Wizard First program

[blowout]

Bad decision for the long term health of the comic book collecting hobby.

[rob_react]

It's frightening how uniform the opinion is. For this place that's eerie.

[RS]

80 % to agree on the samething is the world going to need this week

[dudesim]

What pray tell is the wizard first all about

[PovertyRow]

It's frightening how uniform the opinion is. For this place that's eerie.

 

The decision is based on emotion and not fact.

[rob_react]

It's frightening how uniform the opinion is. For this place that's eerie.

 

The decision is based on emotion and not fact.

 

By this you mean that the PERCEPTION of what CGC is doing somehow doesn't matter if their proverbial hearts are true. Sadly, reality and perception are only occasionally linked.

 

Personally, I don't think many of the things that I've said about this program are true. I think CGC went into this with the best intentions and I'm sure they didn't think that this new grading scale would cause the almost universal hand-wringing that it's caused. Even after this idiotic decision, I believe that the folks at CGC are still the same honest, trustworthy individuals that I thought they were before this was announced. That's what my rational mind thinks. Satisfied with that?

 

Okay, now that I've said all that to qualify my opinions and make certain that I'm not stepping on anyone's toes personality-wise, I still think the PERCEPTION of the Wizard First program and the EMOTIONAL message it sends are terrible and will do more long term harm than good. As I wrote, several instantly identifiable elements of this program undercut the CGC brand at it's very foundation. That's my rational mind speaking of the important emotional effect of this program.

 

So, yes Pov, you're right, this probably is, in one way, based on emotion and not fact, but... Marketing isn't very often about fact. That's true about good marketing and, in this case, bad. If people feel like they're the "little guy" getting screwed or that CGC has sold out no amount of logic is going to repair that damage. It's hard to change people's gut reactions with rational argument.

 

By the way, the fact that the gut reaction to this has been almost entirely negative in a very Pro-CGC forum goes a long way towards proving my point about this being terrible from a marketing perspective. Imagine what the reaction must look like in places where CGC isn't so universally accepted.

[fantastic_four]

The decision is based on emotion and not fact.

 

It wasn't for me. I looked at that 9.5 grade and immediately thought Wizard had 10 steps between 9.0 and 10.0. Once I realized the only grades were 9.0, 9.5, and 10.0, I figured they rounded 9.2 down to 9.0, 9.4 and 9.6 into 9.5, and couldn't figure out what they did with 9.8 and 9.9 since they just shouldn't round UP into 10.0. It took Borock explaining that 9.2 to 9.9 are grouped into 9.5 for me to get it, and even then, it seems stupid. 9.0 and 10.0 are exact grades, yet 9.5 is this big catch-all grade. HUH? I still don't get the thinking behind that, although I do like the reduction of points possible at the 9.0 and above level, just not how it's implemented here.

 

None of that thought process was emotional, it was pure, rational logic searching for a pattern and having trouble finding one. If I'm having trouble with it, I can guarantee you the 98% of collectors out there who don't care to look this deeply will just come to their own mostly incorrect assumptions and misunderstand what the differences in the scales are. It won't be long before I hear a dealer trying to explain to a collector what this Wizard scale means...and snickering in mild disgust once I realize the DEALER doesn't understand it, either! That back label explanation better be ULTRA-CLEAR!

[PovertyRow]

That back label explanation better be ULTRA-CLEAR!

 

Has anyone seen/read the back label?

[Dr_Neff]