Agreed. The only shops I have to rely on in the local area are Toys R Us (even as a large one only a fifth of one aisle is dedicated to Transformers), Asda and Sainsburys. Otherwise it's online retailers (I love you, Kapow <3) and eBay.

Buuuuuut...I am extremely lucky as a fan. I've only been into Transformers since July last year (so eight months in total) and there are still so many of the older figures I need to find - everything from G1 to the first Transformers movie. eBay and the Junkion Exchange really help in these regards =) So I get the "yay I got me a new toy!" feeling whenever I win so much as a beaten-up old G1 figure off eBay.