Black Friday is a colloquial term for the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, which is one of the largest sales days of the year. Often, stores open very early (6am is common), slash prices and offer special time-sensitive sales (such as ending pricing at noon). Black Friday gets its name for being the day most retailers hope to "be in the black" — make a profit — financially.
In the case of toys, they may also offer special multi-pack deals or release exclusives on that day as an incentive. Hasbro is particularly mercenary in this regard, as they sometimes offer same-line exclusives to different stores. Sometimes these are merely bonus packs, while occasionally, a toy may be specially redecoed.
Shopping on Black Friday is a contact sport; bruises and contusions are commonplace. A helmet and pads are highly recommended, although using tasers or mace is considered unsporting. Injuries (and fatalities) by trampling are known to occur due to doorbusting — attempts by shoppers to be one of the first in the store (with little to no regard to the safety of the employee chosen to unlock the doors).
Originally, it was a term used for the day of the stock market crash (Black Tuesday, in this case) that started the Great Depression in October, 1929.
Black Friday exclusives[]
2003[]
- Robots in Disguise Landfill (Walmart)
- Armada "Battle for the Matrix" set (K-Mart)
- Optimus Prime with Sparkplug, Jetfire with Comettor, Adventure Mini-Con Team, and Longarm
- Armada Super-Con with Bonus Mini-Con (Toys "R" Us)
- Blurr with Incinerator and one Adventure Team Mini-Con
- Powerlinx Cyclonus with Crumplezone and one Destruction Team Mini-Con
- Powerlinx Hot Shot with Jolt and one Destruction Team Mini-Con
- Sideways with Rook & Crosswise and one Adventure Team Mini-Con
2006[]
- Cybertron Deluxe 3-packs (Toys "R" Us)
- Three deluxe figures on a single wide card. Were either sets of Landmine, Snarl, and Dirt Boss; or Brimstone, Sideways, and Thunderblast.
- Cybertron Cybertron Primus with Bonus Mini-Cons (Walmart)
- Primus with Knockdown, Nightscream, Offshoot and Strongarm
2007[]
- Universe Deluxe 2-Packs (Walmart)
- Two deluxe figures on a single wide card. Came in 2 different sets of either Excellion, and Thundercracker, or Downshift and Cannonball