TheLiamSturgess

Funniest part of cap 2 - Garry Shandling whispering to Agent Sitwell "Heil Hydra" That was just so funny on so many levels I didn't recognize him at all. As to funny... I thought that plot point was great because it retroactively involved Iron Man 2 in the overall Hydra plot. If you think about it, Senator Stern's race to control the Iron Man technology must have been Hydra trying to gain the advantage. That would mean that Hydra was also manipulating H.A.M.M.E.R.

That's my understanding too. But that won't last forever

I agree The difference is in how large the variable is, and is it worth their time and effort to a) prevent graders from attending shows (I'm sure that CGC didn't pay for their head graders to fly off to Seattle without good reason) b) hire and train more graders c) pay them more d) have them spend more time grading each separate book 3) charge more per book The flip side of the coin is that you can ask the consumer the question: "Would you be willing to pay more for a better product?" The answer is usually a consistent "No." It's the way of the modern world. We want it all and we want it cheap and we want it now. This can be shown by the outrage when CGC did change there prices a few years ago for the first time in nearly a decade. I personally would pay more for a better service if it meant better service but then I'm usually in the minority. Maybe it's because the prices being charged are *more than* the value that price provides to the average CGC consumer. Example: a single 1976 Marvel comic book worth $100 in the slab costs $35 (before discount) while a single 1980 comic book worth $100 costs $18 (before discount.) There is functionally no difference between that 1976 Marvel and that 1980 Marvel. It takes exactly the same amount of effort and cost to grade...but it's (almost) twice the price. CGC has clearly demonstrated that they *can* grade that book for $18...so why do they charge almost double? This isn't the only example, there are many such inconsistencies in the fee structure. Uh, you do realize they are a monopoly, right? Actually, they're not - a monopoly would imply they're the only game in town. They are not. PGX is still making enough money to stay in business and their books are at every show and all over eBay. They suck professionally, but they still command a small portion of the market. A quick Google search on the definition: "the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service." Sorry, I know it's a nitpicky thing to point out, but I think we're giving CGC a little too much credit here. That being said, I don't think PGX and CGC are on the same level. PGX is shady, shady, shady. Nah, effectively they are monopoly. PGX provides competition for CGC they same way a company selling candles provides competition to the electric company. Fair point.

I agree The difference is in how large the variable is, and is it worth their time and effort to a) prevent graders from attending shows (I'm sure that CGC didn't pay for their head graders to fly off to Seattle without good reason) b) hire and train more graders c) pay them more d) have them spend more time grading each separate book 3) charge more per book The flip side of the coin is that you can ask the consumer the question: "Would you be willing to pay more for a better product?" The answer is usually a consistent "No." It's the way of the modern world. We want it all and we want it cheap and we want it now. This can be shown by the outrage when CGC did change there prices a few years ago for the first time in nearly a decade. I personally would pay more for a better service if it meant better service but then I'm usually in the minority. Maybe it's because the prices being charged are *more than* the value that price provides to the average CGC consumer. Example: a single 1976 Marvel comic book worth $100 in the slab costs $35 (before discount) while a single 1980 comic book worth $100 costs $18 (before discount.) There is functionally no difference between that 1976 Marvel and that 1980 Marvel. It takes exactly the same amount of effort and cost to grade...but it's (almost) twice the price. CGC has clearly demonstrated that they *can* grade that book for $18...so why do they charge almost double? This isn't the only example, there are many such inconsistencies in the fee structure. Uh, you do realize they are a monopoly, right? Actually, they're not - a monopoly would imply they're the only game in town. They are not. PGX is still making enough money to stay in business and their books are at every show and all over eBay. They suck professionally, but they still command a small portion of the market. A quick Google search on the definition: "the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service." Sorry, I know it's a nitpicky thing to point out, but I think we're giving CGC a little too much credit here. That being said, I don't think PGX and CGC are on the same level. PGX is shady, shady, shady.

There are many

I can post scans in the Please Grade My section and get the same service; except there I'll have my answer within the hour. You are mostly correct - it's not the same service because you only get to evaluate the front and back covers of the books, ignoring interior covers, pages, feel of the book, smell, et al. That being said, you're STILL only requesting opinions, so if you prefer that service, use that instead of CGC.

All that being said... perhaps incidents like this could be avoided in the future if CGC did spend a bit more time grading and inspecting each book, so as to be 110% confident with their grade. More staff, methinks.

Sadly, I'm having to skip pages because this thread is just too damn long, but here's my take. When you pay CGC, you are paying for their professional opinion on the state of a book. You are not putting money in a machine that uses algorithms to calculate a grade. Three highly experienced individuals take a look at your book and each give their opinion, in an efficient (and generally effective) amount of time. If, in their opinion, the book is a 6.0, that book is NOT necessarily going to be a 6.0 by everyone's standards, including professionals who have been active longer than CGC. If you send a book in and three of CGC's graders decide together on a 6.0 one day, then their honest opinion at that point in time is that it's a 6.0. If they say, "Hey, Paul, I'm pretty sure this one is restored." Paul says, "Yeah, I agree, but I can't be sure - I'm gonna check with a few more people," and they all agree (in their educated opinion) that it is trimmed, then the CGC designation will reflect that. Once again, that is just the company's opinion. If they get the book on a different day and a different pregrader looks at it and evaluates the book using his experience and it seems to be non-trimmed and there isn't anything prompting him to look deeper or longer than any other book that gets submitted, then why would he? He passes the book on to the Primary Grader without a "trimmed" designation and the Primary Grader has no reason to dig deeper (unless he notices something the pregrader doesn't, which I'm sure happens from time to time). Then, it gets the blue label. You are paying for an opinion. Nobody at CGC has a brain like a computer that allows them to give a "correct" grade. Only "as accurate as their professional experience will allow". As others have said, they have graded, what, over 3 million comics? Out of that number, a handful of incidents of disagreement or conflicting CGC grades have arisen. Statistically, CGC has an incredibly high success rate and a lot of the issues out there are, in my opinion, just differences in opinion and not screwups like sending back the wrong book (has that happened before? It might have, I actually don't remember). In this particular case, I'm not sure if CGC did something wrong, persay. Maybe they should have looked closer, but if the graders didn't have any indication of manipulation to the book, then I don't think we should put them on blast for missing a very close trim job. Even then, as others have said, books are weird and a book designated as "trimmed" is still just someone giving an opinion supported by evidence. If there is no evidence in someone's eyes, then they can't form that opinion. CGC has decided that the book is trimmed, so they were in the right for publicly announcing that, therefore voiding their certification of the book as it is right now. Good move. I disagree with the idea of removing the book from the market. The blue label already voided in the eyes of the boards, and if it comes up on the public market with the apparent trimming not disclosed, someone here will notice and will make it public. If the seller is honest about the apparent trimming, then buyers will know what they're buying into. I don't think this will, or should, hurt CGC's reputation in any way, since they did everything they promised they'd do, and provided the service they paid for. In the end... Buy the book, not the label. CGC is one player in a game where the most important player is yourself. Use CGC's word as an opinion only, and combine it with information provided by the seller, the community and your own judgement (which will get better the longer you're in the hobby.) Just my .

Indeed!

Same, I feel they're both solid movies.

It looks like they're setting her up to be a villain. "Once you let the darkness in, you can't get it out."

I don't really see what other purpose she serves, though I guess she needs to find out she's Merlyn's daughter.

My guess is that Thea is going to be killed, either by Deathstroke or Dark Arrow when he comes back, and Roy will adopt the name.

I loved when Oliver called Roy Speedy. It wasn't expected and it made me have to think back to if they had already established his alias.

Makes sense. I can't imagine she was supposed to confirm it though

I don't like him very much yet.

Very excited

Woah I'm thinking they've found some new members for their League of Assassins.

In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people,[1] by posting inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a forum, chat room, or blog), either accidentally[3][4] or with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[5] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. I don't think that's the case here, though.

As a reminder, that aforementioned forum is www.ForeignComicDB.com

Whenever I hear "Clairvoyant", I can't help but think "Vision". :shrug:

lol

Hector is kidding so hard, it should make your head spin.