Dark of the Moon Leaders Released Early at US Retail

Target? Already?

Isn't he on sale like, 3 weeks too early?

He cost me $44.99 at Target

Where is this Target located?

I'm sorry but 1-pics or it didn't happen and 2-you got overcharged for him by about $5. According the the press release from Toy Fair, the leaders are supposed to be back down to $39.99.

Yup, & they've supposedly turned up in Canada already...but the UK will get no such luck!

This and this.

This, and don't forget to include the receipt in the picture.

Is that an official sighting? (ie not someone who bought one off eBay)

I feel that the OP has sadly backed himself into a very tight corner. Awaiting photo proof...

The target was at Sun Prairie WI near Madison Wisconsin

I believe it's on the front page somewhere, though I haven't read the story properly (Canada's too far away to really care)

^ And there we go everybody, proof!!!

Wow, pretty early release. Isn't the official release date the 16th?

Excuse me while I run to my Target...

o wow...props to op. heading to Target in 4min.

Well played sir

Still, that is damn early. I wonder how that happened?

Rock and roll! It still looks like you got overcharged but a $5 premium on a toy that isn't supposed to be officially released isn't too bad. They probably just put it out under the HFTD leader assortment number.

They 1 Sentinel Prime and 1 leader bumblebee. I took the sentinel prime.

At least I have a DCPI to check with now.

They didn't have a sticker price on the shelf. All of the transformers on the shelf were on clearence unfortunately he was not.

Right, I'm saying that the system hasn't been updated to reflect the actual DOTM pricing (because the toys aren't supposed to be out yet) so when it went through the system, it came up as a HFTD leader, not a DOTM.

I made a big point to note that the leaders are supposed to be $39.99 again, along with the voyagers back down to $19.99 with the deluxes staying at (or maybe going back down to) $11.99. Obviously, this is MSRP but Target, of all places, usually goes by that.

I always love how 1 sighting gets everyone running to their local store when odds are there's not gonna be anything out.

LOL. I was noticing that too. One overzealous stock boy does not a mass early release make. That's not to say that other stores wouldn't have done it as well, but the odds are really low.

Sweet! Sentinel Prime looks great! I was wondering when these new guys would start hitting stores! They never wait for street dates anyway!

Yeah, but it's kinda fun, right? To chase retail to see if what might be there is?

Well, I always took a more casual approach to this early of a sighting. If I was at a store that would have them, I'd wander over but I wouldn't drop what I was doing and run over to Target to see if an accident was reproduced. And with gas prices nearly $4 here and going up, I'm not doing anything until I hear about a local sighting.

More importantly how are those masterpiece dry beans????

No, that's a new DCPI, not the HftD one (as I just called a bunch of targets the other day looking for a leader prime).

Also: the hftd leaders ARE $39.99 at target. They're $45 at TRU & WM. This kinda sucks that Target is going to bump the price too. =(

Edit: Here's the DCPI on his reciept: 087-06-2294, this is the one for the HftD leaders: 087-06-1355

At least we can start looking, eh?

Just because they aren't out on the floor doesn't mean they aren't in the stock room.

There used to be a link where you could search Target's system by the DCPI. Anybody have that?

either way, this should be front-paged by now

And just because it's in the stock room (which they probably have been for a while) doesn't mean that you'll get someone who will get it for you. Since those boxes are (as usual) probably labeled DO NOT PUT OUT UNTIL MAY 16, 2011, I imagine that even if someone does go looking, they'll probably come back and say "Sorry, we can't sell it yet".

And I'm not saying don't go look, but people shouldn't drop what they are doing and run out to every local Target and try to find the figures on the off chance that someone else put them out early too AND that they will actually sell them (because a lot of times, if they do put them out early, the computers won't sell them which is another reason why I think the OP's figure was entered as a HFTD figure).

I look when I go out. Plus, I have had luck with my Targets selling me stuff early. Just gotta find the employee who doesn't give a shit.

It wasn't. It came up as an all new DCPI for the DotM Leader class. I put both DCPIs in my previous post.

Well that you got the right attitude. Good on ya!

Ahh, missed that. Hmmmm, interesting and perhaps disappointing. I wonder though, as some Targets do seem to have some freedom with pricing (there's one near my house that charges more for Generations then for RTS or HFTD while another charges the same, lower price for both) if this will be a universal increase or just this one.

Yeah, I'm hoping that's the case. There's one target in a "nicer" city about half an hour away that seems to have things priced higher. Or it might be so that they can put it "on sale" for $39.99 on the street date. I guess we'll find out.

imma gonna wait till release date

My local Toystore usually doesn't restock until all the toys are gone but they proved me wrong on the ROTF toy releases.....note I usually am the only one who buys TF's at that store

My target (Buffalo, NY) already has the entire Transformers section cleared out (blank shelf space), so I'm guessing we will have DOTM stuff by the end of the week, unless they are clearing the space for their new Windcharger/Grappel shipment.

Not when there is a street date for the figures.

HOOO Damn.

I'm in no real rush to get any DOTM stuff, this stuff will still be on the shelves by next year.

Hey congrats to the OP for the early score, this leader looks nice. Might be my only DOTM purchase besides Shockwave(3 giant shelves and space is running out.)

Eh I'm just gonna wait it out until May 16th. No way am I running to my local stores just to see if I can score a Transformer that will be out on the shelves May 16th with no troubles buying him .

Since the broke the street date won't other stores follow suit?

Not if they value not getting in trouble.

Usually if someone breaks the street date, the company will allow all stores to begin selling...but I think it usually only happens with SEVERAL broken street dates.

It all varies by the store, I remember the chaos with ROTF toys. Some Wal-Marts would put them out early and let you buy them no problem, others would tell you no, but keep them on the pegs. Some people got smart and scanned a animated figure that was the same price but walked out with a ROTF figure and the employees were too stupid to know any better. The only place where I lived that broke the street date was fred meyer, but that was only a week earlier. Ironically though I never saw the prveiw figs anywhere till MONTHS after though.

Good find but pft, DOTM toys. I'm in no hurry. I'll get the ones I want when they hit street date. They aren't good enough for me to consider getting early.

Sentinel Prime and Shockwave are the only two I was planning on getting. I was at Target to get TF isle to see what they had. One down one to go.

Sooooo.....RTS/Generations stuff that should've hit retail four months ago is nowhere to be found but DOTM stuff is hitting weeks ahead of time. God Bless retail

I've always found Target to be a great source of pre-street-date toys, particularly how they never seem to have any of the built-in restrictions at the register like Walmart & TRU usually have that prevent the toy from being sold. However, I've also found that Target stores often have fluctuating prices from store to store, so I'm not at all surprised to hear this SP was $45 there. I still expect TRU to charge a full $50 though, haha.