Brickman

20 minutes ago, Quest4Nes said:

are u new? this is going to sell like hotcakes. Lego collector set pricing has been those prices for years. This is going to sell out at every lego vip buck promotional time. People who love lego, is the same demographic that likes nintendo. Its going to sell very well. Im def getting one.

I think this set will be around for a year or two at least, so people shouldn’t have to go too crazy. Might be harder to buy at release, but people definitely shouldn’t pay scalper prices if they miss out. 

My advice would be to sign up for LEGO VIP (it’s free) and you will be able to buy it directly from LEGO a few days before the official launch.

1 hour ago, RH said:

That's actually not entirely true.  It's been about 5 years or so, but I saw this looong blog post that some LEGO nerd made asking the question and answering "are LEGO more expensive than they were when we were kids?"

He took sample, retail prices of various sets, grouped them together with small, medium and large pieces, priced out each piece of lego, and then re-priced them for inflation.  LEGO have gotten cheaper with time, consistently, when accounting for inflation.  Now, that's not to say they are "cheap" but I think the reason why they have lasting power is because they are high-quality products and they give really, really good instructions without having to read.  Nostalgia may keep them in business, I suppose, but kids love them as much to day as they did in the 70s and 80s and on a piece-by-piece basis, they are not more expensive.  We're just seeing bigger, more complex sets because that's what older, more mature LEGO fans want.

And in regards to this set, I'm actually quite surprised this happened.  Nintendo already had licensed LEGO-like products.  I can't recall the product but I was bummed when I saw them.  I am a LEGO fan (and my kids therefore have plenty of them) but I was disappointed to see that Nintendo went with a knock-off company to make a builder-type product.  I'm glad to see that license must have expired and we are getting an official LEGO/Nintendo product.  I doubt I'll be buying a set at that price, but if this opens the door for smaller, licensed sets, I'll be all about that.

As a LEGO collector I can confirm this is all accurate.

LEGO recently acquired the license for Nintendo so we will be seeing more of these sets aimed at the adult audience in the future. 
LEGO have realised that a big part of their revenue comes from AFOLs (adult fans of LEGO) and have increasingly started making sets like these for display purposes.

This isn’t actually too badly priced for a licensed set. I think it will probably be around a 2500 piece set so it will be only around 10cents a piece. The Star Wars sets can be worse.

The beauty of LEGO is that you could use all those parts and build something else with it. That’s where I think non LEGO people don’t understand the value.

$250 is a good price range and if you think $250 is a lot then don’t even look at prices for older sets. Makes video game collecting seem like loose change.

Also, a fun fact, the plural of LEGO is LEGO not LEGOs.

1 hour ago, Crazy Climber said:

I'll ship anywhere! Gotta warn you though, it's probably around $20 extra to ship there... I'll send you a PM when I  do the second run, Thanks man!

Yep I thought that might be the case due to weight and distance. I’m still interested, so shoot me a PM once you do the second run.

1 hour ago, GreenKoopa said:

I bought the Japanese version while in Japan last year. It has English subtitles. Can't recall if the voice is changeable to English. I haven't had a chance to play it properly yet. Could be an alternative to the Asia version. 

Yep that would work too. I prefer playing JRPG’s with the original Japanese voice over English where possible. Does it include both carts for the Japanese version?

I was thinking of picking up the FFX/X-2 remake for the Switch to replay a very weird but overall fun FF game.

However, I have discovered that X-2 is just a download code! Worse, it’s a one time code and requires the FF X cart to be present so it’s even more restrictive.

Apparently the Asian version has both game carts. Anyone able to confirm this and know where it can be purchased for a reasonable price? Play Asia is sold out and eBay prices are crazy.

Yeah I wasn’t sure if this should go general collecting or questions. Happy for it to be moved.

Yep got those or they’re on my list to buy. I do love the native psp/ps1 comparability of the Vita. Really wish it was supported more in the West. I might have to look into some Japanese games that don’t require English.

Some great mentions so far.

Mulholland Drive and The Road would be my two stand out 11/10 films.

Great list. Two games I noticed not on the list are Vostok Inc  (available now) from Wired Productions and SHMUP Collection (pre orders open) from various places, VGNY Soft & VG plus for US/Canada and Pixel Heart for Europe.

I hope one day soon we will actually get a release date for Ikaruga.

Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy done. Never played 1 on launch, didn’t realise how brutal it was. Also, forgot how easy 2 & 3 were.

1:

2:

3:

54 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

I think saying going for them right now as an investment is even more risky, I think people over estimate how much this stuff will matter to people who didn't grow up playing it. Unlike some lost relic from a thousand years ago, when all the people who played some of this stuff are old or dead, I assume the market will dwindle quite a bit and the stuff people are buying on modern consoles, not much chance most of that will be worth much anytime within 10-20 years, especially as more and more people seek to minimize.

Not saying we're at the ceiling so to speak, but if someone is getting into it right now and has 5k to burn and ONLY wants to earn money, you'd be an idiot to start running out and buying whatever is out there right now imo. People are using hindsight way too much with this stuff, no one knows any retail releases today that will be worth thousands in 10 years, assuming that is even a possibility at all. Anyone who is saying they made a lot of money in the last 10 years, did so by buying games much older than that and likely got lucky. We're just now seeing some legit inflation for systems like PS1 which came out 25 years ago, and that's still a very small piece of its library, with most games still running a cool 20 bucks or less.

We’ll unfortunately have to agree to disagree.

Video games are now bigger than Hollywood and will only grow. I do believe people will continue to buy NES games even if they’re outdated or the people who originally grew up with them died. We only need to look to older collectibles to come to this conclusion. Comics, cards, coins, vintage toys and the list goes on. 
There are already modern games worth a lot more than their original purchase. Nearly every LRG switch game is worth almost double or more of its initial purchase price. 100% ROI over a couple of years. Just like stocks, people in the know will see the patterns and get the right games.

Also people can buy heavily discounted games at the end of cycles and make a good profit. GameStop were selling most ps2 games for $5-10. A lot of those games will increase over the years and some are already going for crazy prices because now those people who grew up with the ps2 want to re play those games.
I think if someone had $10k to invest they should definitely consider collectibles as part of their investment portfolio along with stocks. Always good to have diversification.

4 hours ago, goldenpp72 said:

I never said it can't be used as an investment, just that it's not a smart one if you're in it to make money. It's the difference between saying I want to make some money versus a lot of money. You're buying the games because you want them, buying them as an investment when much easier and more lucrative options exist is my point. This would be like someone telling me I work at Mcdonalds to make money when they had the option to make 20 dollars an hour elsewhere, i'd call that an interesting decision if nothing else.

If you look at the stock market as a whole, in its entirety from the last 10 years, it's about 2.5x higher now and that's with everything factored. This disregards that you can actually buy and trade them at will with no challenge.

I think you’re simplifying the stock market a little too much. It isn’t as simple as clicking a button and instant profit. That may be the case over the last 2-4 years but that is due to multiple reasons, mainly US money printing and low interest rates.

People will always tell you about their Apple purchase but forget to mention their losses like GE or Ford. Stock picking over the long term is hard and the reason why there aren’t many Warren Buffett’s around. It would be better to look at index fund returns over the years which average 10-11% with dividends.

Had you bought every game released in the US on the NES in 1985 and kept them sealed vs the equal amount of money invested into the Dow Jones you would be way ahead with the games. 
I do agree with you that it would be wiser for most people to just invest in the stock market, but I do think that video games are just as valid for investing and will be going forward into the future. 

I’m interested in one if they’re still available. Are you able to ship to Australia?

Anyone else here also a fan of the PS Vita? I only have roughly 15 games for the system but would like to grab more. Looking for recommendations from any genre. Thanks!

When I first watched this movie as a teenager I loved it.

Then in my early twenties I read the novel the movie was based off and was blown away how great the novel was but how much was glanced over or left out in the movie.

It’s a solid movie but I think it is very over hyped. It’s basically the FF7 of movies haha.

12 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

They’re gonna... they’re gonna frickin print Shantae for GBC

YOU GUYS

I’M CRYING

This was a huge surprise to see, can’t wait.

Some great games announced, just wish more of them had dates.

I finished a hat in time and toads treasure tracker over the weekend. Didn’t take pictures but will going forward.

3 minutes ago, Armageddon Potato said:

I mean, that's how it is with anything you make money on. If you sell your collection without any records your cost basis will be considered zero. All income you make a profit on is taxable. Heck, even barter is taxable! "The IRS reminds all taxpayers that the fair market value of property or services received through a barter is taxable income. Both parties must report as income the value of the goods and services received in the exchange."

Very interesting. I had no idea until I read this thread.
I’m from Australia and it works very differently here when you’re selling hobbies.

Art and coins are probably the only real collectibles that the tax office are interested in here and it would have to be investment grade.

Mario Odyssey. Amazing game with so many interesting and fun levels. The hats also add an interesting dynamic to the game.

Previously it was Mario 64.

Wow it blows my mind that you have to pay tax on selling second hand video games in the US that were collected as a hobby. Sort of sucks the fun out of having a hobby if you have to keep records.

6 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

I see it everywhere now.  Not just with video games.  It's almost like people are afraid to say that something looks great, because they feel they will look stupid once someone points out some kind of flaw.  In addition, the person pointing out the flaw feels some sort of superiority for finding such a flaw.  

I can't think of a better example then the release of the appearance of the PS5.  

Couldn’t agree more. It’s like people don’t want anyone to have a different opinion anymore. If you don’t follow the outrage crowd then you’re automatically wrong.

I think social media and YouTube have really enhanced this state of mind and even encourage it for views/revenue. Journalists have now followed this pattern in news articles and the news has become very biased and no longer neutral. I stay away from social media & the news for this reason.

I highly recommend Gloomhaven, one of the best board games I’ve ever played.

Tokaido and zombicide are also fun and don’t require a lot of time to play.

I tried to send a package to the US today from Australia, but due to border restrictions I was told that the parcel will be held in customs for the foreseeable future. The buyer decided to still keep the sale but agreed to review in a couple of weeks before I send it out.
If more countries close their borders I can definitely see prices dropping as the pool of buyers decreases. Could even see some panic sells as people lose their job and just need any extra money.

Besides video games I also collect:

- Toys (a bit of everything but have recently started working on the soul of chogokin line)

- Lego

- Vinyl

It can be hard to decide what collection to spend money on at times haha.

I also collect toys and LEGO (I have expensive hobbies haha) and I personally find video game collecting similar to LEGO.

- Strong nostalgic audience towards 80's and 90's range (space, pirates and castle in LEGO)

- A range of collector types (some LEGO collectors just make up the set, some prefer the set, box and manuals and some go sealed)

- Similar collector community mindset (most LEGO collectors prefer to either play/display sets or have it CIB but don't see the point in sealed because they were meant to played with)

- Strong known brand names like Zelda and Mario (Space, City, Ninjango, Pirates)

I enjoy comics and have some sets that I like (mainly Alan Moore's stuff) but I also don't see the big parallels between video game collecting and comics. It feels a bit forced to me and more like a selling technique to get comic collectors onboard. 

At the end of the day I hope video game collecting makes its own path in the collecting world and doesn't turn into comic collecting. 

So many great RPGs to choose from that it’s hard to even do a top 5. I’ve settled on these five:

1. Persona 4

2. Dark Souls

3. FF6

4. Chrono Trigger

5. NWN