Yes, we can!

As you may know, my son is obsessed with Bob the Builder. Last fall, a new Bob movie -- called Race To The Finish came out, and E is enthralled with this movie in the way only a toddler can be. In particular, he's in love with two new machines that are featured in the movie ... Gripper (a crane) and Grabber (a 'digger'). He uses the Bob toys he has to play out scenes from the movie, subbing two other characters (Lofty and Muck) for Gripper and Grabber.

After about four months of this, I decided that he really needed a Gripper and Grabber of his very own. The Bob toys he has are made by Brio, and are wood, but there are also die-cast metal Bob trucks on the market, and (although I'd resisted the die-cast for a long time) I bit the bullet and went out in search of Gripper and Grabber.

Well. Grabber was reasonably priced and easily found. Gripper, not so much. No one has them. When one turns up on eBay, it goes in the $35 - $55 range. A frustrating situation, and a puzzling one. As a toy collector I know that certain figures have limited runs, but it makes no sense to have a limited run of one character from an "inseparable team" (as they are portrayed in the movie).

So, this morning I called Learning Curve (the company who makes the Die casts) and said, politely, WTF???

I could not have asked for a better customer service experience. I spoke with a lovely woman who was eager to help. She gave me the number of their outlet store in Dyersville, IA, which I called, and was able to speak with another lovely, midwestern woman who was able to confirm that they do, indeed have the Gripper figure instock -- in fact, she has 48 of them, at the bargain price of $3.00!

I paused. And I got out my credit card.

I just ordered five. One for E, and four more to go on eBay (although staceyspins is welcome to one if she wants one). I probably should have bought more, but thought that might have seemed ... odd to the nice woman who was helping me.

Now I have a moral dilemma. I can put them on eBay one at a time, and sell them to the highest bidder and make quite a profit. Or, I can put them on eBay with a reasonable 'Buy it Now' price that covers my costs and makes it easier for moms with Bob obsessed kids to get the complete set. I suspect I know which I will do......

(If you want to order your own, the number in Dyersville is 563-875-5613.)