Toy hunting is a frustrating reality of toy collecting. But don't hate your fellow collector - after all, each time you buy a toy you're also depriving someone else of that toy anyway. Who you really should be directing your hate toward are SCALPERS.

Eeeeevil! If you ever find one, kick 'em in the janglies real REAL hard!

But yeah, toy hunting can be a massive WAFTAM when you travel across great distances looking for a toy and failing to find it. Sometimes I just bite the bullet and either:
1/ order it online
2/ buy it when I find it, even if it's not on sale or if it's above RRP
3/ resign myself to not getting that toy

Recent examples:
+ I ordered RotF Skids, Chromia and Wheelie from BBTS several months ago. I'm glad I did because I've seldomly seen Chromia and Wheelie in stores, and I've _never_ personally seen Skids in stores. I know they're out, but they don't seem common around places I shop.
+ I bit the bullet and paid the full $#&*ing price for Leader Class Jetfire ($100) because I was just sick and tired of hunting for that toy. Sure, I could've gotten it cheaper if I'd waited and continued looking - but buying it then and there saved me TIME (and fuel!).

On the other hand, when you do finally get that toy there is a feeling of, as Borat would say, "Great Success!"

This is how I feel when my toy hunt fails:


This is how I feel when my toy hunt wins:


And you've only just recently started collecting Transformers right? I've been collecting for 25 years! That's a quarter-century's worth of "woohoo"s and "D'OH!"s! It's an emotional rollercoaster.