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scumdolly

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Posts posted by scumdolly

  1. On 2/12/2024 at 7:02 PM, comicwiz said:

    This was graded by CAS Feb 2, 2023, so the O-Ring break happened within the last year. Here's a pic of the before:

    Gi-Joe-before-front.thumb.jpg.9f0538f35d2ba2228ae271445481c5ac.jpg

    I handle quite a few post-loss appraisals for Gi Joe MOC's through ToyVerify, it's a shame. A lot of them get damaged being shipped back to the submitter. I'm not a fan of HA listing it using the 80+ grade, that is no longer valid. 

    HA did the same for a Firefly, I think. Listed it as a 90 (or 95) while showing a clearly broken o-ring (the figure was dangling terribly). GI JOE and MOTU collectors are finally going to have to swallow that hard pill: it's been 40+ years since the toys were released, and both Hasbro and Mattel outsourced a long of their production to countries that took short cuts--and this is the end result.

  2. On 8/20/2021 at 1:45 PM, Dave2739 said:

    Mind if I ask where you got those cases? I've been on the lookout for something similar for my Super Powers and Secret Wars figures, but I've never been happy with what I've seen. And the Super Powers figures weren't all the exact same size, so that's also part of the challenge.

    Look for Star Cases that fit Hot Wheels. They fit MOTU figures and should fit SP figures, too.

  3. 8 minutes ago, Buzzetta said:

    So here is a question... 

    While everyone was scooping up Cara Dune figures, I went to grab a lego set or two...   I picked up one of these for $40 and I ordered one directly from Lego for $50. 

    Today I get a message that the set is backordered again and this time until March...   Is it a set worth keeping an extra one to exploit the heck out of at some point down the line since this is the only set that Cara Dune is currently offered in?   Lego is giving me the opportunity to cancel my order and I am debating doing that since I now have one sealed copy and I could save myself the $54 and change. 

    Pros

    • It's the only set Cara Dune is offered in
    • This might be the ONLY set Cara Dune is ever offered in

    Cons

    • There are a LOT of these out there.  This was the first and only Mandalorian set until the Razor Crest was produced.
    • Since so many of these were sold Cara Dune is out there in great quantity.

     

    Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 9.24.59 PM.png

    Keep it. It's sold out everywhere (Target, WM, where ever else). This will end up being like the Ahsoka and Droid set (7551).

  4. 5 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

    Ehhh not so quick with GI Joe.  I have always strongly recommended people staying away from AFA graded Joe figures and my hesitations have been supported over the last couple of years.   We are now almost 40 years from when those first few figures were introduced.  Sure, the cards are stronger than SW and the bubbles seem to be as well.  The figures are drying up and cracking and breaking on the card due to their design.  I keep seeing more and more heartbreak and some butthurt in the Joe FB collector groups.   Usually I see popped rubber bands, jumble of parts on the card and this past year more people were posting pics of AFA graded figures that had developed cracked elbows as well as broken figures MOC graded by AFA. 

     

    Yes, the o-rings will crack (some sooner than later). I've had several sealed figures whose o-rings were already loose (one was a 9-back CC Offer Scarlett, lol). *BUT* the figure+vehicle sets are a different story. The bubble on those holds the figure really tight/really snug, so even if the o-ring breaks, the figure will still remain as it was. Skystriker is even better since that's a sealed box with no window, lol.

    I'll also qualify my previous statement regarding MOTU: the legs are held together with rubber band that--surprise, surprise--will break, leaving the legs to float at the bottom of the bubble. SW figures are better, but the quality of seal holding the bubble to the card is entirely suspect.

  5. 10 hours ago, BrooksR said:

    Do you guys have any experience submitting to AFA? I’ve had my comics graded by cgc and have thought of getting some of my vintage sealed sw and joe figs graded. $35 per fig seems pricey, does grading improve the resale value enough to justify it? Do buyers prefer graded figures to “raw?”

    I've been sending stuff to AFA since 2003. The grading (assuming it's somewhere between 80-85-90-95) improves the resale value (likewise, you can sometimes get a great deal on a lower-graded figure--AFA 60--whose only defect is a cracked bubble). More often than not, "buyers" is determined by the brand/ toy line. Star Wars, yes; GI JOE, yes; MOTU, yes; Inhumaniods or Centurions, probably not.

    Make sure to carefully look over your bubbles. Even a slight hairline crack can drop the overall grade to a 70 (a visible crack is 60, a crack with missing pieces, even less).

  6. 7 hours ago, The Commissioner said:

    This surprises me honestly.  I remember hearing in an interview with Ernest Cline that the book Ready Player Two would not be a sequel to the movie Ready Player One because it was so different from the book.  I wonder how they are going to pull this off.

    RP2 is an immediate sequel to RP1. It takes place about 5 minutes after RP1 ends. Whatever Cline said was changed by $$$.

  7. 22 hours ago, followtheleader said:

    Terapeak shows that this sold for $450. But, still, this is an enormous price for a 12-back, especially one with a cracked bubble. I'd be euphoric if I was the seller.

  8. 4 minutes ago, followtheleader said:

    Funny you went the AFA route. 

    Though that's not my thing, that was one of my 1st thoughts.  

    Thanks for the recommendation, much appreciated. 

    Patrick

    If it's rare (not your common, run-of-the-mill Star Wars/ Transformers/ MOTU/ GI JOE/ T-Cats toys), then that is your best option. Especially if is something that doesn't appear more than three times a year.

  9. 6 minutes ago, followtheleader said:

    Okay, let me ask in a different way. 

    If you have sealed rarer item, but the tape is only on by 20%, do you open it or keep it sealed? 

    Patrick

    Do what you can to mitigate any further tape loss. Either have it graded or get a perfectly-fitted custom acrylic case so that there can't be any further movement against the tape. Personally, I would have it graded. If the tape does come loose, the AFA case/rails will keep it in place. I did this for a Zartan Swamp Skier like 16 years ago. I'm sure that the tape eventually came loose, but the case end was jammed against the tape so who knows (I sold it).

  10. First post for the year. There's currently a WW #8 9.0 (OW-W) Penn copy listed on eBay. I remember being the underbidder on this, I think. Well, within less than a month another copy appeared on Metro (of all places)--at a much lower price (same grade, White pages). Interesting side note: Metro/CC sold all three WW #8 9.0s in 2017, all within a span of 4 months.

     

    IMG_3178.JPEG