Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Hi my peeps
Happy Valentines day first off, Hope its going good. Now to my question by any chance does anyone why(At least in Calgary) we get super late releases when it comes to TFs in retail? Like i have yet to see or hear of Earthrise figures(Though Ive heard mixed experiences of whether its released or not) and even some late wave Siege(Astrotrain mainly) in Calgary retail of any kind. From my experience with past lines it can take from half a year to a little over for new waves to hit shelves. Ill say prior AOE stuff was actually releasing in huge diverse batches(Especially RotF)

I mean I do not mind buying online but it is a little frustrating cause I enjoy that nice stroll through stores and finding happy surprises in figures.

If anyone has some insight I would love to know more. Have a good my peeps!😊✌🏼

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Earthrise hasn’t reached saturation anywhere at this point. Final wave stuff like Astrotrain is always hit or miss for distribution.

Beyond that, we’ve gotten many releases before the US over the past year. I’m pretty happy with Siege distribution, overall.

Now Botbots...man, I wish I had the same luck finding those little dudes.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

People forget, Earthrise had an initial soft street date of March 1st for the US. We're not late. Chill. Patience.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

same, I need the individual wave 3 packs and then wave 4 stuff.

For siege stuff the last wave of deluxes was scarce for a month or two then walmart got them all in and it was well stocked for the most part.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Dont forget we sometimes get stuff before anyone else.
Its random
But for mb we didn't even get the 35 siege display disappointing

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Earthrise.. we barely got Siege in my neck of the woods. And it seems to have gotten worse over the last few years.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Quoted for emphasis.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

From what I can tell, the majority of transformers toys (at least mainline stuff) is not late, it's usually right around the street date or before.

And we even get stuff before the states too, as was the case with omega Supreme.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

It is not the date but poor distribution. Sometimes selected stores stocked stuffs even before the street dates and broke them. For instance, not every Walmart got the 35th Anniversary endcap display, or the last wave of BM.

And last year we got almost every Generation Select and exclusive stuffs, except may be Star Concoy and Red Wing, through either EB, TRU or Amazon Canada which is somewhat amazing.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

A lot fewer retailers nowadays and the ones that are left seem to carry very limited stock.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I've definitely found its a bit better of late. I remember when we used to get things 4-6 weeks after us retail, now it seems to be anywhere from 2 weeks to us getting it first

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Certainly where I am.. with Zellers gone all we have left is a Walmart. And once they lost competition I'd almost bet they stopped trying.


And I would also agree with the limited stock. Every Xmas and Birthday its hard to find things for my son. Theres just no selection of anything not just TF.



Almost means a 2 hour drive to my nearest TRU just to have a chance or do everything online.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I am hopeful to still find Frenzy and Ratbat...but that optimism is also foolish so...I mean I dont NEED them, but it would be annoying if they stopped sending stock to Canada already for them

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

The longest we've had to wait was for transformers prime robots in disguise wave 2, took about a year and a bit to get them at Canadian retail. We got first edition before anyone else in the world by more than a year though.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Well, Earthrise wave 1 stuffs are showing up so Siege line is done... so unless these 2 will be reissied later as part of Earthrise like Rung, Astrotrain, etc they are done for. Sorry. I only saw these once in any store out here in GTA and Rung is still yet to be found (I gave up).

Granted, these are from the last wave but distribution is terrible in recent years. My neighborhood Walmart never have the 35th Anniversary endcap, among many other things. I have never seen TR Ramhorn nor PotP Novastar in the wild.

But at least we got most of our exclusives up here last year which was a nice change!

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Considering that such a set does NOT exist, no wonder you can't find it.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I post everything I see in Calgary, so make sure to go to the local AB sightings page. :)

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

It's not really late... it's just that Hasbro has very bad distribution, and I think they have made less units on their figures as well comparing to the old days. I got my Astrotrain from preordering at Amazon full price. It's very hard to find tfs despite I have lots of Walmart and Toys r Us around me. I was being very patient with the whole siege line, it's a line for me due to their G1 accuracy, but it turns out at the end I can't get a hold of almost half of the figures in the line, and I have to resort to get everything else online just last night.... but man... the price is already inflated for a few figures... In the future...probably need to pre-order everything to secure the figures .....

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Funny, I see things at Winners the odd time but Winner’s/Marshall’s seem under reported on the boards here. I almost wonder if Winners should have it’s own thread. I remember when places like Hart and Rexall even had Transformers back at the end of Cybertron/Movie one days. Any out of the way places like that anymore still packin’ TF’s? Sometimes that’s where we find the gold ;)

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Superstore & London Drugs sometimes have tfs, but they are just like Winners, you rarely see anything good there.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I just wish we would get more releases of Botbots here. We got flooded with wave 1, wave 2 hardly was seen here and wave 3 & 4 only saw a few released at TRU as multi packs. I had to go to the States looking for the few I wanted. Now series 6 just came out and like Canada is 3 waves behind. This is got to be the hardest Transformer line to collect. They all use the same SKUs as the previous waves so using sites like brickseek are useless. I don't really collect this series only wanted a few characters in this line. I can't even order these from amazon due to the fact that you can't be sure what you will get it is very frustrating.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I wish i had that luck here in Calgary. Im noticing the East gets way better distribution and release than Alberta and even within Alberta Calgary gets very late distribution compared to edmonton. Like we haven't even had Astrotrain from what i remember and thats like 2 months late from the Dec release date

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Really?! Like I said to someone else Calgary seems to really fail for distribution and release. I believe part of titans wars took almost a over a year to switch to wave 2(My memory is a little though so it might vary a little)Supposedly Astrotrain is out but here we havent even seen him yet at least from what i remember in the Alberta Sightings and personal experience. I had to simply result to buying him online(Thank god TFToys is good on having good stock of figs)
Rising prices and bad distribution and release is making it slightly frustrating

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Calgary here: we've had Astrotrain since December. Not in high numbers, but every TRU has gotten it, at the very least. Unsure about Walmart, I don't get out much.

Unless you mean the reissue, in which case, most Walmart's got at least one shipment already. It just went fast.

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

I wouldn't mind that, Winners helped me pick up a TR voyager OP and a POTP Blot both @ half price last year, quite good quite good

But we can't really guarantee that a SKU rolling out at a Winners is indicative of it being widely available everywhere

The TR OP I took a chance locally because at the time several GTA sightings had confirmed it, and the Blot was just a fluke I found in Kingston, as far as I know

Re: Anyone know why we get really late TF releases in retail?
 

Siege Astrotrain was beside G1 Astrotrain at Westbrook Walmart in Calgary last week.