Over in the Club forums, there was a post about the (estimated) costs of the exclusives that got into how the club does not provide information in a timely manner. Here is the post that I made to the thread:
Quote:
I have to chime in on this as well. Over the years, I have asked for information about the expenses involved in attending the con and exclusives, and have been rebuffed.
My concern with exclusives started the first year I attended a con (2003 in SF. I had a reasonable budget that was obliterated during the check-in line as I found out that there were additional figure packs and vehicles available for purchase. I would have loved to know what these items were going to be before I arrived, but that is a battle I have fought, and lost, many times.
I have also made suggestions that I think would have helped the club move additional product based on my desires, as well as people who were not interested in joining the club due to the perception that the club does not serve the members, but the members serve the club. The biggest concern is the cost of figures that are presented in a boxed set. The club does well by allowing the sale of a bagged set when you buy a boxed set at the Con. Why was this not available for the MOTH sets? Why not have the limit of two sets per each boxed set purchased? I know that if I bought a MOTH set and I could buy two additional sets of the figures loose at a reduced cost, I would have done so. Based on the information that Brain has provided in the past, doubling or tripling the size of a figure run can often be done without a big cost increase, since he has stated that the small figure runs cost as much as the larger runs since it costs the same amount to set up the equipment for a run.
I attend the convention each year, mainly now as a chance to reunite with people I've met over the years. Once I spend my money on the registration and the convention exclusives, I only find myself looking forward to the seminars, especially the Club one. However, even there, a large number of suggestions/ideas/requests are just blown off with standard replies.
I know several other people who feel that this club is not keeping up with what it can offer, from what seems to be an outdated website and message board, the inability to distribute information in an electronic manner due to a relaince on the mailed newsletter, to an outdated convention registration system, and so on.
Until a few months ago, the newsletters were available online, and when they were removed, there was an outcry, and outcry that was met with a response similar to "We don't want the information getting out to non-paying people, so accept it." Amazingly enough, when one person gets the newsletter via first (cl*** gets blacked out - see outdated message board comment above) - expedited postage - they go somewhere on the internet and say "Look what was in the latest newsletter" and it gets to the non-paying audience just as fast. With the responses we do get, when we get them, it is amazing that people continue to speak up about issues that concern them.
I remember when a popular army builder was made available in a set, and people clamored for more, Brian responded with something similar to "How about a bag of 20 for $100?" The response was a resounding yes. A quality figure for $5, it was equivalent to what was being charged by TRU in their five packs. When asked a few months later, we were told a version of "It's not cost effective to do that. Sorry." This from a figure that was already produced once, and the costs were established.
Until the flow of information changes from the club, posts of these types will continue to pop up, and I may make it my point to support them. I know that there are reasons the Club makes the decisions that it does, but once a product is put together (parts, paint masks, etc) where the costs are reasonably known, it shouldn't be impossible for the Club to provide that information.
*Heading off my soapbox and back to lurker mode*
Let me know if I should add to it, or if i should take a step off a tall building.
) attend as well. Typically, I send money to a friend in advance of the Con so they can acquire the attendee items I'm after. It's not really fair to that person to ask them to shell out money from their own pockets if the offerings end up being more expensive or more numerous than previous shows.