Within the past couple of days I had a “spirited” conversation regarding scalping, specifically with regards to convention exclusives. Since San Diego Comicon is in full swing now, I’m asking that you all use good judgement should you seek to find exclusives, via the net, be that places like eBay or others.

Personally, I ABHOR the practice of scalping. It does nothing than to serve the person who is doing the scalping. Yes, you may get an item you wanted, but often having to pay a price MORE than you wanted to. So again use your own judgement here.

I submit to you TWO instances already of the douchebag practice. Yes, that is what I think of it…

Mega Bloks has FREE giveaway figures for SDCC 2013 this year. I’ve already written about it. Last night was Pre-view night, and some folks already got their hands on these freebies and are scalping them on eBay. Just LOOK at the ridiculous asking prices:

$15 plus $2.50 shipping and $29.99 w/free shipping, respectively.

ARE YOU FRACKIN’ SERIOUS?!?!!!!

Please folks, do NOT give in to temptation. Certainly NOT with these minifigs. Mega has already stated these will be EVENT giveaways. It is NOT exclusive to SDCC only. As I’ve already reported, they will be giving away 1,000 PER DAY at SDCC. There will be a few more conventions and such that these will be given away. They are going to be EASY to find for a FAIR price, if not FREE. I’m reminded of an old saying. “A fool and his money are soon parted.” PLEASE don’t be that fool.

I’m trying my darndest to secure some of these as GIVEAWAYS on the blog here in the near future.

I can’t fault the manufacturers/retailers/etc. They use these as marketing tools. I get that. But those con goers that profiteer by racing around cons to snag exclusives to resell…ugh, that just disgusts me. Worse when people use the excuse that they do it to fund or in part reimburse their trip. Folks, if you’re already going to the con anyway, why are you passing this cost off on to others. Just a grade ‘A’ douche move, IMO.

I go through this every year during SDCC. I ALWAYS seem to have this argument somewhere. This year it was on a Halo collecting Facebook page. I tend to go a little overboard with my viewpoint on this subject. So to that group, apologies if I angered anyone. I can’t help that I’m very passionate against scalping. And that will never change.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t sell stuff. But be reasonable. If you have to wait in a long line, then yes, a REASONABLE addition to cost is acceptable. NOT what these douchés are asking above. That’s just ridiculous.

To get these at SDCC it’s barely more than walking up and asking for one. You may need to take a minute to register an e-mail. Is that really worth $15? or $30? REALLY?

Okay, enough of the rant on the subject this year. Regardless of this, I still look forward to what comes out of SDCC each year.

Final note, comments/replies will be closed for this post. If you reply, positively or negatively, it will NOT be posted. I don’t want to perpetuate the argument any further than this, this year. Thanks for understanding.

-Sal

Mega Bloks, licensor of Halo building block toys, will be giving away a FREE Halo minifigure at San Diego Comicon this year. See below:

Of note, this is the first with a GREEN visor.

Here is the official text from Mega on this:

We will be giving away 1000 exclusive Mega Bloks Halo figurines daily, and we will be displaying a massive Mega Bloks Halo Promethean Knight build! We will also be holding a piece-count contest on-site where the closest guess will win ALL 4 Mega Bloks Halo “Lights and Sounds” sets from the Fall line-up! 

**** If a guesser falls within 5 pieces of the official count, they will win the ENTIRE line-up!

And more Halo collecting news at SDCC:

Microsoft-led Halo collectors pin program:
Apart from our own booth, we are also participating in the Microsoft-led Halo collectors pin program. Come and get a stamp from us to collect an exclusive Halo pin! There are numerous pins to collect from different Halo licensors.

I will be trying to secure some of these minifigs to give away on the blog. If successful, you’ll see contests for these in September during HFFL’s two-year anniversary celebration.

-Sal