Well, I’m back from SDCC. I was one of the crazy people who chased down the 5 exclusive Hal Jordan Blackest Night figures. Through a LOT of standing in line, some good teamwork (thanks Brian & Chris!) and some trading with other collectors I was able to complete my set.

(BTW - This was only my second time at SDCC, and my first time to stay all 5 days, but this is the craziest thing I have ever seen. I don’t think the demand for these figures was truly understood, as the Graphitti booth was a madhouse most of the time. My complements to the convention center security staff, as they took charge of this and made it less dangerous. 3000 stampeding fans is a very ugly site!)

Anyway, I got home and opened my set today (Yes, I’m an “openerâ€

mad house indeed. day 1 & 2 made sense, right? you get there early enough, you hustle for it, you should get one. That raffle thing was BS.

I got mine through trades as well with a red coming soon.

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I thought there were 5 figs for that set?

Congrats jasontodd! I know how hard you had to work Brother.

I'll respectfully disagree with you in that once the raffle was set up, I preferred it to the "first come first served" on days one & two. Day 1 was just silly, as they were trying to sell twice the number of figures (3000) in 3 hours, as opposed to 1500 figures through the 8 1/2 hours or a typical Con day. On day two I was in line at 7:00 AM, through the door maybe 5 minutes after the con opened, and was impossibly far back in the line. It seemed like it was mostly exhibitors that were on the floor early that got the day 2 vouchers. The raffle seemed fair to me.

To give everyone a little explanation on how this worked, there were 3000 green figures, sold on preview night (Wed). There were to be sold on a first come first served basis. There were too many people around the Graphitti Designs booth, so SDCC security made them give out tickets to disperse the line. This did not work well, but helped reduce the crowd.

For the rest of the week, you were supposed to pick up a voucher at the Graphitti Designs booth for that day’s figure. If you got a voucher, you could buy 2 of that day’s figure. There was a different color figure available each day Thu – Sun. 1/2 the vouchers were supposed to be given out when the con opened, and the other ½ at noon, each day. After Thursday morning, SDCC security said this still blocked the isles too much, and they set it up like they do the most popular signatures in the autograph areas. There are several bags with green and red tickets. A line forms and you reach into the bag. If you get a green ticket you win a voucher. If you get a red ticket you lose, but you can get back in line and draw again.

It took until Friday afternoon (day 3) for there to be marked areas to line up. It was VERY frustrating on Fri morning, as the SDCC security had not been told they would have to deal with this, and they were not prepared with line-up areas marked. Again, by Friday afternoon everything was under control, and I felt the lottery was fairer to everyone. Just my opinion.

Peace,

JC

Can either of you give some more details about how they did it?

It was harder to get the last 3 than it was to get the first 2?

JC, what if they did it the way that the hasbro people did? that was still first come first serve with tickets to come back at whatever time & the exhibitors werent allowed into that line.


For those asking yes it was harder the last three days than the first two. One was just getting there (if you could) the other was reaching into a bag littered with losing tix.

And yes, there is three, my red one shall be arriving sometime early next week if not this weekend due to trading and all around nice people.

I think you are right jason in that the way Hasbro did it was better, as long as there were enough figures to go around. I think DC Direct/Graphitti could have sold twice as many of each figure as they did. Graphitti needed to have more space for the line, and had more product available.

BTW - I'm trying to upload my images, but when I select the picture and click "Upload image" nothing seems to happen. Is there a trick to this?

JC

I think you are right jason in that the way Hasbro did it was better, as long as there were enough figures to go around. I think DC Direct/Graphitti could have sold twice as many of each figure as they did. Graphitti needed to have more space for the line, and had more product available.

BTW - I'm trying to upload my images, but when I select the picture and click "Upload image" nothing seems to happen. Is there a trick to this?

JC

DC Direct knew exactly what the demand for these figures would be. It was not a surprise at all. This type of thing markets GL thru good and bad publicity. That's the reason they do it. The fans are irrelevant.

g.

Sign up for an account at Photobucket.com or Imageshack.com and upload your pics there and use the IMG code to post them here. Works much easier than that "upload image" button and you can upload shots once and use them on multiple boards, use for email, ebay, etc...

Thanks for the pics, they look great. I agree with Geoff, DCD knew these things were going to be a hot item. It's a bummer they were so hard to get, 'cause I would have definitely ordered a set if they were offered through normal retail.

Yeah Mr. Jason Todd....
Where is that 5th Red figure????

@mrjasontodd - Can you post some more pictures of the 5 lanterns, I searched in the net but can't find loose pictures of these babies, I only found it here. And if possible, can you make a review. thanks!

How much is the Green Green Lantern,
thanks,

D.

Hey, WhiteLantern,
There's a pic of all the SDCC GL figures
at BYRNEROBOTICS.com - from the main page, go to the Forum, then click on the thread that says
'statues, action figures, and other toys'
half way down the most recent page (pg. 210)