Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

[Echotransformer]

I'll hazard a guess at why....

Fan Toys does have an ever-increasing fan base. I think they simply have more demand than a couple years ago. Although I don't have access to the numbers...I hear a lot of examples of people 'getting back into collecting, discovering Fans Toys only to see back-collecting earlier releases such as the Insecticons is nearly impossible". As such, they are sure to jump on new releases, and perhaps even pre-order.

Add the pandemic to the mix, which resulted in the disruption and delay of some releases and perhaps lower number of available figures for preorder (rumors are there is/was reduced factory capacity and to be honest, I think Fan Toys was one of the least disrupted of the 3rd parties) and suddenly there's this pre-order fever...everybody is ordering them ASAP, and some fans are even buying multiples to either 100% secure the figure and/or sell later at profit, further aggravating the scarcity.

Another thing I'm seeing (though again, I don't have numbers) is that there are people with more income (oddly) due to stimulus cheques and/or less going out and spending...so although there are many people negatively affected by the pandemic (and it we need to be understanding to our fellow collectors of this) there may actually be 'more cash going into the hobby for some of the people stuck at home'

Do you typically purchase from China e-tailers, US or local? First I would contact the local guys...they are awesome. They may not be able to help, but at least get your name in.

Next I would see if your preferred e-tailer has some kind of 'notify when more stock comes in' feature. I had to do this for FT31E, who is also already sold out and I missed out on (though he only showed up on a couple e-tailers so far, so I'm pretty confident that more will show up)

Generally speaking Fans toys has done a couple runs for each of the combiner limbs, so it's likely this guy is going to show up...so network and use those automated features, hunt daily if you have to...and I'm sure one will turn up for you.

And of course if I or other board members see one on a site we will share it...(honestly even Robotoybase is sold out on this guy...they are great for later releases but not this time...shocking really)