We've got Hall of Fame voting going on up there

[Dominic]

I still do not see your problem with scalpers. They arguably make toys *more* available to you by keeping them out of kid's hands.

Dom
-better a scalper gets Warpath than some kid.

[Shockwave]

Oh no, nice try Dom, but I'm not launching into the whole "scalper" argument again. I know for a fact we've been over that one before and we just finished rehashing another epic argument in this thread once already.

Ah screw it: Actually, I'd rather see the kid get it. I need to define scalper as someone who runs around grabbing every copy of an item for the express purpose of monopolizing said item for profit. One could say I was scalping by buying 4 copies of Ramjet. The fact that I sold two of them at cost to fans who otherwise missed the opportunity means that I am not a scalper. My problem with scalpers is that far too often I've been the one who's lost the opportunity to get a toy that I wanted at retail price because some greedy asshole wanted to fleece money out of people on ebay. And then, since I wind up having to go to ebay to get said item, I'm subsequently the one that gets screwed monetarily for it. And I'm sick of it. This would be one more reason (and a major one at that) why I'm really done with the brick and mortar hunt. Fuck scalpers. Fuck 'em up their greedy assholes.

[BWprowl]

I still do not see your problem with scalpers. They arguably make toys *more* available to you by keeping them out of kid's hands.

Dom
-better a scalper gets Warpath than some kid.

I don't see how charging me triple the cost plus shipping (provided I even win the auction) makes a toy 'more' available to me. You know what's 'available' in my opinion? Being able to see the damn toy on a peg at the Target three blocks from my house. Fighting with other nerds online over the right to pay fifty dollars for Warpath does *not* strike me as a 'service' scalpers are providing to fans.

[Shockwave]

I still do not see your problem with scalpers. They arguably make toys *more* available to you by keeping them out of kid's hands.

Dom
-better a scalper gets Warpath than some kid.

I don't see how charging me triple the cost plus shipping (provided I even win the auction) makes a toy 'more' available to me. You know what's 'available' in my opinion? Being able to see the damn toy on a peg at the Target three blocks from my house.

Oh man, I used to be SO hardcore about this. I don't know if you guys will remember this, probably not, but back when we were all on Ben's boards I used to have this standard that if I didn't see at retail, it was never released. Or, more accurately, I regarded it as having never been released. This even extended to figures that I would purchase online due to not being able to find them at retail. For example, I was thoroughly convinced that Mattel had never released the 200x versions of MOTU Teela, Evil Lynn or Mer-Man because I never saw any of those figures at retail. Now, when retail is your primarily available channel for getting toys and you don't have access to them through said channel, this can be a legitimate complaint. Especially if ordering online is problematic. I was living with the parents at the time and any time a package showed up for me with toys in it I had to hear a lecture about proper financial management. Luckily, I now own my own house and pay my own bills on time all the time so now if they see packages at my house, they just shut the hell up. It's one of the primary things I love about living on my own. But I digress. Point is, if I were to apply that standard to toy buying now, there would be such a long list of figures that "never got released" that it would be ridiculous. Especially since I'm getting away from the brick and mortar. Of course, now, after the MP Starscream fiasco I now realize that it wasn't Mattel's fault for not releasing enough of those figures, but it was the fault of greedy scalpers in my area snapping them all up before anyone else could get them when if they had just left well enough alone we all could have had them at normal prices. Instead, I had to wind up shelling out 30$ for Evil Lynn when I should have been able to buy it at a store for 10$. So, no, they aren't making the toys more available, they're making them LESS available on purpose. Greedy fuckers!

Shockwave
-Seriously, FUCK Scalpers!!! Also, would still totally prefer the kids get the toys.

[Onslaught Six]

Yeah, more than anything else--better a kid than any scalper. I think we just had this discussion, in fact, about etiquette in the toy aisle.

If I didn't have a Generations case on the way, and I found a Thundercracker, and a kid wanted him, I would gladly give it to him. Hell, I might even give him some money so he could get someone to go with him. (But ONLY if the kid wasn't a little shit about it. If I was standing there with Thundy in my hands, and he politely said that Thundy was the one he wanted, there we go. If he demanded I give him Thundy, or threw a fit, then fuck that kid. Fuck him in his tight little ass.)

...Also, lately I've paid some pretty outrageous store prices for Joe figures. We're talking $10-$12 for individual guys. I really wanted Steel Brigade, damn it.

[Ursus mellifera]

I agree. Scalpers only make toys more available if you have the ridiculous amount of money required to get it from them. If I want a toy, and only scalpers have the toy, then I can't get the toy. They take toys away from me.

That being said, Dom. It is a TOY. Though we all enjoy the crap out of them toys are, primarily, for children. I feel like you're making some higher claim to them based on use.

[Gomess]

Don't pretend that you have some higher claim to them because you would use them "properly."

Pretty sure the kids are the only ones using them "properly".

That said, I play with my toys, rather than display them (90% of my TFs are stored in three large suitcases). But you better believe I'll let my little cousins play with them too, and if I had to choose who got some toy out of me or them, it'd go to them.

...But I'm not sure I count, as I'm mostly into TF for the stories. Still gotta lotta toys, though.

[Ursus mellifera]

That said, I play with my toys, rather than display them (90% of my TFs are stored in three large suitcases). But you better believe I'll let my little cousins play with them too, and if I had to choose who got some toy out of me or them, it'd go to them.

...But I'm not sure I count, as I'm mostly into TF for the stories. Still gotta lotta toys, though.

I let my daughter play with most of my TFs. It horrifies Dom on a regular basis.

[Gomess]

I think you joined the board at about the same time I started talking about how a "damaged" toy is a "well-loved" toy, so you might've gotten my opinion on the matter already.

...When they start putting them in their mouths, though, then the foot comes down. I've got too many Micromasters for that to happen. >_>

[Ursus mellifera]

...When they start putting them in their mouths, though, then the foot comes down. I've got too many Micromasters for that to happen. >_>

Thankfully we're past the "everything in the mouth" stage.