Damage Claim
(Aftermath of the case of Collateral Damage)
(Aftermath of the case of Collateral Damage)
xercising more self-control than I'd expected, I didn't get home from work and errands until nearly 7pm despite knowing that FedEx had delivered my case of Collateral Damage at 11:35 am.
This is something of a no-frills post, done because a few fellow clix fans (mostly silently) check in for updates. I might sweep through to dress it up a little later, but probably not.
Once I had the case gone through I did a second sweep of the extras, culling the extra REV sets, then listed the mismatched extras, all of which took some time since I took the process of opening the boosters at a leisurely pace. I've waited this long for them, I may as well enjoy the process.
Before getting to anything else, I have to note that one can get a feel for how retro this set is just by looking at the cavalcade of corny names. Okay, we're used to that in the costumed hero biz, but DC/Warner's insistence that the names on the dials be written in ALL CAPS only makes the names seem more juvenile.
Okay, concerning the collation I must report Wizkids has done a wonderful job at the case level.
Had I just bought the case I'd have a complete set -- plus at least one complete set of extra REVs of everything up throught Shadow Lass.
Combined with the first case several of those jumped to two extra REVs, and I also ended up with a second REV of Metamorpho, so I'll have a good number of items to post on ebay come Sunday night.
The case itself gave me no more than 3 of any level of a particular figure. The only thing it gave me 4 of was the Eddie Fyers pog - oh, joy.
From Captain Cold on up, at least as far as my case was concerned vets were 1 to the case. From Dr. Light on up the same applied to experienced. This is obviously all part of the careful control process that's been brought to bear to provide the average case buyer with a complete set.
There was the complete set of uniques, plus four, non-repeating extras. (2 each of Dr. Psycho, Orion, Jonah Hex and Eclipso)
Oh, should you happen to be looking to buy loose boosters, as opposed to a case or brick, you're aiming for uniques and are able to pick items out of a freshly opened brick, go for the final/back row in each brick. The shrink-wrapped bricks are packaged in three rows of four boosters, all facing the same direction. For this set, if you want the uniques go for that third row. In three out of the four bricks all four uniques were there, and in the other brick three of the four were back there. Most of the early reports I'd seen noted the same thing, so it appears to be a side-effect of the increased collation control.
Normally I don't go in for such tips, but it's so obvious (and almost certainly well known by this point) that I'm saying it more in the line of protecting yourself than something to exploit. If someone got to cherry pick a brick, then don't expect to find any uniques in the remainder.
Concerning the generics, by the time I was finished (case & brick) I had:
HIVE Trooper R3, E3, V3
OMAC R2, E1, V1
...which isn't bad. I'm hoping to pick up some more OMAC pieces during or after matches.
So, as things stand now my immediately tradeable extras, the mismatched ones, are:
Azrael E (Though I have a couple people at work who want one just for the sculpt.)
Black Lightning R (2) & E
Black Mask (R2) & E(2)
Blue Devil R(3) & E(2)
Captain Cold R(3), E
Clayface R(4), E
Dr. Light R & V
Dr. Midnite R(2) & E
Elongated Man R(3) & E(2)
Emerald Empress R & E
Fire E
Geo-Force R (2) & V (I'm thinking of trying to trade something for another E and make that a full REV for resale, though.)
Green Lantern R(2) & E(2)
Ice R(3), E(2)
Manhunter R(2) & E
Mary Marvel R & E
Metamorpho R(3), E
Monsieur Mallah R (3)
Ragman R & V
Red Tornado R & V (same deal as with Geo-Force)
Shadow Lass/Umbra R & E
Speedy R(4) & E(2)
Superman Blue R
Trickster R & E
Now that the dust has settled, the extra uniques I have between the case and brick are:
Guardian
Dr. Psycho
Orion
Jonah Hex 2
Eclipso
Adam Strange 2
...most of which (along with the extra REV sets) I'm aiming to put up for auction Sunday night. I need to do something to recoup some of the money spent on this.
Comments
Someday maybe I'll buy a case...
D.
As noted in the entry the rarity level comes through loud as a bell while looking through a case, now that they've gotten the level of control ratcheted up this high. From number 39 (Captain Cold) on up there's only 1 vet to the case, and from #62 (Emerald Empress) up there's only one experienced, too. Someone could get very lucky with one or two brick buys, which was interesting in its consistency. It seems that in order to fix the imbalances seen in Armor Wars now that the uniques are 1 in 3 boosters they decided to make equal numbers of E & Vs for the final eight REV slots. It was consistent within my case, and where I've come out with extras in one of those E or V slots it's because I also happened to pull one from my brick. I suppose there still could be more experienced pieces at those levels, but if so then "my" extras all ended up in other people's cases.