[zentropa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColonelJack

Any tips as far as bargain shopping and so on, which I know is already very hard for collectible items. I'm fine with banged up boxes, even sometimes paying a bit over MSRP depending on the toy. Wondering also if there are any sets that stand out as being flush through the years so aren't as expensive. only interested in 3.75 figs/vehicles

I got back into collecting a couple of months before the COVID lockdowns and I can say that availability and prices are currently in a state of flux right now. The stimulus checks really cut into the supply of sealed/carded figures/vehicles/sets and prices went up by about 20-30% on average and most of the non-ebay stores got cleaned out. If you are only looking for new/unopened product that may make it a bit more difficult. The 25th DVD packs, 50th packs, etc. are a lot more difficult to come by now.

For the past month or so, I've noticed that auctions have been going for prices that are much closer to what they were in January/February, so hopefully things will normalize a bit.

I agree with Sataninjaku on going after common 25th and ROC items if you are wanting to get reasonable deals (e.g. ~$10 per figure or less). I know a few of the 25th Comic Packs are still a relatively decent deal as well as some of the TRU 5-packs (night watch, crimson guard set, Snake Eyes vs. Red Ninjas, etc). I believe the Retaliation Premier set is also still available at under $10 per figure.

The MASS Device Beam Emitter is going to be tough to find for a decent price.

[ColonelJack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sataninjaku

One option would be to go year by year at Yojoe.com (while they're still in operation, anyway), and see what was released, then follow up on eBay with the ones you're interested in to get an idea of the going rate.

yojoe.com is closing?

[ColonelJack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zentropa

I got back into collecting a couple of months before the COVID lockdowns and I can say that availability and prices are currently in a state of flux right now. The stimulus checks really cut into the supply of sealed/carded figures/vehicles/sets and prices went up by about 20-30% on average and most of the non-ebay stores got cleaned out. If you are only looking for new/unopened product that may make it a bit more difficult. The 25th DVD packs, 50th packs, etc. are a lot more difficult to come by now.

For the past month or so, I've noticed that auctions have been going for prices that are much closer to what they were in January/February, so hopefully things will normalize a bit.

I agree with Sataninjaku on going after common 25th and ROC items if you are wanting to get reasonable deals (e.g. ~$10 per figure or less). I know a few of the 25th Comic Packs are still a relatively decent deal as well as some of the TRU 5-packs (night watch, crimson guard set, Snake Eyes vs. Red Ninjas, etc). I believe the Retaliation Premier set is also still available at under $10 per figure.

P.S. was POC a limited run or something? Shouldn't there be a ton of fresh stuff circulating still?

The MASS Device Beam Emitter is going to be tough to find for a decent price.

It's sad that some of the awesome playworthy beautiful figs like lifeline have been scalped to death, that was a mainstream fig just a few years ago in every major store and now people expect to get $100 out of it? So crazy, it's an awesome fig I'd love to get for our fam to play with, other than that and the added detail and accessories to the newer 30th/POC stuff I'm not very fussed about the figs, I have some box sets of the 25th so mostly set for major characters (I had no idea this boxset had a music box in it lol) I do have a couple things I could maybe trade to get some other things, like a spare assault/defense of cobra island set, but even then I just can't bring myself to pay so much for a single little fig from a few years ago, like lifeline... in that case I might look to buy a third party creation of the same thing, I noticed that one site was selling aftermarket versions of the paddles and iv bag etc...

Having said all that, my biggest concern has been with the vehicles, since I have a lot of the flagship characters from some 25th boxsets etc, I was looking for bulk vehicles that were new for presents in the coming years and such, at this point I'm just really hoping that GI Joe Retro, against all odds and the aforementioned insanely nonexistent distribution, blossoms into something like 25th in the coming year, aisles full of joes in every walmart and target would be a thing to behold, and make things cheaper again.

I can see why people like POC so much, my big complaint when I was buying this a short time years ago between 25th/ROC was the silly launcher thingies in every ROC fig, such a waste of resources, and the POC by comparison has such awesome accessories and build detail, it's gonna be expensive to get some of that just to open. I've already made some limited purchases on ebay.

[SmokeBellew]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColonelJack

It's sad that some of the awesome playworthy beautiful figs like lifeline have been scalped to death, that was a mainstream fig just a few years ago in every major store and now people expect to get $100 out of it? So crazy, it's an awesome fig I'd love to get for our fam to play with, other than that and the added detail and accessories to the newer 30th/POC stuff I'm not very fussed about the figs, I have some box sets of the 25th so mostly set for major characters (I had no idea this boxset had a music box in it lol) I do have a couple things I could maybe trade to get some other things, like a spare assault/defense of cobra island set, but even then I just can't bring myself to pay so much for a single little fig from a few years ago, like lifeline... in that case I might look to buy a third party creation of the same thing, I noticed that one site was selling aftermarket versions of the paddles and iv bag etc...

Having said all that, my biggest concern has been with the vehicles, since I have a lot of the flagship characters from some 25th boxsets etc, I was looking for bulk vehicles that were new for presents in the coming years and such, at this point I'm just really hoping that GI Joe Retro, against all odds and the aforementioned insanely nonexistent distribution, blossoms into something like 25th in the coming year, aisles full of joes in every walmart and target would be a thing to behold, and make things cheaper again.

I can see why people like POC so much, my big complaint when I was buying this a short time years ago between 25th/ROC was the silly launcher thingies in every ROC fig, such a waste of resources, and the POC by comparison has such awesome accessories and build detail, it's gonna be expensive to get some of that just to open. I've already made some limited purchases on ebay.

The funny thing is, a lot of modern era Joe stuff was never actually "mainstream" in the sense that you could just walk into a store and find it. For numerous reasons, the aughts were the beginning of the huge distribution issues for a lot of action figure lines that we've now (more or less) become accustomed to. Some stuff was underproduced and some stuff never made to stores. So that helps account for the ridiculous secondary market prices.

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColonelJack

yojoe.com is closing?

The site was bought by a corporation that has no interest in updating it and has locked the former admins out. There has not actually been word of the site being taken down, but collectors are concerned about that possibility. At the very least, it will never be up-to-date until the site is sold to someone else who gives a damn about it.

[ColonelJack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Z

The site was bought by a corporation that has no interest in updating it and has locked the former admins out. There has not actually been word of the site being taken down, but collectors are concerned about that possibility. At the very least, it will never be up-to-date until the site is sold to someone else who gives a damn about it.

Can't we just start a wiki? I'd be happy to contribute to it, if we all chipped in it wouldn't take long. I've noticed a lot of the pictures there are super old and tiny anyway, not knocking it I'm grateful for the resource, but had the thought of offering to upload bigger photos

[Josh Z]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColonelJack

Can't we just start a wiki? I'd be happy to contribute to it, if we all chipped in it wouldn't take long. I've noticed a lot of the pictures there are super old and tiny anyway, not knocking it I'm grateful for the resource, but had the thought of offering to upload bigger photos

I think you'll find that's a lot more work than you'd expect.

For vintage product, 3DJoes.com is an excellent resource that surpasses YoJoe in several respects (especially photo quality). But that site only covers the ARAH line from 1982-1994 and doesn't have any modern-era toys.

[turner]

Beam emitter crystal is available cast but that wouldn’t really replace the canon part.

[ColonelJack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by turner

Beam emitter crystal is available cast but that wouldn’t really replace the canon part.

So they're not all one piece? yojoe didn't show it separately, and though I prefer to have new stuff I'm realizing best of the 80s will probably be the hardest thing on my top list to get unopened, so I may have to reproduce that one from spare parts, disc figs camera etc, and of course the beam emitter

[ColonelJack]

[trying to find where to delete a mispost]