darkSpyro

Quote: DrillSarge

Hey everyone just settledown. I found out my daughter had a seizure and is being rushed to the hospital. She's only 11 and episodes that last over 5 minutes usually result in death. Her's lasted about 10 so I'm lucky to still have her. Sometimes things are more important. We will all get ninjini for 15 bucks eventually. Just be glad you have healthy children and let the heartless money hungry scalpers and companies worry about what is most important to them. Money. I'm going to be away from this Site for however long it takes my child to recover and find out what is going on in an 11 year old brain to cause this. Please send your thoughts and prayers my way as I am entering uncharted waters. Suddenly skylanders do not seem that important anymore. I wish you all the best in hunting for your skylanders and I'm glad u didn't make the trip bc I don't know what would've happened if I was all the way in new york and this had happened. I hope the scalpers feel good about themselves for taking advantage of parents who want nothing more than to put a smile on their children's faces. My child is not selfish and can wait till the actual release the only thing I wish is that she is around another day let alone months. You all have been really helpful and I appreciate everything but now it is time for me to go. Good luck to you all.

my heart goes out to you and your family in this time of need buddy hope your daughter will be ok as i nearly lost my daughter when she was two to Pneumonia another hour the doctor said and she would have been dead so i know exactly where your coming from good luck and keep us all updated fingers crossed. Alex.

Well I was thinking, how could they have done this to meet their goals of generating excitement for the kids and press, yet curtailing the scalpers. What was the solution to the problem? It's easy to complain, but why not come up with something better?

I don't think a wide release of Ninjini is necessarily it. Maybe they aren't ready yet, Thumpy and EB came out recently anyways. Maybe they just don't have enough stock for a nationwide release. It's hard to tell this from the outside.

Well, I think the answer is simple. They should have handed out the giants that are already out, including EB and Thump. You see, most kids don't have every released figure, just us and our kids, for the most part. Take most of those kids, hand them an Eye Brawl and they would have been just as thrilled as getting a Ninjini. And it would have completely curbed scalper desire to cash in, because they wouldn't be able to flip it for enough money to make it worthwhile. Kids would have still lined up (maybe not early morning, but really they should be in school). Kids would have still been excited.

You see, by handing out something that isn't out, and according to reports won't be out for a while, you invite the greedy to cut into the event. There are over 30 "in hand" auctions on eBay right now, several that obviously have more than one to sell (and a few that have already sold or haven't been put up yet, waiting for the initial rush to die down). That's over 10% of the ones they handed out that have been put up within a half day of the event starting. That means that a significant portion of your promotion went to people that were more interested in profit than your product.

all the in hand ninjini's are listed at $300 on ebay now...insane!

Quote: DrillSarge

Hey everyone just settledown. I found out my daughter had a seizure and is being rushed to the hospital. She's only 11 and episodes that last over 5 minutes usually result in death. Her's lasted about 10 so I'm lucky to still have her. Sometimes things are more important. We will all get ninjini for 15 bucks eventually. Just be glad you have healthy children and let the heartless money hungry scalpers and companies worry about what is most important to them. Money. I'm going to be away from this Site for however long it takes my child to recover and find out what is going on in an 11 year old brain to cause this. Please send your thoughts and prayers my way as I am entering uncharted waters. Suddenly skylanders do not seem that important anymore. I wish you all the best in hunting for your skylanders and I'm glad u didn't make the trip bc I don't know what would've happened if I was all the way in new york and this had happened. I hope the scalpers feel good about themselves for taking advantage of parents who want nothing more than to put a smile on their children's faces. My child is not selfish and can wait till the actual release the only thing I wish is that she is around another day let alone months. You all have been really helpful and I appreciate everything but now it is time for me to go. Good luck to you all.

Sorry to hear about your kid. My son has epilepsy its not a fun thing to watch and see ones child go thru a seizure I feel your pain and pray for her recovery.

No one is being "fleeced" here. Buying Ninjini early is a voluntary act of purchasing a luxury good that will be available at mass market soon.

Quote: Zing

No one is being "fleeced" here. Buying Ninjini early is a voluntary act of purchasing a luxury good that will be available at mass market soon.

Some folks would say that you're "blaming the victim" and that what you said is like saying "She deserved it, look at what she was wearing."

Yeah, some folks really say that kind of stuff.

On a more serious note, Ninjini's were given out to members of the press that attended Activision's event for SWAP Force, as well as those given out at the TRU event.

Anyone care to guess how many of the Ninjini's on eBay are from the Presser vs. the TRU event?

Hearts out to DrillSarge. I can't imagine what I'd do in your situation with my kid.

I just have to throw out there that I am psyched by the news of so many actual children getting the Ninjini's. I'm a grown man who collects these and lives in NY, and the reason I didn't go is in the hope that the starry-eyed kids would be able to get them instead. I'm over saying shame on you scalpers, but honestly I would have said just that if I would have heard about the line being nothing but scalpers strong arming the kids and camping for days. As far as the parents taking their kids out for the day, that is not negligence or bad parenting, people. That's an adventure for a kid that they'll never forget. Kids at targeted Skylanders age can take time off from school and it's not the end of the world. Deal with it.

You can tell pretty much which ones are from the presser or the event. The press ones say something like "Toy Show 2013", or there is one that is selling both that and the Chop Chop (which was only given at the presser) combined for the low, low price of $500.

The TRU Event ones usually say something like "1/300" or list text from the event. One of them has an image of the poster from it. Most of the listings are of this type, the press ones seemed to only start showing up this morning, I'm not sure when they held the press event - maybe last night?

A few people also have multiple listings (and images showing they have more than one), so they obviously either pulled some shenanigans at the event, or went to both.

wow...crap load of these on ebay now going for ridiculous amounts of money. Some people really are insane spending that much on a figure that will be on general release before we know it. These idiots are the ones that fuel the scalpers.

On another note!....Blue Chop Chop variant ony $3,499.00!!...lolol
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SKYLAN...=item589be4de1f

Thoughts and prayers to your daughter Drillsarge. Things like this put the triviality of toy collecting perspective.

Quote: DarkPr1nce

As far as the parents taking their kids out for the day, that is not negligence or bad parenting, people. That's an adventure for a kid that they'll never forget. Kids at targeted Skylanders age can take time off from school and it's not the end of the world. Deal with it.

Nah, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't a huge deal as long as they are caught up and not falling behind in their studies. You would have to lie to get them out, at least in my state. Legally they require a valid excuse to be let out of school (and at three unexcused they risk expulsion/truancy involvement), and it has to be either family, medical or education based.

I would think though that TRU wouldn't be encouraging it, and maybe should have had the event later in the day or on a weekend. They are looking for good press from this, and you know there is some up and coming local reporter somewhere that would seize on the opportunity to film a bunch of kids skipping school. If a national cable news channel runs a big story on a half second of showing an alien's blue butt in Mass Effect, you know they would be all over this if they had nothing better to cover.

Quote: DrillSarge

Hey everyone just settledown. I found out my daughter had a seizure and is being rushed to the hospital. She's only 11 and episodes that last over 5 minutes usually result in death. Her's lasted about 10 so I'm lucky to still have her. Sometimes things are more important. We will all get ninjini for 15 bucks eventually. Just be glad you have healthy children and let the heartless money hungry scalpers and companies worry about what is most important to them. Money. I'm going to be away from this Site for however long it takes my child to recover and find out what is going on in an 11 year old brain to cause this. Please send your thoughts and prayers my way as I am entering uncharted waters. Suddenly skylanders do not seem that important anymore. I wish you all the best in hunting for your skylanders and I'm glad u didn't make the trip bc I don't know what would've happened if I was all the way in new york and this had happened. I hope the scalpers feel good about themselves for taking advantage of parents who want nothing more than to put a smile on their children's faces. My child is not selfish and can wait till the actual release the only thing I wish is that she is around another day let alone months. You all have been really helpful and I appreciate everything but now it is time for me to go. Good luck to you all.

That's a horrible thing to have to go through. I hope your daughter gets better soon.

Hey DrillSarge

So sorry to hear about what happened to your daughter. Praying for her complete recovery and for your family is this horrible trying time. God bless you.

Johnny B

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

So did anyone actually go or were they are too busy reading about Swap Force?

HIIIYEEE!!! OK, so I tried to take fun pics but I only had my phone and it was a crap vantage point (ironically, the scalpers ahead of me wound up getting in the way so I have pictures of them ) but I'll upload them at some point. When I got there I was all the way by the SWATCH store....which is at the end of the block.

Yes, there were so many scalpers there: a couple in the front who legitimately made up a story about having two kids at soccer practice right in front of me (oh and their friend was in front of the line and even mentioned some other event), then a family in front of them who had one kid were probably also scalpers because she knew the people behind and even plotted with them to get another one. OH and let's to forget the three dudes behind the ladies behind me. They even gave tips on the best time to get figures and what to ask for (lol it was one of the guy's first time even dealing with Skylanders). Also, I thought it was one per unit (because that's what the ladies stamping said to us on line) but turns out it was one per customer because I saw a family of 4, two big women and two children each walk out with one. o_0

The people working it knew the scalpers were there, one even told me herself.

Overall, I'm just happy I got a Ninjini and that they had a sale. Ninjini's pretty cool and her powers are quite awesome. Can't wait for Scarlet Ninjini!

@Hexin_Wishes
How does she light up? CAn you post some Vids? and Pics?

Well that's unfortunate and a little disheartening to hear, Hexin. For families, I can see the purpose of being sure each kid got one, but the one per person did seem to end up playing out better for the scalpers, and maybe even invited the parents who brought their kids (and certainly don't want the toys for themselves) to engage in a little scalping where they otherwise wouldn't have been so inclined.

In the end, though, I'm super psyched that you got one, and I hope she's as fun as I'm thinking she'll be. Glad somebody else is pumped for Purple Ninja Barbie. She's the one I wanted from day she was announced.

See the problem is two sided cause you have parents that want them and parents that don't and prop will give them away or ebay them. I fall in the 1st area. My wife and I each got one and our son because we each collect and play the game.

Quote: jpawlik8

@Hexin_Wishes
How does she light up? CAn you post some Vids? and Pics?

My internet is too slow to upload a vid but here she is...http://forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=73375&page=1#4035858