So...

Going to as many tournaments as you can just to win prize support just so you can sell it on ebay is okay, but purchasing the prize support package from a retailer because you can't get the figures because of those players is wrong? I don't get it.

The way I see it prize sharks are usually no fun to play against because they use cheese, stalling, and any other tactic they can to win (yes there are exceptions, but in my experience this is the rule). Plus they have little love for the game, they only view the figures as a way to make money and if there isn't any support, they don't even show up to play.

First, prize support needs to go to venues that run tournaments. But if it's purchased from retailers that can't or don't run tournaments, NECA makes money, the retailer makes money, and the players get figures they want. Everyone wins.

With all the extra prize support out there maybe I'd be able to buy Warbound, Grodd, Azbats or other LE's I want and still be able to pay my mortgage.

I've used to go to two tournaments a weekend just to get some more play time and have extra chances at an LE I really wanted. There were two instances where I gave up the prizes to regulars at venues that I won somewhere else. Each venue would usually different strategies being used from one to the other. It was nice to pick up some tricks to use at the regular venue. Selling prize support on eBay crossed my mind at times but I always felt it was better to share. Gotta watch your karma.

SO?
I am going to try and do the same thing. We have a group of players who won't play at the store anymore because of the new judge who is taking over (I have a baby on the way in December and the owner wanted someone with 0 responsibilities to run the events so after 6 years.... I am out). He makes up his own rules, gets rules wrong, changes powers because he thinks they are too powerful, creates waaaaay to wonky scenarios that limit players with small collections, and likes to charge $5 per game, etc. All in all not someone a lot of my original players were comfortable playing with.
I will be running events at a local rec center and ANYONE can come and play free of charge, I will even have it up on myspace and here to let people know. I am not looking to make money off if it. I want to be able to play the game and have fun, hang out and let everyone feel at ease.
How is this a bad thing? Maybe that's what the judges are trying to do.
Jumping to conclusions is stupid.

Did you read...Where I said I was wrong about that....Try the backing up to the next page and reading it....

I got the sense that people were only complaining about the possibility of someone getting an owner to buy their prize kit from the venue and then no kit being available for play at that venue.
If someone walks in and says, "if you can get extra kits, would you let me buy one?" there wouldn't be much complaint. If there's a pre-emptive strike to grab the gold because the owner didn't know the big picture, that would stink, even if it was to be distributed elsewhere. That would be unfair to the other players at that shop.

Until we know how hard the kits will be to get, this conversation is going to go in circles. NECA has said one per store. If that one kit goes to one person, uh, it's bad no matter how altruistic the plans for it (unless the store wouldn't purchase their one possible kit anyway). If stores can get more, it'll be no big deal - except that every person who gets their figures via a direct buy dilutes the effectiveness of kits that good venues paid good money to supply to their customers/players.

It'll all come down to desirability, and a big chunk of that will come down to production levels.

Yep, but the fact is you still tarred and feathered someone on a publi c message board and you obviously had hard feelings about prize support being available to buy because you brought it up.
So I was asking why its such a big deal?
There MIGHT be a few jerks out there who WILL get their hands on the prize support and sell it.
HOWEVER, if a comic shop is stupid enough to order if for those guys over themselves.......well then I don't have much sympathy for that store because they obviously don't care enough to support players.

I heard that it is one prize pack allowed per case ordered. I guarantee that if it is this way, stores will just order as many packs as they can to sell, with maybe one for tournament play.

NECA said one per store, not one per case.

And going the other way, if 10,000 are made (30,000 of each LE figure) then stores still wouldn't buy one for each case because they'll be worth less than the cost of the kit. Each LE figure would be about the rarity of uncommons. It simply isn't reasonable to believe that will be the situation.

Even if they were one kit per 4 cases, you'd be looking at the LEs being more common than SRs and a little less common than rares (4 cases would net around 3 of each LE and 2 of each SR, and 5 of each rare on average.)

For those attempting to purchase prize packs I have an inquiry. How much is the pack worth? It states that the prizes aren't for retail sale. I wonder if there's a penalty to shops who do sell the prizes? Didn't Wizkids have a rule where they would stop supporting a shop that sold prize support? With that said my question is how much is the pack worth? I know of a shop that didn't plan on ordering clix, they're comic oriented, because they still haven't sold the Arkhman and Secret Invasion even still have Crisis boosters. They offer no discounts. I said I would order a case from them if they would allow me to order the prize support. The owner said he'd look into it. He doesn't want to get stuck with any clix. To sweeten the deal I said I'd throw him an extra $20-40 for his troubles. I really don't think he will give a deal since he still wants over $100 for a brick of AA or SI. So is a case plus Prize Support worth $260 + maybe $20-40?
I offered to run games for his shop but he didn't want to order any extra clix that weren't sold that's why I made the offer. I'm not sure I even want to do it. I can pre-order a case for $185 and there's 2 shops near me that run events. I was the envoy at one. My concern is how the shops are going to handle the new system. I have a feeling the one I envoyed for might give out 2 and keep the third LE for the shop. It'd be nice if they asked me back and offered to stick to the same system. In which case I wouldn't need to go with the above mentioned deal. The other shop might do the same or only give out one if any at all and only after the players pay a fee or sealed events only. I really don't know but assume they will run the events like they did Horroclix in which they bought prizes and charges a fee to play.

The wording got a bit confusing, don't blame you for getting mixed up. Here's how it goes:

1) One kit per store.

This one's pretty clear.

2) A store must order a minimum of one case if they want to order the prize kit.

This is where the confusion sank in. Some people -- including me at first -- took that to mean you could buy one kit for each case you ordered.

What they actually said was that you needed to order *at least* one case before you could purchase the kit. If you can't be bothered to buy a nominal amount of product, you've got no business buying the kit.

That make more sense?

-J

I thought I read some speculation about it being one kit per 20 cases. Which I'm assuming 1-20 cases. So if you wanted more than one kit you had to buy more than 20 cases. This doesn't sound like a lot but 20 cases is a hefty amount. To go more that person has a strong commitment to getting more than one kit. I don't know how that would even be worth while to anyone.

I guarantee you that one prize kit per case is not the how this will work.

FWIW, this is also what I've heard.

Awesome, thx

Thanks for clarifying that.

I don't care for the restriction (one kit per store) - I was hoping there'd be a bit more lattitude (I am not in the least bit concerned with protecting the rarity of any of the prizes) - but... at least this stops me from getting my hopes up.