Photo: LEGO
Well, I guess this post goes out to all the companies giving away or selling convention exclusives like this. It’s Batman’s 75th birthday and of course, the number of cool stuff from all over ranges from easy to nab (public libraries all over gave away Batman-related goodies yesterday) to “Unless you’re at the convention or pay a fortune on eBay when you cave in and throw your wallet at the screen” goodies like that awesome classic Batmobile above and that SUPER rare Batman of Zur-En-Arrh below. While the Batmobile will be on sale at the show (and people are already “pre-selling” it for over $200 on eBay (even though they probably don’t have one yet – caveat emptor!), that oddball Batman minifigure will be a totally RANDOM giveaway based on scanned convention badges to pick winners.
Photo: LEGO
Photo: LEGO
Of course, I’m not asking for a massive mass production of these figures to the point where they’re stocked to the rafters at your local retailer. It would just be nice to see some of these cool toys pop up in some stores without the SDCC logo and perhaps stamped somewhere that they aren’t “exclusive” to that event. No company producing any of these giveaways of for sale items makes a penny off the secondary sales market, but they certainly can brag that “Figure X” has sold for up to $—-” to some collectors” at future media events if someone at one of these companies keeps track of that stuff.
Now, I’m not complaining at all, kids. Heck, I avoid conventions these days because the dopes who run them have made it rough for smaller sites like mine to cover them (despite me having NO trouble getting a media pass previously for a few years running AND even working at a friend’s booth). If I were to complain at all, it would be with certain con organizers who treat the smaller press like cattle, forcing us to pile in with the public (which is HELL for making appointments on time). That and I just got tired of the mob scene, some really stinky people and that infamous “convention flu” crap a lot of folks take home from so many people crammed together, not all of whom are healthy.
Eh, maybe I won’t miss that Batmobile after all. I can just buy a bunch of Lego sets and look up plans online to make a custom one, I guess. That way, Lego will still get some of my money (and probably more than the $39.99 that convention exclusive costs) and everyone’s happy at the end of the day…
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