dsa_shea

Thanks for the heads up on that price. I'll probably pick up the 3Ds set for the characters and stow the portal for the day that we get the system.

Decker

I hear it's a totally different game on the 3DS; it's more of a traditional platformer. I might grab it myself, but with the Vita dropping in one week, having a second Portal of Power suddenly appear in my house might be too conspicuous.

BobO'Link

I blame it all on gougers/whorders (nice descriptive word there dsa_shea) like the one Michael Corvin saw at TRU. Based on amazon marketplace sales I saw before Christmas people like this saw the popularity and created the shortage with this practice. As long as people keep supporting those grossly overpriced 3rd party sales you'll continue to see people buying up all the stock to overprice on amazon/ebay/flea market/etc. while those who only want 1 or 2 are left hunting. I sincerely hope stocks get back to "normal" and these people get stuck with very large amounts of the characters the day after their return option expires. I'd love to be present at the CS desk at any store when someone brings back a large quanty of these only to be denied a refund. While I appreciate the "free market" system, people like this are no different than scalpers who purchase large blocks of tickets to hot shows/concerts for the sole reason of selling them at obscene prices.

Other than that, supposedly these are somewhat difficult to produce as each character has a unique RFID chip as well as that unique online card tied to that chip.

fujishig

More likely is that you'll see a glut of these when the hoarders can't make their money and return all their stuff within the 60 day or whatever window.

As an aside, I see these guys every time I go to Target when it opens before work, which means they're out there pretty much every day rotating to different locations trying to get stuff. I realize they diversify and that there are like super valuable hotwheels out there, but even with returns that's a lot of capital, a lot of competition, and I would think a lot of gas and effort for what doesn't seem to be a lot of return. I'm also a toy collector, but I swear I've given up on a lot of lines because California is scalper central.

dsa_shea

We grabbed the 3DS version yesterday for the figures despite not having the system yet. We will just stash the game and the portal away for the day we decide to get the system. Figure it as 20 bucks for the 3 characters and 20 for the game and portal.

BobO'Link

We "finished" the game tonight. The credits are like the Energizer Bunny... they keep going, and going, and going, ... Of course, we're really at only ~53% completion wise. Still have a few Scrolls, Legendary Treasures, getting through levels under the time limit, etc. to do (and I still have the Darklight Crypt expansion they don't know about).

Considering the overall cost of the game I *really* wish there were more levels and the levels were longer. Compared to something like Mario Galaxy it feels way too short. But it's *still* a fun game and even though levels are not randomized I think we'll play it through a few times before they get really bored with it.

Goldberg74

The big guy's name is Tree Rex. That's cool!

Goldberg74

... my buddy went to the 2012 International Toy Fair in NYC this last weekend. He told me that he would pick up some swag for me.

He sent me a text with this pic:



He must have gotten me...



He's on the flight back now and is stopping by my office tomorrow.

Canis Firebrand

I saw a woman today in TRU buying about all the stock of the 3 character packs. She had 4-5 of the TRU exclusive sets. I would have snagged one if she didn't horde them all in her cart. She went on about how she had to get some for her "kids" yeah, like her kids need 5 or more of each character. She also went on about how she kept checking other stores and getting their stock. She had to have dropped about $300 at TRU. The sets wee $25 each and she had 10-15 of them in the cart.

Goldberg74

That sucks. Sheesh.

Canis Firebrand

That metallic figure looks pretty cool Goldberg. Does it work the same as the standard one? I thought I had recalled reading it had different attacks, but I'm not sure. Still cool to have a rare figure like that.

BobO'Link

I stopped by WM today for some napkins and found they had:

Cynder
Flameslinger
Chop Chop

The last 3 we needed to have all currently available figures. Of course I got one of each! They also had singles of Whirlwind, Double Trouble, and Drill Sergeant.

Then off to the LCS to get the weekly haul where one of the guys told me he'd seen all three of the expansion packs at the local Hasting on Monday night. After I got my comics I swung by Hastings to discover they were all still there. I got the Empire of Ice expansion (the only one we need)!

And all were MSRP (actually $7.96 for the singles)! So at least the WM and Hastings here aren't participating in gouging at the shelf.

Now to decide just how to parcel out all these new characters. The last one the kids *know* I have is Bash. The current "kids don't known we have" total is 2 expansion packs, 7 characters, and the DS core game.

BobO'Link

Wow! That's a *very* cool looking figure. Way cooler than the gold and silver ones. By sure to let us know if the stats are different!

Canis Firebrand

I need to find the Ice pack. I saw it weeks ago before I had the game and didn't think to pick it up. I didn't know, at that point, how much the horders/collectors made finding the figures difficult.

dsa_shea

Fixed it for you!

Canis Firebrand

Nice..

I did find one of the figures I wanted yesterday at Target. They had a bunch of single figures, I can't remember which one. I think it was the Tech dragon/dinosaur. Mixed in the middle was a single Prism Break. I needed a Earth/Mountain character so that did quite nice. I had bought a Hex a while back in a single pack because I liked the look of the character.

I snagged a 3DS copy from Best Buy when they had it cheap to get the dark spyro one. Just need to sell the 3DS game and portal as I don't have a 3DS.

Groucho

I don't know why the retailers don't simply limit you on what you can buy. They've done it in the past with other popular toys.

Decker

Because they make money when they sell their stock off the shelves?

Besides, I've seen limits of super-popular just-released toys in the month before Christmas, but never for a four or five month-old old toy in February.

Michael Corvin

I reset Drobot last night. The Blade Gear path sucked ass and we never used him because of it. Got him halfway upgraded in short while.

I also took all the figures I have stashed and put them in the game to take advantage of the XP/stat bonuses. It also gives me a chance to do all 30 Challenge levels. I've done all 30 with Stealth Elf and about 20 with VooDood. Both are pretty badass upgraded. Stealth Elf's speed is sitting at 98/100 w/o wearing any hats.

Unfortunately I thought I'd be able to disassociate them from the game by resetting them, or tying them to a new save game but nope, they're stuck in my collection in the menus.

At this point that doesn't matter. They are going to get purchased anyway.

Obi-Wanma

I've had TRU refuse to sell me more than 2 copies of the same action figure before, but it was quite some time ago. It was an X-Men branded figure (Elektra if I'm remembering correctly), probably sometime in the late nineties, and it wasn't a particularly hot toy or a holiday season. There were 3 of them and they only let me buy 2, and yes, I was buying them to resell them, as the book value was quite high at the time. I was a broke college kid.

fujishig

Like I said before, they'll regret it later when 90% of those get returned all at once once the toy is no longer hot.

But hey, TRU tries their best to limit this kind of thing by jacking up their pricing, right?

Draven

At this point I just need Cynder and the Darklight and Empire expansions and I think I have everything that's currently available.

BobO'Link

We had a similar issue in that we have several different save games going and had put some new characters in one of the games but it didn't show up in the collections of the others so the challenges were not available, nor bonuses the character gave to others of the same element. The "cure" is to take ownership of the character in the "new" game (via the management menu on the character). It'll still show up in the old game collection menu and overall stats but will now be considered a "visitor". I've not looked at whether or not the challenge or other game bonuses for a character "moved" to another save game via "ownership" is still available in the old game but would think they would be until that save is deleted. Much like using a figure to open a new level. I'll be on that game until it's deleted. I'm not sure why you would want to get them out of your "collection in the menus" on a save game.

Michael Corvin

Cause I haven't given the figs to the kids yet. They have no idea I have them.

Goldberg74

Yup, I'm the proud owner of a Metallic Cynder. The packaging was crushed so I opened it. Call me kookie.

He's a cool little guy to play with.