The Energon Pub

Well it shouldn't be a suprise of all the Botcon TFs flooding ebay while doing a general search. And while fans are scrambling trying to get Botcon TFs sellers and possibly scalpers are busy trying their best to get all that they can, IMO. The other no surpriser is the prices for Longarm/Shockwave figure. You all know what most wanted for last years Minerva figure but personally I'm not very impressed with this years. I'll gladly wait for FOC SW. So how will you secure you Botcon TFs if you couldn't attend? Do you have an inside man/woman taking your request or will you take a risk and see what prices look like after Botcon?

I have someone getting me the figures I want, except for the yellow Straxus. And no way in hell am I paying eBay ripoff prices, and I laugh at anyone who does.

Never planned to get them so I don't even have to think about the madness. Haha.

I don't need any of those figures for my collection. They just don't fit in anywhere for me.

The ebay prices on those things are silly. So far there has only been one Botcon exclusive that I needed to go after. That was Razorclaw. Thankfully not a lot of people liked that guy, so he was cheap.

I just bought the SG Junkions for 188 bucks which I think was a decent deal. I normally try to wait out the Botcon rush, but I think this strategy can backfire at times. The SG Junkions happen to be figures that I think will appreciate in value and their prices will eventually rise due to the Junkions overall popularity, the fact that they have 3 different head molds (1 of which never even saw a stateside release) and they're homaging 3 popular Decepticon characters. In my opinion, the SG Junkions are probably the only 3 SG figures that were done right this year.

That being said, I'm sure many fans will agree with this and their demand will be fairly high down the line. It's just best, in my opinion, to spend the money now instead of waiting and risking the possibility that their prices will soar. Besides, 188 dollars for 3 deluxe sized Botcon figures isn't too bad. Works out to roughly 60 bucks a piece which, for an exclusive set of figures, I can live with.

I'm not that big a fan of the SG continuity, but I think that stems from the fact that SG Prime and Rodimus go for astronomical prices. I managed to scoop up the KO versions really cheap a little while ago, and they looked good alongside my lone SG Megatron that I got a few years back. Considering how people are hating some of the SG figures this year, it should be a little easier to beef up my small SG collection. I'm definitely going to get Soundwave at some point, and seeing as how everyone hates Straxus, he should be fairly easy to get as well. Now, to find SG Cyclonus for a decent price...

I would imagine there are vendors that have 2012 Botcon figs for sale yes...? So I wonder what they go for versus ebay prices?

You know, I'm not against convention exclusives. I still have my figures from the first couple Botcons in the mid-Nineties, when it was 1 exclusive per event. But the idea of having this many exclusives that will only end up on eBay just sickens me. Take a look at a current listing of the Junkions on eBay, all from one seller, for a period of less than ten hours:




If there are really this many available from the TFCC, why not limit sales at the event and put the rest online for everyone else?

Should they even be referred to as "exclusives" anymore?

Andrius wrote:You know, I'm not against convention exclusives. I still have my figures from the first couple Botcons in the mid-Nineties, when it was 1 exclusive per event. But the idea of having this many exclusives that will only end up on eBay just sickens me. Take a look at a current listing of the Junkions on eBay, all from one seller, for a period of less than ten hours:

Screen Shot 2012-04-27 at 5.05.36 PM.png

If there are really this many available from the TFCC, why not limit sales at the event and put the rest online for everyone else?

Yea, there do seem to be quite a bit of Junkion sets out there, but I'm guessing they make so many for the people who want to army build. I mean, army building with the mass release Junkion figures isn't out of the ordinary when you look at some people's collections, so I don't see why it'd be any different with these exclusives. Though it WOULD be nice if you could just order some of the army builder figures from a website (other than eBay) since there are apparently so many of them.

Off topic: It's always funny to me watching people bid on figures so early on eBay. I always hold off on bidding until the last 20-10 seconds of the auction. 99% of the time, I snipe some poor bastard who had been bidding on the item 4-5 days prior, lol.

WolfDawg wrote:Off topic: It's always funny to me watching people bid on figures so early on eBay. I always hold off on bidding until the last 20-10 seconds of the auction. 99% of the time, I snipe some poor bastard who had been bidding on the item 4-5 days prior, lol.

You are damn right. The business end of eBay it the last 10 seconds, and whose browser can refresh fast enough, and who has the biggest hat.

Yeah, I usually bid in the last half minute as well, but not to be a dick and snipe someone, but because more often than not the price already rose past what I was willing to pay, so it saves me the effort.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah, I usually bid in the last half minute as well, but not to be a dick and snipe someone, but because more often than not the price already rose past what I was willing to pay, so it saves me the effort.

I guess I do it just to be a dick since most bidders on eBay act like they don't know about sniping. The majority of the figures in my collection that have been purchased via eBay are either Buy It Now's or figures I got by outbidding some poor soul with 10 seconds left.

After my first month on eBay, I learned very quickly that this was the way to win an auction. It always amazes me how more people do this... Guess I shouldn't complain though, lol.

I only bid once, and put up the maximum amount I'm willing to pay. More often than not, I either won the auction for less or lost it altogether. Only once or twice have I had to pay the maximum amount I bid.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I only bid once, and put up the maximum amount I'm willing to pay. More often than not, I either won the auction for less or lost it altogether. Only once or twice have I had to pay the maximum amount I bid.

Same here................ I tried the sniping thing a few times before, but it always backfired on me...

Rodimus Prime wrote:I only bid once, and put up the maximum amount I'm willing to pay. More often than not, I either won the auction for less or lost it altogether. Only once or twice have I had to pay the maximum amount I bid.

Ditto. I don't need the anxiety of last minute bidding wars. If someone goes over the amount I want to pay, well, good for them. I didn't want it for their price anyway xP

I guess I just like the rush of sniping. Always gets my blood going. It's like a natural high or something, especially when I win.

WolfDawg wrote:I guess I just like the rush of sniping. Always gets my blood going. It's like a natural high or something, especially when I win.

Guilty of this as well, and I like to watch things end, just in case things exceed what was previously my "max bid." I might bump it up a dollar or two if it goes over my previous upper limit. It's definitely a rush if I win like that, lol.

I bid on stuff I don't really want but don't mind having at a certain price. That is the only time I don't bid last min.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I only bid once, and put up the maximum amount I'm willing to pay. More often than not, I either won the auction for less or lost it altogether. Only once or twice have I had to pay the maximum amount I bid.

Same here. I decide up front what is the most I'm willing to pay, and put in a bid in for that amount. "Sniping" is essentially the same thing, except you do it at the last second. In the end, the only difference is that by sniping you risk not getting your bid in on time. I don't really see any benefits that outweigh that risk. I've gotten many many great deals with early bids, but sniping rarely works for me.

Andrius wrote:You know, I'm not against convention exclusives. I still have my figures from the first couple Botcons in the mid-Nineties, when it was 1 exclusive per event. But the idea of having this many exclusives that will only end up on eBay just sickens me. Take a look at a current listing of the Junkions on eBay, all from one seller, for a period of less than ten hours:



If there are really this many available from the TFCC, why not limit sales at the event and put the rest online for everyone else?

That last staement....Really? The reason is this...Convention exclusive add ons.. Limit the sales for the people who actually take the time and spend the mney to go to the convention? That makes no sense what so ever...

I don't snipe. If I see something I like, I put a fair bid on it, although sometimes I don't see an item until 2 minutes before it ends.

Btw, I am personally selling a few of my BotCon items on Ebay as we speak. I don't buy these things to sell, but there are often parts of my box set or parts of a multi-pack that I don't really want, so why not sell the rest?

headsortails wrote:Same here................ I tried the sniping thing a few times before, but it always backfired on me...

I laughed at the irony of this comment in tandem with your signature picture.

The ebay prices on those things are silly.

Noobz... Now is the time to get the figure that no one is looking for.

Shopping for Botcon exclusives fresh off the heels of the event?

C'mon, son...