microclone wrote:seibertron.
id agree that making these a convention exclusive was a smart thing from the point of view of having a great set of toys as an exclusive, a great toy is a great toy. But as there are only 900 of them (is that correct??) it means that the majority of people who'd like to have bought the other 3 seekers as classics (and theres a good chance they would have bought them and there are likely 10's of thousands of those at a guesstimate) will never have the chance to get them (besides maybe they wouldnt have ever materialised anyway even if not exclusives). If you extrapolate it further and imagine a hasbro competition where the top prize was the 3 seekers and they only made one set (well one set that actually got given away) and then said and as this is a special prize we will never release classics seekers again, then i think everybody would be miffed, save the one with the prize. To my mind it can only be better when toys are on general release, then every kid and his dad can have one. I cannot see any advantage (relatively speaking) to 'wanted' exclusives outside of that from the point of view of collectors who manage to snag them or make money from them.
saying that i do feel only a tiny bit smug when i got an email from a friend in japan at wonderfest who asked did i want the black convoy at Y6500!! in hindsite im glad i said yes, I like it anyway.
The problem with this theory/suggestion is that how to account for all of the exclusives in the past that they just couldn't sell? This is really the first time ever that the figures were must-have figures and guess what? They sold out. I'm pretty sure there are more than 999 of these figures available. I'm pretty sure there are 999 boxed sets but then there are a ton of loose sets as well. Either way, it's irrelevant how many there are because the demand seems greater than the supply, hence the high prices on eBay.
I think it's about time we've got some exclusives that are really worth a damn instead of guys like BotCon 2005 Dirge, Botcon 1995 Nightracer and the ridiculous Botcon (2002?) Cyclonus figure. Master Collector is giving us figures that we really want and that have been remolded, unlike Botcons prior to Master Collector's intervention.
Everyone bitched about Botcon 2005 Ratchet and Ironhide as well. Guess what? You know they're going to do something for Botcon 2008 as well that's going to get the fandom in a tizzy because the figure or figures aren't available at retail. Plan ahead. Save up your money. And just go to the dang convention so that you can get these figures.
When I hear the words "convention exclusive", I should be satisfied thinking that i've got something highly desirable that the general population does not have because I went to the convention. That's the whole idea behind convention exclusives. If you think we shouldn't get awesome exclusives like this in the future, then what's the point of having a convention exclusive? There were years in the past Botcons when they had rather crappy exclusives that people just didn't buy the exclusives because they weren't that great. There were years I went that I didn't buy the exclusives because I really didn't care for them that much. And now I can't wait to see what really awesome figures we'll be getting next year. These are exclusives I care about.
I do want you guys to know that I understand your frustrations. It would be great if these figures had been released at retail. But they weren't. They weren't going to be. And I'm sure had these 3 made it to retail, they would've been pegsitters long after the "fans" bought them. All parents will see is another jet that looks similar to the one their kid already has. It sucks, I know, but it is what it is. There's not a lot of sense wasting energy complaining about these exclusives because it's not going to change and I'm sure something similar will happen again in 2008, especially after the success of this year's convention exclusives.