Velvet_the_Elf | 18 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 I just did....8.5 SMB CIB hangtab (not a sticker) fell from high shelf, top plastic pyramid thing broken. Can't wait to pay $100 to have them redo it...f me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonebone | 1,329 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Did the game survive unscathed? I had a Wata case cracked and damaged in shipping (I was receiver) but game was well protected and recased appropriately. Reholder prices are only $15 according to their site. Probably have to insure both ways but it shouldnt take the full $100 to fix it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sign Collector Guy | 334 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 7 hours ago, Velvet_the_Elf said: I just did....8.5 SMB CIB hangtab (not a sticker) fell from high shelf, top plastic pyramid thing broken. Can't wait to pay $100 to have them redo it...f me. That sucks! Could we see the damage. Curious to see where it fractured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a3quit4s | 4,328 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Not so much about the money but the 6 months it will take to come back lol 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nintegageo | 583 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 Wait.. it's 100$ US per Wata game to be graded, slabbed et cetera?? Holy shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,723 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 6 minutes ago, Nintegageo said: Wait.. it's 100$ US per Wata game to be graded, slabbed et cetera?? Holy shit. CIB starts at $55 for the slowest/cheapest tier and you might be restricted to higher tiers based on declared value. Plus two way shipping and insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_the_Elf | 18 Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 9 hours ago, jonebone said: Did the game survive unscathed? I had a Wata case cracked and damaged in shipping (I was receiver) but game was well protected and recased appropriately. Reholder prices are only $15 according to their site. Probably have to insure both ways but it shouldnt take the full $100 to fix it. 90% sure yes no further damage. I'll try the reholder price route, thanks for the heads up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_the_Elf | 18 Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Sign Collector Guy said: That sucks! Could we see the damage. Curious to see where it fractured. i'll try and take pics tonight and send 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiRD | 137 Posted November 18, 2019 Share Posted November 18, 2019 (edited) Did you try to fix it yourself with ducktape? It works for a lot of thing... Joke aside, sad to hear that but as soon as the game itself is safe, I guess you’re still a lucky guy! Edited November 18, 2019 by TheBiRD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_the_Elf | 18 Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Pics as promised. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grondorr | 50 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 Funny you should ask. Two days ago, I was reorganizing my collection, and had a WATA-graded GBA game slip off a 16-inch high surface and hit a wooden floor, and the whole tombstone on top snapped right off. (The internal clips holding the top in place snapped). I was pretty much like shit damn these are more fragile than my fine china. Oh course it's my only WATA graded game, as being a GBA collector VGA games are much more common. For me this is another strike against WATA, as they already don't stack well, and now they are super fragile? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonebone | 1,329 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 1 hour ago, Grondorr said: Funny you should ask. Two days ago, I was reorganizing my collection, and had a WATA-graded GBA game slip off a 16-inch high surface and hit a wooden floor, and the whole tombstone on top snapped right off. (The internal clips holding the top in place snapped). I was pretty much like shit damn these are more fragile than my fine china. Oh course it's my only WATA graded game, as being a GBA collector VGA games are much more common. For me this is another strike against WATA, as they already don't stack well, and now they are super fragile? Do you have a pic of it? Was a clean separation or did the top crack and show obvious damage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rman | 23 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 What’s the point of the plastic bumpers on each corner of the top can just snap off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,197 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 54 minutes ago, Rman said: What’s the point of the plastic bumpers on each corner of the top can just snap off? Possibly for tension. I seem to recall from a former NA discussion that it these graded items need to have some holes for breath-ability, which is important, for humidity regulation, I suppose. If they have a gasket, the only reason I can think of is to provide a slight-spring/tension affect to keep the lid in place and not feel loose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grondorr | 50 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, jonebone said: Do you have a pic of it? Was a clean separation or did the top crack and show obvious damage? It was a clean "break", as in the parts that I believe are supposed to break when you want to open the case broke (the four corner locking clips.) Other than that no other visible damage, and the game appears intact. Just was a bit surprising because it fell free a very low height, and the top seemed to explode off. I wonder if they are top heavy and have a tendency to land this way? That all said, I could push it back together and tack a few spots of glue to hold it together, and if you didn't know to carefully inspect the locking clips, it would look basically as good as new. Let me know if you need more pics. Edited November 20, 2019 by Grondorr 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPX | 1,403 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 13 minutes ago, Grondorr said: It was a clean "break", as in the parts that I believe are supposed to break when you want to open the case broke (the four corner locking clips.) Other than that no other visible damage, and the game appears intact. Just was a bit surprising because it fell free a very low height, and the top seemed to explode off. I wonder if they are top heavy and have a tendency to land this way? That all said, I could push it back together and tack a few spots of glue to hold it together, and if you didn't know to carefully inspect the locking clips, it would look basically as good as new. Let me know if you need more pics. Looks quite a clean break! This thread has become interesting. Would love for someone to do more research on VGA/WATA to see which one is more prone to damage/breaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximus_clean | 6 Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 I dropped two games off of a 4’ shelf, one was a cart only WATA and the other an snes vga. Someone asked for comparison so here is an example: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grondorr | 50 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 7 hours ago, maximus_clean said: I dropped two games off of a 4’ shelf, one was a cart only WATA and the other an snes vga. Someone asked for comparison so here is an example: Am I observing correctly that the WATA cleanly broke open and the VGA remained basically unscathed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWunderful | 2,932 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 10 hours ago, GPX said: Looks quite a clean break! This thread has become interesting. Would love for someone to do more research on VGA/WATA to see which one is more prone to damage/breaks. Wata cases are designed to be able to be opened. The clips breaking is the “security feature” is the way it appears to me. Its like putting tape over a screw like blockbuster did or whatever. Im not surprised the vga game only Got minimal damage, its not designed to be opened. If the game fell and landed on the corner of the part that was supposed to pop off in the case of wata it most likely will. Does wata claim their cases are impact resistant? I doubt if they do, nor does VGA unless im mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiRD | 137 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 Is that mean someone could switch two tops of the same game?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPX | 1,403 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 1 hour ago, MrWunderful said: Wata cases are designed to be able to be opened. The clips breaking is the “security feature” is the way it appears to me. Its like putting tape over a screw like blockbuster did or whatever. Im not surprised the vga game only Got minimal damage, its not designed to be opened. If the game fell and landed on the corner of the part that was supposed to pop off in the case of wata it most likely will. Does wata claim their cases are impact resistant? I doubt if they do, nor does VGA unless im mistaken. Still good either way for the general public to know of the “breakability” of the cases, so to have a better informed opinion of what services to use and on what items. Gives sealed collectors something new to think about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet_the_Elf | 18 Posted November 21, 2019 Author Share Posted November 21, 2019 14 hours ago, Grondorr said: It was a clean "break", as in the parts that I believe are supposed to break when you want to open the case broke (the four corner locking clips.) Other than that no other visible damage, and the game appears intact. Just was a bit surprising because it fell free a very low height, and the top seemed to explode off. I wonder if they are top heavy and have a tendency to land this way? That all said, I could push it back together and tack a few spots of glue to hold it together, and if you didn't know to carefully inspect the locking clips, it would look basically as good as new. Let me know if you need more pics. Can you pull the blister clean out the top then? If so, then doesn't WATA have to re-certify these (and not just replace the plastic casing)? IE - you could just swap out the game in the blister in theory ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grondorr | 50 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 8 hours ago, Velvet_the_Elf said: Can you pull the blister clean out the top then? If so, then doesn't WATA have to re-certify these (and not just replace the plastic casing)? IE - you could just swap out the game in the blister in theory ..... If I have to pay for a full recert, it's definitely not going to WATA. That said, this is in my personal collection, I'll likely only likely send it in if I get a better copy and want to sell this one. IE: I can live with this as when I put the top back on you can't tell anything is wrong with it. (Oh yeah, and as you say, one could just swap out the game in the blister).... hmmm... Combining those two thoughts... sigh.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calan87 | 45 Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 so for anyone who dropped and broke their WATA case, would you still send a VGA game in and have WATA do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grondorr | 50 Posted November 22, 2019 Share Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) 13 hours ago, Calan87 said: so for anyone who dropped and broke their WATA case, would you still send a VGA game in and have WATA do it? I preferred VGA prior to this discovery, and still prefer it now for a number of reasons. (This was the only non-VGA graded game in my collection and I had largely just gotten the one to see what they are like.) 1) more compact 2) stackable 3) simpler to understand grades (gold / silver) 4) more durable 5) no affiliation to gocollect or heritage 6) no grade inflation 7) harder to tamper / swap games 8 ) these games are for my personal collection rather than flipping in auctions Edited November 22, 2019 by Grondorr 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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