I certainly will agree with you Jesse. Exclusive figs shouldn't be NEW figures. That severaly hampers the ablility of even the average fan, let alone we collectors to get the figure. Wouldn't it be better business practice to make them available to a wdier market?
Repaints are somthing that are not as desired and wouldn't neccessarily be as appealing to casual fans, kids, and some collectors. It would still be a desired piece at Cons because of exclusivity. However we wouldn't be cracking our skulls against the walls in frustration at Hasbro trying to ge this stuff.
While I have the money to buy from evilBay, I'd rather not resort to it. It just feuls the argument that scalpers have.
We are crazed fans for this stuff and instead of bidding a modest amount, we've "got to have it now" so many people will bid extremem amounts for stuff like this. What's really sad about it, is that it's turning regular fans into scalpers as well. They know they can makes a few extra bucks off the rest of us, so why not? Of course I personally hate that attitude.
So where does teh blame lie? With many, not just one. Hasbro for making them exclusives in the first place, scalpers among others for taking advantage of the fact, and many collectors for buying into the whole thing and bidding like mad.
It's a viscious cycle that I will be all to happy to see end some day. As much as Hasbro's stuff looks nice at the con (from the pics I've seen), they still manage a way to really pi$$ off their customers. And these exclusives are squarely marketed for collectors, not kids here because of the fact that it's a con exclusive. So they better not even dare to use that argument.