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3.22.04  "The Galactus Controversy"
by James May

If you were at Wizard World Long Beach this past weekend, you would have seen the worst organized convention ever held by WizKids.

Friday
Even before the convention opened, retailers were already buying Galactus from the WizKids booth. The retailers took advantage of WizKids, having EVERY person in their business to buy a Galactus. Out of the 100 that were supposed to be sold, 60 went directly to retailers. One retailer walked away that evening with EIGHT Galacti in hand. The major controversy here (other than people walking away with on average five times as many Galacti they should have had) is that retailers across the US were given the chance to get a FREE Galactus at GAMA by RSVPing. Of course, a lot of the retailers who went to GAMA didn't RSVP and expected to get a Galactus but didn't. So anyway, only 40 people who waited in line outside got one. Again, MORE controversy. As soon as the doors were officially open, there was a stampede to get to the WizKids booth. I had been in line since 2pm and was right up to the table when they ran out. There were 2 people in front of me who didn't get one. That's where the cut off came in. They claimed there would be 50 released on Saturday at 10 and 2, and again on Sunday at 10 and 2.

Saturday
Wow, this was definitely the biggest shame of all. While WizKids still didn't come up with a decent organization system for people to get Galactus.
While no more retailers were SUPPOSED to get one, all the artists who were allowed in first on Saturday had first chance. This day, however, there was a mob. Literally. My friend got in with an Envoy by pretending to be a retailer and switching badges. He was 5th in line. After the mob was settled and a line formed, he was 71st. How? He actually made the mistake of helping a woman who fell out of her wheelchair as people were shoving to get in. It was impossible to get a Galactus if you were less than 20th in line. And had a whole lot of luck.

Saturday Afternoon
Realizing that I needed a Galactus without paying for it from a retailer (on that day the average resell price was $250) and so I knew I would have to spend the night. I wanted a Galactus so badly, that I started the line for Sunday at 4pm Saturday. I spent 18 hours in line in order to be guaranteed my chance of getting Galactus. Later I was told by an Envoy that there were only about 30 Galacti left. By 8pm, there were 30 people in line. Anyone who got in line afterwards was told they had no chance of getting one. People started showing up around midnight asking if they could cut in line for $20.
People were trying to buy their way into line. At this time, an Envoy came by giving us food that was left over from the Envoy meeting held that night.
He told us Dorcas was going to pass out tickets the next morning for whoever was in line to guarantee they would get a Galactus. I met two awexome people, "Grover from Indianapolis" and "Ryan from Dallas." The first 10 or so of us wanted to stay up all night just to be sure we would all get our tickets. I fell asleep around 3.

Sunday
I woke up around 5:30am. The line had extended all the way to the edge of the convention center by 7. By 9:30 we were all nervous that none of us could get the chance to get Galactus because people would have shoved their way into line and we still hadn't received our tickets. Fifteen minutes later Dorcas came out. She passed out tickets that could be exchanged to buy Galactus. Then at 10, the doors opened and we got inside. I was still wary about all the people already inside the center. I decided to run just a little and was yelled at by a security officer while doing so. I was first in line for Galactus, pulled out my ticket and bought it. It is the GREATEST figure that you could ever get. Sadly, they were out of Silver Surfers, but I did get the Gyrfalcon from MechWarrior. I noticed that the next 10 people in line weren't even from outside. They started complaining about how long they waited to get in and all this other stuff, but of course were complete liars. I had waited for 18 hours and deserved my Galactus, and it angered me that people who came around 6am thought they deserved it. My girlfriend who was 2nd in line got pushed back to around 15th. Waiting for her I bought a clear plastic display case for Galactus, and then looked to see where she was. She had actually sold hers to some guy for $400 and split the money with "Ryan from Dallas." As we left, we saw another retailer selling one for $400. Basically, the con was a con. People were spending WAY more than they should have had to.

It was terrible at what I had to do to get Galactus. For those of you who didn't go or don't know how close Long Beach is to the ocean, it's right down the street, about three blocks away. At 1am, the wind started to blow, and the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees. It was cold. If you want any chance to get Galactus, arrive in line the day before the con and wait.
Wait for hours. The convention overall was a lot of fun, but the way WizKids handled the Galactus situation sucked.

Good luck to everyone else who tries to grab Galacti at the following cons.
And bring lots of money. Be cool like me and buy a Venom T-shirt.

-James

3-30-04  Pojo Note:  The folks at WizKids contacted us, and asked if we we would post a link to their site about Galactus at Wizard World:  "WizKids posted a summary of Wizard World Los Angeles, which included specific numbers of Galactus figures sold to retailers on Friday evening, the day after you posted your article. It is located here: http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=38922&frame=Company_inthenews "