Microchip

On 12/23/2023 at 9:04 PM, Bosco685 said:

I was wondering that myself.

  Hide contents

What’s Going On With Noriko’s Neck in ‘Godzilla Minus One’?

At the hospital, Noriko is seen with what appears to be a black mark on her neck. Despite being so noticeable, no explanation of the mark is given. Hence, many viewers simply assumed it was a sign of radiation poisoning. One of the reasons why she is presumed dead is because she was caught in the blast radius of Godzilla’s atomic breath. With its nuclear breath boasting similarities to a nuclear bomb, the only thing more devastating than the original blast is the radiation released by it. In Japan, one of the long-lasting effects of the atomic bombs was radiation sickness. Many who survived the initial blast later died from radiation exposure, which the United States initially tried to cover up.

Radiation sickness can manifest in a variety of symptoms, including burns, sores, and bruises on the skin. So, Noriko could be suffering from radiation poisoning, which would align with Godzilla Minus One‘s desire to reflect the horrors of war and nuclear weapons. However, there is another theory that is gaining traction. What if she was contaminated not by radiation but by Godzilla?

YouTuber Minty posited that Noriko could turn into something like the humanoid creatures seen sprouting from Godzilla’s tail in Shin Godzilla. Of course, even Minty acknowledges that it’s a stretch, as it’s unclear if this Godzilla has evolved enough to do what the Godzilla in Shin Godzilla did decades later. Still, since the films aren’t directly related, this may be a different Godzilla, putting a wholly different spin on the concept of humanoid Godzilla creatures. On a Reddit forum, there was speculation that Noriko’s mark is a piece of Godzilla or a sign that its DNA somehow became part of Noriko’s, allowing her to survive and potentially mutating her, too.

While radiation sickness is the most likely reason for Noriko’s neck mark, seeing if the Godzilla franchise might be gearing up to explore mutated Godzilla humanoids will be interesting.

 

So Noriko is going to turn up with some Japanese kids, and riding around on some really sick motorbikes, being chased around Neo-Tokyo by some military dudes trying to harness her new found mental powers? 

On 12/24/2023 at 10:24 AM, drotto said:

Seems reasonable that the certificate number should be on all parts of the case, so label, top and bottom of outer case and inner well. So, it would need to be 4 times.

Having it stamped on the inner well would be a good move.   No serial number, then the the book starts life again as a fresh grading.

So has anyone mentioned the tattoo on Norika's neck in the final frames of the movie??

Does anyone know what it's in reference to?

@CGC Mike

Please listen to this channel, they are raising the alarm all through their collecting community.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cgc+slab+scam

Plus the YouTube channel at the start of this thread.

On 12/23/2023 at 6:42 PM, PassDaMike said:

I can’t believe I read all of this. 
@comics yes please.

Also hopefully it was not skipped, posted earlier by someone else, that the supposed scammer returned funds today:

 

 

The extent of the damage this guy is doing across the hobby is looking pretty substantial.

Eroding confidence in the security processes of CGC is very tangible, with multiple instagram, and YouTube channels covering this topic on an ongoing basis, as more swapped out books are being discovered.

@CGC Mike what is currently happening within CGC in response to this expanding situation?

I do suspect some of the high sales is him setting the market for certain books.   

It's easy enough to do with multiple accounts at your disposal.

Everyone is finding this guys handiwork all over the place.

Here's the the9.9nesstand instagram channel YouTube post on this.  It's a good video.

On 12/23/2023 at 8:03 AM, brute_nm said:

As we approach 75 pages, I'm worried that the details of the seller and the scam will get lost in all the side conversations and bickering.  Here's my attempt at summarizing what we know right now.

I know this is a rapidly-evolving situation, and stuff will likely change in coming days/weeks, but hopefully this helps distill the thread down to a digestible level.

I'm a little surprised by the books not on his target list.

No Wolverine Limited series #1.   Another huge population book, and another book paying a premium for newsstand editions.    Very strictly graded across the board mind you, maybe thats a factor?   The single color cover makes things difficult when sending bak to CGC?

On 12/22/2023 at 9:54 PM, agamoto said:

If nothing else comes of this, at least now I have a pretty arguable reason why I've seen so many 9.8's that sure as hell looked like 9.2s 

How many years have we been saying this!?  Now we have some kind of explanation outside of blaming CGC directly.   They're indirectly to blame as well

They only other thing that gets repeated here, year after year, altogether now... "buy the book, not the grade".. and certainly don't buy unicorn super the high grade MJ insert edition newsstand editions of super keys  

On 12/22/2023 at 12:55 PM, Parabellum said:

I would consider a decimal point move to $850.

Ditto.

With a new book, high grade copy, the prices don't go straight to the market high point.  It takes several sales before the upper benchmark is determined.   This guy is guessing at $8,500, hoping he finds a fish.   But with no previous sales supporting any kind of price point, I can't see anyone diving in on this book.   

It definitely has strong collector appeal, lets see how things go.   

After reading the ASM# 252 thread.   Be on the lookout for sales of the book, that are not completed. 

On 12/21/2023 at 5:32 PM, paqart said:

I'm waiting for eBay to get in on this. This problem is not limited to CGC. Ebay has a cause of action against CGC for negligence and against ZaneGlor (or whatever) for fraud.

They'd need some kind of supporting evidence to act.   

Sending them a link to this thread isn't going to cut it 

Lets see what CGC come up with... 

On 12/21/2023 at 5:17 PM, Changer said:

CGC knows the name.. they have to pursue this it makes them look really bad if they don't. Not much a guarantee if they are handing out counterfeit grades.

Have CGC chimed in yet?

On 12/21/2023 at 5:09 PM, paqart said:

"briva3". My guess is a name with first initial "B" and a last name that is or starts with "Riva".

I had a look for 'Zane' on some of the Facebook CGC pages, and got no matches.

On 12/21/2023 at 5:05 PM, Lightning55 said:

On 12/21/2023 at 5:03 PM, Microchip said:

Ah ok, yeah that would work too.   And CGC honour the grade of the slab, the book arrived in.   They're just doing a mechanical error adjustment submission as far as they're concerned.   They wash the crime into legitimacy. 

Exactly. Allegedly.

The picture stacks up based on the operational side of CGC we know about.

ME changes to slabs seem fairly frequent these days.   He could put slow and steady stream of them through without raising too much attention.

On 12/21/2023 at 4:59 PM, Lightning55 said:

But it is what happened here, if you read from the beginning. 

The original cert did not have MJ, because it wasn't MJ. The seller took the original book out, put a lower grade MJ book in, resealed it. Sent it back, said it was an error on CGC'S part, mislabeled. Got them to fix the label and reholder it, same cert. All this "allegedly", of course. 

Ah ok, yeah that would work too.   And CGC honour the grade of the slab, the book arrived in.   They're just doing a mechanical error adjustment submission as far as they're concerned.   They wash the crime into legitimacy. 

On 12/21/2023 at 4:39 PM, Lightning55 said:

On 12/21/2023 at 4:26 PM, Heronext said:

Getting "Mark Jeweller" added to label is not really necessary, he can still sell it as 9.8 MJV without the label notation, market would still eat it up IMO.

If you are trying to convince someone that the comic in the slab is MJ, and it doesn't state it on the label, or in the notes, or on the lookup page, why would they take your word for it.

You need that verification on the label, or a fool for a buyer. 

Agreed.   And thats not what is happening here.   The labels MJ on them, and the cert numbers when checked with CGC, have the MJ notation verified as belonging to that cert number.

Anyone want to tackle this one.   There's no way this isn't fishy.   The scan of the book looks ok, which just leaves the MJ notation as the suspect element.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285600398199?hash=item427f1c3b77:g:Th8AAOSwTGRldTw6

On 12/21/2023 at 4:18 PM, Nick Furious said:

Correct, but don't miss the point that he re-holders not for a higher grade, but to change the labeling on the new book.  If it were just for a higher grade, as mentioned by @Heronext, he would not need to resubmit the books.  And who knows how much of that has gone on without the involvement of CGC.

So he sends a doctored slab in for a custom label, with the inner well still secure?

CGC wouldn't doubt the book, and serial number.   They wouldn't re-open the inner well "just to check" the MJ insert, if the slab already had the notation saying it was there.

Minimalglue used to put the slab back together, they might not sort the handy work when they open it up.

All of them... that top right corner makes it less than a 9.0 every day of the week at CGC!!!

There's no way one guy has the monopoly on poorly graded books, unless he's working there, grading his, or a friends books.

This guy needs to be stopped!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285548159227?hash=item427bff20fb:g:BJkAAOSwfsFlSfI6

On 12/21/2023 at 4:05 PM, WolverineX said:

probably done this for years

Where are we at... 

He buys expensive books, swaps it out with a lessor copy.   Even if he cracks the case, he has the label with the hologram.  So he puts a inferior copy in with the correct label, glues everything back together, then re-subs the original book.  And probably makes close to double his money.

No freaking way!

All of this guys books like swap outs!!!

The grading on #340's is razor sharp, this is 8.5-9.0 sitting in a 9.8 holder!!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285594095445?hash=item427ebc0f55:g:~loAAOSwMTBlb~Pt

On 12/21/2023 at 3:38 PM, Nick Furious said:

I asked earlier if all MJ's are also Newsstand and someone said yes.  Are there MJ's that are not Newsstand?  

For #340, all MJ's are newsstand books.

Here's another book ripe for similar fraud.   The combo MJ, newsstand copy is super rare but out there.   A newsstand 9.8 is a $3k book, then add on the MJ rarity, and it's the right combination for the FOMO buyers out there.

I'm keeping a copy of my purchase on the Clink as reference for future provenance referencing.  

On 12/21/2023 at 1:27 AM, Parabellum said:

Interesting, didn’t think CGC would grade this.  Guarantee this is tough in 9.8, but not $8500 tough.

Dam, thats seriously cool to see.   But yeah that price is all the way up there.

On 12/20/2023 at 1:29 AM, drotto said:

But they need to stop with blaming the pandemic and actually look at themselves and make good movies.

Hollywood has gone from Armani to Armani Exchange.    

Chasing the quick easy dollar of streaming content filler's, knowing they'll still clear $500m on a film thats a 4 out of 10 compared to what was offered for the previous 9 decades of movie making.

Old films... 90's and earlier are trending.   Simply because re-watching an old good film preferable over watching a disappointing new film.