• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

I thought comic book collecting was cutthroat and competitive...

79 posts in this topic

I think the market is just getting started for this branch of collecting. Comics nearly missed out on a generation with the boom and bust of the 90's. There are millions of kids who grew up with video games as their primary hobby, and those are the characters and "stories" that they're interested in. Nostalgia kicks in, and suddenly paying big $$$ for a sealed copy of something that you sank so much of your time into as a kid seems appealing.

 

I don't collect games myself, but I cohost a vintage gaming show and one of my best friends is a collector, so I've been to shows and stuff. We've already seen huge leaps in values, I think it's just the beginning.

 

collecting the sealed stuff is too easy... ya gotta go original art work for a challenge ;)

 

bK97XFq.jpg

You should have taken this picture topless.

 

You'd like that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the market is just getting started for this branch of collecting. Comics nearly missed out on a generation with the boom and bust of the 90's. There are millions of kids who grew up with video games as their primary hobby, and those are the characters and "stories" that they're interested in. Nostalgia kicks in, and suddenly paying big $$$ for a sealed copy of something that you sank so much of your time into as a kid seems appealing.

 

I don't collect games myself, but I cohost a vintage gaming show and one of my best friends is a collector, so I've been to shows and stuff. We've already seen huge leaps in values, I think it's just the beginning.

 

collecting the sealed stuff is too easy... ya gotta go original art work for a challenge ;)

 

bK97XFq.jpg

You should have taken this picture topless.

 

You'd like that

:wishluck:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the market is just getting started for this branch of collecting. Comics nearly missed out on a generation with the boom and bust of the 90's. There are millions of kids who grew up with video games as their primary hobby, and those are the characters and "stories" that they're interested in. Nostalgia kicks in, and suddenly paying big $$$ for a sealed copy of something that you sank so much of your time into as a kid seems appealing.

 

I don't collect games myself, but I cohost a vintage gaming show and one of my best friends is a collector, so I've been to shows and stuff. We've already seen huge leaps in values, I think it's just the beginning.

 

collecting the sealed stuff is too easy... ya gotta go original art work for a challenge ;)

 

i.imgur.commK97XFq.jpg

 

Every time I see goofy video game covers from that era I like to think that the artist or a collector has that piece hanging over their mantle in a 6-inch gold frame with soft lighting spotlighting it. Especially Shufflepuck Cafe :cloud9: Panic Restaurant is a great one, though. Very nicely realized.

 

Funny you mention shufflepuck cafe; Id never heard of it but it sold on heritage a while back

 

Haha, I had to go on HA and look it up immediately! Cool to see the artwork in its full glory!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started collecting sealed NES in 2002 and you should have seen it back then :eyeroll: There was only a few of us but cliques formed and it was like the crips vs the bloods :insane:

lol

 

I'm not even kidding Tim! Death threats on answering machines over sealed NES games! lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been buying and selling comics for years now, and I've seen how cutthroat and competitive it can be at times. However, in my experience, comic collecting has got nothing on the world of retro video games. I've been buying and selling games a lot recently and I can't believe how awful people are in the hobby. Sellers don't honor deals, other buyers try to screw with your transactions, and you get stabbed in the back left and right. It's like some of these people have no ethics whatsoever. At the end of the day, comic collecting isn't so bad after all. Can you guys think of any other hobbies that are more cutthroat and competitive than comics?

Sportscard collecting and vinyl record collecting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

are antique games fun to play? seems like you would want the latest kind of graphics kinda thing? again, never played video games except the kind you put a quarter in at the mall arcade. :preach:

 

Rule of 25, mi amigo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the market is just getting started for this branch of collecting. Comics nearly missed out on a generation with the boom and bust of the 90's. There are millions of kids who grew up with video games as their primary hobby, and those are the characters and "stories" that they're interested in. Nostalgia kicks in, and suddenly paying big $$$ for a sealed copy of something that you sank so much of your time into as a kid seems appealing.

 

I don't collect games myself, but I cohost a vintage gaming show and one of my best friends is a collector, so I've been to shows and stuff. We've already seen huge leaps in values, I think it's just the beginning.

 

If you are looking to make big coin in this market, you're too late getting in. Bronty starting 15 years ago was way ahead of the curve, but probably about right.

 

If you want to start gambling on collectibles at this point you should be buying late 90s Marvels, although even on those you are probably too late.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the way I'd put it is that back then you really didn't need to know what you were doing; anything you bought was going up. These days knowing what you are doing is more important and yeah you are buying at higher price points and with the most explosive part of the curve behind it perhaps, but that also makes it a different kind of bet than it was before.

 

When something gets a track record yeah the most instaneous growth is behind it but it's also become - generally - more liquid and less risky. Something that is further down the curve like key vintage comics, you have to know what you are doing even more so, buying at any kind of discount is next to impossible, but selling at or near full value is a piece of cake. Little or no instant growth (relatively speaking, obviously there are still instances) but little to no risk (relatively) and little to no pain in cashing out.

 

And yeah buying 15 years ago was ahead of the curve, but it worked out well for me and enabled me to purchase related artwork for what was for me a large sum of money that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise reasonably afford, that art becoming something ahead of the curve now itself IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you guys think of any other hobbies that are more cutthroat and competitive than comics?

 

Hockey cards. Little kids playing with mommy and daddies money. Every card they have is solid gold and all yours are garbage. It's what made me quit. I was sick of being told that joe nobody from my team was "worth" lots (because I wanted it) and my Gretzky RC wasn't worth anything because it was slightly miscut. Having cards you need for your collection that aren't of interest to anyone but you by some jerk who thinks you'll eventually cave and pay 300% guide for it. $500 one card packs, in 5 pack cases. Still makes me angry today...

 

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started collecting sealed NES in 2002 and you should have seen it back then :eyeroll: There was only a few of us but cliques formed and it was like the crips vs the bloods :insane:

lol

 

I'm not even kidding Tim! Death threats on answering machines over sealed NES games! lol

Yeah, but when the guy making the threats was some breadstick armed nerd (was that JC`s old expression?), did you even care?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never got the answering machine death threat but I did get offered to be the target of someone's gun once! I told him to come on down to Canada and enjoy some time in jail if he tried to smuggle a gun across the border

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you guys think of any other hobbies that are more cutthroat and competitive than comics?

 

Hockey cards. Little kids playing with mommy and daddies money. Every card they have is solid gold and all yours are garbage. It's what made me quit. I was sick of being told that joe nobody from my team was "worth" lots (because I wanted it) and my Gretzky RC wasn't worth anything because it was slightly miscut. Having cards you need for your collection that aren't of interest to anyone but you by some jerk who thinks you'll eventually cave and pay 300% guide for it. $500 one card packs, in 5 pack cases. Still makes me angry today...

 

James

 

That's every hobby ever though ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jarts.

 

We've still got a set in the shed - I'll clean them off, and you should come over and play. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jarts.

 

We've still got a set in the shed - I'll clean them off, and you should come over and play. :D

:wishluck:
:hi: you too, big guy - now we need one more for 4-play...., :whistle:
Link to comment
Share on other sites