Seriously if you guys haven't bought any ROTF figures yet and want to do it now! Just like what happened with the first movie, in an entire week they'll be completely gone once the movie is out! Break out your wallets, and prepare for the worst.

I seriously went to walmart the day after Movie-1 premired and there were NO Transformers on the shelves. Not a single one. Even when the next wave shipped within a week they disappeared. Every wave that hit here in RI within a week they were gone. I couldn't find jack shit! Not even FAB's, Legends, or expensive Leader Class figures! Not even the Real Gear.

Of course there were shit loads upon shit loads of Arcee and Pegload and those crappy regular house hold items that turned into weapons. I'm going to every retail store, buying the figures I want that other stores don't have (Can't find Chromia, Skids, none of the 2nd Wave) and preparing myself. I'm somewhat a complusive buyer when it comes to TF's (Aren't we all?) when I get money I'll spend it on Transformers. Sometimes video games, comic books etc. something typical like a geeky kid like me would buy.

So watch out everyone. Expect a major "drought", if you will, in the action figures isle.

 

Um. Let's check in again in 2 weeks.

 

really? i think distribution this year is far better. There will be figures on shelves. I can find all of wave 1 and 2 easy as far as deluxes. Wave 2 voyagers are a bit harder but its not as bad as 2 years ago

 

I hope so. I mean look at the Toy sales for Hasbro back in 2007. They were the highest they ever been. The movie is great and many people liked it (So did the kids) so really it makes sense that the second movie will draw alot of attention (Especially kids) and the toy isles will be practically empty. I really hope this doesn't happen because then I'll have to resort to Ebay and I'll be paying more for my figures than I should be, alot more.

I'm hoping for the best, I really don't want this to happen again. Maybe since the Economy is bad it may not happen as bad as it did in '07.

 

The pegs should at least be better stocked. Hasbro went into over-drive to meet demand. That's one reason why even though some of the size classes have been selling decently in a lot stores, the pegs still manage to stay full 5 out of 7 days of the week.

 

Nah.. not an issue. I bet we have plenty of overstock this time around. There is no big surprise for demand compared to what happened in 2007. They've made WAY more figures in preparation for the inevitable.

 

Yeah, I thought that we would be flooded with pegwarmers just like every other Movie Toyline back in 2007. Man was I surprised. It does look like Hasbro has anticipated a large audience this time around, so it shouldn't be as hard to find some characters. I just wish the Human Alliance line would hurry up and get here, those are going to rock.

 

The movie's not even out yet...they'll restock.

 

That's why I put "expected" firehawc 69 lol

Just saying it's possible. Hopefully they did over produce and theres no drought as I anticipate.

 

Here there seem to be FABs everywhere but very few deluxes.

 

I remember that happening last time around. I think there are more toys out now before the movie then there was for the first film. (seems like it) The only released figure so far that I havent seen at retail is Mixmaster. I like the quantites and distribution so far (in my area). I hope they address the distribution problems that alot of people had with the universe2.0 stuff, and animated to a lesser extent. I never even saw Cosmos, Hotrod, or Warpath in Person at retail. Not once, and there is ALOT of retail action in my area.

 

The main thing is to focus on the movie figs, especially the Twins. Bumblebee was impossible to find for a long time, and I expect something similar this time out.

 

IIRC, last movie retailers didn't expect the line to do as well as it did and severely under-ordered; Hasbro can make as many figures as they feel like, but if retailers don't order, those figures won't hit the shelves. So, when retailers said "hey, give us more of these" Hasbro had to crank up production further to meet the increased demand. On top of that, and I don't remember the specifics exactly, but in the summer of 2007 there was a disruption in shipping from the factories in China, so shipments were going out to replenish retailer warehouses and that resulted in depleted inventories and not much on the shelves.

For RotF, I can see the numbers of toys on the shelves dropping when the movie comes out, but I don't think there's going to be a drought like last time. By all indications, retailers dramatically increased their orders for this line and there aren't any disruptions in shipping expected.

 

I've already spent $200 on 'em in anticipation of increased demand and didn't want to miss out on any figures. I've also noticed that leader prime is selling VERY well, and the fallen doesn't seem too easy to find either.

 

With less disposable income to go around, and more repaints straight out of the gate, this toyline could potentially do significantly worse than the first. So really, I'd be more worried about them overextending this time around.

 

They go nuts with these figures. What are you going to do with an Incredible Hulk toyline? Kids buy Hulk and Abomination (at most) and that's it. Kids don't want 43 hulk variations.

Terminator? Are you ****ing kidding me? Did no one see a problem with this:



What next? Little Nazi outfits for Indiana Jones V?

But Transformers made perfect sense. A large, diverse cast of characters. Lot of heroes. Lots of villains. All ready made to be toys.

I can think of only a handful of movie toylines that were hugely successful - Star Wars, Toy Story, Cars... those are the only ones that really spring to mind. But they all had those same attributes that contributed to Transformers' success.

 

What I don't understand is why did they advertise a movie Like T4 or TDK to kids. And the toys are for like 5+ right? Kids at that age have a limited vocabulary and learning skills (Average population) how could they understand a plot development for those types of movies?

 

They don't. I had toys from Tim Burton's Batman back when I was a kid. He's the good guy, he's the bad guy who does nasty things to people. That's pretty much all I ever needed to know.

 

doesn't bother me... i preordered them all...  

and the more that sell the better the next classics/universe line becomes, unless i'm wrong?  

 

If we do hit a "famine" as you put it, it'll be around July/August. The last two weeks of July, beginning two weeks of August are the absolute worst for finding anything new, or if the rest of it's sold out, finding anything, period.

The first instance I can remember of that happening was Energon. That Wave consisted of Supreme Class Omega Supreme, role play Megatron Sword, and role play Prime Blaster. Nothing else, not a single figure, nothing. And it lasted that way for a good month or so.

It wasn't too bad with Cybertron, though there was a lull. I wasn't affected by it, seeing as I had ordered most of the Galaxy Force versions (I was impatient, had to have those figures NOW!)

Classics, we can't count because it was meant to be filler. Lasted less than a season's worth of time (a season last three months, and Classics lasted about two. From mid March to end of May.)

TF07, massive lull in July/August. (Due in part to the demand they weren't expecting, but the waves due out in that period were mainly repaints with one or two new molds thrown in the mix.)

Animated had a hiatus of sorts as well. The first few waves came in an onslaught, then late July/early August, it was pretty much dead. We were promised LC Ultra Magnus at the beginning of the month, but that didn't happen. Once he hit, new product started coming out in droves again, much too much to keep up with.

I'd not be surprised to see the same thing happen with ROTF. Sad thing is...Leader Class Jetfire, Deluxe Wave 4 (Arcee), Ultimate Class Devastator, and (most likely, but not confirmed yet) Human Alliance Wave 2 (Sideswipe w/Epps.) are due out in that time frame, but due to demand, and lulls, I doubt we'll see much in the way of new product during that time.

LC Jetfire is the only new figure for that size class, so that's 1.
Arcee, and whatever new figure(s) (most likely 1-2 including her, maybe 3, so they can stretch this out) among repaints, so that brings the total to 4-5.
UC Devastator may not make it to the shelves right away due to the horrendous overstock of Bumblebee at the current time. (It's bad, really bad...) If he does, that brings the total to 5-6 new figures/toys.
Human Alliance would bring it to 6-7, plus any Scouts and Legends. So I'd say for that period, we're expecting to see about 10 new molds (definitely less will be found though, due to distribution)

The only difference this year is the inclusion of the Scouts. We didn't have that size class for the last film. They might just be the extra oomph needed to break the habit of years past.

Oh, and as for finding a secondary source to get the figures you need, I'd highly recommend HTS. They've really impressed me with the orders I've made. They were correct, shipping wasn't terrible, and the shipping time was quite excellent considering it was FedEx then USPS. (3-4 days max) After that, I'd go to BBTS. Retail, then HTS, then BBTS. That's your best bet.