The sightings thread is bogged down with talk about these two topics and has been for a week or two, so why don't we move it over here.
A couple of things from my experiences:
-asking TRU employees to enter SKUs and project availability dates returns widely varying answers/results, and thus what any one store/employee says unfortunately can't really be taken as 'true' or 'accurate'. So for example, for MP Soundwave, we have seen several different members go in asking about when he will be in stores and we have had several different answers. So in short, it can be very difficult to get a clear projection from asking in-store, so take anything they say with a grain of salt.
For TRU shipping, I warn anyone re: shipping from the US that if a package is shipping using any method other than USPS (i.e. UPS, FedEx), you will likely be in for many headaches, and huge 'brokerage' fees that go far beyond actual duty and tax fees, especially if your item value is listed as over $30-50, and is not checked as gift. Anyone who has been through this knows that it is VERY unwise to order an item from the US that will be shipping with anything other than USPS (where the worst you can face is a small duty fee and taxes).
Let's keep the discussion going, and keep the sightings thread for sightings!