I've been checking a lot of stores in my area and have noticed alternators are the only transformers none of the stores have. I'm wondering what the deal is. Anyone know? Are these especially hard to come by even if they're newly released?

 

The Alternators line effectively ended in 2007.

 

Yeah, no line lasts forever.

You can still find alternators on ebay and online stores (not mass retail online stores) like TFsource and BBTS.

They will be expensive.

 

Hasbro Toy Shop had the last of the alternators (Rodimus). Walmart had the last of the in store alternators in 2007 (Rumble and Ravage).
Please check Unicron.com for releases by year.

 

great site. it should be helpful. thanks.

 

i'm not sure why i line so seemingly good would end  

 

Poor sales. it was a line targeted at collectors and there weren't and likely still aren't enough TF collectors to support a line primarily targeted at collectors.

 

This will probably help too, considering how many times they reused molds in the Alternators line...

the Transformers wiki: Alternators

 

sega, thanks for the link.

 

They didn't so much cancel Binaltech as shrink it and turn it into Alternity.

Now Alternity is more or less finished - I'd not be surprised to see something else similar appear in the next year or 3.

 

Stores near me stopped carrying them a good year before the line ended. Pretty sure Mirage, Ravage, Rumble, and Prime were never available in my city.

 

If you get lucky, you can find them in stores....
BUT IT HAS TO BE A STORE THAT CARRIES OLD STUFF!
Like Marshall, Kmart, TJ Maxx, and so on!

Its a 90% chance you will not find them in store.... I suggest Ebay!
=)

 

Look into the Human Alliance line instead. It's the spiritual successor to Alternators and is still available at retail.

 

While Alternity is a successor to Binaltech, Binaltech ended. Binaltech did have a cancellation after Skids, due to poor sales. It had two attempts of revitalization with Binaltech Asterisk and Kiss Players. BT-17 and BT-18 were released as a resurrection of sorts, then TakaraTOMY released the last four molds of Binaltech. Alternity then replaced Binaltech as the "licensed vehicle" Transformer line, though taking some story cues from Binaltech.

 

Amen, bruddah.
it's been so long ago since i bought my Hound in a Walmart that i can't recall when i got it.

i am glad i got it.
my Wheeljack? dayum, i paid a lot for it (imo, anyway) and though awesomesauce, i am terrified to transform it.

i don't see how the line could have lasted being sold in walmart stores.

they were great- like Alternity, just really a niche product.
I am grateful for what we got and hope i can add a few more to my shelf in the near future.

 

I still remember seeing the first photos of Smokescreen and the MP Convoy proto. I also remember being so excited to own Alternators Smokescreen!

 

Binaltech had lots of toys that never happened. Black Widow (Blackarachnia) was one, a recolored Decepticharge. She would have been one of Unicron's heralds in story and would have been the Beast Wars Blackarachnia, abducted from her own time by Unicron.

There was also Ginrai, who was the original planned BT release of the Optimus mold. The Binaltech Asterisk line would have featured Black Convoy as its fourth release. Story wise Ginrai would have jumped back from a future era, and played a similar role in the story to "The Protector". It's been mentioned that the release after him would have been Hot Rodimus. There were no plans to my knowledge for Mirage to be released in Binaltech. There were hints built into what little is left of the Rodimus story - built into the Wonderfest Black Convoy story chapter - that leave hooks for a potential BT Megatron though - which would have been the BT release of the aborted Alternators Cadillac.


Also it is worth noting that while the Alternity story is completed, that continuity will continue. First, the E-Hobby United sets will explain the "sad tragic fate" alluded to for the Quintessons. Second, and far more conjecture on my side - the Masterpieces are considered by the writer as an extension of the Binaltech universe, as evidenced by Masterpiece Grimlock's cameo and the use of Ultra Magnus. Therefore you might go so far as considering Masterpiece Rodimus Convoy to be a future release in that continuity grouping...

 

i also was VERY excited by this line and when i first transformed BT smokescreen i was amazed at how much detail they had gone to. such a great line just never carried on  

 

I don't know if it was just my area or widespread, but distribution seemed to be a big problem for Alts too. There are some that I never saw in stores at all (like either Wheeljack or Grimlock, and Mirage), though funny enough I did see Swerve twice.

 

Alternators suffered from horribul distribution either too heavy or too little. I ended up finding every one aside from the sdcc exclusives in stores, although in the cases of Prime and Mirage after I hd given up and ordered them online. Some like Smokescreen, Sideswipe, Silverstreak, Hound, Skids, Ricochet, and Rollbar were heavily distributed and could be found easily even a year after they came out. Swerve and the Walmart exclusives were the worst. Swerve I eventually found atleast 6 months after it came out at a toysrus. The Walmart exclusives suffered from only being sent to 1 store in 10 just like Masterpiece Starscream. None of the 3 Walmarts near me had them, I probably went to another half dozen and never saw them, then atleast 6 months later I went in one around an hour from here and they had atleast 10 each of Ravage and Rumble. (I went to that same walmart for star scream). All the others I was able to get relatively easily by checking the local walmarts atleast once a week