Hot Spot is kinda rare. I occasionally see him at WalMart but I did see one at TrU last weekend.
They seem to be ramping up the series 2 minis again, I've seen 2 Blackjacks in the past couple weeks.
TrU just got a million Protectobots, the first 2 waves seem to be about done. WalMart is your best bet I'd say.
I picked up Ironhide, Prowl and the rest of that wave 3 weeks ago at Walmart along with that white Prime at TrU last week. No Hot Rod sightings yet.
MP Starscream came and went in about 3 days at TrU. He's WAY better than the old Walmart one and way cheaper than the Takara one with similar colours. (I had to fight a bit to get his legs out but I've read a lot of reports about kinda crappy quality with that one.)