209 replies to this topic

[VulcanFanatic]

DST has done it again! Just when i thought i was going to be able to contain my emotions after the Marlena Moreau situation in which i was infuriated because it was a Con exclusive that was going to be hard for collectors to attain, DST is going to release a Variant Troi as a freebie to retailers at the Baltimore Con . Theu only get one. What this Troi will look like is anybodys guess. So now we wont be able to even get this one unless you go on ebay and pay obscene amounts of money to get it unless DST releases it later for general release. I really want to know what DST is thinking on this one. Are they really so dumb as to think this wont stir up a furor among collectors? Maybe the devoted Buffy/Angel fans wouldnt mind missing a few figures here and there, but i would like to have the opportunity to pass on a figure if i want to, not just not be able to get it if i want it. Surely the folks at DST are collectors too and know that some collectors like to be completists, so why are they making it so dang hard to get these figures?

[slayerone76]

Its probably gonna be the Red suit variant everyone was asking for! This blows!

[Gul_Macet]

Do damn mad to really reply to this without going off. There is an exclusive Kirk too.

[Hirogen]

I hope that these Troi exclusive figures are made available to you guys. I am not collecting all the variants of Trek but I do collect other lines that do have variants (JLU-Grundy).

[Mason]

Are you kidding? How'd you find this out? If it's true, this is getting beyond a joke!!

[jason]

Well this sucks. When is this convention anyway.

[anderbre]

I was so ready to give up on the whole collecting thing after Tapestry Picard and Marlena and now this! This and the new Kirk Exclusive make me want to give it up all together! Good work DST! You really know how to drive away customers!

[FHC]

Ok even to me this is getting a little hard for me. I like rare I dig rare I want rare but enough is enough. Does anyone have anymore info on this? This sort of thing was what hurt Playmates with their 1701's

[LocutusOfTuborg]

I was so ready to give up on the whole collecting thing after Tapestry Picard and Marlena and now this! This and the new Kirk Exclusive make me want to give it up all together! Good work DST! You really know how to drive away customers!

Exactly my thinking... hm... this could drive me away from collecting the figures as well.

LoT

[Gothneo]

I have to agree with everything being said. I kinda of had a feeling that the SDCC figures woud be readliy available do to experince with past SDCC exclusives, and a large part of that is the effort by retailers such as NewForce and AFX and so I held back concern. But it sounds like these are DST direct, so unless they get with a program that holds some back for fans to order on site (like Side Show and SOTA do) they will kill this line.

I hope DST is reading these.

I want to suport this line, but when I see this type of marketing, it will become difficult for me to justify it.

[BStu]

Giveaways can be frustrating, though I do tend to see them as an industry necessity even if it frustrates collectors sometimes. Hopefully, if it is the red outfit casual Troi, they'll find a way to release her elsewhere since there are clearly a lot of fans who'd like that figure. Hard to see what else it could be, though. You have to assume straight repaint, and that's the only sensible one with the parts they have. I could see a couple different things you could do for Picard, Worf, or Riker but with Troi this is about it.

[slayerone76]

I just emailed DST asking them to reconsider offering figures in this fashion and to try and make these figures available to the general public.

I am trying to stay open minded about this, but I just cannot afford to pay for these on the e-Bay market.

I know that exclusives are a market-standard, but dang, these are ultra-mega exclusives. Variant Troi is only available to RETAILERS at the Boston Con. Maybe they will have some left over in the end and send them to the Radicals.

--crosses fingers and prays--

[Gothneo]

I'm not so frustrated about the Troi Variant, but I'm sympathetic to those who do. The Carded WNMHGB Kirk, frustrates me in a number of ways though, and now you have a "Fan Exclusive" w/o the rest of that crew!

Also as pointed out he's got the wrong starfleet gear.

DST knows (because I heard them say so repetatedly at SDCC) that Star Trek fans see red when companies make these kind of screw-ups, thus it's all the more confusing to me why they are doing it.

[knightone]

I just emailed DST asking them to reconsider offering figures in this fashion and to try and make these figures available to the general public.

I am trying to stay open minded about this, but I just cannot afford to pay for these on the e-Bay market.

I know that exclusives are a market-standard, but dang, these are ultra-mega exclusives. Variant Troi is only available to RETAILERS at the Boston Con. Maybe they will have some left over in the end and send them to the Radicals.

--crosses fingers and prays--

I have a feeling the carded Kirk is going to be available after the con in at least limited numbers. The Troi repaint is the only thing I can see not being available as it is to the retailers. They may repackage it in some other way as a more readily available exclusive, though.

[jason]

Has anyone heard anything else about this. I will be really dissapointed in DST doesnt release this Troi repaint to the public. This is becoming like the Playmates line but instead of 1701 of Tapesty Picards theres only 17 of them. (Maybe a bit of a exageration but you get my point)

I just hope like the Playmates Picard that DST will release this version of Troi

[Gothneo]

Well... I'm hoping that they will do something like I hear they've done for the Marleana, which is to card a fw and offer them up for sale on thier website.

I wouldn't have a problem with that. Now I know some completest might want to have both the bagged and carded version, but then I think you need to have to be commited to paying extra costs.

My big thing is I always think every Unique Character should be widely available in some form or another, It's stuff like marlena or Capt Pike, who are unique, and then offered only as an exclusive that worries me.

This has always been my previous position, but I think VF has converted me a bit due to the sheer number of these exclusives that are coming out, and I wouldn't deny any collector getting the version of the character they want... especially when this is pretty much 100% collector supported. Shoot, if they want to make limited runs then pre-sell them on thier site... just so long as the fans get a shot at getting them.

[FHC]

I have a feeling the carded Kirk is going to be available after the con in at least limited numbers. The Troi repaint is the only thing I can see not being available as it is to the retailers. They may repackage it in some other way as a more readily available exclusive, though.

Well in that case I would want both of them. Also, rather then saying it is like the 1701's it's more like the Trifold Borg. Only 500 were made.

http://www.trektoy.com/rare.htm

[Tiberius]

I dont expect these Troi's to be repackaged for redistribution, of course we could always hope. In the case of the Marlenas, there are a very few available on cards, that will be signed, Rick suggested they would be at least double the price of the original figures. I dont mean the "free figure" but rather the regular ones. That and there are about 50 to be made in total. If not fifty, then some real small number that is not unfair for BarBara to sign.

[Gothneo]

I don'y have a problem with such a small number of fiures being made available... between the con give aways, the ones available from retailers and the singed carded exclusives, the figure itself is available fairly easily... you can still order a set from AFX if you need them. So the carded signed ones I see as an extra thing for those who want it, and at $30 I think they are priced right.

[Mason]

I couldn't care less about whether Barbra Luna has signed the card or not. Being a MIB/MOC collector, I just prefer carded figures.