Transformers Legacy toyline

[The Mighty Mollusk]

I much preferred shopping brick and mortar, but with TRU and KB long gone, the only options are the big chains that don't really seem to care about actually keeping things stocked. (Also I don't work at Target anymore, so I can't just snag things right off the truck.) And with distribution still in the toilet from, well, vague gesture at the last eight or nine years, I've started just preordering anything I really feel like I have to have, usually on BBTS. I still look when I'm out at the stores for other things, but it's just not worth physical hunting anymore.

 

[Shadewing]

Yeah, anything I feel I really must have or might end up hard to find; I preorder. For everything else, I sorta take my luck.

 

[Rhinox]

Toy hunting was a hobby for a bygone era. In this day and age of $3 gas and the horrors of the modern day big box store, it really is just not worth it to go out and look just to look. If I stumble on something, great, but that just doesn't really happen anymore.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I don't often need anything else from Target that would make a failed toy hunt worthwhile. If you gave me a $500 Target gift card and told me I had to use it, I wouldn't know what to do.

 

[ZacWilliam1]

I'm the opposite of that. We're at Target between 2 and 3 times a week on average for stuff we need for the house or kids (it helps that it's like 10 minutes from our house) so my problem is more often that I've already looked there twice this week and maybe we should at least go to the walmart that like 15 minutes further just for some variety.

-ZacWilliam, but yeah even being there all the time I am more likely to not see any new transformers there very frequently. I'd guess I get at least 60% of my toys online nowadays.

 

[Superomegaprime]

Brick & mortar is pretty much a no go for me as my local Toy shop has next to nothing TF wise and the major Supermarket is just the same (not surprised as the company that runs the local Toy shop also surplies the Supermarket), if I want to go shopping in different toy shop, I got to go further a field and then there is very little chance of finding what I want, so ordering off the Internet is the only way for me!

 

[Echowarrior]

I have all but given up on brick and mortar. Don't get me wrong, if I could buy toys at an actual, physical store, I would...but none of the places near me restock, and if they do, they tend to get clogged with the first couple waves.

I miss Toys'R'Us.

 

[Darth_Prime]

I don't often need anything else from Target that would make a failed toy hunt worthwhile. If you gave me a $500 Target gift card and told me I had to use it, I wouldn't know what to do.

I mean, they sell food. I’m sure you would need food at some point. Or shampoo. Maybe toothpaste? New shirt?

 

[CoffeeHorse]

There's at least three Publixes between me and the nearest Target, so if all I get is groceries that's a really inefficient shopping trip. But if I had the gift card, yeah you got me.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Toy hunting was a hobby for a bygone era. In this day and age of $3 gas and the horrors of the modern day big box store, it really is just not worth it to go out and look just to look. If I stumble on something, great, but that just doesn't really happen anymore.

Ironically, because I’m a general “toy nerd”, the stuff I’ve had the hardest amount of time actually finding is the actual “kids toys” that aren’t subject to “collector distribution” :lol Racerverse, Spin Master’s 4” DC and Jakks’ Star Wars Micro Galaxy are minor interests to me, but seem harder to get because those lines aren’t offered the same way as collector centric Action Figure lines are.


And to clarify my position, I WANT to shop retail. I WANT to support local retail venues. I am WILLING to pay a little extra to do that. But here? There are literally NO OPTIONS besides Walmart (Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Walgreens don’t count). And without ANY competition? Up until this past Christmas season, the entire action toy section was a single side of a single aisle block. They haven’t carried Masters of the Universe in four years. GI Joe in 2 and a half. And they haven’t carried a full spread of Transformers product in nearly a decade. And it is HIGHLY questionable for those SKUs they DO carry are even being stocked. I’ve seen this store go MONTHS without restocking empty pegs. And if they ARE getting stock, then clearly it’s not enough because I keep seeing the same dang empty pegs!

The next closest Walmart is 30 minutes away, and the next non-Walmart retailer (Target) is an HOUR away. The “hunt” is impractical for me.

As is? My “tier list” for buying is Hasbro Pulse, BBTS, and sometimes Best Buy (seriously). For any of my electronics needs, I DO go out of my way (and maybe even pay a hair more) to get stuff from Best Buy rather than Walmart or Amazon. Because they are a retailer I WANT to support (the mere fact their site doesn’t allow 3rd Party sellers is a MASSIVE positive to me).

Going a slight off-topic…I think a LOT of the issues facing the action toys segment (supposedly, the toys industry is doing fine, but it feels like elevated prices and the inclusion of certain categories kind of skew those results) can largely boil down to loss of a dedicated toy retailer to put pressure on brick and mortar venues and the “fracturing” we saw a decade ago. Splitting the kids and collector dollars might well be the root issue to some of the issues many of Hasbro’s action brands are facing right now.

 

[unluckiness]

I don't toy hunt at regular retail much since the Yolopark model kits started to become available and promptly overtook most transformers sections. I usually order exclusively from dedicated collector stores for stuff that's essential for me. Retail prices going slightly lower for generations/Studio Series might tempt me into more impulse buys in the future, I'll admit.

I do enjoy trawling around the specialty/hobby store segment of a specific local mall catering towards collectors/toy nerds. Never can tell what pre-owned or old stock you can find.

 

[lastmaximal]

I don't toy hunt at regular retail much since the Yolopark model kits started to become available and promptly overtook most transformers sections. I usually order exclusives from dedicated collector stores for stuff that's essential for me. Retail prices going slightly lower for generations/Studio Series might tempt me into more impulse buys in the future, I'll admit.

I do enjoy trawling around the specialty/hobby store segment of a specific local mall catering towards collectors/toy nerds. Never can tell what pre-owned or old stock you can find.

Yeah, that's another reason at the moment for dipping out. Sometimes it's distribution, sometimes it's whoever's running the store that just seems to shift focus to lines you're not into. One branch near me was great up to like Legacy Evolution, but now it's all Yolopark and Blokees and ONE.

That second point I can relate to, but the likelihood of a neat find has gone down hard in the last ten years or so because it's all resellers and stuff now with the same rotation of the last few years of retail. Haven't stumbled onto any gems since well before the pandemic. Not that I begrudge them for it; that's probably what's still making money.

But even given that, that circuit is far more likely to be visually interesting than mainstream retail if only for the variety. Still, gonna take more to get me to leave the house these days.

 

[unluckiness]

If I wanted to build model kits of variations on the same handful of designs, I'd still be building Gundams. Blokees at least have the decency to be in their own sub section most of the time.

 

[lastmaximal]

I guess part of that depends on the store layout and how much of a crap the staff still give. But either way I think there's way too much of it around; who knows what the clearance period will look like. Although to be fair, they're aggressively keeping up with the Blokees waves.

But yeah, not for me. Just makes me miss Kre-O.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

There's only one store that sells transformers now and last I checked a few months ago, they were still on Legacy year 1.

 

[DefaultOption]

(Also I don't work at Target anymore, so I can't just snag things right off the truck.)

The closest Target and WM to me are also the closest iterations of those stores to a college town, so I assume kids doing that is why they hardly ever have anything new.

And yeah, not having KB, TRU, or any local options really killed the fun in hunting for new stuff at B&M.

 

[Sabrblade]

Nowadays, it's become GameStop who gets all the good stuff as far as finding mass retail figures at brick-and-mortar stores go.

 

[LordGigaIce]

GameStop is very hit or miss. Some of them near me have the latest waves in. Others have like a single SS Reactive Bumblebee.

 

[Shadewing]

I agree with them being hit or miss; but also in my experience Gamestop will also get some unexpected things in. I've seen them stock Select item; and in fact I got a couple of the WFC selects stuff from them like G2 Ramjet and the Micromaster Galactic Odyssey set.

 

[LordGigaIce]

I agree with them being hit or miss; but also in my experience Gamestop will also get some unexpected things in. I've seen them stock Select item; and in fact I got a couple of the WFC selects stuff from them like G2 Ramjet and the Micromaster Galactic Odyssey set.

One of them about a half an hour from me has that Brave Leader TFO Optimus. Gotta admit I was tempted, if only by the shock of seeing it in the wild.