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[zeroelement]

Ok just wanted to start this thread with the intent for people to post what they have gotten from grab bags and the knowlege i have gotten over the years of con going.

First i have never bought a grab bag because my friend who was a vender at Fanime for years told me how grab bags are made. Grab bags are paper bags with items inside that you don't know what is what. Also the value is normally MORE than what you pay.
Sounds good so far but There is a catch. One items may not be your size or BROKEN. When my friend was a vender he said all items that were not selling good or were damaged going to the con to the point they some people wont buy it seeing it like that. Its a cheep way to get some of their items sold so they don't have to ship it back. Only Once awhile he would put good items in the grab bag so people can tell others they got ___ at booth ___. So it is buy at your own risk for it can not be returned. Most of the people i know who got them later gave the items away as gifts or sold them at swap meets.

Items i have gotten
Nothing to cowardly to buy.

[Moonblossom]

The last time I bought one was in 2008 and I don't remember which vendor, but it had a very cute figure of Rei Ayanami in it.


108/365 - Ayanami Rei by tsukinoblossom, on Flickr

Still in the package, in perfect condition. I was happy.

[Rin_chan]

I've never bought a grab bag at FanimeCon before, to afraid of wasting money on a cheap item or getting something from an anime I don't even know/like.

But a while ago an old friend of mine bought a $20 grab bag from the Sanrio store at our local mall and got a lunch box, of course the price tag was taken off but I saw the same one and found out it was only worth $10. So she got pretty gipped there.

[Persona]

Usually, if a vendor is honest, they'll just put things that are not very popular into the grab bag and sell it for slightly less than all of it's worth. Unfortunately, the nature of the grab bag makes it so they can put absolutely anything in there, so you never know. Grab bags (or fukubukuro, if that's what Fanime grab bags are based on) work better when there's only one brand/series involved and you know you're going to like whatever's in there. I guess if you want to play the lottery a good thing to look for is the variety of things the dealers are selling at their booth -- if it looks like you wouldn't mind 90% of the stuff they're selling and would really like 10% of it, then chances are you'll probably get something nice in the bag.

I've never personally bought any grab bags just because I have very specific tastes (in series and in item type) and have seen just how crappy some merchandise can be in general.

[Kyra_Maverick]

I love the Sanrio grab bags at my store. Its always stuff that isnt being sold anymore. Depending on the price point theres always at least one big item and smaller stuff as filler, like key chains or stationary. Maybe your store is just shady?

[zeroelement]

Usually, if a vendor is honest, they'll just put things that are not very popular into the grab bag and sell it for slightly less than all of it's worth. Unfortunately, the nature of the grab bag makes it so they can put absolutely anything in there, so you never know. Grab bags (or fukubukuro, if that's what Fanime grab bags are based on) work better when there's only one brand/series involved and you know you're going to like whatever's in there. I guess if you want to play the lottery a good thing to look for is the variety of things the dealers are selling at their booth -- if it looks like you wouldn't mind 90% of the stuff they're selling and would really like 10% of it, then chances are you'll probably get something nice in the bag.

I've never personally bought any grab bags just because I have very specific tastes (in series and in item type) and have seen just how crappy some merchandise can be in general.

Most if not all grab bags are worth the $20 just via retail value. Its just it can be damaged or the wrong size. I had insider information on how grab bags were made and that's why i wouldn't buy one. (im just trying to let other people know about it).

[summerchristmas838]

my bro bought a grab bag once. It had a DN T-shirt with L on it, which made him happy, but it was size XXL large, which made him unhappy (dude's like 110 pounds). I wear it as a PJ top now.

[Valkyrie Ryu]

Yea I wouldn't go for a grab bag from most places mostly because of exactly the reasons you said. For smaller companies, sometimes they have only one or two of a product left so they just remove it from their site and put it in a grab bag.
buuut someitimes they're an okay deal. I've been considering getting one of Visual You's Mystery Bags for example. Idk how good those are though.

[NerdyBirdAsh]

At Fanime '06 I bought a grab-bag.
I got a plushie that was a half nude chick, her breasts exposed, and it had some weird sewn on nipples.
And it had these eyes...
It creeped me the fuck out with the eyes.
So I gave it to a group of people playing video games so they could use it as a "prize."

I was 16, so I was surprised to find what appeared to be a hentai plushie in my bag...

[zeroelement]

At Fanime '06 I bought a grab-bag.
I got a plushie that was a half nude chick, her breasts exposed, and it had some weird sewn on nipples.
And it had these eyes...
It creeped me the fuck out with the eyes.
So I gave it to a group of people playing video games so they could use it as a "prize."

I was 16, so I was surprised to find what appeared to be a hentai plushie in my bag...

O they could of gone out of business for selling hentai plushy to a minor. If you get another auction it off at hentai night.

[Rin_chan]

I love the Sanrio grab bags at my store. Its always stuff that isnt being sold anymore. Depending on the price point theres always at least one big item and smaller stuff as filler, like key chains or stationary. Maybe your store is just shady?

That is possible, the women who runs it is a bit scary.

[Xeluu]

Honestly, the only dealer I will buy grab bags from, if at all, is the YaoiCon booth. A few years back I bought one and got a Luffy plush from One Piece, in addition, I've gotten various smatterings of FMA and other similar shows from their bags.
Unfortunately, I also bought one from a different dealer, and it had a t-shirt from a HELLA old video game that no one knew about, as well as a CD soundtrack still in the hard plastic anti-theft case, making it worthless, that was probably the worst use of my money at Fanime.

So, rule of thumb, know and trust your dealer, or don't bother. And don't be unhappy with whatever you get, it's a surprise for a reason. Don't spend your money on it if you have the potential to really regret it later on.

[Xanreo]

My group of friends and I always purchase at least one grab bag from any booth, sit around, and have a hell of a time opening and making fun of the things we find in there; it's a tradition.

[zeroelement]

My group of friends and I always purchase at least one grab bag from any booth, sit around, and have a hell of a time opening and making fun of the things we find in there; it's a tradition.

Sounds fun lol mind listing some of the times yall got? IF i had a group of friends to split the bags up that might make it worth it everyone can pick from the loot. (put in randome pirate remark here)

[Xanreo]

It seems all the grab bags from a booth will contain basically the same things, is what I found.
Back in '08, the Anime Depot grab bags all contained this one mecha DVD; still unwrapped somewhere in my closet.

Some things that got more 'attention' than deserved were deformed plushies, plastic/fake candy, manga with missing covers, and the good ol' nude gashapon figure.

I've never found anything in a grab bag that was really worth it but a friend of mine got a 'Shining Wind' figure last year which I thought was really cool.

[Valkyrie Ryu]

Honestly, the only dealer I will buy grab bags from, if at all, is the YaoiCon booth. A few years back I bought one and got a Luffy plush from One Piece, in addition, I've gotten various smatterings of FMA and other similar shows from their bags.
Unfortunately, I also bought one from a different dealer, and it had a t-shirt from a HELLA old video game that no one knew about, as well as a CD soundtrack still in the hard plastic anti-theft case, making it worthless, that was probably the worst use of my money at Fanime.

So, rule of thumb, know and trust your dealer, or don't bother. And don't be unhappy with whatever you get, it's a surprise for a reason. Don't spend your money on it if you have the potential to really regret it later on.

Do the yaoicon grab bags have yaoi stuff in it or no? o: cause it sounds like they don't..
& would you say the value of the stuff you got exceeded how much you paid?

[zeroelement]

Honestly, the only dealer I will buy grab bags from, if at all, is the YaoiCon booth. A few years back I bought one and got a Luffy plush from One Piece, in addition, I've gotten various smatterings of FMA and other similar shows from their bags.
Unfortunately, I also bought one from a different dealer, and it had a t-shirt from a HELLA old video game that no one knew about, as well as a CD soundtrack still in the hard plastic anti-theft case, making it worthless, that was probably the worst use of my money at Fanime.

So, rule of thumb, know and trust your dealer, or don't bother. And don't be unhappy with whatever you get, it's a surprise for a reason. Don't spend your money on it if you have the potential to really regret it later on.

Do the yaoicon grab bags have yaoi stuff in it or no? o: cause it sounds like they don't..
& would you say the value of the stuff you got exceeded how much you paid?

That depends on how much the vender is selling it for. Like Some places sell and item for 20 others 10-15 so if they list it as 20 and put another item in worth say 1-4 then they can say its over the price of 20 but in reality its not.

[Xeluu]

Honestly, the only dealer I will buy grab bags from, if at all, is the YaoiCon booth. A few years back I bought one and got a Luffy plush from One Piece, in addition, I've gotten various smatterings of FMA and other similar shows from their bags.
Unfortunately, I also bought one from a different dealer, and it had a t-shirt from a HELLA old video game that no one knew about, as well as a CD soundtrack still in the hard plastic anti-theft case, making it worthless, that was probably the worst use of my money at Fanime.

So, rule of thumb, know and trust your dealer, or don't bother. And don't be unhappy with whatever you get, it's a surprise for a reason. Don't spend your money on it if you have the potential to really regret it later on.

Do the yaoicon grab bags have yaoi stuff in it or no? o: cause it sounds like they don't..
& would you say the value of the stuff you got exceeded how much you paid?

It's a bit of an iffy situation on them actually having Yaoi in them. Honestly, the ones I got didn't have yaoi, but stuff from shows that are popular for couplings. But as to the value exceeding what I paid? Absolutely.
And remember, the actual yaoi stuff you'd want they couldn't put in the grab bags anyway. The grab bags are all-ages. The stuff behind the counter is what has the age restriction and is what most people want anyway.

[FanFicGuru]

From my experience grab bags are 95% not worth it.

It's true that the items in the bag are most likely more than what you paid, but they're so obscure and odd that you might as well have bought a bag of random junk. I've tried getting grab bags for the last 3 years, and they were all disappointments.

Nevar again.

[instaaggro]

just bought one for the hell of it
got a batman keychain thing
Vol 7. of GetBackers
Clamp things of Tsubasa
.hack keychain of some animal thing.
The nightmare before christmas trading figure


my girlfriend practically got the same except she got vol 2 of Gravion haha, not what she expected