Whaaaaat?? That's exactly what I picked up when I didn't go to Tfcon this year too

 

I don't do Conventions. I'd hit the dealer room, then leave.

 

Your custom class figure looks great. I would go masked version myself as well.

 

A woman at the convention made them. The Dinobot's were made to order.

 

in addition to what's pictured below, I also got for my 11 year old some Mp like tapes called durden and Barney, 4 loose figure that I can only classify as "not g1" , a deception pendant, and a fleece Bobby skull face blanket

 

Well, I just opened up the calidus exclusive. I have the box signed by james roberts, nick roche, and alex milne. I have to say it is truly stunning in the colors it is in, and i would only get calidus for the lost light mold. It is beautiful. Anyways, I got carnifex and badcube brawny. Carnifex is a bit stale in some areas, but I am now calling him carson, since i am adopting him as my son. Badcube brawny is just a fun minibot, he truly does need to be with others in order to appreciate his presence. I got the carnifex box singed by alex milne and james roberts, I took carnifex out of the box and I just gave it to them to play with. Alex milne was quiet as usual and gave it back to me in the first 7 seconds. James roberts looked like a little kid while playing with him. Nothing else, really. It was a lonesome spending night for me. I found two empty tlk boxes in the trash when throwing something away and I took them out of the trash.

 

That's awesome! Though, not so awesome for me  .

 

so are things cheaper at TFcon, or are you guys just saving all your cash for tfcon hauls. Those are some major spends at retail prices.

 

Where can i get that Sludge and Slag stuffed transfomers? I really like them.

 

Found it! It's an Etsy shop.

 

...my experiences at botcon were mostly that the conventions enabled instant-gratification impulse purchases without the friction of shipping costs and delays...

...other than exclusives and wheeling-and-dealing for vintage lots, conventions generally aren’t as cheap as shopping around online, in fact asking prices tend to be slightly inflated on the front end due to the captive market and extra costs vendors incur for attending, but there are often some good deals among the last vendors closing up on the last day...

...generally, at conventions you bring a lot and you spend a lot on things you mightn’t have otherwise bought; that’s the fun of the experience...

 

I notice they were selling the 3p OS KO-ish-but-not-really Aerialbots at that show... but nobody who bought them seems to have reviewed them. Are they any good?

 

I didn't see any "deals" on 3p boxed stuff. Loose main line figures yes

I put a buying freeze on 2.5 months ahead of time when I bought the tickets. So I was saving up and had a list. My biggest impulse buy was badcube lorry. He looked so good in the tcp display I had to have home. Then while standing in line to check out there I grabbed the DNA metroplex kit. While standing inline to check out at agabyss I bought a Mp shadow fisher shockwave head like you would buy candy checking out at the grocery store

 

I freaking love them. The Combiner port is the only thing that is borrowed. Side by side with the Combiner Wars figures shows massive differences.

Some of them have overly complicated wing transformations. Legs transform slightly different than Combiner Wars and allows for a new foot piece with nice ankle tilt.

The guns were bland, but functional.

My Skydive's wing broke but Spence replaced it the next day. Seemed like one of the screws were overtoqued in the factory.

 

I assumed that was the case. thanks guys.

 

This was my first; but as someone else mentioned, certain things might be cheaper loose. I took out a certain amount of cash from the bank for the show, and then when I saw that there were some tables taking credit cards, I knew that would expand what my 'limit' would've been as I figured, 'hey, why not get an additional 1.5% cash back and then have more cash in hand to negotiate.' Nonetheless, I found that I was able to get some really good deals from people that wanted to unload stuff; whether they had a table at the show or posted on a bulletin board what they were selling (w/ their # to text if it was a short list or their hotel room number if they'd be selling and/or trading figures for certain windows of time during the con).

For instance, I got the FT scoria w/ box & accessories for $80 from someone that posted it on the bulletin board. I think some had prices just under what it would go for on eBay, but neither side has/had to pay for shipping or a % cut of using an electronic service to facilitate the deal.

The Captured Prey had a table with items that were on sale (e.g. 20% off the marked price) and a table of 'slightly used' (returned?) items that were on sale. I got to that table well after waiting in a couple of lines for exclusives, so any really good deals may have already been snagged by the time I got there. From what I saw, and what I knew about, the mark downs weren't more significant for what I saw on sale in certain places. For instance, a couple of Omnigonix Spinouts with dented boxes for $60 - 20% put it at $48; and I think I picked mine up on sale a while back for ~$45-$50 range.

For me, I got to a point where I had to say to myself, "hey we're probably ~1-month away from early Black Friday deals, so perhaps stick to the exclusives or items I see a really great deal for or very limited supply of." Also, I've recently been figuring the price for items when an eBay flash sale hits and what's available from trusted eBay sellers. Funny thing was, while they were playing the Transformers movie Saturday night, I was on my phone bidding for items and I KNOW I was refreshing the eBay home page to check if there were any flash sales going on and didn't see anything. Yet the following morning, I'm checking TFW threads and I see there was one.    Anywho, I won an auction for an XTB eligos for ~$90, so I still feel that was a great deal (but could've been even better with an additional $15 off!).  

 

Sometimes it is, I remember seeing a 3rd party gauntlet (ironfist) for sale at abyss for $90. Stuff is just retail, and this is where poor tf fans get their stuff if they want to get stuff.

 

Well that’s just the thing... the dealer room is a major part but not the only aspect of going to a convention. I mean the biggest surprise to me is how many fathers/sons were there - which it shouldn’t have struck such a chord with my cynical ass. Then you notice reunions of buddies. Then you have a drink with some random you just met...asking her what she sees in these losers, and realize she’s a sexy loser too. You see everyone taking pictures with the cos players. You hear the questions posed to voice actors in their hopes of following their blazed trail. It’s all very intimate compared to something like a ComicCon or Corporate like a Hascon. It’s fan-run.

In terms of buying, you can ask how solid someone is on something in terms of pricing... are they willing to give you 10 bucks off on a bundle? You can play test MMC Megs, consider the buy, and be sold on a different level than watching videos flipping through stills. You can haggle over a bulk buy. You come prepared with cash, so you arrive with a set budget to splurge. My personal strat was to get the exclusives right off the bat (to mark the occasion), then take pictures, and then browse some more.

TL;DR: there’s deals to be had, if you’re not really looking to buy the latest and greatest from 3P, and you’re willing to dig through bins. It costs the dealers there money to bring the goods, to make a profit, and to promote their brand. You have to approach everyone of them looking out for the common interest. But most of all you want to be a geek. You need to be a geek.

 

oh yeah... i get that part. I was just curious about the deals. I would like to go just to experience one at some point.

 

Here’s my haul! Couldn’t be happier with it. Love the maketoys howling meteor.