The new breed of collectors thread

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

On 5/30/2021 at 2:44 PM, AdamW said:

the reddit only gives you three choices of post 'type' - 'haul', 'collection' and 'discussion'. so 'haul' obviously gets used a lot. there's no 'two-things-i-got-from-the-store' choice.

New category: "Find"

 

And we all know repros don't make the panties drop, but bootleg Famicom games do.

[Hammerfestus | 3,851]

Oh damn.  I like this kid.

[a3quit4s | 4,102]

4 hours ago, Robot_Ninjutsu said:

New category: "Find"

 

And we all know repros don't make the panties drop, but bootleg Famicom games do.

Only the ones from Taiwan which is why @fcgamer gets all the chicks 

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

A lot of these types of collectors come and go and just aren't as immersed in collecting as the majority here. I believe a lot of people on here underestimate how much they know about collecting so it's easy to get caught up in gate-keeping or looking down on buying repros.

I remember when I really started ramping up my collection and wanted to replace a lot of my shitty labels. I didn't know any better. I started collecting to play games but also wanted to clean them up even if it meant removing a partial label and try to reproduce it 1:1. I only did that on a few games before realizing that it was doing more harm than good and looking at it more from a collecting standpoint but it took a bit of learning/time. 

I don't blame new or uneducated collectors. It takes time and with today's prices I'm not surprised people are looking for alternate ways to collect. Yes, most of us here would rather not have a game than pay for a repro but I can see the allure from someone wanting to grab some games that look and play like the original. Or a new collector that either doesn't know any better, wants that feeling of beefing up a collection, or simply thinks it's a more viable option compared to spending time and money on buying original games. I would bet the majority of these people will either move on to buying real games or another hobby given time. 

 

 

 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

As someone who has bought and sold tons of repros, they end up being virtually worthless and a money sink more often than not. Not talking about 1:1 fakes, more like games on NTSC-US carts that were never released as such and so on. I am more on the spectrum of “if people want to spend their money on worthless crap that has no collector/ resale value then go for it” at this point. 
 

Just dont be surprised when you arent invited to the real collectors birthday party. 

[dr.robbie | 78]

Really depends on where you draw the line I suppose. There are a lot of reproductions that were made early on that I would say are collectible for sure like the ### in 1 carts or the Hong Kong carts for NES that seem to have their own following. As far as recently-made reproductions, I don't really see the value of them as a collector. When you start messing with the scarcity of an item, the it severely impacts the collectability. Reproductions completely flip the scarcity factor and imo destroy the collectability aspect. So, collectors in general will always want the original and that is where the demand will be.

 

[Gentlegamer | 174]

On 5/28/2021 at 12:00 PM, MrWunderful said:

Does a bookcase full of fake games drop panties like legit grey squares? Don't think so. 
 

 

How about a shelf of LE numbered bootlegs, like those peddled at NA?

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

1 hour ago, Gentlegamer said:

How about a shelf of LE numbered bootlegs, like those peddled at NA?

For you? Probably not. 
 

 For the rest of us studs, yeah most likely. Even better if the LE number is low, because that makes a difference. 

[EngineheadCW | 17]

   For me, game collecting has nothing to do with the monetary worth of the collection, but more about preserving my own memory of a time that, quite frankly, was magical. I owned an Atari 2600 at 'launch' (a term that hadn't even been coined yet). I was 5. I ended up with 72 games and countless accessories before I sold it all in a yard sale 7 years later. A buddy of mine had an NES, ColecoVision w/the ADAM addon, so I have some nostalgia for the NES, the ADAM, and so on...

   When I look at my 2600 collection, it immediately takes me back to when I just started grade school, as a kid, before girls, homework, a job, before I got married, before I had a kid, before responsibilities. I've bought plastic display boxes for most of the 2600 games I've bought (I didn't buy enough cases), printed all of the box art (some I've designed from scratch), created manuals from scratch for a couple of them (well, scratch, from an online text file that I added pictures, page numbers, etc.). A couple of cartridge labels were either destroyed, missing, or too damaged for me to enjoy the cartridge, so I made my own labels, from scratch, with a tiny icon printed on the label just to let me know that I made it. I'm proud of the work I've done on my collection.

   The point is, I have no 'diminished opinion' of my collection from me making some display cases, labels, or manuals for my own collection that I never intend to sell anyways. I've never done it, but I wouldn't be opposed to buying a cheap repro, if it was a game I don't have for one of these early systems, and the seller was up front about it being a repro. I am also NOT cool with people trying to pass off repros for originals. That's why I add a tiny icon to the labels I make. I do collect for ME though, AND, I like showing off my collection, because I'm proud of what I've created. It also reinforces the memory of that magical time in my childhood.

[GPX | 1,370]

On 6/1/2021 at 1:03 AM, darkchylde28 said:

Those aren't collectors, they're investors.  They don't really have any true interest in playing or collecting the games they're accumulating at these stupidly expensive auctions, they're simply in it for the money.  There's a difference between folks fighting over the NES equivalent of an Action Comics #1 (mint sticker sealed first release of SMB, still stupid to me, but I understand its historical significance) and people paying multiple thousands of dollars for sealed or CIB examples of games that sold millions of copies (Pokemon being the biggest glaring example).  The people you're describing are basically circle-jerking to create their own market, then sucking in any opportunistic-minded folks along the way (scalpers ahoy!).

Folks can definitely collect things that are expensive, but actual collectors don't just wake up one day and have to have a bunch of something because they're suddenly expensive.  Especially not when they're going on about how much they're "going to be" worth or flipping them more or less immediately.

You quoted me out of context. The “HA/WATA fans” mention was more tongue in cheek. The following point in my previous post (which you left out) was about the point of the current eBay prices are increasing across the retro games market. This would suggest collectors are fancying paying up on the authentic stuff, which is why prices are increasing.

I do agree with your second paragraph entirely.

[GPX | 1,370]

On 5/31/2021 at 10:04 PM, Tanooki said:

And I'd argue for support of 1:1 repros exactly because of the high roller sabotage going on.  We don't deserve some golden parachute of defenders protecting us all from the evil bad fake games.  If you want to play in this pond anymore, then its on you the buyer to do your due diligence and buy from sources where you can get a refund, or where you can take a pocket kit and check it yourself.  It's not asking much, but it would because of the repros being 1:1 a great deterrent to those afraid of a fake because they're too lazy to check.  Also it's a fantastic great equalizer against the prices, and have shown in some limited degree, much like a hot game digital release, to at least for a time push back against the puffed up values deflating them some.  Any kind of way to hit back isn't such a bad thing.

And that aside, the 1:1 reproduction allows the game to fit in nicely with a selection of games to enjoy without sticking out being obviously awful.  Again getting mad about the 1:1 just shows a personal stake in controlling other peoples buying and hobbies, which isn't right, nor the right of a third person to get in the way about it either.  Just because they don't like it, they can choose not to support it, but to throw doom and gloom and the rest about is just petty and childish.  Control your own sphere, and not any one else's you don't like as it's not like yours.

I can see your vantage point to some degree. Though I’m not sure if you’ve thought it through when the need to sell your collection at some stage down the track?

If you have 1:1 repros among the collection, this will likely decrease buyer confidence in your general collection, as they won’t really know how much percentage of repros you have. And this would then likely affect the values of your other legit stuff. 

Buyer paranoia of 1:1 repros is real because I’ve been scammed on a few occasions, and had felt it firsthand. And that feeling of being scammed I can tell ya, it ain’t a good feeling!

[Tanooki | 4,934]

No actually @GPX it's pretty well thought out.  I know the pros and cons of it, and if I were to sell out entirely, there are ways to deal with it on my end I can take, and I would expect the buyer to either not care or do their own due diligence.

If I had 1:1's I'd segregate them, take pics, make it clear they're copies since the originals were laughably expensive and I didn't want to feed a shark, nor would I expect them to pay one either, they'd be priced cheap.

As long as you're straight forward with the buyer, if they choose to be overly paranoid babies that's on them, for every uptight crank you'll find another who can take it at face value given the evidence of the stash laid out.

As it is now, if I sell something over a fairly lower dollar value, I crack it open and take pics of the guts so they know it's not BS, so it's not going to cause me any extra work.  And really if someone is such a jaded paranoid head case I'd prefer NOT to sell to them and deal with my own worries they'll pull some crap on the back end to try and blackmail a discount, as those types typically are the more motivated to do so.

I bought a fake once before too, UK based no less, and I handled it just fine, didn't scare me off, and I appreciated it a bit because it was ebay, so they refunded me, and I got to keep the fake, and it then made me aware 5 years ago externally fakes hit a point where you need extremely blown up images to see the art was literally a dot printer spray matrix PIXEL off from accurate it was that good (GBA Alien Hominid.)  Ever since I've been clear since I've known what to look for vs being unable at least having a warranty or some return structure in place (otherwise I pay super cheap to mitigate it.)

[B.A. | 1,139]

There's the Tanooki I remember. Back to insulting people who don't agree with his take on fakes.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Love you too.  And I wasn't specifically insulting people.  But I stand by the paranoid babies comment 100%.  Things are just too paranoid and toxic now with all going on.  That's why I'm getting rid of stuff largely this year and parking that ebay account as far as sales goes, at least that's my intent.  Funny you ignore it all, focus on one sentence.  That says a lot.

And they're no longer fakes, remember, they're 'repros' now that more and more people are looking to considering the alternatives.

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

@B.A.? In @Tanooki's defense this is what his fabric softener's mascot looks like.

And be glad that both he and "Repro" Tanooki dress the same way. Because as you can see, he'd be responding to you with nothing but an apron and a smile on. 

[fcgamer | 4,727]

On 6/2/2021 at 7:09 AM, GPX said:

If you have 1:1 repros among the collection, this will likely decrease buyer confidence in your general collection, as they won’t really know how much percentage of repros you have. And this would then likely affect the values of your other

Totally agree, one fake spoils the broth imo.

I personally know a former prominent and respected collector from Europe that is now selling off his collection. I inquired years ago about some games in his collection when trying to do some research into what did and didn't exist, and he had told me a couple of them were "custom" and let it at that.

Flashforward to now, I see some other cartidges that he is selling, which I have never seen before, ever. While they could be real, my confidence on that is shaky at best, the prices are too high to take the chance, and if I directly Inquired, I don't think I'd get a proper answer either.

Even if I did buy a few games, it's doubtful whether I could determine these to be real or not, since I have nothing to compare them to.

So in situations as this, I definitely take the stance that if some are fake, others likely are too.

[drxandy | 3,235]

Last week I saw at my local gamestore 3 n64 games boxed in their display case. First I was like noice! They were in box protectors and they had post-it notes that said reproduction box.

It was the first time I've seen them pull that crap. I get it, it's probably how they were sold to them.. but idk..

Yesterday we popped in, still had the stupid repro 64 stuff. Now in the gba case they are selling a loose copy of leaf green for frickin 40$.. post-it note says repro.

I'm not gonna be the one to call them out, but I am very disappointed they are selling fakes willingly.. even listed as so.

 

[phart010 | 1,707]

43 minutes ago, drxandy said:

Last week I saw at my local gamestore 3 n64 games boxed in their display case. First I was like noice! They were in box protectors and they had post-it notes that said reproduction box.

It was the first time I've seen them pull that crap. I get it, it's probably how they were sold to them.. but idk..

Yesterday we popped in, still had the stupid repro 64 stuff. Now in the gba case they are selling a loose copy of leaf green for frickin 40$.. post-it note says repro.

I'm not gonna be the one to call them out, but I am very disappointed they are selling fakes willingly.. even listed as so.

 

I agree Game stores should not be reselling counterfeits. Although if they accidentally take one in, I can see them dumping it at cost but certainly not taking a profit on it - or even worse, capitalizing on highly sought games to make big margin on counterfeits of said game

Edited June 5, 2021 by phart010

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Eh I guess it's a case where I don't agree with some people I usually do, but I see no problem in the slightest if a retailer carries the stuff, as long as they check all their goods and properly and VERY clearly mark the stuff as bootleg/repro copies.  As long as the buyer isn't being deceived, who cares, it's not our job to be gotcha police.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

How about some “custom” manuals

 

[Hammerfestus | 3,851]

Do you comment?

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

9 minutes ago, Hammerfestus said:

Do you comment?

On Reddit? Sometimes, but not as much as I comment on here.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Who needs the real box anyway, amiright?

 

[Gloves | 11,787]

2 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

Who needs the real box anyway, amiright?

 

Definitely not the kind of person who uses black marker to cover up blemishes: 

[OptOut | 8,889]

8 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Definitely not the kind of person who uses black marker to cover up blemishes: