Buzzetta

I have mixed feelings when it comes to PGX but not because I feel that every comic book they grade is inferior to CGC. I do not respect their grade due to widespread inconsistency. My PGX Hulk 181 was once a 6.5. After it was pressed it came back from CGC as a 9.0. NOw, I bought the book because I felt it was far stronger than the 6.5 that PGX assigned it and I rolled the dice and bought it to press and reslab. However, I have seen 9.8's that are by no means a 9.8. I have never encountered a PGX book that was missing pages or had anything drastically omitted from the grading notes. Therefore it is the wild inconsistency that troubles me. I rarely buy a PGX book unless I can see it up close or have an oversized scan of the book.

Metropolis as a dealer as well as HighGradeComics / Bob Storms and Gator / Rick on the boards Comic Connect, Comic Link, and Heritage for auctions

This could very easily turn into a 90's Superman thread

They said something about changing the return policy. Every month when I go to relist something pops up that I have to update my return policy as my current listings are non compliant to what eBay wants. Every month I relist things unchanged anyway. Things still sell. I have no incentive to go in and edit 188 items one by one. So... non issue. Especially if items still sell. Next year though there are some significant changes coming (supposedly)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/STAR-WARS-BLISTER-CASE-100-Action-Figure-Protective-Clamshell-SMALL-GI-Joe/122515132748?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 100 Cases for $65 shipped isn't bad. I usually buy more whenever eBay is offering some type of coupon or incentive. http://www.gwacrylic.com/ Iain Sanderson is the guy that sells them though and he also makes Acrylic cases. I have never purchased any Acrylic cases but he has a solid reputation.

The influence of this thread... I saw a pic a few pages back and said, "Ya know... I never got into the Ewoks line but I kind of like that Wicket" I also picked up a couple more POTF figs as I like to grab one here and there whenever I see one offered at a decent price. I had never seen a wide stance Chewbacca before in decent shape in person so I decided to take that home too even with the repro weapon. When I posted that article on Vader I noticed that my childhood Vader was fine but the extra I picked up years ago had a white face. So... I wanted a second Vader. Hammerhead? I am a sucker for that alien. I have a shelf in the basement with a few Hammerhead pieces around. As far as the Joes... I mentioned that I want some of my GI Joe back. Any figure I pick up must be complete, no cracks in the thumbs, crotches or elbows.

Appreciate it... I just sent a request and am in 'pending' mode. Don't know if I will be accepted but we shall see... thanks again.

"Dear boys, the great thing about our country is that everyone has the opportunity to be an insufficiently_thoughtful_person." -Father Lorfanfant.

Speaking of the art on the box, here is a question for @STORMSHADOW_80, @comicwiz, @followtheleader, and any other Joe Collectors... Has anyone ever seen any of the vintage card art floating around in any auctions? Hakes maybe? I assume that the majority of it at this point is in black hole collections if it was ever even made available.

@Shadow Images is correct that it depends on the collector but it also depends on the toy. Using your example, I won't touch vintage Joes on the card. I've made mention of that in this thread. When I brought it up to a dealer at NYCC he sheepishly said that I was right. Then he added that most people don't realize that He-Man figures suffer from the same issues. For O-Ring GI Joes, I want the most mint loose specimen possible.

Agreed. It depends on the collector.

You know how he hosts a cosplay contest at Big Apple?

I think there is more to it than that though. I think that people are gravitating away from selling to dealers and instead opt to sell it themselves. At least that is what I see more and more of. Sure, dealers can increase the amount they pay collectors for their books but are only going to raise their prices when they eventually resell it. Why should I buy something in certain price ranges at a show, when I can do better at ComicLink, Comic Connect, Pedigree (Even pedigree), Hakes, Heritage... and even eBay? In fact that's where some of the dealers are getting their books from. A couple of years ago I wanted to get rid of some books and offered them up on here. Bob Storms commented in the thread that he wondered why I was giving ComicLink free advertising because I did not take the stickers off the back. He was right. I realized that Storms was absolutely right. When I go to NYCC though or the Carbo show, I see quite a few dealers that have books in their bins or on their wall with stickers from different places. If that is the source of some of their books then why shop at the show for the markup? I should just wait until it shows up on CLink. Now I realize that some people are not comfortable shopping outside of eBay or are unaware or don't want to pay the tax but that notion still remains. While I was there Dolgoff got into a 'discussion' with someone trying to sell / trade him books. Dolgoff was debating the value that CGC adds to a book. I get the argument both ways from both parties. However, someone behind the guy that owned the book told him "why are you even selling it to him, just sell it yourself on eBay." Not wanting to stick around for that discussion I left and decided that I really did not need that Disney Mickey Mouse Golden Age infinity cover. (one day). I think that when it comes to buying from dealers, that dealers have the same concerns that brick and mortar vendors do, that people can comparatively shop online with most of the same benefits and rewards at a cheaper price. Now someone like Storms, Reece, Metropolis, Rick and others get in a few rare books that you may not see frequently at auction. However, unless it is a rare book, it is most likely that the book I want can be found cheaper online. One of my friends did at NYCC what I did once at another show. They shopped around the floor and saw that the item was cheaper online and did a BIN on eBay. So while I think that some dealers are going to do well, others will always struggle especially as people are carrying smart phones capable of comparatively shopping. As more people do that, less people will shop with the non major dealers and those guys won't see the benefit to even spending $2000 for a smaller setup.

heh - I made reference to that by posting a picture of Eaglemoss and saying that there didn't seem to be any problems there this year. Carbo was not seen by myself or any of my friends at the show.

Overall Comments. Overall I have mixed feelings about this show. There were dealers that said sales were phenomenal and then there were dealers that just shook their head and shrugged saying that you do not come to NYCC to make money that you could not make anywhere else. For example let's look at the cost of tables. Upon purchasing Storm Shadow I spoke with the seller and he told me that he spent $4000 for his area that he split with another toy dealer. This is where I was a little curious. You think about hotels and meals along with the booth prices as well as travel expenses for both the seller and the inventory and you have an expensive weekend. How many GI Joe figures or old He-Man figures do you plan on selling? Is it enough to justify the repurchase of inventory and the margin you need in order to profit? Let's look at one of those bootleg Lego minifigure booths where the bootleg Lego figures are priced at $5 each. Say you have the smaller display at $2000. At $5 each you are hoping to sell 400 of them. Your markup is about $4 each. So to break even, each of those minifigure guys have to sell 500 just to break even and not counting hotel, meal, or transportation fees. I am not seeing it. As far as books, I noticed a few dealers failed to remove Major Auction House labels and stickers off some of their books. I stuck with my personal resolve of not buying any books just for the sake of buying a book. The book had to make sense or I could just be patient and wait for the next Heritage, Comic Link, Comic Connect, Pedigree (Not really but you get it), Hakes, or eBay auction. I enjoy walking around and taking in the sites and was glad that at times a couple of friends joined in. However, it was very crowded on Saturday and Sunday and I notice that there are major vendors that decide to forgo NYCC and take up residence locally like Hasbro does in a suite. They believe the showroom space is cost prohibitive. They are right. I miss the old Lego display. What is odd though is that someone like the Maury Povitch show uses NYCC as a means to get an audience for their shows. Artist's Choice did not have a real display bringing a sampling of their inventory and on top of that were not listed in the program nor near the comics or art dealers or even in Artist's Alley. They were with Square Enix. Spencer's crew mentioned that they needed to get the awareness of their presence out there more than they did. One guy at CGC said this was the busiest show of the year for comics for them. I could see that for now. However, at the prices that they are charging vendors and the prices that product commands. Add that to what I believe to be an oversaturation of comic shows then eventually I see comic con in general as being a thing of the past as far as a shopping experience. You lose the vendors then you lose people spending money. I think they HAVE to charge dealers less for tables to attract better dealers and vendors than Maury Povitch. As it stands though, I know that the best deals are still usually found online. That is from a shopping perspective. As far as artists go, NYCC is a great venue to talk to and meet artists. If any of you ever read this, you are not turning away CGC customers from CGC by charging exponentially larger fees for verified signatures or artwork. You, the artist are losing business. I simply walk over to someone else. So when some artists are looking like lost souls with the Incredible Hulk "Lonely Man" piano theme song playing in the background, you have no one to blame but yourself. I thought the show exclusives were kind of lacking. I am glad I splurged a little last year and bought a shirt and a Skottie Young Spider-man Plush because unique items like that were absent this year. This year seemed to be the year of the enamel pin. Meh I enjoy seeing a few people and my Brooklyn friends as well as my LI friends all make their way to the Javitz for the big one. However, as I get older I have other obligations so I am in and out and at one point on Saturday I went back to Long Island at 4 just to go home and change in 30 minutes to get back on the train and head back to the city. Will I go back? I have not missed a show since 2009. So long as I keep getting the four day pass that I do I will. So... hopefully see you at NYCC 2019 on October 3-6. One last photo...

This was my last purchase of the weekend... These were on display by S.H. Figuarts. As I am a sucker for 1920's Mickey I inquired but was shot down on purchasing them. Mickey was due to come out in October so there seemed to be confusion when I inquired about him. They may have them. They may have sold out. They were stuck in customs. Finally as I was leaving the show, the floor was still open and finally there was no line. I asked the lady behind the counter from behind the security rope. I handed her my credit card and she rang it up. This one goes with the nonsense in the China Closet.

Hallmark booth was actually kind of cool once again this year. Iron Giant will fit in to the Holiday theme because it does look like a 1930's robot toy. The R2-D2 will find it's way into one of the cupholders in the jeep. Hallmark seems to have this thing going on with their Itty BItties... they are exceptionally cute and at the size of your palm, one or two are not that bad to have around.

This ridiculous thing was actually amusing... There were not a lot of giveaways that I saw this year so this was kind of cool to just be handed as I was walking around. I will talk about that later. I still have no idea what accent the Geico Gecko has.

Now... I would recommend these things... I forget what the original price was but I believe it was around $55 Herocross Figuaration Hybrid Metal Superman... Bandai booths have had these for a couple of years and brought them along to clearance them out. At $20 you cannot go wrong. Batteries were included btw... Here is a stock image... If you can track one down for about that price I highly recommend it.

Larry Hama was not at the con until Friday. Now every year I get to the Friday show at the same time. Except for when a friend put me on the list I have always been in the 20's in turn for a sketch. As soon as I got to the show on Friday I went downstairs to Artist Alley and saw that I would be in the #60's. There was no way I was going to get my annual sketch... Too many people are realizing that at $40 a sketch that price is a steal. So... I also had another problem. If you look at my thread from last year I purchased two sketches. Larry forgot to sign one of them. How do you get an artist to go along with this? I brought my mini art binder of Hama sketches. I showed him the binder and explained that I never sell them on eBay or anything but that he forgot to sign it from last year. He seemed hesitant at first but then I thumbed through the binder with him and he laughed and signed last year's sketch with his name and '17. I also figured I would get something signed... so I picked up two comics that he had at his table. The book in the middle was a variant of the new Snake Eyes unmasked limited to 350. I don't know if he ever got to my sketch as he was gone by the time I got to Artist Alley on Sunday. I will be looking carefully on eBay to see if it turns up. If he did get to it, I would like to see how it came out. However, he was only up to 36 by Saturday late afternoon.

Every buy something out of spite? I mistook this book for the first Winter Soldier for some reason. Okay... this is the one where Bucky regains his memories... Either way... I am looking at this and the same book in another condition next to it. The guy to my left starts getting a little charged up because I am looking it over with a friend trying to figure out if I should buy a copy or not. This guy whether he realized it or not was practically breathing down my neck as he was already looking at other books. I was going to put it back when the guy starts to reach over to me to take them out of my hands. Uh... seriously... I gave him a look and I bought the better of the two just he could not have it. He made a face. If you are a board member here. Shame on you. You should know better.

Too good a deal to pass up and let's leave it at that...

All were complete, with tight limbs. However the limbs, thumbs, crotches didn't even have cracks in them. They all had each of their accessories. They were 100% complete. I got them at or better than eBay prices... These are the Joes I got at NYCC... there were others and more plastic crack that I have purchased this month but I will save that for the Plastic Crack thread.

Stormshadow was the first purchase I made at the con on Thursday... I knew what they were trading for on eBay and it is hard to find one that meets my requirements... White body with decent paint apps Cannot have any broken thumbs or crotch Cannot have any broken accessories (that unbroken bow is tough) Cannot have any cracks in the elbows tight joints He had it listed at $60 with the gray filecard... I offered $50 and he accepted... To those that do not follow this stuff... there was another dealer in the room with a Storm Shadow that was yellowed and incomplete without the bow and had a loose knee. That guy wanted $80. That piece sold by the end of the show. Yeah... I was good for $50 on that figure. I had sold off almost all of my GI Joes years ago to help pay off my student loan. I want some of my GI Joes back.

First the piece that made me smile the most Picked it up from Beschara: I was just in NJ for the Gallo's Comic Art Con and this was not in his binders. As soon as I saw it... I talked it over with a friend of mine who I was with and decided to take it with no offer. It was in the binder at a VERY good price. Beschara only said, "At least I know it is going to a real collector." In this earlier issue of GI Joe, Zartan and the Dreadnoks are featured with their usual bickering amongst themselves. Zartan decides to take matters into his own hands and morphs / disguises himself as Hawk to walk onto McGwire Air Force base to see if this is where GI Joe is hiding out. Upon purchasing it I decided to get Larry Hama to autograph it on the back. This one is going straight to the GI Joe Art Binder. @STORMSHADOW_80