Not a toy sighting, but this is pretty cool... found at a Canadian ToysRUs store, official human sized standees of Bumblebee (and He-Man).
I want one!
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Not a toy sighting, but this is pretty cool... found at a Canadian ToysRUs store, official human sized standees of Bumblebee (and He-Man).
I want one!
Wave 4 of the R.E.D. toys are now out in America - BW Optimus Primal and 1986 movie Reformatting Megatron (with grid pattern deco).
Kingdom Voyager Tigatron found at US retail (and as noted in the sightings section, New Zealand in the last day as well).
And a day later, the next wave Kingdom Voyager Blaster has been found at US retail (Walmart).
According to Entertainment Earth, wave 5 has 2 Blasters with 1 Tigatron... so this is actually the 5th wave already shipping to US, and the above sighting of Tigatron may have been wave 5 as well.
With Tigatron just being found in New Zealand with no mention of Blaster being found, we might still have to wait some time for wave 5 to come here... if at all... because Voyagers are not a fast selling size class in Australia, and Hasbro Australia may not need to order in more Voyagers before Legacy is shipping to stores.
Pipes and Slammer have already been found at a US retail store (at a Walmart), so could show up anywhere now (like Amazon or even a store here).
Most years Hasbro seems to try to sneak out some January toys just before christmas to cash in on the biggest sales time of the year, and this year it looks like America have been getting a few collector items already, including the new Studio Series Voyager Soundwave from the Bumblebee Movie.
Fingers crossed we get some last minute surprises in the next week in stores here, like we had last year (with the first SS86 toys popping up).
Something that came up in a recent podcast was that the release date is the date that Hasbro expects wide distribution to be complete by - ie you should expect to see toys in your local store by then - and can often expect early releases if retailers get their stock well ahead of that date.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Given the volumes of Christmas stocks this makes sense why Jan/Feb release date assortments are often seen in Christmas.
The first waves of the main lines often have release dates, which usually includes the new year waves (we saw last year with the SS86 toys that were being sent to stores ready for their JAN 1st release but bigw put them out too early).
Selects Lift-Ticket (Diaclone red Moist) is out in the US. EB Games here still has a 1st of March due date. New size and design for the packaging, too.
ToysRUs Singapore has the SS 80 Brawn, 81 Wheeljack, 82 Ratchet and 86 Perceptor Deluxe wave available on their website.
SS86-12 LDR Coronation Starscream has been found at retail in America.
I wonder if it was accidentally released as soon as it arrived in the country, as their global release is June/July, so stock would probably be in the process of being sent around the world (often 3-4 months in advance of a set release date, just to be ready in time, and in case there are any delays).Quote:
Originally Posted by JJJ
Found at retail in America is the first wave of Studio Series Core class and Beast Wars Reissue Tigatron and Scorponok.
The Studio Series Deluxe wave of Bumblebee Movie figures is now out in Asia, so should start showing up in other countries soon too.
We only just got the wave before that (with ROTF Sideswipe), so it is possible the Bumblebee Movie wave could be a little while longer for Australia.
Cyberverse Warrior class Snarl has been found at US Retail.
I'd be surprised if we see it here, as it looks like we've stopped getting the Warrior class here last year, particularly after we had a LOT of heavily discounted old waves dumped on several retailers last year.
Warrior Snarl is the last of the 4th year Cyberverse toys for me to collect, so I think Amazon is probably going to be the best option, if it ever shows up on there. (otherwise it's ebay or an American online store with expensive shipping)
Out in the UK is SS LDR Coronation Starscream and Deluxe wave of Perceptor and Bumblebee Movie figures, along with Kingdom Blaster... so hopefully that means some of those will be showing up here soon too.
Meanwhile, out at retail in America is the final Kingdom Core class, Hot Rod.
Two months after their release in Asia, the new Buzzworthy Studio Series single pack minor redecos (Cliffjumper and Kup) have been found at American retail... so if they are coming here, it could be soon.
Not a toy release, but something licensed... and I think is quite impressive.
One of those part-release magazines has been found in France, which comes with parts to build a model of 2007 Movie Optimus Prime in robot mode, standing at about 50cm tall.
I didn't catch if it said how many issues/parts there were, but it isn't likely to come here because the magazine is in French. (they could release the model here with an English magazine, but it would be a lot of extra work to translate or create a new magazine from scratch.
A video on youtube shows the first issue and the parts it comes with, that form the head.
In the final week of January, US sources for Black Zarak were shipping out to their customers... a month after us.
(a number of these fan-channel exclusives seem to be scheduled for here before America, which is really weird)
Studio Series DLX Bumblebee Movie figures (Brawn, Ratchet, Wheeljack) now out in America... so could show up here soon, or at least on Amazon as American stock.
The next Legacy GEN Selects DK-2 Guard (black Ironhide) has been found in Peru... so could be showing up in other countries soon too.
(our release date is April 1st, but could be out earlier if the stock is here before then)
Kup, you're up :DQuote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Studio Series 86 Sludge is ... somewhere :) From context, I presume it came from Hasbro Pulse, or one of the Asian retailers who seem to routinely get stuff quite early.
He didn't get it in packaging, so it would mean that it isn't out yet, and the person who posted up pics is likely to have just got it from where-ever those youtube reviewers get their unreleased "samples" from. No one who has obtained a new toy in packaging, would ever not show the toy in packaging, as that is a key image people post up online to the fandom, so it is always a red flag if you ever see it happen by fans or reviewers with new toys.Quote:
Originally Posted by JJJ
The person also noted that it was "in the mail" which would have been at least a couple days from the source, so if it was shipped from a legit retail source, people would have been posting up a couple days ago that their orders were being processed and being shipped.
Also, one of the regular sources of unreleased toys has also posted up a video (without packaging), so both people must have just received them at the same time from their Asian source.
There has always been a huge demand by a small number of fans to be the first to get their hands on new toys, just for some short-lived attention in the fandom.
Don't get me wrong, it is very exciting when you are the first in the world to show off a new toy to the fandom (all of mine have been toys from retail that came out here first, or were toys/samples from Hasbro Australia), but I doubt anyone in the global fandom would even know my name or remember me from those first reveals.... and I have no interest in trying to maintain that attention by tracking down more unreleased toys (or compete with the current guys who get these unreleased toys from shady sources - certainly not from Hasbro, because any time I've been loaned or sent a toy to officially reveal, I am not allowed to reveal it until a specific day set by Hasbro America).
The first of the Legacy toys have now been found at US retail - Voyagers (Bulkhead and Blaster). Shouldn't be too much longer until they start showing up here, as Kingdom waves appear to have stopped here now (the last new waves here were in January).
Just days later, and the Deluxe Legacy toys have now been found at US retail.
Anyone care to speculate on when they'll hit our shelves?
Wave 1 Legacy Cores and Voyagers have been out this week in Singapore, which I use as a barometer for Australian general retail (Kmart, Big W etc) releases - we are often 3-4 weeks behind SG. So that's my guess. I have a feeling Legacy will come before the last waves of WFC Kingdom (Tigatron, Blaster, Hot Rod, Pipes, Slammer) and those Kingdom waves won't get a widespread release.Quote:
Originally Posted by JJJ
Word is that they are coming out here very soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by JJJ
(I imagine that most retailers are waiting to clear out more of their Kingdom inventory first before wanting to stock a whole new toyline, so they might show up on places like Amazon Australia and Toyworld first)
Leader class Legacy (Gen2 Optimus, Galvatron with no paint) now out at US retail.
The GEN Selects Guard DK-2 is now out in Canada (and should be out here within the next few days). Apparently some Asian dealers got their hands on it early a few weeks ago, but it's official release is this week and has shown up on the weekend in South Korea.
The first of the Legacy toys have been found at retail in New Zealand (only Blaster - but Bulkhead should have been there too), so it shouldn't be too much longer before they start showing up at retail here.
I've pre-ordered them at Zing, but love to see the pricing of Kmart and others. Hope it's sooner than later.
Wave 2 Legacy Voyager Blitzwing was just found at an American retailer... which is about 2-3 months early, so it might be just a few cases slipping through early from Hasbro before they were supposed to release it.
Now out in Asia (a store in Hong Kong that I often visit when over there), the next wave of Studio Series toys - Deluxe mv6 Ironhide, Deluxe mv6 Arcee, Voyager 1986 Junkheap, Leader 1986 Sludge.
The Walmart exclusive Legacy toys (Sandstorm, Nightprowler, Buzzsaw) have been found at US retail.