Rodimus and Skylynx are the only ones I ever saw at retail.
I actually ran across a Motormaster in store. I grabbed him and cancelled my preorder. But that was probably the only time I've ever seen anything larger than a Leader at retail since Toys 'BackwardsR Us closed down.
Sky Lynx is the only Commander class toy I ever saw at brick-and-mortar retail.
That's not surprising. 'Twas kinda hard to find a 2002-2003 toy at retail stores during 2011-2014.
The only time I've seen any Commander class toys is at my comic book and toy store, not at any regular retailers.
I saw Sky Lynx at Target once, but naturally that was after he hit my pile of loot at BBTS. Never saw any others at normal retail.
Unusual sightings:
My Walmart finally restocked Legacy Leaders…with Transmetal Megatron. The packaging from LAST year. Hard to tell if stuff is still in the inventory channel…or my Walmart finally worked through the several tractor trailers of inventory over the spring and finally got to stuff that should have gone out last year.
Also saw a a multi case refill of Studio Series Core…with wave 2. The Spike wave that was difficult to find last year. Now, my store has a full peg of him. Again, given how empty pegs were over the holidays, it’s hard to tell if this is indicative of anything besides my local store did a crap job managing their inventory had stuff sitting in the back (or in trailers) for months. Seeing the Spikes are nice, but NOBODY really wanted to see more BBM Shockwave and Ravage. Store had FINALLY gotten rid of them over the holidays…just to get a pile more.
My Walmart finally restocked Legacy Leaders…with Transmetal Megatron. The packaging from LAST year. Hard to tell if stuff is still in the inventory channel…or my Walmart finally worked through the several tractor trailers of inventory over the spring and finally got to stuff that should have gone out last year.
Also saw a a multi case refill of Studio Series Core…with wave 2. The Spike wave that was difficult to find last year. Now, my store has a full peg of him. Again, given how empty pegs were over the holidays, it’s hard to tell if this is indicative of anything besides my local store did a crap job managing their inventory had stuff sitting in the back (or in trailers) for months. Seeing the Spikes are nice, but NOBODY really wanted to see more BBM Shockwave and Ravage. Store had FINALLY gotten rid of them over the holidays…just to get a pile more.
One of my walmart's just stocked a bunch of SS Spike's as well.
Likely your miss inerpreting it, but then it might be certain stores not going to stock legacy and focus on Rise of the Beasts because they want to gamble on that!
Yeah, there is zero indication from any major sources that Hasbro is going to cancel the next wave of Generations figures, especially having revealed them and started preorders.
That said, your physical retail can continue to be a craps shoot. I know I basically haven't seen anything outside of wave 1 Legacy at my local Walmart. And I get the feeling Voyager wave 3 and Deluxe wave 3 will be discount fodder this fall given MULTIPLE waves of product have hit afterwards.
Then again, my store did just restock Studio Core with stuff from last year, despite ALSO getting SS Ironhide in at the same time.
That said, your physical retail can continue to be a craps shoot. I know I basically haven't seen anything outside of wave 1 Legacy at my local Walmart. And I get the feeling Voyager wave 3 and Deluxe wave 3 will be discount fodder this fall given MULTIPLE waves of product have hit afterwards.
Then again, my store did just restock Studio Core with stuff from last year, despite ALSO getting SS Ironhide in at the same time.
No one knows what the stores are doing. Not even the stores themselves.
I miss just being able to go and buy stuff.
I do too. But as the times have changed, so have my collecting habits. Anything that I know I will really want, I preorder. If I should happen to come across something I'm looking for at a physical store, cool; happy accident. Hunting for toys the old-school way just isn't as groovy as it used to be.
Very true. Years ago, I used to get an hour lunch break, but as someone that packs a lunch, I was done within about 15 minutes, so I had some time to kill. A couple of times a week, I'd hit Target or Walmart to see what they had. I'd buy 90% of my Transformers on those trips, hardly ever ordering anything online. The scavenger hunt feel of it was a fun part of the experience.
Yeah, it was/is definitely more fun to find something in the wild. I was able to find Cosmos on a Wal-Mart run last year, and that definitely pushed the nostalgia buttons. Beyond that isolated purchase though, the closest I can get to what I used to experience is if I pass on preordering something that I'm on the fence about, see while out, and then pick it up.
Finding in the wild is impossible for me, my local supermarket, big as it is, barely stocks any TFs, all I seen in there resently is Earthspark one step figures, while my local Toy shop barely stocks any TFs, so ordering online is my only real option, plus it saves on having to travel out of the area and relying on pot luck to obtain what I want!
The irony for my case being: nothing has really changed from high school till now in the stocking habits of the brick and mortar local stores, and that's actually why I preferentially get my transformers online now.
I used to get some good exercise biking out to the various places I would regularly search (two TRU's, two walmarts.) but... walmart has never cared about the toy sections outside of october to january, and even when TRU was backed by the US division: they wouldn't get in new stock till the old sold out. There was a little more pressure in the market back in the day when zellers existed, and both sears and the baie had toy sections. But sears and zellers are dead and the baie was bought out by americans and rebranded itself as an even HIGHER class department store so of course the toy section was cut down to seasonal only.
Unless you're a woman: and need specifically clothes, shoes, makeup, or jewelry: there's not a whole lot in malls and department stores these days.
I used to get some good exercise biking out to the various places I would regularly search (two TRU's, two walmarts.) but... walmart has never cared about the toy sections outside of october to january, and even when TRU was backed by the US division: they wouldn't get in new stock till the old sold out. There was a little more pressure in the market back in the day when zellers existed, and both sears and the baie had toy sections. But sears and zellers are dead and the baie was bought out by americans and rebranded itself as an even HIGHER class department store so of course the toy section was cut down to seasonal only.
Unless you're a woman: and need specifically clothes, shoes, makeup, or jewelry: there's not a whole lot in malls and department stores these days.
Anything past the first wave of a new line or rebrand is a crapshoot at retail. And if that new line is a Walmart exclusive, even that's not a guarantee (looking at you, Cosmos). Not missing out means ordering online. I guess it's a good thing that I just don't want much anymore.