Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Scaleface wrote:I'm glad this happened, the scalping on ebay has been incredible. I've seen this set sell for as much as $300!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-Botcon ... dZViewItem

And all this for toys that would sell for $30 in stores if they were retail.

More than that, I sold my set for $580, although I was the first one to put it up on Ebay.

Counterpunch wrote:

Scaleface wrote:I'm glad this happened, the scalping on ebay has been incredible. I've seen this set sell for as much as $300!

Sold mine right after BotCon. Made myself both a profit and a prophet.

Your just like the ebayers!!!

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:I can't believe how expensive Botcon Merchandise is.

Well, you are new, so it's understandable. If you had been around the past few months, you would have heard others of us preaching the virtues of getting these things early.

I suppose, but I wasn't into the Transformers then like I am now.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:But as for the Botcon stuff, they just look like repaints and slight remolds to me.

That's exactly what they are. But the cost of doing that is high and these are quite exclusive. You're honestly lucky getting a chance to buy them at this time.

Why am I lucky? weren't some of them sold at like $50.00 at the Botcon?

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote: If I really wanted I could buy an older one of some of the figures in loose on ebay and have a professional repaint them for less money then what I could if I bought the Botcon merchandise. It's completely depressing to see what selective Capitalism versus mass consumerism can do when delegated to the transformers Brand.

Not bloody likely.

Let me work something like that out for you.

A job like that would cost for all of the following (I know, I've done it)

-The toy. $20
-The materials. $20 (or $120 if a dremel tool is necessary)
-Time to disassemble (Time money)
-Time to prime/paint (Time money)
-Time to finish/reassemble (Time money)
-A fee for services. ($$$)

Ask any customizer.

I have and I've been debating it, there are plenty of Games Workshop Hobbyists at the local comic shop who would definitely do it for me for like $20.00 to $30.00, heck that's a new minature to those guys!!! it's like crack!

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote: Sorry guys, But I have to pass, and not because I'm a new collector and all, and I still need to pick up my stuff from the Unicron Trilogy, or RID/Car Robots/Movie toys, ect.
But because those are just not a priority on my list. IMO, anyone who pays that much for those repaints simply because of where they came from and such, are fools. Supporting such an expensive and unrealistic exclusive Toyline such as that really makes me angry about collecting.

Then you don't get anything special or limited. That's market economics. You're saying other toys are more demanding of your money and that the limited supply of exclusives isn't worth a price hike to you. It's your choice. As long as you don't make some lame rationalization about it....

Lame rationalization?? Buying into that system only feeds it more.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote: Between the expensive and over rated Botcon exclusives, the Elusive "sign over your college fund" Lucky Draw exclusives, the Scalpers who jack up the prices on ebay, bad ebay sellers who after payment recieved, never send the merchandise, greedy little comic shops, consignment hunters, and Mall dealer tables, this franchise has alot of greed and "issues" which make it very hard for a fan with little to no money to keep up, let alone stay interested without getting extremely frustrated!!

Crap. You dun-did-it...

Yes I dealt it, so now you smelled it!

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote: SO either join the club and get the set at roughly $150.00 USD or be a non member and pay roughly $180.00 USD? What a freaking expensive set for 2 plastic toys who would have retailed for at the most $25.00 in stores!

I love mine. I love them more because you can not get them in stores where the hordes of unwashed masses wander. (is that mean?...good. )

So to you it's like a woman who only buys designer dresses

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote: Defending them by saying they need this amount of money to continue to bring exclusives to the Botcon is simply not true, its a demand thing and as far as I can tell these Botcon repaints are in demand, production costs can't be so high that these figures should cost $60.00 each to produce or even with a profit gain of $20.00 they don't cost $40.00 to produce.

Show me your degree in economics or an equivalent work experience in marketing and production which says you can justify those numbers.

Show me your degree to discount those numbers? Leave phototshop out of it.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Rule of thumb, the more you produce the cheaper the item becomes,

That applies to numbers which approach tens of thousands of units.

Not a run of 1500 pieces like these toys are. Before you say that these should go to market, the deal with Hasbro limits how long these toys can be made and in how many numbers.

So it's Hasbro who has the final say as to how many get produced? That sucks.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Lets put this into perspective shall we, a MP-03 Star Scream from Takara retails on eBay on average at about $75.00 to $100.00,
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dl ... category0=
while the Wal-mart "exclusive" repaint will retail somewhere around $50.00, which is more sought after then the Takara release, it's a masterpiece repaint and not some voyager class repaint???

That has nothing to do with anything relevant here. MP Starscream is an import release. You are paying mark up for the import. Hence why the domestic release is so much cheaper.

That's still a repaint and a Higher quality one at that because it's a Masterpiece.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:I know I'm new and all to this fandom, but come on!! does anyone else think that these sets are just way too expensive?

I think they're too expensive for most people. This is the goal after all. Exclusive is exclusive is exclusive. Pay to play.

How many BMWs do you own? Have a Porsche or two? Would you like them to cost as much as a Jetta? Sure. Will it happen?

No.

I find that the most sense made of the subject. I think that in the future anything regarding the Botcon section is off my radar, you should work for them, you obviously love them very much. You got to go to the Botcon, so for you making a profit is okay and your up there with all the rest defending it, but you can't be in the right because you don't know what it's like to be one of us who didn't go!

Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive. Your priorities will get you consumer of the year at corporate functions for Hasbro. Way to go!!;)^

Lapse Of Reason wrote:Thank you, Counterpunch. You took the time to write exactly what I wanted to write.

Suck up. Do not fear that which is mortal and in the end fallable.it's like befriending a pitbull, he may be nice to you for a time, but eventually he can and will turn on you. From what I've seen on these threads. "Not nice, good"

Counterpunch wrote:

Lapse Of Reason wrote:Thank you, Counterpunch. You took the time to write exactly what I wanted to write.

I'm practicing becoming a middle-aged balding man who will sit on a public beach and write cynically about world affairs, young people, and why music died with John Lennon; all while sipping mai-tais and wishing that the A-Team was back on TV.

(I don't even know when I'm joking anymore...)

What is the A-team? If your not sure about your mental health, then why should I take any of your opinions on the Botcon Merchandise seriously? Cynicism is a result of the unhappiness within, I always thought old people were supposed to mellow with age?

HollyW00d wrote:

Scaleface wrote:I'm glad this happened, the scalping on ebay has been incredible. I've seen this set sell for as much as $300!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Transformers-Botcon ... dZViewItem

And all this for toys that would sell for $30 in stores if they were retail.

More than that, I sold my set for $580, although I was the first one to put it up on Ebay.

So buy it on the TFclub website before they are gone and your back to paying $300.oo to $500.00??


Yeah, maybe it is lucky for those who didn't go to the botcon, so they can go to the TFclub to pay 2 times what they were originally sold , instead of going to the internet scalpers and paying 4 times , you guys are no different, but I don't blame you for it, I blame the idiots who forked over half a grand for buying into it.

Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick. Oh well, back to collecting the ones that really matter, I'll leave the insane collectibles to the "nuthouse gang" and their friends.

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

Maximal Primal wrote:Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick.

Run me down with your BMW, and then I’ll understand perfectly what it’s like to be a “Have Not”.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

ok, you make 65K a year starting out at Activision, and you buy a 2007 BMW 335 with a turbocharged 3-liter inline six, and pay for a Condo in Beverly Hills, then you come back and talk to me about Bullshit. I collect, because I love the hobby, not because I blow all my money on it. I want to have nice things and transformers too.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:]Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick.

Run me down with your BMW, and then I’ll understand perfectly what it’s like to be a “Have Not”.

That can be arranged, what is your schedule like?

Maximal Primal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

ok, you make 65K a year starting out at Activision, and you buy a 2007 BMW 335 with a turbocharged 3-liter inline six, and pay for a Condo in Beverly Hills, then you come back and talk to me about Bullshit. I collect, because I love the hobby, not because I blow all my money on it. I want to have nice things and transformers too.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:]Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick.

Run me down with your BMW, and then I’ll understand perfectly what it’s like to be a “Have Not”.

That can be arranged, what is your schedule like?

Ok, time for me to call bullshit.

1) If you live in California, 65k a year is like 35k a year in the midwest and 45k on the east coast. Not enough for any type of lavish lifestyle.

2) You would not be able to afford payments on a BMW like that and pay for a condo in Beverly Hills. In fact just slash the condo, 65k a year isn't enough to afford a box on Rodeo Drive. Unless you are leasing and have roommates, in which case you have been stretching the truth.

Maximal Primal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

ok, you make 65K a year starting out at Activision, and you buy a 2007 BMW 335 with a turbocharged 3-liter inline six, and pay for a Condo in Beverly Hills, then you come back and talk to me about Bullshit. I collect, because I love the hobby, not because I blow all my money on it. I want to have nice things and transformers too.

1. Your Sig is too large. You'd think Activision could afford photoshop...
2. Pics, or it never happened.
3. 65k in Cali does not afford you a condo in the hills, a BMW, nor does it grant you the ability to "Live Large."

Maximal Primal wrote:Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick.

Attention all other "Have Nots", please check in here and report on the status of your BMW.

That is all.

you guys do know your arguing over toys right? dude if you can't afford it, don't buy it. Life will go on. If you can afford to buy it, and you really want one, then sweet get yourself one. i personally don't think this figure is worth that price. I can afford it, I just don't want to buy it. I will save my money for a wal-mart Mp Starscream and a Takara Mp Skywarp. Its all about personal choice. If you need to, eat roman noodles for a while and save up and get it. (If you went collage, you know what I am talkn' about) If its gone by then, oh well get some thing else with your cash.

HollyW00d wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

ok, you make 65K a year starting out at Activision, and you buy a 2007 BMW 335 with a turbocharged 3-liter inline six, and pay for a Condo in Beverly Hills, then you come back and talk to me about Bullshit. I collect, because I love the hobby, not because I blow all my money on it. I want to have nice things and transformers too.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:]Sorry counterpunch, HollyW00d, Lapse Of Reason, you guys are the haves and I'm in the Have Not category, you'll never see my point of view, even if it was beaten into you with a stick.

Run me down with your BMW, and then I’ll understand perfectly what it’s like to be a “Have Not”.

That can be arranged, what is your schedule like?

Ok, time for me to call bullshit.

1) If you live in California, 65k a year is like 35k a year in the midwest and 45k on the east coast. Not enough for any type of lavish lifestyle.

2) You would not be able to afford payments on a BMW like that and pay for a condo in Beverly Hills. In fact just slash the condo, 65k a year isn't enough to afford a box on Rodeo Drive. Unless you are leasing and have roommates, in which case you have been stretching the truth.

No my family owns it, and I have 2 roommates who pay rent as well as I do, and yeah pay scale out here is very different then anywhere else, but if you have good credit, and want to spend most of your money on a nice car, like so many military friends of mine, then it's certainly a reality. I love my car, and sometimes wish it were an Autobot in the Transformers mythos.

The BMW 3 series is the new Ford Mustang. They are fairly inexpensive and everyone has one.

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Maximal Primal wrote:Incidentally, I would rather invest my money into a BMW then a Botcon toy. Yeah I own 1 BMW, that's why my money is tight, but I live large down roDAYo drive.

So, you can afford a BMW, but not $150 for Transformers?

I’m calling bullshit. Flat out.

ok, you make 65K a year starting out at Activision, and you buy a 2007 BMW 335 with a turbocharged 3-liter inline six, and pay for a Condo in Beverly Hills, then you come back and talk to me about Bullshit. I collect, because I love the hobby, not because I blow all my money on it. I want to have nice things and transformers too.

1. Your Sig is too large. You'd think Activision could afford photoshop...

Uh my sig is the right size, grasping at straws are we?

Counterpunch wrote:2. Pics, or it never happened.

Would you also like to see my Driver's license and registration along with the car title?

Counterpunch wrote:3. 65k in Cali does not afford you a condo in the hills, a BMW, nor does it grant you the ability to "Live Large."

It affords you if your parents own it, and you have 2 other roommates paying rent as well.

JTKranix wrote:The BMW 3 series is the new Ford Mustang. They are fairly inexpensive and everyone has one.

Yes they are very common, atleast here in Cali that is.