WARNING,Walmart is stocking DOTM toys today at 12:00 pm

[Shockwave]

I've also met collectors in the toy aisle but I haven't had a negative experience yet. And given that I'm more likely to buy online from here on out, I think the likelyhood of a negative encounter is probably going to decrease.

[Dominic]

It depends also on how much they seem to want it, and what I plan to use it for. For example, I had a Kup (or maybe Blurr, I forget and both were rare) that I was going to customize. But, somebody saw it and was very excited. They started pawing through the hanging figures. I knew they were not going to find one, so I told them not to bother and handed them the one I had.

But, I also told them that when the guy got the case out of the back, I called Scourge. We were both fine with that.

I generally let my fellow fans get first crack at rare custom fodder, when I know that it is rare.

Along similar lines, Dave let me grab a Wreckgar for our fellow member Scourge, rather than adding to his supply of extras. And, I once let a young mother and her son get first crack at 25A Joes before wiping out a local Target's supply on behalf of the CA forums.



Of course, there was that "over the shoulder and behind the back Minicon grab" in '06. I ain't proud of that one.


True story:

When "Cybertron" was winding down in the middle of 2006, there were a few stupidly rare figures that were not going to show up in refresher waves, partly due to the line ending and partly due to earlier waves clogging shelves. The figures in this case were the wave 4 Minicon v/s packs. (For those who do not recall, this consisted of 1 member each of the combiner bikes and recolours of the Requiem combiner team.)

I never saw this wave complete, which implied that either people were buying partial waves or that stores were getting parital cases. Either was infuriating because it made it hard for somebody to build a proper collection. I had one of the three sets, and needed the other two.

One day, I was at the Target in South Boston. A grandmother was in the toy aisle with her grandson. And, they were in front of the "Transformers". Even with my recently damaged eyes, I could see at least one of the Minicon sets I needed. (*Needed* you see, not wanted. Addictions are funny things.)

The kid wanted a Voyager. The grandmother was trying to talk him into "Minicon". I was about 6 feet away and closing fast. Her hand was perilously close to the Minicon pack I was eyeing.

The kid put up a stink. The grandmother's hand came down a bit, and she tried to talk the kid into the cheaper toy. I was to her right. The Minicons were to her left. She bent down and to the right to talk to her grandson.

And, badda friggin' bing, I swooped in and plucked the Minicon set from the hook. I saw the other one I needed behind it and snagged that as well. I normally would have checked for the rest of the set and picked that up in case anybody here wanted it. But, I had to beat feet out of the aisle.


..............

...


.....What? Whaaaat?

You know what? Screw you The kid did not even want any damn Minicons, let alone those Minicons. And, I already had part of the wave. I would have bought the whole wave at once if I found it all in one place. But, I could not. So, I had to resort to....what I did.

Dom
-knows somebody who actually got into a scuffle with an old lady over K9 back in the beast days.

[Shockwave]

Y'know, I have moments like that where I think that I need to get something right there "at the time" and then I just think to myself "you know what? these are mass produced toys and they'll show up on ebay later if I reaaally want 'em that bad". That line of thought has save me so much money over the years. The great thing about it is that it even applies to exclusives. Case in point: the Botcon 09 Sweeps. Didn't buy 'em at the time because I already had the box set with Scourge and didn't want to blow all my spending money on the first night of Botcon. And besides, if I really wanted them I could buy them later if I want to. I checked last week and there are a few for sale on ebay. Granted the price is higher (fortunately not that much) but the point is that they're "there" and available. In a world where I can have owned not one, but TWO Diaclone blue Bluestreaks, the concept of needing something at the time is minimal.

Having said that, I don't have anything against Dom's acrobatics.

Actually, now that I think about it, I did have a similar situation when I found a Cybertron Soundwave but there was a guy with his kid there. I saw Soundwave and could see that it was the only one there so I said "excuse me" and asked if I could grab it and they graciously moved back so I could. Yeah, not nearly as interesting a story as Dom's I know. Damn my eternal politeness!

Shockwave
-Curious to know how the grandmother and kid reacted to the likely impressive display of toy snatchery.

[Ursus mellifera]

Of course, there was that "over the shoulder and behind the back Minicon grab" in '06. I ain't proud of that one.

I thought about this for a couple minutes, and despite the sketchiness of your actions all you did in the end was save the child from begin coerced into owning a toy he didn't want to begin with.

[Dominic]

Sketchy nothing.

And, I did not save the kid from anything. There were plenty of wave 1 and 2 Minicons on the peghooks, which is part of why waves 3 and 4 were so damned rare. Of course, the way he was acting, he would have been lucky to get anything. (And, for the record, the wave 2 and 3 figures were plenty fun.)

Shockwave
-Curious to know how the grandmother and kid reacted to the likely impressive display of toy snatchery.

Dunno. I ran like hell towards the backwell and banged a U-turn down the next aisle. She might not even have noticed though. I was like a ninja. A ninja....pulling toys....and.....oh lord I am so ashamed of myself.


Tail end toys tend to be scarce, even on eBay. (And, I was smarting from having to go to absurd lengths to get Menasor and the last wave of Scouts.) The last couple of waves of "Cybertron" were not as ineptly handled as the last waves of "Generations" and "Reveal the Shield". But, there were still some newer mould toys held to the end that were unevenly distributed.


Dom
-and Shockwave saved a kid from "Cybertron" Soundwave.

[Shockwave]

Dom
-and Shockwave saved a kid from "Cybertron" Soundwave.

Yeah and got stuck with it myself.

[Ursus mellifera]

Of course, the way he was acting, he would have been lucky to get anything.

I'll tell you what he wasn't getting: Those mini-cons you snatched from behind the back of an old woman.

[138 Scourge]

Dom
-and Shockwave saved a kid from "Cybertron" Soundwave.

Yeah and got stuck with it myself.

Whatever, man. I felt lucky when I found Cybertron Soundwave. Damn lucky.

I kind of freaked out with how much I liked him at first, though that probably had a lot to do with the show's depiction of that character. I've cooled a little bit, but I still think he's a damn good toy.

I've never had what I'd call a real negative run-in with another collector. Though there was the one time during Energon when I ran into a large unkempt gentleman that was clearly afflicted with some sort of developmental disability in the toy aisle. After seeing that I was looking through the TFs, he starts asking me if I knew what various characters transformed into in G1. When I did, he'd reply "OHHH, YOU KNOW A LOT SMARTY-PANTS!" and ask if, like, I knew what Ravage originally turned into. Good lord, it was awkward.

Also, I think this came up in this thread...Hey, Prowl, I wouldn't worry about Wal-Mart not having their exclusives when you can leave the house again. I haven't even seen those things yet, I think it'll probably be a minute before they show up.

[Shockwave]

I think a large part of my dislike for Cyberwave is the fact that it broke like 2 seconds after I opened it. Seriously, I tried transforming him and one of the pegs that holds the cockpit/arm in place in vehicle mode broke off and I haven't been able to successfully transform it since. Not to mention that I tried to sell him a couple years ago when I was trying to raise money for my house only to find that he's monetarily not even worth the plastic he's made of. Maybe I'm being harsh for having got a bummer copy, but yeah, that was my Cybertron Soundwave for ya. Broken and Worthless.