Ratchet, everyone's favorite Autobot medical personnel:

 

Thats the best photos of rachet I've seen

Makes me want one

 

I usually buy more Deceptions than Autobots.
I have 5 siege Autobots and 3 Deceptions.

There are fewer "first time" Deceptions in siege like skytread so far.
For me, siege has made the definitive versions of Autobot characters who I felt got a bad rap or were unavailable to me locally. (Ironhide, Sideswipe,Mirage,Prowl)

 

Siege Ratchet as a figure is a bit tricky to photographs well, but in-hand it's quite a nice figure and considering that this is the closest thing to a decent G1 CHUG Ratchet toy we'll ever get in a while, I'll say it's worth seeking out a copy if you can find one at a decent price.

I pay at around MYR 125 (Around USD 30) for my Ratchet from my local Toys R Us (Siege Ratchet is a TRU exclusive at where I live since Walgreens never existed here). I didn't regret the purchase, but I won't pay anything higher than that.

 

Good for you bro! I was forced to get the 3rd release at a slightly higher mark $10.00 up at RK (both   and   'cause I got delayed to purchase the 2nd batch by 30 minutes and it was gone at RK) 

 

Despite Ratchet currently being a hard to find figure, I won't really went out there and overpay just to have a chance of getting Ratchet. No matter how much you really wants a figure, don't pay more than what you're comfortable with.

 

I have always focused on Decepticons. Great job on the whole series though. When I go to Walmart, EBGames, and TRU (Canadian, eh?) I mostly see Decepticons on the shelves so you may be onto something lol.

 

I’m only doing autobots for now unless it’s exclusives like the rain makers that I still have mib for now! Esp now after seeing ER I’ll wait & see if they do all the seekers! But I have always loved good guys over bad guys lol! I do get the main bad guys ie Megatron & so on but way down the road lol

 

me want

 

Trouble is, the local TRU is just as dependable as Starscream in a middle of battle. The only Takaramall source available to me is RK (the former, even buying by JP proxy not using RK is still a higher mark up) so I had no choice but to get Ratchet at RK with a $10.00 mark up. Hence the sad and happy face. Ratchet is indeed a good mold, too bad HB and Takara had to be an ass to make him an exclusive, that or could it be ambulances aren't hot type vehicles?

It is a known buying pref that good guys always sell better over the bad guys (hence, the collectibility of the latter more than often and lesser units being made but I'm not really in it for the 2ndary market). Though recently, the so called bad guys have been well designed just like the good guys.

 

Making Ratchet an Walgreens exclusive is indeed a bit of a bizarre decision, given that Ratchet is a major character among the fandom and the figure itself is highly desired.

 

If you look at the listing of the figures released, and the order they were.. you'd notice that the Deluxe Autobots releases outnumber the Decepticons by a LOT in the first 2 waves (7 AUT, 1 DEC).

On my Siege shelf, (note that I'm only counting Deluxe, Voyagers and Leaders) I'm now counting (as we've reached wave 4) 11 Decepticon (with Refraktor being a "triple") and 15 Autobots with even if 3 of them being recolors/remold (that I give a pass on as they are the main G1 characters, as otherwise, I tend to avoid/skip such).

But you might count the cassettes to add 2 more Decepticons as they are G1.

Also not counted are the two giants Autobots (Omega and Jetfire), and the TargetMasters don't count as the same, and I consider the Micromasters to be a whole different line.

The only way to increase the Decepticons numbers is to buy all of the Voyager seekers recolors, and myself, I have Starscream, and the only other one I'd get would be Skywarp, but not interested in the exclusive set that he comes with and Thundercracker but I absolutely hate the smirk face.

So in the end, the point is, there's been a LOT more unique mold Autobots, and they came out in the earlier waves, and the fact that most of the Decepticons are Voyagers or such, financially, they are more expensive to get, and you need to account the fact that quite a few or only "exclusive".

Myself, I'm more a plane/spaceship and tank person, but Siege did get me to go for the car G1 characters for the first time.

 

I managed to accidentally get two Ratchets, but he was available (and why I ended with two) either online or in stores as an exclusive, but still with enough numbers that I've seen him many times now.

For me, it's the online only, but non standard packs, such as Skywarp. I don't want nor care about the target masters from the set and refuse to spend the extra money for him. I hate the "exclusive" as much as only available in special sets, especially when it's a main character.

 

While hasbro isn’t innocent in bad distribution, they are not the main issue. It’s the retail stores. Every local big name retailer that sells toys treats the toy section as an after thought. For example, one of my targets still only has wave 1 siege items (magnus, shockwave, megatron, air strike patrol, all 3 battlemasters).

 

A Taget employee here told me they won't get any future stock until existing stock sells. Maybe that is the problem with that particular Target?

 

Valid. This is where traditional brick and mortar has been getting obliterated by online. It comes down to Business Intelligence. Online is based off BI: buying patterns, targeted marketing, instant access, etc. It takes way more effort when things need to be shipped to regional and local stores. There are logistical costs involved. I have 3 Walmart’s within 20 minutes. Each is in a different economic area. The more affluent area has higher end WFC and G1 releases. More shelf space too. The lower economic are has Wave 1 Deluxe, SS, and basic battlemasters only. I can only imagine how challenging it is for Hasbro to roll out global waves of toys. Toys get far less shelf space and priority from traditional retailers. Many of us remember the Christmas Wishbook from Sears. Toys were the lure. Now, eh...truly not the same thing. It seems to be largely impulse purchases rather than a reason kids want to go to the local store. I feel for those that rely on local retail to quench their TF habit. The vast majority of what I buy is online. While I would love to support local retailers (especially the indie stores) I find it very difficult to wait until they get stock and the highly sought after pieces sell through so quick, leaving only the shelf warmers. For me, TF collecting has gotten to the same extreme pre-order methodology as with the anime figures I collect. I choose to pre-order the main pieces I want immediately or I’m forced to wait. Blue streak is a good example of that. I was able to order 3 of the 4 35th releases from Walmart. Now...I wait and hope they get more of the one I wanted most.

 

Some sibling rivalry for the morning.

(On an unrelated note, I’m eagerly awaiting the reveal of Tarn down the War for Cybertron line in the inevitable future. I know there hasn’t been any hint or reveal of his character in the line, but given how much fan service the line has received I get the feeling he will come eventually.)

 

That figure is so nice!