C2E2 Variant Drama 25 25

[Prince Namor]

$75 x 750 = $56,250

Pay Crain $20,000 for drawing it and signing some of the finished copies

Cost of printing = $1000

Misc. Expenses - $5,250

Cost of social media = $0

# of dummies who'll buy it = a lot more than 750

Pure Profit = $30,000

 

This is why everyday there seems to be less collectors and more sellers...

[deadleg]

Man we really have come full circle. Flippers complaining about other flippers flipping before they can flip.

Edited August 7, 2022 by deadleg

[BriD.]

Here's a Facebook link of the dude from black flag explaining himself if anyone's interested. I don't think he's helping his case here. Not sure if this is one of those "stories" that are only up for a limited time so hopefully it's viewable for a little while 

https://fb.watch/eLXoDMwxpQ/

Edited August 7, 2022 by BriD.

[KirbyTown]

Retail arbitrage has always been the situation with anything faddy at any time; and there's nothing to be put on the "collecting community" about it.

It's likely that a consumer making noise is experiencing the situation for first time. They don't understand that not only were they were never going to get whatever it is, but that the intent of the promotion itself likely had nothing to do with anyone actually being able to obtain the thing. Young, inexperienced, naive, whatever consumers either don't yet understand which games they shouldn't be playing, or if they do play, they don't understand how hard they'll have to work just to have a chance to likely fail anyway.

 

Edited August 7, 2022 by KirbyTown

[D84]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:03 PM, deadleg said:

Man we really have come full circle. Flippers complaining about other flippers flipping before they can flip.

That sentence made my brain hurt. I need a nap.

[D84]

I'm so waiting for "variant age" to be over, even if it's a complete comics market crash.

[Lazyboy]

On 8/7/2022 at 1:13 PM, jsilverjanet said:

Black Flag comics is the booth that sold the books. They should be the ones being ripped, not the buyers 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:48 PM, BriD. said:

Here's a Facebook link of the dude from black flag explaining himself if anyone's interested. I don't think he's helping his case here. Not sure if this is one of those "stories" that are only up for a limited time so hopefully it's viewable for a little while 

https://fb.watch/eLXoDMwxpQ/

Good grief 

 

I grinded through about 5 minutes.  I don’t have another 20 minutes to listen to that dude blather away.

Doesn’t seem to be dealing with the internet backlash very well.

Does he attempt an explanation as to why he shafted all those in line?

Edited August 7, 2022 by THE_BEYONDER

[D84]

Black Flag Comics to all those people in line...

[MetalPSI]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:50 PM, D84 said:

Black Flag Comics to all those people in line...

Good thing nobody wants it

Looking forward to passing these in the 50 cent bins in the future

[darkstar]

On 8/7/2022 at 5:40 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Good grief 

 

I grinded through about 5 minutes.  I don’t have another 20 minutes to listen to that dude blather away.

Doesn’t seem to be dealing with the internet backlash very well.

Does he attempt an explanation as to why he shafted all those in line?

He allowed his friends to pre-order as many copies as they wanted before the convention started because he needed the money. Basically wanted to secure a guaranteed sellout instead of getting his book in as many different people's hands as possible. Should probably focus more on increasing his print runs in the future instead of engaging with the community on camera, because that video isn't helping his business at all.  

[Raze]

On 8/7/2022 at 4:48 PM, BriD. said:

Here's a Facebook link of the dude from black flag explaining himself if anyone's interested. I don't think he's helping his case here. Not sure if this is one of those "stories" that are only up for a limited time so hopefully it's viewable for a little while 

https://fb.watch/eLXoDMwxpQ/

Is this a video? The link doesn’t show one and there are no videos posted. Last post was 2 days ago. 

[Cman429]

I feel like people are directing ire at the wrong people. It’s easy to say “one person one copy” but it’s very expensive to make your own variant. I know two comic shops who did them and one barely broke even the other lost money despite charging $50 a copy. If these guys laid out $50k+ for these I totally understand being nervous and not wanting to turn down guaranteed money from someone buying 100+ copies.

The villain here are the flippers. Don’t reward them. There’s a lot of variant covers I’d love but I won’t pay 200% markup to these guys. Just like in the 90s when people hoarded #1s or whatever, let them choke on their own inventory until the bubble bursts, 

[BriD.]

On 8/7/2022 at 6:29 PM, Raze said:

Is this a video? The link doesn’t show one and there are no videos posted. Last post was 2 days ago. 

It was. It worked a little while ago but it seems to be gone now

[thehumantorch]

We had a variant craze in the 90s and it didn’t turn out well.  These are manufactured to be collectibles and I don’t see any reason to chase them.  And why anyone would listen to these self appointed influencers is beyond me.  

[Iceman399]

Someone's not impressed (no idea who they are just saw it online) 

[Terry JSA]

Marvel had no idea Black Flag Comics produced and sold these “variants”.

That’s hilarious. 

[captainzombie]

This is quite crazy as I was probably number 20 in line at the Black Flag booth when they let us on the main floor. By the time I had gotten to purchase the ASM #1 Clayton Crain variant, these UF reprint/facsimile abominations were all gone. Not sure who thought that these acetate covers were a good idea, but it just made the original UF4 look very ugly.

I am baffled how CGC would grade these considering that there are 4 staples on this vs. the normal 2. Have to wonder now that they will set this precedence grading a book with 4 staples since Black Flag and co. frankensteined this book with even Marvel approval.

Edited August 8, 2022 by captainzombie

[Sigur Ros]

Forget the whatnot BS and screwing over of collectors (yet again)... 

The bigger question is why these get blue labels? 

They're just the 2021 facsimile edition with an acetate cover stapled to it.  There are 4 staples. 2 for the book, 2 for this ugly cover.  Yet CGC is giving the married covers blue labels. Word going around is they aren't even official. That Marvel didn't approve this. 

Why does CGC ignore this? 

 

[Raze]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:25 PM, fastballspecial said:

So this making the rounds on Social Media and I am doing my part to bring it over here. 

This is part of the reason I stopped going to large Cons the last few years, but I've never seen something
this blatant. Read below and form your own opinion. I know there are now several Social media and You tube
sellers I will no longer even think of purchasing from after this. These copies were then sold that night on Whatnot
among other places as well as ebay. I completely understand this person's point of view here
I had to cut it into 4 parts to see it all. Whats even worse is this book is just an acetate overlay nothing fancy.

Its makes our hobby look slimy again. I get partnerships, but this was handled poorly and stinks and reeks 
of entitlement. I could care less about this book, but I feel for the people who wanted it and stood in line to 
watch the majority of the copies leave right in front of them.

So did this person get a copy of the book? Because I just watched a video of a guy in that line and he was 40th in line and he got 3 (2 raw and a CGC 9.8). 

He said everything that the OP posted so the story sounds right. What I can’t find out is did the original person still get a copy it?sounds like they should have been able to if they were 15th in line.

I wanted to go to C2E2 but didn’t want to drive 5 hours from St Louis. It really sounds like the show had problems and that sucks, because I love going.