Studio Series discussion
- Thread starter Paladin
- Start date
Well... are you in Botswana?So Sunday was officially the release date for SS86 Hot Rod. I've been checking the Target site regularly. Saw him show up as available at my local store earlier, but apparently went out of stock before I could check out. It's now just flat out showing as unavailable, which is how Earthspark Soundwave still appears. I really don't want to have to pay eBay prices for this just because they decided to launch orders at a non-standard time with no advance notice...
@PrimalxConvoy got salty that SS '86 Hound was a Target exclusive. He compared Hasbro making something a Target exclusive (one of the largest retailers in the US) to them making toys exclusive to "a corner store in Botswana."
IMO, Hound is nice-ish, but he definitely isn't/wasn't worth the exclusivity, teeth gnashing, Detritus, and time it took to get here. I picked mine up as part of the Autobots United? (Last Stand? Don't know if that name is correct) 5 - Pack from a couple of years ago. It's good that he's finally seeing a solo release, but damn, is it just not worth it.
TLDR: if I saw him on a run to my corner store in Botswana, I would leave him on the shelf.
TLDR: if I saw him on a run to my corner store in Botswana, I would leave him on the shelf.
As I recall, he had to quote someone else who came up with that brilliant syllogism. That's not the sort of leap of logic just anyone can make.
I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't buy a toy deco with clear windshield.
To be fair, it makes it more difficult to get when they make it an exclusive to any store, Walmart, Target, or even Amazon. I have had trouble getting exclusives from all three in the past.
One, I'll concede he has a point when I can get Wild King figures at Target. Or Walmart.
Two, comparing one of the largest big box retailers in the largest consumer economy in the world to "a corner store in Botswana" is beyond asinine.
Exclusives are annoying and more work than mass retail. This is absolutely true. But (1) I can see why the brand does them, and (2) in the 2020s, access to this sort of stuff is not as difficult as it was 10-15 years ago.
I see what you mean, but I stand by this. The main point is that in this decade this sort of thing is not insurmountable or as much work as it once was for some of us.
I speak mainly from the perspective of someone in the Philippines trying to get stuff that's exclusive to US Target, Walmart, or TRU (only the last has a presence here, and even then it's just as a brand one of the major malls uses for their toy stores). I don't know if this, and "importing from Japan to I assume the US via online storefronts", are even really comparable experiences.
For one thing, here we were almost entirely brick-and-mortar, and of late have been sliding back into that for some reason. Then and now, the local distributor mostly got mainline waves, although they did manage to invest in bringing in more exclusives when the live-action movies and Universe 2.0 were white-hot (and we similarly ate good when Combiner Wars was hitting). But there's a lot of stuff that's missed, and store exclusives are always wait-and-see, then and now. And that was by and large the main source for anything; the only real alternatives were maybe 5 reputable specialty store brands.
Online shopping wasn't much of a thing here until the late 2010s, and it wasn't until the pandemic that it became normalized/commonplace. Online storefronts, Amazon shipping to here, and so on. The government (and/or more likely mid-level functionaries wanting to make an extra buck) always wanting to have fingers in pies and magically compute a tax on whatever also complicated importation and such, making it unfeasible sometimes to do much other than just hope stuff would be imported officially.
These days the distributor still has to play it safe (and they've opted out of some product), but there are many more local players in the specialty store space (with online presences too). There's also international storefronts that are more accessible locally via online shopping, although iirc one still can't shop on Target or Walmart's websites (the latter used to not be the case) without a US address. But there's also Hasbro Pulse, which does offer partner exclusives, which is kinda neat.
My point was that it's generally easier now, which I think holds true even if it were easy then. In either case, the whining and resorting to hyperbole like "corner store in Botswana exclusives" is out of place.
I speak mainly from the perspective of someone in the Philippines trying to get stuff that's exclusive to US Target, Walmart, or TRU (only the last has a presence here, and even then it's just as a brand one of the major malls uses for their toy stores). I don't know if this, and "importing from Japan to I assume the US via online storefronts", are even really comparable experiences.
For one thing, here we were almost entirely brick-and-mortar, and of late have been sliding back into that for some reason. Then and now, the local distributor mostly got mainline waves, although they did manage to invest in bringing in more exclusives when the live-action movies and Universe 2.0 were white-hot (and we similarly ate good when Combiner Wars was hitting). But there's a lot of stuff that's missed, and store exclusives are always wait-and-see, then and now. And that was by and large the main source for anything; the only real alternatives were maybe 5 reputable specialty store brands.
Online shopping wasn't much of a thing here until the late 2010s, and it wasn't until the pandemic that it became normalized/commonplace. Online storefronts, Amazon shipping to here, and so on. The government (and/or more likely mid-level functionaries wanting to make an extra buck) always wanting to have fingers in pies and magically compute a tax on whatever also complicated importation and such, making it unfeasible sometimes to do much other than just hope stuff would be imported officially.
These days the distributor still has to play it safe (and they've opted out of some product), but there are many more local players in the specialty store space (with online presences too). There's also international storefronts that are more accessible locally via online shopping, although iirc one still can't shop on Target or Walmart's websites (the latter used to not be the case) without a US address. But there's also Hasbro Pulse, which does offer partner exclusives, which is kinda neat.
My point was that it's generally easier now, which I think holds true even if it were easy then. In either case, the whining and resorting to hyperbole like "corner store in Botswana exclusives" is out of place.
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It seems the Target stocker must have hit up their contact in Botswana. Hot Rod is currently back in stock. Just since I woke up, my local store's stock has dropped from 3 to 1, and the rest of my nearby stores are out, so I wouldn't be surprised if he goes back out of stock quickly.
I kinda feel like these titan class Movie Dinobots are a bit of a waste. I get they are done for scale, but I've never seen much demand for them to be so. Mostly I just seen people wanting Leader Class versions to go with the Grimlock they did a few years ago.
Yeah, I can see there being SOME people that want a big Grimlock for Optimus to ride, but I don't see the others as being big sellers. I personally have never liked their designs, so I've got no interest in them at any scale/pricepoint, but even if I did like them I can't see buying the whole crew at Titan scale.
It looks about as good as that design could as an actual physical object. But I'm very much done with the Bay aesthetic, let alone at Titan price.
If I were a meddling executive I would have shot down this idea. I don't think sales on this one are going to be great.