Reaver Jetbikes no longer sold in stores

Apparently, in the wake of the soon to be released Lizardmen, Reaver Jetbikes are going direct-sales only from the GW website. Isn't that really weird? I've been thinking about how this makes sense, and this is what I think:

Obviously, as new items are added to the retail line, older items need to be taken out. Otherwise, the stock requirements for retail stores would soon become unmanageable. This has been going on for a while. But how do they choose which items to discontinue? My guess would be, whichever items matter the least, in terms of marketing.

That would mean that reaver jetbikes were at the bottom of the list. But reavers are one of the most sought-after units for dark eldar, which would mean that the entire dark eldar range is now considered to be the bottom of the list. If that is true, not only can we not expect anything new to come out for DE any time soon, but we can expect Hellions and Scourges to disappear from retail stores next. In a few months, the DE section of the GW racks would look like the Wood Elf section currently does.

On the other hand, the Eldar Wave Serpent is also being taken out of retail, and the Eldar codex only just came out. How can their basic transport already be at the bottom of the list? Does GW reckon that they've already sold as many as they're likely to sell, and it's time to move on to something else? What does it all mean?

I stopped trying to combine 'logic' and 'what GW is doing' a long while ago.
It makes for a more pleasant adventure through the hobby.

Perhaps they're just embarrassed that the Reavers are outshining the Windriders..

It could be demand issues. I heard the Wave Serpent went direct only because of its sudden popularity - GW couldn't keep up supply, so are sending them out as and when they're needed, rather than sending shipments to stores that might not sell through them for ages whilst other stores need more. A friend of mine converted Reavers into Windriders (the work of about ten minutes) and other people will be doing the same, as well as all the people just buying them as regular Reavers. It might not be anything to worry about.

Even the biggest stores carry only about 10% of the full range (acording the the manchester manager, but that number will have skyrocketed with the end of specialist I suppose).
Since reavers exist in battleforce form, why duplicate?

I'd guess sales will be a factor in this, I'd expect most people own Reavers because they came with battle forces, rather than because they are better than hellions or scourges.

One thing is certain: not all DE players build lists like Muskilla, or this wouldn't have happened.  

DingK wrote:

One thing is certain: not all DE players build lists like Muskilla, or this wouldn't have happened.  

On the contrary it's same as the waveserpent going order only. It's clearly cause there is so much demand for them. GW thinking damn we will make more money if we sell them directly!

Reavers are not listed as Direct Only here in the US. The cult of Mush is STRONG here!

When you look at the Wave Serpent you see:
"Availability:

This product is expected to despatch in five to six weeks"

This appears to simply be a demand issue. Internet overreaction over?  

Just checked: Both Reavers and the Wave Serpent are listed as shipping within 24 hours. I'm in Europe, orders are shipped from the UK I believe.

Evil Space Elves wrote:

Reavers are not listed as Direct Only here in the US. The cult of Mush is STRONG here!

When you look at the Wave Serpent you see:
"Availability:

This product is expected to despatch in five to six weeks"

This appears to simply be a demand issue. Internet overreaction over?  

Agreed, it's Mush's entire fault that reaver gets bought up and now they can't keep up with supplying them.

Is it cheaper to get reavers and convert to windriders?

edit: and when GW and logic connects for once, they'll up the price on reavers because they know people will buy.

Indeed sad that they go off from them, but I would rather get them from cheaper sources anyway. Venoms are basically the only thing I want to buy from a GW-store, and some finecast characters.
I believe that the employees at GW-Helsinki already know me as a DE-buyer. Mainly because I think i'm the only one.
There are always a few gaps everywhere but in the DE-shelf when I come in.

I don't really know do we have Mush to blame for the reavers though  

I think we have how bad the windrider jetbikes models are to blame for this. The only other model I can think of that went to direct order only is the wave serpent and that's because they couldn't keep up with demand. Logic would dictate that the reavers were taken from stores for similar reasons.

Evil Space Elves wrote:

Reavers are not listed as Direct Only here in the US. The cult of Mush is STRONG here!

The current Retail Order List, which has the new Lizardmen, shows them under 'Deletions'. i.e., retail stores can no longer order them as of now. Of course, we can always order them from the GW website, so no problem there. I'm just interested in what this says about what's going on at GW, and what, if anything, is going on with Dark Eldar. I don't think that translates as an 'overreaction'!

They are still in Manchester, but no reason that cant just be old stock