I think people are taking this way too seriously. Obviously it's a joke; they've invented a character to poke fun at... people who take things way too seriously. Maybe it's not self-referential enough for some. I agree that if every episode is this same format, then yeah, it's gonna get old. But let's just see where it's going first. This kind of thing seems ripe for meta-references that could reveal who "Bryan Stills" really "is" (and his apparent decent into madness...?). Not saying it was hilarious, but I mean... "onward ignorant" really got me.
Was... was Jan joking when he said "I think [OSX] Mavericks is the one that's out now"? Because Mavericks was fuggin 2013, my man. You should probably update your Mac!
Very happy to see Jan take more of a center-stage role. He's so charismatic, I love listening to his stories, and his attitude is like a warm blanket in a cold world. We all need more Jans in life.
Anyone else think that "silphium" is an awfully strange choice of name for a resource in a space game? The extinct Roman boner plant exists in the stars?
@zoofame: I work in the collectibles industry and we use Heritage to sell a lot of things that are hard to price ("is this worth $10 or $1000? Let's just send it to Heritage"). That said, auctions are always a bit of a game, and shady stuff does go on, especially with higher value items in speculative markets. The third-party-graded video game market is very new, with few established values, so the people spending huge amounts of money are speculating. But there is a tremendous amount of excitement around it, too. Graded sports cards, TCG cards, and coins are doing the same thing right now. Collectibles in general are in a major market bubble, inflated by Covid boredom. What was a $100 coin in 2019 is regularly selling for $300+ now, just because there are more eyes on auctions and more excitement around them. So while there very well could have been shenanigans around the sale of the Mario Bros cart, it could also have been totally legitimate because people are spending absurd amounts of money on things right now (just look at NFTs!!). One of the previously sold WATA-graded Mario Bros (in a slightly lower grade than the one that just sold) that brought close to $200,000 a year ago was bought by a consortium of collectors who pooled their money with the intent to sell it later at a profit. So that kind of thing goes on as well, and that group of buyers may secretly game the auction, too, in order to inflate the value and generate buzz (which is against the terms of auction houses, but still happens). After all, you can't make a profit if there's no buzz about the item, right? TLDR: Auctions are a game; a necessary evil in the collectibles market. $600,000+ is impressive, but can it be replicated before the bubble bursts?
That Rabbid figure stuck to the viewmaster is probably made of PVC. The "C" stands for chloride, and turns into hydrochloric acid when it reacts with heat/humidity/atmosphere, which makes the PVC sticky and feel wet. Probably best to toss it, because it doesn't get better and there's no way to stop it.
Sparechange49's comments