F For Fake

Hmm, I won 12 books, and shipping options for 11-22 books are $55 ground insured, $150 express insured, and $180 overnight insured. Is it relative to the value of the books? My order is only for about $800 before the juice and shipping.

Proving your point: I don't collect hot wheels, had no idea this existed, and now I'll be needing that Godzilla car! The hunt begins!

This guy finally arrived yesterday. Back in October, Walmart listed two TFTM retro repaints (this magenta Hot Rod, and a cartoon colors Starscream), as well as Velocitron Speedia Galaxy Shuttle. I ordered all three as soon as the pre-orders went up, and they sold out almost immediately. In December, I was one of the few and fortunate who actually received the Galaxy Shuttle. Many people had their orders canceled. He hasn't shown up again, and is becoming pricey on the secondary market. Starscream arrived a month or two ago, and he has since come back into stock at Walmart and Pulse. So, I was expecting no issues with Hot Rod, since I got my order in immediately, and he'd actually already come back into stock again since then. So imagine my surprise when I got a cancelation notice. I wasn't pleased, seeing as how I'd gotten my order in with minutes of it going live, meanwhile folks who ordered the restock had already received theirs. I chatted with Walmart, they said they couldn't do anything about it, but they gave me a $10 gift card. Fine. So, last week, Hot Rod popped back into stock on Pulse, and I nabbed him. He's still in stock there, and has also come back into stock at Walmart once again. It's a wacky world. If you want one, he's out there. Now, only a matter of weeks after having placed orders for the next figures in this wave (Thundercracker and Hound) today I get a shipping notice for them! Crazy times. I love the paint deco, this is something many of us have been waiting for, for a long time. I'm not a fan of the flat gray, in place of chromed parts. I guess it's the aesthetic they're going for, but it makes it look a little cheap. Meanwhile, I'm very surprised that they've still included metal toes. That was cool to see.

Distribution for the Menasor bots was kinda screwy. Dragstrip clogged pegs for months, so I don't think there was a great deal of urgency when Motormaster hit, Then suddenly...he was gone. Then distribution was super spotty for the remaining three, as many retailers still have pegs clogged with shelfwarming Legacy Wave 1. It was all kind of a mess. If BBTS hadn't gotten those random restocks, I would have been out of luck, because I never saw Dead End, Breakdown or Wildrider on the pegs even once.

I have been slow to pick up the Mezco 5 Points sets, but I did grab Mothra before it went out of stock, and boy, what a special piece this is. You get Mothra, the Shobijin Twins (with alt heads and arms), and the little display box to keep them in, just like the movies! The sculpts are simple, but Mothra really really is beautiful, and they even flocked her wings. I'm gonna need those Destroy All Monsters sets now...

Congrats on finishing your big boy! It took me a while, but I was eventually able to get them all for retail. I grabbed Motormasters during Pulse's Black Friday sale last year. Dead End and Breakdown were the tough ones, but eventually they came back into stock at BBTS. Wildrider is still sitting in my Pile of Loot, but as long as he's secured, I'm not in any hurry. I agree on displaying the legs backwards, because otherwise it's kinda lame, the "leg cars" really don't serve any function.

You know, it's funny, my recollection is that these stories were terrible, and I have no interest in the newest one, and yet I am tempted to pick this up as IST has it on sale this week for $15. That seems like a good price for a nice deluxe HC.

Yes, I'm excited about this one!

Re: the latest CLink auctions, I am getting blown out on books that a couple of months ago I would have won with my low "tracking bid". I mostly concentrate on common copper and modern junk no one else much cares about, and I was winning those books for a song back in the fall. So, not sure that things are picking up per se, but for the drek I like, it feels like the good times may be wrapping up.

See, I knew you guys would know. Go team!

Hrm, you drive a hard bargain! But seeing as how I'm looking for red marbles instead of blue, for this reason I am out.

Well, with that particular stack of books, if you're interested in them, I'd concentrate on the ones that are likely to sell out fastest. For instance, both covers of the Secret Wars omni have been in the top sellers since it went on clearance, and the Zeck cover is now sold out. At $26, I don't expect the Ross cover to last long, so I'd jump on that guy pretty fast if you're interested. These are all books that had been on my "to buy" list, but once the prices dropped, I knew I had to jump on them. I expect the Wolverine Vol 3 to sell pretty quickly at $50, Volume 2 has been printed previously, and they never ran out of the first printing, so I'd expect they'll stay well stocked on that one. That being said, at $50 it may go fast as well. I'd been waiting on What if v2 to drop for a long time now. It was printed with 3 covers, and the only one to go on sale previously was the Bob Layton cover (of which I'm not a fan). Now that Layton is back up to $77.50, the JRJr is down to $50, but the Trimpe Hulk/Wolvie cover dropping down to $43.75 was very exciting, as that's the one I'd wanted all along. So I had to grab that one right away. I happen to love the old What if, though. From a pure reading perspective, in addition to the What If, I'm probably most excited to have finally picked up the Legion of Super Heroes Five Years Later Vol 2 omni, as that's some of my favorite material. I'd just been dragging my heels as I couldn't find it for less than $80. Dropping to $60 was enough to get me to finally scoop it up. But I definitely wouldn't recommend it to a first time or new reader of the series. So...yeah. With this stuff I usually just try to prioritize by what I think will sell out first versus what I really want the most. I can't afford to buy everything I want all of the time, so I have to pick and choose. So, look for the series you are most interested in owning, then keep an eye on the sales charts and the prices, and think to yourself "What would make me angriest if it were to sell out before I get around to buying it?"

No stupid questions! I believe the only difference is that the MMW don't have the letter columns, but some Omnis do. Or at least some omnis do. In this particular case I'm not 100%, as I don't have the ASM omnis. I'm sure someone else can confirm!

A copy of #2 just closed at $2051, which is also an all-time high, I believe. However, that's only in comparison to previous highs around $1800, so it's not a crazy jump like the #1 saw. As a general rule, I don't sell my Aliens books. But if these things get stupid...hrm...

Wacky stuff.

I'll basically re-cap my post from the CG thread: this is beyond wacky. Copies hit $3500-$4k range during pandemic, but had settled around $2k-$2500 recently. However, there is a new feature film currently shooting, and a new series heading to FX. So, the property is going to be in the spotlight again shortly, which could explain FOMO as some collectors try to get this in their collection before the brand is newly relevant. That being said, smells like shilling to me. A $4-$5k jump like that...it just doesn't sit right. Not impossible, but...I don't see it. And I saw that as a fan who would love to see his 9.8 set continue to climb!

I found out about this sale when I logged into my gpa account this morning, and noticed my collection value had jumped a couple grand. Very odd. Copies were over $3k at the height of the pandemic craziness, but had more or less settled down into the $2k-$2500 range for a while. Not sure what was going on here, that's just wacky. The book has always been tough, but it ain't THAT tough (#2 in 9.8 is a different story.). Still feeling great about grabbing my copy here on the boards for $350 lo those many years ago. I was expecting an uptick in interest for the brand with the new feature currently shooting, and a television series apparently still coming to FX. The property will be back in the spotlight soon, so maybe buyers are anticipating an upswing in interest, and suddenly FOMO enters the equation. But even still, the Alien fanbase is very small compared to, say, Star Wars, or whatever. And I say that as one of the biggest Alien fans in the world.

I am just getting one notification for the same years-old message, every time I log in. Then it goes away. Still having trouble logging in on some browsers, now it's the safari browser on my phone. Just whisks me back to the home page when I try to log-in. Meanwhile, I now seem to be getting in ok at work, so I expect most of this stuff will sort itself out.

There is no omnibus with these issues as of yet, but there is a hardcover option that would cover that gap. Marvel Masterworks Volume 239 (Or Amazing Spider-Man Vol 18, depending on which cover you prefer) collects ASM 181-193, plus some other material. I think that's the only hardcover option at this point.The book is out of print, but you can still get copies for under $100. Presumably, whenever ASM Omni 6 is solicited, it will likely include the contents of that Masterworks, plus MMW ASM 19. But who knows when that will happen. There aren't any other omnis that have made it that far along, but if there is a title that would reach volume six, it would be ASM (or X-men).

Oh wow, that really is just a straight up repaint, that's interesting. I guess whatever it takes to get a variety of characters into our hands, is fair game. Then again I may just be used to it as a Transformers collector, where they re-use the same molds half a zillion times.

Thanks @Get Marwood & I for the heads up. Yes, I'm in if there's room!

This thing arrived from Pulse today, I'd kinda forgotten about it. I almost passed on it, as I only wanted two of the figures, Pretty Boy and Vertigo. I have no interest in the others, as they come from an era of X-Men that I think was pretty spoon. So, off to eBay with the three leftovers. Stryfe is a nice looking figure, but I don't know anything about the character. With the two I'm keeping, I'm fairly pleased. Pretty Boy's hands are crazy tight, and practically impossibly to get the guns into them. Once you do, he can't aim straight. Bah. But the fact that he exists at all, and that Hasbro seems intent on delivering a full team of Reavers to fans, hits me right in the nostalgia zone. Vertigo is another, and I hope this means that there's some chance we'll get the other Marauders at some point.

Love this stuff. I know a lot of people aren't into the Super 7 stuff, and I realize that they're crazy expensive given the size, but I am a sucker for the semi-obscure cartoon stuff.

My sale books arrived with record quickness! It was quite a box. Now to find room on the shelves for all of them...