L.A. area Just Found

Yet another ill conceived SDCC plan goes up in flames....

For some reason they decided to hold a "second chance" badge sales for those who did not purchase a 4 day or Saturday single day pass. In all likelihood, the total number of badges that would be available for this would have been so small, it would probably have been better to just hold those over until May when the refunded passes are released for sale.

Well this time just like with the badge sales a few weeks ago, the link they provided in the email did not work and one would have been better served just refreshing their main page, despite their claims that the provided link would be the "only" way to reach the waiting room. "Capacity" for that online waiting room was reached within 1 or 2 minutes, leaving many, including myself, in disappointment. (I have a Thursday pass but that could very well be all I get)

Ugh, that sucks to hear! If I can make the time, I'll stop by the complaints panel and let them have an earful (hopefully this year it'll be the ONLY complaint I have to make, I've usually had 3 or 4 major complaints that crop up during the show). At the very least, you might consider writing them an actual letter, they're a small committee so they do listen to ideas.

Target La Cienega - jack squat.


TRU La Cienega - not much. They have SW figures bogo50%off, I bought the last Naboo Royal Guard and another Battle Droid, because what the hell, right? They had another BD, 2 Daulty Dofines, and a Quinlan Vos left. Plus a smattering of Movie Heroes and CW figs, but no MH Artoo and no new MH.

They also had in all the TF:Prime Legion figs, but I bought the only Arcee for Chaddymac. They also had a bunch of the Cyberverse Commanders but the packs have DVDs and they want... $12 for them!!! TWELVE BUCKS FOR CYBERVERSE COMMANDERS! They have to be out of their frickin' minds!

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Originally Posted by JediTricks

Ugh, that sucks to hear! If I can make the time, I'll stop by the complaints panel and let them have an earful (hopefully this year it'll be the ONLY complaint I have to make, I've usually had 3 or 4 major complaints that crop up during the show). At the very least, you might consider writing them an actual letter, they're a small committee so they do listen to ideas.

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It's just so ridiculous and I'm rapidly approaching Maradona's "this could be my last SDCC" status. You're made to jump through so many hoops and eventually you start to wonder if it's really worth it. Online badge sales have become a contest to see who can click on the links the fastest and more and more I hear/read stories about longtime SDCC vets being left out in the cold when it comes to acquiring badges. And their misleading instructions "click on this link in order to buy badges...this link will not be posted on the main SDCC page...blah blah" is still leaving a bad taste in my mouth because it wasn't true at all. Most people got into the "waiting room" by clicking on the link posted on the main page.

Moreover, it seems like this second chance sale is a knee jerk reaction to all the backlash they received from the email link fiasco during the March 3 badge sales. Enough people made an outcry about it that they felt compelled to do something but like many of their attempts to be more "fan friendly", it just ends up backfiring.

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Originally Posted by JediTricks

Target La Cienega - jack squat.


TRU La Cienega - not much. They have SW figures bogo50%off, I bought the last Naboo Royal Guard and another Battle Droid, because what the hell, right? They had another BD, 2 Daulty Dofines, and a Quinlan Vos left. Plus a smattering of Movie Heroes and CW figs, but no MH Artoo and no new MH.

They also had in all the TF:Prime Legion figs, but I bought the only Arcee for Chaddymac. They also had a bunch of the Cyberverse Commanders but the packs have DVDs and they want... $12 for them!!! TWELVE BUCKS FOR CYBERVERSE COMMANDERS! They have to be out of their frickin' minds!

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Whoa! They're only $9.99 at Los Feliz TRU. Gotta love how all of them have the exact same episode on the mini DVD's! ;) I'll comment more on these in the TF thread when I have time but Commander class Bulkhead's and Optimus's hollow facade bodies make them not worth their price tag at all.

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Originally Posted by figrin bran

It's just so ridiculous and I'm rapidly approaching Maradona's "this could be my last SDCC" status. You're made to jump through so many hoops and eventually you start to wonder if it's really worth it. Online badge sales have become a contest to see who can click on the links the fastest and more and more I hear/read stories about longtime SDCC vets being left out in the cold when it comes to acquiring badges. And their misleading instructions "click on this link in order to buy badges...this link will not be posted on the main SDCC page...blah blah" is still leaving a bad taste in my mouth because it wasn't true at all. Most people got into the "waiting room" by clicking on the link posted on the main page.

Moreover, it seems like this second chance sale is a knee jerk reaction to all the backlash they received from the email link fiasco during the March 3 badge sales. Enough people made an outcry about it that they felt compelled to do something but like many of their attempts to be more "fan friendly", it just ends up backfiring.

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Ouch! That's two years in a row that you've had to deal with this nonsense. I wonder if Comic-Con would consider going to a seniority system for registration, just like universities have. Your registration time could be related to the year you began and maintained consistent attendance of the event. This method would reward the true Comic-Con attendees who have been loyal for years as opposed to late comers. I doubt they would do this. Let me know if you need any help with exclusives. I'll be there on preview night, not that it guarantees anything sadly.

I'm still debating whether to get into the 2013 badge line first thing Thursday morning. If I'm very upset after Wednesday night, I probably won't be in the mood to pay the likely higher price for the privilege going through it next year, but then the next few days might change my mind and, by then, that window will have closed. This conundrum will vex me for the next few months...

And JT, I agree that putting a new football stadium in downtown could be a traffic nightmare. If the city gets the NFL back (which after nearly 20 years, who still cares), the 8 games a year on Sundays wouldn't encounter as much traffic as the weekday Staples Center games experience, but a stadium that large would leave a huge, mostly unused fingerprint for the rest of the year. Renovating LACC to have a large enough contiguous space is a necessity, as I'm convinced LA is losing revenue from being unable to attract bigger events. But the renovation process has to include a dramatic re-imagining of that section of town, since so much of it is rather decrepit looking (which is what that same area of SD looked like in the 90s, if you remember). The bad parts of town are often the ones with the least expensive real estate, so maybe the long term potential for visible change exists.

1) Ugh, they're the SAME episode?!? Weak sauce!

2) Bulkhead was the only one that looked decent, that sucks to hear he's a shell. I really think they need to go back to the drawing board with Cyberverse, the concept worked ok with DOTM but they're taking too many liberties for TF:P by trying to get light-up gimmicks from the vehicles to interact everywhere AND put in weapons AND stay show-accurate AND keep it at the basic pricepoint.

3) Huh, $10 instead of $12? That's a weird one! Even $10 is stupidly expensive for what you get though. There's such a quality discrepancy between the Cyberverse and Deluxe lines that I think Hasbro's going to end up killing casual consumer interest just by torpedoing the entire basic pricepoint. And their response is just to make Deluxe worse, apparently.


As for Comic-Con, I fully hear ya, the amount of bullcrap that has come between '08 and now is unfair. They shouldn't have added multiple new systems in a year, the SDCC ID thing should have come in 2 or 3 years ago back when it was easy to get passes for next year while you were still at the show, then it wouldn't have exploded so horribly as more and more people jumped on the bandwagon via scalping.

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Originally Posted by Maradona

Ouch! That's two years in a row that you've had to deal with this nonsense. I wonder if Comic-Con would consider going to a seniority system for registration, just like universities have. Your registration time could be related to the year you began and maintained consistent attendance of the event. This method would reward the true Comic-Con attendees who have been loyal for years as opposed to late comers. I doubt they would do this. Let me know if you need any help with exclusives. I'll be there on preview night, not that it guarantees anything sadly.

I'm still debating whether to get into the 2013 badge line first thing Thursday morning. If I'm very upset after Wednesday night, I probably won't be in the mood to pay the likely higher price for the privilege going through it next year, but then the next few days might change my mind and, by then, that window will have closed. This conundrum will vex me for the next few months...
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Thanks for your offer to help with exclusives, Maradona. I do have a Thursday badge at least and so we should coordinate on Matty exclusive preorders at the very least. I may line up for the 2013 badge on Thursday morning but I figure the Shockwave HISS and Jinx variant will be one per person and this will be my only shot at them.

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Originally Posted by JediTricks

1) Ugh, they're the SAME episode?!? Weak sauce!

2) Bulkhead was the only one that looked decent, that sucks to hear he's a shell. I really think they need to go back to the drawing board with Cyberverse, the concept worked ok with DOTM but they're taking too many liberties for TF:P by trying to get light-up gimmicks from the vehicles to interact everywhere AND put in weapons AND stay show-accurate AND keep it at the basic pricepoint.

3) Huh, $10 instead of $12? That's a weird one! Even $10 is stupidly expensive for what you get though. There's such a quality discrepancy between the Cyberverse and Deluxe lines that I think Hasbro's going to end up killing casual consumer interest just by torpedoing the entire basic pricepoint. And their response is just to make Deluxe worse, apparently.

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There seems to be this growing movement within Hasbro to make everything worse with exhibit A being the Avengers figures, none of which have any waist articulation.

Col. Cracken stash claimed. I will still be on the prowl for a bluray Lando fig.

Reminder - prototype Fett mailaway offer ends 3/31/12. If you want another, time to boogie!!

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Originally Posted by Maradona

Ouch! That's two years in a row that you've had to deal with this nonsense. I wonder if Comic-Con would consider going to a seniority system for registration, just like universities have. Your registration time could be related to the year you began and maintained consistent attendance of the event. This method would reward the true Comic-Con attendees who have been loyal for years as opposed to late comers. I doubt they would do this. Let me know if you need any help with exclusives. I'll be there on preview night, not that it guarantees anything sadly.

I'm still debating whether to get into the 2013 badge line first thing Thursday morning. If I'm very upset after Wednesday night, I probably won't be in the mood to pay the likely higher price for the privilege going through it next year, but then the next few days might change my mind and, by then, that window will have closed. This conundrum will vex me for the next few months...

And JT, I agree that putting a new football stadium in downtown could be a traffic nightmare. If the city gets the NFL back (which after nearly 20 years, who still cares), the 8 games a year on Sundays wouldn't encounter as much traffic as the weekday Staples Center games experience, but a stadium that large would leave a huge, mostly unused fingerprint for the rest of the year. Renovating LACC to have a large enough contiguous space is a necessity, as I'm convinced LA is losing revenue from being unable to attract bigger events. But the renovation process has to include a dramatic re-imagining of that section of town, since so much of it is rather decrepit looking (which is what that same area of SD looked like in the 90s, if you remember). The bad parts of town are often the ones with the least expensive real estate, so maybe the long term potential for visible change exists.

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You must have posted right when I last did, I didn't see your post until now.

The way the on-site badge system works, it seems like badges will be a disaster forever and ever from here on out. You're now paying for the priveledge of waiting for the CHANCE to get another badge next year, it's totally ridiculous. Still, if you want to go, it's the only way to do it IMO (as long as you don't have panels at that time).


I care that we haven't had a friggin' team in 18 years! We went from 2 to 0 in the second-largest market in the country, and the NFL has used every bullcrap excuse under the sun to keep us from having a team so they can use the threat of moving another team here to get more money out of them in their home towns like some sort of ransom scam. Meanwhile, the damned Baltimore Ravens get split off from the Cleveland Browns, Florida has 3 football teams despite their whole STATE having less than twice as many people as Los Angeles and one of those teams is among the worst in the league with the lowest turnout per game. I say we take back the San Diego Chargers by force if the NFL doesn't give us a team in the next 2 years.

Oh, and get this, if they don't go with Farmer's Field, they're talking about building a stadium out in City of Industry. Because who wouldn't want to drive out to Frank & Sons-territory - home of NOTHING - for a football game, right? :rolleyes: At least it's in the county, unlike a certain "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" team which isn't even in LA COUNTY!!! :p

And I don't even LIKE sports! This must drive LA sports fans insane.

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Originally Posted by JediTricks

I care that we haven't had a friggin' team in 18 years! We went from 2 to 0 in the second-largest market in the country, and the NFL has used every bullcrap excuse under the sun to keep us from having a team so they can use the threat of moving another team here to get more money out of them in their home towns like some sort of ransom scam. Meanwhile, the damned Baltimore Ravens get split off from the Cleveland Browns, Florida has 3 football teams despite their whole STATE having less than twice as many people as Los Angeles and one of those teams is among the worst in the league with the lowest turnout per game. I say we take back the San Diego Chargers by force if the NFL doesn't give us a team in the next 2 years.

Oh, and get this, if they don't go with Farmer's Field, they're talking about building a stadium out in City of Industry. Because who wouldn't want to drive out to Frank & Sons-territory - home of NOTHING - for a football game, right? :rolleyes: At least it's in the county, unlike a certain "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" team which isn't even in LA COUNTY!!! :p

And I don't even LIKE sports! This must drive LA sports fans insane.

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I also wish that there was NFL football in LA, but I just don't see a huge public outcry for this to happen. The Rams played in another county, as you correctly point out, and, having gone to Raider games, the clientele there was not very familial. So when both teams ran off, the city moved on. I've yet to see a strong plan to renew the NFL here, with Farmers Field being the most well put together of the bunch. Luckily, football fans have USC, whose games have an entirely different atmosphere. Now that the school has been given control of the Coliseum, I suspect they'll renovate that historic locale. Ultimately, LA has gone without the NFL so long that having it return would be an economic boon for where the prospective team plays.