7 replies to this topic

[OneTallPonderosa]

As I frequently see off hand comments and side discussion on which Class A are truly hard to find and which are easier to find, I was hoping those of you with years of experience following these things could chime in, at least on the side of which ones are actually not all that difficult to find.

 

So, does anyone have some notes/anecdotes/comments on those Class A that they feel are more on the common side?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Bones]

Without going through my checklist I can tell you that there are roughly (In my experience) 30 to 40 more "common" class A
When I get a second I'll list all the ones that seemed to be easy for me to get, even double and triple of.

[OneTallPonderosa]

Man, I am really suprised no one had anything to say on this topic.

[cloning007]

i figure any class A figures i have are prob more common. Esp since out of the 109 figures i need, about 100 of them are class A

[BadLarry]

The only class A figures I have any knowledge or experience with are the Sunshines. (Well, and sort of 153p due to its high-profile nature)

I pay attention to eBay and LRG. On those fora I have seen in the last 2.5 years:

Purple #3 sold 3 times, all within the last year. Twice on eBay for $135 and $105. Once here for apparently $150.

Purple #15 sold 3 times. All on eBay. Once just north of $300, once for $275 and once somewhere around $250.

Salmon #64 sold three times. Twice on eBay, Don't remember the first price, the second was $180. Once here for apparently $150.

Salmon #107 sold three times on eBay and offered once more here. The first on eBay was $231, the second two were a little more than $100. I don't know if the one here sold, but it was offered for $110.

Purple #107 I have only personally seen in that screwed up Alex Forbes auction recently that eventually ended with the fig in question being donated to Veers.

Blue #221 I have seen twice on eBay. Once for $158.97 and once for a little more than $100. There is also a reference here on LRG to another 221B bought through eBay, but I didn't see the auction and I don't know the price.

So I don't know of any of that is valuable info. It seems like other than 107P they have all popped up with roughly the same frequency, though some get higher prices. And again, this is only in the time frame and on the sites I watch.

Thank you

[OneTallPonderosa]

Thanks for the responses folks, and thanks Larry for posting some real numbers based on what you have bought. 

 

I totally understand the purpose of the classification system was not value-based nor was it a rigorous assessment, but an attempt to better understand which figures seem more difficult to find based on peoples shared knowledge of collecting MUSCLE.  My interest is not inherently financial in nature, although any discussion of "rarity" will somehow eventually be tied to value. 

 

I have read many of the various discussions and theories behind production and the whys and hows of why some figures were not produced as much as others and I have also read that perhaps someday the Class A , B, and C lists could be refined as more is learned. Perhaps with all B figures being shifted into A or C as we learn more about the abundance of different figures.

 

Anyhow, the more I buy lots of MUSCLEs and collect, I certainly have the perception that certain A and B figures are more common than others, and even many flesh figures are consistently more difficult to find (not considering SC). I am really just interested in trying to learn more. It would make sense that the way figures are molded in trees, many figures would be produced in similar quantities, and it makes sense to have a few different tiers based on production.  But even with all the knowledge out there, it just seems to me like the commonality of figures is really a continuum and not discrete groups. I have been buying MUSCLE maybe 4 years now, active on these boards less time than that, and I think perhaps 6-7k figures have passed through my hands, so I do not have that much first hand experience to base my perception on, but that is just how it seems to me. 

 

Alas, I digress.......... but I am a numbers oriented nerd who loves toys and what can I say, this is the stuff that interests me! 

 

I have started tracking those Class A figures that pop on eBay along with my price tracking, but the numbers are so few I doubt that data will be useful unless I collected it many years.

 

Now on to a ridiculous notion......if anyone out there could create a program that could recognize each MUSCLE figure sculpt in photographs similar to facial recognition, then we could scan EVERY SINGLE eBay auction and actually develop a hard-numbers database of the relative abundance of all A, B, and C figures!!!!!!! 

 

 

[BaltanII]

I think the one unusual factor with Satan Cross is that its supposed status as a store-exclusive figure (what was it, TRU?) as a unique incentive to the toyline would inherently mean that less of it exist than most other flesh MUSCLE figures, so it should command some kind of premium for sure. Now, given the unfriendly market for buying one as a single it's understandable to balk at $40+ prices for the thing, but that's a little more off-topic.

 

I am far, far from a MUSCLE collector of any kind of regularity, but many of you know of my long quest to get a purple 154. It may not be the most sought-after figure, but it certainly took its sweet time making appearances - between the start of my hunt years ago and the time I finally got one, I could count on one hand the number I'd seen online. However, after the appearance of that suspicious and unverified figure tree, it also occurred to me that purple 1 was a particularly sought-after figure, and I believe the same was true of the other figures that came in grape: they all had exceedingly rare purple Class A versions.

 

How that bit of information fits in the grander scheme of things is beyond me, because after my mysterious benefactor helped me out, I didn't actually have to search for a purple 154 any longer. Just my own tiny anecdotal contribution to the topic.