The next marvel card boom?

[One more set]

I have a theory that the next marvel boom will hit when the 40-45 year old crowd retires. Those will be the original collectors of marvel cards from the early 90’s that retire in 15-20 years from now that will have extra cash and extra time to get back into the hobby. It’s all a cycle…

[DynaEtch]

I think that crowd is currently in its boom phase related to marvel cards, with respect to careers and disposable income, nostalgia from 90s sets. Maybe more like 35-45 age range now. I dont know if it'll be a spike just from retiring, but things will depend on where the marvel market is 20 years from now- who has the license etc.

Marvel cards were in the wider public's consciousness in the early 90s, almost rivaling sports cards. The pandemic was boom #2, where people from sports cards started getting involved, be it 90 Marvel Universe, PMGs, grading marvel cards, etc. It's a good question what could happen in the future. The pandemic situation and lockdowns/collectible market was obviously a very unique thing.

[Archangel1775]

I'm going with the current 20-something year olds that grew up watching the OG MCU movies and Sony Spider-man movies. But you could be right on the 60 something year olds probably buying the more expensive stuff.

[Rictor]

If you follow collectibles, when collectors retire, that's when they dump their collections. They tend to have less space for junk after they move into a retirement condo.

That's why all the baby boomer collectibles are dead and have gone down in value. That stuff peaked in the 80s when baby boomers where at their peak disposable income age. My parents had thousands of antiques and collectibles but sold everything when they moved from a 4 bedroom house with a 1000 sq. ft. game room to a 3 bedroom condo about a third of the size of their old house. They were surprised that the value of all their stuff had dropped so much from their collecting days.

When the 80s kids (Gen X) reach retirement age, expect all the 80s nostalgia stuff to hit the market and drop in price. This will be followed quickly by the 90s stuff.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by One more set

It’s all a cycle…

When was the previous boom? The only reason the last one happened was because of the pandemic.

[finfangfan]

Yeah… I agree that the COVID boom was a unique animal that will likely never be repeated.

And the 90’s nostalgia was largely built from young kids having easy access to (relatively) cheap card packs back in the day. While UD has made recent strides to make retail blasters for many of there newer sets, I would say the bulk of those sales are made online by 30-40 year olds instead of kids impulse buying at the register.

I am doubtful that the Marvel card market is building another generation of nostalgia to take over when the current 30-40-50 year olds retire in 15-20 years.

[Brobocop]

Was the $100k Spider-Man PMG blue sale ever confirmed as legit? I always questioned that one as it seemed way too good to be true. I was able to unload a ton of 2013 Retro stuff around then for prices I never thought would be possible for base cards so I'm grateful, but I still think the whole thing was a massive pump and dump. We'll never see that again, and I think overall, cards will never see that kind of money again either.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Was the $100k Spider-Man PMG blue sale ever confirmed as legit? I always questioned that one as it seemed way too good to be true. I was able to unload a ton of 2013 Retro stuff around then for prices I never thought would be possible for base cards so I'm grateful, but I still think the whole thing was a massive pump and dump. We'll never see that again, and I think overall, cards will never see that kind of money again either.

AFAIK those sales were largely legit, which is incredible to think about. Same version of that Spiderman (2013 Retro pmg blue) just sold on ebay two months ago for $14,400 (probstein though- major grain of salt). But if that is anywhere near market value now, while a huge step down from 100k+, it's still rather amazing compared to like 5 years ago. I'll never forget a specific Goldin auction at the height of things where it was tons of PMGs- random blues were going for like 30k to 70k....we're not even talking about Spiderman, but like Captain America etc. Insane.

What I suspect was going on was a very small group of individuals with loads of money were trying to influence the market for the PMGs- really, determine it- and actually were throwing crazy amounts at them. Probably big spenders from sports, like basketball. And who have obviously stopped doing that now. Some sellers I know benefited big time with huge sales from this- people that happened to have some key PMG blue and greens from the Marvel Retros. Unfortunately Im not one of them, as I dumbly sold off my PMGs from those sets before the pandemic.

[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

AFAIK those sales were largely legit, which is incredible to think about. Same version of that Spiderman (2013 Retro pmg blue) just sold on ebay two months ago for $14,400 (probstein though- major grain of salt). But if that is anywhere near market value now, while a huge step down from 100k+, but still rather amazing compared to like 5 years ago. I'll never forget a specific Goldin auction at the height of things where it was tons of PMGs- random blues were going for like 30k to 70k....we're not even talking about Spiderman, but like Captain America etc. Insane.

What I suspect was going on was a very small group of individuals with loads of money were trying to influence the market for the PMGs- really, determine it- and actually were throwing crazy amounts at them. And have obviously stopped doing that now. Some sellers I know benefited big time with huge sales from this- people that happened to have some key PMG blue and greens from the Marvel Retros. Unfortunately Im not one of them, as I dumbly sold off my PMGs from those sets before the pandemic.

Don't get me started, I hit blues of Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Punisher. Could have bought a house with those lol. I also don't look back because I know I would have 100% sold them between 2013 and 2020.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

Don't get me started, I hit blues of Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Punisher. Could have bought a house with those lol. I also don't look back because I know I would have 100% sold them between 2013 and 2020.

Yep, in my case basically a full rainbow of Thanos PMGs from both 2013 and 2015 Retro. The blue itself from 2013 was selling for like $20-25k at the peak. I try not to think about the what ifs…it’ll just drive me nuts. The people who did the best were people who just completely lucked out and happened to have the relevant cards at that time of pandemic- imagine people who master set collected those Retros like 5+ years ago. There was that one poster who had the sealed case of 2013 Retro in their closet and sold it for an absolute ton.

[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Yep, in my case basically a full rainbow of Thanos PMGs from both 2013 and 2015 Retro. The blue itself from 2013 was selling for like $20-25k at the peak. I try not to think about the what ifs…it’ll just drive me nuts. The people who did the best were people who just completely lucked out and happened to have the relevant cards at that time of pandemic- imagine people who master set collected those Retros like 5+ years ago. There was that one poster who had the sealed case of 2013 Retro in their closet and sold it for an absolute ton.

Stuff was crazy. I sold the base set of the Metal inserts for $2k. Sold so many Wolverine and Spider-Man base cards for $100+ a pop. That helped the sting a ton. I held onto the only PMG for a bit too long, got about $500 for a Rogue Red. Between that and NBA Top Shot, that stuff helped me pay cash for my wedding.

[PoPCulture]

I hope it’s no time soon. Every time there has been a Boom I’ve had to get a shot and stay in my home for 3 months.

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by One more set

I have a theory that the next marvel boom will hit when the 40-45 year old crowd retires. Those will be the original collectors of marvel cards from the early 90’s that retire in 15-20 years from now that will have extra cash and extra time to get back into the hobby. It’s all a cycle…

It's called the nostalgia pendulum.

[gdelan1]

If anyone in that boom wants some 90s sets let me know

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[One more set]

Originally Posted by dd316

When was the previous boom? The only reason the last one happened was because of the pandemic.

Rumor has it the government created Covid just to spike marvel card sales. The big guy’s son was sitting on a surplus of impel cases.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by One more set

The big guy’s son was sitting on a surplus of impel cases.

If he were smart he would've gotten them all graded in 2019.

[BobCollects]

There won't be another "boom" like we saw during the height of COVID unless there's another global pandemic.

Just like with comic books, the vast majority of people don't know or care about Marvel trading cards. The collecting community is relatively small, the pump and dump speculator community even smaller. I don't see how there can be an organic boom unless a huge number of people who aren't collecting start seriously collecting and bring in outside money.

[finfangfan]

Are the nonsports breakers still doing well or have most of them moved back to only sports? For awhile there it looked like everyone was streaming nonsports but I guess the audience for that fell off a cliff too post-pandemic.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by BobCollects

There won't be another "boom" like we saw during the height of COVID unless there's another global pandemic.

You also need Gary Vee publicly speculating. It's amazing how many people still hang on his every word, even though many of them unwisely bought high during the boom. I made an off comment on a VeeFriends tweet and they came after me, it was crazy to see.

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by dd316

You also need Gary Vee publicly speculating. It's amazing how many people still hang on his every word, even though many of them unwisely bought high during the boom. I made an off comment on a VeeFriends tweet and they came after me, it was crazy to see.

That guy's involvement is the kiss of death for collectibles/investments. Sure he's a good hype man, but if you're not in his circle of friends, you will lose your ass.

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Are the nonsports breakers still doing well or have most of them moved back to only sports? For awhile there it looked like everyone was streaming nonsports but I guess the audience for that fell off a cliff too post-pandemic.

IMO, it depends on the product. For most non-sports, product is affordable by the hobby box, and sometimes product even makes it to retail as blasters.

But once hobby box prices started hitting sports box prices, then the breakers ruled because a) they could afford it; and b) they had the distributor connections so they could actually get product. Most of the breakers aren't "sports" or "non-sports" they're guns for hire, willing to break whatever they can sell.
As a capitalist, I support breakers breaking product. As a hobbyist, I hate how "my hobby" has become much more focused on the money aspect over the hobby aspect.

[Brobocop]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Are the nonsports breakers still doing well or have most of them moved back to only sports? For awhile there it looked like everyone was streaming nonsports but I guess the audience for that fell off a cliff too post-pandemic.

Didn't Fanatics make a breakers only Stranger Things box? If so, I never saw any of that broken. Wonder how much of that is sitting out there?

It's encouraging to see No Way Home selling for near $100 a box. Had that come out when the movie did, they'd be $250+ I bet. Feels like non-sports is healing faster than sports.

[PoPCulture]

Originally Posted by HiltonL

IMO, it depends on the product. For most non-sports, product is affordable by the hobby box, and sometimes product even makes it to retail as blasters.

But once hobby box prices started hitting sports box prices, then the breakers ruled because a) they could afford it; and b) they had the distributor connections so they could actually get product.Most of the breakers aren't "sports" or "non-sports" they're guns for hire, willing to break whatever they can sell.
As a capitalist, I support breakers breaking product. As a hobbyist, I hate how "my hobby" has become much more focused on the money aspect over the hobby aspect.

This hits the nail on the head. Breakers will buy anything available because they can make money on splitting the case between 30 to 100 different people. They do not need to have any interest or knowledge in the subject. Most breakers will butcher the names of athletes and fictional characters equally. I was bored last night so I thought I would see if I could spend my PSA Loupe credits so I went there for the first time ever. First breaker I watched was opening Bowman Draft and he asked “What is Topps calling the 2 cards in the back of each pack?…Refractors?” About the Refractors that are always the last 2 cards of each pack. I mean, they’ve only been called this for 30 years now so I should cut him some slack.

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by Brobocop

It's encouraging to see No Way Home selling for near $100 a box. Had that come out when the movie did, they'd be $250+ I bet. Feels like non-sports is healing faster than sports.

Non-sports is a much much smaller pond than sports cards. If what you mean by 'healing' is that prices have dropped, then sure. But that's because the pool of interested buyers is much much smaller so price sensitivity is higher

[glorbgorb]

Originally Posted by HiltonL

Non-sports is a much much smaller pond than sports cards. If what you mean by 'healing' is that prices have dropped, then sure. But that's because the pool of interested buyers is much much smaller so price sensitivity is higher

Is this also evidence that the sports pumpers have moved on from non-sports? I feel like there is a certain price point where, if it drops below, sports people are no longer interested. Get above that line and it piques their interest again. Surely it needs to get to a certain per-box price for breakers to be interested.