factory sealed

I went to a gigantic toy show, think it was around 1998. Guess what I bought? All modern re-released SW stuff. Remember the deluxe 2 pack Han/Luke in Stormtrooper disguise? Well I landed that for $40 and thought what a deal! So long story short, I was able to buy a bunch of items as moderns could be had on the cheap. There were so many tables and now it's later in the day and I'm ready to leave. Low and behold I run across a table with a guy who could stunt double for Santa and there layed out in toy shelf like condition are nearly all the G1 Transformer Decepticons mint factory sealed including a pre-rub SOUNDWAVE for $100 and MEGS for $150!!! It was at this moment I realized I had made a mistake putting all my eggs in one basket. I had no money left. Speaking of your memories on vintage SW pieces, years later I would score a unicorn sealed C9 G1 SHOCKWAVE without rub sign. These were the very first release, not many existed, could have been a production error. I traded this for a tightly sealed C10 SW Death Star. Vintage slabbed SW is now so expensive, most average collectors are priced out of the market. To give you a reference point back in 2006ish, a collector was going through a divorce and offered me all of the original SW 12 backs graded and slabbed AFA 90 for $12K cash if I took them all. That same lot today would fetch in the $250K range.

I had some great luck at this general grocery/drug type store that had a couple aisles of toys in scoring two SS/LT Lukes. I still remember the elation I felt when stumbling upon these to this day! Did you ever get the theatrical "rare" green jedi Luke card? That was another big score I recall.

$200 Shipped.

I really enjoyed this time period for the red card POFs and in particular discovering these Boba Fett's had hand variant editions was absolutely spectacular. This was a chance for allot of folks to get some vindication this time around in leaving that bubble/card in factory sealed condition! I would hit various stores early in the morning or knew specific times when new toy inventory was pushed out to the aisle as did many others. Made things very interesting and competitive especially that first few weeks of the release. Certain stores even had quantity limits on purchase amounts.

This sort of trade off is much more prevalent in sealed graded toys; that is overall you have a much higher presenting slab but one significant flaw in this case that chip piece missing. Personally I would take B in this specific scenario. I have tons of 70s comics with the white spine wrap, so I'm probably a little biased from a nostalgic perspective but also the staples are mounted better in copy B as well.

All interwebs via auctions or MCS etc. At this juncture in time, I only am buying slabs. I have decades worth of full raw runs spanning three different eras that are permanently sufficient. Presently there are some specific runs near and dear to me for nostalgic archival purposes that I will be completing/competing and denoting in my registry.

HBD and awesome pickup! I heard this show was going to be a blast as it was bringing back the old school vintage con vibes. Hope it lived up to this and you had fun. Get anything else?

I was so stoked to land this as I have been looking forever to get a solid WP NMish range slab. In terms of the color/PQ, this book looks much nicer in hand vs. that scan. Cheers.

It's been a long time but I think from recollection specifically this Hulk initial series was not that popular, not doing well sales wise, and the run was stopped at #6. It wasn't until Hulk appeared in Tales to Astonish that this the lead to the successful runway we all recognize today for Incredible Hulk.

Been waiting for a minute on a WP!

Pappy is absolutely superb and an ideal selection if someone's palate is a preference say for something a tad sweeter and more complex. Do you or @Jayman drink Scotch much? I recently and finally managed to crack open an 18 year old single malt Glenmorangie. It was fantastic.

Awesome and thanks for sharing. Really looking forward to having this tomorrow. Brilliant idea to have a bar in the comic room

You have to adjust the exact ration amounts to your personal preference but mine consists of an Italian vanilla syrup (a Fontana or Torani type) + a better quality organic cinnamon powder. The synergy between these and the bourbon is incredible. This goes without saying but as far as the actual bourbon I utilize for this concoction, that would be something in the mid range of an Elijah Craiq or Woodford. If I have access to something more top shelf quality, I'll just have that neat. BTW is that a 15 year WhistlePig on your third shelf? LMK when you open that. Tomorrow I"m cracking open an older Blanton's single barrel; we'll see how that goes. Cheers.

As a kid I remember vividly waiting in line for this movie opening weekend. It seemed as if we were outside all afternoon as people were lined up all over the place; wrapping around the entire building into the parking lot. Afterwards ran over to a toy store and went bonkers over all the new action figures etc. That was an awesome day.

I have an absolutely stellar Old Fashioned recipe.

Brilliant thread! Someone sent this to me last year and I thought if anyone here grew up in the 70s/80s you might want to see the toy aisles one more time.

@wytshus Thanks very much! I was getting the "not in database" message for an old label Supes slab I couldn't save into my registry last night. Circled back just now and it was populating there in my registry as an available comic; now saved and successfully added. Lookout @roulette44 Cheers.

Have not followed close enough but that slab's momentum will continue as the new Aliens movie filming gets underway and more hype momentum hits critical mass going into the 2024 release.