Just a couple tips. Call them (or stop in) and find out what nights their trucks come in (my local one gets new stock Wednesday and Saturday morning, though it has changed recently). Most of the time, the stuff listed on the shipping manifest will not show up in the computer until the night before, so call them in the evening before the truck arrives and say "I was wondering if you had a minute to check the incoming manifest for item #354815 (Grimmy's item number). General sales staff won't know or care what is coming in on the truck, but I have found that 90% of them are pretty damn useful in checking the computer, especially with the item number (I used to use the UPC, but a couple of the employees didn't care for the longer number). Win or lose, make sure to thank them for their time.

Good luck on your quest.

 

thread win!

 

Also, if the System is anything like Wal-marts(could be, might not be), he could very well be a non replenishable item. something they aren't allowed to order. Only the home office can send in.

 

I managed to get mine early in the morning yesterday, i was the first at the door, but it didn't look like they had any; until i provided her with the Item # (it's 354815) and Voila!!! they had 3 in stock, we went looking for them to no avail; even asked other employees and one of them said "trust me, we don't have it, everyone has been asking for him, i just unloaded the truck and would've seen it", when the lady helping me out told him that they had 3 in stock he said "i know, i don't know what to tell you"; so she said to wait here. 4 minutes later she was back with one Grimlock from the back. As it turned out it seems a scalper (i'm only assuming here ok) had called and said he would buy their entire stock whenever they got any (scalper), the manager said he could have 2 (good, finally a real manager) and they were going to put the rest on the shelves.
Use the item # i posted here and you should be able to tell any store in NC that will receive the toy in the immediate future.
Sorry for the long post, but i hope this helps you a bit.

 

so very true, happens all the time.

 

i think you may be right here. just be patient.

 

Well that certainly seemed the case with animated arcee.

 

Although my experiences with TRU consists of only about 4 stores, I have yet to find an employee who cares enough about scalping to do it. Does it happen, sure, but is it rampant, I doubt it. Collectors/local scalpers know what days are stock days, and you have everyone from the starting lineup (or whatever the sports figure guys are these days) to the Starwars collectors to the hotwheels guys lining up. Plus for every active poster on these boards, there are probably two lurkers, and two more trans-fans who don't use the boards in any area. With Arcee, I knew what day they were coming in and was there in the morning with another local boardie, and we cleared them out. I know local boardies also go to just about every TRU in the area at opening on stock days. You are likely competing against "professional" scalpers or more likely fellow fans than actual store employees in most cases. Though with what they are paid, and what they have to put up with, Im surprised more don't scalp themselves.

On the plus side, nearly every employee who I have bs'd with at any store has said that Trans-fans are by far the nicest and most understanding collectors of the bunch, which is a tribute to the people in the fanbase.

 

Go to the selection here that has sightings by state.

There are some really nice collectors from here in North Carolina that will keep an eye for you if you let them know what you are looking for. If you are like me you can't make special trips every week to see if something hard to find is in but your fellow fans are good about posting when they have spotted a hard to find item and how many were left.

 

Wow, I gotta say I'm really happy I posted this topic even if I didn't see the other one about Grimlock lol. You guys really put faith in me that I will find MP Grimlock with a bunch of ideas and such which really surprise me how you all just warm up to me seeing as I'm a new comer and from most sites I've been on we're not treated all that well lol.

I am very grateful for your kindness and help you are giving me. Thanks for the great welcome to TFW2005.

 

i'm sure there are a hundred other ways you can get him. i'm 100% sure.

 

Just let us know when you find him, and welcome to the community. Though we may not all agree, we are all in it for the love of plastic crack, and what's the fun if you can't share the crack with other addicts.

 

I'm sure you will be able to get ahold of one either by eventually finding it in the store or having someone finding one and shipping it to you.

 

These are just coming out so of course they will be a little scarce for a few weeks. Then they'll sit for days/weeks at a time. It is a $70 item so much harder for people to hoard. While I'm sure there are some store exceptions, I've never seen a TRU exclusive that wasn't easy to find. Even Arcee was easy around here. Some might not hang around as much as others but if you go in at least once every couple of weeks, it can be found.

 

the last time i checked my TRU, they had some pretty dusry Insecticon sets and at least 2 Perceptor figures (that was about a month ago.)

and at $70, and closer to Black Friday, you are likely to get one.
just don't wait till they are clearanced at $20 to get one- cause you won't.

and there are some stand-up doods here at the Junkon that can help ya if you start panicking over Grimmy.
there's always hope.

 

When perceptor and the insecticons came out i had a hard time finding them. Once some time had past they were sitting all over the place. Same with arcee. But yeah, with him being 70 bucks, im sure things will cool down and youll be able to find him. I live within fifteen minutes of 3 tru's ( true story) so i feel pretty fortunate when i here people say they live 100 miles from one
On a side note, how much money can you reAlly make as a scalper? You'd have to move reAlly big quantities to make a reasonable amount of money. Say you scalp a grimmy, sell him for a hundred bucks if your lucky, after ebay fees, shippong, and all the time you spent picking him up, listing him, and shipping him out, would it really be worth it? I dont know, sounds like a crappy job, but what do i know

 

It sure does seem like more of a hastle than it is worth. You have to know every line (probably even beyond just toys), every stock day, clearance day. Spend money on gas, shipping materials, listing photos, fees. I would guess that it takes some dedication. The few I have seen are a dirty mess. But I guess if you have no marketable skills, it is either that or delivering pizzas. You will know it when you run into a scalper most of the time, you can (literally and figuratively) smell them coming. The nice thing about Grimmy is the price tag. It will scare some of them away. But you figure, outside of your listing fees, what are they really losing. If the product happens not to sell, they can just return it on their next outing. I know the local stock days for all stores pretty well, and I still would have no energy to scalp product.

 

What he said. Because I second it. Because I live a half hour away from Garner. Because all of us go to the store and check because both Cary and Durham TRU's are lacking for staff that dont give a crap.

 

My advice is take a deep breath and relax.

Grimlock only started hitting shelves this week. They will show up at some point. Just drop by your TRU once a week and take a look to see if they have him . I find I have the most success in finding toys when I am not actively seeking them.

 

Plus you'd have to figure that at some point a scalper is going to get stuck with something. What's the hottest new toy today is tomorrows old news. So it's dig out the receipt and hope they can return it to the store if people don't buy the item at scalper prices. Since gas ain't free that means they loose money when people start saying they aren't going to pay scalper prices for something.