Two brief items on this post:
#1 - We are aware that the website was working slow for the last couple weeks. I think those issues (on our website host's end) have been resolved, and things are moving quicker right now. If you still experience any problems with the website, please email info@fortmax.com or post a message here and we'll look into it.
#2 - As you may or may not know, we have a growing selection of post-G1 Transformers on the Collection Completers page for sale. So if you have post-G1 collection holes, give it a look! More figures from the past 7-10 years are still sitting in boxes here to be added as time allows.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
2007 Botcon Exlcusives
A question for any Transformer fan out there with the answers -- Why are this year's Botcon exclusives selling for so much? How much did it cost originally to obtain the exclusives? I would have expected that this year's Botcon to have had more people attending than normal, thus more of this year's exclusives made than for past years (being easier to obtain and therefore not be too expensive). Just curious.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Go Figure
Two unrelated items on the "Go Figure" topic this week...
#1 Transformers Card Game
Just a few days after posting my rating on not buying the Transformers Card Game, I broke down and bought a pack anyway. I figured what the heck, why not take a look. One pack won't hurt. Who knows if I'll find reason to change my mind on this, too, but in short I didn't care for the game. Unless I missed something, it seems to be little more than glorified rock, paper, scissors. The put-together figures were a little nicer than I expected, but I never bothered going through the trouble of 'transforming' them back and forth during the game. So that's that, I bought one pack and don't have interest in getting more unless they happen to make some of G1 characters (and even then I'd probably just assemble the vehicles and put on a shelf or something). Go figure.
#2 Verbal Commitments
This is just a chance to vent a little bit...twice this week I had people tell me that the figures they had for sale were mine, only to come back to me a day later and tell me they sold to someone else who offered 2-3% higher than I did. The part about getting 'outbid' on items is frustrating enough, especially when it is a measely amount. But what does get my goat is when someone says "okay, they're yours at $xx" and then looks to see if anyone will pay a little bit more yet, and then breaks the agreement. Go figure - if I sold things at higher prices perhaps this wouldn't happen as much, but I'd rather not have to do that! I have no problem with folks getting multiple quotes on things, in fact I think that is a smart thing to do, but don't try to make people do bidding wars back and forth against each other and definitely don't give someone a reason to think a deal is done, unless it is. Oh well, thanks for letting me blow off a little steam :-)
#1 Transformers Card Game
Just a few days after posting my rating on not buying the Transformers Card Game, I broke down and bought a pack anyway. I figured what the heck, why not take a look. One pack won't hurt. Who knows if I'll find reason to change my mind on this, too, but in short I didn't care for the game. Unless I missed something, it seems to be little more than glorified rock, paper, scissors. The put-together figures were a little nicer than I expected, but I never bothered going through the trouble of 'transforming' them back and forth during the game. So that's that, I bought one pack and don't have interest in getting more unless they happen to make some of G1 characters (and even then I'd probably just assemble the vehicles and put on a shelf or something). Go figure.
#2 Verbal Commitments
This is just a chance to vent a little bit...twice this week I had people tell me that the figures they had for sale were mine, only to come back to me a day later and tell me they sold to someone else who offered 2-3% higher than I did. The part about getting 'outbid' on items is frustrating enough, especially when it is a measely amount. But what does get my goat is when someone says "okay, they're yours at $xx" and then looks to see if anyone will pay a little bit more yet, and then breaks the agreement. Go figure - if I sold things at higher prices perhaps this wouldn't happen as much, but I'd rather not have to do that! I have no problem with folks getting multiple quotes on things, in fact I think that is a smart thing to do, but don't try to make people do bidding wars back and forth against each other and definitely don't give someone a reason to think a deal is done, unless it is. Oh well, thanks for letting me blow off a little steam :-)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
To buy or not to buy...
As I browse around stores, both online and physical, I'm often encountering the difficult question of should I buy something or not (in this context, speaking mainly of collectibles/games/toys). From time to time in this blog I'll post some analysis of random items that I thought long and hard about. For starters, I'm going to use this basic criteria for making a decision, each on a 0-10 scale:
Investment Value: 0-Expect to not resell for much, 5- could resell near cost, 10-could double money or more
Affordablility Factor: 0 - Very expensive, 5 - fair price, 10 - real cheap
Playability/Fun Factor: 0 - Can't do anything but look at it, 5 - fun at times, 10 - lots of use
Sentimental Value: 0 - None, 5 - Some, 10 - Big Time!
Size Factor: 0 - Takes up a LOT of space, 5 - Takes some space, 10 - virtual, takes up no space
Time will tell what the 'breakpoint' would be for making a buy/no-buy decision, but my guess is an item would have to tally up 25+ points and not have any 0's. Perhaps Affordablity should be weighted heavier, but for now we'll leave as is.
Item #1: Lego Imperial Destroyer
This is an impressive sized lego set, with roughly 1300 pieces. At retail of $99, it isn't an outrageous price but not cheap, either. My ratings on it are:
Investment value: 4 - Once opened it would lose some value, but not drastic
Affordability factor: 3.5 - Not bad, but for me I rarely dump over $50 on new toys
Fun factor: 3 - Sort of fun to build, can maybe play with a bit with the kids, but probably too fragile to use much
Sentimental value: 7 - Anything relating to old-school Star Wars or TF's would probably rate at least a 5 for me. Cool looking ship, that I wish had a regular toy version!
Size factor: 3 - Big enough that I don't know where I would be able to display it assembled
TOTAL: 20.5
Not quite a good enough score where I would drop the money for it, but close enough where I check to see if it is on sale every once in a while! Speaking of which, Toys R Us had on clearance a couple of these where the figures were stolen. After clearance and sale pricing, it was $56 + tax. Perhaps if I had more cash in hand, I would pull the trigger, but the rating is quite over the mark yet:
Investment value: 4.5 - Could probably resell near purchase price, no figs hurts value some
Affordability factor: 6 - Again, I rarely dump over $50 on new toys, but not a bad deal
Fun factor: 2.5 - Missing mini-figs hurts the fun a touch, though I have some of them already
Sentimental value: 6.5 - I liked the little mouse robot!
Size factor: 3 - Still is big
TOTAL: 22.5 - close, but not close enough yet
Item #2: Transformers CCG
I've played Magic: TG card game off and on since about the time it came out, and enjoy it quite a bit. The trouble is usually how to find enough time to play it. So now comes out the Transformers collectible card game, which has of course caught my eye. Here is the breakdown on my thoughts on it:
Investment value: 2 - Too early to determine, but it seems like opened singles don't have much value.
Affordability factor: 4 - Okay, but $4 per pack seems a bit high
Fun factor: 2 - I like the concept, but without playing I don't know for sure. Also would have to find the time and people to play, which would not be easy.
Sentimental value: 3 - It gets some marks for being Transformers, but since it isn't G1 then
it doesn't get as high of a score for me
Size factor: 8 - Not much space at all, just another box in the closet
TOTAL: 19
The size factor inflated the score even, but still not high enough for me to drop the coin on it. Perhaps if I found some cheap singles I'd buy a few to give it a look, but otherwise I'll pass for now!
Feel free to post your own scores for items you've thought about buying -- whether from FortMax.com or elsewhere! In a few days I'll post a couple items that I did decide to buy.
Investment Value: 0-Expect to not resell for much, 5- could resell near cost, 10-could double money or more
Affordablility Factor: 0 - Very expensive, 5 - fair price, 10 - real cheap
Playability/Fun Factor: 0 - Can't do anything but look at it, 5 - fun at times, 10 - lots of use
Sentimental Value: 0 - None, 5 - Some, 10 - Big Time!
Size Factor: 0 - Takes up a LOT of space, 5 - Takes some space, 10 - virtual, takes up no space
Time will tell what the 'breakpoint' would be for making a buy/no-buy decision, but my guess is an item would have to tally up 25+ points and not have any 0's. Perhaps Affordablity should be weighted heavier, but for now we'll leave as is.
Item #1: Lego Imperial Destroyer
This is an impressive sized lego set, with roughly 1300 pieces. At retail of $99, it isn't an outrageous price but not cheap, either. My ratings on it are:
Investment value: 4 - Once opened it would lose some value, but not drastic
Affordability factor: 3.5 - Not bad, but for me I rarely dump over $50 on new toys
Fun factor: 3 - Sort of fun to build, can maybe play with a bit with the kids, but probably too fragile to use much
Sentimental value: 7 - Anything relating to old-school Star Wars or TF's would probably rate at least a 5 for me. Cool looking ship, that I wish had a regular toy version!
Size factor: 3 - Big enough that I don't know where I would be able to display it assembled
TOTAL: 20.5
Not quite a good enough score where I would drop the money for it, but close enough where I check to see if it is on sale every once in a while! Speaking of which, Toys R Us had on clearance a couple of these where the figures were stolen. After clearance and sale pricing, it was $56 + tax. Perhaps if I had more cash in hand, I would pull the trigger, but the rating is quite over the mark yet:
Investment value: 4.5 - Could probably resell near purchase price, no figs hurts value some
Affordability factor: 6 - Again, I rarely dump over $50 on new toys, but not a bad deal
Fun factor: 2.5 - Missing mini-figs hurts the fun a touch, though I have some of them already
Sentimental value: 6.5 - I liked the little mouse robot!
Size factor: 3 - Still is big
TOTAL: 22.5 - close, but not close enough yet
Item #2: Transformers CCG
I've played Magic: TG card game off and on since about the time it came out, and enjoy it quite a bit. The trouble is usually how to find enough time to play it. So now comes out the Transformers collectible card game, which has of course caught my eye. Here is the breakdown on my thoughts on it:
Investment value: 2 - Too early to determine, but it seems like opened singles don't have much value.
Affordability factor: 4 - Okay, but $4 per pack seems a bit high
Fun factor: 2 - I like the concept, but without playing I don't know for sure. Also would have to find the time and people to play, which would not be easy.
Sentimental value: 3 - It gets some marks for being Transformers, but since it isn't G1 then
it doesn't get as high of a score for me
Size factor: 8 - Not much space at all, just another box in the closet
TOTAL: 19
The size factor inflated the score even, but still not high enough for me to drop the coin on it. Perhaps if I found some cheap singles I'd buy a few to give it a look, but otherwise I'll pass for now!
Feel free to post your own scores for items you've thought about buying -- whether from FortMax.com or elsewhere! In a few days I'll post a couple items that I did decide to buy.
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