Beware, the Vendor of the Eater of Worlds!
A couple months back WizKids launched a minor furor among fans of their Heroclix line when they announced that the Marvel universe's Galactus, the Eater of Worlds would be produced as a convention exclusive for a select list of seven of this year's (mostly comics) conventions. Many who had little to no hope - usually due to a mix of geography and finances - of making it to one of these conventions and likely laying out $75 or so to get one were immediately and openly upset. They knew that they would be at the mercy of the secondary market, with anticipated prices of at least $200, or simply doing without. The company lackeys and kneejerk apologists rushed in to calm down some of them, often pronouncing those who wouldn't be mollified to be crybabies.
I wasn't thrilled with the decision, but I could see some of the business sense behind it - especially as this could be viewed as a special effort to produce a figure that they'd hitherto determined to not be financially viable to produce and distribute through retail channels, and it helped me to decide about whether or not to attend the Wizard World East convention in nearby Philadelphia this year -- one of the conventions scheduled to have this giant Heroclix figure available.
Fortunately, I haven't bought my tickets to the event yet. Why "fortunately", you ask?
The first of the main, open for all events where these figures are being offered for sale is this weekend's Wizard convention in Los Angeles, which opened Friday. Various first-person accounts of the debacle have since appeared, one of which is this thread from the HCRealms forums.
In short, not only were a relatively tiny supply of them made available, at the absolute most 75 per day - in itself an inexcusable move - but several of the accounts make it clear that dealers and other people with special connectjons were able to reduce that tiny number substantially.
As for me, with Philadephia being the next stop in the convention circuit for these I'm left to watch for any sincere promises from Wizkids that, first, they recognize this as a huge blunder they must correct, and, second, that it will be corrected in time for Philadelphia.
In my view, anyone who makes it to one of these conventions, especially if they make it on the first or up through the first half of the second day, and is also willing to wait in line at WizKids' booth, should be assured of having the opportunity of laying out an already exhorbitant amount of money for this item. They've plainly gone through a great expense in time, money and inconvenience, and deserve that much.
To backtrack a little, the way these convention premiums work, one would pay $75 outright for this figure, and if they pony up for $25 more in other merchandise they should receive two other convention exclusives as, essentially, bonus items: a special Power Cosmic version of Galactus' original herald, the Silver Surfer, and a truly invisible version of the Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman.
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