TRU MP Soundwave & A/Storm prices and codes

[nexusnixx]

Subtle differences in both soundwaves. Hmmmm

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, professionalism is required for buying toys

I'm talking about professionalism in my job. You know, that thing that I get paid to do. As Trent pointed out, it's an unethical form of fraud to take a sickie when you're not actually sick.

Our individual situations do not provide an excuse to buying any item.

So you would seriously have me pick up my daughter at say 16:00, then spend the rest of the evening (or into the night if it's a Thursday) driving all around Sydney looking for a single toy? Say if I call all the TRUs in Sydney and the only one that has the toy is TRU Campbelltown, which is a good 60km away from my daughter's preschool; it'd easily take 2 hours (or even more) to drive there in peak hour... then it's about 43km back home, so that's probably an 80 min trip. So include time to park and physically shop (and I can't walk that fast with a preschooler in tow, it would most definitely include toilet breaks) -- we're looking at a good four hours to purchase a toy. And I'm citing Campbelltown, because as I recall when I was doing the call around Campbelltown TRU was among the first to confirm that they had MP Optimus Prime in stock.

So I wouldn't get home until 20:00... well after dinner time, so my daughter would be crying because she's so hungry (or should I just buy her cheap and nasty junk food and waste my wife's home cooked meal?), and by time she's finished eating, bathing etc., she'd be in bed WAY past her bedtime. So arguably negligent parenting is an acceptable cost for possibly obtaining a toy? That's totally not self centred at all! I totally wouldn't get in trouble with the missus and be riddled with self guilt for doing that! Yeah!

First call doesn't equal first come. That's how simple it is.

That's just being simplistic. Whether someone beats you to the toy via a phone reservation or physical pick up, either way someone beat you to that toy first!

The end result is the same but the effort isn't the same.

The effort is different, but that's NOT to say that the effort is less and somehow less deserving or worthy than the other. You're saying that people who phone up to reserve aren't making the effort to drive in and pick up the toy straight away... but what about the effort of actually phoning all the branches to make the reservation in the first place? I spent HOURS calling branches and being put on hold just to reserve one toy!

If you really wanted something, you go to great lengths to acquire it or pay the premium. This is what scalpers hope for. They make the effort so that you will pay for the premium because you can't afford a sickie or can't be bothered to exert that extra effort because of personal circumstances.

It's not that I can't afford to take a sickie. I have VERY generous amount of sick days that I can take... but it's matter of professional integrity that I only take sick leave when I'm SICK. That's why it's called sick leave! It's also incredibly unfair to my students when I take days off school too because it does interrupt their education.

In his situation, go there on his break (which he did), buy online, ask a friend or fellow collector who can, ebay, gumtree, others.

I really don't like online shopping and I only resort to it if I can't find the toy in a local store. I do ask friends/fellow collectors if I can't find the toy myself in local stores (otherwise I don't like to imposition other people if I can find the toy myself -- also it means I can open the toy faster if I can get it myself!). I refuse to use eBay, and I don't even know what gumtree is... aside from that thing that koalas live in.

I just go by the principle "first come, first serve".

Good for you. But that's YOUR principle... not mine.

I personally have a principle of NOT paying above retail prices for toys, and it's something I very strongly stand by. But it's MY personal principle... I know that it's one that I espouse frequently, but I always phrase it as something like, "I personally don't like paying above RRP for any toy." <--- it's a descriptive NOT prescriptive statement. Prescriptive statements sound preachy and feels like you're trying to impose your values on other people, whereas a descriptive statement is just that, describing something (but without necessarily prescribing it on others).

I personally don't agree with paying above RRP for toys, but I'm not going to stop or actively berate others for doing so (otherwise I reckon I'd be a LOT more active on the G1 Acquisitions Thread (and probably end up irritating a lot of the regular posters there)! )

You personally don't believe in phone reservations. Fine. So you go ahead and not do it then. I personally don't have an issue with it, so I'll do it if I feel the need to. I personally don't subscribe to online shopping (much) or paying above RRP, so I don't do it... but if others wanna do it, then good for them; I'm not going to try and stop them (it's their money).

You know the release date. You can always file vacation leave instead of a sickie.

While I do have an abundant amount of holiday leave, due to the nature of my occupation I can't change when they occur.

For the record, I have in reality have used only a few sickies and those are for when I was sick or when my kid is sick. I have "ethically" used my leaves. I'm just saying that if you consider it an "emergency" then you can use it as a last resort.

Buying a toy isn't an emergency to me.

If that happens, I will resign myself that I won't be able to get it @ the store.

Or you could just make a phone reservation yourself. But if you don't want to do that, then you have to accept the risk that you might not find the toy when you get there.

I accept certain risks with some of my personal policies.
e.g. buying toys at RRP when they come out. A lot of the time it saves me money because it's cheaper than paying inflated aftermarket prices, but sometimes it works the other way around when the toy gets cheaper later too. And I'm sure I would've completed my G1 collection a lot sooner if I used eBay, but I won't... so I've accepted that it'll take a jolly long time to complete my G1 collection (if ever). But that's okay because most of the toys that I really wanted to get I bought during the 1980s/90s when the toys where on shelves, and my Hasbro G1 collection is about 90% complete. The remaining 10% is pretty much "left over" stuff that didn't interest me at the time, so I'm content to take my time in collecting them. There's some figures like the Action Master Elites which I'll never get, but that's alright because they're crap toys anyway.

Now if you were the one selling and you see the line outside and someone called for a reservation. Who would you give preference to?

I would give preference to whoever I was serving FIRST. It could be whoever physically got to my station first, or whoever calls me first - doesn't matter. It'd still be first come first serve, regardless of HOW they became first. Unless there's a store policy that explicitly directs me to favour one method over the other, I'm not going to favour one over the other... that would be unprofessional.

[serialmonkey]

Subtle differences in both soundwaves. Hmmmm

Very, very subtle. So I assume the only reason people are going crazy over a local TRU release is that it should be cheaper than importing the Takara plus the extra cassettes.

[Sinnertwin]

Very, very subtle. So I assume the only reason people are going crazy over a local TRU release is that it should be cheaper than importing the Takara. No insanely cheaper based on BBTS current pricing though (especially if you have a PoL the size of a shipping container at the moment)

The Hasbro version gives you Soundwave and 5 cassettes in one convenient package for $150.
To get the Takara equivalent you'll need to purchase Soundwave + Ravage & Rumble set + Frenzy & Buzzsaw set... Each sold seperately

[serialmonkey]

The Hasbro version gives you Soundwave and 5 cassettes in one convenient package for $150.
To get the Takara equivalent you'll need to purchase Soundwave + Ravage & Rumble set + Frenzy & Buzzsaw set... Each sold seperately

Yeah, sorry, edited my post after remembering the extra cassettes ;-) Obviously not quick enough !

[jazzcomp]

I'm talking about professionalism in my job. You know, that thing that I get paid to do. As Trent pointed out, it's an unethical form of fraud to take a sickie when you're not actually sick.

I think words were shoved in and misinterpreted. I proposed to take a leave. It's up to you whether you want to use a sickie or a vacation or if you are allowed some leeway to start work late and finish late, then that's fine too.

So you would seriously have me pick up my daughter at say 16:00, then spend the rest of the evening (or into the night if it's a Thursday) ....snipped... That's totally not self centred at all! I totally wouldn't get in trouble with the missus and be riddled with self guilt for doing that! Yeah!

It's all up to you. It's your call what you want to do and what you want to prioritize. You can wait till the weekend to buy it. Now if we have to weigh personal circumstance, then I'd totally allow you to have that reservation.

That's just being simplistic. Whether someone beats you to the toy via a phone reservation or physical pick up, either way someone beat you to that toy first!

Your view and my view are different. I don't think someone else beat you to it when they haven't paid. Also, the phone reservation helps scalpers as well.

The effort is different, but that's NOT to say that the effort is less and somehow less deserving or worthy than the other. You're saying that people who phone up to reserve aren't making the effort to drive in and pick up the toy straight away... but what about the effort of actually phoning all the branches to make the reservation in the first place? I spent HOURS calling branches and being put on hold just to reserve one toy!

It's not about who is less or more deserving. It's just who is there at the store at the time the toys are available for sale.

Good for you. But that's YOUR principle... not mine. You personally don't believe in phone reservations. Fine. So you go ahead and not do it then. I personally don't have an issue with it, so I'll do it if I feel the need to.

It's not about believing or principle. TRU Australia doesn't have a phone reservation policy. Even if the staff are doing it, they actually aren't allowed to take/make that reservation.

I can also argue for using work time to call for reservation. But I assume most don't think it's a big deal. It all depends on the kind of work you do. Like if you were a 000 operator or some customer service rep then I assume that unless it was your break that you aren't allowed to make personal calls.

It's actually more convenient to call and reserve. Then it'll just be a battle of dialling and who gets lucky when staff answers the phone. If you called and waited and got on hold on a store with no stock and other people called other stores and reserved, then it's just unlucky then. Or if you have meetings at the time the store opens, then you can't make the call and miss out as well.

When you come to the store and buy and the staff say it's sold out. It's not really sold out. Everyone just reserved ahead of you. Now if those who called actually paid thru bank deposit/credit card or some method then it is actually sold out.

Or you could just make a phone reservation yourself....

I meant if there was a long line, I know that my chances are almost nil.
I will definitely call this time and make a reservation. It requires the least amount of effort with the same result. Now if they sell the stock because of the no reservation policy, then I will just vent that someone else got my toy that I reserved.

Buying a toy isn't an emergency to me.

Then you can wait and don't need to buy it at the day it's available for sale.

I would give preference to whoever I was serving FIRST. It could be whoever physically got to my station first, or whoever calls me first - doesn't matter. It'd still be first come first serve, regardless of HOW they became first. Unless there's a store policy that explicitly directs me to favour one method over the other, I'm not going to favour one over the other... that would be unprofessional.

You wouldn't have a chance to prioritize calls when there are customers waiting in line. I would even argue as to why you should answer the call.

Yes, there is no policy for phone reservation. Meaning it shouldn't be allowed though it's not enforced.

[nexusnixx]

Back to the topic about TRU sound wave and acid storm, interesting how the branding stamp is also different. Reckon it's the same mould or different?

P.S let's keep this about the toy in mind for discussion, enough of long thesis about other things.

[Starscream77]

Back to the topic about TRU sound wave and acid storm, interesting how the branding stamp is also different. Reckon it's the same mould or different?

P.S let's keep this about the toy in mind for discussion, enough of long thesis about other things.

Agree, if you guys want to debate acquiring toys and ethics please start another thread elsewhere as this is not helping anyone here.

[UltraMarginal]

I can't believe a thread in which all the relevant information is in the first post is nearly up to 500 replies.

HAHA, I've been smiling at that for a couple weeks now.

Back to the topic about TRU sound wave and acid storm, interesting how the branding stamp is also different. Reckon it's the same mould or different?

P.S let's keep this about the toy in mind for discussion, enough of long thesis about other things.

i'd suggest (just a guess) that the branding plate can be swapped out of the mold. or that part of the mold is interchangeable.

[nexusnixx]

do notice the blue on Rumble is darker too.... someone must have decided to add a little more "black" ink.. ha ha ha...

other than that... besides the screws visble and the manufacturer stamp... nothing else is different..... so why is Hasbro able to do it at a cheaper price, considering its the "same" different toy