Question for my fellow collectors

[tagmac]

I'm just wondering, have any of you found yourself in that situation of "competing" to get to the toy aisle in your searches for Waves 5 & 6? After not dealing with this for several years, I had this issue this past Saturday. On weekends, I've had some luck hitting a Wal-Mart near my fiancee when they open, finding all of Wave 6, the Darktrooper, and UFG Vader and McBoba, in addition to the newest GI Joe Anniversary wave last week. Well, the other day, I'm waiting for the store to open in the hopes of finding the last few Wave 5 figs I need, and this guy walks right up to the door (mind you, there were about 5 others, mostly Senior Citizens, already waiting for the doors to open who were there first), and from body language alone I just had this feeling that I was gonna face competition. Sure enough, the loser cuts the line, walks in and picks up speed right away. I started to move fast, but slowed down when I realized how ridiculous I was acting, and got to the toy area a few seconds late. Sure enough, this guy blocked off the pegs with his body (I'm not a big guy, so I usually feel like a kid having to look around people in crowds). Luckily, all they had were freshly stocked Legends figs, so I missed out on nothing and walked away without looking for more than a minute.

Still, it bugged me for a little while that someone could be so damn selfish like that. I'd like to believe fellow collectors wouldn't be so low class as to use their size to keep another person from looking - especially since there was no one else in the aisle, so it's not like the "competition" was fierce. Maybe this guy was an ebay scalper, maybe not, but it was the first time (not counting Midnight Madness) that I've seen this type of behavior in a long time.

I used to deal with this phenomenon in the 90's when scalping was at an all time high, but it was because of the scalpers running to the pegs, blocking them off and grabbing all they could. A group of three guys from the local comic shop did this several times, one loser even screaming out the name of a new fig while we were both looking through a TRU cage bin full of the pegwarmers of the time, then running like lightning down the aisle as if he was holding the fig to try to make me feel bad (the guy recognized me from my usual trips, and there were clearly no new figs out yet). On the other hand, I remember hitting stores upon opening in college where there were a few fellow collectors who were cool about it and actually helped each other.

I'm sure I'm not the only one, but like I said, it seemed like this type of immature behavior out of so-called adults stopped in recent years, at least in my area. Just wondering if anyone else has any similar stories.

[figrin bran]

Out here in the Los Angeles area, this sort of behavior and the scalpers that exhibit such behavior are all too common.

Just last month at a local Walmart, I looked through a stack of Transformers believing that they were fair game and then a scalper who was talking on the phone starts screaming at me to not touch any of those because they're all his. They were all 76 Camaro Bumblebees which I didn't need at all but he had a stack of about 5 of them!

I've also had the opposite experience from you, tagmac, whereby I was the one looking through the pegs and have had scalpers reach out and pull stuff that was right in front of me. Perhaps I should start blocking them! :p

[stillakid]

Out here in the Los Angeles area, this sort of behavior and the scalpers that exhibit such behavior are all too common.

Just last month at a local Walmart, I looked through a stack of Transformers believing that they were fair game and then a scalper who was talking on the phone starts screaming at me to not touch any of those because they're all his. They were all 76 Camaro Bumblebees which I didn't need at all but he had a stack of about 5 of them!

I would've hit 'em with a Sharpie or something just to make them "worthless" to a scalper. Sure, some people think that it isn't right, but some kid who doesn't give a sh** about Mint packaging would have a chance to get a toy he wants and actually get to pay retail price for. Nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned.

[CaptainSolo1138]

I would've hit 'em with a Sharpie or something just to make them "worthless" to a scalper. Sure, some people think that it isn't right, but some kid who doesn't give a sh** about Mint packaging would have a chance to get a toy he wants and actually get to pay retail price for. Nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned.I second that. When I find "rare" SW stuff at retail I tend to accidentally bend a corner or four.

[Kidhuman]

<note to self, never trade with Cappy>

[CaptainSolo1138]

<note to self, never trade with Cappy>
If Slick needs it or if I'm picking it up for someone, I obviously leave it unharmed. But if I see one of them gold coined bastards, you can bet he's got an appointment with Dr. McCrinkledcorners.

[tagmac]

You know, I really had to step back and ask myself if it was worth trying to beat this loser to an aisle for figures. When I was in my late teens/early 20's, back when the line was new and local scalping was even worse (if that is possible, although with two flea market shops at the time, I guess it was), I used to run because I knew it was either that or get beat out by scalpers who at this point (like I said earlier) recognized me and were deliberately trying to get to me. Now, I'd rather swallow my pride and pay shipping for 1-2 figures if I'm lucky enough to nab them through amazon or HTS than look like an idiot. It's frustrating, especially if this particular store I was hitting on weekends has now been "found out," but I have to keep my dignity - and from the looks of that guy physically on Saturday, I doubt he had much dignity to care himself.

[Jedi_Master_Guyute]

I second that. When I find "rare" SW stuff at retail I tend to accidentally bend a corner or four.

That's pretty assinine. I don't open my figures as i'm a collector who collects MOC and that's really kinda rude of you. I don't mind if the figure has some shelfware, but c'mon, be nice. :thumbsup:

[El Chuxter]

Those gold coins aren't going to be nearly so rare as people think. I've seen about a dozen or so. I have a feeling fewer people care this year.

[tagmac]

I would have to agree about the gold coins, with a few exceptions. The McStormie and McBoba ones seem to be tough to come by. I only found them once, along with the regular Vader w/ gold coin. Have yet to find Biggs (not that I care). However, Mace, R2, Han, Luke, and the Galactic Marine have been quite easy to find. Heck, I saw several Lukes and Maces warming the pegs with or without the gold coins. I guess having specific cases with specific figures hasn't helped to make them as sought after, seeing as how the previous UGH was 1-2 per case, but with no set pattern.