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Topic:
I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Syntax
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
5/12 5:40pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
- Date Edited:
5/12 5:41pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Syntax
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Your logic falls apart at a few points:
1. I've never seen the pegs flooded with Clones of any type. At most I've seen 1 or 2 of each type (and this is ANY type of figure) on the pegs at any one time, aside from pegwarmers nobody wants. By your logic, I should be seeing lots of clones on the pegs, unless there's several other "army builders" in my area who are snatching them all up... which still leaves me with precisely 0 to buy for myself, since I'm not seeing any on the pegs.
2. You don't know Hasbro's sales figures, nor do you now their production figures, so any claims you make about how many actually get sold, how many "army builders" there are, or how many of each type of figure get purchased is based on.... what? Nothing?
3. Why should I be thankful that you're buying dozens of clones? How can you say you're getting Hasbro to make more figures any more than I am? I have a sizable collection of Star Wars figures (I'll throw out a rough estimate and say about 250), but I only have one of each. You said it yourself: if Hasbro expected you to buy multiples of figures, they'd have multipacks (like the ARC-170 crew pack, or the Battle of Coruscant multipack, to name two of the more recent ones). The fact that they don't indicates they don't expect you to clean out the pegs at multiple stores in one night and leave next to none for anyone else.
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Lieutenant Colonel 9-LOM "Syntax" Corsair Squadron Commanding Officer CRS Vigilant - http://www.bhorizon.com/renegade/1024.html "That's me, the life of the party" -- 9-LOM, 'One for the Money' "Flying is for droids" -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Revenge of the Sith
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Obey Wann
Title: Former RMFF CR
& SW Region RSA
Registered:
Jan '00
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Date Posted:
5/12 6:24pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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You might be in a bad area, but around here, there are still plenty of clones on the shelves. No big deal.
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urbnns
Registered:
Mar '07
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Date Posted:
5/12 6:42pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Syntax posted:
I've never seen the pegs flooded with Clones of any type.
I can't remember the last time I walked into a store and didn't see multiples of SL AOTC white clones, Hawkbat Battalion Clones, 7th Legion clones, SL ROTS white Clones, etc. They're all over the place in the state where I live as well as 3 other states I've visited in the last year and a half.
Syntax posted:
You don't know Hasbro's sales figures, nor do you now their production figures, so any claims you make about how many actually get sold, how many "army builders" there are, or how many of each type of figure get purchased is based on.... what? Nothing?
My assumptions are based on my college education of how economics and the laws of supply and demand work. Your responses are based on what...your ability to whine?
Syntax posted:
You said it yourself: if Hasbro expected you to buy multiples of figures, they'd have multipacks (like the ARC-170 crew pack, or the Battle of Coruscant multipack, to name two of the more recent ones). The fact that they don't indicates they don't expect you to clean out the pegs at multiple stores in one night and leave next to none for anyone else.
I never said that if Hasbro expected me to buy multiples, they'd have multipacks. In fact, what I said is that Hasbro makes more money when people like me buy more single-carded figures. Their profit margin is higher that way. Hasbro doesn't care who buys them, as long as somebody does.
My logic does not fall apart. Your logic has holes all over the place in it. Quit blaming me for the woes of people who are "forced" to buy from the secondary market. Nobody is "forced" to buy from anywhere. People who buy from secondary markets lack the patience and drive that is necessary to find things for themselves. I lack neither and so I always find what I want, in the quantities I want, at retail prices.
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urbnns
Registered:
Mar '07
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Date Posted:
5/12 7:02pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Syntax posted:
I have a sizable collection of Star Wars figures (I'll throw out a rough estimate and say about 250
I bought 250 figures last month alone. I think Hasbro likes me more... 
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Syntax
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
5/12 8:16pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
- Date Edited:
5/12 9:45pm (2 edits total)
Edited By:
Syntax
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urbnns posted:
My assumptions are based on my college education of how economics and the laws of supply and demand work. Your responses are based on what...your ability to whine?
Err, knowing how supply and demand works doesn't make you privy to the quantities Hasbro makes or sells, or who buys them, or how many of each figure that people buy.
urbnns posted:
My logic does not fall apart. Your logic has holes all over the place in it.
Examples?
urbnns posted:
Quit blaming me for the woes of people who are "forced" to buy from the secondary market. Nobody is "forced" to buy from anywhere. People who buy from secondary markets lack the patience and drive that is necessary to find things for themselves. I lack neither and so I always find what I want, in the quantities I want, at retail prices.
Er, what? For someone who claims to understand supply and demand, you're doing a pretty poor job of it. If you buy all of the SUPPLY of clones on the shelves, that means there's none for other people to buy at retail prices. Hence, they have to resort to the secondary market if they want those figures, or not get them at all.
Seriously, it's not that complex.
When "the quantities that you want" reach excessive limits and you're buying out 20 of each figure in one night from multiple stores in an area, you can't help but deplete the SUPPLY that other local shoppers would draw from. Where else are they going to go, since you bought all of the local retail figures? Assuming they have an internet connection, now they have to resort to online retailers (and potentially deal with markups, shipping costs, etc), be it something like Entertainment Earth, shop.StarWars.com, eBay, whatever. If they don't have an internet connection or aren't willing to buy online or whatever, then they either don't get the figure(s) they want, or they have to go to specialty stores or deal with scalpers or whatever.
I'm blaming you because it is your fault. You're buying up the entire supply in a given area. It's not your drive or your patience I'm calling into question, it's "the quantities you want" that strike me as excessive and unfair to other people who might just want one.
Seriously, the only way you're going to prove that you aren't buying more than your fair share is to provide me with Hasbro's average sales numbers are on a per-figure basis (i.e., what the average number of a given figure that each person buys), as well as what the case breakdowns are (i.e., if for every [figure X] there's 10 clone troopers in the case), as well as some sort of statistic detailing how many people wanted to buy a certain figure but failed to because they couldn't find them and they'd all been bought up.
Think about it this way: if people can't find a given clone on the shelf in your local stores, you'd certainly be lying if you said you weren't part of the problem.
Edit-- your selfish "I GOT MINE, EVERYONE ELSE SHOULD JUST TRY HARDER, IF ONLY THEY HAD THE DRIVE AND PATIENCE I DO, THEY'D GET STUFF TOO (while I buy 20 of each clone)" mentality is what's wrong with collecting. It shouldn't be a competition or a race to buy Star Wars toys, of all things.
Let me ask you this. How many times have you seen something you wanted, and then passed on it because you think someone else might want one?
How many times have you helped out a fellow collector by buying something for them, even if it's something you might have wanted? How many times have you bought something for another collector and mailed it to them?
How many times have you seen a kid in a store, and offered something to them that you were going to buy, because you think they might get enjoyment out of it?
Since you like buying 20 of a given figure in one night, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that your answer for all of those questions is "never".
Edit-- this argument is stupid, because it's obvious you'll never recognize how selfish you're being, and you'll make up any excuse to help you sleep better at night anyway.
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Lieutenant Colonel 9-LOM "Syntax" Corsair Squadron Commanding Officer CRS Vigilant - http://www.bhorizon.com/renegade/1024.html "That's me, the life of the party" -- 9-LOM, 'One for the Money' "Flying is for droids" -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Revenge of the Sith
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LAJ_FETT
Title: Tech Admin, CollectingCCG/TCG/Boardgames
Registered:
May '02
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Date Posted:
5/13 12:18am
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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All right, enouugh of this. Discussion of the good or bad side of army building is fine, but personal attacks are not. Let's get this thread back on the rails, OK?
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BF - 'Bounty Hunter Wars': "Don't be an idiot. Or at least not any more of one than you have to be." "All that matters is my life and my business." "I do the things I'm good at, and for which I get paid the best." http://www.members.aol.com/lajfett/
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CrazyMike
Title: FF RSA Canada- JC Collecting Forum Manager
Registered:
Dec '00
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Date Posted:
5/13 2:59am
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Yes as Les said let's not get into personal attacks. We are all friends here and we are all collectors with a common passion. With that being said I wish that I had access to larger quantities of clones. The stores out where I am are useless. I have to resort to getting most of my figures from EBay.
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You will always be in my heart Nick 
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Syntax
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
5/13 10:11am
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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LAJ_FETT posted:
All right, enouugh of this. Discussion of the good or bad side of army building is fine, but personal attacks are not. Let's get this thread back on the rails, OK?
Fair enough, my apologies.
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Lieutenant Colonel 9-LOM "Syntax" Corsair Squadron Commanding Officer CRS Vigilant - http://www.bhorizon.com/renegade/1024.html "That's me, the life of the party" -- 9-LOM, 'One for the Money' "Flying is for droids" -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Revenge of the Sith
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Solo42986
Title: North Ridge Diplomat
Buffalo NY FF
Registered:
Nov '02
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Date Posted:
5/13 10:28am
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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I echo the "I hardly ever see any clones on the shelf." At least, the ones that aren't blatant repaints (I.E., the trooper with the green spots on him; wth? All the actual different sculpts are almost always gone as soon as they're put out, aka the Neyo's
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e1jnky
Registered:
Sep '04
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Date Posted:
5/13 3:13pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
- Date Edited:
5/13 3:14pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
e1jnky
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Yes, back to recent acquisitions. I just picked up 2 more Neo's for Urbnns. To Whom It May Concern, I personally respect Urbnns collecting habits and can contest to the fact that he helps out many of his fellow collectors on a regular basis. He has actually been a huge help in keeping my collection up to date. I have a different collecting goal myself as I am a "one of every figure" person, but I see nothing wrong with army building. Better they become an army on a collector’s shelf than hanging on the walls of a dealer’s store. Besides, it keeps the product moving so the newer stuff gets here sooner!:)
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urbnns
Registered:
Mar '07
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Date Posted:
5/13 4:23pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Hey, thanks e1jinky! I appreciate the Neyos. My army of those is nearing completion.
I got that comic 2-pack of Carnor Jax and Kir Kanos for you. Oh, and I guess nobody saw over on the Galactic Heroes thread where I mentioned that I bought those new Galactic Heroes for you even though I personally don't collect them. But that's just selfish ol' me!
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Syntax
Registered:
Aug '01
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Date Posted:
5/13 9:05pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
- Date Edited:
5/13 9:22pm (2 edits total)
Edited By:
Syntax
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urbnns posted:
Hey, thanks e1jinky! I appreciate the Neyos. My army of those is nearing completion.
I got that comic 2-pack of Carnor Jax and Kir Kanos for you. Oh, and I guess nobody saw over on the Galactic Heroes thread where I mentioned that I bought those new Galactic Heroes for you even though I personally don't collect them. But that's just selfish ol' me!
Question being, would you have done it if you did collect them, though? 
But seriously, someone could buy dozens of figures for other people, but it still doesn't justify buying 20 of the same figure for themself.
Also, I wish the "buying stuff up makes the stores restock faster" idea were true where I live - right now there's a whole bunch of pegwarmers on the shelf, and when stuff gets bought up, the stores just reduce down the number of Star Wars pegs and redistribute other toy lines to fill the gaps in the pegs, and then expand the Star Wars stuff again if/when they get more things... which is rarely. For example, I've seen The Force Unleashed toys exactly once at the local Target and exactly once at the local Wal-Mart, and that was over a month ago. Now all that's sitting on the pegs are pegwarmers (like, 15 of the Imperial Officer figure, at the local Target. Literally, that's the only figure on the shelf). I'd be ecstatic if my local stores actually re-ordered new waves when they sold out, rather than letting the pegwarmers sit on the shelf for weeks and weeks.
I remember when the Expanded Universe wave came out, the one with Revan, Malak, pre-cyborg Greivous, etc. This was, like, months ago, when that wave was new. I picked up one of each of those 3 figures at the local Wal-Mart, and it was awesome.
Within days, the rest of those new figures had sold out, leaving the pegwarmers behind (like, Labria and the other cantina denziens from the the 2006 Saga Collection. I am dead serious).
I haven't seen any of that Expanded Universe wave restocked at all since. In fact, I never even saw that wave on the pegs at my local Target.
Restocking the shelves? I wish it were a reality where I shop. You'd think it'd be a no-brainer, right? Those Expanded Universe and Force Unleashed toys sold like hotcakes the day they were put out, so restocking them would be the intelligent thing to do, right? As in, more guaranteed sales, based on how fast the initial stock sold?
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Lieutenant Colonel 9-LOM "Syntax" Corsair Squadron Commanding Officer CRS Vigilant - http://www.bhorizon.com/renegade/1024.html "That's me, the life of the party" -- 9-LOM, 'One for the Money' "Flying is for droids" -- Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Revenge of the Sith
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Obey Wann
Title: Former RMFF CR
& SW Region RSA
Registered:
Jan '00
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Date Posted:
5/14 9:07am
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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So it sounds like you have a bad local manager more than anything. Have you talked to him/her?
You're in Flagstaff, AZ, right? That might be part of the problem, too. You don't have many options. In the bigger cities, there are more options.
I have 20 Wal-Marts that are within 20 miles from my house. I found 2 near Flagstaff.
I have 20+ Targets in the Metro area. You have 2 in reasonable driving distance.
So these guys who are serious about keeping their collections stocked up drive all over the place (spending more in gas money than I'd care to imagine, but it's their money, not mine ), and have a network of friends who look out for them as well. I know I've picked stuff up for urbnns, or put it aside for him, and he has hooked me up in the past. We know each other, and we help each other as much as possible.
But we have over 40 stores in the Metro area to pick over. You have four, if you drive to Cottonwood. In your case, you are far better off paying the extra prices for ebay or from whomever, because it's not economical to drive to Phoenix to hit all their stores.
It could also help to try and talk to your manager, or just get to know the stock people, so they'll pulll a DCPI and let you get it from the back. Or make friends with folks in other areas who'll pick stuff up for you and ship it to you. But with only 4 stores to go to, you're highly limited and at the mercy of any local competition. Be it scalpers, or just fellow fans.
If I lived outside of a major Metro area, and actually wanted to be a completist, then I'd either order the stuff by the case and ebay off the ones that I didn't want, or I'd buy them from some place that would ship what I was looking for. With gas prices the way they are, why drive all over town hoping that maybe, just maybe there's something new?
But that's me.
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e1jnky
Registered:
Sep '04
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Date Posted:
5/14 4:58pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
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Obey Wann posted:
So it sounds like you have a bad local manager more than anything. Have you talked to him/her?
You're in Flagstaff, AZ, right? That might be part of the problem, too. You don't have many options. In the bigger cities, there are more options.
I have 20 Wal-Marts that are within 20 miles from my house. I found 2 near Flagstaff.
I have 20+ Targets in the Metro area. You have 2 in reasonable driving distance.
Also, if we had not been hunting down these figures I know of at least one dealer that would have been hot on our trails and picked them all up to re-sell at his shop anyway. I often buy multiples of the rare figures I find anyway & then re-distribute them among my fellow collectors personally. I will do anything I can to keep them out of the hands of the scalpers.
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urbnns
Registered:
Mar '07
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Date Posted:
5/14 5:46pm
Subject:
RE: I bought them all! The ships...the figures...even the Legos! (New acquisitions part 2)
- Date Edited:
5/14 5:47pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
urbnns
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Wow! 40+ Wal-Marts and Targets. And to think...I only went to 8 of them that night. Guess I missed out. And I swung by that comic book shop you are referring to e1jnky, and he does have Neyo and Covert Ops hanging for like $19.99 each. Some unfortunate soul is going to pay heavily for them, and it never ceases to amaze me that somebody actually WILL pay those prices for them. Wouldn't it be better to wait until they are re-released, or become available through Starwarsshop.com by the case? Think about it, somebody will pay Mr. Scalper $100.00 for those five new Saga Legends when they could order the case from SWS for like $83.99 plus shipping. What sense does that make? People, stop buying from scalpers and put them out of business!!
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