It was originally locked after one of my posts when I was responding to someone else because they were getting complaints from Club members about my posts (the reason they contacted me directly). After a discussion with Brian and Lanny, the Club unlocked it so I could post in there.

Brian later posted with an explanation that was pretty much verbatim of what they told me over the phone.


That and the Club has been in existence for 15 years already. They're pretty well established regardless of who or how many people disagree with their business practices.


Brian has pointedly said that every year they ask at the Con if the Con-goers want to know about the souvenirs ahead of time. Apparently the majority has been "yay" to keeping them a surprise. At the roundtable and surveys, let's make sure that it's "nay" and see what happens in 2009.


If this information is released what will happen is people will try to figure out what the souvenirs are based on the total cost. I think the Club will fear that this will just lead to [LASER BLAST] and moaning when their guesses don't pan out.


Bah, it's not going away any time soon.


I know for a fact there can be depending on level of service and how effective you are at your volunteering. Half-assing it for them gets you nothing.

I would have answered Mike T.'s and Zedhatch's posts, but damn, guys, you have just too much for me to try to break it down in a quick post.

I have to say though this is the most adamantly vocial I have seen the community towards the club, something has to change one way or another.



He said that but as has been pointed out that is pure BS. plus really that explaination doesn't follow with the question as illistratated much more elequently here:

[quote=Mike T]This is just horse crap. We know there will be figures and vehicles. Hell, the three Joes are on the box art this year! Give us prices. If you tell me that there will a figure 2 pack at the con for $50, I can't see 2 figs for $50 and automatically know that it's going to be a Star Duster and Grand Slam. But, I do know that it's a product I want and I can give people money to buy it.
[/quote]



See above



If enough voices speak change will occur one way or another.

See this isn't a B*^ch session, its a "We have had enough of this carp and something needs to be done about it" B*^ch session.



But IS/WAS it there, "There can be" is rather vauge. without a garentee that you get something from a "Business" for your "Labors" no one will participate. After all they are a business right, and after all when a business needs something they go to another business, Wal-Mart would never ask its customers to help with thier web page right, how about Target, doubt it. Smalljoes or BBTS, same, never.

No one needs a debate... it's not about debating, it's about having an open venue to hear from and pass info to the club regarding club matters. The fact that it's viewed as a debate by the club representative is disconcerting...




Nice to pass the blame for the MOTH sets on to collectors all the while ignoring the fact that most people didn't buy more because they didn't want to pay jacked up prices for packaging they didn't ask for, and in most cases didn't want, to begin with. The issue is, again, in regards to issues like this people have been FORCED to pay for "pretty boxes" with no other alternative to get the item in most cases. This has been mentioned for years long before the MOTH sets came out, it's not something new.



What vague sillyness. "Add a little to it"? What on earth does that mean? That could be $5.00 or $50.00 per item. I want to know what things will cost. That's all. Some people want to be surprised... fine, give a ball park $10.00 swing price range and leave it at that. At least that way people can take the max figures, budget accordingly, and if you save them money they'll have more to spend at the dealers. Seems win-win to me.



And again it's being ignored that MORE people would go if they knew in advance what was being offered. Taking a small sampling from the 25-50 people that actually attend the club's roundtable is ridiculous to use as a basis for the greater majority of collectors that have vividly and emphatically stated they want to know what the club is offering so they can decided if it's worth the time and expense to go to the conventions. As the economy continues to slide and prices on actual necessities continue to sky rocket these bizarre guessing games the club seems so enamored with doing every year is going to cause more and more people to skip the con. If it wasn't relatively local there's no chance I'd go this year.



The newsletter is pointless. A print only version of it is only more so. There's no reason to not embrace modern technology. There's nothing *new* in the newsletter no matter what the venue is for it's delivery. News is instantaneous and comes much faster than any version of the newsletter has been able to deliver. Time to drop it and adapt. Worry more about actual new and info and less about the "theft" of intellectual property.



Which begs the question... why would people volunteer to help when key issues that people have continue to be ignored and swept under the rug? There's lots of folks that could and would help, but they're ignored. I know I volunteered to help several times back in 02-03 and never got even an acknowledgment that my offer had been seen much less responded to. I know plenty of other people that have offered to help and have been ignored or rebuffed. Don't act like no one wants to help and no one has offered.



We're not paid to fix your problems, Brian. The message board doesn't work. It'd take minimal effort to implement a new board and design a functional website. How hard is it to get some WYSIWYG software on the cheap and make something that works? Not very hard. Stop passing the buck and stop making lame excuses. You need someone to do it for you? Pay a web designer. People don't like to work for other people for free, everyone has bills to pay.



Which is a joke! The magazine is useless and pointless in this day and age. It's not about reading every thread but when 20-40+ people bring up the same issue time and again, how hard is it to make a post addressing the issue and moving on with whatever need be done.



Stop trying to pass the club off as a charity organization. It's a business. You want people to contribute more content, offer some incentives.



Wow, what snarky and condescending comments. So then what can we comment on since you only want opinions on certain things and from certain people. Unbelievable.



There's nothing free that's given in return to members. (don't even bring up that "free" figure, you have to pay $40 some dollars a year to get one.) You have to pay for everything you 'get' from the club. You want input and help? Ok, let me know where to send you an invoice. Then you can charge me for being a member, and I can charge you for the input and help you seem to so desperately need. Ok? Deal?

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so many good points made here. i've only got this to add:

George Herbert, "Living well is the best revenge."

if the club wanted to see how to do it right, go to Canada.

people, well, at least the JCers, love that "LASER BLAST" convention.

I love that convention, and I've never even been!

i'm just happy to get the newsletter with the familiar names in it!

//how much do you guys get paid for your contributions?

the gijcc is going to do things the way they want, until they aren't allowed to do it anymore.

the Canucks are going to do things the way everybody wants, and they'll probably get the green light for club exclusives from soon enough...

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Ya know, I can see valid arguments on both sides on the argument. I think a great way to monitor the members opinions would be at the Awards Dinner, when there are several 100 people in person, with full attention on Joe.

Simpy type up 10 questions, and read it over the microphone and take a hands up count.

1) Who wants to know what products will be avaible BEFORE the con?
(show of hands yay, show of hands nay)

2) Who wants to continue the paper newsletter?
(show of hands yay, show of hands nay)

Etc, etc.

Excellent and cheap way to get into the minds of the fanbase, live and in person.

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What I'm trying to understand is how somebody selling the extra baggy set on ebay hurts their bottom line. Was the extra baggy set stolen from them, or was it bought from them at the price they put on it? Once they've got the money they say a baggy set is priced at, how in the world are they affected in any way, shape, or form by it being resold on ebay?

The other thing I don't understand is what Hasbro's getting from having MC run a Joe Collector Club. It's not like Hasbro's putting stickers on the figs for the kiddies to ask mom and dad if they can visit the site. I can't imagine that MC would have enough bribery money available to pay to Hasbro (at least, not enough that Hasbro would care about) so they can get the 'Official' label. What's Hasbro getting out of the relationship?

Also, I think they interpret the word 'Club' in the same way snooty, exclusionist Country Clubs interpret it; as a place to keep the riff-raff *out of*, not in.

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Au contraire... look to the left of the UPC code on the figure cardbacks.

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Okay, I would if I held onto trash, but I do recall seeing it. But the fact that you have to tell me that should speak volumes about what such a sticker is worth. Why not a flier inside the package, or an actual sticker on the front?

And still, what's Hasbro getting from it? Are they getting a share of our membership fees in some manner?

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Hasbro gets a nice fee from MC in exchange for the official license.

Supposedly, MC does marketing legwork for Hasbro and that saves Hasbro money. The reality is the polar opposite with MC doing everything in their power to divide the fandom and make the info hard to find. But, the theory is that Hasbro should get some marketing benefit from MC.

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I'd assume a licensing fee for the use of the RAH molds and copyrights to use names, pictures, and stuff for packaging and the newsletter itself. Plus the added bonus of attracting fans to the product. The newsletter is free advertisment for them. Well I think it is. It should be.

Edit: Dang I got Mike T-ed

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So, if we're wanting the Club to change, is Hasbro really where we should be applying the pressure? I'm sure we can agree Hasbro listens to us a *bit* better than the Club does, right?

If Hasbro wants input from we fans so much, why don't they just put some frickin' customer response fliers in with the figs for us to mail back in with our Doc proofs and order form? At least then they'll get some input from the kiddies, which I don't see happening at all thru the Club.

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I certainly recall when I was a kid spending many hours looking at the backs of the cards and the pictures of the characters. Your own specific, refer to cardbacks as "trash", adult-collector outlook proves very little about the efficacy of the plug for the club.

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Chief pretty much summed up what I was going to say, except with 75% more swearing .

Bottom line: the only voice they hear are from dead presidents. If (BIG if) the 3 3/4 community stops buying the exclusives, the club will do one of two things; become more fan, er, collector friendly, or give up the liscense because it's no longer econmically feasible for them to continue. With the 12" community on life support their continued success with the GI Joe franchise rests with the collectors of tiny people.

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They at least get use out of their old molds (when located). But something about it that bugs me even going back to the JvsC launch, when they did have a fan/collector club (came with the frostbite/wetsuit repaint) it wasn't a MC thing, was it? Even then, that one little thing has felt more like a fan/collector club than MC. What's the Star Wars fan club like (and i know it's way more than action figures...but still)?

Anyway, I'd suggest people vote with their wallets on it more than anything else. If MC really is running on such thin margins that it can only have 3 people, getting stuck with most of even one year's con sets would hurt.

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are you suggesting....a boycott?

across the boards... with stated reasons... of common concerns and complaints?

why, that's just downright... American...

"ARAH Boycott of 2008"

do we have the stones to pull it off?

//asking as i'm checking my account balance vs. the Mass Device/Weather Dominator pre-order status...

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