Celebration 3 Figure: Talking Darth Vader

[Morgbug]

As for the showdown between Mr. TV star and the old Canucklehead, I'm gonna have to throw my money down on Kevin.  'Cause Brent's probably gonna be too drunk to put up much of a fight, let alone just balance himself enough to stand in a line for any period of time.  I'll see to that, Kev.  His ass is all yours, young fella!   

Take that however you like.   

Qualifier: 3rd eldest Canucklehead

[Nicklab]

Hmmm, I wonder if James Earl Jones might be on hand to autograph one of these bad boys at C3?  Hmmmm.

[Morgbug]

That would be about the only auto I'd stand in line for.  Maybe Carrie Fisher, because she has a wicked sense of humour. 

[Darth Kenobi]

Since this has already come up at RS I figure I should ask this question here.  What do you guys feel is a fair price for the C3 Vader figure? I ask because at C2 I ended up getting extra figures for the members at Deathstarplans for about $20 each or so.  No one there complained but after the Jorg Sacul "disaster" and other exclusive figures it seems alot of people in the SW communities have scapler on the brain.  What I wondering is would it be fair for those people who went to C3 and buy they alloment of 4 figures (if they have a 4 day pass) too ask for a somewhat higher amount of the figure say $5-$10.
I have in the past gotten exclusive items that have been bought at Cons and have payed for some of that person's expenisves with the price of the exclusive. 

[jokabofe]

Any extras that I end up with will be sold off at $15 - what I pay for them. I understand that it's costing money to go to C3 and all that, but I don't see why I should charge someone else an extra $5 - $10 just because they weren't able to make it there. But that's just me.

Besides, I've met enough nice people through these boards that have helped me out with so much stuff, at cost, that I would just feel bad charging anyone more than I paid.

[JesseVader08]

For the most part, I agree.  I don't think I could charge more than cost - like you said Dave, so many guys have helped me out at cost that it would feel wrong to charge more.

But on the other hand, I would understand if someone charged me an extra $5, but no more than that.  A little extra to cover costs is fine, but just a little. 

[Jesse James]

Personally, while I've always appreciated the help in the past, I think it's up to the individual how to repay the person...  Otherwise it gets touchy.  It's a tough situation with con exclusives.

My POV on people claiming "recooping cost" is that the only cost involved is the cost of the item itself.  All other costs are tallied to one's personal enjoyment of going to the thing in the first place.  Like I can't buy up this figure and claim I want $10 or $20 compensation for my going to the con...  I'm gonna ENJOY the con, and I'd have been going if there wasn't a figure anyway...  if that makes sense. 

Personally I think with so many people bending over backwards to help, and with it being a Star Wars con and all, that unless you were going just to get these to distribute them to friends and stuff then charging extra isn't going to be looked upon too highly.

Maybe $5 or so...  That's bending things in my view though as while someone isn't gonna be spending the $95 or whatever to go to the con,t hey're also sitting at home and not getting to experience all there is at Celebration 3 either.  It's sort of a trade-off really.

[Morgbug]

[Devil's advocate mode]

$95 to get in the con?  Yeah, if you don't factor in my airline flight ($500 CAD) and hotel room costs, plus my cab fare to the event.  Sure, knock off my $95 USD all you want for admission, I will enjoy the event.  But unless you live in Indy, it ain't no $95. 

[/devil's advocate]

[Jesse James]

True...  But it's still your enjoyment is my point.  $95 + my gas $, plus my time off responsibilities that I have to make up, plus my Hotel cost, plus food...  I can add it all up, but to me it's what I pay to enjoy the show... 

My point wasn't so much the $95 tag I threw on there (costs more for all of us, of course)...  It's that I'm enjoying the show even if the figure wasn't part of the equation I guess, and that's my cost of going there, and the Vader doesn't factor into that at all to me.

Like I said, I can see $5 or so markup I guess, I dunno. 

[Morgbug]

I see your point entirely, I'm just trying to present how I view convention exclusives when I get them off ebay.  For me, paying $85 for the clone trooper pilot bust wasn't unreasonable.  Think about a scalper, minimal joy at a convention aside from scoring items to make money.  Has to pay $35 to get into SDCC.  Now the cost should be spread out over the items he/she picks up, so putting the total on my bust isn't "fair".  But I'm not there, not paying entry fee, not paying parking, not taking time off to do it.  Would I rather have had Matt luck out and get me one for $50?  Sure, I ain't that dumb, but if I have to pay a little more it's not unreasonable.  Now if it's not a scalper, but a collector that managed to score a second bust at the same time and he/she's trying to recoup their entry fee, so be it. 

I really appreciate any help I get from folks that go (hello, JediMac) to events and if they pass on the deals, great, but I always offer to help out with costs if they want.  No one is obligated to help me in any way and I don't feel it's reasonable to expect that.  It is part of the overwhelming coolness of JD though.  Most, if not all, of the regulars here do that sort of thing for people no problem and it positively rocks.  Should there be any doubt, no, I am not charging anyone extra for my spares.  In point of fact, I offered them to a couple of people before they asked as a way of repaying people that spend a lot of time helping me out with various items. 

For the most part, I was just interjecting the opposing opinion.  I just don't think it's entirely reasonable to expect that just because someone is going anyway, that they should pass along an item to someone because they ask and do so for cost.  You've got a pretty neat item that's worth more than you paid for it instantly.  You could easily trade it for a Jorg Sacul figure I'd guess fairly quickly.  Now there's a discrepancy in retail but not necessarily in value. 

If someone's asking you to pay more than retail, it's a decision you have to make - what's it worth to me?  But to expect someone going to part with some pretty awesome trade bait at cost just because you need it might not be entirely fair either.

[Jeff]

Looks like the packaging is changing a bit on this one...

Here's what it looked like originally:



And here's what it looks like now:

[JesseVader08]

Do you think that much has actually changed, Jeff?  It looks like the difference in colour could be explained by differences in lighting when the pictures were taken.  Or are you seeing something else I'm not?   

[Jeff]

The new one has a little opening on the lower right hand side, looks like a try me feature was added changing the bubble slightly...

Jeff

[Diddly]

I think it looks better. Still not sure if I should get one though.

[JesseVader08]

The new one has a little opening on the lower right hand side, looks like a try me feature was added changing the bubble slightly...

Jeff

Oh.  Better get my contacs prescription rechecked.   

I'm guessing that button is how you activate JEJ's voice.  I'm still so pumped to hear that, the grin I get will be ear to ear.   

If I get only one souvenir from this event, I guarantee it will be this figure.