This latest round have Thrust and Runabout exclusive to Target. I don't know if this is actually new information or was previously leaked, but it's news to me.
All the Target exclusives are gone by now. The fact that Hasbro's latest offerings repeatedly sell out pre-orders immediately implies that someone at Hasbro really does not know what they are doing. Sidenote: if anyone sees the McFarlane Warhammer 40,000 figures on retail shelves, let me know! Not like I'd actually go to the store and buy them, but I am curious as to when they become available en masse. I've been waiting for Warhammer figurines ever since I was a wee lad.
TBH, Scourge is one of the only ones that doesn't just bore me. Maybe it'll be like ER and the engineering will win me over, but that Grimlock? Eh. Doesn't quite do it for me. I dunno. Most of the reveals just felt like reruns, even if they are new molds. Also, WalMart just shot me an email saying the new ship date for Netflix boombox soundwave is 11/12. Let's all contain our shock.
Just got the expected Walmart email saying Elita 1 is back ordered, even though I preordered immediately. I’m sure they’ll cancel. And I’m sure the same will happen with Bumblebee, Prime, and Soundwave. I just spent literally 4 1/2 hours driving to Walgreens around town, looking for Bluestreak. Nothing. Spent 3 hours yesterday. Finally said screw it and payed the eBay price. I also had to pay double for Ramjet and Dirge to get one that wasn’t broken. And I’m sure the assholes in Toy Posse will just buy up and flip anything that comes out locally. I LOVE Transformers. But I hate this hobby. Already gave up Joes and Star Wars for the same reason. Obviously there are far more real problems in the world right now. This is my escape. The only thing that keeps me from completely losing my mind. Now it’s just making things worse.
I was new to Walmart preordering this year, but so far I've not had a single figure ship on time (or ship period). I still have Netflix Soundwave and Spoiler pack 2 on preorder (received delay email for both today), but I don't expect them to ever be fulfilled. I thought I heard somewhere before that Walmart's online business is almost on par with Amazon, but I think it's complete garbage now that I've tried using it a couple of times. That's too bad. I guess for me the mass market Transformers stuff are mostly toy-crack, so I just get them when I see them when visiting stores. It does suck when you can't get something that you really want because it's an exclusive that sold out. Seems like Transformers exclusives has been OK as far as accessibility this year, other than the Coneheads for some inexplicable reason. I was able to get a set of the Coneheads but to me that set should have been the most widely available instead of the least.
One of the local Facebook groups that are notorious for buying and flipping figures on eBay. Some of them will take off work, get to Target at 8AM and buy their entire stock of whatever’s hot. If you collect G.I.Joes, they’re part of the reason you can’t find them.
Ahh. Word. I looked 'em up. Scalpers are wweeeeeak. That said, have we historically had a lot of trouble getting the walgreens figures? I'm not nearly as tenacious about running around as most of you guys and I feel like sometimes it's a wait but it does EVENTUALLY happen.
I understand buddy I just had to pay the eBay price for Ramjet and Dirge thankfully I have some Kamen Rider stuff I'm going to sell to help offset the price but still. Thankfully I got my preorders in on Thrust and Runabout and everything that I want I have preorder on BBTS. I still shouldn't feel like I need to have everything on preorder, even just as a backup, because it shouldn't be this difficult to buy toys. The only thing that I don't have on preorder right now is Netflix Bumblebee and that has me a little worried. I'm sure they'll show up in stores but the closest Walmart to me is in Roseville and it is a pain for me to get to.
The clones weren’t a problem. Ratchet I saw one other time after I bought him. I think things have gotten worse for collecting over the past year, in terms of competing with re-sellers, combined with distribution issues related to Covid.
Personal experience is obviously YMMV but when I cared to look I never had an issue. Brainstorm, Wreck-Gar, the Clone pack...all not only readily available but often lingering enough to go on sale. I saw Ratchet a few times when I wasn't looking, but again...YMMV. Maybe I'm fortunate? As the Target stuff lately has always been well stocked around me. Seekers, Rainmakers, Clones...
As far as Walgreens is concerned, I’m literally in a weird place, because every Walgreens in Minneapolis is “temporarily closed.” So I don’t really have easy access to one. The fact that Walmart is getting so many exclusives is troubling, because they are so disorganized and unreliable. And then the conehead situation has me spooked. Target are the only Transformers exclusives I’ve never had a problem with. Their G.I.Joe situation, on the other hand...
I had trouble with the initial leadfoot preorder, but like... so did everyone? Still now he's EVERYWHERE (seekers, rainmakers, clones are the same way). As for WalMart, I haven't really had a hard time finding w1 Netflix stuff, though the preorders for w2 were kind of a mess, but if w1 was an indicator... it'll be around. Walgreens does seem like a bit more of a diceroll tho. My friend was trying to find that Dani Moonstar or whatever they had from X...guys (force? Men? Iunno) and ended up having to get 2 copies of the 3 he wanted off ebay. And then a week later BBTS had preorders for her. If walgreens site didn't totally suck for stuff like this, might be a little easier.
I don't go after the Walgreen's figure every year but I managed to find Brainstorm and Ratchet pretty easily once they had reached saturation. I'm sticking with the Siege version of Bluestreak so thankfully I don't have to worry about it this year.
The key to a lot of this is patience... as far as an actual sighting is concerned I saw a Sky Lynx at Ridgedale.