Why are Snow Serpents going for so much $$$?

[nickvree]

Guys, I know it's a free country and people are able to do what they please, but I can't believe that people are endorsing this behaviour......Think of where this money could be better spent: ALS research, cancer research, AIDS research, but it is going to action figures......ACTION FIGURES!!!! Do we really care that much about yellowing or variants???

Sorry to sound like a tool, but it just seems a bit crazy to me.

I'm assuming you've liquidated your collection entirely then and sent every single cent to charity, right? Just making sure.

Just think of it as stimulating the economy - Elvisrocker has made >$100 from him buying these, so then he's able to buy $100 of stuff from me, and then I'm able to buy $100 of a local microbrew.

Oh wait, I should have donated that money to MADD instead, my bad.

[3DJoes]

I'm just glad I bought my 20 snow serpents before the shenanigans began.

And no, they are not for sale.

[erichpersson]

Eric,
Dude, you are nuts! But I know a couple other folks who are nuts as well so that isn't an insult, more of props to you for going after something so hard core. One of the questions I have is, since the sample size is sooooo HUGE, are you seeing variants in the figures received? Errors? Percentage of them that yellowed over time? This is the kind of data that some folks may not think about but would really be beneficial to collectors as far as understanding running changes, errors in the run, paint applications as a run goes on. etc.

For me, I have 1 measly complete Snow Serpent and a few extra accessories. I'm going to hold on to him for the moment because I just completed him at JoeCon (Thanks berean3906!).

How long do you think you will be able to keep this process up? Is there a WAG on when you think the project will be complete enough to declare it is finished?

Argumentative comments aside, this is a cool thread and interesting even to discuss.

I am going to continue to buy until they are no longer actively traded. I have no idea how long....it's been 2 and a half years and counting with no end in sight, though the price has hit a plateau...and is actually slightly declining...I hope to buy over 400,000 when this is all said and done but who knows!

I just want to say thanks to the many people who have contacted me, I am always buying...and I had no idea people would show this much interest...

It's run the gamut from people mailing me free snow serpent stuff to people hoping I'll pay a premium for theirs (I wont).

The figures are in all kinds of conditions as are the file cards (some really bad cuts) and accessories (belts get broke) gun tips have broken as well. There is discoloration and mutilting of some...loose joints and broken o rings are common....I'm logging each one before it goes in its bubble....

Most common wear is black on nose...

[Katana]

Now that I've caught up on the topic, and have read all the posts (something I should have done before I started blindly posting) I think it would be good to publish some kind of findings. I do feel sorry for either people that were hoping to get a Snow Serpent for a decent price, or people who don't have much money paying high prices because they think the Snow Serpents are going to be the next money makers.

Airedevon has a huge collection of Joes, and I'd imagine that she has a tone of Snow Serpents. Her huge collection was for the purposes of documenting the entire vintage Joe line, and producing a 7 volume book series. I'm not sure what handed to that project, but I hope it sees the light of day sometime. But my point in bringing Airedevon up is, it's nice when collectors that have the fortune of collecting such huge amounts of figures do something with it that somehow benefits more than themselves.

I have 1 snow serpent that's complete. I bought him for the sole purpose of my enjoyment, without the thought of re-saling in mind. I'm glad I did so before these figures were costing $35 - $40 each.

[scrapiron]

[QUOTE=nickvree;863081]I'm assuming you've liquidated your collection entirely then and sent every single cent to charity, right? Just making sure.

Just think of it as stimulating the economy - Elvisrocker has made >$100 from him buying these, so then he's able to buy $100 of stuff from me, and then I'm able to buy $100 of a local microbrew.

Oh wait, I should have donated that money to MADD instead


$100.00??? .......Hmmmmmm......Honda vs BMW, Nike vs Target shoes....30,000+ ACTION FIGUREs vs charity......You guys seem so out of touch with reality that it's sad. Can you see anything outside the context of toys?

[Katana]

$100.00??? .......Hmmmmmm......Honda vs BMW, Nike vs Target shoes....30,000+ ACTION FIGUREs vs charity......You guys seem so out of touch with reality that it's sad. Can you see anything outside the context of toys?

I understand that the cost of all those SS could have gone to better causes, and I'm not out of touch with reality. I'm an educator, and many of my students are lower income, so I'm pretty well anchored in reality. Most of my life doesn't revolve around toys, it's merely a small interest. My point was not meant to justify spending a lot of money on toys, but to point out that people spend a lot of money on other things that could also be deemed non-essential, and if we are to judge the spending of huge amounts of money on toys, we should apply the same logic to spending money on designer clothes and other luxury items.

Do I think the money that went into these Snow Serpent purchases could go to a more noble cause? Yes, I do. I'm I interested in the experiment that Eric is doing? Yes I am.

"Action Comics #1" was recently auctioned for $3.2 million. Do I think that's a ridiculous amount of money that could have helped a lot of people? Absolutely. But I also acknowledge that it's the function of supply and demand, and people are willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money for a piece of history. Frankly, when it comes to ethical responsibility, I'm more conceded with people like investment bankers etc.

[Flophouse]

Airedevon has a huge collection of Joes, and I'd imagine that she has a tone of Snow Serpents. Her huge collection was for the purposes of documenting the entire vintage Joe line, and producing a 7 volume book series. I'm not sure what handed to that project, but I hope it sees the light of day sometime.

Sadly "has" is now in the past tense, "had". It seems she sold most of the GIJOE collection. There will be NO books, that dream is dead for all of us waiting on them. It really sucks because I was offered a full set of the books for free, for my spending a good chunk of money to travel to her house to film her collection a few years back.

[FireFox91]

Please re-read the part of my last response that reads: "They are only ACTON FIGURES!!!" We shouldn't care THAT much about Snow Serpents. His money to do with as he pleases, yes, but if you could choose to spend extra cash on ALS or 30,000 action figures, what would you do? Legal versus ethical.....that's why the human race is in such a sorry state. How would you feel if you saw someone in Canada literally setting fire to hundreds of thousands of American dollars (as it would be illegal for someone to do that in America, and vice versa)? Even if they have the right, wouldn't it be a terrible waste?

Honestly, I don't find a shred of logic in anything you said here. Really, I don't.

$100.00??? .......Hmmmmmm......Honda vs BMW, Nike vs Target shoes....30,000+ ACTION FIGUREs vs charity......You guys seem so out of touch with reality that it's sad. Can you see anything outside the context of toys?

Replace 30k action figures with a house. Does it meet your ethical standards now? How is spending legitimately earned dollars on action figures even an ethical issue? Did you even read what I said earlier about most charities using donations to pay high salaries to their executives? That is far more of an ethical issue that someone spending his private money on action figures. Erich buying these things from the common man is probably doing more for others than donating that money to those charities ever will.

[scrapiron]

Honestly, I don't find a shred of logic in anything you said here. Really, I don't.



Replace 30k action figures with a house. Does it meet your ethical standards now? How is spending legitimately earned dollars on action figures even an ethical issue? Did you even read what I said earlier about most charities using donations to pay high salaries to their executives? That is far more of an ethical issue that someone spending his private money on action figures. Erich buying these things from the common man is probably doing more for others than donating that money to those charities ever will.

The fact that you don't find logic in someone spending insane amounts of cash on......wait, let me put it in bold...again...ACTION FIGURES that will, by his own admission, lose value. Buying a large home that can be lived in and enjoyed is hardly a fair comparison, but, then again, I'm illogical. Would it meet my ethical standards? I don't know how to answer that, considering your inability to rationalize the difference between someone's right to spend money and the frivolous nature of spending it just because you can. As far as arguing that SOME charities spend more than they should on operations, it's hardly rational to paint them all the same colour. I donate yearly to World Vision, and over 70% of the money gets to the needy; people can't pay the mortgage with nothing. I think too many people are living vicariously through this guy.

[Bigbot]

Whole lot of sour grapes toward a successful dude setting out on a fascinating personal experiment that isn't hurting anyone. Personally I'm fascinated by folks who pass righteous judgment on others, while believing they are doing all this "good" in the world.