Joe Con 2013

Goldbug

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Then you delay the fucking thing that people paid for and fix it, you don't box it up just so you can sell shit just to sell shit.

We should seriously get a petition together for the Club and let them know we want a fixed head. Won't fucking do any good, but folks should let them know that the head is shit and we're not happy with it. Maybe it's a waste of effort, but it's at least something. I was really looking forward to Iceberg, and instead we got Iceblerg.

Exactly this is one of the times I would be behind the club in delaying it!
 

Joerhyno

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You guys say that now like it was an easy decision... I bet anything you'd still be hanging them by their balls if they delayed it. Remember their last delays? Everyone had an heart attack when they delayed it, and threw a fit. I'm sure they didn't want to repeat. But of course, they can never make anyone happy.

I think the fixed head campaign is a good idea, maybe they can release it as an alternate head with a future figure kind of like what Mattycollector did with Zodak.
Then again, you have the MOC collectors, they'll be pissed. It's lose-lose for them.
 

Mandingo Rex

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You guys say that now like it was an easy decision... I bet anything you'd still be hanging them by their balls if they delayed it. Remember their last delays? Everyone had an heart attack when they delayed it, and threw a fit. I'm sure they didn't want to repeat. But of course, they can never make anyone happy.

I think the fixed head campaign is a good idea, maybe they can release it as an alternate head with a future figure kind of like what Mattycollector did with Zodak.
Then again, you have the MOC collectors, they'll be pissed. It's lose-lose for them.

Most definitely I'd still complain, as it's a fuck-up on their part, and they're a company who is clearly obsessed with making the most money for the least effort whenever possible. It's a management issue, whether they blame some nameless underpaid soul in China or not. Is it the end of the world? No, but members pay a pretty premium for lackluster memberships because it's still the cheapest way to get Club items (unless you go through BBTS or eBay and pay more than double the already-high premium), and nobody else is making licensed GI Joes. Some of their stuff is stellar, but some of it is "why bother?" territory. Iceberg could've been done right with a head. Folks can make kits to sell to replace the lackluster collar and webgear, but a factory quality head is impossible to come by.

I'm actually most pissed about MOSC, as I am a 25th-vintage-carded collector, plus an opener. I can fix my bagged one no problem, but that carded one is official. No way around it, and I don't have unofficial carded figures in my collection. Just not my thing, as they never look up to par with the real deal, no matter who is making them. Plus, in my mind I'd know it wasn't official. For the bucks that carded Iceberg will fetch, he shouldn't look like a cobbled-together hot mess.

Sure, people would still complain, but it's common sense what's the lesser problem.

Yeah, it's still a fucking huge problem for a $50+ figure to look that horrendous, but I'd rather wait and get one that looked better than having to meet their silly deadline. Also, they haven't shipped out the Club membership figures anyways, so that was a self-imposed deadline for fucking JoeCon. The Club didn't have to have completed Icebergs at the convention! That was their own stupid precedent they set. I mean hell, they had those LJs which looked great. Sell those for the ridiculous price and have that as the stand-in. Instead, they had to double-dip and rush Iceberg, who looks like shit.

I'll give the Club props when they deserve it (I've been one of a few folks on here who does do that) but when they fuck up BIG TIME, I'll give them the shit they deserve for it. Spreading themselves too thin with all the FSS figures and Con figures, who look pretty good for the most part, and then just shitting out the "free" figure? That says they don't give a fuck about their customers or their own product.
 

Joerhyno

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I lol'd

OR.... just have principals and don't shop with the club like I do :)


I agree with this guy. Bitch and complain all you want, and then hand them over your credit card info(and everyone else in South Africa). If you really were THAT unhappy, stop subscribing to them and giving them your money for their subpar "free" figures. If they see the numbers drop, they'll understand they're doing something wrong, and attempt to fix it, instead, people go in with this "GOTTA HAVE IT" attitude, and they sell out, they go for stupid amounts of money on ebay and they continue 'shitting out the "free" figure' after free figure.
 
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NSA

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Its typical of ALL collectors though.. and I know I've done it on occasion before too.

Manufacturers know this, they know that people will keep buying their crap even after they complain, otherwise they'd no longer be in business.

Maybe this whole head thing was a tragic oriental accident, or maybe it'd cost them another $25,000 or something ridiculous to do the new tooling and they just said fuck it. Who knows.

I think it sucks for people who pre-paid expecting one thing and getting another, but to KEEP paying them over and over and then complaining about the product each time.. I have no pity for you :)
 

Giga Bread

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I lol'd




I agree with this guy. Bitch and complain all you want, and then hand them over your credit card info(and everyone else in South Africa). If you really were THAT unhappy, stop subscribing to them and giving them your money for their subpar "free" figures. If they see the numbers drop, they'll understand they're doing something wrong, and attempt to fix it, instead, people go in with this "GOTTA HAVE IT" attitude, and they sell out, they go for stupid amounts of money on ebay and they continue 'shitting out the "free" figure' after free figure.


I just can't stop laughing at the situation, because I will never give them that much money for a figure that 9 times out of 10, I can make a better version of. It's not just Iceberg. It's last year's con set, this year's con set, the FSS service. I just will never get it and watching everyone on other sites convince themselves that they're getting value is ridiculous. It's like if everyone back in the day was buying this



for $40, not because the player is good, but because they didn't print many.

I'll never be that kind of collector. I have to like the fig to be willing to pay their prices.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I agree with this guy. Bitch and complain all you want, and then hand them over your credit card info(and everyone else in South Africa). If you really were THAT unhappy, stop subscribing to them and giving them your money for their subpar "free" figures. If they see the numbers drop, they'll understand they're doing something wrong, and attempt to fix it, instead, people go in with this "GOTTA HAVE IT" attitude, and they sell out, they go for stupid amounts of money on ebay and they continue 'shitting out the "free" figure' after free figure.

The problem is, they're inconsistent. They seriously bat about 50% quality figures. But considering cherry-picking on the aftermarket leaves you paying double or more for the ones you do want, it's still worth it to me to get the ones I do want. I really like Big Boa, Dice, Footloose, Cover Girl, Topside, etc. Even some of this year's Con set, and half of last year's. I even got Darklon, because I liked him. Sure, a few of those could use some tweaks, but seeing the carded ones carded? That's way better than I'll ever do on my own, and I consider myself a decent customizer.

Also, customizing ain't cheap. Parts are expensive, and at the end of the day, theirs is factory quality and costs probably less than I've dumped into most of my customs when all expenses are tallied. The problem is, you don't sit down and figure out a cost on most customs, or else you'd realize that it cost $80 in just parts alone.

Iceberg is an all-time low for them. Footloose was an AMAZING figure. One of my favorite Joes of all time, to be honest. Even the carded Dial-Tone was okay because he was carded (loose, was another story... I sold mine off). I like that Lady Jaye, too! It's just a roll of the dice, and right now it's starting to hit at less than 50% so I very well may have to stop getting them all and just cherry-pick. I won't be done with the Club's figures, but I think they've broken my spirit.

Also, I wanted to go to JoeCon up until this year, which I consider a proper, disastrous flop for their public image. Irreparable in my case. Granted, I didn't go (thank God), but from the lackluster attendee figures, to the reporting from attendees about shitty stuff happening to barely anything fucking shown (they have ALWAYS unveiled new stuff at JoeCon), I have to say I don't ever want to go to a JoeCon unless they start getting stellar reviews and get their shit together. Sounds like a fucking awful convention as far as I'm concerned.
 

Giga Bread

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I need to see some of these customs. Even my customs that consist of a half dozen custom printed parts don't cost that much.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I need to see some of these customs. Even my customs that consist of a half dozen custom printed parts don't cost that much.

It may have been a bit of an exaggeration, and I've done so many customs that I've stockpiled quite a bit of random fodder, so my costs per figure are probably lower than $50/per now, but still, Club figures (at cost, mind you) by and large are cheaper than any custom I've ever made. That doesn't count having to buy 12 figures to get 6-7 that I want, though. But still...

For example, my Frostbite custom... These are just estimates, but several figures I had to buy specifically for the custom. If it's not in stores or I didn't buy it for fodder, I usually have to buy the whole figure via trading, Amazon or eBay, etc.

Head: Slayer Design Studios $5
Torso/upper arms: 25th Arctic Hiss Driver $20ish on eBay
Lower arms: RoC Snow Job (Past/Present version) $6
Hands: 25th Snow Job (trade... $?)
Upper legs/knees/feet: RoC Storm Shadow ($5-8)
Lower legs: 25th TRU Firefly (Greenshirt 5-pack... $4)
Skirt: RoC Frostbite ($4)
Holster: RoC Destro TRU SRO version ($ Used the rest of the figure for an Interrogator custom)
fur collar: sculpted

 

Giga Bread

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Well, I see. I like to paint, I don't like paying $20 for an Arctic Hisstank Driver. Even if you went a more fiscally responsible route, those are still better than anything the Club will pump out.
 
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Mandingo Rex

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Well, I see. I like to paint, I don't like paying $20 for an Arctic Hisstank Driver.

I don't mind painting, but I like playability. I have moved from fully-painted figures to making customs with as little paint wear as possible. Just a personal preference. I think Eddie and Cloud have semi-started to move in that direction, too.
 

Joerhyno

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Why even bother getting all worked up over the Club Iceberg when you have that beauty sitting right there?

You mentioned being a 25th vintage MOSC collector, so I'm guessing that's why, let me ask you this? What'd you do with the release of Lifeline and Airtight(and I'm sure a couple others I'm missing) that were released on Renegades cards?
 

Mandingo Rex

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Why even bother getting all worked up over the Club Iceberg when you have that beauty sitting right there?

You mentioned being a 25th vintage MOSC collector, so I'm guessing that's why, let me ask you this? What'd you do with the release of Lifeline and Airtight(and I'm sure a couple others I'm missing) that were released on Renegades cards?

Because I want an official, carded Iceberg (that doesn't look like a 3-tiered shitcake)! Also, Iceberg used arms that required painting, and they have started showing paint rub over the years. I'm happy enough with my Frostbite, though. No paint rub to this day. I do want to redo the collar, but otherwise he's pretty solid.

Lifeline, Airtight, Low-Light, etc... I got one of each to open, and that's it. I only collect MOSC of the vintage art carded figures. That includes the 25th style vehicles, multi-packs and exclusives, but omits anything ROC, POC, 30th, etc. because I simply don't like the artwork.

Those figures were good enough, though, that I'm okay in not getting the vintage card art because they were so amazing sculpt-wise. Had they come on vintage cards, I would've easily paid $20 or more to get them carded on official "burst" card art. Sadly, that'll never happen.
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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I don't mind painting, but I like playability. I have moved from fully-painted figures to making customs with as little paint wear as possible. Just a personal preference. I think Eddie and Cloud have semi-started to move in that direction, too.

Yup...heck, I think I may've even moved that way before you did (?)...I don't even bother making a 25th style/ARAH inspired custom any longer if I can't do it almost completely paintless besides detail paint...


They just display better with the other factory figures better...same sheen and all...not to mention the joint wear issues...
 

lancelot

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If they see the numbers drop, they'll understand they're doing something wrong, and attempt to fix it, instead, people go in with this "GOTTA HAVE IT" attitude, and they sell out, they go for stupid amounts of money on ebay and they continue 'shitting out the "free" figure' after free figure.

That "I gotta have it" attitude is why we have crappy wave 1 figures clogging the pegs.
 

NSA

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Well then you have all the "Buy all the Wave 1 figures so we get Wave 4!!!" people.

I think they feel that a shitty product is better than no product, which I don't agree with at all. If they completely sell out of Wave 1/2 figures.. and they were all cheaper to make than the Wave 3/4 figures.. which do you think the bean counters are going to try and replicate with the next line?

I have to assume this kind of logic is how we got saddled with the IM3 shit.. hopefully it doesn't sell at ALL and they realize the error of their ways.. but with the higher profit margins.. who knows..
 

K-Tiger

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I could actually use another Wave 1 Rockblock, but just can't pull the trigger at 10.
 

Mandingo Rex

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I'm listening. Best as I can recollect.

Haha, I mean I've got nothing I really need right now unless you can somehow magic a Professor X my way, but I can send it to you if you need it, as I've got no use for it at the moment. I also have a TJ cast hand to fix that 'tarded-up dummy hand.

You'll just be forever indebted to me for $5 worth of plastic!
 

Giga Bread

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I prefer paintless customs, not because I'm lazy, but because I haven't figured out a good way to eliminate paint rub yet. :(

There's a lot of reasons, and yes, laziness is one of them, though not the top one...

I'm not doing a tutorial on how I do it because I'm sick of teaching, but an easy fix is to just swap out shoulder and elbow joints to a color that is a close match to what you want.
 

G.I.*EDDIE

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I'm not doing a tutorial on how I do it because I'm sick of teaching, but an easy fix is to just swap out shoulder and elbow joints to a color that is a close match to what you want.

I've done that before when I wanted brown joints on a SlipStream...but either the joints or arm pegs are permanently damaged...this can create slop I'm not particularly fond of...


Regardless, a fully painted figure does not fit in well with a factory collection...