Take me to place I’ve been dreaming of…
Last year Target stores had a really good deal on the Dyson Animal vacuum that I wanted so badly I signed up for a Target "Redcard" (Visa) to get the deal, whatever it was. Later, just after Black Friday, as part of their winter holiday promotions, Target hosted a sweepstakes called "Wow or Never" to popularize the "Redcard", where specific purchases would automatically enter the cardholder into the various sweepstakes. (No purchase was actually necessary to enter, but the purchases created automatic sweepstakes entries.) Target‘s exclusive Ultra Battle Packs were the automatic entry items for a prize of a trip to LFL in San Francisco, a tour of the facilities, and an action figure made in the winner’s likeness. Of course, I bought the Ultra Battle Packs (full price, no special deals or discounts – no waiting for clearance), and figured I’d use my new "Redcard" with just a little fantasy of winning the contest.
On December 24, I received a package from Target’s corporate offices. I won. It took months for me even to believe it was true, and not some elaborate hoax by a couple of people I know. Even now that flights and hotels are scheduled, I’m still in a partial state of disbelief about it. I didn’t rob anyone, steal from anyone, or smear anyone’s name to win the prize. My name was just picked out of a hat of the people who bought those Ultra Battle Packs with a Target "Redcard". So this summer, a friend and I are going to Lucasfilm Ltd. to tour the place, and I’m going to have an action figure made in my likeness. Yes, an action figure of me, the dude you read about here and there who writes weird pieces about unreleased toys (mostly) on GalacticHunter.com.
It was the best Christmas present any 30-something year old boy could receive. I don’t know if I’ll still be blogging about toys by the time I’m traveling to LFL, but I’ll take a lot of pictures (assuming they let cameras in), and surely some site will want to take a picture of the figure.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:26 am
a supremely awesome irony. can’t wait till the "Head of Marketing for Boys Toys" has to talk up your action figure with all the "other" fansites. congrats, and thanks for busting the BMF story wide open!
May 20th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Well, I doubt it will get mass-released. It would be cool, but I’m not counting on it. Thanks, though!
May 20th, 2008 at 11:41 am
You disgustingly lucky muther-effer!!
Two of my dreams in life are to eventually visit “The Ranch” and to have a toy made of me. Now here you are, in the wake of a s***storm brought down upon you by the Big H itself, graced with such unbelievable luck.
I hope you won’t take this wrong when I say, I hate you, I hate you with every fiber of my being and if it take me a lifetime, I will find you, I will destroy you.
I am of course kidding. Congrats man. It is kind of funny that they now have to do this for you after all the sanctions they’ve leveled against you. All of which are utter crap and completely unfair I may add. You were just the messenger.
On behalf of the collecting community, I for one thank you for throwing yourself on your sword for the sake of providing the coolest info to the fans, even if you didn’t realize you were doing it at the time. I hope there’s a way that you can once again get back into The H’s good graces.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Thanks Clavius, and I don’t think I get to go to "the Ranch". I think it’s the place at the Presidio, although the Ranch would be quite a welcome visit. I figured (in this context) that I needed to lay out the whole scenario for readers versus the "full disclosure" part, but I literally just received permission to disclose this in the last ten days from Target’s liaison. I have something to lose by bringing this news to readers, so don’t think that I take this all lightly. I never took any of this jokingly, and I really thought this was news when I ran it.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I’m going to think about this but there has to be something we can do. I mean, aside from shaking the plastic habit, which I doubt even you would advocate, there’s gotta be something to stop them from blacklisting you guys. I love your site and I’m sure I would have totally missed any announcement from some magazine anyway and my BMF piggybank wouldn’t have gotten started yet. Get with the program H-bro! We’re all checking these sites daily if not hourly for up to the minute rumors and confirmations and when we’re not doing that I’m sure we’re hitting the local big box store to see what we can hunt down. We don’t have time to visit a newstand or two amidst all that on the off chance that somebody is going to get some obscure toy exclusive press release, do we? I don’t know. Maybe we can all stop army building for a while?
May 20th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
sinkie — No chance. I love their product, and I’d never ask anyone to give up their plastic addiction. I just wanted to lay all my cards on the table to readers, against better judgment from other collectors, mind you.
I’m a good collector. I clean up the Star Wars section when I’m at the store. I’ve been writing about these toys since 1996, and the quality has only improved more each year. I go out of my way to thank the people who do this for putting up with people like me.
Never stop army building. Never stop making dioramas. Just enjoy – I love this stuff as much as you do, and I don’t want my decision (to use this news) to reflect negatively on the site.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I, and several friends of mine, think that Hasbro really cacked up this whole marketing opportunity. Whoopee. Some pictures got out and your site popped them up on the front page. What did Hasbro do to help spin this into a great opportunity to leak small bits of info to us over the weeks that followed? NOTHING! Hasbro should know better. This is a big ticket item in terms of toys and its release falls smack in the middle of a recession (c’mon and admit it, Washington, DC!). We’re spending beaucoup bucks at the fuel pump, the supermarket and in other areas of our lives where we have to be responsible adults. I’m sorry… what was that, Hasbro marketing rep? Toys are for kids? I don’t know too many kids who have $150 laying around. Then again, I don’t know of too many adults who have that kind of money laying around these days either. It’s the parents who are going to be buying this for the kiddies if they are lucky enough to get it. The point is, Hasbro can’t drop something like this on us and expect us to just adjust our budgets in a flash to buy something we don’t really NEED. I have to replace two furnaces in my house (one is for the tenant’s unit), get my car repaired and attend to the weekly bills and such. Out of that, I am trying to save some money so I can get this TOY! Personally, I’m glad the story broke here at GalacticHunter.com. This gave me the heads up WAY in advance and allowed me to start saving. Here’s an idea: Hasbro should’ve put out a formal press release to the geek sites and said, "we’ll reveal a neat feature about this toy every two weeks until it is released to retail. We’ll even throw in some interesting factoids about how we developed this toy!" I don’t think anyone would’ve complained about that. Hasbro, you suck. You take the fun out of toy collecting sometimes.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
jedipartner, Hasbro hasn’t really done anything wrong. The point I’m trying to make is that I really went into this (this piece of news) with no negative intentions, and I’ve hurt people (this site, the other posters, the forum admins) who put a lot of heart into all of this — all in a volunteer capacity.
This whole post is really a mea culpa to my "co-workers" here. I don’t want to be an albatross to the site. My offer to step-down is out there if it will appease whoever I’ve angered. I know my name is mud to them right now, but I’ll do what I can to minimize the damage.
Nothing ever takes the fun out of collecting. Besides, it beats playing MMORPGs. Little plastic men (and women and aliens and droids) forever!
May 20th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Adam, I signed up just to say that I have been watching this site every now and then for the past few weeks, and I was really happy to see the big reveal of the BMF on here, then turning my visits into a daily routine. I was very anxious when the DCPI and play.com listings were first sighted a long time ago on other sites, and was equally saddened when the Hasbro rep lied, oops I mean, kidded while biting his lip and crossing his toes? about the BMF when asked to man up about it. Ok, ok, he pretty much lied.
I work for a large corporation myself, so I do understand the whole nature of the marketing business around releasing a new product. I also do understand the significance of the timing announcements, etc. However, I also understand that you were reporting a finding. If the Hasbro rep claims that withholding this information (ok I mean lied!) was for our benefit and to generate surprise and excitement, isn’t that what you also did?
If your posting of the only then-rumored pics was a disaster to the folks at Hasbro, what of the telling signs in the Target computers, and the play.com listing that were revealed months before?
Anyway, it’s clear that some work (and glory) was foiled, and that person or people are out for blood.
I applaud you for defending yourself in the only way possible, through facts and reason, and it’s a shame that in the end, you are the one leaving.
Congratulations on the big Target/LFL win and getting a figure of yourself made. It would be real justice if the ones after you are the ones that have to go and make the figure themselves!
May 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
What we need here is an old fashioned mail bombing of Hasbro H.Q.Maybe we can send the marketing department photos of Bill Gates or something…
May 20th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Adam, I haven’t had a chance to post anything, but I wanted to let you know my thoughts are with you in your situations, as are they with Mike.
I sent Hasbro an email here shortly showing my support on GH’s end, and I realy find it childish of Hasbro to do such things. (Enspecialy sence RS hogs the sheets if ya know what I meen…..)
May 20th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Thanks Jodo (and everyone). I’m not editing or revoking any negative comments, so if there are readers who have a different take on this, I’m open to it.
Just don’t criticize the toy makers too much. They bring us all a lot of happiness, and I actually do regret giving them any headaches.