I have too. 2005 as a general go-er. 2007 as a Primus. 2005 made me feel like they really didn't want me there. I can't be the only one who has perceived this difference...one that was lacking at 3H or OTFCC events. The difference was that everyone received equal treatment and convention toys were reasonably priced. My hope is that, with Hascon, we at least go back to the "everyone is made to feel equal" model.
I was there on G.A. in 2005 and didn't get the same impression. I even got free drinks from the open bar. Dunno. That doesn't make basic economic sense unless we assume that the current prices are MASSIVELY overinflated. Fewer figures means more manufacturing overhead cost relative to each figure, which means the prices would probably have to go up. Economies of Scale and all that. To lower the price of the figures, they'd need to produce more of them, not less. And then they'd have to find some way to ensure they sell that larger quantity of toys. One of the ways they could do that is by trying to increase attendance with a larger event... perhaps in part by including other brands in addition to Transformers? If the SDCC exclusives are any indication, plenty of folks that wouldn't attend an all-Transformers event are still willing to buy convention exclusive Transformers.
It's already been argued that at least some people who attend as general admission do NOT feel "less than welcome." The higher cost package covers admission (including all days of the convention, not just the per-day walk-in fee), the casino/dinner, AND the box set (oh, and autographs for everyone except, in this case, Judd Nelson. Walk-ins do have to pay an extra fee if they want autographs). After discounting your paltry amounts for the admission and the casino/dinner, that leaves us with the box set cost. Clearly, you don't think it should cost as much as it does, but that's the crux of the issue right there. It's not deflecting anything to point that out. But let's go to this question of why so many figures all at once? The answer for that is simple, if obviously unsatisfying to those who resent having to buy so much. Some figures are inevitably more popular than others. Contrary to some claims, there's no magic crystal ball whereby the producers can know which figures will be "the popular ones" and which ones will be "less popular." Grouping multiple figures together mitigates against risk. It's, quite bluntly, a sound business decision. Quite honestly, a group like ours, whose entire reason for being is that we love collecting toys, is the wrong place to scream "elitist" when some toys are harder to come by than others. That's part of what being a collector entails. There's no avoiding it.
Generally speaking, I agree with your other points. I do think that someone could have foreseen Megatron being a slight more popular than Tigatron. Whether it's linked to production costs or other factors we're not privy to, it really does seem that they could've sold another hundred units at least. This isn't a science by any means, and they probably assumed that General Optimus Prime would have sold out last year, but it seems like someone somewhere could have predicted a higher demand.
"Fewer" meaning the number of different toys, not the number produced of each toy. In other words, produce 5 or 6 instead of 15 or 16... which means cheaper for you if you like all of their toys that year, and more money to actually spend in the dealer room or on your trip. This year there were 16 toys, and if you got all of them, it would have cost about $1200. That's more than most people spend on their trip and dealer room purchases. So, produce less toys, but increase their production numbers to make them much cheaper, for more people to be willing to buy them or invest in the potential resell value of BotCon toys (like the early years). That's the basic economic sense I think you were looking for.
Box set plus Terrosaur was $399 Ratchet (non-class pre-assembled) was $75 Tigatron, Unit-3, and Airrazor were $49 each, so $147 Megatron was $89 Reflector was $59 So, NON-GT total is $769. If you wanted the Flash Sentry, that's another $325, making $1094. I'm guessing you're counting the $120 for the customizing class to get Medix as toy #16? That's a lot of cash. Even more if you bought the components to make Magnaboss.
Yep... that's the 16 I came home with this year, and that's how much it cost me. As such, I only had $60 left for the dealer room this year... so I wouldn't be surprised if dealers during the FunPub era did worse on average than pre-FunPub, because attendees had a lot less money to spend in the dealer room than when there were just 2 or 3 toys that only amounted to about $100.
Interesting, the new name for "Botcon" I assume? That didn't take long. Given the name, maybe they'll combine this with their other properties? Just a thought.
Great picture! Lots of joy and passion there, that's what conventions should be about! Hopefully we will get that with "Has-con."
I'm sure JoeCon does fine. It was around for years before BotCon, and seems to make up for a lower attendance by being in slightly smaller (presumably cheaper) locations, having a higher number of souvenirs, and by usually selling out of the souvenirs. Other than a handful of the more expensive items last year (I think) it's been years since their items have made it to the Club store.
I, myself, think that they should have made more than 850 Megatrons. Even so, items they felt sure would sell a lot of figures... they got stuck with leftovers in the past. And with the license ending this December, I imagine they were especially gun shy about getting stuck with the higher-price items even moreso than the lower-priced ones (like Tigatron). So, ultimately, I stand by my "no crystal ball" remarks.
Compared to previous conventions, you could feel the difference. What I'm saying is fewer exclusive toys, not smaller production runs. Do a 2-figure set with admission. Assuming we're talking FunPub pricing, let's assume that would cost around $100. 3-day admission plus a dinner would cost around $150 at any other convention...so roll that together and you end up with a $250 Primus package...$150 less than the current going rate. Other exclusives could be offered but they'd be offered ala carte at the store. It's not the ideal situation but at least the admission to the convention with a couple souvenirs ceases to eat into folks' budget for hotel and travel. Botcon ain't a cruise and, after travel, hotel, a few toys, shouldn't be running an individual into cruise fare pricing.
Not sure what you're talking about here. I'm talking cost of admission...not how hard something is to come by. And NO, admission should not cost $200 on top of the cost of the box set, no matter which way you slice it, even with a $25 dinner thrown in. That's defending a practice that serves nothing but to split this fandom into haves and have-nots. So yes, I support a more inclusive convention. Reduce entry admission, offer tickets to redeem for exclusives upon either registration or the admission counter and be done with it. Everyone pays $25/person, everyone gets a toy who wants one, and whatever doesn't sell gets posted up on hasbrotoystore.com a week later.
a thought on this year's botcon and funpub's practices in general: If Funpub had revealed the planned souvenir figures back around the time the Boxset was revealed, they could have gauged interest in them better. and adjusted their production runs accordingly. think about when the Botcon 2016 "trailer" went up on youtube, and we saw that first glimpse of Megatron. how many of you were super hyped at the thought of the cancelled otfcc Megatron finally happening? now think about the hard data Funpub could have collected had they outright revealed Megatron, or Reflector, , or Airazor/Under 3, or Ratchet (especially Ratchet considering how much the custom figure class costs) people spend upwards of 2-3 THOUSAND dollars just to get to botcon once travel costs, hotel, and the 4-5 hundred dollar convention entry fee are all factored in. and to spend that much, only to be told, while you're in line saturday morning, that someone bought all of the exclusives is inexcusable. Funpub's insistence on secrecy hurt them in the end. I desperately hope that Hasbro learns from that mistake. along with every other mistake that funpub made (like having a website that wasn't designed in 1995, accepting paypal, and having better credit card security.)
I would be completely onboard w/ this. $500 to get in w/ any amount of souvenirs is absolutely nightmarish to budget. And it's even more insulting to see that pricetag on Iacon packages that don't get the benefit of admission. I blame FunPub entirely for this. There's no excuse for removing sales limits on figures before the final day of the Con. Hell, there's no excuse for removing the sales limit *period* while people are still in line. I'd drop $250 for a non-attendee Predacus...but full attendee cost w/ literally zero attendee benefits. Nope.
See, saying "admission costs $200 on top of the cost of the box set" suggests that the box set should be only $200 (since the Primus package was basically $400). I dispute that. Even the loose set (which, admittedly, you have to buy a box set to purchase) was $300. That's why I keep talking about the cost of the toys, and how hard they are to come by. That's what I'm paying for, in my own mind. I recognize that FunPub is using that money to fund all the other things I get at the convention, too, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm paying for those toys. Yes, there IS a non-toy pre-registration package for $210 (slightly less than $200 less than the Primus package), which is where I presume you get that $200 figure from, but even I will admit that's a terrible price, and no one should buy that package. Thus, it's simply not part of my thought processes. I'm buying the toys, and getting a convention package with it. Don't want the toys? Do the walk-in options. As to the rest... I don't mean to ignore all that, so much as I think we're just going around the same points, and I really think we're talking to cross-purposes to some degree, not even agreeing on the same basics of what we're paying for in the first place.
You're taking it way too personally. Look at it this way: they sell that boxed set of toys to pay for the convention. That's their fundraiser. It doesn't matter if you plan to go or not, the sale of those box sets is what pays for them to put on the show. The "extra" value is if you plan on going to the show, that's thrown in with the purchase of the set.
