I might get Airrazor of ebay, and I MIGHT bay the $42 dollars.

But would never join the club and give my money firectly to these con artists.

 

No, read it again. I said they wern't "upped" do to demand for the toys. That is not the same thing as saying the prices didn't change. I was there, and I bought them, so I am well aware of the change.

 

No, I have the money. I simply can't make myself spend it on these two toys.
And not directed at you, but nice attitude guys. Some people think it's too expensive, and you rip into them? WTF? Not everybody wants to drop over $100 on these things. Doesn't mean we didn't want them though. And excuse me for not having a Master's degree in toy production. I figured the $40 I paid to join the club would mitigate the cost somewhat. I see it doesn't. I'm seriously leaning towards 'the club isn't worth it' camp. So I hope the desire to own these things draws some people into the club, because from what I'm seeing, the price is certainly driving some others away.

 

But what about the membership fee ($40 right?) We have to take that into consideration right? These figures ONLY work for members & I'm not 1 for the moment.  

 

Well, that's totally understandable and respectable. Personally, I really don't think that people will join the club over these, because they have to pay the $40 plus the $137 (assuming that someone wanted both figures). To some it just might not be worth it... to be honest... if I wasn't already a club member I probably wouldn't join the club over these, but sense I'm already a member and I like them (yes, enough to pay $137 for them... I've paid about that for others...) I figure it's not a big deal for me. However, I can understand why you don't.

 

Personally, I have no problem with people who think it's too expensive. Everyone has to place their own value judgements. I think the limited Lucky Draws are too expensive, so I live without.

I start jumping in when it comes to people making unwarranted, innaccurate, or false claims or statements about why the prices are too high. It's fine to think that it's not the right price point for you personally, but I firmly believe that people need to have a better grasp of why things are the way they are. Calling "price gouging!" and the like isn't just silly, it's blatantly untrue.

 

Oh right... and the membership fee will be more than $40 if you're not in the US.

But I'm not counting the membership fee as part of the toys' price ... since that's the membership fee. And I like the newsletter and the Botcon discount I've used twice.  

I agree.

-airfox

 

Con Artists .... CON ARTIST???

What exactly makes Master Collector con artists?

To date they have delivered on everything promised. The newsletters, the free toy for members, two well run conventions and all the convention exclusives that were advertised were at the conventions on time and available for purchase.

So again I ask why are they con artist in your eyes?

And just so we're on the same page:

From Dictionary.com:

Con artist:
1. a person adept at lying, cajolery, or glib self-serving talk.
2. a person adept at swindling by means of confidence games; swindler.

 

The toys are an incentive for club members. They're intended to give (in the sense of giving opportunity, not in the sense of giving something away) something extra to members, and hopefully to entice new people to join the club. If you are running the club and you make it so that there is no reason whatsoever for people to be a member because you're giving it all to non-members as well, you won't be running a club for long. An extra accessory will not satisfy most club members, and while you're at it you will STILL piss off non-members because it's something they can't get. We're a finicky bunch, Transformers fans. And for that matter, you've made your toy just like any other of the dozens of regular Transformers toys that are released every year, nothing special or interesting about them. How many people get excited about mass released Armada repaints these days? How many people would get excited about a mass released toy that, whoops, really only functions best as an addendum to a set that sold out 4 months ago and costs about $900 on ebay?

Diamond is still limiting your market. Lots of people know nothing about Diamond and never step foot in a comic shop but might still like the toys. You're still limiting who can get it, which you seem to be fundamentally against, you're just limiting it in a different way to a different group of people.

And you can't just take your exclusives and sell them elsewhere either. Remember, Hasbro tried to do the Astrotrain themselves, and nobody wanted to carry it.

And even if you somehow overcome all of that, even if you managed to please everybody, you're STILL making too many at 10,000 units, because that still dwarfs even some big chain store exclusive runs and there just aren't that many people who will buy it. If you're going to take it the level of making it full on part of whatever regular line Hasbro is doing at the time, then you serve no purpose to Hasbro, your club ceases to exist, and you are out of a job. Well done.

 

Kid Dynamite and Motor Master, I for one appreciate your take on things. I think the one thing I find interesting is that when people call into question the integrity of FP, they call into question the integrity of the 4 of us who work with Brian and his crew. We all believe in his model, we have been exposed to it in a much more up close and personal way, and we see the benefits. To sit back and try to guess how things work with really having no clue how they do is silly (and that is not a shot, I am a business oriented person but would never assume to try to tell someone else how to run theirs without having a firm understanding of ALL the factors and costs involved).

Work is constantly being done to make things even better and I, the rest of the Council and Brian and his crew truly appreciates everyone who has supported FP, the club and the convention thus far and we look forward to even more exciting things for the future!

- Pete

 

QFT, I wanted to say that earlier but didn't want to start something.

I guess he thinks they are Con artists because of the price. Because like you said they've delivered on EVERY promise. And the company replies to e-mails promptly. And Brian's helpful as sin too. Some people don't want to pay for good service I guess

Odd how FP's considered a Con artist considered more of a Con artist then Glen Hallit, when they deliver and haven't had the Transformers license taken after the second year *shrugs*

That's the fandom for you, any time someone does thing a little different. Some people go off half-cocked with baseless accusations and name calling  

 

Please say yes Pete. Either that or a non-chalante "We'll see" will suffice  

 

lol i want all the pr-best wars!....and i will be geting airazor as soon as i get paid

 

Yeah, I've noticed that though FP has kept every promise they've made to us -the fans and the club members- some people are still unreasonably trying to find something wrong with them and call them out. For some I'm guessing that -like Phazer- they just don't like the idea of a club or exclusives at all and for others they have an unrealistic expectation of what there money should get them.

I wonder, have the people complaining looked around at other fandoms and have they seen what the clubs and exclusives from these fandoms cost? Conventions too are insanely more expensive in many other fandoms I've been exposed to through my friends.

I guess, no matter what, you just can't please some people.  

 

Seconded!

 

That goes double here!  

Edit: Apparently thirded!

 

I had a concept for a Pre-Beast wars story about 3, maybe even 4 years ago. At the very center of tha story was Razorclaw and Divebomb, the final days of the Decepticons and the rise of the Predacons.

So, yes, personally I would love to see that Razorclaw toy produced. It is however all about timing and other opportunities. There have been many very cool ideas tossed around that have been bumped in favor of better concepts. But again, if the timing is right then who knows....

 

The con toys for 07' just rock!