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Messages - ARROW

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73
Off Topic / Re: Happy birthday, Doctor Who!
« on: November 23, 2013, 07:18:02 PM »
It's good.
Both the Adventures in Time and Space and the Day of the Doctor have some grand adventure, with a bit of twinkle. Pop pop pop!  ;)

74
Off Topic / Re: aaaaarrrrgggh...
« on: November 11, 2013, 10:52:36 PM »
I'd suggest going to a pharmacy ( or Walmart) and getting a wrist brace--they'll cost between $15 to $30.

As a cartoonist, when I was working as a inbetweener in animation, I used to get wrist and hand problems frequently. The reason was that I was always elevating my elbow when I drew and thus it was affecting my arm in both directions. And the pain was BAD.  I'd have to wrap my arm in a heating blanket each night, and endure the spasms as the muscles tried to sort themselves out while I slept.
I used to slip my arm into my t-shirt sleeve, up to my elbow, in a kind of make-shift sling. Tried all kinds of stupid remedies for it ( without seeing a doctor) and one of the one that worked for a while was taking a small full soup can, and resting my arm on a tabletop while rolling the can up and down my arm. 
First few times are brutal because the muscles are tensed and all screwed up......so the arm flops around out of reflex.

For me, the symptoms and discomfort mostly eased off over time, as I switched to other kinds of drawing, but the problem reoccurred after years of computer use.
See, I'd have my mouse located in a spot where I'd have to suspend my arm and elbow, and sure enough.........I'd get the numbness, tingling and aching all over again. Not all the time, but occasionally.

I bought a Futuro wrist brace, basically a plastic splint inside a durable vinyl/cloth gauntlet, with velcro fasteners to tighten at the knuckles, wrist and forearm. The splint lays on the underside of the arm, ending in the palm of your hand.
Combine that with some (optional) pain-relievers or muscle relaxants and it's always worked for relief. Now, I wear the brace for a couple of days,  maybe a couple of times every couple of months.

75
General Joe Talk / Re: Best figure ever!
« on: November 11, 2013, 11:42:07 AM »
I disagree, but only on minor points. It's a nice figure, it's got loads of details and gear, but it has flaws.  I have two of them and they share the same problems.

One--being that the forearms on the figure are too bulky to properly use the included sniper rifle.  They make holding the rifle very awkward and the wrist articulation is affected inside the bulkier forearms.
Two--the rifle itself is flimsy and prone to falling apart. Marauder John makes a  much nice, much more solid sample of the same rifle.
Three-- if there was one figure in the line that demanded an additional articulation point designed into the figure, it's POC Lowlight.  He NEEDS an additional neck joint/POA point so he can look up while prone. It would have been the perfect feather in the cap for this figure.
Four-- the backpack and gun bag do not hold securely while on the figure's back. Again, owning two figures says to me that this is a fairly common design problem, and it can make posing the figure with all the gear on very fussy.

That said the figure has incredible detail and tiny parts.  The single round, the handset and antenna for the radio, the spotter's scope.......all are just awesome inclusions.  If Hasbro had been fore-thinking on this, they could have given us that neck POA I mentioned previously, and then re-used that idea with another figure ( say, Barrel-Roll) later on.....and then you'd have the makings of a sniper-team pair. One shooting and the other spotting....and BOTH able to pose prone and realistically.
Still Lowlight is a nice figure, and a good example of what Hasbro is really capable of when they pull out most of the stops.

76
Ontario / Re: Wave 3.5 at TRU
« on: October 17, 2013, 01:54:39 PM »
Wow, totally didn't see these coming to Canada. Will keep an eye out - thanks! :)

http://www.joecanuck.com/jc/index.php?topic=6950.0


 ;)


77
General Joe Talk / Re: AFA Grading, love it or hate it. ?
« on: October 16, 2013, 10:24:07 PM »
I dislike slabbing ( as I have doubtlessly made clear) but I think the hobby leaped towards ruination with the various published prices guides.  Those set the snowball tumbling downhill.

I remember selling off some of my collection at a then-local toy show. Had a table, a good mix of stuff.....but I wasn't sure how I exactly wanted to price the stuff. When I sell at such shows, my goal is not to profit at all costs.......it's to clear the table, to not have to haul the stuff home. Still, making some money is always nice, so on one occasion I used a Wizard price guide, and when asked about an item I had, I consulted it to get a ballpark of what to ask for. In sight of the curious customer.

Big mistake.
The two fellows declined to buy that time, but about 30 minutes later they came back with their own price guide......and they started shopping at my table.
And worse, they started challenging my prices. Something that I marked as being $30 was "only $20, according to the guide" and so on. I explained that I was not a dealer, that the stuff was from my own private collection and just being cleared out. 
They didn't listen.  They picked out about 5-6 things, consulted the guide on every one and offered me the "guide price" which was less than what I had marked on the items. They thought the price guide was some sort of all-abiding rule of law for pricing stuff.  of course, I didn't accept their offers, which didn't sit too well with them. They demanded I take their lower offer and TOLD ME I HAD TO BECAUSE THE GUIDE SAID THAT IS WHAT THE PRICES WERE!!

Oy vey!
 In the midst of my going cross-eyed with these bone-heads, the dealer beside me leaned over to them and told them the price guide is just a "suggested" value and no-one is obligated to buy OR sell at the listed prices.  Well, that rattled around in their heads like a pin ball, and they let the stuff on the table and wandered off......but they consulted that thing at every other stop they made in that room.

Just nuts.

I don't discourage anyone from seeking a bargain, nor do I think anyone should be criticized for asking a king's ransom for something either---to each their own.  But with such arrangements, trying to goad the price up or down because some arbitrary book or agency calls the tune....uh-uh. I don't accept that.

That same toy show, I got both heat and kudos from fellow dealers for selling a then-hard to find toy: a Talking T-2 Terminator--the one with the half robot, half-Arnie head. I had bought the thing for $29 or something, off the toy store shelves at the time.  They quickly became rare.  One dealer was asking $200 for his in the box, mine was loose for $50. A little kid and his dad were nosing around and the kid took a shine to this thing. He would look at it, wander away, come back and look some more......and so on.
I finally asked him if he was interested in it, and he said he only had $20.
I said..........hmmmmn. Asked him if he was stuff browsing with his dad. He said he was, so I told him, when they were done to come back and see me.

So, about an hour later he comes back, and I asked him if he was ready to deal.  He told me he had only $15 then, but had a couple of things in his hands.
So I asked him a bit about Terminator, if he was a fan and stuff and he gushed about the characters and the movie and stuff. Obviously a fan.
So I decided what to do: I asked how much he had left?
He told me $15.
I asked him if he and his Dad had had lunch yet. He said they were going to eat after the show.

Then I hit the kid with my line: "I tellya what I'm gonna do....."....

You got $15? He goes "yeah..."  I got how about $12?
He looks puzzled.
I go " Okay, okay.......how's about about $10??"
He's confused, looks at his dad, Dad looks at me-I grin.
"Okay, okay.......you drive a hard bargain young man, how about $7??"
Other dealers are watching now. The kid knows he's being put on, but is unsure.
"Alright, ( with a big dramatic sigh) ya beat me to the ground........how's about $5? Ya got a five dollar bill??"  He does.

"Sold to you for $5!"
Dealer beside me smiles, shakes his head. Dad is impressed, thanks me. Kid takes his new toy in hand in awe. I tell the kid: "but there's just ONE condition!!" He looks at me.
" You have to take your dad out to lunch with the $10 you have left, as thanks for him bringing you here today. Deal?"
Deal, he shakes on it. They both go off happy as clams.

Later the dealer with the $200 boxed Terminator across the room( still unsold ) walks over to my table and sarcastically "thanks me for undercutting him".
Okay, so maybe I did, but I think he missed the bigger point.

There is no AFA grading that can make a deal or an item like that more "valuable" to a collector than someone selling something heart to heart.


78
General Joe Talk / Re: AFA Grading, love it or hate it. ?
« on: October 16, 2013, 11:53:10 AM »
My problem with slabbing......well.........anything ........is that it ends up becoming a thing unto itself.  The toy/comic is preserved in plastic to keep it's condition intact, but then.......what about the slab?  The condition of the slab itself, over time become part of the intrinsic value of the slabbed item, because the presentation of the slab influences the appearance of the item inside. Doesn't matter what the grade or the assigned value of the contents are, if the slab has scuffs or buckles.......it's NOT going to be as valuable as a slab that doesn't have faults.  Taking the item out to replace it with a fresh slab means the item has to be re-appraised and could take a hit to its condition.

So the answer to this is to.............oh, wait for it..........to slab the slabbed item. 

And the stupid just snowballs from there. 
That and you never actually get to "enjoy" the contents themselves..........you get to enjoy the slab. Yeah, that's a load of fun.

79
General Joe Talk / Re: AFA Grading, love it or hate it. ?
« on: October 16, 2013, 11:45:32 AM »
Slabbing toys is like wanting to have sex with a gorgeous super-model..........who you've just wrapped head-to-toe in plastic wrap.

Sure you could have some bragging rights, but it totally misses the real fun.....

80
General Joe Talk / Re: AFA Grading, love it or hate it. ?
« on: October 16, 2013, 02:13:35 AM »
AFA grading is pretentious garbage that's an excuse to jack prices.

This. Absolutely this.

81
Those sets shouldn't be hard to get.
They are appearing in the States right now, in the run up to X-mas. Big Lots/Liquidation World stores up here in Canada will likely carry the  Power Team line again--as they have in the past.

82
All Across Canada / Re: Retaliation Wave 3.5 at Canadian TRUs
« on: October 04, 2013, 06:27:43 PM »
Correction: price is $11.99 each.
I would expect these to appear at other retailers up here, like Walmart, Target etc, and would also expect wave 4 to show sometime between now and X-mas.

83
All Across Canada / Retaliation Wave 3.5 at Canadian TRUs
« on: October 04, 2013, 05:13:12 PM »
Like the header says; Wave 3.5 is now in-store at TRU in Canada. Found and purchased at a TRU in a Prairie city this afternoon.
Price is $12.99 each.

84
General Joe Talk / Re: Edmonton Entertainment Expo 2013
« on: October 01, 2013, 12:46:43 PM »
I didn't see much in the way of Retaliation stuff, mind you I wasn't looking very thouroughly. The place that had Duke for 20 and the Data Viper for 19 is the only one I can recall. Didn't see the Dollar Joes either. How much did you pay for those ARROW?
Cobra Collectibles had the Dollar General Joes--I picked up a Duke and Storm Shadow, for $10 and $15 respectively. They only had a few and I imagine they probably sold out quickly. They had some last year and they sold out then within a 1/2 hour.

 The Toys on Fire booth had Retaliation 3.5 on hand, and had about 3 cases worth in a tray. Their prices ran from around $12-$15 up to $20 each. There were a couple other booths that had a few earlier Retaliation items.

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