From a regular, dependable, honest, and open company, yes I think you could attribute the delay to a second Convention

Seeing as this is Fun Publications/Master Collector...I'll err on the side of incompetance untill they demonstrate consistant results otherwise.

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Well, we know where the logo is. It's discussed in the other thread, so no spoilers here for those that don't wanna see them.

Excuse me for saying this, but I think that this is a grossly unfair remark. I have attended numerous G.I.Joe Conventions over the years. I have been unable to for several due to my own finances, but that's MY problem. When I HAVE been able to attend the Conventions held by MasterCollector, I have never been disappointed. The people in charge bust their collective tails every year to make sure that everyone has a good time, and that the exclusive offerings are as well-produced and well-presented as possible. They have even more limited control over what happens at the factories than Hasbro, Mattel, or any other major toy company, and Lord only knows what those toy companies go through that we never hear about (anybody remember all of last year's recalls on Mattel's part? Hmm?)

I have never been disappointed with a single Convention Set that the Club has produced. MasterCollector is not a major toy company. They have limited time and limited personnel to turn out some truly excellent product. I personally find this comment offensive as such.

Which isn't surprising considering you are a Master Collector employee. Not exactly an unbiased opinion.

I agree with everything Nova said. What a bunch of buffoons.

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Not trying to start a flame war but

Recent "DQ" of trooper member votes.

Last years Trivia Game where the rules kept changing as they went.

Suggestions of massive overcharging on Con sets (Never once officaly addressed)

Mauler.

Not an "Army Builder"

Impossible to Navagate Web site.

Hama having to pay for meals and room and board.

On con sets, Last year it was said the price increase was for the lack of army builders (ie more paint apps) but this year the set has many more army builders and still a price increase.

And that is off the top of my head, its not like there hasn't been presedents for this type of thing.

Excuse me...but like Viperlord said...you recieve compensation from Master Collector/Fun Publications...I don't think you can honestly present yourself as unbiased. Please excuse the spelling...I'm ranting.

MC/FP has only been producing 3 3/4" convention sets, and marketing to 3 3/4" since 2002. 6 conventions, I've been to 5 of them...to the best of my knowlege, you've only been to 1...the Orlando Convention in 04...I met you there. I've stood in enough MC/FP lines to know what i'm talking about.

I wasn't at the 02 convention, and got to the 03 show later Friday morning...so 04 was my 1st experience with the lines and the "club store" was the 1st time I had my experience with the "surprise suiveneers". Why is it so hard for the Club to post ahead of time that there will be X number of suvineers, they will Cost X dollars each...contain X numbers of figures or vehicles, but the surprise of who they are will wait untill the day of the show.?

Suggestions like that have been regular at the Club round tables from Orlando on...nobody seems able to understand, or the production of Exclusives is so last minute that even MC/FP isn't sure what will be at the show till it gets there.

A lot of the problems I point out towards seem to deal with poor communication skills. When there were problems with the Orlando vehicles...I found out from other joe fans how to remedy the situation...Why wasn't an email, or as the club loves snail mails so much a letter, sent out saying "we've been made aware of some quality check issues with your recent convention items, If you have problems please contact us and we'll work to make it right." Why is it that only recently the Joe Club's boards have been made open to the public...even if public registrants votes won't count in contests. Why did the deadline for the Maulers shipping dates pass before anything was said... pushed back,...and then abruptly canceld and then only after being canceld were we made aware of issues with the tooling? it's all poor communication.

Oh..they're short staffed, there's only a couple of people working for MC/FP..."LASER BLAST"...I can list off a littany of Active, Enthusatic, and knowlegeable collectors who have all but bent over backwards to assist the Club in various ways....I can think of only one who's persistance finally won out and has been contributing to the Joe Club's products.

I've liked most of the Convention figures...there's a number of duds amongst the sets...but they don't outnumber the good figures...They're prolly a bit ahead of the TRU 6 pack figures in their good figures to duds ratios. And other than some Quality issues the figures are rather good...as long as you remember that the Dread heads, though individuals are Army buiders...and jungle Night Vipers...though Armybuilders have unique names and thus aren't.

For the most part, the actual shows run rather well...other than not having enough busses to get people to dinner, or not having enough seats for people at dinner, or not explaining to people that you'd figure half would explore the museume 1st while the other half ate...or if you're not going to provide tables and seating providing food that can be eaten with fingers or a single utensile. Also the lines, and the lines, and the problems with the store selling the "suiveneers the 1st day...Why not to go along with the note that says there will be X of X exclusive for $X...include a preorder from so as each person arrives all they have to do is pick up a box...if they want to check things over...ahve a checking table farther down the line or establish some better quality control so the lines at the store aren't bogged down with people going over every figure and vehicle so they can avoid any flaws.

not a member of the Transformers Club...but there are without a doubt complaints that can be tracked back to the same causes as those from the Joe Club.

As lists of complaints that keep going unaddressed grow...MC/FP's credibility keeps dwindling... I've still not heard an honest answer to how many Fuscia Strike Team sets were produced...because the exclusive limited eddition of 250 that was promoted at the show is clearly not true.

I can easily give 4hrs a week to the Club to help address these and other issues througout the community...

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I've never been to a JoeCon. This year was going to be my first one, but a scheduling conflict is keeping me from going. That said, even if I was free that weekend, I probably wouldn't go anyway. The only appeal to me is meeting people from the board. I have zero interest in the sales floor, the exclusives or any other aspect of the 'Con.

I just got back from the Canadian Joe Meet and it was the best Nerdy experience I've ever had. And talking to the (many) folks who have attended both the Canadian and US Cons, it's obvious that the Canada Meet/Con is more my cup of tea. I'm definitely going back.

I've never been a MC member, and I never will be, but I have a theory on why they continue to blow off the fans and their concerns: No matter how bad they get -- you guys STILL buy their "LASER BLAST" - and in multiples, no less! They're a money-making operation, so until their blunders start hitting them in the pockets, they won't change a damn thing. I was floored to learn that a lot of the most avid Club-haters here are still GIJCC members and continue to give Brian Savage and his company tons of cash every year for what they keep [LASER BLAST] about.

When you don't like a product, you shouldn't buy it. When you don't like how a company is run (i.e., Walmart, etc) - don't shop there. Why in the world would the GIJCC EVER change it's ways if you guys keep feeding the cash cow every year?

I may go to a 'Con here in the States someday, but I won't be giving Fun Publications a dime of my money. I may likely get a room at the sponsoring hotel and hang out with my board buddies "after hours", but that'll be it. I don't need to pay money to stand in line for hours (I can do that for free in the Army) and have some *expletive deleted* with a bullhorn yelling in my ear all weekend.

But honestly, if the negatives are so prominent, and many of you are such voracious club-haters, why the hell do you put up with it and keep sending them money? The toys can't possibly be that great.

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Unfortunately I fit Chief's profile to a T.

1. I hate Master Collector with the white hot intensity of 1000 suns.
2. I wish Master Collector would go screw up somebody else's conventions and leave GI Joe alone.
3. I still feed the problem because I buy multiples of everything they produce, even the stuff (A vast majority actually) that isn't that great.

So yeah, I'm part of the problem. But I'm a shill. I buy multiples of EVERYTHING. Usually my excuse is that It'd cost almost as much for a non-set admission to get into the Hasbro seminar, etc. but this year I'm not going so I have no excuse.

I'm just stupid.

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I'm not an MC member. I don't give them my money. I get their sets from aftermarket sellers, Asian markets or other means. In the end, I'm a collector and they produce the only Joe items that I collect these days, so there's not much else I can do. But, if the end of Master Collector meant that there was never, ever another ARAH style Joe figure produced...I'm perfectly fine with that.

I don't need new stuff to keep my interest in Joe and I've long felt that MC's existence made collectors worse off than if they were not around. While we might not have gotten the Con figs, it's pretty likely that someone else would have marketed exclusive figures at better prices, with greater availability and with more reliability than MC. But, most collectors can't understand the idea of opportunity costs and having something in hand is better than the hope of having something MUCH better. It's our great failing as a fandom.

The day will come when MC is no more (It certainly won't be until after the movie, though....) and that will be a great day for ARAH themed fandom. The good news is that the problems people like me have been talking about since the first "extra" Fuschia sets mysteriously showed up to friends of MC back in 2003 are now getting into the collective conscience of the Joe world. More and more people have low opinions of MC. It's been a long time coming, but I think we're finally starting to see people come around and realize that we're getting hosed as a fandom by our own collecting club that is supposed to represent us.

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Sorry, I honestly didn't realize I was doing it this time.

I edited the a-hole one but left the semi-cartoon joke buffoon one.

I should know better than to post in these threads, they always get me into trouble. Sorry everyone.

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I think you just convinced me never to buy from MC again.

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I haven't bought from MC since the Swamp Viper set (I forget what year that was). I have bought a few peice on the after market (very few, infact the one I bought the most of was the Dreadnok set, 3 of the 15 figures to be exact). Truth be told most of the time I just refuse to pay so much for what is essentally repaints (sometimes not and sometimes I have interests, but not often).

Not a member, nor do I plan on being one ever, a "free" figure isn't enough incentive nor is a snail mail newsletter that really I could get just about anywhere if I wanted to (Got several actually, when I stumble accross them I think "Where the hell did I get this from." )

But I also avoided the "Non army builder" sets mostly because they would useually have only one figure I was interested in anyway, those things were way overpriced for two figures let alone just one.

But like many others have said, I dispise what they do to this hobby of ours. BS drama, changeing things rather than being up front, poor communication, and most of all terrible prices.

2003