You mean the extra 2-3 figure packs and vehicles? Heck, I would love to pay for that before I go. There are people like me that will buy one of everything. However, holding back the extra convention items for the "surprise" factor on the day of the convention needs to be abolished. This contributes to more headaches.

My 2 cents...

Website - Most people already voiced this and I just flat out agree. The website is terrible, the message board even worse. Top to bottom, the website needs an overhaul.

Technology - They need to embrace it because they will not win fighting against it. They have billion dollar corporations trying to keep teenagers from sharing music and movies online. They haven't been too successful at stopping it. What makes MC think they can win this battle with their newsletter that is usally outdated by the time I get it? Put everything online and let people get to it. For those that don't have computers, let them opt-in to a paper newsletter. This way they can satisfy most if not all collector types.

Registration night - Come up with something...anything...to improve that process. Pre-ordering was mentioned and that sounds like a good idea. If not that, do something to keep from anyone having to wait a minimum of 2 hours even when they are in the front of the line. That just screams disorganization. I don't agree with PayPal use. PayPal has too many problems for both sides. They process credit cards, they can do it themselves. How about laptops with checkout software? Expensive, a little. But how far will that investment go? Considering they run 2 conventions every year, I would say it would be worth while.

Suprises - "Suprise!! A Grandslam/Starduster 2-pack!" Ok, yes. Suprises are nice sometimes but only when you arn't expecting them. We know they are going to have extra items at the convention so it really isn't a suprise. It is just annoying that we don't know what they are or if we even should set aside money for them. "We are going to show you all the artwork over the next 12 days...oooo the excitement!!" No, that is just annoying. Just tell us what you have and how much they cost ahead of time. We are adults, we don't need suprises. Save them for the kids.

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I agree that attendees should know everything that will be available to purchase before they arrive, but I don't mind the slow reveals. It can be fun and it benefits their advertisers by increasing hits on the site, so it makes sense. I also don't mind surprising attendees with the free vehicle, since they're getting it regardless. But not telling them what else will be avilable and more importantly, for how much, that's annoying. Almost as annoying as hearing "Bring a bit more money for exclusives than last year" when asked how much an attendee should budget.

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I just wanted to apologize, I should of read farther down. Sorry to all, dealing with a sick 4 year since 3am got to me a little too much.

Michael
Bulletman Big B
All Hail DOB

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Only problem that I can see is the people who have to have one hundread and ten percent dead mint perfect in every way items. I know I got behind someone last year that went through 5 convention sets before setting on one that would work for him and then he wanted to switch out the box tops to get one that did not have a scratch. I can just imagine how bad it could get. But it should hopefully not be that bad all around. I just know I will get behind the one person who will not be satisfied with anything they put in his box.

I think one thing they could do is reveal the filecard/artwork for the extra figures and vehicles but not the finale product. That way we know what we are getting and a basic idea of what it will look like and along with the attendee bonus they can show the actual figures/vehicles.

Also for the forums, they are now open for free, just make a "trooper" level id and you free to post. If more people would go there and post the things they would like to see changed it just might help to get some changes made as more people there would chime in and support some of these changes.

One last thing, I am all in favor of the buffet over sit down. The previous sit downs that have been provided by the hotels has been bad, small servings, badly prepared and really they offered no options for a choice of dinner it was just lousy. I know after the KC convention (with it's "BBQ" chicken, HA! that was a joke!) is when many people were asking for a change to a buffet style over the sit down. Though Disney's dinner was good.

Michael
Bulletman Big B
All Hail DOB!!

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I want to apologize too. I was way off base and I knew it.

Stressful time right now so I'm [LASER BLAST] than usual. I took it out on you and that's just plain wrong.

Sorry to all involved, especially you Michael.

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This was something I was unaware of, thanks.

I know when I picked up my 05 box, they opened it for me, I said great, and I took it. I didn't realize until I got home that Overlord's weapons were left out of my box. Kind of wish I'd been a bit more like the guy in your example.



Mention the price as well and you've got a compromise I can get behind.



It is nice that this option is there, but there are two reasons I don't join and do that:

1) I have a finite amount of time I can spend online, and there are only so many message boards I can be a part of and follow. Odds are if I were to join that board and post in a thread like this, I would not return to see replies until long after the discussion went dry.

2) There are people here who have complained on the MC boards about MC, in particular about the removal of the online newsletter. They were ignored. I'm not going to try to communicate my problems with a company that turns away from its members.

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This practice needs to stop.

a) either have a dedicated table away from the registration lines for such anal retentative inspections or
b) you have wait until the next day to exchange an defective item.

I wish option B was inforced as it gives the buyer all night to inspect the goods for missing items and/or defects and not the expense of others waiting in line.

While I see where everyone is coming from about not knowing the prices ahead of time, I actually enjoyed being surprised by the exclusive figures. It's kind of great, to me, to anticipate what they will be; it's kind of the same thing as the Doc mail away, to me.

As for the dinners/venues, Isn't the club paying for this? Isn't that part of the reason i'm paying hundreds of dollars for action figures and 70 dollars for a tank? You can't tell me that the costs of the con aren't being defrayed by the toy sales. Why the hell isn't there somebody standing on the manager's desk looking down at them saying "we payed you HOW much for there not to be enough chairs down there right now?" Um, don't these hotels have concierges, and isn't that the concierges JOB, to find this stuff out and accomdate the the guests? I realize that Marriott Marquis was not too impressed by a bunch of "toy nerds," but hey, they sold a lot of rooms, a lot of food and a lot of booze to us on top of what was provided at that crappy banquet.

Yeah, but option B would give people time to swap stuff out and say stuff was missing. Hate to say it, but it will happen. Your best bet would be Option A.

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Not unless the items were actually sealed up instead of having a piece of tape.

point....

as i do like the buffet style. i was dissappointed with the selection last year. Beer, Beans, and Barbecued Pork don't mix.... especially with THIS croud!

I also Noticed that the cosplay croud is growing. i suggested many times that costumes should be a contest, especially with the time and energy some people put into the costumes. again,.. the suggestion was ignored.

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You know I am really surprized MC (or GI joe club or whatever) haven't started this. I mean this is one of the biggest things talked about at these types of conventions in the mainstream media (Look at the Star Wars, Star Trek, Comiccons ect ect).

Well this year they are having the costumes be a contest. Sort of.

$10,000 is quite a bit too. Maybe enough to team up with somebody and get something decent. Our group from last year had about 12,000 is I remember correctly and we snagged the Fuschia Viper set.

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