Yeah...

Episode 1 had it first, and it was TRU actually who did a Midnight Madness thing...  They made a big production out of it, and there were huge lines at TRU stores.  In some sense it was a madhouse and hectic.  I went to the Monroeville, PA store out of curiosity (I knew this stuff wouldn't be hard to get) and there were TONS of people.

For AOTC I don't recall TRU doing anything actually, but Wal-Mart stores people were pretty much heading to since they were open all night.  My WM was open so I tore up that way and there was maybe 12 people total...  I walked out with 3 TIE Bombers since they were the only things I wanted after seeing that horrible unveiling.

It was funny how there was all of like 12 of us, and yet there was all the E2 product and they REFUSED to take that plastic off the aisle (covering all the toys) till 12:01 a.m. exactly.    I had to pee and just wanted to get the hell home with my TIE Bombers.

And that was the day... 

This time around, nobody's said concretely what they're doing for E3.  WM's are almost all open 24 hours I think, so there's one stop to go to if you want...  Target I don't think is doing anything at midnight...  TRU I dunno.  I doubt it since they didn't last time.  It makes me believe they see it as too costly to keep the store open just for the geek crowd, but to me that line had to have proved profitable for the TRU I was at, I dunno.

People went nuts in 99 too, and I remember kids getting trampled and scalpers pushing people out of the way for Darth Maul figures...  it was pathetic. 

God Dammit.  I'm just staying away from this now...  But I'm printing out that bachelorette picture before I go.  But then that's it.  This is just too much confusion and curiosity-piquing material for me.

Vvvvvvelllllccoommmmeee...

Enjoy the frat house, as it were.  Anything comes up you wanna ask, feel free!

***scratches his head*** 

Oh I have no DOUBT that's the plan.

Hasbro:  "OK, so we'll off the 12 inch and 3.75 inch G.I. Joe brands, that way the market we have is focused on one scale we wanna test out with this new Sigma 6 Cartoon for the G.I.  Joe license"

That's completely plausible (maybe not the exact wording, hehe) in my mind.  The 3.75" line was really not doing poorly at all...  12" is competing where it has no place, but like 12" SW figures they need to stick a fork in it obviously.

They don't want fan attention separated from this 8" line though,a nd I do believe it's doomed to failure, and when it does we'll see a resurgence of the 3.75" line at least, and perhaps the 12" line in a maybe more limited format (IE: aimed squarely towards collectors of the vintage line).  At least that's my opinion.

Those 8" figures suck though.  Hideous things they are.

You'll be doing fine I'm sure!

Welcome to the site...  Vintage always is a place we like to see new faces come in and contribute, and you'll be a welcome one being from overseas to so many of us here I think.

Thanks for stopping in...  Saying "hello" as well!  Anything you need or not sure about then just ask away.  Have a good time though, and enjoy yourself!

JJ

PS: You wouldn't hold any title on stupid threads, trust me.     We got plenty of those to go around with all the quality conversation too!

Being someone who didn't attend C2, my opinion's a lot less valid, but to me (from what I'm reading) it seems like if you combine it with the magazine, and hyperspace, and then the supposed "perks" you get here and there...  Eh, I guess it's worth it.

Depends if you like the rag and the hyperspace access to go with it all...  The magazine I've always enjoyed enough, and the hyperspace access wasn't something I accepted willingly but it's yielded some benefits I enjoyed.  Get figures through them early is nice, though most of the time anymore I go in on a group purchase with local folks just to save shipping costs.

In the end it's worth it to ME, but I dunno how useful it is at the Celebration events...  People are saying it gets you in early, and others say it didn't do squat for them and they had just as good a time (and as long a wait) in line.  I dunno.   

I laughed out loud at the $15 shipping actually.  That to me was the funny part.  Gouging shipping on top of things and all.