At this point, all bets are off. I mean everyone thought that Ratchet was gonna be revealed on Transformers Tuesdays, but nope. Amazon exclusive. At this point I wonder if Hasbro knows what's going on with him.  

 

Probably not, given the regular ER packaging. Walmart's recent exclusives have all been part of exclusive sublines with their own special packaging (35th, Netflix).

 

This uncertainty and delay makes me wonder if Walgreens was the initial retailer of Bluestreak, but backed out for some reason, and Hasbro needed to find a new US retailer for him.

 

It's possible. His number clearly fits him in with the rest of the exclusives and him being a single release in a normal box fits with Walgreens' typical packaging for their Transformers exclusives. Though I'd have to wonder why they'd back out of carrying a single Transformer when they've got exclusives from other Hasbro lines this year... four different ones from Marvel Legends alone. Maybe people just haven't found the listing in Walgreens' computers yet?

 

My guess is that he’ll either show up at Walgreens unannounced in October or be an online shared exclusive like the Selects. I doubt he’ll be revealed next Tuesday because we still haven’t seen GS17.

 

Does Walgreens' system have individual listings for non-exclusive deluxes or are they just called something like "Gen. Deluxe Assortment"? Maybe that is how they are "hiding" him. Of course we also supposedly have Thrust coming and probably Runabout (both presumably Target exclusives), so we do have enough for a minor announcement show.

+-MWG-+

 

Never worked for Walgreens so I'm not sure how their system works. I know with the Target stuff (used to be a manager there) we were able to tell that these are likely exclusives because their DCPI's aren't tied to the voyager and deluxe assortments for Earthrise respectively (or so was said by the leaker who found them in Target's systems). I, unfortunately, couldn't say if Walgreens uses a similar system for their internal inventory numbers.

 

If we truly want to know if Bluestreak is a Walgreens exclusive or not, all we need is some one (not me) to volunteer as tribute and go to one and have a employee scan Bluestreak’s EAN to see if he’s in their system.  

Bluestreak’s EAN/Barcode:

 

oh, no, I totally understand that, but I thought someone (pixel master maybe?) just recently posted (like 2 days ago?) that he was showing up in Hasbro's system with Gen Selects in his naming convention, which was what got me thinking that it's possible he got shunted, strictly from their internal thinking, to that release style if his "planned" release fell through for some reason?

^but that's a really good point.

 

Recent Walgreens exclusives have had easy-to-use URLs, such as
https://www.walgreens.com/IronMan2020

So, unless he's getting a different name, Bluestreak isn't a planned web exclusive there until this link returns something other than an error:

https://www.walgreens.com/bluestreak

 

So, that just increases the mystery. I mean... it's still very likely that he's headed for Amazon given that he's showed up on Amazon's website in most other countries as far as I can tell, but typically they seem to have multi-packs, not single figures when it comes to Transformers. Though, first time for everything I guess.

 

Unsure if its a Walgreens, the main markets he didnt show up in yet are US and Canada. Canada does not have Walgreens, and its a massive pain in the butt to get their exclusives here. A number of other countries including Mexico, which gets the same product as US and Canada have it listed with Amazon. A popular online shop told me its going to be an Amazon exclusive and they couldnt sell it...not sure if it was just for Canada or US as well as they sell to both. Hoping its out soon and will be easy to get...I hate exclusives not living in the US.

 

Again, I am willing to believe this more and more the longer we wait. US and Canada are the only ones left because Amazon didnt do Prime Day 2020 yet. They delayed it indefinitely a few months back due to COVID stressing their warehouses. I am willing to put money on it at this point that its a Prime Day thing. Bet it was gonna be Dead Optimus, but the delay of Prime Day meant they had to push it out early/Hasbro told them they had to, so Bluestreak is the consolation prize. Makes sense also why every other major Amazon has it up already, since Prime Day is mainly North America focused. Amazon US/Canada will just have it available and ready to ship the minute Prime Day starts, i'd bet.

Edit: Found this. I absolutely believe my random theory now.

 

I pray he's not an Amazon exclusive. Walgreens isn't as good but the lesser of two evils I suppose....

 

Ebgames.ca has carried the Walgreens exclusives last few years. POTP Wreckgar and Siege Ratchet.

 

Still Canada traumatized trying to get Walgreens Brainstorm that never came here....US only....we got to keep TRU as consolation perhaps...

 

Preordered him through Amazon.nl a while back. Got an email at 1 am this morning that Bluestreak is indefinitely delayed and they’ll email me when they know something ☹️

 

Same here.

Ordered him several weeks ago, earlier this week they claimed a delivery date of Firday or Saturday, on Friday morning it was going to be deliverd on Saturday at 20h, but later it changed to Not yet shipped and we'll let you know.

Bit worried since I had the same with a SW BS6 Kamino trooper and that is something like a month overdue and I just don't expect it to arrive ever.

Had hoped to have Bluestreak this weekend to experience the mould and to decide whether or not I will get the Prowl/Ironhide two-pack. (Difficult decision, because Amazon.nl doesn't seem to have it, and Amazon Germany asks 64 euro (=$ 76) for it, so the cheapest option it to import it from the USA Amazon and pay a lot in shipping and import taxes.)

 

I don’t know if it’s a Covid thing or just a lack of caring by Hasbro but 2020 is rough on a collecting level if you’re European

 

None of the Amazon Europe sites have a good track record of getting their exclusives over the last few years. Go .com