Buzzetta

All for now... there might be one or two more things tomorrow.

Star Wars Origami - $4 SOLD

America in Cartoons - A History in Pictures $3 Catalogues and Comments on Political Cartoons from the inception of the United States to today. Included are selections from notable artists such as Mauldin and Alston. Pretty interesting.

Complete Golden Age Air Boy and Valkyrie List is $25 My price $12 SOLD

The Little Prince - $4 Hardcover

Marvel Masterworks - Incredible Hulk 1-6 - Hardcover - Still in shrinkwrap $30 SOLD

Lego Minifigure Encyclopedia with Exclusive Toy Soldier - $8 SOLD

Comics Creators on Spider-man Softcover NM Condition $7 SOLD

Marvelman Classic Hardcover TPB - $4 Still in Shrinkwrap

Yes, it is a rehash. For those that asked about a Saturday thread... I had a few things going on today... at least I got a thread up. "Which I didn't have to do." (Side note. Do you think that anyone gives the CGC Employee that wrote that to us a hard time? - Like the guys at work may a coffee run or a lunch run and upon bringing him back the wrong order they say, "Well I know it's the wrong sandwich, but at least we went, which we didn't have to do.") Rules I welcome thread crapping - it's entertaining. Worldwide shipping at buyer's expense. Media or Priority for US Buyers / Priority for packages going out of the US - These are all TPB's or Collections. PayPal Only Please I go by timestamp of whoever commits to buying whether that be in public or PM.  No HOS, Probation List Members, Problem Children or Drama Llamas Returns are accepted so long as I am notified, and the is placed in the mail upon five days upon receipt of the item. Returns postage is at buyer's expense. Timestamp via PM or Public Claim gets the item.  I don't care if you take it here or there... we go by timestamp. However, straight up taking it now publicly will beat any negotiation on anything. I am not big on negotiations but I will listen and sometimes even entertain. Since I am working from home I ship out same or next day that you pay.

The plastics were never made to last. I remember when there was a trend to poke a pinhole into the card right behind the bubble on vintage Star Wars figures in the hopes that this was be a release for some of the off gassing of the plastics. The plastic in vintage SW figures have a composition (many of them anyway) that as they break down there is a gummy or sticky feel to the figure. Joes were made with a composition that made them brittle over time. In some cases the plastic was designed a with a different recipe like the tow hook on the Wolverine, it actually shrinks over the years no matter how you store it so collectors do not normally mount it on the vehicle so that it does not snap. On Joes it is generally accepted that the plastics used in certain years cast in certain colors is more prone to breakage than others. I know guys that are very careful with their collection and even they are seeing in the last two years that father time is catching up. Comic collectors are dealing with items that absorb moisture and become brittle if exposed to dry heat like you find in an attic. They are actually pretty resilient even if left to themselves in piles. Toys from the 70's -90's not so much.

Different with certain toys. Even stored in optimum conditions, certain toys, depending on the plastic mix are breaking. GI Joes are cracking at the elbows no matter the temperature stored because the ABS plastic decomposes and the rivet is extending pressure on the joints. This is why even those I know who follow all the 'vintage plastic storing' rules are finding MOC Joes with cracked elbows and / or jumbled parts in a blister. The foam inserts from the Death Star and the Dagobah playsets are accepted to have long disintegrated over time. Certain plastics are brittle or decompose quicker simply due to the recipe or chemical makeup, such as the opaque gold plastic used on certain figures and toys. Collectors cite Gold Plastic Syndrome on vintage Transformers as the bane of their existence. The parts will not exhibit stress they will simply crumble under its own weight. Even Lego had a debacle as recent as 2011 when brown was heavily offered in plates and bricks. The brown brick recipe became brittle within a year and were prone to crumbling. Point is... I believe it is a matter of when and not if, CCG enters the world of toys. It will be interesting to see what their grading criteria is. AFA is the gold standard and what they will be measured against and even AFA changes the rules around from time to time.

I genuinely see CCG moving into toys. BUT... here is the thing... A lot of the toys that people have been slabbing have reached the point that they are starting to break down. No one is sending Lionel Trains off to AFA. But those GI Joes and MOTU He-Man figures that were sent off to AFA at the company's inception are starting to break down. There was a reason I sold the bulk of my GI Joe collection last year. Prices went up but I did not want to risk holding a hot potato that broke down in my hand. There are two toy grading companies of any value and AFA is far ahead of the competition. The thing is that the rules are not established across the board. I will use GI Joe again as an example. Recently I have been reading that AFA is not grading loose GI Joe figures where the rubber band has been replaced as the toy is considered altered. Here is the thing. I don't know of a GI Joe figure of any value that has NOT had the rubber band replaced that still appears in decent shape. A stretched rubber band tends to break down over the course of 40 years. You cannot leave them on the card because there are plenty of graded samples of MOTU and Joe figures that are broken on those cards and are jumbles of parts. So if CCG moves into toys I am interested in seeing what standards they adopt. I also don't know how the industry will embrace them considering that there seem to be a lot of people that have graded toys that are breaking within the acrylic casing. The glue that holds the bubble to the card only weakens over time. The Star Wars bubbles are decomposing on the card. Joes are composed of the most brittle plastic ever manufactured. They are drying out and the rubber bands are drying out and breaking. So... I am curious as to how this is going to play out.

If I am doing it... Perhaps one of the following: Either they are charged a fee for general access. Access to a certain area of the boards are for paid members only. They wipe away the for sale threads and go down the road of what is considered the cardinal sin of grading and create their own exchange like comic link where a percentage of the sale is captured by the owners. There is too much money changing hands these days to ignore.

I was trying to be polite because I do not expect to see Dynamic Forces wandering into this thread. When you have other businesses and comic and art dealers getting free space to sell along with part time dealer / collectors looking to flip to fund or collectors looking to offload... there is a lot of untapped revenue that could be generated. I am saying that the rules will eventually change.

And when I see things like this, I believe that the monetization of the CGC boards is inevitable. Here you have Dynamic Forces creating a post to sell some of their items. Basically this sidesteps website advertisement fees. Instead of buying banner space, they are creating a thread to sell their items. This is a company and not a collector offloading some of their collection or making a couple of flips.

OMG... I just had a vision of Don West screaming at a tv camera... Leeeeeeee-mited edition. Niiiiiiine point eight...

Blackstone decided that they wanted to buy a couple of casino's yesterday as well. https://www.casino.org/news/blackstone-buying-more-vegas-property-in-aria-vdara-deal-with-mgm/ Which leads me back to what I was saying a few months ago... why do I feel as if a bunch of money launderers discovered the collectables market?

@onlyweaknesskryptonite They could have had the instrumentals to this in the background as they made the announcement.

Also...

I see CCG exploring options into toy grading and sports memorabilia grading. Also, if that happens then I double down on what I have said about the signature series program being heavily revised. I also see them adopting a Steiner Sports model where they will eventually sell their own slabs or host auctions for certain graded books, authenticate unwitnessed signatures with 'experts' like many other venues do.

If you are talking about expansion opportunities then I see CCG exploring options into toy grading and sports memorabilia grading. Also, if that happens then I double down on what I have said about the signature series program being heavily revised.

I am aware of that. I was providing a similar example of what could happen.

Or they can bleed it dry like what was done with Sears. Or they can look at short term gains that have a negative impact on the grading integrity that CGC has established… like authentication of autographs instead of maintaining CGC’s integrity if witnessed autographs. Or a few other things that I wish not to provide free consultation to in case the the Big Black Stone ever tries to mine ideas from these boards.