Where are the Transformer toys?

[danreyes1]

Seriously, it's next to impossible to find the Transformer toys. I'm talking about the real, transforming action figures, not the playschool-safe-for-children-cartoony ones. Last week at my local TRU, I see an Optimus Prime Voyager figure, but have not the money. I go back yesterday with the money, to find ALL the Voyagers missing. They do, however, have the new Deluxe figures though, so I pick up a cool Longarm figure. I'm glad I did, because I came back today (being told that they had a new shipment in that will be on the shelves the next day) and find that ALL of them are gone. No Voyagers, no Deluxes, and only a few Leader classes around. I go to the nearby Target, to find a similar scene. What's going on? Are all toy stores being mobbed in the morning for all TF toys?

[HellCat]

Mix of the new interest from kids/casuals brought on by the movie and at the same time scalpers wanting to get a cut of that profit. Who needs an honest job when you can live by denying kids toys and slapping them on eBay for inflated prices?

[Wolf Boy2]

I feel you brother. And, sadly, the answer is Ebay.

I used to work at the Wal-Mart in Bowie, Maryland, and when the toys were first released this June, a guy came in and filled his cart with EVERY SINGLE ONE, and came through my checkout lane. Over $1,000 in Transformers. A few days later, an online friend of mine in England found a seller on Ebay located in the same part of Maryland. Coincedence? I think not.

I got my Voyager Prime at Kay-Bee toys for $10 more than it would've cost at Wal-Mart, but I had no choice because Wal-Mart didn't keep them in stock long enough for me to buy one (and Wal-Mart has a policy that employees can only buy from the sales floor, so anything in the back room was off-limits anyway).

Ebay has gotten so ungodly high for Transformers. A broken G-1 Prowl is over $50 -- BROKEN!!! A year ago, you could get a near mint Prowl for about $25-$30. I bought a G-1 Optimus Prime with Trailor (slight play wear, but good condition for its age) for $30 out of package. The same thing now sells for over $100. Bigbadtoystore.com has good prices on G-1 TFs, but they will sell out litterally minutes after they are posted.

But I know that, like all fads, Transformers will die out and be obscure again. I am now missing those blessed days of 2002-2006 where TFs were just obscure enough to escape public notice, but mainstream enough to warrent new a comic book series, DVD releases and awesome toys like the Masterpiece Convoy (a.k.a. 20th Anaversery Optimus Prime). I miss the year 2005.

[Punisher]

I can sympathize, being a Zoids collector, although Zoids has never been nearly as popular as Transformers. Regardless, there are still the fools who horde all the models to themselves for sale on Ebay. The more valuable models such as Mad Thunder and Gilvader easily go for over $100 even with parts missing, and in the case of the rare King Gojulas, there was an $800 price tag. It's insane.

Like with Transformers, there are still websites that offer Zoids at semi-fair prices, but most of them are in Asia. Thus, I'm in the fourth week of waiting for a shipment to arrive. Frustrating.

[Don_East]

Eh, the Wal*Mart I go to most of the time is worse. It has no Deluxes, one or two Voyagers, and Leader Brawl.

[Squall]

As another poster has suggested, http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/ is a good place to start. You should also check out http://www.tfsource.com/ -- they've got everything from the original 1984-1987 toy line to the toys and collectibles based on the new live-action movie. They even sell really rare stuff that you always wanted to find in stores, but couldn't! For example, ever wanted to buy a Quintesson? Or some energon cubes? :p

Another great website to keep an eye on is http://www.unicron.com/ -- the news & message board sections on that website is partly devoted to "sightings" of Transformers in various stores and on various websites all over the place. (Plus, it's a really cool website.) :cool:

Finally, it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on http://www.yojoe.com/ as well. After all, Hasbro owns and distributes both toys, often to the same retailers they contract with; and, you'll often find that Transformers fans are often also GI Joe fans, and vice versa. Good luck!

[danreyes1]

It's really ironic. The movie is the best thing that's happened and the worst thing at the same time. I absolutely love the movie toys. Some of the most detailed and articulated toys that have ever been released. But at the same time said toys are impossible to find because of the current mainstream interest.

[Squall]

It's really ironic. The movie is the best thing that's happened and the worst thing at the same time. I absolutely love the movie toys. Some of the most detailed and articulated toys that have ever been released. But at the same time said toys are impossible to find because of the current mainstream interest.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Personally, I collect the original Transformers -- the "Generation 1" 1984-1987 toy line. Right now, I'm only about 10 Transformers short of having every one of them from those first four years; all I'm missing are a few Autobot cars, Reflector, and Fortress Maximus (which I may never be able to afford now).

At least it's nice to know that, if I sold my Transformers collection on eBay, I could make more money now than I could have before the live-action movie came out! Especially on my Optimus Prime, Megatron, Hot Rod, Galvatron, Jetfire and Omega Supreme -- all of which I have in their original boxes. :p

Did you know that Paramount has already greenlit Transformers 2 & 3? That's right, the live-action Transformers is going to be a trilogy. :cool: Michael Bay has already confirmed that the Dinobots and Constructicons (of which Bonecrusher is already a member) will appear in the sequel, due out in 2009. Who knows how popular Transformers will be in the mainstream after the 3rd movie comes out and completes the trilogy?

[Wolf Boy2]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Personally, I collect the original Transformers -- the "Generation 1" 1984-1987 toy line. Right now, I'm only about 10 Transformers short of having every one of them from those first four years; all I'm missing are a few Autobot cars, Reflector, and Fortress Maximus (which I may never be able to afford now).
**sigh** Fortress Maximus ...

They were going to re-issue him for the Robots in Disguise series, but he didn't pass the safety regulations in 2001.

Especially on my Optimus Prime, Megatron, Hot Rod, Galvatron, Jetfire and Omega Supreme -- all of which I have in their original boxes. :p
Damn you, LOL. I only have G-1 Optimus and he is out of package with one exaust pipe broken (though he has his trailor and all his parts, and I only paid $30).

Michael Bay has already confirmed that the Dinobots and Constructicons (of which Bonecrusher is already a member) will appear in the sequel, due out in 2009.
Uh ... no. This is a rumor. Bay has been on the fence about doing Transformers 2 because of the Blu Ray scandal (Paramount only wants to release Transformers 1 on HD-DVD). It was one of the producers who said that he had some great ideas on how to bring the Dinobots and Constructicons into the story, but nothing is offical yet. The sequel has been greenlit, but the directors and the characters are still up in the air. Personally, I'd like to see someone other than Michael Bay. I thought his action sequences were a muddled mess.

[Squall]

Uh ... no. This is a rumor. Bay has been on the fence about doing Transformers 2 because of the Blu Ray scandal (Paramount only wants to release Transformers 1 on HD-DVD). It was one of the producers who said that he had some great ideas on how to bring the Dinobots and Constructicons into the story, but nothing is offical yet. The sequel has been greenlit, but the directors and the characters are still up in the air. Personally, I'd like to see someone other than Michael Bay. I thought his action sequences were a muddled mess.

Well, I read at http://www.movieweb.com/ and http://www.thedigitalbits.com/ what I posted above; and The Digital Bits reported that within a day or two of Bay's original HD-DVD comments, he posted a quick retraction on his blog. (It should be archived in their "My Two Cents" section.)

Personally, though, I like Blu-Ray.

As for Bay directing the sequels... I've gotta agree with you there. The action scenes were a muddled mess, and the plot progressed way too quickly, making the movie feel rushed. (Did Sam Witwicky ever have a chance to relax and catch his breath? I think he was running around, panicked, yelling, and out of breath the entire movie.) Great thing about a movie series -- if the sequels are awesome, most fans can forgive a stumbling start. The Transformers live-action movie series has a LOT of potential; here's to hoping that it'll live up to it.

[Wolf Boy2]

Well, looking at how the Spider-Man series got progressively worse in terms of story as each movie went by, it doesnt make me too enthusiastic about Transformers.

The movie plot made no sense whatsoever -- and this is from a guy who read the original leaked script, all 4 prequel comic issues, the prequel novel (Ghosts of Yesterday) and beat the video game (which had some extra footage) and read the novel adaptation all BEFORE seeing the movie.

And it still did not make sense.

The movie is complicated where it should be simple, and simple where it should be complicated. Megatron looking for the Allspark, crashing and getting frozen but burning a map into a pair of glasses which end up on Ebay so the Decepticons can find Sam Witwicky who just happens to have bought an Autobot Camero? HUH?!??!

The original cartoons/comics were so much simpler. The opening monologue in "More than Meets the Eye part 1" set up the entire plot in less than a minute:

Many millions of years ago, on the planet Cybertron, life existed. But not life as we know it today -- intellegent robots that could think and feel inhabited the cities. They were called "Autobots" and "Decepticons." But the brutal Decepticons were driven by a single goal: total domination. They set out to destroy the peace-loving Autobots and a war between the forces of good and evil raged across Cybertron. Devestating all in its path, draining the planet's once-rich sources of energy. The Autobots, on the verge of extinction, battle valliantly to survive.

They get in a space battle over prehistoric Earth, crash-landing and being burried beneath Mt. St. Hillary in Oregon. The volcano erupted in 1984 and reawakened them. The ships computer reconfigured them into Earth vehicles/objects for disguise purposes and they resumed their conflict. It's a beautifully simple story, why change it?!

In one scene Prime mentions the Spark in his chest. Well, what the hell is a Spark? Casual audiences who aren't well-versed in Beast Wars lore isn't going to know what a Spark is. The screenwriters should've explained stuff like that instead of making masturbation jokes.

Also, why are they able to just randomly scan new alternate modes? These weren't Transformers, they were shape-shifters. Why did they even need to "transform" to robot mode when they could just have shape-shifted from robot to whatever? This logic error was not present in the cartoons or comics, where they had to be physically rebuilt into their alt. modes. And don't even get me started on those Rock Lord asteroid landings. Uggh.

However, their designs were probably the best since Beast Wars and REALLY FREAKING AWESOME toys!!! I have my Voyager class Optimus Prime sitting on top of my hard drive right now. He is as big as my Masterpiece Prime with lights, sounds and rubber tires. GREAT toys. I miss the handguns, but the idea of robots holding weapons never made sense anyway.

The prequels and game explained most of the plot holes, making the overall story very enjoyable, but I wish the movie was more standalone. Much like Return of the Jedi can be viewed without reading Shadows of the Empire, though the novel greatly adds to it. A film series should never need its prequel material to fill in the blanks for it.

[HellCat]

The 4 million year hibernation seemed silly to me. So 4 million years pass and nothing has really changed. The whole Cybertron situation is pretty much exactly how they left it...huh?! This is one thing the comics actually did better, with the idea that Shockwave became Cybertron's new ruler and led a false peace which branded all those trapped on the Ark as war criminals.

4 million years is just needlessly long.

[Don_East]

You know I really people say that the movie was confusing. I mean, how can you not follow it? My 14 year-old brother hasn't any prequel material and he still followed it. The Sector 7 thing was ridiculous but atleast it's fits into the plot. People who say it's confusing piss me off more than people who say there was too much humans, almost all the scenes that were just humans were done when the Autobots show up. You-Know-Who's death was unnecessary and the writers made Optimus uncaring about it, even though he wasn't suppose to be.

Megatron looking for the Allspark, crashing and getting frozen but burning a map into a pair of glasses which end up on Ebay so the Decepticons can find Sam Witwicky who just happens to have bought an Autobot Camero? HUH?!??!
So you don't know that Bumblebee was assigned to be Sam's guardian? That he wanted Sam to purchase him because of the glasses. It wasn't a coincidence. If you don't know that then you must've not paid that much attention to VG cutscenes and the prequel material.

[Wolf Boy2]

So you don't know that Bumblebee was assigned to be Sam's guardian? That he wanted Sam to purchase him because of the glasses. It wasn't a coincidence. If you don't know that then you must've not paid that much attention to VG cutscenes and the prequel material.
Read my post.

The prequels and game explained most of the plot holes, making the overall story very enjoyable, but I wish the movie was more standalone. Much like Return of the Jedi can be viewed without reading Shadows of the Empire, though the novel greatly adds to it. A film series should never need its prequel material to fill in the blanks for it.
A movie should not need video game cutscenes and prequel material in order to make sense. Of course it was coincedence, but from the movie alone one would never know that.


The 4 million year hibernation seemed silly to me. So 4 million years pass and nothing has really changed. The whole Cybertron situation is pretty much exactly how they left it...huh?! This is one thing the comics actually did better, with the idea that Shockwave became Cybertron's new ruler and led a false peace which branded all those trapped on the Ark as war criminals.

I prefer the Marvel Comics version where Shockwave was on Earth, and Cybertron went through several various regimes (Autobot and Decepticon) in the absence of Prime and Megatron.

4 million years was long, but the movie really didn't change anything. The movie Transformers have been pursuing the Allspark for several thousand years. Primus only knows what is happening on Cybertron right now (if there even IS a Cybertron).

[danreyes1]

Meh, I liked the movie. Surely not a deep and thought-provoking piece of art, it had crazy battle scenes, and absolutely ridiculous story... but it's based after a toy line. I wasn't expecting much more from it, really.

I'd watch a sequel or two. I'd like to see a gigantic Unicron try to destroy the earth, really.

And the no Blu-Ray DVD thing never bothered me... I hardly care at all about resolution, because I only have regular screen TVs anyway.

[Wolf Boy2]

absolutely ridiculous story... but it's based after a toy line. I wasn't expecting much more from it, really.
See, its that kind of attitude I was hoping this movie would change.

The Transformers comics (old and new continuities) had very deep themes and was a fully realized fantasy world on par with Lord of the Rings, Narnia or Star Wars. Transformers had a very spiritual side to it, with its own gods and mythology. There was character development like Grimlock fighting his own dark side and greedy impulses or young Optimus Prime questioning his role as leader. Much of these themes were present in the G-1 cartoon (to a much lesser extent) when you look past the 80s cartoon goofiness.

It also had a very long history spanning several million years (from before G-1 to the end of Beast Machines). The sheer scope of it all is practically unmatched in literature. No surprise, when you look at the men who layed the foundation for the TF world -- the likes of Denny O'Neil, Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman and others.

However, casual audiences only know of the toys and a cheesy cartoon. I hoped the movie would do for Transformers what the LOTR movies did for their book -- bring it out of obscurity and give it respect in the mainstream. Instead we got Shallow Explodofest 2007.

Just because a story is based on a toyline does not make it hack. Why is that books by dead men are automatically "fine literature", yet stories like Transformers are considered juvenile shite? Say what you like about Michael Bay's movie, it made a hell of a lot more sense than The Oddessy or Macbeth (and honestly, Macbeth had a plot simpler than 1st grade math).

People went into this movie expecting no plot and all special effects ... what they got was no plot and less than an hour of special effects. There were so many moments where no action was going on, and instead of developing the TF mythology, we were treated to masturbation jokes, drug refferences, a fat donut eating moron, a MIB rip-off government agent and a geeky boy trying to get laid by some chick with an IQ lower than the movie's writer.

You know, when I try to tell mainstream people about Transformers and why I am a fan ... I feel like one of the Geico cavemen.

[danreyes1]

Hey, I'm a hardcore fan myself. There's a deep mythology which I fully enjoy. Hundreds of fleshed out characters. But I don't take it too seriously because, in the end, it's still pop culture. I don't necessarily consider it "low culture" or anything of the sort, as I don't with comics or video games either. But it is, after all, based on a toy line. Sad, but true. As such, all mainstreamers will just think of it in such a way. And therefor, I didn't get my hopes up about the movie being the catalyst that changes it.

Personally, I think the further TF is away from mainstream audiences the better... Better stories and more toys for us Transfans.