[B5JMS] Reports from Comic-Con

b5jms at mail.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu b5jms at mail.fsl.cs.sunysb.edu
Sat Aug 4 04:38:26 EDT 2007


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Unavailable article: Message-ID <f88lp802guh at drn.newsguy.com><f8eqc102vb3 at drn.newsguy.com>

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From: Amy Guskin <aisling at fjordstone.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:05:02 GMT
Lines: 24

>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:34:36 -0400, Jan wrote
(in article <f8jf7c02ua9 at drn.newsguy.com>):

>  
> There was a con exclusive mini-comic for the TLT folks to sign.  I understand
> that they'll also be available for people who get their copy of Lost Tales at
> Best Buy as an exclusive.  It's just a lovely, touching piece if you can get 
> it. <<

I have to say that as someone who pre-ordered it from Amazon.com _months_ in 
advance, where the continued high sales ranking caused by other folks who, 
like me, pre-ordered, I assume made _some_ kind of an impression on Warner 
Bros. Home Video, I'm a bit peeved that people who _walk in_ to Best Buy to 
buy it off the shelf on a whim, people who in no way contributed to WB's 
ability to note all of those advance sales and factor it into their various 
budgets, are getting the premium.  I mean, I'm just sayin'.  Makes me think 
that I might not be so quick to pre-order anything B5 in the future.

Amy
-- 
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over 
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George 
W. Bush, May 24, 2005


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From: Jan <janmschroeder at aol.com>
Date: 29 Jul 2007 20:27:58 -0700
Lines: 26

In article <0001HW.C2D2CE2A00A4C7FAF0182648 at news.verizon.net>, Amy Guskin
says...
>
>Makes me think 
>that I might not be so quick to pre-order anything B5 in the future.
>


I guess it depends on when it was approved.  And written.  And drawn.  It was
March 11 when JMS posted this in answer to a question about books or comics
coming out in conjunction with the Lost Tales:

>No plans for any as such, though there may be a mini-comic included in
>the DVD, but that's still in the yes/no stage.

I don't have any idea what the logistics are in adding something like this to a
DVD.  Anybody have any idea what's involved?

Jan


-- 
Ebay auctions of rare Babylon 5 collectibles including an unproduced script
written by Peter David & Bill Mumy for the fifth season.
http://tinyurl.com/ywxdn5


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From: Amy Guskin <aisling at fjordstone.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:33:37 GMT
Lines: 33

>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:27:58 -0400, Jan wrote
(in article <f8jlru09fu at drn.newsguy.com>):

> In article <0001HW.C2D2CE2A00A4C7FAF0182648 at news.verizon.net>, Amy Guskin
> says...
>> 
>> Makes me think 
>> that I might not be so quick to pre-order anything B5 in the future.
>> 
> 
> 
> I guess it depends on when it was approved.  And written.  And drawn. <<

Not really.  Nothing's been shipped out yet.  You could get shipments of the 
comics to Amazon's various warehouses, and they could included one in each 
shipment going out to someone who had pre-ordered before a particular date.  
Say, for the sake of argument, all of those who pre-ordered in the first 
month the item was available for pre-order.  That information is readily 
available in their order system.

I just think it would have been nice for the reward to go to people who 
committed their money to this purchase, to this _project_, well in advance -- 
who are likely more dedicated fans anyway, since you mention that the comic 
is "a lovely, touching piece," and thus likely to appeal more to them (us) 
than to the casual fan who strolls into Best Buy after the release date to 
pick it up.

Amy
-- 
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over 
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George 
W. Bush, May 24, 2005


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From: "Mac Breck" <macthevorlon at yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:33:57 -0400
Lines: 75

news:0001HW.C2D37D9D00CDE6DBF0182648 at news.verizon.net...
> >> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:27:58 -0400, Jan wrote
> (in article <f8jlru09fu at drn.newsguy.com>):
>
> > In article <0001HW.C2D2CE2A00A4C7FAF0182648 at news.verizon.net>, Amy
Guskin
> > says...
> >>
> >> Makes me think
> >> that I might not be so quick to pre-order anything B5 in the
future.
> >>
> >
> >
> > I guess it depends on when it was approved.  And written.  And
drawn. <<
>
> Not really.  Nothing's been shipped out yet.

My B5:TLT DVDs shipped from Amazon on July 28th.


> You could get shipments of the
> comics to Amazon's various warehouses, and they could included one in
each
> shipment going out to someone who had pre-ordered before a particular
date.
> Say, for the sake of argument, all of those who pre-ordered in the
first
> month the item was available for pre-order.

I pre-ordered mine on the first day of availability.



> That information is readily
> available in their order system.
>
> I just think it would have been nice for the reward to go to people
who
> committed their money to this purchase, to this _project_, well in
advance -- 

Oh, you're certainly right about that!   However, that horse is already
out of the barn and is long gone.



> who are likely more dedicated fans anyway, since you mention that the
comic
> is "a lovely, touching piece," and thus likely to appeal more to them
(us)
> than to the casual fan who strolls into Best Buy after the release
date to
> pick it up.

That's why I'm also going to Best Buy to purchase one more copy, solely
to get the comic.


-- 
Mac Breck (KoshN)
-------------------------------
"Babylon 5: Crusade" (1999)
Galen: "There is always hope, only because it's the one thing that no
one has figured out how to kill yet."

"Brimstone" (1998)
Angel: Oh, there's one more thing you should know. Your fate was never
determined until you killed Gilbert Jax. All in all, you've led a good
life, Ezekiel. Have faith. Your work's appreciated.
"Amy Guskin" <aisling at fjordstone.com> wrote in message




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From: Amy Guskin <aisling at fjordstone.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:30:19 GMT
Lines: 53

>> On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:33:57 -0400, Mac Breck wrote
(in article <46ae2181$0$20374$ecde5a14 at news.coretel.net>):

> news:0001HW.C2D37D9D00CDE6DBF0182648 at news.verizon.net...
>>>> On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:27:58 -0400, Jan wrote
>> (in article <f8jlru09fu at drn.newsguy.com>):
>> 
>>> In article <0001HW.C2D2CE2A00A4C7FAF0182648 at news.verizon.net>, Amy
> Guskin
>>> says...
>>>> 
>>>> Makes me think
>>>> that I might not be so quick to pre-order anything B5 in the
> future.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I guess it depends on when it was approved.  And written.  And
> drawn. <<
>> 
>> Not really.  Nothing's been shipped out yet.
> 
> My B5:TLT DVDs shipped from Amazon on July 28th. <<

Sigh.

1) Then I guess you're not a true fan: I ordered mine with one-day shipping.  
Which means it didn't go out until today.  ;-)

2) If they gave them out at Comic Con, which started on Thursday, July 26th, 
they had to have been printed and shipped by July 25th.  I don't think ANY 
copies of B5:TLT shipped out before then.  My point is they COULD have 
planned this as a reward to people who put their money where their mouths 
were back when this was first announced.

>> That's why I'm also going to Best Buy to purchase one more copy, solely
> to get the comic. <<

Well, not everybody can afford to duplicate things in their collection willy 
nilly.  I've got a house that's falling apart around my ears.  The only 
reason I opted for the one-day shipping is because I had on hand a bunch of 
Amazon gift checks, and used them on TLT and Harry Potter.  And I'm certainly 
not going to cancel my order with Amazon (even if it hadn't shipped out as of 
today), because they took my order in good faith, they have always given me 
impeccable service, and I don't think it would be right to penalize them at 
this late date.

Amy
-- 
"In my line of work you gotta keep repeating things over and over and over 
again for the truth to sink in, to kinda catapult the propaganda." - George 
W. Bush, May 24, 2005


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From: Chris <pelzo63 at earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:55:42 GMT
Lines: 84

In article <0001HW.C2D3B51800DAE79FF0182648 at news.verizon.net>,
 Amy Guskin <aisling at fjordstone.com> wrote:

> 2) If they gave them out at Comic Con, which started on Thursday, July 26th, 
> they had to have been printed and shipped by July 25th.  I don't think ANY 
> copies of B5:TLT shipped out before then. 

well, i know of at least one retail location that gets their new release 
DVD's on the thursday before release, where they sit in the stockroom 
with a seal saying "do not open until xxxxx" in this case that would be 
the 26th, they are most likely in the warehouse for a day or 3 before 
then. and as someone else here mentioned, his shipped from amazon on the 
25th, but all of that is irrelevant as the real issue i shall discuss 
below.


> My point is they COULD have 
> planned this as a reward to people who put their money where their mouths 
> were back when this was first announced.

from my experience with retail....

in cases such as this, where ONE retailer gets a special "add on" thing 
and no others get it, it typically means that the retailer who is 
getting this deal paid extra up front(more common) or is paying back a 
little extra per disc(less common) to WB to get this exclusive deal. 

1) WB most likely shopped this offer around to all of the retail outlets 
to see if any would take it, and most likely amazon passed on the deal. 

2) it's also possible that best buy specifically requested this from WB, 
but this is unlikely, especially considering that WB gave them away at 
SDCC(if it was a BB request, it would have likely been for a specific # 
tied to the # of dvd's they ordered).  

3) another possibility is that brick and mortar retailers were simply 
not ordering ANY of B5TLT and the only way to get them to carry it was 
to give them something extra(this can be proven/disproved simply by 
seeing if B5TLT is on shelves in circuit city, target, kmart/sears 
and/or walmart.) 

(there are other possibilities, but they're increasingly 
unlikely/depressing)

if #1 is true, then some things depend on when the offer was made, if it 
was made after amazon had all of your pre-orders, then amazon is simply 
saying "psh, we'll sell through tons of these things without this, why 
bother?" if the offer was made before the pre-orders, then amazon simply 
took a risk(and it still paid off for them based on the pre-order #'s) 

if #2 is true(which i highly doubt) then really who is to blame at WB 
for something they had never planned on doing in the first place? 

if #3 is true, then this is most concerning of all.  as much as us geeks 
on the interwebs like to think that internet sites are the true 
indicators of reality, they're not.  while i can't find the #'s for all 
media, i can find the #'s for music(which are probably similar to the 
DVD sales ranks except amazon might be one higher at #3 since #3 in 
music is apple)), and currently amazon is #4 in music retail. and for 
all purchases(not just cd/dvd sales) amazon is around 30's. 

so again, if #3 is true, then that means that the #1(wal mart) and 
#2(best buy) outlets for music(and as i said, likely dvd) both passed on 
B5TLT, and that is BAD. 

but back to #1...which i believe(and want to believe) is true then that 
is actually VERY good, it means that one of the biggest retail outlets 
decided that they have so much faith in Babylon 5 that they were willing 
to pay extra to WB to get all of us geeks to go to their store instead 
of other leading retail outlets like CC, WM, Target or KM/S. 

and lastly, while these types of add-on's are not entirely commonplace, 
they're also not rare, they're usually the types of deals that are given 
to releases that studios think are going to be hot sellers....or things 
that won't move without an add-on to help. 

i will be buying my copy at best buy, tomorrow if i can make it between 
work and MMA class. i buy things at retail unless there's an extremely 
significant savings online because for one i like the idea of someone 
seeing me carrying the disc and saying "hmm, i wonder if that's any 
good"(up to and including the cashier or salesperson)

...chris


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From: "jmsatb5 at aol.com" <jmsatb5 at aol.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:41:04 -0000
Lines: 8

Forgot...the brain is that way...I *believe* that they're also have
the B5 comic that we produced as a tribute to Rick and Andreas at the
Best Buy signing, and these are only going to be available in a very
limited number.

jms





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