The Thread that No One Demanded: Buzzetta at NYCC 2018 4 4

[Buzzetta]

All were complete, with tight limbs.  However the limbs, thumbs, crotches didn't even have cracks in them.  They all had each of their accessories.  They were 100% complete.  I got them at or better than eBay prices...  These are the Joes I got at NYCC... there were others and more plastic crack that I have purchased this month but I will save that for the Plastic Crack thread. 

Edited October 9, 2018 by Buzzetta

[STORMSHADOW_80]

$50 is a really good deal. I've been seeing some in this condition going for $90 lately on IG. Cobra insignia looks real nice too.All of those figs look real sharp. @Buzzetta

[Buzzetta]

Too good a deal to pass up and let's leave it at that... 

[Buzzetta]

Every buy something out of spite? 

I mistook this book for the first Winter Soldier for some reason.  Okay... this is the one where Bucky regains his memories... Either way... I am looking at this and the same book in another condition next to it.  The guy to my left starts getting a little charged up because I am looking it over with a friend trying to figure out if I should buy a copy or not.  This guy whether he realized it or not was practically breathing down my neck as he was already looking at other books.  I was going to put it back when the guy starts to reach over to me to take them out of my hands.  

Uh... seriously... I gave him a look and I bought the better of the two just he could not have it.  He made a face.   

If you are a board member here. Shame on you.  You should know better. 

[Buzzetta]

Larry Hama was not at the con until Friday.  Now every year I get to the Friday show at the same time.  Except for when a friend put me on the list I have always been in the 20's in turn for a sketch.  As soon as I got to the show on Friday I went downstairs to Artist Alley and saw that I would be in the #60's.  There was no way I was going to get my annual sketch... Too many people are realizing that at $40 a sketch that price is a steal.

So... I also had another problem.  If you look at my thread from last year I purchased two sketches.  Larry forgot to sign one of them.  How do you get an artist to go along with this?

I brought my mini art binder of Hama sketches.  I showed him the binder and explained that I never sell them on eBay or anything but that he forgot to sign it from last year.  He seemed hesitant at first but then I  thumbed through the binder with him and he laughed and signed last year's sketch with his name and '17. 

I also figured I would get something signed... so I picked up two comics that he had at his table. 

The book in the middle was a variant of the new Snake Eyes unmasked limited to 350.

I don't know if he ever got to my sketch as he was gone by the time I got to Artist Alley on Sunday.   I will be looking carefully on eBay to see if it turns up.  If he did get to it, I would like to see how it came out.  However, he was only up to 36 by Saturday late afternoon. 

[Buzzetta]

Now... I would recommend these things... I forget what the original price was but I believe it was around $55

Herocross Figuaration Hybrid Metal Superman... Bandai booths have had these for a couple of years and brought them along to clearance them out.  At $20 you cannot go wrong. 

Quote

 

From Entertainment Earth where they are sold out.

• Highly detailed and stylized action figure of the Man of Steel - Superman!
• Features die-cast metal and light-up components.
• Measures 5 1/2-inches tall and includes a wealth of extras!

Totally unique action figure! Hero Cross brings you an amazing Hybrid Metal Figuration action figure of DC Comis' Man of Steel, himself - Superman! This Superman Hybrid Metal Figuration Action Figure measures 5 1/2-inches tall and comes complete with four interchangeable hands, a poseable cape, and a display stand. Featuring a die-cast metal action body with over 20 points of articulation, this highly detailed action figure even features red light-up eyes! Superman's body, arms, and legs are made out of hybrid metal, while his head, hands, boots, and pants are made from plastic. Ages 15 and up. Batteries not included.

 

Batteries were included btw... 

Here is a stock image... If you can track one down for about that price I highly recommend it. 

[Spideydan]

Great photos! Thanks for taking the time to post...

 

[Buzzetta]

This ridiculous thing was actually amusing... There were not a lot of giveaways that I saw this year so this was kind of cool to just be handed as I was walking around.   I will talk about that later.  I still have no idea what accent the Geico Gecko has. 

[Buzzetta]

Hallmark booth was actually kind of cool once again this year.  Iron Giant will fit in to the Holiday theme because it does look like a 1930's robot toy.  The R2-D2 will find it's way into one of the cupholders in the jeep. Hallmark seems to have this thing going on with their Itty BItties... they are exceptionally cute and at the size of your palm, one or two are not that bad to have around. 

[Buzzetta]

This was my last purchase of the weekend... 

These were on display by S.H. Figuarts.  As I am a sucker for 1920's Mickey I inquired but was shot down on purchasing them.  Mickey was due to come out in October so there seemed to be confusion when I inquired about him.  They may have them.  They may have sold out.  They were stuck in customs.  Finally as I was leaving the show, the floor was still open and finally there was no line.  I asked the lady behind the counter from behind the security rope.  I handed her my credit card and she rang it up.  This one goes with the nonsense in the China Closet. 

[Buzzetta]

Overall Comments.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this show.   There were dealers that said sales were phenomenal and then there were dealers that just shook their head and shrugged saying that you do not come to NYCC to make money that you could not make anywhere else. 

For example let's look at the cost of tables.  Upon purchasing Storm Shadow I spoke with the seller and he told me that he spent $4000 for his area that he split with another toy dealer. This is where I was a little curious.  You think about hotels and meals along with the booth prices as well as travel expenses for both the seller and the inventory and you have an expensive weekend.  How many GI Joe figures or old He-Man figures do you plan on selling?  Is it enough to justify the repurchase of inventory and the margin you need in order to profit? Let's look at one of those bootleg Lego minifigure booths where the bootleg Lego figures are priced at $5 each.  Say you have the smaller display at $2000.  At $5 each you are hoping to sell 400 of them.  Your markup is about $4 each.  So to break even, each of those minifigure guys have to sell 500 just to break even and not counting hotel, meal, or transportation fees. I am not seeing it.

As far as books, I noticed a few dealers failed to remove Major Auction House labels and stickers off some of their books. I stuck with my personal resolve of not buying any books just for the sake of buying a book.  The book had to make sense or I could just be patient and wait for the next Heritage, Comic Link, Comic Connect, Pedigree (Not really but you get it), Hakes, or eBay auction. 

I enjoy walking around and taking in the sites and was glad that at times a couple of friends joined in.  However, it was very crowded on Saturday and Sunday and I notice that there are major vendors that decide to forgo NYCC and take up residence locally like Hasbro does in a suite.  They believe the showroom space is cost prohibitive.  They are right.  I miss the old Lego display.  What is odd though is that someone like the Maury Povitch show uses NYCC as a means to get an audience for their shows.  Artist's Choice did not have a real display bringing a sampling of their inventory and on top of that were not listed in the program nor near the comics or art dealers or even in Artist's Alley.  They were with Square Enix.  Spencer's crew mentioned that they needed to get the awareness of their presence out there more than they did. 

One guy at CGC said this was the busiest show of the year for comics for them. I could see that for now.  However, at the prices that they are charging vendors and the prices that product commands.  Add that to what I believe to be an oversaturation of comic shows then eventually I see comic con in general as being a thing of the past as far as a shopping experience. You lose the vendors then you lose people spending money.  I think they HAVE to charge dealers less for tables to attract better dealers and vendors than Maury Povitch.  As it stands though, I know that the best deals are still usually found online. That is from a shopping perspective. 

As far as artists go, NYCC is a great venue to talk to and meet artists.  If any of you ever read this, you are not turning away CGC customers from CGC by charging exponentially larger fees for verified signatures or artwork.  You, the artist are losing business.  I simply walk over to someone else. So when some artists are looking like lost souls with the Incredible Hulk "Lonely Man" piano theme song playing in the background, you have no one to blame but yourself.  

I thought the show exclusives were kind of lacking.  I am glad I splurged a little last year and bought a shirt and a Skottie Young Spider-man Plush because unique items like that were absent this year. This year seemed to be the year of the enamel pin. Meh 

I enjoy seeing a few people and my Brooklyn friends as well as my LI friends all make their way to the Javitz for the big one. However, as I get older I have other obligations so I am in and out and at one point on Saturday I went back to Long Island at 4 just to go home and change in 30 minutes to get back on the train and head back to the city.  Will I go back?  I have not missed a show since 2009.  So long as I keep getting the four day pass that I do I will. 

 

So... hopefully see you at NYCC 2019 on October 3-6. 

One last photo... 

 

 

[VintageComics]

3 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Overall I have mixed feelings about this show.   There were dealers that said sales were phenomenal and then there were dealers that just shook their head and shrugged saying that you do not come to NYCC to make money that you could not make anywhere else. 

It would be interesting to note which dealers said what about NYC?

Remember that MANY of these dealers were in Baltimore just a few days prior and so would have moved a lot of inventory there as well as depleted some inventory. You also would have had many NYC buyers travel to Baltimore the week before and maybe avoid the business and expense of the NYC whereas other years they may have gone to both shows to shop if they were further apart like that have been in previous years.

It really is a disadvantage to have two shows, 2 hours apart on consecutive weeks.

[MagnusX]

Thank you for taking the time to share the pictures and your views..!

[seanfingh]

15 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

@seanfingh How is this? 

This guy fell asleep in his booth... his coworkers covered him with a tablecloth and then tried balancing things on his head... 

 

 

That was also decidedly not demanded by me.

[Dick Pontoon]

16 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

Travis Bickle... when I asked if the mole was real he did a DiNero impression of, "Might be... might be..."  It was real. 

Awesome... this guy was awesome... 

The Palantine campaign button is a great touch.

[FlyingDonut]

13 hours ago, VintageComics said:

It would be interesting to note which dealers said what about NYC?

Remember that MANY of these dealers were in Baltimore just a few days prior and so would have moved a lot of inventory there as well as depleted some inventory. You also would have had many NYC buyers travel to Baltimore the week before and maybe avoid the business and expense of the NYC whereas other years they may have gone to both shows to shop if they were further apart like that have been in previous years.

It really is a disadvantage to have two shows, 2 hours apart on consecutive weeks.

Hence the Baltimore move in 2019.

[Murphman13]

7 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

Hence the Baltimore move in 2019.

So is Marc planning on keeping Baltimore in late October for the foreseeable future?

[the blob]

What do two 6 foot tables cost for the show? One? Just curious.Seems like for what they charge for admission they could have some mercy on the comic dealers who actually show up. And yes, were I paying triple figures to attend the show as a comic collector (and I know that is like 5-10% of the visitors) I'd be annoyed I was getting cherry picked remains of books from another big show a few hours away that had just ended. I know some of this is inevitable and my guess is that a number of the local guys don't go to Baltimore, but they should not be so close. OTOH, I get it, it probably makes it easier for dealers who are doing both shows. Do you guys not go home in between the shows if you are travelling from the south or wherever?

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

19 hours ago, Buzzetta said:

If any of you ever read this, you are not turning away CGC customers from CGC by charging exponentially larger fees for verified signatures or artwork.  You, the artist are losing business.  I simply walk over to someone else. So when some artists are looking like lost souls with the Incredible Hulk "Lonely Man" piano theme song playing in the background, you have no one to blame but yourself.  

Aided and abetted by the so-called "facilitators" who, out of their own self-interest, have told these creators...and I know this, because 1. I've heard them say it with their own mouths, and 2. I've heard creators parrot it back to me...that "everyone doing CGC is profiting off of your signature, so you need to charge more for it."

...this house of cards will come down, and the longer it takes, the higher it's built, the more spectacular the crash.

So many things could be said about this...so many...but this isn't the thread for it.

To be continued elsewhere...

Edited October 9, 2018 by RockMyAmadeus

[UnboxingTreasures]

Thanks for sharing! Enjoyable thread!