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C2E2 Variant Drama
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Started by fastballspecial,

4,556 posts in this topic

thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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On 8/15/2022 at 2:34 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I think this applies to every hobby, now. I just sold my entire record collection because I was simply just sick of the record collecting community and the types of people it attracts. Comic books are no different, but I enjoy the art of comics more than the sound of vinyl, so I used my record collection to help get me back into comics.

And if you think this hobby is bad, try looking for a Chevy 4-speed bellhousing for a 1970 Camaro. Boardies here tell you "good luck" when you're looking for a particular book. You ask a car guy for a hard-to-find part and they'll laugh at you, ridicule you, call you an insufficiently_thoughtful_person and then try to steal it from their friend and sell it to you behind their back for 5x what it's worth. I do not miss the vintage car circle - I spent most of my adulthood there and the people there sucked all the fun out of owning hotrods. We have it easy here on the Boards - people here are generally nice, light-hearted and conversational.

People's inherent nature of wanting to own things to rub in people's faces has intensified to an unbelievable height thanks to Instagram and all the other social media tripe - likes and clicks and views seems to trump ethics any day of the week. 

Amen.  Not only do people continuously take selfies they take them with their cool comics or auto parts

Edited by thehumantorch
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Dark Knight

Dark Knight

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Mann what's going on with these supposedly trusted grading/authenticating companies lately!? I'm hearing/reading that the only authenticating company in the sports card hobby, BBCE, is being questioned by sports card people for possibly authenticating a high end box (bought for 6 figures) of tampered sealed packs. The packs were opened live on Whatnot by different card breakers and they noticed that the sequencing of the cards for 2 or 3 of the packs were incorrect and likely were resealed. BBCE also provides services to PSA for vintage pack authentication. 

Previously they got into serious heat for authenticating a "factory sealed" case of these rare 1st edition Pokemon boxes, only to find out that the packs were replaced by cheap GI Joe packs :tonofbricks:. That case was a multi million dollar sale, which turned out to be worthless doh!. I believe buyer got all or most of his $ back, but that sucked!

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MyNameIsLegion

MyNameIsLegion

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On 8/16/2022 at 3:46 AM, Dark Knight said:

Mann what's going on with these supposedly trusted grading/authenticating companies lately!? I'm hearing/reading that the only authenticating company in the sports card hobby, BBCE, is being questioned by sports card people for possibly authenticating a high end box (bought for 6 figures) of tampered sealed packs. The packs were opened live on Whatnot by different card breakers and they noticed that the sequencing of the cards for 2 or 3 of the packs were incorrect and likely were resealed. BBCE also provides services to PSA for vintage pack authentication. 

Previously they got into serious heat for authenticating a "factory sealed" case of these rare 1st edition Pokemon boxes, only to find out that the packs were replaced by cheap GI Joe packs :tonofbricks:. That case was a multi million dollar sale, which turned out to be worthless doh!. I believe buyer got all or most of his $ back, but that sucked!

What you describe here and what has been revealed with CGC is that absent any real competition, the grading authority has absolute power. As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely. CGC can employ any manner of corporate doublespeak to justify their actions but at the end of the day they can make up whatever rules they want and to make justifications based solely on those rules with impunity. They don’t grade comics, they manufacture collectible labels. Eventually the encapsulated house of cards that is modem submissions may collapse upon its own weight but not soon enough or hard enough to alter their quarterly financial forecasts. They’re content to wait this storm out.

I’d be more intrigued if Disney or Warner took an interest in tapping into the high upside aftermarket of their books and just cut out the middleman with their own LE “slabs”. They’re halfway there now with variants and such. Imagine a $19.99 Marvel certified pre-order MINT copy enshrined in a faux acrylic frame with Marvelous branding that’s lighter and cheaper than a CGC slab that can only come direct from a pre-order. Everyone of them is “Mint” I’m sure CGC would scramble to try to certify and slab a slabbed book, and everyone would perhaps come to their senses and realize “well this is dumb” and just stop doing it.  But just think of it, a slabbed Marvel book straight from the publisher with a QR code to access the digital edition. Total print runs contract even further, but unit profits go sky high, 3rd party grading returns to its original purpose of grading vintage books and CGC is sold off by their investor overlords as a write down to Metropolis. 

Edited by MyNameIsLegion
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Buzzetta

Buzzetta

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On 8/16/2022 at 4:46 AM, Dark Knight said:

Mann what's going on with these supposedly trusted grading/authenticating companies lately!? I'm hearing/reading that the only authenticating company in the sports card hobby, BBCE, is being questioned by sports card people for possibly authenticating a high end box (bought for 6 figures) of tampered sealed packs. The packs were opened live on Whatnot by different card breakers and they noticed that the sequencing of the cards for 2 or 3 of the packs were incorrect and likely were resealed. BBCE also provides services to PSA for vintage pack authentication. 

Previously they got into serious heat for authenticating a "factory sealed" case of these rare 1st edition Pokemon boxes, only to find out that the packs were replaced by cheap GI Joe packs :tonofbricks:. That case was a multi million dollar sale, which turned out to be worthless doh!. I believe buyer got all or most of his $ back, but that sucked!

There are a lot of things out there that purport to be factory sealed.  They are not.   They have been resealed and it is likely that these grading companies have treated them as variants of factory sealed items or never even noticed the slight differences.   I last claimed this when in the VHS threads where I stated that in the back rooms at Disney we had shrink wrap machines and would reseal anything that was torn due to someone trying to steal it or just because of shelf wear.   When I had mentioned this to a friend, he told me that where he worked that ALSO had a shrink wrap machine and resealed everything from board games to ... get this... video games. 

hm 

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theCapraAegagrus

theCapraAegagrus

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On 8/16/2022 at 4:46 AM, Dark Knight said:

Mann what's going on with these supposedly trusted grading/authenticating companies lately!? I'm hearing/reading that the only authenticating company in the sports card hobby, BBCE, is being questioned by sports card people for possibly authenticating a high end box (bought for 6 figures) of tampered sealed packs. The packs were opened live on Whatnot by different card breakers and they noticed that the sequencing of the cards for 2 or 3 of the packs were incorrect and likely were resealed. BBCE also provides services to PSA for vintage pack authentication. 

Previously they got into serious heat for authenticating a "factory sealed" case of these rare 1st edition Pokemon boxes, only to find out that the packs were replaced by cheap GI Joe packs :tonofbricks:. That case was a multi million dollar sale, which turned out to be worthless doh!. I believe buyer got all or most of his $ back, but that sucked!

Anyone who buys "authenticated" sealed products gets what they deserve.

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DR.X

DR.X

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On 8/15/2022 at 11:21 PM, DrunkWooky said:

When he just starts wailing in Hendrix’s Band of Gypsies album, it just sets the tone for my whole day. What a cool cat!

I think Billy Cox is still alive.

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gregreece

gregreece

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A friend of mine who has done exclusives in the past received this from Marvel:

Subject: Clarification of Exclusive variants

Hello everyone,
 
As you all continue to expand your businesses, we want to thank you for continuing to explore exclusive opportunities with Marvel through our exclusive retailer variant program.
 
By participating in our program, please remember that all cover artwork must be created and approved by Marvel. Once submitted and accepted, no retailer has permission to use these comics or art to create new products, edit, or change the published comic in any way. This of course pertains to all past and current comics.  We have updated our deal sheets for all retailer variant cover requests moving forward to emphasize these points.
 
As always, thank you for everything you do, and we appreciate your cooperation and continued support!
 
Best,
 
David
 
 
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billsid

billsid

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On 8/16/2022 at 9:02 AM, gregreece said:

A friend of mine who has done exclusives in the past received this from Marvel:

Subject: Clarification of Exclusive variants

Hello everyone,
 
As you all continue to expand your businesses, we want to thank you for continuing to explore exclusive opportunities with Marvel through our exclusive retailer variant program.
 
By participating in our program, please remember that all cover artwork must be created and approved by Marvel. Once submitted and accepted, no retailer has permission to use these comics or art to create new products, edit, or change the published comic in any way. This of course pertains to all past and current comics.  We have updated our deal sheets for all retailer variant cover requests moving forward to emphasize these points.
 
As always, thank you for everything you do, and we appreciate your cooperation and continued support!
 
Best,
 
David
 
 

Does this mean Black Flag found a loophole and Marvel had to "update our deal sheets" to reflect that??

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Cat

Cat

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On 8/16/2022 at 11:02 PM, gregreece said:

A friend of mine who has done exclusives in the past received this from Marvel:

Subject: Clarification of Exclusive variants

Hello everyone,
 
As you all continue to expand your businesses, we want to thank you for continuing to explore exclusive opportunities with Marvel through our exclusive retailer variant program.
 
By participating in our program, please remember that all cover artwork must be created and approved by Marvel. Once submitted and accepted, no retailer has permission to use these comics or art to create new products, edit, or change the published comic in any way. This of course pertains to all past and current comics.  We have updated our deal sheets for all retailer variant cover requests moving forward to emphasize these points.
 
As always, thank you for everything you do, and we appreciate your cooperation and continued support!
 
Best,
 
David
 
 

So Marvel says no, CGC says yes, and yet CGC might have more sway among the community? 

Madness. 

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