Nope. Not gonna badmouth plastic vs diecast, or deco choice, or any of that other piddly crap.

 

Alternators finally hit my area beyond 'swipe n 'screen. Yes. We are very very behind. So I get the buzz again. The excitement of finding toys at retail and super cheap too.  :clap

 

Then I go back the next day to... *poof* they're gone.  Nothing but Grimlocks left at all Walmart locations. I live in a small city so there ain't that many TF fans here. Plenty to go around. Right? We've still got all current Cybertron except for Mudflap, Leobreaker, and Armorhide cause they're not here yet.

 

Quick check on eBay. Yup. They're there. Anyways, I didn't scalp Energon Ultra Magnus, re-issue Sideswipe, or Armorhide. But that doesn't matter. Someone else will.

 

I'm not knocking commerce. Supply and demand as they say. But I guess I won't change my habits and be forced to visit stores everyday just to collect Alts. I pay more for BTs cause they're imported but I refuse to be gouged for a domestic product that should readily be had.

 

Alas, scalpers read sightings threads too... Ah well. BT* Sunstreaker and alert will be in this week. Glee. :D

I can only hope that most of the hard-core TF fans that were willing to pay above retail for Tracks know that a) he's being re-released and b) the red box version is now super cheap in Canada - and that the scalpers don't end up making a killing.

*ALOT* of  collectors have dumped Alts becasue of scalping/spotty distribution.  Some have gone to BT's, some have given up fullstop.

 

 

Either way it's revenue that Hasbro have lost.......

While a lot of people blame Hasbro for the spotty distribution - for the most part it's out of their hands.  These guys now showing up in Canandian Walmarts were obviously produced by Hasbro some time back and Walmart had them hidden away in a warehouse somewhere (probably waiting for the holiday season).

 

One thing that Hasbro can be blamed for is their policy concerning carrying the Alt line:  Over a year ago there was someone on either this or another TF forum who owned a hobby store and wanted to carry just the Alts; however, Hasbro told him that to get Alts he had to carry the TF main line as well, needless to say, that was that.  If comic and hobby shops could carry the Alts I think it would be much healthier for the line.

its depressing that in some cases stores have literally run dry to the point of "ONLINE ONLY" much like the stores around me. If Toys R Us.com hadn't had Leobreaker/Mudflap on sale, then I would have gone to Walmart.com. The difference is that from 'NO Shipping' to "6.25 s/h USPS STANDARD" you kinda switch over.

 

I'm not through with Alternators, by no way of the imagination or empty shelves. After the loOONG break since Wheeljack, I found a Swerve. Not much of a trophy hunt but damn. Found him in person.

*ALOT* of  collectors have dumped Alts becasue of scalping/spotty distribution.  Some have gone to BT's, some have given up fullstop.

 

 

Either way it's revenue that Hasbro have lost.......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

:pfx

 

After buying my final Alt last Fall I couldn't find anything past Hound anywhere. That being the case my collecting of them came fullstop and I began to concentrate only on the Mainline/Universe stuff. Canada has always been pretty shoddy with destribution but now that there filling shelves and finally giving the collectors a second chance to find them it totally sucks that scalpers are allowed to clean out every establishment and over charge on Ebay. Whatever happened to the limit of one rule? Back when I found the rereleases of Optimus/Magnus it was very clearly posted that each buyer was limited to one of each. Why the hell can't Walmart endorse that kind of policy to discourage scalpers. As someone said earlier there are plenty to go around and people obviously want them so such a policy shouldn't lead to shelfwarmers. Unless of course it's Sideswipe or Silverstreak but that could also be avoided by keeping stock recent and up to date.

 

My Final word on these damned non collecting scalpers is that once these molds are released again in higher production numbers next spring and for 30 CND there is no way in hell anybody this side of the boarder will pay upwards $150 for them. The package may change but it's the same toy inside so      :inhpoo them.

This sickens me, it really does. From no Tracks to horde-tastic

 

Last I checked $9.92 X 3 = $29.76 CAD. :roll

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/TRANSFORMERS-ALTERNATOR...1QQcmdZViewItem

While a lot of people blame Hasbro for the spotty distribution - for the most part it's out of their hands.  These guys now showing up in Canandian Walmarts were obviously produced by Hasbro some time back and Walmart had them hidden away in a warehouse somewhere (probably waiting for the holiday season).

 

One thing that Hasbro can be blamed for is their policy concerning carrying the Alt line:  Over a year ago there was someone on either this or another TF forum who owned a hobby store and wanted to carry just the Alts; however, Hasbro told him that to get Alts he had to carry the TF main line as well, needless to say, that was that.  If comic and hobby shops could carry the Alts I think it would be much healthier for the line.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

my comic book store carries alt. :thumb

I know how you guys feel.  If you don't luck out and get the first shipment, you'll be waiting on the rest for a while, and I REFUSE to be scalped on eBay.  They had people wanting Prowl BIN for $50 - I could have just purchased the BT version AND gotten the black-legged version that I wanted. 

 

I hate the fact that we already have to "worry" about getting our hands on the next batch of figures because we know there's going to be a short supply. 

If comic and hobby shops could carry the Alts I think it would be much healthier for the line.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

my comic book store carries alt. :thumb

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, two of the comic book stores I go to occasionally carry them - however, at one they're priced at $30 each (I think they get them from Entertainment Earth as they seem to come by the case) and at the other they're priced at $25 (this one is next door to a Target that {suspiciously} never has new Alts).