F For Fake

Almost forgot about these. Bought a bunch of junk at a Peddlers Mall in a town a couple of hours away. First up, Joe Quest continues!

It's sunny and 65, there's all you can eat college hoops on tv for 4 and 1/2 days, and the LCS got a nice copper collection in. Spring is sprung, my friends!

I’m a big fan of low and mid grade, “beat but complete.” If it’s all there, I can touch it without it falling apart, and I can afford it, that’s the sweet spot! As for purples, as others have said, it depends on the nature and amount of restoration, and the price. I’m not a snob about amateur color touch as long as I know about it beforehand.

Anything that was hot in the past 25 years is now super hot, it seems. Lots of folks digging up those old Wizard Top 10's for their spec plays. UXM 244 was a pricier issue for a while. Never as hot as 266 or 282, but still relatively expensive. Between the three of them, maybe she sucks the least? I was never a fan, but I disliked Bishop and outright hated Gambit, so I guess she wins by default. Anyway, Longshot rules because Art Adams. The end.

Beauty! Got mine ordered. Was actually popping into the thread to make sure you'd gotten yours!

Woohoo! This was probably my most desired reprint, really regret having sold my original many years ago. Can't wait! Thanks for the heads up!

It feels like nothing is undervalued to me in the current market. PCH is all the rage with the Instagram/FB crowd, so it seems to be right in the crosshairs of most collectors. As for stuff I DO think is undervalued...I'm not tellin'! At least not until I buy more!

Since trimming is involved, I'd go with the blue. I think purples are sometimes ok, for instance if it's something like light amateur color touch (i.e. some kid took a marker to the cover 50 years ago.) But I'm not a fan of professional resto on books, and I definitely don't want anything that's trimmed. PLOD isn't necessarily a kiss of death, but trimming pretty much is. I'd save up and get the blue. The fact that you made this post suggest that you'd probably always have misgivings about owning the purple, even if it is quite a bit cheaper. As has been said, most SA aren't rare at all, so chances are if you hang on, you may find an even lower grade copy that may fit both your blue label desires and your budget.

Ah well. I wondered if that was the case, but was hoping he’d be more poseable. Still, a pretty cool accessory! Agree completely on this line vs masterpieces. MP are cool, but the value in this line can’t be beat. The Hot Rod figure (or Rodimus, or whatever they’re calling him) is like a mini-masterpiece, maybe the figure of the year for me.

That’s a really cool one, congrats! Really loved that era.

I think the plastic has rounded the corners on the outside books over the years, so I doubt they'd even hit 9.4. I just figured for the price it was something I didn't see everyday. That's interesting to know about the promos and skycaps though, much appreciated!

Thanks bud! Wasn't aware of the relevance of the EN, much appreciated! I may just sit on them for a bit, since I don't have anything in them. They're at least kind of unusual!

They're all under the same company, but ToW and IST still operate out of separate stockpiles (though within the same physical warehouse, I believe.) Seems like it's only a matter of time before they're all combined, but as of now they're still separate entities, with separate stock to pull from, under the umbrella of DCBS. As for why I don't pre-order, it's just personal preference. I preorder stuff and then forget all about it until there's a charge I wasn't expecting. So I'd rather just wait until I'm ready to buy. I miss a few things here or there (primarily in the post-Covid world) but I usually get what I want, and then don't have to worry about holding out funds in my checkbooks for months on end, especially when books are delayed or canceled. This guy showed up today, 1 week after it was ordered, which must be a new record for IST! My order from the previous week is still held up, as they're apparently having trouble stocking a Dawn of X tpb that I threw on there to hit the $50 free shipping limit. X-Men Inferno should be next week, and then I don't have to pay attention for awhile.

Some $1 DH pickups this weekend. I had all of the Aliens books, but I never turn them down for a buck. The DHP 117 is uncommon, and Thicker than Blood, while not valuable, is not one I see as often as the other AvP series. Of course, no way I'm leaving behind a nice Boris 1 for $1, and you gotta love that #9 which pays tribute to both GI Joe and the 1986 Marvel 25th anniversary frame covers. This one should be more popular! I'm assuming most people don't know about it. The SW foils aren't perfect, but again, for the price, I wouldn't turn them down.

Found this for $5 this weekend. Looks like they're all first prints, so no cool or pricey variants. Still, for the price I thought it was neat. There ARE some trading cards as well as pogs, ahem, I'm sorry, "Skycaps", included, so naturally I'd expect this to be a $1k item shortly.

Found these at a Peddler's Mall for $1. At first I was excited to find a newsstand, and then I realized that they're barcode stickers on top of the direct box. So I nearly left them behind. Then I remembered that in one of these threads (can't recall if it was this one, or the MHU thread, and am too lazy to backtrack) someone was talking about stickered Spawn's selling well, so I figured for a buck, I may as well pick them up. Didn't find any completed sales, just one listing with an ask of $129, which seems absurd. I may throw them up for a buck plus shipping and see if they do anything, just for kicks.

I've got the Grimlock set ordered at BBTS, it looks lovely. I'm also oddly excited for the Wheelie figure!

The danger with going to the comic shop "just to pick up some bags" is that I usually walk out with a lot more than just bags. The SS is very rough, detached cover, but for $6 I decided to bring him home. They also got in a large collection of Blackhawk stuff. This one grabbed me. A bit brittle around the edge of the covers, with tape and all of that stuff, but still cool. The BB 34 is a decent VG copy, very solid. Love those SA DC's!

So, Sunday I returned home (I crashed that night at our place at the river, watching basketball in blessed silence), only to find that my "Pile of Loot" shipment from BBTS had arrived! Some folks don't like BBTS because they're usually late in getting stuff. However, since I'm not in any hurry, I prefer them, because this means they also tend to have items in stock much longer than any other retailer. I leave stuff in my cart, and check the stock levels every week or so, and when they start to drop, I buy them and drop them in my pile. So this enormous box represents several months worth of stuff. Super stoked to have my Quintessons. This was probably my most desired TF toy as a kid, so happy to finally have them. The Jetfire looks really nice, but i haven't decided if I'm keeping him. But it is very tempting. There's a little bit of everything here. Marvel Legends, TF, MotU Origins, DC Essentials. For someone who "doesn't collect modern toys" ,this box was suspiciously large and heavy. I may be a hypocrite.

...I actually ended up buying nearly as much stuff at the small town WalMart I stopped at on the way to the toy mall. This was the first time I've seen the Blurr/Kup/Jazz figures from the 86 line. Grabbed them so quickly, I didn't realize until I got them home that the top of every box was torn, as whoever put them up for sale apparently thought that they had to tear the box to get the plastic hanger to pop into place. I may return them, haven't decided. This was also the first time I've seen the R.E.D. figures in person. I really like these. They're small, so I'm not sure about the $18 price point, but these are really the Transformers toys I wanted as a kid: they don't transform at all, but they're completely faithful to the character designs from the cartoon, with lots of great details. I may need all of these. Also finally saw evidence of the NECA Alien WalMart exclusive wave, but still no Ash, and I'm not wanting to spend $50 for him on eBay. Brickseek doesn't show anything withint 200 miles, so I may be searching for a while. Hopefully there will be a refresh. Also picked up another piece from the latest wave of Lanard Aliens figures. These things are so bizarre, but not bad at all for $10.

So, there were a lot of toys in my weekend. Stuff is stacked up, and I went back to work today (we've worked from home for the last year, to the day) so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to get everything sorted. So here are some quick pics. First, on Saturday, I decided to return to the "Consumer Mall" a couple of hours away, and really dig in. The wife stayed home since our niece was visiting, so I let them have a "Girls Night", and I spent the entire day digging through this place. I actually didn't buy a ton of toys, but I found a few things worth having. Several DC Direct Superman pieces at nice prices; another short saber long tray SW figure; a pretty nice carded Toy Biz Superman (I think the card on this one is nicer than the one I already have, but the figure I already have is brighter; may keep them both, may sell this one); and other stuff. I don't collect the GI Joe vs Cobra era of the line, but I liked the Viper in this "Bonus Pack". I think it's identical to the 2002 version included in the Mirage 2 pack, but I still thought this particular packaging variation was kind of unique and bizarre. Also, I've never been a fan of "The Corps", but have been very surprised in recent years how the line is heavily collected and enjoyed by a lot of GI Joe collectors. This Laser Force figure on card for $11 seemed like a good deal, and the light-up feature still works! May toss this one up for auction, as I don't collect the line, but i couldn't leave it behind. And finally, another Bubble Bath/Soakie figure for the collection! So, this was Saturday (plus a giant stack of cheap comics)...

Great stuff as always, great to see ya back, Stormy! This weekend I ran across a Tomahawk with a decent box, but Lift Ticket was missing the mic, of course. Maybe I should have picked it up, but these days I seem to have less trouble finding the box than I do finding the mic!

Yeah, I'm just not feeling most of the covers, really. I guess I was expecting more, but then again, I'm used to Dark Horse, where they had a laundry list of legends doing covers and interiors. I haven't kept up with Marvel's talent stable for a while, but the cover offerings for this book are severely lacking.

I appreciate it, but I feel like you guys are trying to talk me down from a ledge re: buying these books. To be very clear: unless I find them at a price I like, I won't be buying them. It's ok, guys, really. I've spent more money on much stupider things before. I never claimed to be a wise man. But yeah, it is unlikely that I'll be buying them, which will leave the collection incomplete. Such is life. But this is a message board full of CGC collectors who are competing for registry prizes. I'm surely not the first one here to consider a purchase to complete their collection that they weren't thrilled about. Edit: should have quoted, was addressing @ausXwing here.

Not sure how you came to that conclusion based on what I wrote. I don’t buy moderns at all, and haven’t bought a Marvel book in years, but I am an Alien completist. As I said, I haven’t bought any of them yet. I’m going to wait and see what the prices are like when they’re released. If I can get them for a couple hundred bucks, that’s not a big deal relative to what I spend on my collection. But if they land and stick at $300-$500 each, or whatever, that’s likely the point where my collection is no longer complete. If I liked the covers better, it would be an easier pill to swallow. But the 1:500’s appear to just be virgin variants of covers I’m already not terribly excited about.