C2E2 Variant Drama 24 24

[Beige]

On 8/12/2022 at 12:53 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Wait.  Is CGC not grading the acetate?  I assumed they were grading these the same way they graded the invisible comics which were just acetate.

Or are they supposed to be ignoring the acetate cover and grading the book underneath?

 

 

They should be doing both - as they 'stand by what they grade' surely?

Edited August 12, 2022 by Beige

[toro]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:59 PM, Buzzetta said:

Any good or should I put my 9.8 up for sale in the forum or comiclink? 

I have liked it so far, but I am only 3 episodes into it.  I sold my 4x signed 9.8 a year ago.  Probably a mistake on my part.

[Cat]

Come on CGC, still no statement walking back your previous statement? As is you've created a green light for companies to go against Marvel's rules and make their own variants, or suffer in the marketplace now. That's hardly fair nor right. 

[FFB]

On 8/11/2022 at 8:11 PM, williamblood said:

guy on fb posted this, bf is at boston, no acetate yet

The calm before the storm.  

[Juno Beach]

On 8/11/2022 at 8:28 PM, Lazyboy said:

Apparently you need more of the reasons. Okay

The original was polybagged. This can cause grading issues.

The original was mostly widely distributed, not kept together by a single, original buyer (retailer).

The original was barely submitted at first. Just over 100 copies in the first 2+ years. It was nothing very special, nor was it treated as such.

 

None of this invalidates concerns about the grades for the acetate-covered crap, but there is no comparison to be made.

I believe he's talking about the original retailer facsimile Crain cover before the acetate was added?

[FFB]

I guess what I'm most interested in right at the moment, since something is going to happen tomorrow either way, is how all of the other retailers there are going to take this when everyone starts showing up.  This was the biggest story of the week and here we are still at the beginning of it.  The cross-promotional Ghost Rider book is a crazy escalation from what was already a hare-brained scheme to sell some unsold store exclusives.  What will the scene be when they drop the next one with the unsold store exclusives that no one wanted and is now the most infamous and maligned bootleg since the aardvark?  This drama is better than a lot of what's on TV.  

[THE_BEYONDER]

[DrunkWooky]

Where are we here? I didn’t do last night’s homework and skipped ahead 15 pages in this thread. 
 

I see Black Flag has no major social media push of its Boston etate books. This could mean nothing or that they were given a stern talking to and finger wagging by Marvel. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 8/12/2022 at 12:15 AM, DrunkWooky said:

Where are we here? I didn’t do last night’s homework and skipped ahead 15 pages in this thread. 
 

I see Black Flag has no major social media push of its Boston etate books. This could mean nothing or that they were given a stern talking to and finger wagging by Marvel. 

Just waiting for the live feed....

[DrunkWooky]

On 8/11/2022 at 10:09 PM, FFB said:

This drama is better than a lot of what's on TV. 

So, one of my favorite pass times is watching corporate train wrecks. 
 

There’s a Transformers message bird where Megalopolis Toys’ downfall was chronicled. 
 

There was the U.S. Marshal’s auction of the Gonk Droid Vintage Star Wars focus collector’s collection after it came to light he was embezzling his day job investors’ accounts to pay for his hundreds of Gonk Droids. 

Oh and who can forget the slow burn that is the current Heritage Auction/Wata games situation?

I was trying to explain to one of my coworkers today how I wasn’t going to watch TV tonight, just catch up on acetategate  

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:01 PM, FFB said:

The calm before the storm.  

Nope.. They already pre-sold them all .. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 8/12/2022 at 12:15 AM, DrunkWooky said:

Where are we here? I didn’t do last night’s homework and skipped ahead 15 pages in this thread. 
 

I see Black Flag has no major social media push of its Boston etate books. This could mean nothing or that they were given a stern talking to and finger wagging by Marvel. 

I think you want to read this post.  Pretty much the only new news in the last 15 pages 

 

[Black_Adam]

On 8/11/2022 at 6:29 PM, jaybuck43 said:

I don’t buy it. Danielle and I have talked comics for hours at nycc. There’s no way she doesn’t read them. Maybe she doesn’t read moderns (I know plenty of people who don’t) but she’s read the classics.

I have never met her I just follow her on Instagram. I know she has made that statement before about not reading comics in her posts. It's the kind of comment that's hard to forget when you're a comic fan. But she has like one billion instagram posts so I'm not even going to try chasing down where I saw it. Ask her the next time you see her at NYCC or maybe someone else can. I know she and her husband have a lot of friends here on the boards.

[Buzzetta]

On 8/12/2022 at 12:18 AM, DrunkWooky said:

There was the U.S. Marshal’s auction of the Gonk Droid Vintage Star Wars focus collector’s collection after it came to light he was embezzling his day job investors’ accounts to pay for his hundreds of Gonk Droids. 

 

Apples and Oranges... 

If you do something similar in the comic book world they just disbar you and you get to create your own auction site. 

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:33 PM, Buzzetta said:

Apples and Oranges... 

If you do something similar in the comic book world they just disbar you and you get to create your own auction site. 

[Mike's Rack]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:18 PM, DrunkWooky said:

There was the U.S. Marshal’s auction of the Gonk Droid Vintage Star Wars focus collector’s collection after it came to light he was embezzling his day job investors’ accounts to pay for his hundreds of Gonk Droids. 

Tell me more, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever read on the interwebs.

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:18 PM, DrunkWooky said:

So, one of my favorite pass times is watching corporate train wrecks. 
 

There’s a Transformers message bird where Megalopolis Toys’ downfall was chronicled. 
 

There was the U.S. Marshal’s auction of the Gonk Droid Vintage Star Wars focus collector’s collection after it came to light he was embezzling his day job investors’ accounts to pay for his hundreds of Gonk Droids. 

Oh and who can forget the slow burn that is the current Heritage Auction/Wata games situation?

I was trying to explain to one of my coworkers today how I wasn’t going to watch TV tonight, just catch up on acetategate  

 

 

[Mike's Rack]

On 8/11/2022 at 9:36 PM, Mike's Rack said:

Tell me more, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever read on the interwebs.

Never mind, I found a website with a cool name that explains it all…

[Gonzimodo]

Well, I finally made it through all 113 pages of this, and here are my takeaways (not that anyone GAF).

I don't really care about the legalities of Black Flag producing and selling them as store/con exclusives.  That's between them, Marvel, and the cons.  Clearly people will pay through the nose for them, and the controversy is just going to make more people want them.  PT Barnum would approve.

Black Flag clearly screwed the pooch with their distribution of the books, though.  They really should not have allowed the "influencers" to cut in and pick up their books in full view of the people standing in line like that.  They probably should have set those books aside and let the YouTubers pick them up somewhere out of sight of the crowd.  If they had just thought about that for a second or two, we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation.  

What concerns me is CGC's involvement in this, for the two big reasons everyone keeps mentioning - blue labels and what are almost certainly paid-for grades.  There is no way a book can be handled like that to staple an acetate cover on it and still somehow retain a 9.9 or 10 grade when the most perfect comics submitted by Joe Public can apparently only hit 9.8.

CGC's supposed job is to be an impartial, third-party certification and grading service for collectibles.  They are now failing at every aspect of that.

I have bought, sold, and even gifted to friends a handful of CGC-graded comics over the years, but I've never actually submitted any of my own for grading.  That was about to change this year, but after spending a lot of time on the boards over the last few months, I've lost my faith in this business and will probably never submit any books for grading.  CGC has become the nightmare I feared it would be when they opened their doors many, many years ago.  To my surprise, they actually brought a cool new aspect to collecting, but their latest shenanigans and lack of quality control have ruined their reputation for me.  Sad.

What's most concerning, though, is that it took 100 pages for us to get our first "tree fiddy" joke.  For shame, people!  For shame...  

 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 8/11/2022 at 6:46 PM, Troy Division said:

CGC is not responding because they feel it will 'blow over' just like their [past tense noun / verb] up handling of the 'invisible' comics for Bad Idea.
They are probably figuring out a way to place blame on Black Flag versus accepting they [past tense noun / verb] up one their main duties.  Again.

If I had to guess, it's probably more that they realize that they shouldn't have graded these, especially with a universal label, but they need to protect the integrity of their brand, so they're trying to craft a response that does that, but would also be more acceptable to the community than the false starts they offered up earlier in the thread.