Author Topic: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!  (Read 34620 times)

Offline Jim

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #60 on: April 5, 2005, 07:10 PM »
Its strange that one mans treasure is another mans junk.  I hear everyone talking about how the Unleashed Grievous and 12" Grievous went quick.  Ive see the same ones since the 2nd. 

Offline Reid

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #61 on: June 30, 2006, 10:52 PM »
I haven't shared my story, but what the hey, better late than never.

Part 1: Midnight Madness

This being my first Midnight Madness, I was pretty damn excited. I had invited a friend who collects SW over, and we played Halo 2 'til about 11:40. My mom, who would be our chauffer, was at a dinner party, and would not be back until around this time. Then it gets to 11:50, and were wondering why she isn't here yet. At 12:10 she finally comes home and we quickly set out.

We arrive at TRU around 12:20, and the place is already a ******* zoo. While my mom waits by the registers, me and my friend trek through the crowd of SW fans. We hit the basic figures first, and I pick out a #6 Clone Trooper and a #2 Anakin Skywalker, and my friend gets a #6 Clone Trooper too. While my friend fights his way through the crowds in search of a 12' Grievous, I make my way to the vehicles and pick out a BARC Speeder. Minutes later we check out, our bounty in hand. Me, my friend, and my mom bolt to our car, as it's pouring rain outside. We arrive home, and spend the rest of the night opening our ROTS items, drinking Mountain Dew, and playing Halo 2.

Part 2: Aftermath

We wake up at 8:00 with Mountain Dew in our bellies, visions of ROTS in our heads, and Clone Trooper rifles littering the floor. After my friend leaves, I hit Target, hoping to score a blue Senate Security Royal Guard. I fast-walk to the pegs, and there it is! A Royal Guard! I check out with my prize and head home. All in all, a great experience, and it felt cool being a part of SW history.

Offline ngrant

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #62 on: July 4, 2006, 10:55 PM »
Loved reading about the hectic Sith collecting experience, and as I am relatively new to the site I've only come across this topic now so that's why I'm adding my two (Canadian) cents (roughly 1.86 cents US I believe) now.  Even though I'm in the Great White North I thankfully live on the border with a sleepy US town that contains one Wal-Mart and a seemingly absence of Star Wars collecting.  There was no Midnight Madness but I treked over bright and early at 7am on the Saturday and wandered down the usual toy aisles. 

There was only staff in the store, and as the lone customer I found nothing.  Assuming that I had the wrong day I started to leave when something over beyond the assmebled bikes caught my eye... An entire rack of Sith toys.  Sorry to say this fellow collectors but I didn't elbow my way through scalpers.  I meandered back to the front of (the still empty) store and proceeded to find a nice big trolley.  I then spent over an hour BY MYSELF in the Wal-Mart toy section picking through the figures.  Bent card back? I'll buy that Blue guard to open and put this pristine one in the cart.   

I picked up at least two of each of #1 through to Aayla Secura's #32 (she was the last one they had).  Since that blissfull day I've visited my shangri-la many times as I've acquired the entire line,  multiple varients in multiple sizes (I've got seven of the #6 red clone troopers opened--- one still on the card).  The only thing that's ticked me off is that there's no Target on this side of the border and the closest one is over two hours away.  While I've picked up most of the exclusives there are still a couple (lava reflecting Vader and shadow trooper) that have eluded me.  Oh well, can't have it all.   

Don't hate the player/collector, hate the game.  Great site--- I hope to visit here often.

Offline Darth Slothus

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #63 on: July 6, 2006, 02:19 PM »
Oops forgot to add mine!

Titled: OUTSMARTED BY MATT AND JARED!

Started the night out with Steve(Jediscar). We waited at a newer WM in my area(later found out that an old store in the neighboring city were the only ones who had any of the 'clone pilot wave'--so, we picked the wrong store to start.) At midnite the SW ROTS isle opened up worked together with Steve to get everything we wanted. He grabbed a greivous unleashed for me just before a scalper could. Noted that several ?scalping? folks wanted to asks us if 'is that your cart?'. We also went here first since our TRU manager promised us he was NOT getting a case of the holo Yoda...of course we found out later that they turned up a surprise case and we missed out. I also noticed WM got limited supplies of Gunship and Arc 170(had I only known how uncommon that gunship would become I probably would have snagged it). Got several blue R. Guards and purchased a set of titanium ships and an early bird set to round out the exclusives. Think my bill was 250$ or so. Next we camped in the Target parking lot since we heard/read online that vader tickets would be available starting at 0630. We got our Vader ticket at 0745 ::). Shopping in Target was interesting... Darth Gamboa sent his 'posse' to run in and grab all the red guards but they ran past the figs near the checkout so at least Steve got 1(I didn't get any). For exclusives I snagged micro line first wave, cup figures first wave and the L. Vader. After noticing that Target actually had a cheaper price then WM AND TRU on the Ultimate Vader by about 7$ I purchased a 2nd one so I could return the overpriced WM one.

In line waiting for Target to open I met Matt(JediMac) and Jared who outsmarted us... they went to the other Target at 4 something and actually got tickets for a Vader then...then came to the 2nd Target where I was so they could 'double up'. Oh well at least I got to meet them and learn about JD :-\.

All in all it was a good nite/morning.
Stores visited 3 Wm's 1 Target, 1 TRU, 1 Kmart.
Money spent probably 420$.
People met and liked - Jared and Matt.
People I saw and Hated for sending the 'dogs/runners'-Darth Gamboa (Arthur).
Hung out with- Steve(Jediscar)
« Last Edit: July 6, 2006, 02:21 PM by Darth Slothus »

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #64 on: July 6, 2006, 05:09 PM »
I honestly didn't even go out at midnight.  I feel like a heel now.  I did get my ass up early for the Target run though and glad I did... 

Other than listening to the guys in line talk about where they'd be selling their Lava Vader the next week, it was fairly enjoyable to sit by myself, have some coffee and breakfast after I got my ticket, and go back and get Vader and some dandy figures...

What was great about MM (well, the day after for me) was that the figures were great...  I got home and ripped into packaging on stuff and wasn't disappointed.

I think back to 99 and 02, and honestly I went home bummed.  Hell in 02 I didn't even buy a figure at MM, I got TIE Bombers because they were a bitch to find up till that point...  I cleaned out my local WM of those though because I wanted 3, went home, and opened them...  Figures sucked so hard in 02 that I just looked at them and sorta felt depressed about the line in general.

In 99 I was one of the many that spent more than I wish I had...  It was one of those moments I wished I had an all-seeing crystal ball.   :-\
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Offline Diddly

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #65 on: July 7, 2006, 01:53 AM »
Target was DEAD, it was me and another guy (who I assumed to be a collector) in the isle. I saw at least 3 of each figure except for the Royal Guard (Both Red and Blue). I ended up getting each fig I wanted though, so I'm happy.

Not exactly a MM, but it worked for me. :)

I feel like I should elaborate on this some.

I was 10 when TPM came out, so obviously no MM there, though I did pick up some figures like 3 days after they came out. In 2002 I was just getting into the Internet and was on collecting hiatus, which ended in June. So I was looking very forward to the ROTS launch.

I didn't get to go out at midnight, however, since my family had scheduled a garage sale for the morning of April 2 (we had moved a few months earlier and were selling off the junk we didn't need), so in exchange for helping out there I got a free trip to Target that afternoon. We made like $400 at the garage sale, and some was given to me for figure funds, so that was another plus.

I think all they had was 1-24 at the time, which is weird since some areas saw up to 40, but my area is slow like that. We caught up by the end of the month though. I stocked up on army builders and a few other figures I wanted. Never did see the Guards, and still haven't, except for one Red near Christmas and the KB 9 Pack. Target had everything else that was 1-24 though, along with a few cups, vehicles, Attacktix, Force Battlers, and Unleashed. I remember picking up 3 #6 Clones, 2 Battle Droids, 2 Super Battle Droids, 2 Grievous Guards, #9 Grievous, Emperor Palpatine, Chancellor Palpatine, Dooku, and C-3PO. Not much, but I'm not a completist, and I wait for the Ultimate versions of main characters.

As I mentioned over a year ago too, there was another guy there, though I wasn't paying much attention to him, I was too busy making sure I got the figs that I wanted. Afterwards I went home and had what I believe was my first online chat with Famine, then it was off to a Texas football scrimage. A very busy day, but very fun as well.

Fun times, fun times.
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Offline Darth Gamboa

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Re: Midnight Madness Experiences! Share!
« Reply #66 on: July 7, 2006, 12:15 PM »
Midnight  Madness  2005  was  a  ball.  Suncoast  was  the  first  place  I  went,  picking  up  a  gunship.  They  had  put  there  stuff  out  early  Friday  morning.  Determined  to  get  all  the  exclusives,  I  assembled  my  'posse'  which  consisted  of  2  nephews  and  2  nieces  of  high  school  age (It was easy, they just wanted to get out of the  house).  After  loading  up  the  truck  with  snacks  and  drinks  we  hit  Toys R  Us  Lancaster  at  9 PM,  there  was   already  4  people  there  ahead  of  us.  A  short  time  later  the  manager  came  out  and  informed  us  they  only  had  one  case  of  Holo  Yodas,  so  I  started  calling  my  buddies  to  get  their  butts  over  there  but  only  one  showed  up  before  the  line  got  too  long.  Toys  R  Us  got  pretty  crazy  that  night,  employees  brought  out  a  ton  of  cases  and  were  soon  letting  us  open  them  and  fill  the  bins.

After  picking  up   4  Holo  Yodas  and  other  figures,  we  proceded  to  Wal-Mart  at  J & 20th.  They  seemed  to  have  better  figures  like  clone  commander  and  such.  On  the  way  to  the  toy  area  I  passed  a  couple  of  guys  with  a  basket  full  of  the  miniature  booster  packs,  it  seems  Wal-Mart  had  mispriced  them  at  3  bucks  and  change,  and  those  guys  took  them  all.

After  dropping  off  the  girls  we  camped  out  in  front  of  Palmdale  Target.  About  an  hour  later,  as  I  suspected,  the  out-of-towners  started  showing  up.  Like  a  train  of  cars  they  showed  up,  one  after  the  other  into  the  driveway  and  parking  side  by  side.  The  guys  were  pretty  cool  though,  everybody  was  all  jazzed  about  what  they  had  found,  and  one  guy  was  even  playing  around  with  a  quick-draw  clonetrooper.  At  about  4:30  the  manager  came  out  and  gave  us  our  Lava  Vader  tickets,  which  was  very  considerate  of  him.

After  this  we  headed  to  Lancaster  Target,  hoping  we'd  get  the  same  treatment,  but  no  luck.  The  manager  there  is  apparently  anti-collector  and  probably  had  a  good  laugh  watching  us  freeze  our  butts  off.  When  we  finally  got  in  the  boys  were  able  to  help  me  pick  up  the  higher  priorty  product (exclusives, heroes, villains, clones, possible hot  items).  After  getting  those  artery  hardening  breakfast  sandwiches  at  BK,  we  headed  back  to  Palmdale  to  get  our  second  round  of  Lava  Vaders.  I  ended  up  buying  6  in  all.

I  went  to  the  Eastside  Wal-Marts  again  putting  low  priority  stuff  on  layaway.  By  then  the  boys  were  wiped  out  so  I  took  them  home.

The  last  place  I  went  to  was  Kay-Bee  to  pick  up  Chewy.  I  wasn't  at  all  worried  about  getting  him,  but  the  employees  there  are  pretty  cool  and  nice  to  talk  too.

All  in  all  it  was  a  satisfying  experence.  Goals  were  accomplished  and  a  plan  well  executed.  I  got  to  hang  out  with  my  buddies  and  met  some  cool  people,  as  well  as  a  whiny  guy  or  two.  I  believe  I  spent  enough  money  to  put  George  Lucas'  boy  through  college.
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