Okay, so the Transformers at my local Wal-Mart were all but sold out due to the holiday rush. Up until two weeks before Christmas the shelves were fairly full of basics and deluxes in the red "powerlinx Battles packaging". I've been cheking in every couple of days or so to see if te shelves had been restocked, thinking they may be getting some of the new figures in, especially the first wave of the combiner parts. Well, I just got home from Wal-Mart, and yes, they did indeed restock their shelves. What I saw though depressed and, well, kind of outraged me a little. The shelves were full of deluxes with the ORIGINAL Energon packaging, not the red packaging. Not only that, but every figure was either a Hot Shot or an Inferno (with the exception of one Prowl and one Snow Cat)!!!!! I didnt think all the Hot Shots and Infernos would sell the LAST time they were warming the shelves, and now....THERE ARE TWICE AS MANY!
As for the megas, I have yet to see a Cliffjumper or a Shockblast at my Wal-Mart! Ironhides everywhere! and now....thanks to the big "Value pack" wave, the shelves are full of Ironhide/Jetfire two packs. AND ON TOP OF THAT...the value packs with the rest of the Transformers are selling for full price, YET over in the clearance aisle, there are about ten to twelve more Value packs selling AT CLEARANCE PRICES!
BUT WAIT THERES MORE! ZERO count em ZERO Universe figures. And a whopping THREE ALternators....AND THEYRE ALL SIDESWIPE!!! The newest Alternator figure Ive seen at my Wal-Mart was Silverstreak! No Meister. No Tracks. NOT EVEN A FRIGGIN DEAD END!
I've been collectin Transformers for about seven years. My primary source has been Wal-Mart because of the prices (I'm married and have a 3 year old daughter), the lack of options (No Target or TRU here), and because my wife is employed by Wal-Mart, so I get a ten percent discount on top of that. But now it seems that because of Wal-Mart, I may be missing out on the latter half of the Energon line because they can't seem to get any new figures. I told my wife I may have to start ordering Tf's online (something I try to avoid because of shipping costs).
Anyway, I don't suppose there's a real point to this, other than my frustration. Has anyone else had problems like this with their Wallycron?

Oh yeah and you better get used to it. At least where I've lived, the scalpers know where & when to shop to get 1st pickings. You might as well get used to the idea of paying a bit more and shopping online!

I feel your pain. The Wallycrons in my area tend to do the same thing. Before X-Mas, the Air Raid/Windsheer 2 pack was everywhere and I passed on it because it was on my X-Mas list. It ended up being the one set that I didn't get. And now, I can't find it at all.

I think we may need to give Wallycron (and other stores) a couple more weeks to get in newer figures. So far the Kicker/Highwire 2 pack has been popping up around here, so there is some hope.

At the rate things are going, I probably wont even see a Kicker/Highwire here. They'll sooner be getting the first wave of Cybertron figures...

Your not the only one. My Wal-mart hasn't even brought in Hound or Silverstreak alts. yet. I traveled over 200km to get mine. No Universe either. And we just got a new supply of 1 Snow-cat, 1 Rodimus, and 1 Demolisher. And a bunch of Minicon things to go with the Sideswipe, Smokescreen alts. that have been warming shelves since first released.

My feeling is, that if I don't start seeing new Alternators, Energon and Universe figures by mid-February, that's when I'll start to worry.

Everything is screwed up after the holidays. All will be set right soon.

Okay...after Shockwave 2005 and MikePrimes posts, I'm feeling a little better. I may bump this thread in mid February with an update.

Or just post in the Sightings Thread !

Picked up Alts Gimlock and Swindle at a Walmart yesterday, but they didn't have any new energon yet. So I'm not too worried.

Depending if I find anything or not

I don't know why your WM was so picked through and late on things before, but you're not the only one who's had that problem. I have about 4 WMs in reasonable driving distance, and 3 of the 4 tend to be okay at keeping at least 1 wave behind of the newest stuff. (For Cleveland, that's great.) The newest one, which is also closest to my house, had at one point just before Christmas, a grand total of 7 TFs: 1 Alt Sideswipe, 4 Towlines, and 2 Offshoots. That same WM went from 5/15 to 9/21 w/o getting a single new TF in. (I got so frustrated waiting for them to restock that I actually kept track and asked the staff!) Even weirder: all other WMs around here have deluxes for $7.44 reg. price now; this WM still has them @ $9.87. Go figure.

my walmart is just like this. they have all the same stuff they did when energon/alternators first came out, i have yet to see a galvatron or any other alternator besides sidswipe and smokescreen (with the ecxeption of the siver version). i used to look every time now its just every time i happen to go buy there when i need stuf near the toy isle. its real dissapointing

My Wallycron has a freaking shipload of "Energon Value Packs". No Alts (that's right -not even a Swipe) no Universe save one lonely Air Raid/Windsheer two pack, and none of the new combiner limbs. They did have an E. Galvy, but that was it. Everything else is two packs.

To top it all off -Target is worse! Their toy section looks like it was hit by a tornado carrying a truck filled with the new Power-Rangers junk. I picked up a E. Barricade (Buried behind a Power Ranger's Figure and looked up just in time to see some lucky jerk pull an Alt. Windcharger and Swindle from a similar pile. I managed to suppress the urge to bum rush him and club him to death with a Turbo Megazord, and walked out, dejected.

Barricade is pretty cool though, so all was not lost.

Edit: Teh spelling

Only problem I've had with my wal-mart is that they no longer have a TF section, yet they still carry the figs, they are just spread out around 4 aisles, yet I still managed to find Alt Grim n Alt Swindle.

i havent seen a 1st wave iron hide or anything that old since maybe august of 04.. man your walmart is getting late orders!

Welcome to the club. Wal-Mart has started to suck. Period. It used to be good, but now, all they ever have is the same crap, or nothing at all. It really is frustrating. I'm just glad I have a Target nearby and go that I go by several Target's on my way home from work. My Wal-Mart has not had Universe or Alternators for several months now. I've been getting everything at Target. It seems Wal-Mart (for me and other probably) are only good at the beginning of a new line and maybe for up to the 3rd wave of figures. After that, they suck until Christmas then get crap again.

It's frustrating. I missed out on a great deal of Armada because of this, and now Energon seems to be the same way.

it's all because of that energon sale wal-mart is having. prior to the sale, they were getting new powerlink battle toys but once the sale started up, they had to switch to old invatory because heaven forbid they put toys that are less than 3 months old on sale

NONE of my area's Wal-Marts have restocked their action figure aisles yet, and we have like 6 of them. I don't get it, either, because they've restocked everything else including other toys and video games. It seems as though the TF's were hardest hit, too, because most of the stores here are completely sold out of everything except but the most expensive ones (Megatron, Omega Supreme, the occasional black Unicron or Scorpinok). That's understandable though, 'cause Transformers are awesome and everyone wants to buy as many as possible

My problem/question is WHYYYY don't they restock their TF's? They've got all the new Power Rangers now, and they've got all the new Ninja Turtles (which are becoming ridiculous again, I've noticed), but they're all completely neglecting their TF's. Our Target's doing the same thing. They put out a few Construction Maximus arms the other day, and that was it.

But the worst part of all, which really adds insult to injury, is I know for a fact they got the new shipments of TF's in at the closest Wal-Mart because they have one of those sheets hanging on a peg in the toy aisle that shows how many new TF's they got and where to put them. You know, one of those pallet map things. And the sheet says to put them out on 1/3/05! And they still haven't done it!! AND you know what they DID do? They took all the TF's they did have and moved them to another aisle where there's even less space! But they still didn't restock OR do what they were even supposed to do on the freakin' pallet thing!

I haven't been to wallmart in a while, but last time I was there I only saw Wave 1 Energon and Armada minicons. They also had a 20th Prime and some Energon Primes. And no Alternators, except I did find some Smokescreens in the toy aisle for hot wheels.

Oh, I forgot. Just this last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to the Walmart where her sister found all (but one) of the TF's that I wanted for X-Mas. The list of what they had now goes as follows:

1 Offshoot
1 Silverstreak
1 20th Anniversary Prime

That was it. And the 20th Prime was still 63.97. And the box was all beat to hell. Apparently we don't do any snazzy "clearances" in Michigan.

Wow. My Walmart didn't even get 20th An. Prime to begin with, and there were only TWO TF's with the red package. Oh, and I've never even seen these ''value packs'' you speak of. I think my Walmart sucks.

Here in CA, I'm feeling very fortunate and not so at the same time. My local Walmart had restock ONCE After the holidays, but it full of combiner parts. I have organized the limbs myself and there are about...

24 Duststorm (Builtron Blue Crane)
24 Sledge (Builtron Green Bulldozer)
4 Treadshot (errr Superion Blue Jet)
6 ????? (eerr the other Superion Red Double Engine plane)
15 Storm Jet
20 Steamhammer

and also
Minial amount of other basics
1000X double basic, double Delx. and double Mega's Mega Value Crap...
1x Armada Unicron
3x Omega Supreme

Bunch of old Alternators (Pre Silverstreak stuff)
I did found E.Grimlock and Swoop once, but I didn't get it.
I also found Alt Grimlock and Swindle, no Windchanger or Jazz yet.

so your Combiner Shelf Warmers should be coming in anytime soon XD
just keep searching~!

I think all the scalpers got the good stuff. Walmart ususally restocks pretty fast. I have 2 walmarts near me that are opened 24-7. I sometimes to there around 12am just to go. I found out that this is when they do all the restocking. I once found a case of deluxe RIDs. That time Jetstorm was super rare and would go up to $50 on ebay. I asked the stocker to open up the case for me and there were 2 of him in that box. Yes I got both.

My point being that I think that walmart does get new stuff in but the scalpers go there like 7am and buy them all or something, which is why you never see them on the selves. Try going there at midnight before they even have a change to put them on the selves and you get 1st dibs...

WOAH!!! i cannot believe it, i saw a silverstreak and a hound at my walmart i cannot believe it. hopefully hound will be there still tomorrow