F For Fake

Yes, was very excited to finally get some UY on Blu! You can't beat the original television series. I think it's tough to track down on DVD nowadays, but man, pound for pound, that is still one of the funniest television series of all time, cartoon, live action, any genre. Hilarious stuff.

I felt like the last issue was a little rushed after the tremendous build-up, but that was just me being picky. All in all I loved it, how it drew on so many different facets of the Batman universe (comics, the animated series, movies, etc) and blended them all together so well, while also criticizing the foundation of the Bat mythos. Best Bat series I've read in some time.

I'm more of a Lum guy myself, but Ranma and Maison Ikkoku are both tremendous books, lots of fun.

PS: And that may be nitpicky, but considering that these things are running $500-$600 a pop these days, you have to be nitpicky. If a statue isn't pretty much perfect, I don't buy it. Not enough cash and display space around to pick up pieces I'm not totally in love with.

Oh, I like this VERSION of Mystique, as in this is my preferred outfit/look/costume, whatever. I don't dig the scaly movie version at all. But I just don't particularly care for this sculpt. The face isn't doing it for me.

Trade and HC's are hugely collectible, and many yield a return far greater than their floppy counterparts. Especially these days, when print runs on some HC's and trades will be in the HUNDREDS, and collections go out of print rapidly. Some are reprinted due to demand, but many are not. I collect floppies, but I also collect trades and HC's. They're all comics.

So is this still hit or miss, because I'm seeing zero issue on my end. I'm able to search sold items, get a long list of them, and open up their listings without issue. I'm able to look at the complete listing for items I purchased several weeks ago. I'm using Chrome, running Windows 7 Enterprise on an ancient HP Prodesk desktop PC. As of this morning, eBay is looking at acting exactly as it always has for me. What am I missing?

Every sale ad and price guide that I can recall. I'm not sure where it originated, but that has been the story for as long as the book has been on the radar, as far as I know.

I've sold every Venom related book that I had in my eBay store shortly after listing. Books that I couldn't get $7 shipped for a year ago are now selling for $10-$15. Pretty much any 90's Venom book in nice shape is worth listing these days, especially sets.

I'm sure that environment plays a huge role in the condition of carded figures, just like with comics. There are reasons why some have yellowed or brittle bubbles, dried out o-rings that snap, etc. And some of the issues may be inevitable. So, that's why I'm comfortable buying some carded figures at a good price. I just wouldn't sink a ton of money into them, personally.

I always thought DHP 24 was the 1st, because that's what I was told. But I remember buying Aliens 1 off of the stands before I ever saw DHP 24. Just checked my Aliens 1 9.8, and it doesn't have any notation at all. That's very curious, do we know how recently they started adding the notation?

Yeah, it's a crapshoot. These particular Joes were just soooo pretty when I saw them, I had to have them. I have a lot of nostalgia for the carded figures for sure, fond memories of seeing them on the pegs, digging them out of bins, etc. But yeah, the potential downfall means that they're not something I actively pursue. If I run across a good deal on a carded figure, I won't turn it down, but I am primarily a collector of loose/mint/complete figures. Plus, as was noted above, they're just so much fun to play with and pose!

Yikes, yeah, not loving that Mystique at all.

Quadrant Found a beat up copy of #1 at the LCS this weekend, and nostalgia almost made me grab it, but even for $5 it was just too rough. Terrific book, though!

I lucked out and found a complete set of Battle Chasers at HPB a few months ago for a buck each, including that variant with the chick with the big ol boobies. So I figured it must just be like most over-produced Image junk. Was surprised be what they sold for! Now that it's on my radar, I haven't seen any more.

I can't stand Rick, and have hoped against hope that they'd kill him and Coral off, as that may be enough to renew my interest in the show. Rick is the worst. Ugh. BUT, Andrew Lincoln is the face of that show. Can't see this as being anything other than REAAAAAALLY bad for the show's popularity going forward. So, this may be the death knell for the show...but the book will be fine. Maybe not $2500+ in 9.8 fine, but fine all the same.

Heck, some of them are already "melting"! HT used some terrible rubber on some of those figs, like the Big Chap and other Aliens figs.

Oh yeah, for sure. These were booming back when I worked at the LCS, and we'd sell every wall copy we put up for $50. For a while I was picking them up out of $1 bins just because I remembered how much they used to go for, but eventually I stopped because I could barely sell them for the buck I spent! That is a huge crash and burn.

This is what gets me as well. It's all lovely, but the fact that it can so smoothly accommodate the weight of that many slabs is truly impressive.

Always happy to enable another addict!

You should give it a try! For one they're a lot cheaper than carded figs, but there are still some very pricey loose examples if you dig the thrill of the hunt! And depending on if you want complete figures, figures with perfect paint, or whatever, you can make it as easy or as tough as you want to collect them. I have a close friend who put together a complete loose collection of figures, including rare imports, variants, etc. Took him forever, but it's an awesome collection. Whereas I just pick up the stuff I had when I was a kid, or always WANTED when I was a kid, and I'm not quite as OCD/completist as him in that regard. So however you want to approach it, there are lots of fun ways to collect Joes. Good luck!

Some pick-ups from the 20% off sale at my LCS this weekend. I've been looking for the JLI Fire at a decent price for years now. I missed her the first time around, and prices have just gotten goofy since then. Plus, loose, those corners on her shoulders have a bad habit of getting broken. So, I have been looking for a carded one at a fair price to complete my JLI set, and I couldn't pass this one up. The BL Bats was a nice price as well. As for the Aliens figures, I bought all of these when they were initially released, as I was a rabid Aliens fan. However, I never really liked the Kenner designs (I like movie accurate stuff, I don't really go for the goofier toys) so I eventually sold the entire collection. Fast forward to now, if I can find them at a decent price, the completist in me makes me pick them up again. So, even though I recall picking these guys up at KB Toys in a 3 for $10 bin way back when, in the meantime they've gotten pretty tough to find, and pricey. So since the LCS had them for under $10, I decided I'd better go ahead and grab them.

This is why, with only a couple of exceptions that I couldn't pass up, I collect loose Joes. You can swap out O-rings, rusted screws, etc and they display so nicely. Plus, these are toys that are just dying to be played with. So, you don't have to give up on Joes entirely, but I would hesitate to drop a lot of money on carded figs, unless, as was mentioned above, you can get them locally and not have to worry about them getting violently jostled. I have two carded Joes that I had AFA graded, and while they made it home safe and sound, I don't think I'd put myself through the anxiety again!

Picked up the beater copy of Flash 153 during the 20% off sale at HPB this weekend. I went with the intention of picking up the Life with Archie 39 (Munsters-esque monster cover) that I'd had an eye on, but after I gave it a looksee up close, I found foxing, rusted staples, and a host of issues which made it a not so great deal. Love that cover but at their price I couldn't pull the trigger. My LCS also had a 20% sale for the holiday. I usually use these sales to stock up on bags and boards and boxes, which I did, and was surprised to find a stack of Penthouse Comix. I think this is a title that could use some more love, considering the talents they had on hand (Boris, Hughes, Manara, etc.) I don't see these very often around here, particularly the smaller, non-mag sized copies. Spoilered for those who are sensitive to butts.

Perfectly reasonable argument. I can see why he wouldn't be for everyone. I'm not a fan of being mean-spirited just for the sake of being mean-spirited, that's for sure.