F For Fake

My general advice in life would be if you THINK something might be unethical, don't do it. Erase all doubt, sleep better at night. Stuff is stuff. There's always more stuff.

$4k for a PRINT??? Insanity. I have a nice Olivia Catwoman print from Sideshow, I think it was about $400 framed, and I think that's a fair price. But $4k would buy some pretty nice original art!

I enjoyed Crisis, and all of the various tie-ins, so I'd enjoy reading that set. Most of the Marvel sets don't appeal to me because I didn't care for the stories. Civil War, Infinity Gauntlet, etc don't mean much to me. But a chronological hardcover collection of every X-Men appearance, including stuff that was even left out of the Masterworks, is right up my alley. I'm hoping they'll follow it up with another set, but if not, most of the important stuff has been collected in oversized HC's, and that's ok with me for now. The other issue is that these things seem horking huge, so I'm not sure where I'd put them if I had a few. Crisis looks pretty sweet for sure, though!

If it gets down to $250 at IST week of release, I may pick it up. I'm mostly looking forward to the X-Men Children of the Atom set. I've already sold most of my Masterworks in anticipation!

I think we can all agree that money is good, and it brings out the best in people, without fail.

It's beautiful, looks like the white hasn't yellowed at all!

Right on! You did very well. Most of the complete Headmasters can sell for $75-$100 each, and yours look very clean. Whether you keep or sell, you did great! Glad I could twist your arm. Chromedome is a personal favorite, mostly due to the IDW comics. Need to grab one myself some day.

Whoa! $35 is a killer deal, the guns alone can sell for $25 each! I picked up a headless/gunless Brainstorm in a box Lot a couple of weeks ago, thought about trying to complete it, but it'd be much easier and cheaper to buy a complete one. You scored! Always loved the color scheme and alt mode on that one.

Awesome! Always the loved color scheme on that one, it's fairly restrained for the era. Love the box art!

Thanks bud! I bought my first copy when I was 19, I'd never seen it before, and the LCS I was working at got two copies in. The cover absolutely mesmerized me! I had to have one. Put it on layaway. It was $175, which seemed like a lot of money at that age. Eventually sold it when I let my collection go, and regretted it ever since. This may be my keeper copy!

Got this back today, first book I've been slabbed in a couple of years, I think my first with the new case. Some newton rings, but I can live with it. Expected 6.5 to 7, so I'm pleased. Of course, with me the problem always is once i slab a book, I'm tempted to sell it. We'll see if it lasts the weekend without getting listed!

Thanks bud! Yeah, these instantly became some of the nicest pieces in my G1 collection, I'm really happy with them. Someone on the TFW2005 boards just pointed out that Jazz has the Diaclone stickers with him, so he is evidence of Diaclone reboxing, and also, the hood tampo is upside down! I hadn't noticed at all! So that is another neat little extra. I 100% understand about choosing your battles. I am at the point where I have sold, or am getting ready to sell off, most of my contemporary stuff, and just focus exclusively on vintage, as that's where my heart is. Lots of cool toys out nowadays, but I get such a big kick out of the old stuff.

I have to say, I've been impressed with Pulse's shipping so far, especially since I signed up during the promo period to get it free for a year.

Thanks friend! I was excited to share the story because 1. None of my friends or family really care about this stuff, so they don't "get" how cool this find was and 2. I want everyone to keep on digging out there! Stuff is sitting in shoeboxes in garages, waiting to be found! YES, I never had the Droid Factory R2 before, so I wasn't exactly sure what it was at first, because I didn't remember the vintage line having an R2 with the third leg. Once I identified it, I was pretty stoked!

Thanks man! Yes, the SW figures I couldn't believe how clean they were. They look like they hadn't been touched at all, and with the TF stuff, considering that a lot of the missiles were still on the trees, some of the stickers hadn't been applied, etc I'm thinking they weren't really played with. I couldn't believe my eyes. I wonder how long they've been sitting in that shoe box? Insanity. I'm still stoked!

Yeah, I couldn't believe how organized and clean everything was. The thing that kills me is that I KNOW somewhere there is a bag or box with all of the Star Wars accessories. There has to be. The figures themselves are in BEAUTIFUL shape, the capes are perfect, no tears to the arm holes, etc. The fact that the figures are still so perfect, and that there wasn't a single accessory in the case, coupled with how the Transformers were kept so meticulously, tells me that the the weapons have to be there somewhere. Of course, they may have been lost long ago, but I have a nagging feeling that they're there, somewhere. The guy has my number, I told him that if he turns up any more parts or pieces, anything plastic at all, to give me a call, and I'll buy them from him. Yeah, CL has been totally dead for quite a while, I was amazed this was out there. I think the fact that the stuff hadn't sold after being up for 12 hours or more illustrates how slow moving it is over there now.

Let's see your pic! I've been very lucky lately, but it'll dry up soon. It's boom or bust around here. All toy picks are equal in the eyes of the Plastic Gods! Yeah, I was thrilled with the Transformers, particularly because Prowl and Mirage were the first two I ever owned, and I still didn't have them in my adult collection. I was also missing Trailbreaker and Jazz, so happy to have those as well. I'm keeping the Hound and Thundercracker as upgrades, going to sell the ones I had. I'm afraid this might reignite the Star Wars fever as well. I've been totally out of SW for about 20 years now, but this brought the nostalgia roaring back. Hating me is a valid responses for a variety of reasons, and I'm not so big on Kentucky outside of my beloved Louisville. But don't hate the old guy! He was really nice! Regardless, Patrick, we still welcome you with open arms!

Part 2 He pulls down a shoebox and opens it up. My jaw drops. No accessories (again!) but what's there is beautiful. They look untouched. An unbroken Mirage! A Prowl with an intact roof! More! Anyway, then he pulls down another box and says he doesn't know what's in there. Well, what's in there are all of the meticulously catalogued accessories, including all of the manuals, tech specs, decoder, checklist insert, robot points, and all of the accessories, most missiles still on the sprues (except for Jazz's Missiles). I tell him that I definitely want them, but I didn't bring much more cash. He says he'll take $20. I tell him I can't do that, I'd be ripping him off. I end up giving him $70, which was all I had left on me, and which was still ripping him off, but he was pleased. I told him that I was getting a VERY good deal, but he was happy to get them out of the garage, and his son told him to get rid of them, so he was happy. I told him they were going into my personal collection. He didn't seem to care one way or another. Very nice old guy, we talked for quite a while. He offered to sell me some Hot Wheels and a telescope, but I declined. So, here they are, and they're beauties. So, the morals of the story: 1. As always, keep digging! This stuff is still out there! 2. Craigslist ain't dead!

The toy picker gods have been smiling on me lately. I've been on a roll, and it's capped off by today's score. Prepare for another of my longwinded toy stories! So, just yesterday, on these very boards, I commented that craigslist was dead. Dead dead dead. The only reason I check it out anymore is to see if there are any garage sale listings. So, last night I was doing just that, when I decided what the heck I'll check out the toy listings. It was mostly junk, per usual, but one listing caught my eye: Star Wars Toys, Lot for $80. I could see the vintage vinyl carry case, 24 figures, a Landspeeder, and a Cloud Car. Now, from the pics, I could see that the accessories were apparently missing, but the figures were so CLEAN. Even without the guns and stuff, a quick calculation told me that it was worth the pickup. Heck, the Droid Factory R2D2 was worth nearly that much. It was too late at night to call, so I sent an email. This morning, there was no response, so around 10am, I called to see if they were still available. I was sure I'd missed out, but I left a message. 30 minutes or so later the guy called me back, saying he still had them. We made plans to meet when off work. Get to the guy's place, the stuff looks great. I pay the $80. We chat for a bit. These were his son's, the son moved long ago, they're cleaning out his stuff, he told them to ditch the stuff, so here we are. He asks if I collect Star Wars, and I tell him that I haven't for some time, but I mostly collect GI Joe and other toys. This is when he says the thing that we toy nerds dream about, "you wouldn't be interested in Transformers, would you?" Story continued, but first some SW pics!

I used to always order the Archie and Donald Duck packs. I need to check with my shop and see if it's too late to order some for this year. Haven't had a kid turn one down yet!

YES, that is VERY satisfying. "While you were trying to lowball me, someone bought it at full ask." That's always fun! I usually don't hear back from them after that ha

2nd printings of 15 are uncommon compared to the first print, but still, there are a ton of them. Harder to find are the newsstands of 15. I've got stacks of the 1st printing, and several 2nd. I've got maybe 3 or 4 newsstands, and I've been digging them out of dollar boxes for years, picking up every copy i've ever found in nice shape for a buck or less HOWEVER, we're talking about second printing of #1, and to that I can say that my experience is that it is certainly uncommon relative to the first print, but not particularly rare or valuable. On the occasion that you find one, in nice shape I'd say it's a $10-$15 book, maybe more if it's really sharp. I think it's cool regardless. I have zero print run info, just anecdotal info from digging these out of bins.

Also, one day I'm going to straight up rip off your night force black light display idea, fair warning! I have a little blacklight area by my Pac-Man coin op, with some glow in the dark toys and stuff. Of course, first I need some Night Force vehicles!

DUDE!

Gimme!