In the first picture, we see my ten INFECTED HAU. The one being worn by Evil TAHU is the first one I ever got, and the best looking one of the group, in my opinion. MUAKA is wearing his original pair, and the two on the left of the can-top are ones that I traded for. The other five on the can-top and the one being worn by Evil TAHU were all pulled out of just over 100 packs, at a rate of about one per 18 packs, which means I was pulling twice as many as I should have, assuming that there is equal rarity of all 73 pack MASKS. Not that I’m complaining, of course.

The other picture shows the basic 72 set, all displayed with matching heads on matching can-tops. Of the set, only the tan RAU and dark grey RAU had to be traded for. I pulled at least one of every other MASK out of packs. I had a lot of trades turn worthless on me after buying more packs later. I traded for a light grey RURU at one point, and then I found some more packs while the trade was still in the mail. I ended up pulling six or seven of them out of a dozen packs before I got the one I traded for.

My advice for those who are trying to complete a full collection is to try to get up to at least 60 before trading, and then try to do big as big of a trade as possible the first couple times. Prior to getting above the 60-mark, I was usually finding that every batch of 10-12 packs that I bought would get me an average of at least one new MASK per pack, which is a lot cheaper than you’ll get by hitting eBay, and your odds of pulling repeats of MASKS you’ve traded for are a lot lower when you’re close to completing your collection. Personally, I wouldn’t suggest resorting to eBay until you’re within five or less from completing your collection, and hope that you’ve found your INFECTED HAU before then. Every time I scanned through the prices I found that people were getting moderately screwed at $5+S&H for a basic mask, while I paid around $3 per mask to complete my collection. The bids on RAHI MASKS are ridiculous, with the INFECTED HAU going for as much as the LEGOLAND exclusive trans-neon green MIRU. I think the worst I ever saw was trans-blue RURU going for $13-14 apiece when you get four for $15, plus another 134 pieces, by buying a NUI-RAMA set. It’s a bit disturbing that people would actually buy a single piece for almost the full cost of the set, and the fact that people would hype the sets as being so rare (which they aren’t) that they could quadruple their investment by selling off 3% of the set qualifies as scalping of the worst kind, IMHO. At this point, between five local toy stores, the only retail sets that I couldn’t have guaranteed being able to find every single day in August were the TOA and TURAGA. When you consider the fact that between those same five stores I’ve probably witnessed well over 100 of each TOA and over 50 of each TURAGA on the shelves since they first showed up in June, and it’s obviously a case of the sets being the hottest thing in town instead of ‘rare’. I don’t think this town could guarantee selling 100 each of any six random Star Wars action figures in that period of time.