There is always much excitement and anticipation when dealing with an upcoming line. As the rumors turn into prototype shots and eventually leak out as finished production shots before being given a glimpse of the final boxed figure, the anxiety seems to grow. At what point, though, does that anxiety turn into insanity?

To drive home my intentions of this blog, I submit this current eBay auction for a boxed Animated Megatron figure. $80?? WITHOUT SHIPPING?? We're talking about a Voyager class figure that will retail, en masse, at stores for $20 retail. This figure is not even in the United States yet (or so we're led to believe), yet Asian Rim eBay sellers are banking off the impatience and greed of people that can't wait for that TF fix.

Now, to be fair, such impatience is hardly new. US citizens have always had that "me first" type of insistence on the new and flashy things in life. It's called the Jones Syndrome. With this syndrome, either you have to get it before "Jones" gets it, you have to get it because "Jones" already has it, or you have to outdo "Jones" to prove you're better.

Ask any computer elite or any A/V afficianado about "me first" and they'll be all over it. The technology world is full of people that have to have the newest and be the forefront of technology... and they have to get it before someone else does. There's drawbacks to this, of course. Primarily, the early adopters always pay the biggest bucks and sometimes have to put up with the bugs. Windows Vista certainly taught that lesson to the early adopters.

This also applies to the TF universe. Those that just can't wait the extra 2 or 3 months for a figure will pay ridiculous sums of money to have bragging rights. However, if you stop to think about it, how much bragging rights can you have when you pay $80 for a figure that 3mos down the road will cost everyone else $20? All you get is what is equivalent to '15 minutes of fame'.

I agree that it is a painful wait for Animated figures to hit the store shelves. June seems like a silly amount of time to wait, considering the TV show is in full swing. But is paying up to 4x the nominal value worth getting a figure before it hits the street? For those who can freely make such a discretionary purchase, more power to you. However, I can use that $80 for many... many... MANY other things.

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