I really, really don’t like these. The worlds exclusive Plo aethersprite is popping up on the trade groups for an obscene mark up. I’ll get around to painting my own but I’m annoyed that they were only available to a select few with the wherewithal to travel across the world, and (a percentage of) the people who got them only did it for the dollar value when selling them on.

grumble.

I dont mind since it only has a different paint scheme. But if it was a different pilot only available this way... That would t sit well with me(looking at you transformers tcg).

If you're buying one off eBay, you probably are paying less than what it cost that player to get their hands on it after you factor in time off, travel, accommodation and effort to grind out tickets.

3 minutes ago, Transmogrifier said:

If you're buying one off eBay, you probably are paying less than what it cost that player to get their hands on it after you factor in time off, travel, accommodation and effort to grind out tickets.

Yeah. The chances of me winning a qualifier weren’t high enough to consider time spent preparing.

—

i thought about buying one secondary market. Then realized I would likely only play the garbage tier3 5 Jedi Knight list once and said that’s mayyyybe worth 20-50 for a nicely painted fifth ship. Not 200

yea of course you get to have the nice aethersprute every time you choose to play even one. But anakin is yellow and obiwan is red. And they’re pretty enough.

I actually think event exclusive ships are a cool prize to have. It’s not that different that the card alt arts we’ve had for a while.
Even selling such a prize isn’t a problem for me. I know some guys who sell off what they don’t want (wrong faction, don’t like the art, etc) and it helps pay for the expenses of the event. You do have scalpers who are just interested in getting the shiny thing and getting as much money as they can for it, but I think that’s like everything in life. You have jerks who do their thing. You may not like them, but their actions shouldn’t tarnish something meant to be a positive.

5 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

worth 20-50 for a nicely painted fifth ship. Not 200

I'm guessing this is a factory paint job like the rest of ffg's models, so it's true value might only be worth around what you suggest. (I haven't seen them up close to know for sure) But if these ships were nicely hand painted by a pro then they are likely worth around $75-100 at least when you factor in the time it takes to paint these and still pay the person a livable wage.

Does anyone have any up close high resolution photos? Are they standard 1 colour with shading? Or do they include highlights, shading and colour blending?

2 minutes ago, executor said:

Does anyone have any up close high resolution photos? Are they standard 1 colour with shading? Or do they include highlights, shading and colour blending?

Here it is (photo from Reddit).

I will never be able to get something like this. I still like them.

Yeah so pretty factory looking.

Well blail, if you want a nicely painted plo koon, one that's better than the factory and includes highlighting as well, I'm sure someone like myself or other painters in the community out there can do a nice plo koon paint job for you for a much cheaper price than $200

4 minutes ago, Waldorf28 said:

Here it is (photo from Reddit).

Is there also a photo of the underside?

Nope. I've got one winging its way to me though so am happy to oblige once it arrives.

Wonder if they they might do some of the scum Z-95 pilots? It would be cool to see this.

24 minutes ago, executor said:

I'm guessing this is a factory paint job like the rest of ffg's models, so it's true value might only be worth around what you suggest. (I haven't seen them up close to know for sure) But if these ships were nicely hand painted by a pro then they are likely worth around $75-100 at least when you factor in the time it takes to paint these and still pay the person a livable wage.

Does anyone have any up close high resolution photos? Are they standard 1 colour with shading? Or do they include highlights, shading and colour blending?

19 minutes ago, executor said:

Yeah so pretty factory looking.

Well blail, if you want a nicely painted plo koon, one that's better than the factory and includes highlighting as well, I'm sure someone like myself or other painters in the community out there can do a nice plo koon paint job for you for a much cheaper price than $200

While I fully value artists' time as a moral principle, I'm not so hauling in cash just to drop upwards of $50 for a pretty. That makes me kinda sad lol

1 hour ago, Estarriol said:

I really, really don’t like these. The worlds exclusive Plo aethersprite is popping up on the trade groups for an obscene mark up. I’ll get around to painting my own but I’m annoyed that they were only available to a select few with the wherewithal to travel across the world, and (a percentage of) the people who got them only did it for the dollar value when selling them on.

grumble.

These people are travel across the country and the world to play for nothing more than a trophy and some acrylic. An exclusive ship is kind of a nice gesture by FFG in saying "thanks for coming all this way for us."

5 minutes ago, wurms said:

These people are travel across the country and the world to play for nothing more than a trophy and some acrylic. An exclusive ship is kind of a nice gesture by FFG in saying "thanks for coming all this way for us."

This.

Worlds cost me over a £1000. Nice to have all this stuff as a cool keepsake /memory of a wonderful holiday.

And for those selling them, it helps keep the trip affordable.

Ultimately, none of these alt arts, alt cardboard, alt paint ship has any effect in game.

3 minutes ago, Darth Seridur said:

Ultimately, none of these alt arts, alt cardboard, alt paint ship has any effect in game.

This. Long may it continue.

It's factory but it is pretty nice. I'd be happy to own one and pay decently for it, if inclined. Special things are special.

Otherwise, painting ships is not actually as hard as people think. It's all tools, techniques and time. Small things make them pop more than a factory job. Attention to detail.

The focus and commitment is hard, which is largely what commissions pay for. Ability is no real barrier.

Different ways to get special things in there without impacting gameplay.

We printed out a load of different alts for a tourney recently and handed them out. I use them regularly. Cheap and special....

Templates though. Would love some special ones 😪

Yea, considering there's no prize money either...

I thought it was a wonderful and grand gesture for all of those nice participation prizes. It really makes even the lowly entrant underdog feel like they're really valued. It makes me feel like I'd want to actually try and win a 50+ person, 8 hour event ... (Though then again, a 500-800$ plane ticket doesn't seem worth it...)

I'm really happy FFG did this. I'm sad I don't get one, but that's what I get for not having a life that revolves around playing Xwing.

As I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering about the differences between an alt-art and an alt-ship, because my gut say I've got no issue at all about alt arts, tokens, range rulers, templates, dice. I think it's good for folks to get souvenirs for big events.

Ships feel a bit different. Alternate paint scheme ships have typically been a big selling point for veterans packs and such. I dunno. If it's mostly early access to stuff, no worries at all, but it just feels like ship paint schemes are something that would be nice to have available to everyone.

I'll also add something I've said in other threads: I really miss the sheer number and ease of accessibility of Store Championships. I have a friend who has tried to collect a range ruler for each year they've had them. There have been like two HST within a 3 hour drive from our local community. Southern Maine isn't way out in the woods, it's not too isolated, but there was only one HST north of Boston. Combined with a lot less stuff to win at kit tournaments (they don't really have tokens anymore), the low end of the competitive X-Wing scene feels really lacking. That contributes to any salt about excessive top-end prizes.

35 minutes ago, wurms said:

These people are travel across the country and the world to play for nothing more than a trophy and some acrylic. An exclusive ship is kind of a nice gesture by FFG in saying "thanks for coming all this way for us."

This ^^^

Now, I have it easy. Worlds is close enough to me that I can drive it in and be back in my own bed at night. But there were people who came quite literally from the opposite side of the world to participate.

It doesn’t bother me at all - I wasn’t able to make it to Adepticon and missed the shiny vulture. That’s ok. I wasn’t there.

I got the Plo by qualifying at the LCQ and thus go to worlds. If I hadn’t qualified? I probably would have just let it stand and focus on cheaper swag. But I’m really happy ffg has a souvenir that I’ll always have to remind me of the days. Just like I’ll always remember the games played when I look at the unofficial alt arts exchanged by pilots.

1 hour ago, executor said:

Is there also a photo of the underside?

I sadly didn't have the best photos of mine, let alone the underside, but here are some pictures I took of mine. When I get home late tonight, I'll try to take a pic of it then.

People putting in the time and cost to travel to those places should get neat stuff. For the folks that want to but can't, I get that (being one of them myself); that's a different problem that requires solutions of your own, though. Whatever you do with that is, of course, entirely up to you.

I could care less about event exclusive ships. I'm not one of those people who have to have every single variant/repaint/movable s-foil of a ship that there is. Ultimately I understand that there are collectors out there that enjoy that sort of stuff.

There are ways of getting these exclusive ships and cardboard if you are willing to part with enough of your money. I don't see what there is to be bitter about. Either you purchase a stock version at a retail store for $20 per small base or you pay $100 plus on the secondary market for the "exclusive" version. Its all available to you.

And like others have said its a way for FFG to motivate people to try harder and fly better to get this extra stuff.

Oh great. This again. 🙄

Like the Adepticon Vulture before it, the Plo paint scheme is just a fancier alt art. I cannot comprehend why people get so upset just because it's a 3d piece of plastic instead of a flat piece of cardboard. In neither instance is your ability to play the game compromised by not having it, or by the fact your opponent does.

Get over it, people.

Should we bring back the challenge coins? 😛

18 minutes ago, Flyingbrick said:

Should we bring back the challenge coins? 😛

There was one on the Prize Wall.