Velocitron Cosmos is Shortpacked, and Twitter is Losing Their Minds Over It

[Zobovor]

It was difficult for many folks to pre-order Cosmos when the Walmart-exclusive Velocitron assortment went live, and Cosmos was the first character to sell out, both through the online Walmart portal as well as Hasbro Pulse. There's been some chattering amongst the online fandom, with folks worrying they've missed out on the rotund little UFO, and that they'll now have to take their chances finding him at brick-and-mortar retail, which is unreliable at best.

Compounding the problem is the revelation that Cosmos is in fact shortpacked in the case assortment. With five new Deluxe-class characters in the assortment and typically eight toys in a Deluxe shipping case, somebody was bound to get short shrift. As it happens, the initial case assortment is Road Rocket (x2), Burnout (x2), IDW Blurr (x2), Cosmos (x1) and Clampdown (x1). This may partly account for why Cosmos and Clampdown were the first toys to sell out.

Folks on Twitter are collectively experiencing the biggest case of cognitive dissonance that I've ever seen. They want Cosmos to be widely available, so in their minds they justify it so that it must be the case. Surely the photos of the case assortment must be fake? Surely Walmart must realize that Cosmos, as a new-mold toy, should have been packed in greater quantity than a boring redeco like Burnout (because clearly Walmart has a say in which toys make it into the assortment)?

Futher confusing the issue is the discovery that an obscure toy store in the UK called Smyths managed to order a solid case with eight Cosmos toys in it, and so everybody is up in arms wondering why Walmart isn't doing the same. It's demonstrating a significant misnderstanding of how this all works. Yes, Hasbro offers solid cases of single characters, usually to online retailers like Big Bad Toy Store or Entertainment Earth who typically fulfil online orders for individual characters, not entire shipping cases. I honestly don't know how Smyths even managed to carry the Velocitron line when it was supposed to be a Walmart exclusive (you'd think if any UK retailer got them it would be Asda), but that's neither here nor there. It's not the point.

The point is that Walmart isn't going to order entire cases of Cosmos. They're going to order the standard retailer case assortment, as they have always done in the past. Now, I'll say as a caveat that the American toy industry is shifting to some degree, and it's slowly adopting the sales model that they've had in Japan for years now—solid packed cases of individual characters. It's been a gradual transition over the past few years, with Disney Princess dolls and Paw Patrol toys and Batman action figures shipping in their own individual cases. But, there are plenty of toy lines that are still shipping in mixed assortments (Fortnite, Sonic the Hedgehog, G.I. Joe, etc.) and Transformers is one of them.

The people reporting that Black Convoy aka Scourge is shipping in a solid case are missing the fact that he's the only Leader-class Velocitron toy in existence. Who else would be in the case assortment with him, anyway?

But, all hope is not lost. Hasbro has done revisions to the case assortment in the past. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that they could adjust the shipping assortment to include more of everbody's favorite little doorbell-shaped flying saucer, but we need to give Hasbro time to reassess and reevaluate. The initial cases of freight are only just barely arriving at Walmart stores now, in time for the semi-annual toy department reset scheduled for fiscal week 28 (I anticipate the new modulars will be accessible next Wednesday). In other words, cool your jets, hold your horses, and practice some patience. Hasbro didn't go to all the trouble to develop Cosmos just to ensure that nobody will ever own him. And even if you miss out on the Velocitron edition, there's no rule saying they can't repack him as part of Legacy or the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line or something else entirely.


Zob (never in a million years expected Cosmos, of all robots, to become the must-have toy of the season)

[Travoltron]

On 7/30/2022 7:49 AM, Zobovor wrote:
> As it happens, the initial case assortment is Road Rocket (x2), Burnout (x2), IDW Blurr (x2), Cosmos (x1) and Clampdown (x1). This may partly account for why Cosmos and Clampdown were the first toys to sell out.

Idiocy on Hasbro's part. Those two are the most desirable. Nobody gives
a damn about obscure recolors/retools like Burnout and IDW Blurr, and I
doubt that many care about Road Rocket either.

[Zobovor]

On Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 10:19:42 AM UTC-6, Travoltron wrote:

> Idiocy on Hasbro's part. Those two are the most desirable. Nobody gives
> a damn about obscure recolors/retools like Burnout and IDW Blurr, and I
> doubt that many care about Road Rocket either.

I'm hoping there will be some kind of rejiggering of the case assortment for future shipments. We've seen that sort of thing happen in the past. If not, though, there's always a chance for Cosmos to get a package refresh in some future toy line (like whatever follows Legacy, for example). We just have to let Hasbro know that there's still a demand.


Zob (has not given up on the little doorbell just yet)

[Gustavo Wombat]

People give a damn about Clampdown?

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:
> Hasbro didn't go to all the trouble to develop Cosmos just to ensure that
> nobody will ever own him. And even if you miss out on the Velocitron
> edition, there's no rule saying they can't repack him as part of Legacy
> or the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line or something else entirely.

Earthmode Soundwave and Bumblebee would disagree.

(And the Coneheads… although there is rumbling about getting them out
again)

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

>
> The point is that Walmart isn't going to order entire cases of Cosmos.
> They're going to order the standard retailer case assortment, as they
> have always done in the past. Now, I'll say as a caveat that the
> American toy industry is shifting to some degree, and it's slowly
> adopting the sales model that they've had in Japan for years now—solid
> packed cases of individual characters.

Given that we know Amazon gets single figure cases — observable from when
figures that are in the same wave start shipping weeks apart — I’m not
willing to make a claim that Walmart.com doesn’t get single figure cases.
Not without clear evidence.

It just makes no sense to bundle up different characters from different
production lines into one case in Vietnam, ship them to the US and then
sort them by character for inventory on the web store. (In the store, you
want an assortment, but for filling your warehouse, you want them sorted)

That doesn’t mean the distribution en masse would necessarily be different
though. If they order 8 cases of wave 1, they might get 1 case of Cosmos, 2
cases of Blurr, etc… (multiply those 8 cases by some reasonable number…
1000? they might still be in the same proportions) — would this be the best
approach? No, but we may not be at the best approach” yet.

[Gustavo Wombat]

Zobovor <zm...@aol.com> wrote:

> The people reporting that Black Convoy aka Scourge is shipping in a solid
> case are missing the fact that he's the only Leader-class Velocitron toy
> in existence. Who else would be in the case assortment with him, anyway?

We could have had a tank with racing stripes, or a Shockwave that’s an
upside down starters gun…

Gustavo! (“Me, Grimlock, run fast in my G2 color scheme!”)

[Irrellius Spamticon]

You mean a starter's submarine? That goes to seafaring vessels! Then we could get a Deluxe G2 Manta-Ray to go with G2 leadfoot! And a repaint of Cybershark as.....what name do they need to use to keep copyright?

Give Grimlock rocket boosters, like animated Bumblebee, and then later come out with Legacy Animated Bumblebee who can actually use the boosters that came with Grimlock.

Still waiting to see what was supposed to use those giant red hands that come with Blitzwing.

[William A. Rendfeld]

On Saturday, July 30, 2022 at 8:39:01 PM UTC-4, Gustavo Wombat, of the Seattle Wombats wrote:

I want Clampdown. Was very sad that I couldn't preorder him, too. Still got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get him at brick and mortar.

[Gustavo Wombat]

I mean, sure, he’s a diaclone redeco and Smokescreen #371, so someone is
going to be interested, but I’m surprised that there were enough interested
that he sold out, even shortpacked.

He’s no Blurr. I would have expected twice as many idw fans as Clampdown
fans.

(If I found him with no hassle, I would have bought him… but I have a
problem!)

[Death Reviews]

Here it is, now Jan. 2023, and Velocitron Cosmos is STILL nowhere to be found in Walmart stores. Anyone in the US who found one, it was probably dumb luck. Every other deluxe is unsold by the dozen in most stores, with several copies of Road Rocket, Blurr, Burnout, etc. still hanging on pegs, forlorn and unwanted. Even Scourge has at least 5-6 unsold copies on clearance in our local store. But Cosmos? Nowhere. Walmart doesn't even have him listed as a part of the line on their website - not even to declare him 'out of stock' - he's just been completely erased.

Even "Galaxy Shuttle" is on the Walmart website, but not Cosmos. Why? What is it about this one figure which is making Walmart want to act as if he never existed?

[Irrellius Spamticon]

There was a distributor listing for Walmart stores in August where stores were supposed to get cases packed solid with just Cosmos as a second wave of the first Velocitron series, Similar to how saller retailers had an option to buy cases of just Refraktor during Siege but the Walmarts around here couldn't sell out of Blurr and Road rocket fast enough to trigger a restock, but even then the promised Cosmos case listed didn't materialize in the US (they showed up in the UK apparently). A lot of stores local to me were never restocked at all if they did sell through Blurr. I wonder if there are cases of Cosmos lost sunk in the ocean or something.

Picked up all 3 of the ones I saw on shelves, for myself and 2 friends.
Also got a Clampdown, and it' the only Earth Mode I've seen of the Sideswipe mold, and it's so underwhelming. Only saw Scourge once, and I would have bought him if I knew he'd be this rare.

Maybe we will get a Pathfinder redeco in the next wave of Speedia 500 as a referee or something, and they'll reissue Cosmos