There's been so much rant about short-packing lately I'm wondering what are examples of when shortpacking was the ONLY reason for a figure being ultimately hard to get. I'd like to keep this to times when it was just shortpacking and not other reasons. Reasons I'm looking for 1) Shortpacked - There was only one to a case. I wouldn't consider two to a case of eight shortpacking but everyone is free to express their own opinion. 2) Scalper - Scalping of shortpacked item is the natural order of things so this is okay. Reasons I'm trying to avoid 1) Distribution - If the entire wave(s) was rare in only specific areas it doesn't apply. This includes you Europe. . . 2) End-of-line - If the entire wave(s) was rare due to line cancellation then shortpacking is only part of the reason. 3) Exclusivity/Limited Run 4) Foreign import (i.e. TakaraTomy) 5) Overpacking - it can be argued that overpacking of some wave slows down the entire line which results in the whole line suffering and shortpacked items becoming end-of-line waves being harder to find. Since there's no solid proof let's avoid this topic for now. 6) Timing - just because it's hard to get right away doesn't mean that it ended up being hard to get. I'm looking for ultimately hard-to-get.
Following the Transformers line for over a decade, very RARELY has "shortpacking" alone been the culprit in something being hard to get, it is almost ALWAYS a result of popularity, distribution (ie, one area has a bunch of a prior wave and skips one) and over packing in some cases. About the only two examples I can think of are from Energon: Beachcomber (a Cliffjumper repaint no one gave a crap about until 6 months later when they realized "OMG, he's so RARE") and the Dinobots. Both shipped one per case, in one wave, right before Christmas, and the line's second to last assortment
Is it popular because lots of people want it, or is it popular because it is shortpacked? If Hasbro knew EXACTLY what would or would not be popular, then they wouldn't shortpack it (they DO like money).
^ It's usually somewhere in between. You could put a repainted Armada Sideswipe one out of every 100 figures and he'd probably still shelf warm. It's a business paradox but even though Hasbro can't predict what will be popular it's is the job of whichever team makes the case assortments and to do exactly that. That's why I'm wondering how often the shortpacking actually becomes a real issue.
This is a good example. 4x Bumblebee 2x Arcee 1x Jazz 1x Space Case While I had no problem finding Space Case since I live in a metropolitan area I've heard it was hell for others. Another factor was that the case was released pretty earlier in the line so that even the Jazz, Arcees, and suprisingly this Bumblebee didn't stick around for long in my area.
i haunted the target stores around here....saw tons of the other target exclusives but saw space case...had to get mine off ebay.
I have a MOSC Space Case available for sale or trade if anyone's still in need. Check my b/s/t thread linked in my signature. Keeping on thread topic though...in the realm of G.I. Joe at least...a figure that's teasing a lot of zealous collectors currently is Renegades Stormshadow. He's a figure that's packed one to a case assortment and a case that was largely skipped over by most retailers making him a particularly difficult find in the wild.
G1 Skids in the original run. According to the Wiki, only one was included per two cases. Skids (G1) - Transformers Wiki
What about anything from Energon's Case Assortment 1.5? Or whatever it was called, you know, Energon Ultra Magnus and Treadbolt and stuff. Or am I thinking of a different reason for why those two were here and vanished off shelves in what felt like two days tops.
What happened with Vehicon or Junkheap then? Because those were a solid given to NOT shortpack? To me they always shortpack the one's people would troopbuild with or have a valid reason to buy more than one of. Scourge, for example also. In thirty years, they still haven't "got it".
LOL, every character that wasn't He-man or Skeletor in the 2003 He-man line? Seriously, for a masterclass of 'How to destroy a toy line which has everything going for it by shortpacking' just look at what Mattel did. Compared to that, well, TF's have it good.
1) By definition, Junkheap was not shortpacked. Junkheap x2 Sky Shadow x2 Wheeljack x2 (repeat) Kup x1 (repeat) Warpath x1 (repeat) 2) Scourge was never really that hard to find. 3) Vehicons haven't even come out yet. Only six months to a year from now can we really judge if they didn't "get it".
I remember Energon Ultra Magnus being extremely hard to find back in the day, probably because he was available in much greater numbers in Europe than the US. While two pieces per character in a case of eight isn't really shortpacking, you have to argue on what the rest of the case is. If half the case is being occupied by a character who had the same figure in previous waves, then yes, even the likes of Wheeljack and Cliffjumper look shortpacked next to Bumblebee in RID wave one. RID Soundwave IS shortpacked and was very hard to find because, theoretically, for a new Soundwave to appear on the shelf, the other 7 figures had to be sold, which is a tad difficult when three of them are Bumblebee.
