This has nothing to do with theft, it was made in low quantities, that’s really it

 

Absolutely positively! Sure the "theft" issues are real but that is for another thread. By anecdotal reports from the team themselves, if they could "underestimate" Cosmos, a G1 Legacy character, what more for a JP centric G1 Legacy character? It happens I guess. 

 

Anyone else remember the massive robot infrastructure that was placed in the front of the store? You would enter your code and it would retrieve your online order? It was there for about a year and then disappeared overnight. What a waste of money.

But yeah, not having Galaxy Shuttle on the shelf isn't due to anything like theft or bad business decisions as much as it's about Walmart being stuck with a backlog of Scourge toys and their pulling the plug on wave 2 right as distribution was beginning to hit stores. Canceling the line resulted in the initial stock being sold out online and whatever being reserved for distribution probably just sitting in a warehouse while the stores move on without the figures being in their shelf set. Again, this is prime fodder for discount stores so keep your eyes peeled this coming holiday season.

 

And they also had some bad distribution in the US.

Personally I'm pretty shocked with how it feels like Canada got them all, considering how many I've seen up here. Maybe what happened is they cancelled the line and dumped the stock by shipping it north.

 

Right, it doesn’t need to be over complicated. It just wasn’t made in high quantities and is a store exclusive. That’s it lol. It’s a late JP G1 Character that’s a repaint with a new head. Like you said if it happened with cosmos of course it’s happened with Galaxy Shuttle

 

I honestly wonder what the discussion would be had this figure reached retail saturation in the US. Certainly there are a handful of fans that really want this guy in their collection. But I think the FOMO is strong here. As you say, it’s a repaint of a mold that’s not a perfect character fit with a new head.

Walmart Canada didn’t order as many units as the rest of the Velocitron exclusives, yet this one is just sitting. If it had hit saturation in the US, I wonder if it would also sit on shelves as just another repaint.

 

I could definitely see this being a shelf sitter had it reached that point. He’s not popular enough as a character and a leader class repaint is easier to skip from a price standpoint compared to a voyager or deluxe repaint. GS does have the benefit of Haslab victory saber and Deathsaurus so it can get some press by association.

 

No clue.

I'm not in charge of stock or ordering.

-SS

 

Hmm I wonder if this is one of the rarest figures I own now…

Might have to make note of that if I’m ever really struggling financially  
I don’t know if Id ever be able to sell him though. He just looks too good.  

 

And yet, the instant another Galaxy Shuttle is announced (from a different mold) this Astrotrain version will be worth next to nothing...

 

That is indeed always how it goes. Unfortunately I do not foresee another galaxy shuttle for several years. I would definitely want to live in a world where we get two different galaxy shuttles in the span of 5 years though.

 

Ah. The $250,000 Pickup Tower.

What a clusterfvck that was.

Another ill-timed innovation crushed by Covid.

Our store went wasaaaaay over budget on the remodeling because of that monstrosity.

It was a good idea initially. Customers could scan a barcode on their phone and pick up their order anytime 24/7 from either the Tower or the lockers next to it. No lines. No fuss.

At first, the problem was that no one read their e-mails saying to pick up their order INSIDE THE STORE so they all went to the curbside pickup and waited. And waited.

Then Covid hit and NO ONE wanted to go inside and shop or pick up orders. When I told customers their order was inside the Tower inside the store and that only THEY could access and retrieve it, the majority of customers FREAKED. I mean...they screamed at me about it exclaiming that they were not stepping out of their car in the midst of a nationwide EPIdemic.

So the Tower sat there unused while items were eventually removed and cancelled. The Tower was decomissioned and sat unused even after the pandemic was basically over.

-SS (we lost our bonuses because of that thing and Walmart took a massive bath.)

 

Of those who ordered them from that UK ebay seller last month, who received them? Mine was due by yesterday, and when I emailed them last week they had no tracking or proof of shipping.

 

Even if you don't pay for the tracking the Royal Mail Post Offices give you a receipt that has a unique ID number and the type of shipping service purchased.

As a seller sending anything without tracking is insta-suicide for your money.

 

I got mine in about ten days (my seller was "thegameshak-usa")

I didn't have any tracking, it just showed up.

 

Not really. If you own any Botcon toys, those are probably more scarce than Galaxy Shuttle. What makes GS valuable is less his quantity and more his availability for those in the States. Basically, you're going to have to import him and pay import pricing. US fans just haven't really had to do that lately but, up until around Power of the Primes, importing a few figures from Japan was common and expected every year.

 

I'm just going by what the CEO has said repeatedly in several interviews, you can take it up with him.

While I agree with you that this is probably a smokescreen, I'm still not sure the man's lying completely. I mean, Hasbro cut 3000 jobs, yet they're making record profits and promising massive investment returns. I can imagine Walmart might be in the same boat to some degree.

It doesn't help Walmart that I (and many others) would rather shop at Amazon because the prices can be competitive, the items come directly to you, and you don't have to deal with waiting in line or a bunch of crowds standing around in aisles and register lines. It also doesn't help that Dollar General (especially their Market stores) can offer pretty much the most important things that Walmart does in a much smaller store, a much smaller crowd, and for comparable prices.

I don't mean you, as in you RodimusRex, I mean "you" in the general sense... Would you rather walk all over Walmart and deal with crowds and lines and prices that are climbing higher, or would you rather walk around a Dollar General, get the same items for the same price, or maybe $.50 more (depending on the item), and get out within minutes? Me, personally, the latter. And that's a big problem for Walmart. This is what happens when you dick around and lord yourself over others in the community and the community says "Just you wait. We'll fight back, we're just biding our time."

We later found out that Sam Walton was a bastard, he wanted to destroy the competition, and it'll cost him in the end. When their employees had to have a canned food drive just to survive, they needed to fail right then and there. People worry about banks being too big to fail, and so on (whole other ball of wax I'm not getting into, so people just don't. It's not the point.), people should be on the lookout for Walmart to fail. I'd say they're arguably bigger than any bank in the world. Banks are nothing more than legalized Ponzi Schemes, that's why bank runs are so devastating when they happen, but Walmart? They have such a massive amount of money going in and out of their doors on a daily basis that banks envy them.

But yes, I do agree with a good portion of your points.

Stores will always be necessary because pickup/delivery doesn't always work due to items being out of stock, but you can walk into Walgreens, Dollar General, etc, and usually find the item you need. (Need, not want, to be clear.) Walmart is not Amazon. They can't even properly fulfill an order for people as it is. If they truly complete this plan (which is incredibly stupid for Walmart), it will most likely sink them. This isn't Tesco (who at least used to have this system in place, where you'd order what you wanted and then they'd go in the back and fetch what you wanted for you), Walmart will never be that well-oiled machine.

This is why a store like Meijer will succeed because they'll still have a store for people to walk into. Amazon only works because it built its empire on the backs of other retailers who got crushed under them, watching what they did, avoiding what the stores didn't, and so on. Amazon carries everything under the sun, Walmart? Not so much. I'd much rather trust Amazon's A-to-Z Guarantee on a sketchy overseas seller than I would Walmart. Does it suck to get ripped off? Sure. But at least Amazon will stand by you (in most cases) and give you your money back. Walmart will dick around and make it absolutely difficult to get your money back or have any protections.

It's not just Transformers, though. A lot of things are not making it to the shelves. It's not just underperforming, it's not just rising theft, it's a lack of employees. Walmart won't pay people what they're actually worth, and if they do, they cut their hours. Or they cut their benefits because they cut their hours, etc. A local store near me and a friend had a problem in Toys. The department manager told my friend she has the stuff but hasn't been able to get it out there because she had just returned from vacation and while she was gone, no one worked the pallets. Not even once. No one even went through and cleaned up the aisles. She came back to a tornado and needed a vacation almost immediately. That's just one small Walmart in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. Imagine that on a national level and you have the problems we're facing right now.

And as much as it pains me to admit this, I do feel bad for Walmart to a degree. Hasbro doesn't just let you order this or that, you have to carry ALL of their products to some level to reach a minimum ordering number, otherwise, you can't get a Hasbro account with them. EE does, as they're also a distributor for smaller stores, especially comic book/collector stores. Those stores can't afford to be direct with Hasbro because it's a bare minimum order of $10,000.00 and it must include Nerf, Transformers, etc. (I know this because a couple of friends of mine own a local store and they were showing me all of the hoops they have to jump through to get stock in their store and why they're so behind on everything.) Walmart's not innocent in this, not by a long shot, but Hasbro's not going to win any awards here, either.

I can't believe Walmart is actually willing to take on *ANOTHER* iteration of the Laser Prime mold. Guess they didn't learn their lesson from the last two times... That's part of the problem. They over-order the first wave of any TF line and never get to wave 2 until 3 or 4 have come and gone. By that point, everyone and their brother got 'em from Amazon, BBTS, Target, and whatever other retailers might be out there.

True, but Walmart over-ordering wave 1 helps no one. The thefts increasing, the corporate lies, the local stores not having enough workers to actually work the product, all of that is a factor, too. Hasbro may have produced too little, just right, or too much, but if their only outlet isn't stocking it...is that really Hasbro's fault? I blame them for getting into bed with Walmart, but Walmart's a generous john to the whore that Hasbro is. Taking on exclusives that no one else might want, or probably don't want is a big deal for Hasbro.

You don't know that for sure. It's more than likely the case, but let's not leave Walmart off the hook entirely.

Hasbro shouldn't be underestimating anything at this point. They'll be at this FORTY years, next year. It's about time to stop firing people to appease stockholders and get someone in there to actually look at the numbers and trends and say "Oh, this one actually will sell quite well, guys. At least 2 per case. Trust me." It's like they don't have anyone there holding their hands past a certain point.

And how on Earth could they underestimate Cosmos? He was a fan favorite in G1, he had one update that goes for a good chunk of change, now, and the current update sold like hot cakes (mainly due to scalpers because they're worthless). Hasbro should be able to figure this out by now. That's ridiculous of them to say such a thing.

Hah. I wondered what happened to those pickup towers. What a waste of money that turned out to be. Amazon's getting rid of their Assistant plug-in for Chrome/Edge browsers, soon. Got the notice yesterday. Anything that makes it easier for the consumer... they seem to be getting rid of. I've never understood why these companies turn themselves inside out to take our money but then come up with ways to *NOT* take it. And then they blame the public for disinterest, being frugal, etc. Don't be a dumbass, corporate America. Our wallets are open, we can't buy what you won't sell us. *smh*

Wouldn't a backlog of Scourge be considered a bad business decision, though? I mean...you can look at the numbers and figure out what does and doesn't sell in your store and once you do, you should order a reasonable amount within that data window. Instead, they clog the shelves thinking they're America's Toy Store like they're some grand replacement for TRU and it's simply not the case. I don't miss TRU since everyone else stepped up for their piece of the pie, but I do miss TRU taking most of the exclusives because you could flat-out skip them if you needed to because they'd take on stupid stuff no one else wanted. Now, all of the companies have their hands on the rare and hard-to-find items and it sucks.

Entirely possible. It wouldn't be the first time a line was unceremoniously canceled without warning. Maybe Canada hasn't gotten a lot of exclusives love, in recent years.

That's part of it, but why are you so insistent and so sure this wasn't partially due to Walmart's flaws and bad planning, and excuses? I'll admittedly defend them on taking on too much and Hasbro sometimes hurling garbage their way, but Walmart is somewhat to blame for this. Period. To pretend otherwise is just making the problem worse.

It most likely would've sat, since it is just a repaint with a new head, but sometimes rarities surprise you. I'm not alone in the whole "Oooh! Galaxy Shuttle?! BUY" camp. It's an affordable update to the original Japanese toy that's expensive to obtain and difficult to come by. Sadly, the update may end up being worth more down the road, which is honestly kind of disappointing when you think about it. It's just a toy, it shouldn't be able to buy you a car or fund a lifestyle change. This is what happens when you mass market fun and joy to people.

I agree with this.

It should work because online retailers can purchase solid cases of a figure, as well as assorted ones. Assortments really only work at physical retail because of the flashiness and newness of it all. Having solid cases of each figure would only bog down the shelves and lead to a nightmare at mass retail. Look at all of the exclusives as an example. With a warehouse setup like Walmart's planning, they'd have plenty of room for solid cases and they can transfer products between warehouses for those who need it and those who don't. I could see assortment SKUs go the way of the Dodo after a time.

If it is. The problem Hasbro has is they look at the lack of sales of this one (regardless of knowing Walmart screwed 'em on it a bit) and they'll say "Nah. He won't sell." so they'll nix it. They'll most likely make a mold for a new character, that's even closer of an homage to the original toy and then repaint that and that one might work. I think this is part of the reason why we go decades without updates on certain characters. It's not just the budget or the continuing roster of Optimii and Megatrons, it's also "did it sell last time? No? Eh...repaint maybe. Make Walmart buy it. It's the whole "Give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything!" thing, again." but one day, Walmart's going to say no. Amazon and Target will too. Exclusives are great while they're lucrative but you see a lot of people starting to get fed up with them, getting out of collecting altogether.

I mean...yes and no. Yes, because the obscure (by comparison) characters do deserve their time in the spotlight, but also no because we're all getting fatigued on the constant rehashes. Our wallets are dog-tired and so are we. Could they do Galaxy Shuttle better in the next 5 years? Absolutely. Will they? No. And I'm kind of okay with that to a point because I'd like to get the rest of my collection completed before the end of time. They're constantly bumping new slots to rehash what we already have on our collection shelves.

 

Honestly?

I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Cosmos fiasco boiled down to a Walmart exec/buyer looking at it and saying "A flying saucer?!? So 70s. Look at 'Star Wars'. Late 70's and not a flying saucer in the bunch. And it doesn't even really look like a *cool* saucer. No sleek lines and gentle curves. It looks like half of a bagel with half of a hotdog bun stuffed into the hole. No one's going to buy it. And I thought this line was about *racing*. WTF is a *flying saucer* doing in a ground race?!"

-SS (probably not much more thought than that.

 

That was who I ordered from, the arrival window was 2nd through 20th. I had needed it for a birthday gift on the 17th so I emailed asking about tracking on the 15th and they said it wasn’t available. Do I just ask ebay for money back? They have not responded since

 

Well, for me at least, this version is always going to be the more desirable for the A.I.R.Lock compatibility and that nice big color-coordinated rocket base you can build with Sky Lynx, and Botropolis Rescue, and the Guardian. A new Galaxy Shuttle off of an Armada Jetfire is unlikely to include that connectivity, and in this case, with such a minor character, I care nothing about accuracy to the original toy or show.