comicwiz Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 The letter A variation 12 Backs have the most demand. The grade factor and time of year (Christmas fast approaching) are certainly variables to consider in higher than normal auction yields, but I'm reasonably certain that if another one popped-up in the same grade, the market would absorb it at around the same price. i am familiar with the significance of the three letter variations and what it means to price/demand with respect to the 12 backs. honestly though i have never paid that much close attention to each specific variant and their respective prices. so reality is, an A variant has not popped up at all in a really long time, for at least whatever auctions i was watching, so all those lower priced auctions i have randomly seen close here and there were either B's or C's. but that B variant auction i mentioned finishing in the $2700 range really shocked me but you are obviously way more privy and in tune to this marketplace. so how often would you say a solid 85 A variant actually shows up? once a year or less? you are right that if another popped up, the market would easily absorb at that price point. if 5 more popped up though, i would venture to say that would be a different story. however, good news is, you can not exactly "press" one of these out from an AFA 80 vader slab so the float on these 85 slabbed A's is probably very thin. Straight 85's? Doesn't happen very often, especially not with 12 Back A's. And the ones that are out there aren't coming to market until the prices peak, which I'm not sure we're seeing yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wally's Comics Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 so do you own an early bird set? or have the ordinal coupon for this set? I figure if anyone had that it had to be you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Not yet I'm way too picky when it comes to the EB set. I want it to be complete, and there are a few guys making a living cobbling them together and selling period inaccurate figures, baggies, weapons/accessories, etc. Even selling them as "will grade as an AFA xx" and expecting a certified price on them too. I'll eventually get one, but it's got to be the right one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maccai3 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Love me some 1977 shogun warriors Godzillas ahhh GOZIRRA!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primetime Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 btw $11.99 is a super price to pay back in the day on that starscream. is it a pre-rub or rubsign? actually not sure cuz the decepticon symbol is missing off him. So dunno if it was rub or pre rub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primetime Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 woolworth = thanks for sharing pics and congrats on your recent acquisitions. definitely concur with you on the price stickers giving it that extra nostalgic authentic vibe, especially with how good some of the ko's have gotten. they are easy to spot, but for the average non-toy collector, possibly not. woolworth was your original nickel and dime store true, the original price stickers really help to identify vintage boxes. The KOs these days (esp the boxes) can be hard to decipher. Generally, sharp clean boxes raise my suspicion. Old yellow tape on boxes are a vintage clue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primetime Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Love me some 1977 shogun warriors Godzillas one of my favorite toys. That was the king of the Shogun Warriors! Scary thing is if you put a white lab coat on that toy it looks like the ASM movie lizard! its a top five vintage Godzilla toy for sure What great idea on the lizard coat! Wonder if Baby GAP carries white lab coats I'll need a 19.5" Spidey figure to go with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockey&comicsguy Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 StarCom are really tiny. Much smaller than GI Joe. More like MASK size or even smaller. Pat Yup. Sounds like Starcom. I used to have all but 2 of the figures. I remember the name of my favorite one, it was Col. John "Dash" Derringer I believe. The magnet feet were cool and the fact that all the moving/transforming parts of the vehicles were gear driven vs battery operated was very cool. Lots of cool design features, too bad the toys never really took off. They have a pretty devout following though, I see pieces moving on ebay regularly. The only downside imo was that many of the weapons (blaster rifles essentially) were over sized and cumbersome. Other than that they were great. I liked that they gave each character a name and a military rank. They had everything from privates an Staff Sgts to Sergeant Major and Colonels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
followtheleader Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Actually, the G1 Transformer KOs are not all easy to identify (whereas some are very obvious). Some are VERY hard to tell the difference from a geniune example. I got screwed over on a purchase for Swoop. If you are buying MISB, I HIGHLY recommend doing research first. Some can only be identified by the placement of the grids on the box, the thickness of edging, the use of punctuation, etc. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
followtheleader Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Looking to add the Starscream box and the Shogun Godzilla to my collection. Very nice pieces. Thought I might share this story. I've always hoped that a co-worker would have some older toys or comics. After working years together, it turns out that a buddy co-worker has a size-able collection of 80s toys. But the negative is that they are stored at his parents and they have not spoken in years (feud). Not to mention, the likelihood of them being quality condition is pretty small (just a percentage-based fact). After about 2 years, the family makes amends and he eventually gets the items. That brings us to the present. Apparently it's so much (toys, other items of his youth, models, legos, etc), that he has to go thru an entire basement filled with boxes. The process is quite slow with a new job, twin children, a sick animal, and the volume. We're talking maybe a box or two every few months. But I'm happy to see some of the items. Very sizeable collections of MASK, 3-3/4" GI Joe, G1 Transformers, Eagle Force, and many others. More importantly, the items appear to be in fantastic shape (many appear to be unplayed with). But the best part? The family was super anal about keeping things like boxes, tech specs, accessories, phamplets, bags, etc. For example, they kept the Kenner baggies that the small MASK characters came in (kind of cool with the Kenner logos). We're just starting into the G1 Transformers. The 1st batches are pretty standard items. But they are in amazing condition and super complete. Some examples are a near complete collection of the Minibots, Grimlock (really nice), Jazz, Inferno, Tracks, and a number of the Minispys. Oddly enough, the Minispys are semi-desirable. There were a few others that I didn't end up buying. Already bought a number of boxed MASK items. Anyway, it's somewhat fun and excrutiating to see what will come next and when! He's pretty sure my GI Joe Killer Whale will be somewhere in there. And he's sure comic books were collected too. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Keep us updated on how this turns out Pat. (thumbs u One of the best collections I ever purchased came from a work colleague's Dad at an old job. Like you, it took forever to finally get in front of the collection. Unfortunately, the other son had picked out two or three keys from it and sold them on eBay before I got to it, but it was still a pretty incredible silver-age collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldage-migration Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 well all those transformer auctions got ended early. here is where things stood right before the untimely finish: AFA 85 (85/90/90) soundwave = $3201.01 AFA 90 (85/90/90) optimus prime = $7600 AFA 85 (85/90/90) starscream = $2000 AFA 95 (90/95/95) bluestreak = $1760ish the AFA lot of all series 1 mini autobots (both rubs & pre-rubs) = $4550 too bad we did not get to see the final pricing. i can not imagine that optimus prime going for <$10K to be ended so early. the mini autos was most interesting because there has never been a lot like that one; complete series 1 all 85 slabbed rubs and all pre-rubs slabbed 80 with 2 of them in 85. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldage-migration Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Actually, the G1 Transformer KOs are not all easy to identify (whereas some are very obvious). Some are VERY hard to tell the difference from a geniune example. I got screwed over on a purchase for Swoop. If you are buying MISB, I HIGHLY recommend doing research first. Some can only be identified by the placement of the grids on the box, the thickness of edging, the use of punctuation, etc. Pat so sorry to hear about that swoop. in MISB form, the box is the best KO produced and hardest to detect hands down. the only small giveaway is on the wings of the KO version figure itself, but it gets overlooked so easily in MISB form because you are not going to open the box. but where they can take it up to another level, is taking a legit sealed on card SWOOP that is genuine and then stuff that into a KO SWOOP box that is C10 condition. at one point years ago, i believe there was even a KO dino, not SWOOP, possibly floating around that was slabbed. as you pointed out, you have to pay attention to the quality of production, especially on the back art. on the KO's, the dinos in particular, the spacing is just slightly off, or certain characters are cut short on either corner of the box; where they have that picture art of autobots fighting with decepticons floating through space. soundwave's cassettes were pretty well done, other than a very small slight perforation type opening/hole on the backside of the card. the soundwave KO box itself is incredibly well done. its really tough. whats very interesting is that TF KO's are probably the best done vs. several other toy lines i can think of. for instance i have never personally touched a SW 12 back that even came close to fooling me. keep in mind, i am talking specifically about the replication of the card itself not the reset or re-sealing of an existing genuine bubble/card with authentic weapons/figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miraclemet Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Ok all this talk has my retro toy juices flowing... I always was partial to the blister packs, the MOC toys from the 80s... Besides the big boys (GI Joe, Star Wars & their like) and the Transformers, Go-Bots, ThunderCats and Silverhawks (so basically all the ones that were big on TV)... what am I missing from my 80s retrospective of some of the main carded type action figures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiceX Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Micronauts were the shizz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 for instance i have never personally touched a SW 12 back that even came close to fooling me. keep in mind, i am talking specifically about the replication of the card itself not the reset or re-sealing of an existing genuine bubble/card with authentic weapons/figures. Most of the carded SW I own were purchased from images either provided by the seller privately or through an online listing. I agree that once you know what to look for it's very difficult to get fooled by a reproduction cardback/blister. The most difficult (from images and not in-person inspection) is identifying tampering on loose or carded figures which have been touched-up, resealed or tampered with in other ways to hide defects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comicwiz Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Ok all this talk has my retro toy juices flowing... I always was partial to the blister packs, the MOC toys from the 80s... Besides the big boys (GI Joe, Star Wars & their like) and the Transformers, Go-Bots, ThunderCats and Silverhawks (so basically all the ones that were big on TV)... what am I missing from my 80s retrospective of some of the main carded type action figures? When we are talking syndicated TV cartoons, Masters of the Universe had some really neat carded figures. Ghostbusters too. The LJN Thundercats are pretty awesome. Most M.A.S.K. stuff came in boxes with figures/accessories in baggies so while they aren't a good example of carded/blister line toys, they do represent some of the coolest toys made from that time period. From the point of view of carded/blister toys, I'm partial to the packaging on Star Wars because it locks into some of my earliest childhood memories, but even when compared to the packaging of toys today, they really stand-up well (especially the 12 Backs) when you're talking about their overall quality in appearance and presentation. Less known TV shows like Captain Power achieve all these things as far as quality toy and packaging, but they just don't have the same memory attachment with late 30 and 40-somethings as the big TV cartoon shows like GI Joe, Transformers, He-Man and Thundercats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durden08 Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I've enjoyed seeing many of the toys posted here recently, especially the Star Wars & Transformers stuff. Brings back great childhood memories. Here's a toy several of my friends had in the 80s, but I was never fortunate enough to have myself. Probably my favorite GI Joe toy, so I was really happy to buy this one a couple years ago: [/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
followtheleader Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I friggin love the Rattler. One day it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine. Miraclemet, I love the pics of the obscure. I've owned most of them. The one I'm unfamiliar with is COPS. I ran across a massive collection in the summer when I was buying a MOTU and MASK collection. I passed on it, but I probably should have considered it. Anyone have the background on them? I picked up a good Starriors collections in the summer too. I was surprised to see that they sold well. Not high prices, but sold fairly. Definitely reminscient of the Diaclone stuff. I'm supposed to get my stuff out of storage in a few weeks. I'm hoping I can start to take pictures of my collection. I'd love to share my MOTU collection. I have nearly all of them in the original packages. For me, MOTU had the most amazing artwork. It's what made Castle Grayskull so cool. And Spydor. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithdatura Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Ok all this talk has my retro toy juices flowing... I always was partial to the blister packs, the MOC toys from the 80s... Besides the big boys (GI Joe, Star Wars & their like) and the Transformers, Go-Bots, ThunderCats and Silverhawks (so basically all the ones that were big on TV)... what am I missing from my 80s retrospective of some of the main carded type action figures? When we are talking syndicated TV cartoons, Masters of the Universe had some really neat carded figures. Ghostbusters too. The LJN Thundercats are pretty awesome. Most M.A.S.K. stuff came in boxes with figures/accessories in baggies so while they aren't a good example of carded/blister line toys, they do represent some of the coolest toys made from that time period. From the point of view of carded/blister toys, I'm partial to the packaging on Star Wars because it locks into some of my earliest childhood memories, but even when compared to the packaging of toys today, they really stand-up well (especially the 12 Backs) when you're talking about their overall quality in appearance and presentation. Less known TV shows like Captain Power achieve all these things as far as quality toy and packaging, but they just don't have the same memory attachment with late 30 and 40-somethings as the big TV cartoon shows like GI Joe, Transformers, He-Man and Thundercats. I love those M.U.S.C.L.E. characters! Those bring back some great memories. Wouldn't mind tracking down a package... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
