The next wave of Deluxes for the Dark of the Moon line have been sighted at retail at a Target in New York by user Jlogano20. This wave features the highly awaited repaints of the first wave’s Bumblebee and Ratchet molds.
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Good luck, and happy hunting!
Jlogano20
still seen them only once
TrueNomadSkies
Nah, don't be sorry for the rant. I mean, isn't that what forums are for?
Getting back to the distribution stuff however, I think the main point that I'm trying to offer about this is that maybe it's not about people like you & me & the characters we might personally like because our opinions won't always be the same. Instead, maybe it's about the main characters like Optimus & Bumblebee (aka the reconcilable bots) who're the main good guys, and how those are the ones that stores want to have available all the time for the sake of kids & their parents/not losing the potential sale. They're the milk & bread of the transformers industry right now, and characters like Wheeljack & Soundwave are simply the filler to keep things interesting for the consumers. Then when it comes to the time when a kid already has one of those two, then pretty much anything else will do, possibly as long as their brother doesn't already have it.
Along with that, I'm willing to bet that even the older fans like us have either Bee & Optimus from the movie or whatever lines (maybe even both) in our collection, but I wouldn't make that same bet on somebody like Jazz or Thundercracker because the odds wouldn't be as high, let alone regarding characters like Barricade or Crankcase. It may be annoying to us after the fact, but we bought the figures that we see a lot of different versions on, so Hasbro, Walmart & everyone in between has done their job.
However, I still think you're bringing up a good point about stores being overloaded by the time new waves come in, but that's more of an issue with store forecasting & how good/lucky they're able to be at it, and that's gonna happen if they order too much (regardless of what they order). Then when it comes to why the larger retailers are often seeming to be overloaded (yes, even with guys like Red Alert), a lot of it really does come down to the fact that a business like Wal-Mart (as big and influential as they are) would rather have too much than risk losing a sale because they didn't have enough.
They get it cheaper per piece if they order more at a time & set up longer contracts (aka, plans to order future waves), they know that everyone who cares about this stuff will shop there regardless, they often have deals set up where they don't even pay for shit until it sells (sort of like large scale consignment), and they know that their namesake alone is gonna allow them to get rid of anything old if they find themselves with enough left overs once the dust clears (which considering how popular TFs are, isn't even something they need to plan on for a good while).
/2 more cents
Jlogano20
rachets the better of these 2
jjk1120
I totally agree with you. 100%. But the problem with that is the way retailers see things. They're not looking at characters. They're looking at pieces, usually on an auto replenish system. So it makes sense from a company (Hasbro) standpoint to release the more "In-demand" characters later to keep our interest alive in the line, but it clogs the pegs with not so in demand characters.
By the time Soundwave and Wheeljack arrive in Wave 6, we have more than enough Bumblebees, Ratchets, Sideswipes, and Skids choking the pegs. The retailers don't order as many, so the more in demand characters become harder to find because less cases were ordered. And will what are the chances that only Soundwave and Wheeljack will be in the cases? They'll probably be packaged with even more 'Bees.
It took me longer than I wanted to find Laserbeak and Thundercracker. I still really don't see them on the shelves. I don't know what it's like in other areas, but the pegs in central Jersey are really filled with Wave 1. I really don't see that many Barricade, Topspin, or Mudflap; let alone Laserbeak or Thundercracker. abd if we have to go through 2 more waves of repaints, it's gonna cloud the waters even more.
Sorry to rant, but I love Hasbro's products. But I've never seen a company botch distribution or make decisions as poorly as they do. How about finding some new Marvel Universe figures? Or maybe some new GI Joe? Good luck…
Sumner Sturgeon
THANK YOU. Man, I had been trying to think of the right way to say that for days now, and you've managed to do my work for me. XD
But, yes, good point; people, you must realise that this is simply how the toy biz works. Good things come to those who wait.
TrueNomadSkies
I guess it'll all come down to opinion, but in order to keep the toy lines alive, the people down the chain need to be able to make money, which means that they'll wanna drag things out at a good pace. I mean, if guys like Soundwave got released right away, then we wouldn't have as much to look forward to, which means that we'd lose interest earlier on.
The powers that be don't want that, and with a limited number of molds (let alone a limited number of main movie characters to work with), it's no wonder that we're getting waves of repaints in between the freshies.
pscoop
It made me laugh. it has to be sarcasm. Some new molds would be nice instead of a bunch of repaints.
Poho
i'm upset that they're releasing these lame repaints before releasing awesome new figures like Qjack or Soundwave.
Mister Gone
With all these crap BB repaints clogging the pegs, you'd think they could squeeze out a pink one. I actually think there are more shelfwarmers in this run (DOTM) than any others I have seen before. With no new leader class molds or other good looking figs confirmed I have a feeling this could be a bad year for Hasbro.
seekerblackout
Deluxe
UltraMagnus2008
Bigdaddy custom, and classics Rachet custom, sweeeet
Allspark
sweet! Wait is that a deluxe soundwave of the HA?
Shark Jumper
I like dotm deluxe ratchet, he's actually easy and fun to transform.
Sam Witwicky
Only want Bumblebee and Ratchet in this wave. I love the paint app Bee has best one I've seen to date.
Tytus
Found these last Friday in PA, reported it but I guess no one cared :/
I like the Bumblebee, but returned Ratched. That mold is sort of bad. Alt mode looks okay though.
Dmark21
Where's DOTM Mirage and Elita-1?! They're the ones i'm waiting for!
Cheebs
DOTM: Designed Only Ten Molds
phoenix88
while this is the best repaint of BB yet, and i do like the look of this red ratchet ( my plan was to get the original release and give that mechtech weapon to this one) as compared to last line's rescue Ratchet, I'm gonna wait and do what dinobot Nuva said and wait for Air Raid and Dark Steel.
exclusacon
Becuz I got a dirty mind, I found this funny,
bennydeckersac
This is one of the very rare first sightings in NY, and it is only about 30 minutes from my house. It would have to be two repaints that I don't want.