Bummer. We can always hope wave five brings em back. Of course, by then we'll be killing each other for Airachnids. Why are they so bad at this distribution thing? Anybody ask at botcon?

 

Blame retailers, they're the ones that decide what cases they get and how many of them. They probably don't even look at what comes in each assortment, they just order [X] number of whatever happens to be available at the time. This is why we end up with nothing but the same shit on the pegs for months at a time, because retailers just order too much of the same stuff.

Hasbro didn't pack more Vehicons because there's no extra demand for them beyond the tiny population of collectors that want multiples, and those collectors aren't going to buy enough of them to justify putting several in each case. You might hate Bumblebee and lament seeing a bunch of him on the pegs, but he WILL sell out eventually. Bumblebee is just fucking everywhere because he's 3 to a case in both waves 1 and 2, once more waves are available the hives will slowly disappear. Wave 3 isn't even out in a lot of places yet, have some patience.

Also, revision waves. There's always a few revision cases between the numbered waves that have nothing but previously released figures. DOTM, for example, had a revision case between waves 4 and 5 that had nothing but wave 1 and 2 figures (in addition to a couple other revision waves that followed the same trend.)

Vehicons will be repacked again, you just might have to wait a month or two before amassing your Vehicon army. It really sounds like you all want more of them in current cases just so you can buy them all at once, not because they're going to be hard to find in the long run.

 

Naw, it will drive prices on eBay down so scalping won't be as profitable.

 

I was just worried about finding one!

This hobby does amazing things to one's patience. Despite how many times I've been burnt by leaping early.

 

No. We need more BumbleBees!!!

 

I'm blaming Hasbro for this one. They give us ONE Vehicon per case and ONE Airachnid per case, but they give us multiples of characters per case, who never show up in the show. Why does Hasbro think the non-show characters will have more demand?

The retailers are at fault for over stocking on the first couple of waves, but Hasbro is at fault for giving them shitty case assortments and not doing more to market the later waves to the retailers. I don't care how much power Hasbro says retailers have over them, they should still be able to regulate their own production of the cases and communicate to retailers which cases will sell better.

 

Hasbro basically has to guess at what's going to be popular and what's not. Airachnid probably isn't a popular character with kids, so it's only one to a case. I guarantee any store will sell at least two or three Bumblebees for each Airachnid they sell when all is said and done. She'll more than likely be in wave 5 or a revision wave anyway, so I wouldn't the too worried about not being able to find one.

Even if they communicate that to retailers, it's still up to the retailers to listen and do it. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter to Wal-Mart which characters they're buying, it seems like they don't care about it as much about it as we do because they simply don't have to. Their bottom line isn't going to be much different if they get every wave or only get the first 3, it doesn't matter to them. Even if they have to put their last ~5% of stock on clearance, it's still more than worth it. They'd rather buy up a ton of stuff in a short period of time to guarantee they always have stock out for sale than to commit to buying smaller amounts over a longer period of time and risk not having any product out during a big movie tie-in or whatever.

Hasbro doesn't need to make later waves more attractive, they just need to get them out earlier (before November) and flat-out stop planning releases during the winter. They could have tons of awesome new molds filling out the last waves of a line, but if they're released at a time when retailers have low interest in buying new products, they're not going to ship, regardless of how attractive Hasbro makes them look. Exactly what happened with the RTS waves, tons of cool new stuff that retailers simply didn't want. Also why the last 2 DOTM waves were canned, retailers didn't want more of the 'old' toy line for the new year and opted to wait for the new one instead. And the Prime FE figures. All canceled or extremely hard to find because retailers did not want them, regardless of how awesome they were.

They could work on their case assortments, but complaining about seeing nothing but wave 1 and 2 figures right now is kind of stupid considering that's all that the majority of retailers in the country have right now. Again, once more waves are available you'll see less Bumblebees and Cliffjumpers. I guarantee Vehicon and Airachnid will not be hard to find by the second half of the year.

 

Uh-chuh-buuuu...

Can't tell if serious or good troll.

 

No, one per case is great, I love spending all my time and gas driving around looking for them.

For those who haven't found him yet, I really wish you luck. Even though I am not the biggest Prime fan, this figure is one that is well worth the frustration of finding (I stumbled into mine). Really sticks out in the line. And if you are a big Prime fan, you will LOVE him. Good luck on the hunt, and hopefully he is more available in the later waves that have yet to be announced.

 

Why can't they at all re-release him once more.

 

To go with this...I can walk into Walmart RIGHT NOW and find a couple Ratchets, a couple Arcees, AND A COUPLE SOUNDWAVES (the super hard to find guy)

No two regions are entirely the same, and Hasbro does not have the resources to "tailer" case assortments to different areas. Here, Bumblebee only accounts for a third of the Prime deluxes on the pegs (ie, the mix of the other five characters available outnumber him), but in others, the Prime section is ONLY Bumblebee.

If someone is having issues finding figures, this is this grand thing called the internet that can assist greatly, be it trading with other fans or buying from an internet store.
But clearly, Hasbro's current trends are successful enough they continue to do them, if they weren't, Hasbro would change them.

THEY WILL!

Both the Vehicon and Airrachnid are show characters, I guarantee they have a better chance of cycling in future assortments than guys like Kup or Rumble.

 

bumblebee should be out!! and have the whole wave dedicated to VEHICONS(REGULAR AND FLYING!)
i finally scored my first vehicon today!