No more Generations toys for 2015 in Australia?

[Bidoofdude]

Great news: :(

Hi Ryan,



We are terribly sorry that it is sometimes not possible to bring the complete range of Transformers figures into Australia. The situation to date has been that the small size of our market (from a global perspective) has prohibited us from bringing in the complete range of product - from a regular consumer's point of view.



We respect and encourage all feedback from our consumers regarding the Transformers range of product.



We will be bringing in the Deluxe and Voyager waves next year.
Devastator will be available in Big W in June.
We will not be bringing exclusive deluxe or Leader waves at this point.

We have passed on your feedback to the production team and hope that they will keep it in mind for future ideas.

I'd like to thank you for your correspondence, and assure you that we do take on board your concerns.

[Krayt]

Exclusive deluxes I can guess.... But who's the leader exclusive?

[Bidoofdude]

Exclusive deluxes I can guess.... But who's the leader exclusive?

I have no clue. Perhaps it refers only to deluxes? I'll have to eBay Motormaster now, unless anywhere else has him cheaper.

[Krayt]

Hang on.... Are we reading this as no normal releases for the rest of the year?

[Kazza]

Whoa I hope that email does not mean we aren't getting Leaderclass CW/Generations Thundercracker and Ultra Magnus.:confused:

[swoop]

Can you post the email you sent off to Hasbro Australia?

[Bidoofdude]

Can you post the email you sent off to Hasbro Australia?

Hi,

I was just wondering when Australian retail stores should have Combiner Wars Wave 2 Voyager Motormaster and Wave 2 Legends Huffer and Blackjack? They haven't appeared in stores yet, unlike the Wave 2 deluxe figures.

Regards,

Ryan

[Firestorm]

That doesn't sound too good. But I say let's not lose our heads until after The big toy sales are over. There's still a chance we'll see wave 2 (or 3) there.

[icemanff23]

From my knowledge of what hasbro had wrote to a person on FBs Australias transformer fanpage. I found out that Hasbro would not be stocking the leaderclass figures except the ones that are currently out which is currently the two megs. So for now Thundercracker and Ultra magnus would not be hitting the retailers but might appear next year. Which goes to show they are doing the same thing that they did with Jetfire. I have not seen any Motormasters btw in store. Im on the look out though for any sightings of a Devastator in stores this month

[Krayt]

I keep re-reading the email that was posted.... I am finding ways to read it that are hopeful for the rest of wave 2 and beyond....

Saying devy June, deludes and voyagers next year could be talking the FINANCIAL year....

Not getting exclusive deluxes, they already told us no quickslinger and breakneck... Maybe one of the leader seekers is an exclusive we just haven't heard details about yet that isn't coming here....

So until we get something more detailed, I'm still hopefull

[TAAUBlaster]

These puns are so terrible, that I'm gonna go vent about the rumours that we're not gonna get any more Combiner War toys for the rest of the year after Devastator, and I was hoping to finish both Menasor and Defensor :( (Hopefully Ultra Magnus does get a release here, cause I need him for my collection)

Seriously?:eek:

[EDIT] Wait, what email is that? I must've completely missed that post

[Krayt]

Seriously?:eek:

[EDIT] Wait, what email is that? I must've completely missed that post

Was in the vic sightings....

[Krayt]

Great news: :(

Hi Ryan,



We are terribly sorry that it is sometimes not possible to bring the complete range of Transformers figures into Australia. The situation to date has been that the small size of our market (from a global perspective) has prohibited us from bringing in the complete range of product - from a regular consumer's point of view.



We respect and encourage all feedback from our consumers regarding the Transformers range of product.



We will be bringing in the Deluxe and Voyager waves next year.
Devastator will be available in Big W in June.
We will not be bringing exclusive deluxe or Leader waves at this point.

We have passed on your feedback to the production team and hope that they will keep it in mind for future ideas.

I'd like to thank you for your correspondence, and assure you that we do take on board your concerns..

[UltimateGalvatron]

But I need Motor Master and Blackjack...
I need Thundercracker...
I need Ultra Magnus...
I need Optimus Maximus and his Limbs...
I need the Protectobots...
I need Starscream...
I need Skywarp...

I NEED HUFFER!!!!!!!
:p

Seriously though that sucks! :mad::(

[Handsprime]

I hope by next year they mean Financial year, which is just over 3 weeks away.
I really hope it isn't 2016, cause I was looking forward to collecting most of the Combiner Wars figures locally this year.

[griffin]

(moved posts here out of the sightings topic)

[Sinnertwin]

Why are we all surprised? is the lack of new product actually something different to what we've experienced from Australian retailers in the past? :confused: :confused::confused::confused::confused:

[DarkHyren]

I hope by next year they mean Financial year, which is just over 3 weeks away.
I really hope it isn't 2016, cause I was looking forward to collecting most of the Combiner Wars figures locally this year.I too hope that this is what they mean but something tells me it isnt. Although what that means for the franchise in this country for the next six months is beyond me, maybe they will focus on selling 2015 RiD toys?


Why are we all surprised? is the lack of new product actually something different to what we've experienced from Australian retailers in the past? :confused: :confused::confused::confused::confused:I think we're surprised because as a collective here we all seem to love the generations/combiner wars line and we let it slip our minds that we live in Australia, the shortchanged capital of the world :p

[CBratron]

Hang on.... Are we reading this as no normal releases for the rest of the year?

I'm reading it as 'not all' instead of 'none'.
I'm an optimist that way.

[Deano85]

Retailers getting stuck with shelf warmer Age of extinction toys but wont order up on the awesome combiner wars line. The reason I had to go online to get motormaster and air raid.

[DarkHyren]

Retailers getting stuck with shelf warmer Age of extinction toys but wont order up on the awesome combiner wars line. The reason I had to go online to get motormaster and air raid.Well I think that's part of the problem, from a retail perspective if the previous line didn't sell well then why order more of the next line?
In general most brick and morter retailers don't seem to know/care about the differences with the products they carry, they see them as all the same thing: those Bumblebee toys all the kiddies love

[5FDP]

My local Kmart has not stocked anything of significance since last Xmas. The place literally has tumbleweeds blowing through the toy aisles. I'm not surprised by this news at all. Thankfully we are getting Devastator cause that sucker would have been expensive to import.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Wow - my tiny town has always been pretty crap at getting TF's in - now it sounds like the whole country is going to follow suit - welcome to hell fellas :(

Guess I'll be looking for my second Blackjack online after all :rolleyes:



My local Kmart has not stocked anything of significance since last Xmas. The place literally has tumbleweeds blowing through the toy aisles. I'm not surprised by this news at all. Thankfully we are getting Devastator cause that sucker would have been expensive to import.

Really? Literally? I'd like to see that :p
(sorry man - couldn't help myself ;))

[Zommael]

Over my years of collecting, I've come to realise that statements from Hasbro regional offices can mean anything from what they seem to say, the exact opposite, something else entirely, or nothing at all. Hasbro Australia seem a lot better than Hasbro UK, but still, until we've heard from somebody other than a customer service representative, and more likely via Griffin or GoktimusPrime who have contact with Hasbro pretty regularly, I'd take anything at all with a grain of salt. No offence intended to BidoofDude of course!


Really? Literally? I'd like to see that :p
(sorry man - couldn't help myself ;))

Literally now means figuratively. (http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_mea ns_figuratively_newscred/)

[griffin]

Sounds like UK Hasbro have had something similar occur (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-generations-combiner-wars-wave-2-never-to-reach-eu-retail/33137/), but in their case they missed wave 2... which often happens when stores over-order on the first wave of a series.
After all, we've seen it here every year since 2011 (TF3), we didn't see much after wave one of TF3 toys (2011), we didn't see anything beyond wave one of TFPrime (2012), or Beast Hunters (2013), or much past wave one of TF4 toys (2014)... and this year we've had 5 months of wave 1 RID toys sitting in storeswhile other countries are up to wave 3 and 4... so it would be more surprising to have a consistent, regular release of all the waves here. :p

Wouldn't it be great to have the marketing model of Japan or Asia, where they have actual release dates that are almost always reliable, and stores aren't clogging their shelves with first wave stock, just to maintain a stupid corporate policy of not being the first store-chain to run out of stock.... as if losing lots of money on discounting stock somehow makes more capitalistic sense than ongoing sales/profit by rotating stock and keeping the shelves "fresh" with new stock.
This corporate model needs to change if they don't want to keep losing more customers to online purchases, just to find something that isn't dead stock in the Retailer's store.

[kup]

Why are we all surprised? is the lack of new product actually something different to what we've experienced from Australian retailers in the past? :confused: :confused::confused::confused::confused:

Yeah this is an all too common song from the past and present.

I am pretty sure that things are this bad because retailers are simply not interested in Transformers. They had too many abysmal and shelf warming toys recently and are probably fed up. TF sections are nearly non-existent these days with just lingering movie toys that still fail to move.

[Deano85]

Yeah this is an all too common song from the past and present.

I am pretty sure that things are this bad because retailers are simply not interested in Transformers. They had too many abysmal and shelf warming toys recently and are probably fed up. TF sections are nearly non-existent these days with just lingering movie toys that still fail to move.

It's been fun trying to hunt down wave 2 to only be constantly met with hero mashers, left over dino bots and kreo. Can't believe myer is still trying to sell the over priced platinum sets at full price.

You can pretty much count how many cases a store ordered by what's on their pegs. Figures aren't even given their own pegs. With the transformers lately being crammed in with avengers and ninja turtles toys.

[kup]

You can pretty much count how many cases a store ordered by what's on their pegs. Figures aren't even given their own pegs. With the transformers lately being crammed in with avengers and ninja turtles toys.

Yep, that's the scenario that I encounter now all too frequently. Technically there is no TF section any more, they just threw the shelf warming toys with other action figure type lines.

If only Hasbro learned that kids want transforming toys that look decent. Not garbage lines. Too bad Generations was given the short end of the stick as that is probably more in line with what kids (and collectors) want.

[Golden Phoenix]

Yep, that's the scenario that I encounter now all too frequently. Technically there is no TF section any more, they just threw the shelf warming toys with other action figure type lines.

At Big W in the city here, there is no TF section at all. There are 2, maybe 3 pegs with hero mashers mixed in with all the other random toys :(

[Zommael]

This thread is very doom and gloom but it is not at all clear, after some reflection, what Hasbro are even saying. They haven't said there will be no more Voyagers or Deluxes, only that they will bring Voyagers and Deluxes through next year. It's also odd to be seeing this sort of message so close to the mid-year toy sales. We all know that Big W has nerfed the size of the TF section lately, but I would be very surprised if that wasn't in preparation for getting more stock in for toy sale. The same applies to K-Mart really, although their toy stocking has been worse and worse over the past two years. Target are a bit more nuanced. Myer and TRU I can't comment on. But still, it would be very odd not to expect at least stock of Wave 1 and Wave 2 to start appearing again as the toy sales get closer and take place. To be quite honest, I wouldn't be wailing and gnashing my teeth as much as waiting to see what happens.

[GoktimusPrime]

I went to a Target store today and there was literally a wall of shelf-warming Chomp 'N Stomp Grimlocks. I think it might help things here if Hasbro AU were more selective in what they released here; e.g. focus on the Generations stuff and skip the more kiddy-focused stuff - that may sell better in the US with their cheaper RRPs, but under AU RRPs they're just doomed to shelf warm. Retail buyers may not know the difference between these kinds of toys and say Combiner Wars -- they may just see it all as "Transformers," and may be hesitant in ordering more stock while there are still "Transformers" products showing up on their inventory. TakaraTOMY skips some of the more kiddy stuff.

I still can't believe that we skipped almost all of the 30th anniversary Generations stuff. :(

[Paulbot]

A Target I visited on the weekend had the same, over 20 Chomp and Stomp Grimlocks. Guess it might be in an upcoming catalogue?

[ampoldj]

So basically what we are seeing now on shelves we will see til end of the year! :eek:

[SMHFConvoy]

Well, I think I'm done with collecting TFs for the time being :/

[DELTAprime]

Sigh. I have been hoping to get a Rook locally since he's sold out a BBTS.

[DarkHyren]

A Target I visited on the weekend had the same, over 20 Chomp and Stomp Grimlocks. Guess it might be in an upcoming catalogue?Ok lets all do our part then and buy all of those so the stores order newer stuff... lol who am I kidding, I'd probably only pay max $20 for one of those Grimlocks, I'm sure I'm not alone in that thought

[UltraMarginal]

This thread is very doom and gloom but it is not at all clear, after some reflection, what Hasbro are even saying. They haven't said there will be no more Voyagers or Deluxes, only that they will bring Voyagers and Deluxes through next year. It's also odd to be seeing this sort of message so close to the mid-year toy sales. We all know that Big W has nerfed the size of the TF section lately, but I would be very surprised if that wasn't in preparation for getting more stock in for toy sale. The same applies to K-Mart really, although their toy stocking has been worse and worse over the past two years. Target are a bit more nuanced. Myer and TRU I can't comment on. But still, it would be very odd not to expect at least stock of Wave 1 and Wave 2 to start appearing again as the toy sales get closer and take place. To be quite honest, I wouldn't be wailing and gnashing my teeth as much as waiting to see what happens.

well said.

[Zommael]

Ok lets all do our part then and buy all of those so the stores order newer stuff... lol who am I kidding, I'd probably only pay max $20 for one of those Grimlocks, I'm sure I'm not alone in that thought

It's actually a pretty good toy, just not what collectors are used to or generally after. For kids though it's good. I'd agree it's over-priced.


well said.

Thank you. :)

[philby]

would griffin be able to get any more concrete info from his contacts? about motormaster at least?

[Deano85]

would griffin be able to get any more concrete info from his contacts? about motormaster at least?

I got my motormaster from here. Arrived within a week :) Also got air raid. Going to get blackjack as well.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TRANSFORMERS-COMBINER-WARS-VOYAGER-FIGURE-MOTORMASTER-/381257203792?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item58c4b34050

A complete list of all available combiner wars from that store
http://stores.ebay.com/the-little-toy-co/TRANSFORMERS-COMBINER-WARS-/_i.html?_fsub=7926226011&_sid=110525101&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

[philby]

cheers, thinking of going that route :)

[kup]

I went to a Target store today and there was literally a wall of shelf-warming Chomp 'N Stomp Grimlocks. I think it might help things here if Hasbro AU were more selective in what they released here; e.g. focus on the Generations stuff and skip the more kiddy-focused stuff - that may sell better in the US with their cheaper RRPs, but under AU RRPs they're just doomed to shelf warm. Retail buyers may not know the difference between these kinds of toys and say Combiner Wars -- they may just see it all as "Transformers," and may be hesitant in ordering more stock while there are still "Transformers" products showing up on their inventory. TakaraTOMY skips some of the more kiddy stuff.

I still can't believe that we skipped almost all of the 30th anniversary Generations stuff. :(

Yeah but if the retailers can't tell the difference between the kiddy/crap stuff and Combiner wars - What hope is there of them being more selective?

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Literally now means figuratively. (http://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_mea ns_figuratively_newscred/)
This makes me sad

I went to a Target store today and there was literally a wall of shelf-warming Chomp 'N Stomp Grimlocks

Before I was sure I'd know what was being said by gok, but after the quote above, I dunno... I just.... I dunno....:p

It sounds to me like Hasbro might be trying to spread the waves out. They said next year. Maybe to allow the clearing of stock off old shelves and fill the gap while awaiting the next visual/audio abomination to come along.

[griffin]

would griffin be able to get any more concrete info from his contacts? about motormaster at least?

I've asked, but have not yet had a reply.
Maybe Goktimus would have better luck since he has actual contact with the Hasbro people.

[griffin]

Today I got a reply from Hasbro, and it was only delayed because the person had been away for the last couple weeks.

The reason for the limited amount of restocking we've been seeing in recent months is apparently due to Hasbro moving their warehouse, which is said to have disrupted their supply chain... and it may not be back on track until towards the end of the year (which relates to what the original email referred to - a worst case scenario could see the last three waves not hit stores until next year, BUT, if sales are good, we could see them before the end of the year).

What I can quote from them, to help calm down the masses a little, is...


In summary, we will be getting all the later waves of Combiner Wars.

Now it's just anyone's guess as to when the remaining Combiner toys will show up in Australia.

[DarkHyren]

What I can quote from them, to help calm down the masses a little, is...


In summary, we will be getting all the later waves of Combiner Wars.

Now it's just anyone's guess as to when the remaining Combiner toys will show up in Australia.This is very good news, even if they are delayed it's still better then not getting them at all.
Just a question though, will we be getting the full waves or will we still be missing out on a few size classes, just wondering about that particular bit since while we've gotten all the deluxes from wave two we haven't seen the Voyagers, Legends or Leaders.

[DELTAprime]

Today I got a reply from Hasbro, and it was only delayed because the person had been away for the last couple weeks.

The reason for the limited amount of restocking we've been seeing in recent months is apparently due to Hasbro moving their warehouse, which is said to have disrupted their supply chain... and it may not be back on track until towards the end of the year (which relates to what the original email referred to - a worst case scenario could see the last three waves not hit stores until next year, BUT, if sales are good, we could see them before the end of the year).

What I can quote from them, to help calm down the masses a little, is...



Now it's just anyone's guess as to when the remaining Combiner toys will show up in Australia.

You know, now that you mention it, at work we are low on all Hasbro product except Nerf. Hope it won't effect Devastator showing up this month.

[philby]

Today I got a reply from Hasbro, and it was only delayed because the person had been away for the last couple weeks.

The reason for the limited amount of restocking we've been seeing in recent months is apparently due to Hasbro moving their warehouse, which is said to have disrupted their supply chain... and it may not be back on track until towards the end of the year (which relates to what the original email referred to - a worst case scenario could see the last three waves not hit stores until next year, BUT, if sales are good, we could see them before the end of the year).

What I can quote from them, to help calm down the masses a little, is...



Now it's just anyone's guess as to when the remaining Combiner toys will show up in Australia.

thanks for following it up! i ended up getting him from that ebay store mentioned earlier by Deano85.

[Deano85]

thanks for following it up! i ended up getting him from that ebay store mentioned earlier by Deano85.

Awesome. I'm glad I have Superion and Menasor. Not too worried about Defensor but Rook looks cool. Now for the wait for the optimus maximus limbs and other un-announced combiners. Lucky theres a few masterpieces coming up and want to get maketoys cupola (chromedome). So plenty to look forward to. Happy hunting/waiting for those still trying to get the combiner wars wave 2.

[Bidoofdude]

Today I got a reply from Hasbro, and it was only delayed because the person had been away for the last couple weeks.

The reason for the limited amount of restocking we've been seeing in recent months is apparently due to Hasbro moving their warehouse, which is said to have disrupted their supply chain... and it may not be back on track until towards the end of the year (which relates to what the original email referred to - a worst case scenario could see the last three waves not hit stores until next year, BUT, if sales are good, we could see them before the end of the year).

What I can quote from them, to help calm down the masses a little, is...



Now it's just anyone's guess as to when the remaining Combiner toys will show up in Australia.

Good news! :)