Given how the seeker 2-pack and rainmakers saw distribution through other e-tailers, I’m wondering if anyone might have info/speculation on if Thrust and Runabout will see the same treatment. Really don’t want to blow $100-200 on them if I don’t have to  

 

Who knows? But judging from the Seeker 2-pack, its being sold in multiple sites right now. One can only hope. ( Not that I need it. I already have all the exclusives)

 

Maybe? This isn't the sort of thing Hasbro or Target shares with the public. We will know when (if) they go up for pre-order. However, given how Hasbro did put up those past sets (along with Red Wing), all of which were Target exclusives, I would put my money on them getting rereleased later this year. They probably need to wait for the exclusivity contract to run out.

 

Didn’t even consider the exclusivity expiration being the limiting factor, but that makes good sense. I frequent 3 targets and never even saw these two in stores, so I’d imagine there’s fair amounts of stock that Target never even ordered

 

Regional variation is a bitch. Online shopping is your friend. I was able to get both toys through Target's website. Runabout was a store pickup, but Thrust was just shipped to me.

 

Same with Earthrise Runabout. That thing came out late last year, and it's still not in stock. I am guessing Hasbro didn't make many copies of him because Kingdom was going to be released the next year.
If he is in-stock please, let me know.

 

I just committed to getting one secondhand which practically guarantees that it will be widely available as soon as I have it in hand. Don’t worry.

 

There is rumors that the 2022 line will have repacks of various figures from ER, but that's it. If Thrust and Runabout are included, I guess that would mean to what degree they're exclusives. Hasbro's had exclusives subsequently released at general retail before, sometimes with a deco change, sometimes not. Given that the Rainmakers had another prodcution round (Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege Voyager Seekers Three-Pack), these two going back into production sometimes next year I would imagine isn't out of the question at all. To some degree, I think Hasbro recognizes that the pandemic really scuffed collectors ability to obtain certain products, which is why we've seen Siege Jetfire, Siege Omega, ER Scorponok and ER Skylynx all given another production run.

But chances are, unless its through Pulse or Amazon, if you're gonna be picky about what you pay for, forget about it. Expect a modest premium.

 

Short answer: no confirmation, but many hard-to-get exclusives are seeing some re-releasing, often available at more retailers too. So there is hope.

Beyond that, i would not be shocked if a Conehead 3-pack eventually happened, probably with slightly different decos. If the classics seeker is anything to go by, at least.

 

God I really hope so. For the record thanks for making this thread, I really feel like this needs more attention. So anyways I got lucky with Thrust but I really want a damn Runabout. Would've had one too but Target was on some b.s. and wouldn't let me buy him cuz he wasn't supposed to be released yet which is absolute bullshit once again. After that I never saw Runabout in retail again. I never saw Thrust either too btw on shelves at least but he was able to be found online but at a slightly raised scalper price. Still though I do hope they have a better rerelease distribution because I really feel like those those(especially since they're Target exclusives) need it. I like you refuse to pay $100 for a fucking Runabout figure, those scalpers on eBay and whatever other sight can kiss the fattest part of my ass and go to hell.

 

Hopefully Siege Skywarp might get released at retail, preferably without the Minicons to keep his price down.

 

I got Thrust and Runabout 2 months ago online with Target. I used the Target app to get notifications. They kept going in and out of stock. I was fast enough when the app notified me to add to cart and bought it. I ordered them separately. In order to meet the $35 free shipping threshold, I ordered some cheap phone cases. When I got the figures, I returned the phone cases in store.

I don't know if it's too late now, but my point is to be vigilante and you will snag them. Turn on your notifications. It also helps to have 2 monitors while working and contently refreshing. That's how I got Nextflix Nemesis Prime. For the Amazon conheads 2 pack, I was notified 3 times of coming back in stock but was too late, sometimes by 1 min. I'm currently working but my second monitor is on walmart.com refreshing the Netflix Soundwave page.

I feel for people who wasn't able to get these exclusives. Good luck tho!

 

God, I hope the Earthrise coneheads get another run. I got the main trio, and I managed to snag a Thrust, but Dirge and Ramjet were out of stock before I even knew they had been released.

MIGHT consider getting that Rainmaker rerelease, since I passed the first time, but we'll see. Wasn't super enthused the first time around, and they shelfwarmed in my area for awhile.

 

I wish Target would have them back, but they have been erased from Target history.

 

Give me ruddy Siege Ironhide and Ratchet.

 

You might have to wait until 2023/2024 to see if Hasbro is doing a 40th Anniversary line for Transformers brand and use it as an opportunity to re-release some hard to find WFC figures.

 

Nah, they’ll be on the next iteration of 84-85 guys by then.

 

I hope all the Coneheads get reissued, they’re great figures and more people should have a chance to get their hands on them.

 

Thrust TakaraTomy mall delayed to end of May 2021.

 

Pretty much all retail exclusives this year have been thoroughly bungled, and the aftermarket prices reflect that, and I've chosen to turn to eBay to buy some of these items myself. Unfortunately, the characters involved are ones that should have been available everywhere - seekers / coneheads, Ironhide, Ratchet, Prowl...hell, even Runabout, who isn't a top tier character, is fetching a lot on the secondary market. Walmart exclusives like Netflix Soundwave and Bumblebee have also been problematic for a lot of people, as have the retro headmasters. It's been a very frustrating year to be a collector. I've never had so much difficulty trying to give a company my money before, and I've gotten extremely lucky with some of my purchases and preorders, but it shouldn't be so damn difficult to get some of these things.

I'm hopeful that they're paying attention to things like this. Clearly there is more more demand for Devastator, Omega Supreme, and Jetfire, and while those aren't exclusives, they're still seeing a demand for it and are reissuing the figures accordingly. Fingers crossed they do the same for a lot of these hard to get figures as well, even if the decos need to be changed a bit to make it happen.