This episode has show host, Jordan Hembrough, digging for toys in Mississippi. His first stop is a storage unit owned by Mark, which is full of bins stacked to the ceiling. This storage shed is the kind of place I have dreams about–it’s filled with vintage Batman toys! Jordan buys a Batman X-15 pedal car made by Mattell in 1966 for $163, and seven “World’s Greatest Super Heroes” Mego figures in their boxes for $250. Jordan actually upped the price on these because Mark’s asking price was too low!
Jordan buys a vintage battery operated tin space capsule for $40 before the Bat bonanza continues. Next up is one of my own personal holy grails–a 1966 Batman lunchbox with its original unbroken thermos– an absolute steal for Jordan at $65. He goes on to buy a 1966 Mattell Bat Bomb for $30, and an Ideal Batcave playset/carrying case for $50.
Probably the best find of the day was a boxed pair of magnetic 12″ Batman and Robin figures that were signed by none other than Adam West. After the smallest amount of haggling, Jordan buys the pair for $500.
If I was Jordan, I would have just made Mark an offer on the entire storage unit. He had amazing items and his prices were unbelievable. I’m sure Jordan left with a truckload of items that we didn’t even see.
The next stop is with Kenny, who has an incredible collection of action figures, all meticulously arranged on shelves. Kenny has over 1,500 Transformers alongside an original Tron arcade machine and life-size Frankenstein and Spiderman figures.
Jordan buys a Kenner Super Powers Superman figure that is on an unpunched card for $45. While digging through a bin of old, loose He-man figures, he finds a Sy-Klone figure that is still in the package. The card is worn and the sticker has fallen off Sy-Klone’s chest, but that doesn’t stop Jordan from handing over $45 for it.
The last stop of this episode is with Jason, who is a huge “Bat-fan.” Jason has a ton of action figures with a heavy emphasis on Batman. Jordan buys a Mattell DC Universe Giganta build-a-figure for $75, before they head to the garage to look through some bins. Jordan buys two recent Corgi Batmobiles for $50 and a set of four Takara Japanese Microman Batman figures for $55.
At the end of the episode, Jordan returns to New Jersey where he tries to sell some of his newly-acquired Batman toys to a collector named Giancarlo. This guy isn’t too interested in anything until Jordan shows him the magnetic 12″ figures. I’d love to tell you how much he paid for them, but my DVR cut off the last 15 seconds of the show. If anyone knows, chime in with a comment below. Inquiring minds want to know!
This was probably one of my favorite episodes of Toy Hunter so far due to the sheer volume of vintage Batman toys that were found. I love seeing all the vintage toys, and wouldn’t mind if they left out anything more recent than the last 20 years or so. One thing that’s starting to grate on me is the way the show has Jordan making an amazing find right before one of the multitude of commercial breaks. This trick gets old after the third time in a half hour show–not a big criticism, but enough already.
So, what did you think of the show? Are you still tuning in every week to see what treasures are in those storage bins?
What he tells the buyer at the end is normally they would go for $1300-$1400 but because it’s his dad’s birthday and he wants to keep him as a client, he’ll let them go for $1000.
The gasp moment does indeed get old by the final ad break.
Curious if it’s just me, but have you noticed it seems like there is now a moment in each episode where the person makes Jordan an offer and he tells them they’re low-balling themselves and offers them more than they suggested?
Thanks Dex!
I have noticed Jordan has been upping the price on items on occasion. I think it’s a smart move for the show — if Jordan appears to be screwing over everyone he deals with, the internet backlash would be fierce. I’ve also noticed that he says something to the effect “I’m comfortable with the price, but I want to make sure YOU are comfortable with it too.”
Yeah that’s my thinking as well. Unfortunately, the person wouldn’t even realize they might be getting screwed over because their initial suggestion is probably something they think is high to start with.
I’m definitely of the mind that there Jordan (or the producers) have been upping the offers in the last few episodes. This past week I actually thought the prices were in line with the item, as there are more 1960s Bat-fans out there than say Jurassic Park fans.
This is due to what happened on the American Pickers show. Those guys were screwing people on their offers, there was a huge backlash, so the producers decided that they need to up the prices if the seller was asking for too low of a price. All of those shows including Toy Hunter seems to have picked up on how to avoid the backlash. FYI.
I haven’t tuned into this show yet mainly because I love reading your recaps, Brian.
Pax
What?? You should definitely watch it Pax. (then read my recaps.) 😉
This is probably my favorite episode so far. I thought the Mego Worlds Greatest Super Heroes went for far too low a price. At least Jordan went up on the price in the end. On the other hand I thought he was high on the Magnetic Batman and Robin. At least he was closer to the mark for $1,000 on the pair. I was thinking maybe $600 for the pair. I learned a lot about the show talking to the producers. They do care what the fans think and are open to suggestions. So, they are listening and I think we will see the show evolve as time goes on.
I finally watched the episode last night and it made me SO ANGRY!
Super Power *punched* Superman for $45?! I track SP pricing, so I know that’s crazy even if we’re not talking retail.
The thing that really got me angry, however, was the $75 Giganta. They kinda skim over the particulars, but $75 would be a lowball offer if you’d gotten all her parts at basic retail, which is not the case. The head and lower torso are rare because they are packed with Gentleman Ghost, who wasn’t packed in abundance in the case mix. This had led the carded GG figure to routinely sell between $75-100 – by itself. There’s no way, as a guy who knows this stuff, that Jason would sell a “holy grail” for the value of a fraction of its composite parts. If this were a flea market, I could see that happening, but not with the guy who’s an avid collector.
Jason is actually in a few Facebook toy groups where I try to peddle my wares. He’s been promoting his appearance, but has also been cagey about details. In fact, I’ve even seen it said that he didn’t actually sell Giganta to Jordan. In any case, Jordan apparently “thanked” him by sending him an advanced Matty Collector Doom Patrol chick (I forget her name because it’s early), so I guess there are some perks to being on these shows.
Yeah, there’s a fair bit of ‘behind the scenes’ drama being injected into these shows, and there’s plenty of leaked info to back that up. I choose to just watch the show and enjoy the collections and the items Jordan finds.
Like I’ve mentioned before, i just wish these shows would have the collectors sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent them from coming out immediately after taping the show and telling the world how everything was faked.
Jason is part of the panel with me on the podcast we recorded last night, and Toy Hunter was one of our topics. He confirmed that he didn’t sell Giganta and explained how he got involved with the show. I totally get what you’re saying, Brian, but I think the issue lies with the format of the shows rather than people revealing what’s behind the curtain.
While sales do happen, obviously for this and Collection Intervention, there’s a lot of fabricated drama for drama’s sake. My issue with it is that everyone I’ve talked to is like me–they watch the shows to see the collections. They don’t care about the sales aspect at all. Even for non-toy collectors, it’s interesting to see what people have, and if they feel the need to bring value into it, why not just make it more like Antiques Roadshow, where it’s about appraisal? Why does Jordan have to buy things to make the show interesting? I’d like to see something closer to what Ashley and company do with Collecting Nostalgia, where you get to see a collection, but you also get to hear some backstory about the history of the toy and the collector’s experience with it (whether it’s something from their childhood or something they’ve searched for for years).
I would totally get behind an “Antique Toys roadshow” on PBS. 😉
I saw you mention this mystery podcast on Twitter. Where? When? Do tell! I want to make sure to give it a listen. I made my debut into podcasting territory on Nerd Lunch a few week’s back, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be leaving it up to the professionals from now on 😉
I tweeted the link at some point, but here it is: http://www.pendragonspost.com/2012/09/24/4-guys-a-girl-and-a-show-episode-2/. (We’re hosting it on Pendragon’s, but we need to put it in an iDevice friendly format as well, so I’m pushing to put it on iTunes as well.)
Excellent! I’m going to go listen to this now. 🙂
A funny thing about this show is that it’s actually got my wife interested. And I can’t believe it, but she seems to be developing a mild interest (and possibly respect) for my toy collecting. I think it helps her to see how many other people are into it and how cool some of the items can be. Last night, she actually saw that lunch box and said, “Honey, you need to find one of those!”
I almost let loose a tear. 😉
You are a very lucky man.
I’ve been bidding on 1966 Batman lunchboxes for over a year and haven’t nabbed one yet. Now I fear the competition is going to get even more intense. 😉
I finally caught up on these episodes, it’s still entertaining. Some of the pricing and his over the top excitement as a dealer is a bit straining at times, but I like watching the show. He stole the boxed 8″ Megos, even with his upped price. The magnetic pair were way overpriced, even with his birthday discount. Fun stuff though and nice to think this stuff is still out there for the finding.