Tales of Buyers Remorse...

[AcidDragon]

It was bad execution and bad materials. They should've used a urethane with a low shore hardness for the spikes so they could bend without breaking. Also, the stands that they came with which plugged into the LED on their bodies didn't fit very well and they'd fall off all the time. Just poorly engineered overall. They did look cool, but the toys themselves were a real let down.

[Idiot Savant]

That's a bummer...do you still has them or did they meet their makers?

[Idiot Savant]

Slag was my favorite Dinobot, and in fact my favorite non-Decepticon of all Transformers. I would buy an official Masterpiece version in a second, but have zero interest in an expensive, likely poor quality, unauthorized version. That Masterpiece Soundwave really is awesome. This os absolutely my pick for best toy of this year, or of the last few for that matter. It is showing up more frequently at TRU stores these days. Secondary prices have also cooled down, so it is more likely a toy this expensive will remain on shelves longer now, with a smaller profit margin for resellers. I may even buy a second some day.

Okay, another story: When the first Marvel Legends BAF series (Galactus) was released, I quickly bought every figure in the series - ML were still around $10.00 maximum at the time- except Bullseye, who I could not find in stores for weeks. I broke down and bought one from a specialty shop for $22.00. Everyone knows exactly where this is going, of course. Within days, Bullseyes were everywhere, at normal retail. Then, just over a month after the series was released to stores, Target had all ML figures on sale for $6.99 each, including every figure in the Galactus series. This lesson is how I learned patience, and is why I always caution others not to get frustrated and pay over retail for any current figures. Every time I have ever been tempted since, I decided to wait, and it nearly always paid off. The few times it did not, I simply went without. Especially in newer figures, with much higher retail prices, the secondary markup can be brutal.

Beast, here's a pic from Fan Toys "Slag" Dinobot...it looks awesome and I'd love to see it in Triceratops mode, but for $200 I can just admire it.

[beastovjudgement]

That Slag knock-off definitely falls in the category of "look at the cool pictures, but do not buy".

I bet everyone who bought Strobo at eBay prices earlier this year, for the "privilege" of being among the first to own one, are expressing lamentations this week.

[AcidDragon]

Haha, I'm sure you're right, beast. Thankfully I "behaved" this year and waited for him to return. Speaking of eBay and buyer's remorse. Pretty much every time I buy something that's "rare" at what seems to be a fair price at the time and then 1000 bootleg/knock-offs of the same item show up on eBay later for 1/10th of the price.

[Caleb]

Yeah, that Strobo business bites. I mean, sure, I guess it could be worse (he could've arrived at Big Lots - I think the people who claim to have seen him there are lying). But, really, it sucks that they didn't wait at least a year before offering him at a discount. Y'know, give the guys who shelled out for him earlier in the year a chance to feel special for a little while?

My own cases of Buyers' Remorse? Well, Black Friday always gets me recounting this to anyone who asks why I brave the craziness of BF shopping. When Star Trek '09 came out on Blu-Ray, I couldn't wait to buy it, so I rushed to Meijer at midnight (it was closer than Wal-Mart) and bought the thing for 30 bucks. Three weeks later, on Black Friday, Star Trek was eight bucks. I was so annoyed at having wasted the extra money, I told myself I'd only buy recent releases on Black Friday. I've stuck to my guns on that since. Yeah, my hauls might seem extreme, but paying $150 for well over $400 worth of Blu-Rays ensures I'll never regret buying a movie again.

Okay, except Sucker Punch. Buying that was a terrible idea.

On the toy front, I probably SHOULD regret my various Gremlin puppets and the Medicom Gizmo, but I love 'em too much. Ditto NECA's 18" Alien and my Hot Toys figures (their Iron Man RULES). But I still cringe when I think about dropping $80 on Palisades' Sweetums (from The Muppets) figure. The thing was IMPOSSIBLE to find when I was collecting all of The Muppets, so I cracked and bought one at my LCS for $75 plus change. Ugh. Now I see him for $40 on Ebay on a pretty constant basis, and it really makes me mad. And I will NEVER tell anyone how much I spent on my Resident Evil 2 Claire Redfield statue. Suffice to say it was a stupid impulse buy at C2E2, and I've been kicking myself for three years.

I've had Buyers Remorse with a few presents as well. My brother constantly asks for old Hartford Whalers memorabilia, and I'm not entirely sure he knows how much Whalers crap goes for on the back market, since nobody carries it anymore here in Illinois.

[loolar]

Gleek. Paid somewhere around $70, about a month before all of them "mysteriously" showed up on ebay and were going for less than $20. That said, he's frickin awesome, so at least I still love the figure; I just hate the damn market.

After I couldn't get Ram Man in January, I finally bought a loose lot that had him and Tri-Klops and Man-at-Arms... it was a bit pricey, but fair considering what they were all going for. Anyway, when I opened that box and started posing that massive hunk of plastic, I was giggling like a kid. No regrets there.

However, I'm down to the last few MOTUC to get caught up that are at ridiculous price levels: Teela, Beast Man, Scareglow, Whiplash, Roboto, Fisto, Sorceress, Shadow Weaver, and Kobra Khan. Just coming to peace that I probably will never have any of those.