Hi wondering which toyline y’all think had the worst distribution/hardest to find at retail/only pegwarmers? The only one that comes to mind for me we’re the first movie figures. Swindle and Dreadwings for miles.

 

Wasnt there a photo of A bunch of beast wars figures had been pegwarming for like 10 years?

edit: or was it a tf:energon figure?

 

Shelfwarming is just about the opposite of poor distribution. Poor case makeup, maybe.

 

Wasn't Built to Rule barely released to retail?

 

Tiny Turbo Chargers, Kreon Warriors and Botbots.

 

The Transformers Armada BTR sets were actually overstocked, hitting mega clearance at many stores, but the Energon BTR sets were test-marketed in Cincinnati, before finally seeing a wider discount store release at Ollie's.

MIKE
engledogg

 

Distribution of some of the Titans Return and POTP figures sucked. And remember how nigh-on impossible it was to find Alternators Swerve? And at the opposite end of the spectrum, all of the Alternators figures that shelfwarmed... It was manic depressive. I also remember shit loads of Armada and Energon going on clearance...long before I learned to not buy stuff just because it's on clearance...lol...

 

G2 Stunticons and Protectobots were only sold in Hasbro stores for staff. That's about as bad distribution you can get.

 

CHUG in Ireland. If there's not a kid's show or a bad movie to go with the toyline, forget it!!

Things picked up for a while with the Combiner Wars Trilogy but we still missed Blitzwing, Sixshot, Sky Shadow, Twintwist, Repugnus, Devestator, Victorion, Rippersnapper, Hun-gurrr, Bludgeon, Rodimus Unicronus, Nemesis Prime and most of the Legends.

We didn't get Siege Ironhide or the Rainmakers either.

Of course, the unnecessary Netflix and Siege repaints are together so Megatron, Sideswipe, Ultra Magnus and Hound can take up space that could have accommodated different characters.

Selects only makes things worse.

 

Reveal the Shield, the toy line that barely existed. Wave 1 deluxes showed up in Kmarts, wave 2 deluxes I only saw once. Wave 1 Legends I had to order a case assortment from the Transformers Collectors Club online store - before they showed up in droves at 5 Below. Wave 2 Legends got outright canceled.

I don't think I ever saw the Voyagers in store.

Transformers Prime 1st edition I never saw on actual store shelves. Neither the initial release or the later supplemental shipment. Fortunately they were easy enough to get on Toys R Us website at the time and I was able to get my Vehicons.

Going back in time, I don't ever remember seeing the final waves of Energon scouts on shelves. So I had to complete my combiners by doubling up on the initially released limbs.

Even further back, Beast Machines finally got good with the Battle for the Spark branding. Unfortunately stores in my area just didn't carry it. I was going into Philly proper for some classes at the time so I got to check on some stores I normally wouldn't have had access to and was able to find some bangers like the Tank and Cycle drones.

A little further back, I worked at Target in the hayday of Beast Wars and the TM2 Tigerhawk and Blackarachnia I bought from my store were the only ones I ever saw in store.

 

To me the worst distributed toyline was The Last Knight. Most of the first released toys I didnt really care about, but things like wave 2 and 3 as well as Cogman didnt show up in my area like at all for several months after they were released, I've never even seen cogman until he was rereleased in the studio series line. I mainly just saw floods of grimlocks, bumblebees and slashes everywhere I went.

 

I think the titans return wave with misfire

 

Pretty much anything that suffered from End of Line Syndrome. The last NEST wave from RotF with Evac and red Rampage barely showed up at retail. The only reason I was even able to get Rampage was because they showed up at Ross stores after about 2 or 3 years. Same with HA Mudflap. I think he showed up at TJ Maxx or something, but I unfortunately missed out on him.

A couple of the waves of Studio Series have been somewhat difficult to find. The wave with car Shatter, Cogman, and Scrapmetal was all you could find anywhere for a while, but the wave with Barricade and Sideswipe seemed to never get stocked.

 

TF Prime 1st Editions

 

Machine Wars was exclusive to KB Toys in the US right? That's pretty niche.

 

Worst distribution? Power of the Prime. They had to reissue the second wave because of how bad it was blundered.

 

T30 never made it to australia besides jetfire at tru

 

N

Not sure if this is much help now, but the Barricade and Sideswipe wave are currently getting stocked at UK discount stores, so it might be worth arranging something if you haven't got them yet.

 

For me it's the TFP FE.

 

The Titans Return wave that had Misfire and Windblade. I managed to get a Misfire preorder from BBTS but foolishly skipped Windblade thinking I can grab her later. Mistake. This wave famously never made it to most shelves.

The Siege deluxe wave with Impactor and Mirage I only ever saw once in retail too and Barricade was nowhere to be found.