i agree perhaps we/they have gotten a bit picky, but i certainly didn't mean to dis the HT P1 too much, i love mine, added some custom elements, some quills, expanded the base, the P1 is damn near my favorite next to my custom losties.
just due to his slightly smaller stature i have tended to display him solo (on his own little shelf) mainly cause of how big i made his base, but two, drove me nuts him being shorter than the rest, cause to me he is superior to the rest (besides the elder) and not to say he couldn't be
shorter and
superior, i just, i dunno... tis just me i suppose...
but as far as the ebay sale, that sucks, i was kinda afraid of that, but on the other hand, there are plenty of collectors who would buy not based on appearance, but just the fact that it is what it is, HT's original (ex. in this case) P1. they're still worth some dough

but i'm not greedy, as long as i broke slightly above even i'd be fine. that's the beauty of HT figs, you'll certainly without a doubt get at least the sticker price for em, but usually more.
i've found patience is the best method when buying or selling on ebay.... you can almost always come out ahead if you are patient.
i once upon a time got a NIB chopper for 215, got a celtic for just under 300 and this was not too long ago, just gotta wait for the right moment to strike!
but sorry, now back to the discussion of how cool this new P1 is.