SLABBED SATURDAY - "The Space Adventure" for Sega CD!

A little while ago, I posted that a friend of mine was downsizing his video game collection. In that post, I pointed out that he was considering sending one of his rarest titles, Sega CD's "The Space Adventure", to WATA for grading.

Well, he decided to go for it! It just came back, and he's absolutely ecstatic.

The game was, indeed, 100% Complete-In-Box (CIB), even including the Registration Card. WATA graded it at a whopping 8.5 CIB, making it - to the best of my research - the highest-graded CIB copy of this game in the world.

If you want to check out the game, I'd suggest doing a search for an ISO. The only (somewhat) legal download of the game is a Japanese port from the TurboGrafx-16, available via MyAbandonware.

Grading companies across the board are getting swamped: WATA, VGA, CGC, Beckett, you name it. That being said, if you happen to have any rare games, comics, or cards, you may want to consider having the patience to get them graded. You never know how desirable they may be in the future!

SLABBED SATURDAY - Impressive Comics does it again!

Back from CGC this morning!

 

More stellar work from Gary Kendra; check that "Hulk" 340!! This is the second time in a row Impressive Comics' taken a classic McFarlane comic from my childhood and magically turned it into a 9.8, the other being a "Batman" 423 1st print!

The "Castlevania" 1 is now one of only four CGC-graded copies in existence, making it one of my rarest books.

The only book for sale at the moment is one of the "Wolverine" 16s, which I've listed through ShortBoxed... however there may be others on the Sanctum's eBay store in the future!

Can't wait to see how my next batch fares!

SLABBED SATURDAY - Cards Get Slabbed, Too!

"Slabbed Saturday" isn't just for comic books; many other collectibles are encapsulated for preservation, including video games and trading cards!

Case in point: this past week some of my "Magic: The Gathering" and "Pokemon" CGC submissions came back, and I'm VERY happy with the results!

The crown jewel is a Lotus... a "Jeweled Lotus"! I pulled it from a "Commander Legends" Collector Pack that I bought at 2nd and Charles, and immediately sleeved it and set it aside for grading. Good thing I did; pack-fresh, unpressed, and it returned a Gem Mint NINE POINT FIVE! It **may** make its way to the Sanctum's eBay store; I'm still on the fence about it, lol.

"Gaea's Cradle" is one of my favorite cards from MTG. I regrettably sold my "Urza's Saga" copy for around $120 well over five years ago, and regret it immensely. Now, that print of the card is kinda out of my price range... so I'm scooping up the next-best thing, the gold-bordered "Championship Deck" editions! I had two of them come back as Near Mint 8s, and I'm super happy to have them. Absolutely NOT for sale.

My copies of  Pokemon's "Mallow" (Mint 9) and "Olivia" (Near Mint + 8.5) aren't pictured here because they quite literally sold as soon as I announced I had them!

The box of "Time Spiral Remastered" is an added bonus in this pic; my local game shop managed to get a few booster boxes of this elusive, hot set... and I was able to grab my copy for only $150! It's staying sealed. If you find any boxes under $200, I would highly suggest grabbing them.

If you have any already-valuable cards in what you believe to be Mint condition, it may be worth your while to submit them to CGC, PSA, or Beckett and have them slabbed... it may pay off big in the future!

 

Thrifting Pickups - Week of 3/21/21

Things are looking better and better on the thrifting front as the air warms and the sun shines for an extra hour a day!

My semi-local 2nd and Charles yielded me some excellent comics for only $0.95 apiece, including a virgin variant "Regular Show" #1, the "death" of Steve Rogers, and two copies of "Mystery Girl" #1, which is currently being optioned by Netflix!

While not the best MGS title, I picked up two factory-sealed copies of "Ground Zeroes" for $8 apiece.

"Fall Down Laughing", the autobiography of the late, great David L. Lander ("Squiggy" from "Laverne and Shirley") was a Goodwill find. This now-OOP 2-CD set is currently available via the Sanctum's eBay Store.

And finally, I was able to score a pristine sealed copy of the comic-and-cassette combo pack "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Adventure" for around $30! I bought it with the sole intention of cracking it open (GASP) and sending the comic to get slabbed by CGC. There are only a tiny handful on the CGC census, and I want to add one more copy to those numbers.

If anyone wants to hear the awesome audio adventure, you can grab your copy right here on the TRS blog!

I hope all Sanctum Dwellers are also making the best of the great weather, and heading out to find their own deals; you never know what you'll find unless you look! Good Luck!

"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE COMPLETE ADVENTURE" 1989 Random House Cassette

In late 1988, Random House Publishing (in association with Archie Comics) published a special comic book that collected the original 3-issue "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures" miniseries into a single volume. Packaged with it was a 90-minute full-dramatized read-along cassette.

I listened to that cassette so much as a kid, I'm honestly surprised it survived and digitized so well!

I could go into more detail about the comic and/or cassette, but honestly they've already been extensively researched and talked about via more diehard TMNT fans:

https://tmntcomics.wordpress.com/category/random-house/ and
https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/The_Complete_Adventure! both have loads of info!

I recently came across a sealed copy of this (of which I will be cracking open to get the comic itself graded by CGC) and it inspired me to give my childhood copy the digital treatment. I hope you enjoy it!

DOWNLOAD 1

DOWNLOAD 2

192kbps CBR

Thrifting Pickups - Week of 3/14/21

Finally things are picking up in terms of... uhm, picking up things.

I had a great day at the flea market earlier in the week, where I stumbled across a bunch of uncommon PS2 games for only $5 apiece... and they're all CIB!

The "Magic: The Gathering" deck boxes were also five bucks each, and each one contained a mish-mash of older cards. Nothing huge, but definitely worth what I paid.

And finally, the single Sega Dreamcast title cost me one lone dollar!

A few of these items will be cleaned up and make their way to the Sanctum's eBay store, so keep your eyes peeled!

Thrifting Pickups - Week of 3/7/21

Very, very slim pickings this past week as the cold weather continues (come on, Spring, where are you?), but it included two hits for two very different reasons:

First, I found a super-clean copy of legendary LP "Whipped Cream and Other Delights" by Herb Alpert. I love this iconic album. No, really, I love it a LOT...

And second, I came across a very rare copy of "The Night Angel Trilogy: 10th Anniversary Edition" by Brent Weeks. This thing isn't even available anymore via the author's own website, and the cheapest copy on Amazon is close to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. Absolutely crazy!

I'm hoping that the weather warms up soon, so the flea markets will get back into full swing; I need a bigger thrifting fix, and fast!