F For Fake

Sold several books to Randall, and it couldn't have been a more pleasant transaction! Communication was great, payment instantaneous. Would happily deal with him again in a heartbeat. Thanks!

Books were accurately graded, and safely shipped. Very easy to deal with, would happily buy again. Thanks!

Returning to the discussion of Batman: End Game, I knew they were heating up, but had no idea how much. I bought a set of the regular covers 35-39 at my LCS (who were selling the set for $9.99, plus 25% discount, so only $7.50...knew I couldn't lose at that price). Threw them up on eBay at 19.99 and rolled the dice. They ended at $66. I had no clue. http://www.ebay.com/itm/331515364696?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1559.l2649 Bidder was 0% FB but the paid right away, books shipped and were delivered, haven't had any issue so far. Not tooting my own horn, just giving a heads up, these things are apparently going nuts. After that auction ended I ran out to my local shops to see if I could put a couple more sets together, but 36 was the only non-variant I could find in the wild. I didn't bother with the variant covers (Harley, Flash, etc) because I wasn't sure if they'd have the same result. I think that the people that really want these probably want the "real" covers. Anyway, happy hunting!

Not that I know who you are talking about but I'm in the same boat. about 300 feedback, give or take and I've only just discovered the buying shipping through ebay to get tracking, etc. Stupid me could've been getting a discount for 2 years on shipping! It happened several years ago for me, but the revelation that I could print the postage myself at a discount AND have USPS pick the stuff up from my front porch was an epiphany. I can't calculate how many hours in the late 90's and early 00's I spent hauling carts of boxes off to USPS. Ugh.

No big surprise. That figure was exclusive to HT's Asian Tour. Sideshow probably only got a relative handful of them. You have to be quick on the trigger to land those, usually. How quick will I have to be to secure that Batman figure that pre-releases Thursday? I've never ordered from them before, actually I'm pretty new to statue collecting as a whole. That figure will likely be avail for a while. It's Batman and they make thousands. Plus a lot of people own the original (black and white) so there won't be people knocking the door down for it. This is assuming they don't make like 500 or 1000. There's 7,500 of the B&W one. Speaking of which, I just ordered the B&W one last week! What are the chances. I would have ordered this one instead. Oh well, guess I may have to buy both. Ugh. Precisely so. The edition size on the original Bat PF was so big it may never sell out. 7500 is a TON of product considering that the 2nd and 3rd tier characters usually have 2500-3000 pieces produced, in addition to the Exclusives (if there is one), and they tend to hang around for a while. The only pieces actually produced by SST that I've noticed selling out super quickly of late are the limited edition art prints. And by quick I mean they are usually sold out by the time I have a chance to open the email telling me they're in stock. If something does sell out that you really want, it's worth jumping on the waitlist ASAP. You'd be surprised how many of those end up converting, as people bite off more than they can chew, orders are canceled, etc.

That Alien puzzle is an amazing find for the price. I've not been able to find one with an asking price much less than $300. Been trying to find one in the wild for years, no luck. Congrats!

No big surprise. That figure was exclusive to HT's Asian Tour. Sideshow probably only got a relative handful of them. You have to be quick on the trigger to land those, usually.

Absolutely. An original hand-painted prototype photographed in the best possible conditions is usually going to look better than when you're holding the factory-manufactured item in your hand. As much as I like Sideshow, they are incredibly hit or miss with their quality control. Sometimes you get a perfect piece, sometimes you get a lot of slop or damage. It's kind of a shoot.

Nice books! I'm trying to finish up the Hughes and Bolland WW cover runs myself in HG. There's some gorgeous stuff there. Congrats!

Fantastic books Not many of those beauties come up for sale often. Congrats on getting these books. Thanks! I'm delighted to have them. #2 is the one that's giving me fits. Only two 9.8's in the census. I missed one of them when it was on ebay,. I was hoping the high sale price (over $400 I think?) would help shake a few loose in the wild, but the census hasn't moved. Oh well, gives me something to hunt!

Well, it took nearly 3 months, but it was worth it! My haul from Spencer's holiday sale arrived today. Nothing brain-melting, but a few things I'm happy to have. 11 new pieces overall, Here are the highlights: I know not everyone loves JRJR, but I dig his stuff, and really enjoyed his new Cap run. Especially the stuff inked by Jansen, has such great energy. Reminds me of Kirby and Simonson. JRJR/Jansen Cap v Jet Black page. JRJR/Jansen Cap Jet Black shower scene Reis/Lanning Aquaman. Loved this run as well. Reis reminds me a bit of Alan Davis. Plan to pick up some more from this run. Booster Gold: Beetles fight! Demon Knights 1/2 splash Check the rest in my CAF gallery, linked in my sig. Thanks!

Well, it took nearly 3 months, but it was worth it! My haul from Spencer's holiday sale arrived today. Nothing brain-melting, but a few things I'm happy to have. 11 new pieces overall, Here are the highlights: JRJR/Jansen Cap v Jet Black page. JRJR/Jansen Cap Jet Black shower scene Reis/Lanning Aquaman Booster Gold: Beetles fight! Demon Knights 1/2 splash Check the rest in my CAF gallery, linked in my sig. Thanks!

Ok, block this nutball asap: 2012captainjack Won a Hot Toys Black Widow figure from me last week. Didn't pay, so after 4 days, the automatic Unpaid Item Assistant opened. After a couple of days of no payment or response, he messages me and says that his "PO took my phone" (what does that mean? Parole Officer?) so he hadn't been able to pay, and was it ok to pay now. I replied that it was fine, and if he went ahead and sent the Paypal payment, the unpaid case would automatically close, and I would ship the item, no big deal. So, no payment comes, and then the night before the case is set to close, he messages and asks if he can "still send Paypal payment". Again, I say sure, but to do it soon because eBay was about to close the case. So, of course, no payment arrives, and eBay closes the case and refunds my FVF. I add him to my blocked bidder list and go about my life. Later that same day, he sends a message saying that he hadn't been able to send payment because his mother had been admitted to the hospital. (If you check feedback he's left for others, this comes up often.) He said he'd sent me a money order. (Even though we hadn't discussed it previously, and I never offered that as an option). So, I reply that eBay has already closed the case, so he shouldn't be sending a money order. I ask him where he sent the payment. He replies that he sent it to me (doesn't say when or where). So, I tell him again that the case was closed, and that although I didn't really think he'd sent a payment, if he DID send it,I would return it to him. His reply to this was "Sent the money order to you...rip-off artist. You shall be penalized". Anyway, I don't know how he thinks he'll penalize me, since the case is resolved and closed I don't believe he can leave neg feedback for me. So as far as I know, I'm done with the guy, but I wanted to give you all a heads up. Again, review his feedback and you can see something isn't right. Thanks!

Some recent ebay purchases. Much closer to finishing up my set! Now if someone would just cough up one of the 2 9.8 graded copies of #2, I could be done!

+1 everything said above, and as a general rule, HT uses fabric for clothing, with accessories being hard plastic. Hair is generally sculpted, but there are a few rooted-hair exceptions like Black Widow. Not many, though.

That's a beauty!

Since everyone else was at Indy, I went to Lexington Toy & Comic Con, picked up some fun books. Hulks will be in the PGM thread momentarily, here's a group shot in the meantime. Low grade, beat but complete, just how I like 'em. A couple of DD readers A bunch of 10 and 12 cent readers, most of these were $2-$5, seemed fair Cool Swampy double cover A mess of 25-50 cent books And though I hadn't planned on having the schlep a giant box back to my car, couldn't pass up the price on the sold-out first run Ivy statue from Sideshow. Fun show. Very well organized and smoothly run considering how much it's grown.

The weird part is not everyone received the email notice. Right, I am on their mailing lists, never got anything. I also check FB pretty regularly and didn't see anything there either. I set up an eBay search follow, and got an email this morning. Two have been listed, asking prices are $999 and $1299. I'm thinking I'm not going to be getting one of these.

Well !

Balent Catwoman PF goes up tomorrow. Here's the comparison pic: Also, the Exclusive of the Cooke CW PF has been available again for a while, if anyone missed her the first time around. SST Excl Catwoman PF

Cheers. There was a time when nearly every HT piece seemed to skyrocket in price after a while. I think over the last couple of years they have increased their production numbers, so it is taking longer for pieces to sell out, and therefore longer for them to appreciate in value. But for most of the "blue chip" lines (Batman and Marvel in particular) once a piece is finally sold out, you will see the price start to bump up over time. Even something like the Captain America Star Spangled Man figure, which sat around on SST's site so long that it seemed like they couldn't give it away, is finally sold out and starting to show signs of life on the secondary market. Asking price is starting closer to its original retail costs ($200-ish) as opposed to the $125-$140 you could pick it up for just a couple of months ago. I wouldn't invest in HT like it's the stock market or anything, but as a long time HT collector (starting with the original Aliens Colonial Marines) I can say that I don't believe I've ever lost money on a HT piece, and if prices don't move, I've got something gorgeous sitting on my shelf until they do. As for Hulkbuster, the price is already so high that I'm really not sure how much higher it could go on the secondary market. There has to be a ceiling for what people will pay for a plastic toy (albeit an intricate and gorgeous plastic toy), and HB will be testing those limits. Could be that it's so prohibitively expensive that production numbers are lower, leading to sell out, leading to increased value. Or it could go the other way, meaning that cost is so high that sales are low, and it then sits on the SST website, waiting for Black Friday and Spooktacular discounts. I'm going to keep an eye on it. If they give a warning about low stock numbers, I may go ahead and pull the trigger.

Why did DD 1 have to start taking off just when I decided I wanted to own one again?

Went to a vintage video gaming expo today, had no expectations of buying comics. Surprisingly, a single vendor had about 4 long boxes. Nothing mind lowing, but not bad for a few bucks.

So glad someone bumped this, I was looking for this thread the other day. Good times. So, did this thing every actually "launch", or whatever it is that cyber playmoney does?

This. I treat Sideshow release dates the same way I treat CGC turnaround times. They're a suggestion, and little more.