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Tail-ender

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I can see you, but have you ever seen me? I bet not!

A tail-ender is a toy that is released near the end of a toy line, shortly before a new line is starting (oftentimes even after a new line has already started). It can be the last new figure (or part of the last wave of new figures) of its assortment; it may even be the very last figure released to be branded as part of that particular line. Typically, the term only refers to figures released as part of general retail assortments; store exclusives are usually exempt. Exceptions are when it's an ongoing store exclusive sub-line or assortment.

Very often, tail-enders are victims of poor distribution, end up being very hard to find and catching exorbitant prices on the aftermarket even when they're (at least in theory) still supposed to be distributed, thanks to scalpers. In some instances, leftover stock of the figure(s) in question eventually ends up being made available through other venues, often via closeout stores such as TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls, or Five Below, resulting in a situation where you can either find these figures for low prices or have to pay through the nose on eBay. In some very rare cases, tail-enders end up never seeing an official release at all, usually when the figures haven't entered mass production yet by the time word has gotten out that the assortment is being discontinued.

In some very rare cases, figures that are tail-enders in the United States end up being widely available at retail in Europe, making up for all the times when European retailers never stock anything beyond the first or second wave of a line.

Contents

Hasbro

Released at United States retail in very low quantities

These have a total sum of reported sightings in the single digits across multiple fan sites. Their rarity at retail isn't the conclusion of anecdotal local observation, but objectively verified with no opposition.

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A Unicorn alright.
Hasbro eventually worked out a deal with online retailer BigBadToyStore, selling them solid cases of the figure… which then ended up filling their warehouse for a good eight years.
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Former urban legend.
Released as part of the Toys"R"Us exclusive Commemorative Series line, Side Swipe was only available at Toys"R"Us stores in the United States in very low quantities. The unsold stock was later made available through KB Toys, at half the original price. The figure was, however, available at Toys"R"Us stores in Canada and Australia in average quantities.
Unusually, in this case the second-to-last wave of Voyager Class figures, containing Inferno and Vector Prime, was hard to find. Inferno shipped again in the subsequent (final) wave, whereas Vector Prime only showed up in somewhat larger quantities many, many months after his initial retail sighting.
Despite being intended as the second-to-last wave of Legends Class two-packs, these figures were actually released about a month later than the figures from the "final" wave at US retail, and ended up more difficult to find (Gears in particular).
Both Hot Rod and Blaster (plus Eject) were re-released in the first wave of Transformers: Legacy in plentiful quantities. It has also been speculated that they were actually designed for Legacy and simply given an early release at the tail-end of Kingdom, considering how they were designed with the former line’s gimmicks in mind.


Released at United States retail, but only available from closeout chains

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You will indeed have to dive deep to find this figure.
All of the above figures (with the exception of Deep Dive) were comparably easy to find at European retail.
These figures fell victim to a series of unfortunate events, among them being a massive slowdown at U.S. West Coast docks caused by union action. Thus far, the figures have only been available in Hasbro's Asian markets and from online retailers and discount chains such as Ross, T.J.Maxx and Five Below. In addition, Junkheap is only included in one wave alongside the other two figures, while a revision of said wave includes Vehicon and Bumblebee but lacks Junkheap. Some online retailers only ever stocked the wave that doesn't include Junkheap.


Planned for general retail in the United States but then picked up as store exclusives

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Not the only "Rumble" on this list.
Ravage was available at general retail in Europe, and both figures were available at general retail in some Asian Hasbro markets, with Ravage in European packaging.


Planned for exclusive release but then picked up as exclusives by other stores

Astrotrain was also available at Kmart stores in Australia.


Released in international markets only

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And if you managed to get this one, good luck with the running change variant.
Unusually, the figures were available in European packaging in Australia.
Unusually, the figures were available in European packaging in Asia. The Canadian releases were available in standard trilingual Canadian/Latin American packaging.
Unusually, the figures were available in European packaging in Asia.


Officially unreleased

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Was the name considered a safety hazard?

These have been officially confirmed by Hasbro at one point as then-upcoming new product that ultimately never materialized, be it through a BotCon or San Diego Comic-Con panel presentation, solicitations to retailers, cross-sells on the packaging of toys that were released, online store listings or listings on the Hasbro.com website, with official promotional photos provided. For anything that was canceled before it would ever be officially announced, or at least surfaced in sample packaging, and only became known in retrospect, see:

Main article: Unreleased toy
According to unconfirmed sources (which are directly refuted by other sources), these figures were released in Mexico. Either way, all three figures were later available in the aftermarket in large quantities unusual for "unreleased" toys, and all of them included additional instruction sheets in Spanish.
Hydrodrive Bumblebee, Wingblade Optimus Prime and Blackout were released in Japan through TakaraTomy (Bumblebee under the name "Jet Pack Bumblebee"), all three of them sporting (more or less) different decos than the intended Hasbro versions.
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