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Nemesis Destron wrote:

Kung Fu Man wrote:They're both back in stock, but their price jumped up $10 as a result. Circuit and Jackpot by comparison jumped down by the same amount, making them *cheaper* than buying them from the club.

WTF BBTS?? That's a total dick move jacking up the price like that!!

It's pretty standard BBTS practice actually. I'm not defending them or anything, I'm just surprised when people still get PO'd at it.

I really don't understand the strategy of the service subscription other than it allows TFCC to sell figures that otherwise wouldn't do well selling on their own.

It seems like Slipstream, Scourge, and Breakdown are hot commodities. And Jackpot and Circuit are not that hot. So my question to TFCC - why bother producing figures that are not that interesting to fans? It just seems like their marketing and research regarding what the fans are interested is off the mark 50% of the time.

Personally, I am only interested in Breakdown. To me, it's worth it to buy/preorder the figure from another retailer than to play this silly subscription and membership service fee at TFCC. I am getting more and more annoyed with each news update from TFCC.

What I don't understand is the timing and the limited time offer. There's a huge con going on this month that I'm going to. I budgeted for THAT. I'm not sure paying $300 for this right on the heels of that is a fantastic idea. I didn't expect such a limited time offer to come from TFCC.

.... And I managed to snag a Scourge off BBTS before they went out of stock again. Phew, crisis averted, for now!

The price markup is obviously to cover the 'bath' they'll be taking on Circuit and Jackpot.

Hell, I stuck in a preorder for Breakdown just for the hell of it, mightn't even get it when it comes out, depends on how flush I am at the time next year, after the MPs, FP and TFC stuff coming out..

I've been doing a lot of FunPub bashing here, but it still stands - I'd rather pay well over the odds for Scourge on its own from a reputable retailer (when it's in stock, to boot) rather than shell out over $500 as an international member, hand over photocopies of my personal data, and wait for months for these clowns to (maybe) not screw the pooch on this one.

Hell, if I even wanted the whole lot, I'd prefer to pay over the odds through BBTS, or any other avenue, if my order was likely to be honoured.

ARE YOU LISTENING, HASBRO!?!?

so it is obvious that Slipsteam and Scourge are the carriers of the line,

and the 'sharing' idea may not work, as all parties probably just want those two.

so don't get mad at BBTS just because it signs up for the package, and by the laws of supply and demand, sells the figures individually at different rates, because they realise they would be left with a lot of neo-delic animated musclecars.

If I get the toys I do, If I don't get the option, I won't get too bothered , honestly, My collection is nothing to brag about anyway.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:What I don't understand is the timing and the limited time offer. There's a huge con going on this month that I'm going to. I budgeted for THAT. I'm not sure paying $300 for this right on the heels of that is a fantastic idea. I didn't expect such a limited time offer to come from TFCC.

They need to give the Chinese factories concrete production numbers if they want to meet their estimated ship date of January.

Stormrider wrote:I really don't understand the strategy of the service subscription other than it allows TFCC to sell figures that otherwise wouldn't do well selling on their own.

It seems like Slipstream, Scourge, and Breakdown are hot commodities. And Jackpot and Circuit are not that hot. So my question to TFCC - why bother producing figures that are not that interesting to fans? It just seems like their marketing and research regarding what the fans are interested is off the mark 50% of the time.

Because the TFCC isn't simply going to sell what 90% of the fandom want. They're trying to get 100% coverage, which includes fans that collect past lines such as Animated, Beast Wars and others. Don't want Jackpot? Neither do I, but I know that there are Animated collectors out there who do so I'll sell mine off at cost to recoup the costs.

Don't want Ultra Mammoth? I do because I have a completed Beast Wars collection, that for the first time in over 10 years has a figure I can add to it. That excites me and other Beast Wars collectors.

Don't want Circuit? I do because he's a homage to a niche G1-ish figure. To some that isn't enough to warrant the money. To others, it sure is. Heck I'm going to find a second Circuit to be my Shattered Glass Axor.

So yeah, one group's wants/needs doesn't equal that of the fandom. The Club is trying to cater to us all; not just us Classics fanboys.

Mkall wrote:

Nemesis Destron wrote:

Kung Fu Man wrote:They're both back in stock, but their price jumped up $10 as a result. Circuit and Jackpot by comparison jumped down by the same amount, making them *cheaper* than buying them from the club.

WTF BBTS?? That's a total dick move jacking up the price like that!!

It's pretty standard BBTS practice actually. I'm not defending them or anything, I'm just surprised when people still get PO'd at it.

I'm not these days.

Because to be honest, it is a bad business practice on their behalf. BBTS should have learned by now that this practice should have been done AFTER these items are no longer being made. And since they did not do that, I can understand their potential customers venting for the fact it should not have been done so soon.

Besides... I buy from TFsource because they do not do this BS practice. That, and I prefer their customer service as well. But that is a different story.

Mkall wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:What I don't understand is the timing and the limited time offer. There's a huge con going on this month that I'm going to. I budgeted for THAT. I'm not sure paying $300 for this right on the heels of that is a fantastic idea. I didn't expect such a limited time offer to come from TFCC.

They need to give the Chinese factories concrete production numbers if they want to meet their estimated ship date of January.

Stormrider wrote:I really don't understand the strategy of the service subscription other than it allows TFCC to sell figures that otherwise wouldn't do well selling on their own.

It seems like Slipstream, Scourge, and Breakdown are hot commodities. And Jackpot and Circuit are not that hot. So my question to TFCC - why bother producing figures that are not that interesting to fans? It just seems like their marketing and research regarding what the fans are interested is off the mark 50% of the time.

Because the TFCC isn't simply going to sell what 90% of the fandom want. They're trying to get 100% coverage, which includes fans that collect past lines such as Animated, Beast Wars and others. Don't want Jackpot? Neither do I, but I know that there are Animated collectors out there who do so I'll sell mine off at cost to recoup the costs.

Don't want Ultra Mammoth? I do because I have a completed Beast Wars collection, that for the first time in over 10 years has a figure I can add to it. That excites me and other Beast Wars collectors.

Don't want Circuit? I do because he's a homage to a niche G1-ish figure. To some that isn't enough to warrant the money. To others, it sure is. Heck I'm going to find a second Circuit to be my Shattered Glass Axor.

So yeah, one group's wants/needs doesn't equal that of the fandom. The Club is trying to cater to us all; not just us Classics fanboys.

You've a lot of good points. However, these 6 figures are not gang-molded, so it'd be quite possible for them to sell the more niche figures under a made to order scheme, and if they're only shipping one a month, then I have to imagine that would in theory give them an extra month to supply info on how many of the 2nd figure need to be made, and so on. But they'd rather be all secretive about which one is being released when, in what I expect is a move to make people pay over the odds for the one or two figures they want from this set. Of course, it's nice that the shipping schedule is a secret, because that way anyone without the internet will not know what the first figure is 2 minutes after the first person receives theirs.

edit: for the record, whilst Scourge is the one I really WANT, I do like Circuit, for a few reasons, and Ultra Mammoth looks cooler every time I see him.

Simple solution ... stop supporting the club.

Burn wrote:Simple solution ... stop supporting the club.

I like that Idea Burn