ER Micromaster Astro Squad is in stock for 9.99!, ships ~Sept 20, and also SS Blitzwing is back $26.86, buy the 2 and get free shipping if you are Prime-less like me!   

Combo 9.99 Astro Squad to your hearts desire with pre-orders for ER Ironhide/Prowl or Ratchet/Nurse Ratchet!

As Squad:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZQXW61C

SS not SS:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083VM79RV

Iron Prowl:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZPL7DXZ

Ratchet/Nurse Ratchet:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08557NFF2

 

Had my Airwave I ordered on Sept 12 bumped up to delivery by this Friday (9/18) from October 7th-27th.
So that was a nice surprise.
Hoping Arcee gets bumped at some point in the next few weeks.

 

Oh awesome! I have the wave 2 pack with this and Roller Force on pre order from BBTS but I only want AS, so I will happily cut Roller Force and save $11.00!

 

I got tired of waiting for ER Prime to drop in price to retail, but with free shipping, it was still cheaper than other online shops. I tossed in a Rung and Cliffjumper which were both finally at retail. Cliffjumper will be here in October. The other two will be here on Saturday. I do appreciate Prime Day delivery, so I'm actually home when they deliver packages.

 

SS Blitzwing that I pre-ordered in August just shipped. This one is coming from Tennessee, most of the figures I get from Amazon come from New Jersey (I'm in NY).

 

Ditto

 

My Topspin shipped!

 

So, they came through. Airwave was delivered. Was supposed to be Thursday, so I was pleasantly surprised when he showed up.
They dinged my card for my preorder one (still said October 5th, so yeah...that sucked) and I was able to "successfully" cancel. We'll see.
Ended up finding a Quintesson and Allicon myself, so canceled those with them as well. Now, all I need for them to fulfill is Arcee and Smokescreen and I should be done.

This year has been ridiculous for getting figures. Why Hasbro has decided to sit on everything and release it all at once, now, but in spurts is beyond me.

 

I've heard through the grapevine that Walmart has been holding back on stock to release during the holidays so I expect to see a ton of wave 1 figures on shelves.

 

Seems accurate because all local restocks have been wave 1.

 

I think Siege cannibalizing a wave of Earthrise is partly to blame. My suspicion is Hasbro wants to maintain the December/January wave as the introduction in one year lines. With a wave 5 of Siege not only did that get missed, but the production schedule probably had to be juggled in a way that left a big gap this year.

Wave 2 having August/September release dates and wave 3 having October/November release dates seems unusually close. Those were the dates when pre-orders went up in February/March. Then the pandemic hit and those close schedules blended.

 

I agree. Can’t figure it out. It’s almost as if a major and historic global event disrupted the supply chain.

 

Covid clearly screwed a lot up. It certainly delayed Wave 2 Deluxes and Voyagers by a few months. But there is more weirdness with Earthrise. Where does Bluestreak and Thrust fit in? A Wave 4? When does that land, especially with Kingdom looming. Also beyond strange: the Netflix line having major new mold releases and suddenly not being a repaint line. Bumblebee and Soundwave+minions especially, but also Elita One, I have a hard time believing weren't part of some wave of Earthrise at some point. Hasbro having them go out via Netflix I think is just a way to get them in fans hands, somehow, and shift to Kingdom next year (retailers like "new lines"). Maybe some of those Amazon exclusives fall in that category too.

However it works out, even with Siege eating a wave of Earthrise, ER will turn out to be a much truncated line compared to Siege.

Here's my speculation about how this was supposed to look:

Wave 4 Deluxe
Bluestreak
Elita-1
Bumblebee
1x repack

Wave 5
1x Ratchet
3x repacks.

In the new version, Bluestreak becomes the last new deluxe in wave 4, which has 3x repacks. New mold deluxes are relocated. I choose Ratchet because it seems strange that a major redeco / remold will only be availible as an exclusive, and Ironhide got a major retail release in Siege, so now is Ratchet's "turn". Also the Prowl-Ironhide packs long predate the new Ratchet - Paradron Medic pack.


Wave 4 Voyager
2x Thrust
2x Megatron repack

Wave 5 Voyager
2x Soundwave
2x repack

In the new version, Thrust closes out ER Voyagers and Soundwave is sent to Netflix exclusives.


Get ready to order Bluestreak and Thrust online. They're going to be December launches I bet, and scarcely stocked. .

With this, Hasbro can get to Kingdom and Studio Series '86 in 2021 and largely reset their "tempo" without leftovers from 2020. And as I've wrote a bajillion times before, that's pretty important because both Kingdom and Studio Series '86 are going to be putting out Season 3 / Movie characters at a rapid clip at pretty much the same time Haslab Unicron will ship. This happened before. When Hasbro released the Star Wars sail barge within the few month span that it was mailed, at general retail they pushed out new molds of pretty much every character / costume from Act I of Return of the Jedi, some of which werent released in 10 years. They even had the skiff that Luke walked the plank out at general retail as a new mold, in scale with the Sail Barge (the old mold wasn't). So anyone who got the Sail barge could recreate the moment with figures and a vehicle matched for it. And anyone who didn't still got figures they haven't gotten in 10 years.

The same thing is happening next year with Unicron between Kingdom and Studio Series '86. And hell, this year they even gave us The Corpse of Optimus Prime as an Amazon exclusive. Would not surprise me in the slightest to see a new deluxe Sharkticon mold next year, or a Pulse 3 for $25 re-release of the TR Gnaw mold in the colors of the SDCC exclusive later this month. And probably "King Starscream" somewhere along the way because you know how they love getting us to repeat buy $30 seeker molds. We did it 8 times in Siege, but so far only 6 times in ER (with the coneheads). So Hasbro has to up their game!


Reasoned speculation. But this is how Hasbro works nowdays. They try to fit things in places that for casual buyers is just new product, but for hardcore fans, it's big time fan service.

 

My Cliffjumper shipped today. No waiting until October. Regular retail price. Should be here tomorrow

 

SS Skipjack out for delivery. Suppose to have SS Topspin by next Tuesday.

 

I didn't mention the pandemic because it needs no mention. It's in the minds of everyone, everywhere.

FFS, bet you have trouble finding a wheelbarrow to carry your brass balls for you everywhere. I'm glad it has a flat tire, though, now you have to build those back muscles, Hunchie.

 

Zing.

 

Overload arrived, my SS Devastator + Skipjack is FINALLY complete!

 

I'd hate to make anyone jealous but my coneheads arrived:

I'm just going to assume it took so long because they were in no hurry as they were extremely comfortable...