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Wow. The Botcon site has just been updated again, and they are no longer accepting orders for Iacon packages due to demand. I can't believe that this years set is selling even faster than last years.

Like a spy with the power to disappear at will, these sets seem to be disappearing out of Fun Pubs hands at the blink of an eye. According to news from the Botcon '08 website:

"UPDATE: 02-15-08

Due to unprecedented demand for our Convention Boxed Sets, we have had to stop accepting Iacon (non-attending) package orders for BotCon 2008. The remaining boxed sets will be reserved for those fans who want to attend
the convention in Cincinnati, OH, April 24th-27th.

While we are consulting with the manufacturer to see if there is a way to increase the quantity of the boxed sets, we do not
expect this will be possible, orders received after 02/14/08 will be put on a wait list.
Thanks for the overwhelming response!
We appreciate the high esteem you have placed on the 2008 and all of our past year's BotCon sets.
We will be sure to keep you updated on the situation. "

All this collector has to say is, 'WOW' and congrats to the Collector's Club and its members!

See the news for yourself here.

Geekee1 wrote:Wow. The Botcon site has just been updated again, and they are no longer accepting orders for Iacon packages due to demand. I can't believe that this years set is selling even faster than last years.

I'm locking this up in favor of the news!

Seriously, I am baffled, the figures we have seen so far are cool, but wow... The movie must have created a lot of new, VERY hunmgry fans!

Hungry fans...yeah...you mean hungry scalpers. You know damned well 80% of these sets sold are going to be on eBay within a week of their shipping.

I would love to get them, but they just aren't producing enough of them right now...I simply can't afford them. And I know a lot of fans are really still put off by the price.

Eh, As much as I like the idea, I'll save my money for the fall Universe releases.

First-Aid wrote:Hungry fans...yeah...you mean hungry scalpers. You know damned well 80% of these sets sold are going to be on eBay within a week of their shipping.

I would love to get them, but they just aren't producing enough of them right now...I simply can't afford them. And I know a lot of fans are really still put off by the price.

quite true. i doubt it was the movie IMHO that created the demand for this, rather i'd say it was the massive success of last year's Seeker set, and people are looking at the aftermarket for these releases, in my humble opinion.

IMHO, more or less some of those who preordered are scalpers I.M.H.O., lest i be labelled a whiner for blaming scalpers for the quick sellout of these sets.

seriously, a set selling out even though other figs weren't made public yet? scalpers, i say IMHO.

Wowie Zowie!

this just plain sucks! i cant justify throwing down $300 for something i haven't seen yet. For the sets to be basically be sold out before we've seen what everything is, is unacceptable. I am extremely disappointed with fun publications. All i ask is that we have the chance to see everything we're paying for BEFORE we have to pay for it so we have a chance to decide whether it's worth paying so much for. I will be sending a complaint to the company.

There goes me getting an Iacon Set...

damn thats carazy... i havent signed up for botcon yet, because im still waiting on my taxes, but this makes it sound like by the time i am able to do so, i wont get any toys for it... although i so far only want the starscream out of the set, just because its starscream.

I ordered my sets as soon as they became available (one boxed, one loose non-attending). I know if I did it, so could anyone else. I hope we don't need to endure months of complaining and whining about exclusive sets being expensive and hard to get. If they were cheap and easy, they would not be exclusive, would they?

I ordered one set for me to keep and one loose set to hold onto for future trades or sale. I could have ordered a dozen non-attending sets if I wanted to, but I didn't. I am a fairly active eBay seller but I didn't really foresee this set being as hot as the one last year.

Personally I'm glad the sets are selling out fast. That means they have a shot at having some value on the collector's market.

King Henrik wrote:this just plain sucks! i cant justify throwing down $300 for something i haven't seen yet. For the sets to be basically be sold out before we've seen what everything is, is unacceptable. I am extremely disappointed with fun publications. All i ask is that we have the chance to see everything we're paying for BEFORE we have to pay for it so we have a chance to decide whether it's worth paying so much for. I will be sending a complaint to the company.

Yeah, this is where I'm at. Granted, if the story had grabbed me more or the silhouettes of the figures hadn't given away their used Cybertron mold identities, I might have been more excited to begin with. No big deal--If I REALLY like a figure I'll try out the scalpers, I mean secondary market.

First-Aid wrote:Hungry fans...yeah...you mean hungry scalpers. You know damned well 80% of these sets sold are going to be on eBay within a week of their shipping.

I would love to get them, but they just aren't producing enough of them right now...I simply can't afford them. And I know a lot of fans are really still put off by the price.

And... outrages prices

King Henrik wrote:this just plain sucks! i cant justify throwing down $300 for something i haven't seen yet. For the sets to be basically be sold out before we've seen what everything is, is unacceptable. I am extremely disappointed with fun publications. All i ask is that we have the chance to see everything we're paying for BEFORE we have to pay for it so we have a chance to decide whether it's worth paying so much for. I will be sending a complaint to the company.

At least its better then when 3H was in control. Back then you ordered the exclusives without knowing thing about them other then price. No pics, no names, nothing till you showed up at Botcon. Honestly I think part of the issue this year is not jsut scalpers but also that they made less sets in general since they new this one wouldn't be quite as big as the seekers.

I mean they only made 200 hundred bagged sets, which is less then half what they made last year if I remember correctly. I'd make a bet they made less box sets as well. And the scalpers are inflating the sale numbers, because they think they'll sell like last years.

I like what I've seen so far, and I've got a friend who will be picking up a second box set at the con for me since I missed the Iacon sets.

and so it begins.....

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I ordered my sets as soon as they became available (one boxed, one loose non-attending). I know if I did it, so could anyone else. I hope we don't need to endure months of complaining and whining about exclusive sets being expensive and hard to get. If they were cheap and easy, they would not be exclusive, would they?

I ordered one set for me to keep and one loose set to hold onto for future trades or sale. I could have ordered a dozen non-attending sets if I wanted to, but I didn't. I am a fairly active eBay seller but I didn't really foresee this set being as hot as the one last year.

Personally I'm glad the sets are selling out fast. That means they have a shot at having some value on the collector's market.

People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.
And some people would object to your last statement, especially people who buy the figures for love of the fandom or as part of the botcon experience, rather than 'value on the collector's market.'
Personally, I think anyone paying $300 for them is crazy , but that's neither here nor there!

Now that's 2 years I won't have. Bad enough I haven't been able to afford to go to the cons since FunPubs took over, but I thought I'd at least be able to get one set of the non-attending toys with my tax return.

I miss the 3H days, sure you didn't know what the toys were until the con, but they were affordable the conventions had decent hotel prices, and I don't remember them moving the convention from late summer to mid spring.

MagnusPrimal wrote:
People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.

while they do have a point, last year no one saw the figures before they put the sets on sale.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:
People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.

while they do have a point, last year no one saw the figures before they put the sets on sale.

Oh, I know it's not new. And since I'll never buy the sets, it doesn't really affect me. But it is a valid point, and I would think FP might want to address it someday. It's not really that much to ask of them, is it, to show the figures at least within a week of registration beginning?

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:
People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.

while they do have a point, last year no one saw the figures before they put the sets on sale.

To be fair though, it didn't take much imagination to picture what Thundercracker, Thrust, Dirge, and Dreadwind would look like. All 4 were direct G1 homages. We know what G1 looks like.

Mirrorverse is a completely knew deal (by Transformers standards). We have nothing to compare this set to. Nobody has any idea what these figures will look like until FP shows what they look like. That's the difference.

MagnusPrimal wrote:

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I ordered my sets as soon as they became available (one boxed, one loose non-attending). I know if I did it, so could anyone else. I hope we don't need to endure months of complaining and whining about exclusive sets being expensive and hard to get. If they were cheap and easy, they would not be exclusive, would they?

I ordered one set for me to keep and one loose set to hold onto for future trades or sale. I could have ordered a dozen non-attending sets if I wanted to, but I didn't. I am a fairly active eBay seller but I didn't really foresee this set being as hot as the one last year.

Personally I'm glad the sets are selling out fast. That means they have a shot at having some value on the collector's market.

People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.
And some people would object to your last statement, especially people who buy the figures for love of the fandom or as part of the botcon experience, rather than 'value on the collector's market.'
Personally, I think anyone paying $300 for them is crazy , but that's neither here nor there!

I agree on a point about buying a set unseen. However, the serious collectors know these sets always retain their value. These are not for the casual collector. They are for the serious fans who are able to afford $300 for an exclusive Transformers set to add to their collection. I like the fact that I can buy cheap toys at Target or expensive, exclusive sets from a collector's club. But that's just me.

I don't mean to offend with my statement re: being happy the sets are a hot item because I like money. The thing is, I like knowing I bought something for X amount and can sell it for 2 or 3 times X later.

It is time collectors realized that with Botcon sets you have to act fast if you want to get a set. The sets have quickly sold out two years in a row, so it is time to learn from those experiences. I am sorry about the fact that some collectors are now out of luck. Maybe this will take a postive turn and eBay will be so flooded with these figures that sellers will take a loss just to unload them.

Lapse Of Reason wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I ordered my sets as soon as they became available (one boxed, one loose non-attending). I know if I did it, so could anyone else. I hope we don't need to endure months of complaining and whining about exclusive sets being expensive and hard to get. If they were cheap and easy, they would not be exclusive, would they?

I ordered one set for me to keep and one loose set to hold onto for future trades or sale. I could have ordered a dozen non-attending sets if I wanted to, but I didn't. I am a fairly active eBay seller but I didn't really foresee this set being as hot as the one last year.

Personally I'm glad the sets are selling out fast. That means they have a shot at having some value on the collector's market.

People who are complaining about not seeing the figures before being asked to pay the $300 have a point though. They weren't complaining about the exclusivity of the set, merely the buy-it-sight-unseen requirement.
And some people would object to your last statement, especially people who buy the figures for love of the fandom or as part of the botcon experience, rather than 'value on the collector's market.'
Personally, I think anyone paying $300 for them is crazy , but that's neither here nor there!

I agree on a point about buying a set unseen. However, the serious collectors know these sets always retain their value. These are not for the casual collector. They are for the serious fans who are able to afford $300 for an exclusive Transformers set to add to their collection. I like the fact that I can buy cheap toys at Target or expensive, exclusive sets from a collector's club. But that's just me.

I don't mean to offend with my statement re: being happy the sets are a hot item because I like money. The thing is, I like knowing I bought something for X amount and can sell it for 2 or 3 times X later.

It is time collectors realized that with Botcon sets you have to act fast if you want to get a set. The sets have quickly sold out two years in a row, so it is time to learn from those experiences. I am sorry about the fact that some collectors are now out of luck. Maybe this will take a postive turn and eBay will be so flooded with these figures that sellers will take a loss just to unload them.

Excellent! Thank you for the well-reasoned reply, without any flaming or name-calling. I wasn't trying to attack you, and I hope I didn't come across that way. The way you stated it this time was, imho, much better, and came across nicer.
Yes, the con sets will sell out fast. I still think FP should put up pictures sooner, as even some of the die-hards around here are complaining about it.
It will never be me, however, as I just can't make myself pay the prices. It's odd, I got the Predaking reissue, both Galvatrons, MP Convoy, etc., but I just can't make myself shell out the money for these, or really any, exclusives. I just don't like exclusives. I've only bought two: the Gentle Giant Mara Jade bust, which I managed to get for retail from their site, and the JLU Shayera 3-pack which cost me $30 at bbts, but didn't sting as much because I had a lot of store credit.
I understand the reasoning behind exclusives (somewhat), I just dislike them.
Again, thanks for the calm, civil response.

I had no intention of ordering the set this year so this news doesn't really affect me in the least. But I am curious, did last year's set sell out this quickly? The one and only Botcon set I've ever bought was last year's Games of Deception set. I remember it selling out rather quickly but not this quickly. This is very amazing indeed.

Master Maximus wrote:Now that's 2 years I won't have. Bad enough I haven't been able to afford to go to the cons since FunPubs took over, but I thought I'd at least be able to get one set of the non-attending toys with my tax return.

I miss the 3H days, sure you didn't know what the toys were until the con, but they were affordable the conventions had decent hotel prices, and I don't remember them moving the convention from late summer to mid spring.

I guess I'm not sure what you mean by the 3H cons being more affordable. The first few Botcon's I attended were run by 3H and the price to get in the door for 1 day was $20 +. The last few years its been $10.

Don't get me wrong, I think my favorite Botcon's were the 2002 Fort Wayne and the 2003 Chicago, both 3H, but FunPub has done a decent job and in my opinion the exclusives have been much better.

And just so people know, I ordered my set the day it went up and I will be opening (key word = opening) and playing with my toys as soon as they are in my hands. Thursday April 24th can't come fast enough