Hello,
does anyone know a dealer who would send a box "Middle Earth" to Europe. Preferably a dealer from Europe of course, but any other countries would be great too. Many thanks in advance.

I am in the UK and can help if this is allowed.

Not seeing the set on Cryptozoic any more.....did it get cancelled?

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
Not seeing the set on Cryptozoic any more.....did it get cancelled?

Hopefully it's a website update with more info.

They mentioned in an email there would be a promo at SDCC, so it's still in the works.

Ed

This looks to be coming out higher than Infinite Earth, whenever it does finally get here.

I don't think people will want to commit without seeing the autograph checklist first and every signer is going to have to be a star, because commons won't cut it at the pre-sale price I saw. Some LotR collectors who already have the big signers on the TOPPS cards and Crypto's Hobbit cards may be content to sit this one out. I would welcome repeat autographs from the first three films at least, even though I have the ones I really wanted. I just hope the box prices don't cause sellers to act like they struck gold, because I'm not paying for cardboard gold.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
Not seeing the set on Cryptozoic any more.....did it get cancelled?

It's still on their site. However, it hasn't been assigned to the trading cards category.

https://cryptozoic.com/product..._sid=f51c67824&_ss=r

quote:

Originally posted by Ryan Cracknell:

It's still on their site. However, it hasn't been assigned to the trading cards category.

Of course! Silly me looking in the CZX section!

quote:

This looks to be coming out higher than Infinite Earth, whenever it does finally get here.

Wholesale on this one is significantly higher than CZX Crisis, which was more than CZX Super Heroes or Outlander.

Nature of the game right now, I suppose.

I agree that even a few auto announcements would help presales.

But, dealers have already committed to this one. It WAS allocated. So most of us already know how much we have to sell.

Ed

The way this is going, I'd be more interested in a normal set for The Rings of Power.

quote:

Originally posted by ravenheart:
The way this is going, I'd be more interested in a normal set for The Rings of Power.

Couldn't agree more. Unless they'll wait to see how the show is received and then do a set for it. It has a fan base right there already before anyone has seen it, but I guess it's still a bit of a gamble for a trading card manufacturer.

New pictures

Cryptozoic

Unfortunately no autograph list yet

quote:

Originally posted by TylerDurden:
Unfortunately no autograph list yet

Autographs? Why would anyone care about the autographs?

No secret that the main thing collectors want to see is the signer's list. If it's great, they should be flying it from the highest flagpole. Sure it takes time to gather up all the cards, but at some point, you know what you're packing in. No news isn't good news.

Dealers have to buy blind or risk getting shut out of the product, but at this price collectors are crazy to preorder without knowing who signed and who didn't. That's what card makers refuse to acknowledge. They can't put out $300 boxes, don't say what's in them until they hit the street, don't guarantee that the cards aren't worth at least $200, and expect collectors to risk busting them.

The breaking will all fall on the dealers and bulk buyers and people buying only for the purpose of flipping them for profit. Once the busted boxes result in more loss than profit on the majority of a title, those boxes will either get severely discounted or they will rot before more are opened. That's fine if you think you can have a hobby based on trading sealed boxes that everyone's afraid to open, but who needs that?

I spoke with someone in a position to know today...

They say that CZE is shooting for a September release. I hope so as that would be in time to have in Philly and Chicago.

I asked about the signer list and he said they have no motivation at this point to release the list. The product is sold out from CZE, so they have done their job.

I don't like that attitude. They should be supporting the dealers who did order blind with promotion on a product like this. Sigh... Some things never change.

Ed

They have no motivation to tell you what is in their product.

I've got some boxes here somewhere you can buy. I have no motivation to tell you what i'm going to put in them just send me loads of cash and i'll send you a box.

Yes, this is exactly what has happened in the card industry. As long as the maker sells out, giving as little information as possible, they have made their money and whatever happens afterwards is someone else's problem. It might be a bit startling to hear someone admit "they have no motivation at this point to release the list", but in truth it's been working like this for a long time. And it's all the big producers, not just the one.

I used to think that eventually the rubber band would be stretched too far and break. You know, some sanity would return to new non-sport products. It hasn't, if anything it's picked up steam. To some extent the whole pandemic era has changed the market too.

Card collectors used to be the base of the hobby. They are still there, but I feel they aren't the ones who are moving the hobby anymore. The new blood with big money that came in during the last three pandemic years were not motivated by love of the hobby but love of the hype. They moved the market in illogically ways and, because collectibles are always worth what someone will pay, they broke all the records and are still breaking records.

The card makers are selling to "these people" now, not the base of card collectors, who are still motivated by wanting to just own cards because they like them. This is a bubble of people who think cards are assets and investments and can be traded with profits every time they change hands. Even if it's in the same group of hands. And I'll tell you something else, "these people" as a collective force are dumb as _ _ _ _ !

For dealers every case they bought was a gamble and that was when they knew what was in the packs. I'm sure the sure things (Star Wars, Star Trek, Bond titles) weren't always big money makers, some selling better than others. Dealers had to think before they dove into first Star Wars Galaxy because it was something new that Topps was trying. Now, it's even more of a gamble because the buy-in is much higher AND you don't know what you have a shot at getting. Guessing wrong today as people are dealing with higher everyday living costs and STILL recovering from the pandemic might push some dealers out of the business.

I saw a segment on the Today show recently. A financial expert was telling everybody that we need to have an emergency fund for times like this. Hey yeah, we know but we burned that fund two years ago and haven't been able to replenish it because costs like gas shot up to $6.19/gallon for a while and hamburger is holding at $10/pound.

Wow, whoever you talked to has no idea how blunt that response could sound. Yeah, how about doing something minimal like release the list you already have to help the dealers sell out too?

Even an alligator protects its young for about a year after they hatch.

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:

I asked about the signer list and he said they have no motivation at this point to release the list. The product is sold out from CZE, so they have done their job.

I don't like that attitude. They should be supporting the dealers who did order blind with promotion on a product like this. Sigh... Some things never change.

Ed

Some used to publish the signer successively on their website. I thought that was quite clever because people regularly visited the website (customer loyalty) because they were curious. Then one has been pleased more and more. So I liked it.

The set will be nice but the auto listing can never be compared to the original topps release...... the signers are legendary.........

Who says 3 Frodos are better than 1?
I do!