D23: Photos and more

[carslover]

Wow, that thing about the store workers possibly swiping them surprised me but when I think about it, it wouldn't surprise me. I don't know how many collectors like me work at the Walmart I get them from.

when I worked at my local target over 20 years ago (long before cars diecast) the collector items ex. Barbie, hot wheels etc never made it to the floor as the receiving manager would set them aside and buy them herself

[boogity]

this just shows what a complete set of ignor-anuses mattel are

[maxgc53]

So, to clarify.... I'm off to D23, I really want a set for me. However, I am going to buy 30 of them.

Where's the logic? I was going for one anyway so the other 29 are a bonus waiting to profit from.

In that scenario, all the issues you raised are moot, even the eBay ones as if you sell on there, you know about the fees.

If they limited it to one per ticket holder, they would have plenty left after the event but that's not what they want, as I said, it's all about the dollar.

Surely you wouldn't buy a car off me for double the price merely cos I bought it yesterday from the dealer and its a desirable model?

Just makes no sense. If everyone boycotted the resellers they would be stuck with stock and would have little choice but to sell at a slight profit rather than almost double the initial outlay.

All this because the company couldn't give a shot about its customer base!

Your posts never cease to amaze me. I went down there on Friday, picked up 10 of them. I spent nearly 200 in accomodation/gas to get down there, so im not going to just pick up 1. I need to make a profit off of reselling them, because the trip cost me a ton. Im a speculator as well, of course I collect for fun, but also the potential profits down the line make me excited.


The reason they were much more expensive? The molds. They are more limited run, and larger, So it adds to the cost. Plus the packaging and custom box is amazing.

Strong secondary market prices show a hobby is thriving. You need to stop complaining about people getting multiples, when this is a free market. Buy what you can, and if that guy above paid over the retail price, so what? Prices rise when demand is higher than supply!

If you hate markups on Cars, dont even bother collecting lego, lol. Sets go up in value 5x over in the span of 2 years after retirement.

It's just the nature of highly collectible items.

[nicholas.alipaz]

maxgc53++

[John in Missouri]

I'm most confused as to why Mattel only made around 1,000 of them.. If they really wanted to make a profit wouldn't they make enough for everyone?

Because Mattel has no idea what Cars collectors are like. If they did, they would have made 4,000 sets and sold them for $80.

[yuffie]

Your posts never cease to amaze me. I went down there on Friday, picked up 10 of them. I spent nearly 200 in accomodation/gas to get down there, so im not going to just pick up 1. I need to make a profit off of reselling them, because the trip cost me a ton. Im a speculator as well, of course I collect for fun, but also the potential profits down the line make me excited.


The reason they were much more expensive? The molds. They are more limited run, and larger, So it adds to the cost. Plus the packaging and custom box is amazing.

Strong secondary market prices show a hobby is thriving. You need to stop complaining about people getting multiples, when this is a free market. Buy what you can, and if that guy above paid over the retail price, so what? Prices rise when demand is higher than supply!

If you hate markups on Cars, dont even bother collecting lego, lol. Sets go up in value 5x over in the span of 2 years after retirement.

It's just the nature of highly collectible items.

I disagree that you need to make a profit just because you have choosen to spend money to travel to an event. I used to travel up and down the uk in the 90s collecting records, but it never occurred to me to buy multiple items to try to claw back the money I had to spend. The travel costs were all part of the hobby.

And had buyers been limited to one item each you could have bought one online after the event and been spared all the expense and hassle of going to d23 in the first place. Everyone wins.

I do agree that the lego market is even worse though. The proud boasts that people have sets gathering dust at home just in the hope of making money down the line is ridiculous. Having said that at least lego do try to limit the number of sets you can buy of limited edition sets like the 41999 4x4 crawler.

[maxgc53]

Now seems like the perfect time to buy one on ebay because the market is flooded with everyone selling all the extra they got. Once the first round sells and the market thins out I believe the price will go up again. I'm thinking $300 by xmas is what you will pay if you wait.

I agree. I think when people will realize just how rare and desirable this set is, the price will be through the roof. I reckon 300 by christmas, and 500 by the end of 2015. And then hopefully a CAGR (Compound annual growth) at around 10% after that.

Especially if it is true they limited the Convoy bros to 1000 sets.

Btw, I was pretty much speechless when I opened one of my convoy bro sets. They are done SO WELL!

Screw the naysayers, Im thankful mattel blessed us with these. These are hands down the most detailed and amazing Cars ever produced. Hands down

I was really slowing down my Cars collecting recently, but this release has definitely fired me up to keep going.

[maxgc53]

I disagree that you need to make a profit just because you have choosen to spend money to travel to an event. I used to travel up and down the uk in the 90s collecting records, but it never occurred to me to buy multiple items to try to claw back the money I had to spend. The travel costs were all part of the hobby.

And had buyers been limited to one item each you could have bought one online after the event and been spared all the expense and hassle of going to d23 in the first place. Everyone wins.

I do agree that the lego market is even worse though. The proud boasts that people have sets gathering dust at home just in the hope of making money down the line is ridiculous. Having said that at least lego do try to limit the number of sets you can buy of limited edition sets like the 41999 4x4 crawler.

Well, For me it makes sense to buy when I feel something is going to appreciate. I am a big time stock trader as well, and I also invest in Lego.

I would have gotten a set on ebay if I was going to get one. But the fact is I want to make money when I can, to fund this expensive hobby. The money goes back into more Cars.

Lego investing is not ridiculous either. Sets like Taj Mahal sold in 2010 for 299.99 are now worth 1,500. That is pretty serious money for something like that.

[TopherDawg]

The good thing about the lego sets is you can find the building instructions and order the parts relatively cheap. I was missing the Green Grocer and built it less than what it originally cost at retail. Even with most of the unique pieces a work around can be found.

[Bombom77]

My posts amaze you?

Whist I accept it is a free market, we are talking about childrens toys. In case you hadnt noticed theres a worldwide recession going on where people are struggling to make ends meet and are being made homeless.= yet its fine to charge double what it cost to purchase "because I had to queue for hours!" give me a break.

Yuffie hit the nail on the head. Had everyone been limited to one, you likely wouldnt have had attend D23 at all.

"I spent nearly 200 in accomodation/gas to get down there, so im not going to just pick up 1. I need to make a profit off of reselling them, because the trip cost me a ton"

That comment alone tells me all I need to know about you as a collector sir. You were not attending D23 for the experience, you were going purely to buy sets to resell.

As I said, you are all free to buy and sell how you like but I personally think its appalling that people play this game when we are talking childrens toys, even if they are one of a kind.

Just my opinion.

[yuffie]

The good thing about the lego sets is you can find the building instructions and order the parts relatively cheap. I was missing the Green Grocer and built it less than what it originally cost at retail. Even with most of the unique pieces a work around can be found.

true - i am currently doing exactly the same thing with the green grocer as i have no intention of lining the pockets of an ebay seller

to me the joy of lego is building the sets - with my son or on my own - not trying to speculate on how much money a set might make me a few years after lego stop producing it

[nicholas.alipaz]

I think this thread has digressed quite a bit. Perhaps we should get back on topic? D23? Or perhaps we are all discussing "more" as the title of the thread says?

[cac1959]

Yes - let's please discuss D23 in this thread...

We can talk about Lego in the Other Collectibles section of PCD:

http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...r-Collectibles

[PopeMobile]

Can someone describe what the lines were like for the Convoy Brothers at D23? Was it a long wait in line and how were people handling it when they got to the front and said they wanted '20 sets'? Did people come with dolly's to load all the boxes on?

[TopherDawg]

Can someone describe what the lines were like for the Convoy Brothers at D23? Was it a long wait in line and how were people handling it when they got to the front and said they wanted '20 sets'? Did people come with dolly's to load all the boxes on?

I got in the Convoy line the first time around 10am on Friday, before the General Admission people came in. There was maybe 25 or 30 in front of me. It took me about 1 hour to get through. When I was done, the line was about 100 deep.

There was a few problems. First, when the Mattel Rep called the person to go up and place the order, they had the Cars displays around the register. Naturally the person would stop and look at all the new cars and planes. They should of done that later, or stepped out of line to go look. Get your butt up to the register and place your order. Second problem was, there was only 1 register. They had 3 to 4 people behind the counter pulling boxes but it wasn't very efficient and the cashier waited for everything to be on the table for me to grab, before ringing me up, instead of doing it while the others were pulling merch. Then of course they had to keep making trips to the stock room to pull out more sets.

To me, the staff looked like marketing interns, except for the woman that was directing the line, but she was 15 feet away from the register and mostly talking to the people in the line. I think someone with some management experience would of realized that big orders were hitting and stopped that in its tracks. I realize some of the big orders were to help others, but that is why they brought help. Have each person place their maximum order instead of them doing the heavy lifting and that person just places an order for 60 units. Thats why they charge a fee to get the item in the first place.

A few people had the little wire rolling briefcase cart to stack them up on. One group talked the d23 staff into getting a rolling cart, janitorial stuff and they used that. Most of them stacked their stuff up against a divider in the aisle and made multiple trips. But that is what caused the problems, because once the general public came in, it became a hazard.

I don't thing anything will change in the future, Mattel and Disney have enough experience to know how to handle it properly, but they got through it, so it'll just keep happening.