Tag team action entered the Shrine on June 9, 1999. Two morons for the price of one exhibit. Think of the value. The linking factor? Those crappy pogs that invaded three different crappy fast food joints as part of their Star Wars: Episode One promotion. First up, we have Russ. Russ tried to scam his way into a cool grand with the following post: HI!, as I am an avid chewbacca and yoda collector from star wars I currently in need of a yoda game medallion from taco bell, kfc, or pizza hut. I am willing to trade one of my extra darth maul .01 moc figs for it. lmk if you have him, and please email me at rha4079102@aol.com do not reply here or I will not read it thanks russ Of course, since Yoda was the rare game piece needed for the $1,000 prize, he got duly slapped down by the denizens of rec.toys.action-figures.discuss for trying to trade it for an action figure that, a year later, would sit on clearance for two bucks at Toys R Us. Despite his claim, he did read the replies, and responded thusly: You guys should be ashamed. Can you really blame a person for wanting 1000 dollars? Well, hopefully I will get him SOMEHOW. But it aint goin to be with you jealous freaks out ot get me. Cya Really, just classic stuff, from the accusations of jealousy to the ever-popular "Cya", your Internet shorthand for too many dodgeballs to the skull in gym class. Oh, elsewhere in the newsgroup, Russ has repeatedly tried to pass off his crappyass Episode One figures, but as a Special Shrine Bonus, I'm including this fantastic offer from the Russmeister: First off, I have some Storm Qui-Gonn Jinn unnumbered cans ( rare because they aren't numbered like the 24 different). I have been trading people 1 unopened storm can for 1 episode 1 figure moc, but as of today I will throw in 2 FREE Episode 1 widevision cards of my choice with each can to trade. Yes thats 2 FREE CARDS! Yes, if you had been lucky enough to read Russ's post back in '99, you too could have traded a $7 action figure for a can of caffeinated Sprite and two trading cards. It amazes me to this day that I haven't seen Russ being hailed in financial circles for having made his first billion. Russ' bunkmate here at Exhibit 29 is good old Steve Nauert. If Russ is the brain-damaged Schnauzer who's always sniffing your ass, Steve is the rabid Doberman who, in trying to rip your throat out, runs repeatedly into the plate glass window. Steve's crime? Another pog scam, this time trying to auction off common as dirt game pieces on eBay: ON EBAY I HAVE SEVERAL RARE DTDS GAME PIECES FROM TACO BELL. SEARCH AUCTIONS BY MADHATTER8 TO BID. THESE ARE HOT ONES! When he got slapped down for, well, being a lameass, basically, since he was trying to sell people something they could pick up off the floor of Taco Bell for free, Steve, master of the witty comeback, offered the following in his defense: get a life and some social skills mike Note that this was posted three times. Apparently WebTV is not as easy to use as they claim. The defense continued: MIKEY, I HAVE A RIGHT TO POST AN EBAY AUCTION, IF YOU DIDNTWANT TO READ IT, DONT! ROUGH FOR YOU! SORRY YOU MADE SUCH A I DEAL OVER WHAT A RETARD YOU ARE. C3p0 is not rare. mike get a life.. how do you know if I knew what the rare peices were when I did the auction. why do you care so much. mike dont make up lies to hide your trollish lifestyle.... Fun Shrine Fact: Of those three replies, only the first was replying to a post by someone named "Mike". In case there were any lingering doubts as to Nauert's eminent qualifications. Finally, Steve decided to summarize all his points into one last defense post, posted, of course, to a completely different thread: You guys are making mountains out of mole hills. please, how do you know if I knew what the rare peices were when I did that auction. why are you wasting your time on this. mike don tmake up lies to hide your trollish life. Remember, like Yoda said, bulletin boards lead to Usenet. Usenet leads to morons. Morons lead to suffering. Suffering leads to the Shrine.