go again.

I knew it. I just knew it.

MarkNL wrote:There we go again.

I knew it. I just knew it.

When is this even different? This is common since... DOTM? A while anyway. I'm still amazed wave 1 showed up at all. But if you missed out on wave 2, you should have pre ordered at Archonia. I got all I wanted at retail price.

primarch1 wrote:I'm glad I could bring this to everyone's attention, (yup davepolwarth is me, I just don't sign in here too often) my friend has suggested that we all get pitchforks and torches and march on hasbro UK. I'm reasonably sure he was kidding.....i think!

Thank you, indeed, for forwarding the information! It's a shame this happens often enough, but at least we have confirmation it is, I suppose.

MemphisR56 wrote:Anyway. So begins the great Air Raid shortage of 2015.

This is already happening. Scalpers are rubbing their hands.

I wonder if its worth throwing some cash at Forbidden Planet or would I just be wasting my time?

I'm just going to wait for Auto Assembly, to be honest.
Had several bad experience with Forbidden Planet, and would rather give my money to an actual retailer or a comic book shop, rather than them.