Side note, my main supplier has mentioned to me while discussing the flood of stuff supposedly released today/yesterday (the 11th depending on where you are) that there is some conflicting information on release dates. One distributor is apparantly saying several items, like Classics, will be out NOW. This is probably the same source that this information has filtered down from across the board.

The others, however, are holding that the items that appear to have been "pushed up" are still on their original scheduling for next year.

Guess we'll know who's right soon enough. However, if Classics and the others actually had been pushed up to today, I expect we'd already have a "Classics Japan, etc, is out!" thread, with pics from someone in Japan, as we generally do when a release happens.

 

Thanks Sidecutter, now time to hit the stores like a stalker...

 

That's a good point. We would've almost certainly seen some sightings pics by now, to say nothing of the Figure King, etc. pics that almost always precede those.

 

It makes no sense that Fantofan at the very least hasn't released news about this. In fact, their front page has the latest news item on 30 Oct. Everything ok over there?

 

I got my Soundwave from them right on time, so I think they're just a little slow on the news update end.

 

Well, it's past noon EST, which makes it a good solid 1 or 2am on the morning of the 12th in Japan. Nothing posted regarding the toys having actually been released on the questionable pushed-forward schedule.

I'm thinking someone screwed up bad. I wonder if the distribution company that made the error is named Lucy. Because they got some 'splainin to do.

*sits back and waits to make sure they didn't maybe push to the 12th instead, and for the outrage from people who had to cancel orders to accomodate their situations due to the supposed early release*

 

*ANGER*BURNING*

EDIT: Due to the fact that preorders either get bumped up to a time when I can't afford them, or pushed back month after month without any explanation, I think I'm done with pre-orders. Yeah, I know, I'll never get any of the things I want again at non-eBay prices, but damn it sometimes I like to have some sort handle on where my money is going to be going and when. I just went and cancelled the rest of the items I had on pre-order with BBTS and shipped mah loot too. I needed a buying break anyway.

No matter whose fault this ends up being, I either don't want to support Takara/Tomy for bumping up ship dates without warning (from almost four months to two weeks is a pretty major bump) or I don't want to support BBTS for spreading mis-information. Buying Transformers has just gotten way too messy over the past few months as it is. The supposed peace of mind the pre-order process is supposed to give you is now gone too. It would be nice if there were some non-frustrating way to secure Transformers now, but I think those days are long-gone at this point.

 

Whew. I feel for all the folks who had to cancel their pre-orders, though. Major suckage there.

It would've been very cool to get Sky Lynx early, though.

 

Woaaaah. hang on, let's drop the blame where it belongs.

This appears to be a clear error on the part of a distributor, for one, not TakaraTOMY. They didn't change the release date (so it seems), the distributor made a mistake and put that info forward. a Major distributor at that. I would be willing to bet that BBTS, TFSource, myself, and A3&U (didn't they also get this same news, I believe) all are geting product from this same source. None of us have any reason to *doubt* this source either, though maybe there should be some now... My own supplier used their info as well, but if I hadn't poked into it, I'd never have known that they were also getting conflicting information from a different distributor, as we got closer to the supposedly moved release date. But none of us stores have any control over the release dates. The upside is, when it is released, if you have a pre-order, you WILL (most likely) get the item.

 

The downside is that there's no way I'm holding onto a pre-order that gets bumped up by almost three and a half months to the most money-tight time of year for me and a great number of fans. And I don't personally care who the blame lies with, as it goes to someone in the supply chain. And as far as I'm concerned, this year, the entire supply chain from manufacturer all the way down to retail outlet is culpable. I'm tired of chasing my tail on the items I want and never being able to turn them up, so I pre-order. I pre-order, and get jerked back and forth on release dates until I don't know which way is up.

 

That's why you pay your pre-orders when placing the order - no need to worry about release dates getting bumped backwards  

Though if they bump them *forward*...well, that changes nothing either, really. For example, I ordered Art Asylum's TOS Enterprise and Enterprise-E on last year's October as the former was meant to come out at the end of the month, which it didn't; I wouldn't have bothered to contact the online retailer to break up the order if it wasn't for the Enterprise-E which I had no desire to wait on.

 

I just can't think of this as TakTom's fault. If they bumped up the release date themselves there'd have been a havoc among Japanese retailers.

AFAIK eHobby is the earliest to put up preorders among major Japanese online shops (not including Maruzen toys because they are wholesellers) with reliable release date. (Not surprising as they are kind of insiders.) So I am not going to worry about those toys until eHobby announces their preorders. No way they'll be suddenly "out", I am sure TakTom wants to test the water with preoder numbers from eHobby, amazon, TRU etc.

Can't you order the toys you cancelled again?  

 

He told me that lack of interest in the site and a busy work schedule doesn't give him enough reason to upload scans - I imagine when big releases or preorders come up he will update for those though.

Randy

 

HLJ Is still accepting preorders for the Encores and Classics.

I see. Good to know it's not serious.

 

Sure, either when I'm busted (at least as far as toy money), or when they're sold out completely across the board.

See, this is just one of the many ways I've felt the ball has been dropped this year for this brand. Heck, it hasn't even been this year alone. All the way back to the early Alternators I've been having to struggle and fight and bang my head against the wall to come up with the few figures I want to purchase and it's just not worth it anymore.

And no, I'm not paying up-front for toys that may or may not ever come out. Been down that path as well.

I'm done buying Transformers for a good long while. It's not just this, but this held the nail to the lid while the AFA direct deal drove it home.

 

I know my answer niow Stockade's gone sold out

 

The Allspark is reporting that JRS toyworld says the release date changes for Sky Linx and Classics was a mistake and they are still coming next year. Thank God cause I am broke.

 

That's correct. Apparantly other distributors never changed the date, only one (seemingly major) distributor that made a mistake.

 

Why I haven't bought anything from BBTS in over a year.

 

I'd love me G1ish Classics Megs and Astrotrain. Can't see a whole lot of improvement with the other color schemes, but I could be wrong.

But I need to see some pics before I justify the paying the prices I've see for molds I already have, no matter how great they are and how cool their colors might be.