A rant about bots

[Goaliebot]

No not Transformers- real bots. Software bots to be precise, and how they are effecting gaming and either are already or soon will have a similar impact on TF collecting.

Like a lot of TF collectors I am also a big fan of video games. Except right now it is super crappy to be a video game fan trying to get an Xbox Series X, or worse still a PS5, or worst of all a PC video card.

Without one of those 3 you are a generation behind.

So just be smart, keep checking amazon, stocktracker, best buy and computer shop sites, and pounce on one as soon as stock comes in. Early bird / most frequent checker / fastest clicker gets the worm right?

Well, no. Because bots get 99% of it faster than you or I ever could. The instant there is stock the bot knows and buys as much as possible. Limit 1 per buyer? No problem as they can have 500 bots each with different names and credit cards.

That said, most stores rarely impose limits on how many any one person (or bot) can buy.

So PS5s, Xboxes, and video cards vanish in seconds. Doesn't matter if you hunt and check or anything - you can't be as fast as bots, especially a swarm of them.

What % of PS5s have sold to scalpers vs people who will actually own and play it? Gotta be at least 75% to bots and scalpers to date.

Video cards are worse because they want them for digital currency mining. Only a handful even make it on the scalper market, at 3-4 times retail price.

So how does this relate to TF collecting? Well we keep getting limited stock / exclusives released to us... actually a majority of retail bots are rare these days it seems.

Are we already seeing bots hit TF collecting? Figures can be gone in a heartbeat these days. Pre-ordering helps but the bots can get all the pre-orders too.

It's yet another thing that pushes almost all my TF purchases to the smaler retailers now, like Toy Snowman and A3U. It was great how ToySnowman put a 1 per buyer cap on the seeker set but even aside from that often small sites simply aren't big bot targets. Yet.

I'm not trying to start yet another argument about the morality of scalping here because we've been through those a dozen times already. What I want to do with this thread is to see if anyone knows:

1. How prevelent the bots buying everything actually is
2. Are bots indeed hitting TF collecting now (or are we blaming normal selling out on invisible evil bots)?
3. Is there anything we can do (like get our own bots to buy us one of a scarce thing)?
4. Is there anything retailers can do or are doing now? Their only motivation would be to reduce the amount the rest of us b**ch at them for not having stock, as financially selling out to bots or individuals is the same money...

[ssjgoku22]

Great topic. For the consoles, I was never able to get the PS5 due to stock issues. I ended up getting a Series X via Xbox All Access through EB Games (you pay monthly for the Xbox and Gamepass for 2 years and then you own it, no interest. You can also pay off for it as fast as you want if needed). That was the only option to get a next gen console for me.

While I do think scalpers and bots are affecting action figure collecting (especially Transformers), I feel like Hasbro is more deserving of the blame. I feel like they are giving a lot less stock to the retail stores right now and overall less to the Canadian market (hence the delays with Walmart, Amazon, TRU, etc.). While in the US, their shelves are pretty much fully stocked.

[Marcotron]

Im just gonna replay TF Devastation on the ps3...

[evenstaves]

Originally Posted by Marcotron

Im just gonna replay TF Devastation on the ps3...

my MAN

- -

also on topic (at least as far as the console thing was concerned), I'm still rocking a ton of older consoles, got a NES classic & SNES classic, a PS2 & PS3

Only within the last year got a Switch, and got it down to $120-ish new buying from Shoppers cashing in Optimum points (also took advantage of a special offer that was going on that weekend)

I basically just wait until the "new gen" consoles are old, and then pick em up relatively easily afterwards

Of course the biggest issue is having any money at all to spend on videogames, when already spend too much on TFs, lol

[CyberDragon10K]

I'm at the point where it looks like I'll be waiting until 2023 to be able to even entertain grabbing a significant PC hardware upgrade/new rig to play more modern games on, considering my current machine is from around 2013/2014 or so.

My cousin managed to grab himself a PS5 though, which means I'm looking after his PS4 and potentially playing some games whenever my parents aren't using the main TV (which seldom happens).

I'm used to being perpetually behind the times at this point.

[Sun Swipe Prime]

It sucks if you're heavy into gaming and want the upgrades ASAP.

BUT I think the only way to combat this, which is probably a losing battle, is to be patient and not pay the inflated prices.

Yes, it's easier said than done. But IMHO, it's like that movie War Games. The only winning move is not to play. I may lose out on a figure. I may not get that upgrade I want right now. But I don't end up paying through the nose as a sucker. Not just a regular sucker, a sucker that knows they're being suckered but walks into the trap, eyes open, any ways.


I've been collecting long enough to know there will always be a new, better version, of a character down the road, so if I miss out, there's always tomorrow. If not, there will always be other opportunities to acquire stuff.

Generally, it's the same for gaming hardware. Today's hotness becomes tomorrow's meh soon enough.

It just takes patience and the ability to tame that inner, whiney child that demands/needs everything right now. But that's like asking Michael Bay not to blow shit up for some.

[Collectingtoys]

Very loaded in this discussion about bots on the Internet buying up things in demand before the rest of us regular humans can even finish typing in our credit card numbers.

My colleague has a client that collects & sells sneakers as a side gig, that guy paid $6,000 for a programmer to build a bot that buys the maximum amount of the latest hottest shoes when they go live online. So the average person waking up early waiting for something to go live, doesn't even have a chance.

Identical to Parents trying to order Taylor Swift, BTS or whomever concert tickets once they go online. Impossible to compete with scalpers using bots.

I'm a casual collector, I only buy from the regular generations line and open up the Transformers to play with my kid. So far I don't think the online bots has hit our plastic addiction hobby.

Yet.

[The Nemesis]

The lack of availability of new consoles has kind of been a benefit to me because it's forced me to shift my focus from stuff I might want to buy for a new console as it comes out and instead concentrate on a massive backlog of games that I have for older consoles which I never finished.


So instead of jonesing for a PS5 I have my PS4, PS3, Switch, Wii U, and mini NES/SNES hooked up and am powering through all the games that I impulse bought before and never got around to playing.

[Autobotz24]

I'm looking everywhere for Metroid Dread Special Edition but it's nowhere to be found. Same with the Amiibos that are being released with it. I'm just going to camp out in front of Walmart and then EB Games on release day. People who use bots are a special kind of evil

[steamwhistle]

Speaking of Playstation 5 consoles...

Anyone in Niagara Falls, or willing to drive to Niagara Falls?

Stocktrack indicates there are 23 available there.

I want one, and it's close... but sadly a PS5 is no longer in my budget-priority now.