That damn fine print

I went to Best Buy yesterday, and picked up the $50 Iron Man gift pack. I got the 2-disc Iron Man DVD, and a small bust of Iron Man, and a gift card for $50 to Sideshow Collectibles.

I figured this was a good deal, I'd be getting $50 worth of free stuff. Not so.

There is verrrrrry little you can buy on the Sideshow Collectibles site for less than $50.

Oh, they used to have stuff. Little Big Heads, of various characters such as Universal Horror - Frankenstein, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and so on, all sold out, and various other things...also all sold out.

They do have a $49 Indiana Jones framed character key... but you can't buy that with a Gift Card! It's not "Gift card eligible."

They have these little Pirates of the Caribbean "Cosbaby" figurines, 6 of 'em, but only 2 of them are eligible to be purchased via Gift Card.

So it's totally bogus.

Most of their stuff... and I don't deny that they have good stuff, costs between $150 and $400... and it's only on that stuff that you can use this Gift Card.

Had I done enough research two days ago on the Sideshow Collectibles site, before I went out and bought that "Gift pack", I wouldn't have bought it at all, because what I've got sure isn't worth $50.

They've got a cool Creature From The Black Lagoon figurine that I'd really like, but it's over $300, so even with this delightful gift card it would cost me $250, and since I just lost one of my best long-term writing gigs, I can't really afford it... even if I wasn't so upset with this little "bait-and-switch" tactic on Sideshow's behalf.

Because that's clearly what it is. Take those little Cosbaby figurines. They're all the same, made by the same manufacturer, but only 2 of them are "gift card eligible." Give me one logical reason why that should be. A gift card is a gift card, what does it matter what you spend it on? Well..to Sideshow it obviously matters because they drive you to their site to spend the big bucks, and they can't get you to do that if they let you buy just anything with their "gift cards."

So, while at one point in time, prior to a few minutes ago, I was going to give Sideshow Collectibles a free plug, now I say they're a bunch of crooks with overpriced merchandise, and don't deal with them!

And anyone want an Iron Man bust? Cheap!