Steven Valdez

If I had something of low value on hand I would love to experiment on it... hopefully someone else does and will give it a crack (so to speak, no pun intended etc etc).

What I have noticed is that comments on YouTube tend to be far more negative about the future of CGC. The comments here are overwhelmingly more optimistic and cheerful. Or so it seems

I'm not game to try opening any of mine... at least not yet. Would you be prepared to try the heat gun / blowdryer on one of yours?

If the case halves were actually welded or melded together, it would make it impossible to open them without breakage. Up until a couple of weeks ago I assumed holders had to be broken to open them, and believed that's what CGC did when cracking a book for reholdering. I'm thinking now that the cases are deliberately made to be openable so they can be reused by CGC if in decent condition.

Remember, any tell-tale scuffs or scratches can be easily buffed out using Polywatch (see 1:52 on the video below).

Yes... the kinds of books I'm looking for (early Marvels) are almost always slabbed. The ones that aren't look like they've been pulled out of a storm water drain despite being described as 'good' or better.

If reliable, trustworthy, competently graded slabs were available, I'd be a lot more comfortable buying expensive books from the other side of the world. Will wait for that day to dawn.

If that does happen -- a way to determine if cases have been compromised -- that really is the only thing that could salvage the whole mess.

That's true. But even if it's not directly 'on them', it's going to seriously dent CGC's reputation now that all of the slabs already out there are under suspicion. Book laundering is most likely happening all the time now that it's been shown how to easily do it. Comic dealing has always been rife with unethical individuals, and they'll be having a field day right now.

I hear you, but now the cat's out of the bag on how easy it is to open cases and swap books between them. For example, a lot of green labels are going to get free upgrades. Plenty of phony MJ inserts are suddenly going to appear too. And so on...

Yeah, there's just so much context around this when trying to frame a point.

Oh, I see.... This whole thing is more confusing now than it was on Day 1! I'm not sure this is the right answer, but I gather the perp was trying to get his suspect books into brand new cases with the new illustrated labels instead of just swapping into older cases..?! He probably just kept getting away with it so kept submitting over and over. Maybe he was a highly trusted submitter so they tended to take him at his word. Sorry if I'm missing the point of what your saying.

Yes. As I mentioned earlier, this IS the Worst Case Scenario. Some people are really underestimating the enormity and ramifications of this whole debacle.

Because he was chasing an 'official' blue label upgrade on a green label book. Thousands in profit if it's a Hulk #181.

It seems their policy was 'If someone tells you we missed an MJ insert, just take them at their word and don't waste 5 minutes verifying it.'

Fair. I never chose what Apple News I get, but comics news is always included in the entertainment section. I get pretty much every other subject as well; I always assumed i just got the generic feed that everyone else gets.

Does Google News include comics?

Thanks! I love to see true professionals at work. I've been missing this video ever since they hastily took it down.

Then why do I get so much sports news?? Comic book news just seems to be a regular segment of general entertainment news these days, which is excellent.

Does CGC have the skilled workforce to deal with the tsunami of regrading/reholdering orders that may start flooding in (depending on what damage-control measures they decide on)?

And complacency is yours.... it all evens out.

It's the same when tech guys screw-up. They get paid again to fix their own mistakes. What a racket.

Apple News is American, so no doubt it ran there too... just so you know.

Poor old Rob will never live that down... I thought this line was quite germane: "While they are investigating the reholdering scam perpetrated by this one high roller, fans have started to question how many other people are out there pulling the same stunt, on a scale small enough that it doesn't provoke suspicion."

Nah, here it is: https://apple.news/AnOa-FG5RSfC6iQjfs_FGhA