The pattern lately is to do "opposite" revision waves too, where these two will be doubled up and the other two will be singles. Just wait a few months.
It *IS* a revision wave. Just because Diamond doesn't "normally" stock revision waves doesn't mean this isn't one. This is the same as every other revision wave they've ever done.
Is there anyone who thinks that Mindwipe and Wolfwire won't be in another case assortment down the road???
It was my complaint for years too but I went the other way and decided that scalpers actually are an imaginary boogeyman in most cases. I'm telling you, I could place an order for wave 2 (or even wave 3) right now, get super lucky and actually get them in time for a convention, price them at $18-$20 like the chain stores that everybody loves, and they would go untouched the entire weekend. That tells me that my enemy when I'm shopping for toys myself is lack of demand, not some elusive cloven-hooved neckbeard prowling the walmartian wilderness. You and me both. Even when they pretend to do something about it like when they flirted with solid cases, it's just an act. They're not real cases but repacks delivered 6 months late if they feel like it. By then everybody has moved on but they've locked up your operating capital for all that time.
Heads up for those who don't know. Diamond has a strange arrangement and sometimes their cases are for THEM ONLY. And are often arranged to Diamonds decisions specs. This not ALWAYS true but I've seen strange revisionist cases for G. I. Joe and Marvel Legends.
Solid cases are a real thing here in Europe (occasionally), but they only make sense for online retailers. At brick and mortar retail, they result in this:
Here's the proof: Wave 1 (Skullsmasher, Hardhead, Blurr and Scourge) is "DLX AF ASST 201601". Wave 2 (Highbrow, Chromedome, Mindwipe and Wolfwire) is "DLX AF ASST 201602". This new case with Chromedome, Highbrow, Scourge, Hardhead, Skullsmasher and Blurr is also "DLX AF ASST 201602". If it were a fully-fledged new wave, that right there would say "DLX AF ASST 201603".
so does this mean this is a diamond only assortment or will every store get this crappy assortment? i'm confused.
Nope. Every "diamond exclusive" case I've ever seen people talking about has been listed at EE or shown up at retail too.
I've seen solid cases at retail in the USA a few times. Usually at discounters (Ross just got those Nightbeat cases we discussed before, they also got solids of Star WArs Black Anakin), and Walmart got solid cases of SWB old school storm troopers when they did their big push for that line (most stores got 2x of the regular wave and 1x of the stormy case) You're right, it is rare though. When Hasbro started doing it, they said in a star wars site interview the intention was to get specific figs into online stores to drive down ebay/amazon pricing.
Yeah, I've seen those as far back as Armada (Supercon Prime and Blurr) but even then your solid cases are, I would bet, a result of only getting the leftovers from Hasbro's US or China operations, so you're right back in the same situation.
Here in Europe, the distribution system has traditionally been different until recently: Up until ca. Beast Hunters, we never got repeats of figures in subsequent waves. So when the first wave of 2007 Movie Deluxes had Bumblebee, Jazz, Barricade, Brawl, Scorponok and Wreckage, and in the US wave 2 had Swindle, Bonecrusher and some repeats of wave 1 figures such as Bumblebee, here in Europe wave 2 was 4x Swindle and 4x Bonecrusher. This often resulted in a very limited variety on store shelves, and thus in a lot of shelfwarmers. When there was only one new figure in a wave, this would result in a solid case, such as Armada Scavenger. We're now using the same system the US has, though occasionally with slightly different case ratios. Modern-day solid cases need to be ordered separately and are independent from the multi-wave retail assortments.
And they need to be real solid cases. I can't stress that enough. Because this is how it's playing out right now: 1-21-2017: -Hasbro solicits wave Z -2X Bumblebee (common), 2X Rung (niche), 2X Tarn (villain), 2X Nautica (hot) -release date 2-2017 1-22-2017: -Hasbro solicits solid cases of Bumblebee, Rung, Tarn, Nautica -release date 2-2017 1-22-2017: -I order 1 Rung case and 3 Nautica cases (OK, I'm small, hard to grow with what follows below) 3-4-2017: -some customers get wave Z 4-30-2017: -other customers get wave Z -I ask about Rung and Nautica -"coming soon, don't worry" 6-7-2017: -I ask about Rung and Nautica -"coming soon, don't worry" 7-31-2017: -I get Rungs repacked in a box that says "Wave Z" 8-21-2017: -I ask about Nautica -"just delayed, don't worry" 9-31-2017: -"we regret to inform you that HAS1985 Nautica has been cancelled. we value your business. not enough to fill the orders you place on day one, but trust us, we really do." Now that I'm wise to this trick I don't fall for it as often but when these listings started appearing there was no reason not to take them at face value.
The two Decepticons are in wave 2 which is already appearing in stores. This is just a revision of wave 2.
