Friend or Flipper?

Before everyone gets mad at me.. the image for this blog post is meant to be satire. 

BUY NOW!"NO FLIPPING TEE"

We have all come across or seen the Funko flippers in action.  I have personally run into flippers at the biggest convention in the nation, San Diego Comic Con.  I have also seen the guy who buys all the exclusives at every store on release day. Sometimes I blame myself for not getting up early enough to make it to your Hot Topic, Gamestop or Barnes & Noble to be first in line.  But hell if I get there early and 10th in line I expect to get something for my effort. When I was in line for The Wrecked experience at SDCC last summer I finally stood up to the flippers.  My niece and I were in line for the experience (sponsored by TBS) because 1. we had tickets and 2. they were giving away the exclusive Conan Pop ( Jedi).  Although, had we known that week they were giving them away everyday. We would have done the experience each day. LOL!! Anyway, we are in line in back of a young couple who were chatty and friendly, 

Flippers Behind Me. lol

 But, that only lasted until their friends showed up.  And I don't mean just one friend, it was an entire group of people who thought they could get in line with their friends and cut in front of us.  So, I made a comment about what was going on and they told me that they were being nice and going to let us in front of the group who just arrived.  I said enough!! You will not be cutting in front of us at all.  Then this one guy (you know it's always one) asked what the problem was with them getting in line with their friends.  I kindly told him I didn't care what he thought his reasoning was but he would not and could not go in front of us.  This was a group of flippers.. They were organized (same shirts and hats) and committed to get as many exclusives as they could.  They had set up people all over the convention in different areas so when they were done with one experience they could leave and go to the next and not wait in those SDCC 4 to 6 hour lines.  I over heard them talking about how they were already selling things that they had obtained (for free) and making hundreds of dollars.

  So, what do we do about flippers? Can we coexist? Can we still enjoy the hobby without being outsmarted and at times left at the mercy of price gouging aftermarket online.  Do we blame the stores for allowing for the purchase of more than one exclusive to a person?  Or do we blame the conventions for not maintain line ettiquette?  I think we just have to be as aggressive as they are and we have to help each other. I have joined a local group of collectors that help each other obtain and find the exclusives that we want. That's a step in the right direction. But, lastly, we are going to have to be the Early birds getting those Funko Worms until either the Funko market crashes or people start being decent.  I won't hold my breath for either. 

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