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Post by hondobrode on Jun 16, 2016 10:00:34 GMT -5
 from ICv2.com FUNKO, DIAMOND, ACD, ULTRA PRO, PSI TAKE HASTINGS HITS Company's Expansion into Geek Exacting a Price Posted by Milton Griepp on June 15, 2016 @ 1:45 am CT The list (and amended list) of top unsecured creditors of superstore chain Hastings (which declared bankruptcy Monday, see “Three Weinshanker Companies File Bankruptcy”) shows the size of its relationships with suppliers of geek merchandise, and the money at risk as the company seeks an investor or buyer that would allow it to continue to operate. Although the top four creditors were all home video companies, owed from around $3 to $4 million each, and the fifth was Penguin Random House, owed $2.6 million, the sixth biggest creditor was figure maker Funko, owed $2.59 million, with other companies in the business of geek culture following. Here are the companies from geek categories on Hastings’ list of its largest creditors, along with the amount owed. $2,589,509 Funko $1,644,430 Diamond Book Distributors $ 836,981 ACD Distribution $ 259,683 Ultra Pro $ 208,522 Publisher Services Inc. (PSI) Hastings and its related companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows it to reorganize under protection of the court. The company indicated it expects to make payments to its unsecured creditors, so the big question will be whether or not Hastings is able to sell or find an investor for its operations, and at what price. It would be fairly typical in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the unsecured creditors to receive a percentage of what’s owed, for some leases to be renegotiated, and for the business to continue. But based on Hastings’ public comments, that’s not going to happen without a substantial infusion of capital. Hastings has lost over $25 million in the last two years, so it’s a bit of a lift. Court filings did reveal a $90 million debtor-in-possession line of credit from Bank of America, which will give Hastings cash with which to manage the bankruptcy process and keep operating during the efforts to sell the company, a sign that the bank believes that a significant sale price is likely. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2016 11:29:20 GMT -5
And as a result of this, Diamond has stopped shipping to Hastings, they did not receive anew comics shipment this week, and may not unless they pay off Diamond. Ironically, there were to be 2 Hastings only variants this week-one for Han Solo #1 and one for Batman #1-I am guessing they were printed but are now not being released-I can only imagine what kind of speculator action will crop up on those, but since there is no above board release for them now, Hastings won' see a dime of it.
And this points to why bankruptcy reorganizations so often fail-what sells is new product-the old product is there and hasn't sold leading to the financial situation-creditors won't throw good money after bad so stop filling orders for new products by the troubled company-troubled company cannot generate revenue to get out of bankruptcy or pay creditors, company goes bye bye. The viscous circle/downward spiral has begun.
-M
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 17, 2016 12:12:27 GMT -5
A good regional chain is Vintage Stock, or Entertain Mart, in certain locations. adamwarlock2099 and I are both in Oklahoma and have mentioned them before. They buy back issues in lots, paying very little for them I'm sure, but, they turn them fairly quickly in the back issue bins and have reasonable pricing. They also carry new stuff, the normal geek culture, and used movies and video games as well. Even my wife likes to pick up a movie now and again, or, gasp, even rent one. Locations are OK, KS, TX, MO, AR, and CO. Vintage Stock |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 18, 2016 17:11:57 GMT -5
Funko, owed $2.59 million, with other companies in the business of geek culture following. Funko is just as awful as Diamond is. Their two big lines, Pop! and ReAction, are very uninspired and just have copy and paste heads and bodies. There are some characters that actually benefit from that style, but they're few and far between. And there's no two words that make me want to vomit more than "geek culture" |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2016 17:19:38 GMT -5
I can see how they owe Funko so much. I hit up a Hastings today and they had thousands of POP!s in stock. In addition to the usual display, they had wheeled out carts with even more.
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Post by Warmonger on Jun 18, 2016 18:13:22 GMT -5
Funko, owed $2.59 million, with other companies in the business of geek culture following. Funko is just as awful as Diamond is. Their two big lines, Pop! and ReAction, are very uninspired and just have copy and paste heads and bodies. There are some characters that actually benefit from that style, but they're few and far between. And there's no two words that make me want to vomit more than "geek culture" I don't get the appeal behind those Funko POP bobbleheads either. And what I really don't understand is why the majority of people keep them in the boxes when displaying them. As if these mass produced things are ever going to be worth much at all. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 18, 2016 20:56:54 GMT -5
I don't get the appeal behind those Funko POP bobbleheads either. And what I really don't understand is why the majority of people keep them in the boxes when displaying them. As if these mass produced things are ever going to be worth much at all. It's the same problem I have with people who are actually dumb enough to still believe that zero and number one issues are will be worth something in the near future. It's also why I loathe variant covers because they artificially inflate the value of an otherwise monitarirly worthless comic |
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Post by Warmonger on Jun 18, 2016 21:19:57 GMT -5
I don't get the appeal behind those Funko POP bobbleheads either. And what I really don't understand is why the majority of people keep them in the boxes when displaying them. As if these mass produced things are ever going to be worth much at all. It's the same problem I have with people who are actually dumb enough to still believe that zero and number one issues are will be worth something in the near future. It's also why I loathe variant covers because they artificially inflate the value of an otherwise monitarirly worthless comic Yeah, I'll never understand this variant craze. Some people paying an extra $10, $20, hell even over $100 for the same contents you get for $3-4. And like you said, the vast majority of those comics are never going to accrue any real value at all. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 18, 2016 21:25:49 GMT -5
You're paying extra money just because "oh, the cover is different". It's incredibly similar to chase variants in packs of trading cards, which again, are added every so often to random packs solely to drive up their value.
For example, a couple of years ago, I bought a sealed box of Wacky Packages at a close out store chain for about $5 when it originally went for $40 when it was new
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2016 22:47:49 GMT -5
Funko is just as awful as Diamond is. Their two big lines, Pop! and ReAction, are very uninspired and just have copy and paste heads and bodies. There are some characters that actually benefit from that style, but they're few and far between. And there's no two words that make me want to vomit more than "geek culture" I don't get the appeal behind those Funko POP bobbleheads either. And what I really don't understand is why the majority of people keep them in the boxes when displaying them. As if these mass produced things are ever going to be worth much at all. I don't get the appeal behind those Funko POP bobbleheads either. And what I really don't understand is why the majority of people keep them in the boxes when displaying them. As if these mass produced things are ever going to be worth much at all. It's the same problem I have with people who are actually dumb enough to still believe that zero and number one issues are will be worth something in the near future. It's also why I loathe variant covers because they artificially inflate the value of an otherwise monitarirly worthless comic It's the same problem I have with people who are actually dumb enough to still believe that zero and number one issues are will be worth something in the near future. It's also why I loathe variant covers because they artificially inflate the value of an otherwise monitarirly worthless comic Yeah, I'll never understand this variant craze. Some people paying an extra $10, $20, hell even over $100 for the same contents you get for $3-4. And like you said, the vast majority of those comics are never going to accrue any real value at all. You're paying extra money just because "oh, the cover is different". It's incredibly similar to chase variants in packs of trading cards, which again, are added every so often to random packs solely to drive up their value. For example, a couple of years ago, I bought a sealed box of Wacky Packages at a close out store chain for about $5 when it originally went for $40 when it was new But then there's "old school" collectors who pay substantially more for comics that were newsstand editions rather than direct market editions, cover price variants (35 cent versions of 30 centers, etc.) that were done in limited markets, more for copies that have Mark Jeweler ad inserts or more for ASM #238 if it has the Tatooz ad insert, or more for the test market covers of Justice League #3 or Fury of Firestorm #61 done in 1987, or incredibly more for the Amethyst 35 cent cover variants (the book was normally 60 cents) done in only a handful of markets, or for double covers (hey we have a whole thread on that here btw), etc. etc. It's not a new breed of stupid collectors doing this, it's companies seeing what collectors have been doing for decades and putting out things that exploit that sure, but the market was there to be exploited. You get the products your buying patterns deserve and the things you guys are complaining about were done based on the buying patterns of collectors form the very start of fandom. Glass houses and stones and all that. -M |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 18, 2016 23:10:26 GMT -5
What exactly are "Mark Jeweler Edition" comics, I've always been confused by them. I always thought that they were repackaged versions of older comics like some department stores did with various Charleton titles
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2016 23:44:30 GMT -5
What exactly are "Mark Jeweler Edition" comics, I've always been confused by them. I always thought that they were repackaged versions of older comics like some department stores did with various Charleton titles As I understand it, they were newsstand versions of comics with an ad insert for the Mark Jewelers company, a cardboard insert at the center staple usually. They were only distributed on or for US Military bases I believe so there were a good number of copies but had narrow distribution channels. Most however, were likely tossed after reading rather than saved, so that may play into it, but they were exactly the same as the regular newsstand comics except they had an extra ad inserted inside them at the centerspread. If someone else more knowledgeable wants to expand/correct me, all the merrier, my knowledge of this is mostly secondhand even though I have a few. I think I have 1 or 2 Mark Jeweler versions floating around in my books, but they wren't bought intentionally or paid extra for, they just kind of would up being copies I bought and didn't discover it was so until I took them out of the bags they were in when I bought them. Same thing happened with the 35 cent variants of Amethyst for me, I wound up with them when I was simply buying issues of Amethyst out of bargain bins and when I was researching to find why the cover price was so different for the time period discovered they were variants that got $40-$50 each in some markets. I was somewhat tempted to get the regular version and flip those to fund other comics, but decided to hang on to them just to give the run a little more flavor in my collection. -M |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 19, 2016 5:51:37 GMT -5
You're paying extra money just because "oh, the cover is different". It's incredibly similar to chase variants in packs of trading cards, which again, are added every so often to random packs solely to drive up their value. For example, a couple of years ago, I bought a sealed box of Wacky Packages at a close out store chain for about $5 when it originally went for $40 when it was new My answer to that is that those customers that purchase the variants have money to spare. It would be like having a choice between 2 bottles of water and paying more for a particular bottle just because it has a picture of Snoopy on it. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 19, 2016 9:10:21 GMT -5
My answer to that is that those customers that purchase the variants have money to spare. It would be like having a choice between 2 bottles of water and paying more for a particular bottle just because it has a picture of Snoopy on it. Yeah, branding can go a long way sometimes. I'm not telling people how to spend their own money on something they so obviously want, but the whole thing still seems incredibly queer to me |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 19, 2016 9:30:33 GMT -5
My local comic shop puts all the covers out equally. One time I gave back a Blank Savage Dragon #200 because I wanted art on the cover I was paying for.
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