So, Titans Return Ramhorn is probably one of the hardest to find members of the Titans Return line, suffering badly from many stores not stocking the Titan Master size class, being the last release in that size class before everything turns into Prime Masters, and being the sole new release in that assortment.
Want to complicate things further? If you’re disposed to having all the variations of a mass release toy, you’ll need to hunt down this hard to find rhino twice, because thanks to TFW2005 member dare, we have evidence suggesting there is a variant or possibly a running change in Ramhorns.
The picture provided by dare shows that Ramhorn is shipping in two styles, with his orange plastic being lighter in some cases and darker in others. The darker one seems to be the more common, based on anecdotal observations, which is also the one that seems to more closely match the coloration of the original Ramhorn.
We’ll willing to speculate this is a running change, caused at a factory level by a change in the makeup of the plastic pigmentation used in production, although the real question is why this should happen? The answer is probably mired in the nature of the supply and production chain, but if we learn more we will share.
Daimao
Are these still showing up at 5 Belows in the US?
Lody666
Found both at Five Below
CleverNamePendingatron
Agreed. If it's not on my train-line, it may as well be in Hong Kong.
Still, good to know there's Ramhorns actually out there. It means there's hope. I was beginning to think he was just a myth, like Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, or the Power of the Primes wave 2 deluxes.
JomasterII
Bugger. Frankston.
'S a little too far for me.
OptimusNerd
See this tweet
JomasterII
Really?? Which TK Maxx?
CleverNamePendingatron
I have lived in Australia my whole life and have never heard of TKMaxx. I’ll keep an eye out though.
OptimusNerd
FYI they've hit discount stores (TKMaxx) in Australia too.
soundwave144
I love how some people say with SUCH confidence that they KNOW something as a matter of fact, then people like @Starsabered and myself find these gems that ARENT supposed to be at discount stores, at discount stores… BEHOLD!!! Not only did I find these two today at a Five below store in Bryant, Arkansas for 3 dollars each; but notice the one still in the package is the lighter version of it… View attachment 28037212
Autobot Burnout
Guess I'll be hitting the local one (read: 30 minutes out) of those when I'm in the main commercial district next time.
Starsabered
I like it when I’m right – I’ve been in this game for over twenty years – I know a thing or two. I just bought a second Ramhorn for $3 and a “small” army of Skytreads at Five and Below. Some “myths” are worth believing.
stprime
Do we have any pictures of these in hand side-by-side? I was able to get one over Christmas that I believe is the darker but I would like to see with the lighter one looks like just in case. I canceled my pre-order a dinner time and earth because I didn't want to risk getting the same one again and paying twice as much for it.
Edit:
Turns out I have light one. And I should've kept my pre-order because it appears entertainment earth had the darker andcis sold out. Sometimes I do stupid stuff that I regret.
FORT MAXie
Also let\'s keep in mind another issue is when hasbro dose the release items in with older waves dose not help. The stores then sit on a glut of nightbeats skytreads petro overboards apeface so they can push a 5th wave. Not too sure why hasbro did that it\' not helpful to the stores that now have stock that just sits there it over populates the excess and then forces the stores to take a hit on profit to get that stuff moved out. Stores now are less inclined to buy as much as the line gets older.
Also I noticed many stores are sorta posting items online but some they refuse. I know toys r us did some specifically to get people to enter the store in hopes to earn more, same for Walgreens.
I have noticed hasbro is more open to selling it products directly and hey maybe they might realize people will be open to ordering entire waves especially when there is no repetes (recolor in and remoldes excluded).
That little sell more of older stock trick dose not work for long and damages relations with people like us that like to collect a line and have to deal with buying excess when it should of never been a thing.
FORT MAXie
Being in Canada it\'s even harder since we are a wave or 2 behind. The stick we do get sometimes is rushed thru for the next big wave or squeezed with some other mass promotion like star wars. Our websites lack the means to order and shipping…. some items I can fly to Vegas and pick them up for less then to have them shipped across the boarder. I would like to find a ramhorn as for color I could not care less but I can not justify paying 20 to 30 us for a item that is 5us then add 10 for shipping…. I also am finding it hard to find Sky Reign guys but I think I found the last bits I was needing if I win.
Automorpher
I asked the same question awhile back but unfortunately, I've gotten no answers so here's what I would assume:
I bought the darker shade piece about 2 months back when it gotten released from our retail shelves…
And I gotten the lighter shade variant from one of our local TRUs last weekend so I'll hazard a guess that darker one should be first while the lighter variant being second.
I stand corrected if any of you boys have more information to add.
Diecast G2
International markets would be my guess.
But again, I hope I'm wrong for collector's sake.
G.B. Blackrock
I'm pretty sure I understand all that. I guess I simply disagree. I don't see how that can possibly explain the virtual non-existence of those waves at retail without still having stock waiting for someone willing to stock them. I simply can't believe that Hasbro's production run for the end of the line (which I agree would have to be lower than the run for the beginning) could possibly be so low.
Diecast G2
One big factor in my opinion is that the tail end of a toyline is almost always produced in fewer quantities than the first assortments and have been for a long time. Fresh new line coming soon, higher risk to move the product before consumers see it at as old, etc etc. A good recent example would be CW Sky Lynx. Yes, he did show up at Ross for the holiday last year, but even if every Ross, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and Burlington got a case of Sky Lynx, that's still less than if Walmart ordered enough for half of their stores to get one case. Retailers just order less from a line as it gets older. Another big hint is that BBTS actually got stock already in a calendar year they've gotten pre-orders months after retail sightings.
And as I understand it, yes, the toys aren't made to order as in Walmart calls up and says "Hey, we want 20,000 Wave 4, please." They are made to order in the sense that retailers will say "we'll take 20k additional units of your Transformers Deluxe Line this month/quarter/billing cycle." Hasbro has 60k units in the production pipeline or ready to ship or whatever, so then they try to sell the other 40k to other retailers and so forth.
Thinking back to last holiday season, Walmarts across the country got an entire display of TR W2R2 last year. Walmart didn't specifically order a bunch more W2R2 for Christmas, they simply ordered more for Christmas and Hasbro then produced more of what was either already in the factories or that could be why they even did that revision of Wave 2 in the first place. It's entirely possible they removed the most costly-to-produce molds from the assortment because they cut Walmart a bulk deal for that Christmas order.
But as retailers consistently reduce their orders over the proceeding two or three billing cycles, Hasbro will continue to scale down their production amounts to not have that excess unsold stock which eventually gets sold to discount retailers. And it's a cycle based on not only the current toyline, but the past performance of the line. That's why the 2007 movie saw toy shortages, since retailers' initial orders were based on the performance of their initial orders throughout the Unicron trilogy.
G.B. Blackrock
I'd be curious as to your reasoning for preferring "option 2." My understanding is that these toys aren't made to order. If they were, I'd be more inclined to believe that Hasbro simply didn't make very many. As it is, I simply can't get my head around that as a serious possibility.
Diecast G2
Well, I'm leaning towards option 2, but I really hope for everyone else's sake they end up plentiful and cheap. TR just got better the longer the line went.
(And we've only seen PotP stuff at Target, right? Maybe Walmart will have last waves TR en masse for Christmas.)