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Post by Pinwig on May 25, 2015 17:04:30 GMT
The article linked suggests they may come to light as TRU exclusives, but that seems like a guess.
Bah. Right, so then. To the interwebs to source wave 2. Still, very good news Defensor's coming. I can live without a deluxe Groove if I can buy the things off the shelf.
I think.
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Post by nevermore on May 25, 2015 20:30:28 GMT
The TRU part comes from me. The owner of German fansite Starblight.de got word from Hasbro Germany not too long ago that wave 2 would be skipped at German retail, and Combiner Wars would commence with wave 3 in June. (Today's UK sighting of the wave 3 Deluxes would corroborate that part.) Shortly afterwards, the owner of Starblight.de relayed the news that Toys"R"Us (which apparently obtain their stock without Hasbro Germany's involvement?) would still carry wave 2, without a set release date. Now considering the close parallels between distribution in Germany and the UK (AOE Deluxes and Voyagers as TRU exclusives, Leaders exclusive to other stores, products that are exclusive to Walmart in the US exclusive to other chains in the UK and Germany, the wave 2 Classic Legions without Megatron etc.), I concluded that the same might apply to the UK market. |
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Post by nevermore on May 31, 2015 16:07:35 GMT
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Post by The Doctor on May 31, 2015 17:29:36 GMT
Does it really matter where in the world a wave of TF toys turns up first?
-Ralph
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Post by nevermore on May 31, 2015 17:53:36 GMT
No, but it does matter if toys are notably absent from certain markets for several months following their release in another market.
It's also rather uncommon for two subsequent waves to be available at European retail before even one of them is released at US retail.
If we knew for certain that everything would eventually see release in every major market, there wouldn't be an issue. But with Hasbro's increasingly haphazard distribution all over the globe (except possibly for Asia), there's no guarantee that product X released in market A will ever be released in market B at all.
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 31, 2015 18:00:32 GMT
There is a general pattern to it from our point of view. And where it's out has a relevance for where you might be able to buy it from: Far East (which means Robotkingdom & Kapow have it), then US (BBTS), then UK.
On a lot of TF sites OUT means OUT IN THE USA when and if it's not out in the USA it's not out. Which is blatantly untrue.
There's even a pattern emerging to far east distribution which we've not been able to see before which is something like Philippines, Taiwan (where most of the people on the TFND forum are based) and then Hong Kong which is the first point an online retailer really gets involved. Someone setting up shop further up the chain stands to make a few ££££
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 31, 2015 18:04:47 GMT
Case in point: There's some evidence (I've seen some carded photos) that RTS Scouts wave 2 (Rumble, Bodyblock & Downshift) was released in small quantities SOMEWHERE in the far east. Back then there were fewer people in that part of the world online so we didn't know so much. When a similar thing happened with the late Beast Hunters we did know.
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Post by nevermore on May 31, 2015 18:15:23 GMT
There are also online retaliers based out of Singapore and the Philippines, but those are mostly selling locally. Robot Kingdom is the only major Asian-based online retailer that sells internationally. There used to be Action-HQ based out of Hong Kong, but they've been out of business for years. But yeah, what Phil says is mostly right. The typical pattern goes like this: Far East Asia (Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan) -> US (online) -> US (brick & mortar) -> Europe. Canada and Australia can be any on this spectrum. Sometimes stuff comes out in Australia and/or Canada before it comes out in the US, sometimes they're the last to get certain products. But the Asia -> US -> Europe chain used to be mostly in effect for a long time. However, recently things have gone increasingly out of control. There's an ever-growing list of products out in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe and even from US-based online retailers that are still awaiting release at physical stores in the US. Other stuff is only available in one particular market and might or might not get released elsewhere. Hasbro's information policy isn't helping things at all. Right now there are several products officially out somewhere in the world which Hasbro hasn't even officially acknowledged existing yet. There was this brief time when it seemed like Hasbro was acknowledging that Europe actually mattered. When the Beast Hunters "Predacons Rising" subline imprint was announced, Hasbro stated that those would be available at Target stores in the US and at Tesco and Carrefour stores in Europe. Then the typical problems with the "wave" system kicked in, and all wave 2 figures were only ever available in the US. In addition, some figures were also released at different chains in other markets which Hasbro's press release didn't mention. These days, it almost seems like Hasbro's PR department is in a coma. New products are getting released left and right which are only revealed by accident. Case in point: There's some evidence (I've seen some carded photos) that RTS Scouts wave 2 (Rumble, Bodyblock & Downshift) was released in small quantities SOMEWHERE in the far east. Back then there were fewer people in that part of the world online so we didn't know so much. When a similar thing happened with the late Beast Hunters we did know. That's another problem. When people in Asia showcase a new toy, it's always "here new toy look pretty pictures". They never tell us how they obtained said figure. Is it officially available at retail somewhere in Asia? Did they acquire an early sample through contacts? Up until a few years ago, people in Hong Kong would routinely get unpainted test shots of upcoming toys, then painted samples, then packaged samples. It would always be the same few people, and you could tell with relative certainty that they didn't obtain those figures through official channels. But the endless flow of stolen prototypes ended, and when someone from Asia puts up photos of a soon-to-be-released figure these days, you can't tell if it's actually out in stores over there now. And it appears these people don't actually care either. But your example of Reveal the Shield Demolition Rumble, Bodyblock and Downshift? Those were very certainly samples. Some photos were revealed through a Yahoo! Japan auction, and there were samples of all three in both US and European packaging. www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-generations-classics-30-35/reveal-the-shield-demolition-rumble-bodyblock-and-downshift-171327/www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-generations-classics-30-35/reveal-the-shield-downshift-and-demolition-rumble-in-package-images-171270/www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-generations-classics-30-35/reveal-the-shield-demolition-rumble-gallery-breacher-repaint-revealed-171302/An even more bizarre case are the 2007 Movie Scouts Gunbarrel (Energon Kickback/Blight redeco), Decepticon Reverb (Energon Blackout/Stormcloud redeco) and Backtrack (Cybertron Lugnutz/Hightail redeco). Those surfaced as samples, were listed in a massive Hasbro checklist as another wave of the Target exclusive Movie line Scouts, but were ultimately never released. However, I was told by a then Hasbro insider that they had been released in Mexico. Case in point: An unusually large number (several hundreds from what I recall!) of these three was available on eBay at the time, and they all included an additional Spanish language instruction sheet on heavy stock paper. (I actually managed to obtain Gunbarrel and Reverb myself with relative ease.) But then a Mexican fan who is supposedly well aware of the market situation in Mexico told me he never ever heard of someone sighting them at retail, so... |
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 31, 2015 19:07:51 GMT
I'm less sure. As you've just demonstrated there are multiple versions of all the toys out there which makes me think they did exist but quite far up the chain and in very small numbers.
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Post by nevermore on May 31, 2015 19:32:39 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on May 31, 2015 19:35:46 GMT
And, of course, the recent wave 1 Combiner Wars!
Which admitedly is an exceptional case and goes someway to explaining why we got them so early if they only did the multilingual packagaing for the initial run!
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Post by nevermore on May 31, 2015 19:56:11 GMT
Well, we got Combiner Wars in European multilingual packaging (= 13 languages). The US got Combiner Wars in American multilingual packaging (= four languages - English, French, Spanish and Portuguese).
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Post by nevermore on Jun 2, 2015 11:34:30 GMT
There are also online retaliers based out of Singapore and the Philippines, but those are mostly selling locally. Robot Kingdom is the only major Asian-based online retailer that sells internationally. There used to be Action-HQ based out of Hong Kong, but they've been out of business for years. Minor correction here: There's also Action Robo based out of Hong Kong, who just got in the RID wave 4 Legions and Warriors Robot Kingdom also has in stock: www.facebook.com/ActionRobo/photos/a.391346170962354.87048.312844082145897/804502509646716/?type=1 |
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Post by nevermore on Jun 6, 2015 20:53:34 GMT
You can add RID One-Step wave 3 (Fracture, Thunderhoof and Fixit), found at an Asda store: www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/1043624-wave-3-rid-1-step-changers-found-uk-retail.htmlThey're out at US online stores but not at physical retail yet, so they might qualify as "UK released before US". Also, you might want to fix the RID Legion listings. Blizzard Strike Optimus Prime and Ratchet are thus far unconfimed as toys; wave 3 only has Fixit and Underbite as new toys. Wave 4 has been confirmed to contain Night Ops Bumblebee and Alpine Strike Sideswipe, and is out in Hong Kong. Same for Warrior Class wave 4 (Night Ops Bumblebee and Gold Armor Grimlock). Legion wave 5 has been confirmed to contain Ultra Magnus and Patrol Mode Strongarm. Hyper Change/3-Step wave 3 (Steeljaw) is out in the US. Wave 4 has been confirmed to contain Sideswipe, wave 5 has been confirmed to contain Night Ops Bumblebee. There are also two TRU exclusive "Clash of the Transformers" subline Legion two-packs in the combinations Bumblebee/Underbite and Optimus Prime/Megatronus. Both are out in Australia. |
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 6, 2015 21:36:53 GMT
Ta.
I'm loosing the will to live tracking RID too many toys in different size several of which aren't worth bothering with. Yet to buy a toy from it!
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Post by nevermore on Jun 6, 2015 21:54:13 GMT
I've detached my interest in owning toys from documenting them years ago.  |
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Post by The Doctor on Jun 6, 2015 23:13:54 GMT
Those new RID 1-step changer chaps were in my local ASDA last week. No shelf tags for them though! They were shoved in with the TMNT toys.
-Ralph
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Post by nevermore on Jun 9, 2015 17:34:47 GMT
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Post by Benn on Jun 10, 2015 7:29:01 GMT
I spotted the Shiny Prime and G1 colours Grimlock two pack in The Entertainer yesterday. No discount that I could see. Shame, as that Grimlock is quite nice in the plastic.
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Post by Pinwig on Jun 10, 2015 18:38:12 GMT
Interesting, that was a Tesco exclusive.
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Post by nevermore on Jun 23, 2015 15:33:04 GMT
Several sightings of Voyager Hot Spot and Cyclonus at UK retail (Argos for Hot Spot, A1 Toys in Scotland for both) over at TFW2005. Both were also found in Ireland, apparently.
(Legends Viper and Groove have also been found in Germany - Groove even by myself - which is closer to the UK than the US, and would imply an impending UK release. No sign of Warpath yet.)
Not sure if the "Slingshot" and "Wildrider" parenthesis after Alpha Bravo and Offroad are appropriate anymore now with the release of Quickslinger and Brake-Neck.
Correction regarding the RID One-Step Changers: Ninja Mode Sideswipe is part of wave 4 with Night Ops Bumblebee. This wave has been released in the US now. Gold Armor Grimlock is part of the "no pics seen yet, still unreleased" wave 5 with Patrol Mode Strongarm.
RID Warrior Class wave 4 (Night Ops Bumblebee and Gold Armor Grimlock) is out in Hong Kong. Legion Class wave 4 (Night Ops Bumblebee and Alpine Strike Sideswipe) is out in Singapore as well.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Jun 23, 2015 16:05:46 GMT
Several sightings of Voyager Hot Spot and Cyclonus at UK retail (Argos for Hot Spot, A1 Toys in Scotland for both) over at TFW2005. Both were also found in Ireland, apparently. I remember seeing the initial sighting and dismissing it, as they're mainly a comic shop and likely to be an importer. a1toys.com/Of course it's a hard to tell at the moment with multilingual Voyager boxes. Our Glasvegas residents may be able to enlighten me. And something doesn't ring right about the Argos sighting. £30, which is way over the odds, the code doesn't work on the website and nobody's got a photo yet? Hmmm. And, as yet, nobody's reported a Cyclonus to go with it! |
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Post by nevermore on Jun 23, 2015 17:29:10 GMT
There are two Argos sightings and one of them provided a receipt photo with a catalog number that doesn't seem to work (yet). The lack of Cyclonus might be one of these weird recent European case assortment oddities (Classic Legion wave 2 lacking Megatron, RID Warrior wave 2 containing nothing but Drift in Germany, The Entertainer also getting solid cases of Drift, Hungary getting mostly Warrior Optimus Prime etc.), I dunno. Hot Spot and Cyclonus have also been sighted in Ireland according to their TFW2005 sightings thread along with RID Warrior Jazz and Sideswipe. A1 Toys is an odd one. Last year they got AOE First Edition Optimus Prime as an "exclusive", in multilingual European packaging that has never popped up anywhere else: a1toys.com/first-edition-optimus-prime-transformers-age-of-extinction.htmlwww.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-sightings/86570-united-kingdom-transformers-sightings-3703.html#post11252401A few months ago, I saw him at the Amazon warehouse I work at, also in multilingual European packaging, and because he was an Amazon exclusive in the US, I figured that apparently Amazon Germany got the European version in? However, when I checked him out at the German Amazon website, the seller was stated as "A1 Toys". www.amazon.de/dp/B00IFZGDQCIt would appear they are an odd comic book store that actually stocks European retail toys and even gets European editions of exclusives? |
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Post by jonathan85 on Jun 23, 2015 23:20:07 GMT
I said this at the time, but A1's stock is very rarely imports. In fact, I can't recall the last time they had TF imports in, and every other CW figure they've had in has been European stock...
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Post by nevermore on Jun 25, 2015 22:17:56 GMT
More corrections and updates: RID Legion Class Wave 1 includes "Strongarem". Only one letter short of a harem?  Final names for the Mini-Cons, as well as release info: Wave 1 - Slipstream, Sawback (formerly "Akita" or "Akitawolf"), Divebomb (formerly "Sliver") and Dragonus (formerly "Dragon") - out in Singapore and Hong Kong Wave 2 - Velocirazor (formerly "Buzzsaw"), Beastbox (one word), Ratbat and Sandsting (formerly "Scorpion") Mini-Con Deployers (Drift/Jetstorm and Fracture/Airazor) are out in Singapore and Hong Kong as well. |
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Post by nevermore on Jun 27, 2015 19:44:39 GMT
RID Mini-Cons wave 2, Combiner Wars Leader Class wave 4 (Starscream) and Platinum Edition Trypticon all appear to be out in Hong Kong. At least they're in stock at HK-based online retailers Robot Kingdom, Action Robo and Element Plus Toy.
Trypticon has also been released at retail in the Philippines.
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Post by nevermore on Jun 28, 2015 12:03:50 GMT
Mini-Cons wave 1 now also out in Canada
Clash of the Transformers Mega 5-Step Megatronus out in Australia and Canada (TRU exclusive)
Clash of the Transformers Hyper Change/Three-Step Optimus Prime and Bumblebee out in Canada (TRU exclusive)
Platinum Edition Autobot Intel Ops (Blaster & Perceptor) out in Australia (Toys"R"Us)
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Post by nevermore on Jun 28, 2015 18:33:06 GMT
Clash of the Transformers Warrior Class Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Sideswipe confirmed/revealed via Figure Oh! magazine: www.allspark.com/forums/topic/117698-figure-king-209-transformers-scans/Even though these are nominally Japanese releases, I'm fairly confident that Toys"R"Us exclusive redecos such as these (yes, the magazine actually confirms these will be TRU exclusive in Japan as well, which I think might actually be a premiere, as Japanese TRU exclusives have thus far been completely independent from what TRU stores in non-Japanese markets carried as exclusives) will be identical to their Hasbro counterparts, which were already hinted via the RID mobile app. |
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Post by nevermore on Jul 1, 2015 20:13:04 GMT
More things nobody but completists and archivists care about: "Robots in Disguise Collection" (that's the official product name) - Target exclusive six-pack containing One-Step Changers Sideswipe, Steeljaw, Grimlock, Underbite and Sideswipe, plus a "Special Edition Figure" Optimus Prime who is thus far exclusive to this set. news.tfw2005.com/2015/07/01/robots-in-disguise-one-step-changer-target-exclusive-set-found-at-retail-295242(Confusingly, Target filed this under the same DPCI number as the Age of Extinction One-Step six-pack.) |
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Post by Pinwig on Jul 2, 2015 21:15:21 GMT
Ooh. Trip to TRU this weekend then. Wonder which voyagers we're going to see. |
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