The V2 X-O Manowar # 1 A.S.H. edition! (Surprise VcVSS!)

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 12:01 am

Drat! I missed it!

magnusr · Post by **magnusr** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 12:02 am

Valiant_1 wrote:SOLD OUT.

Another problem with collecting parts of the US cultural treasure and not living there is the time zone difference. It's not 7 AM yet but I woke up way too late today.

Like MagnusRF did last time, here's me hoping a vacancy will show up. Alternatively, if whoever got number 7 is willing to make a deal that would result in an extra donation to Greg, please PM me.

/Magnus

PS, thanks to Valiant_1 for pulling together another great project.

soundoftheuniverse · Post by **soundoftheuniverse** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:38 am

For my own purposes of maintaining composure I'm going to pretent like this one doesn't exist and I'll continue collecting #23's of future projects.

I'm voting for the 48hr warning lights before any further VcVSS projects drop, if a vote was held.

DOH!

Can't believe I missed one. This is a REALLY BIG PILL.

I especially liked Greg's format. GET Ready... Set... GO!!!

soundoftheuniverse · Post by **soundoftheuniverse** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 4:57 am

Valiant_1 wrote:Oh yeah, by the way....THERE WILL BE ANOTHER.

When?

You'll be the first to know. THANKS!!!

24hr WARNING would be cool but 48 would be better, just to give us all a chance to get one. (YES, I understand this was a SURPRISE.)

This is kinda weird because I missed one. I wasn't planning on this happening but I NOW know how some of you guys felt when you missed the 1st, 2nd and 3rd projects.

It sucks for sure. Now I can say I feel your pain, albeit a tad bit less.

Valiant1 you wild and crazy guy, I do like your style though. I would have released mine in similar fashion so I ain't Hatin on ya.

Much luv, just give a lil WARNING first.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:03 am

I guess with this suprise project selling out so quickly it answers my question about a VH-2 VcVSS...the one I am working on is going to be the normal 50 issues and I thought that was going to be way too many. I didn't know demand for a VH-2 one would be like this.

Nice work Valiant1.

-Brian

Mr.V · Post by **Mr.V** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:24 am

Yeah, a little notice would have been nice....

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 8:57 am

soundoftheuniverse wrote:For my own purposes of maintaining composure I'm going to pretent like this one doesn't exist and I'll continue collecting #23's of future projects.

I'm voting for the 48hr warning lights before any further VcVSS projects drop, if a vote was held.

DOH! Can't believe I missed one. This is a REALLY BIG PILL.

I especially liked Greg's format. GET Ready... Set... GO!!!

I'm with you on this one Sound, on one of the few night's that I actually have something going on......

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:15 am

soundoftheuniverse wrote:
I'm voting for the 48hr warning lights before any further VcVSS projects drop, if a vote was held.

I especially liked Greg's format. GET Ready... Set... GO!!!

I agree that some type of warning (48 hours or preferably more ) is probably best. Another advantage to this is that board activity will probably be up in anticipation. The days before EW 5 and a few weeks after, there seemed to be a lot more dicussion/activity than usual!!

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:18 am

betterthanezra wrote:I guess with this suprise project selling out so quickly it answers my question about a VH-2 VcVSS...the one I am working on is going to be the normal 50 issues and I thought that was going to be way too many. I didn't know demand for a VH-2 one would be like this.

Nice work Valiant1.

-Brian

I remember Dino saying he might pass, but he snatched one quick! Guess there is more demand for a VH2 project than we thought!

gowaltrip · Post by **gowaltrip** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:22 am

Is there still time for me? I want one if possible

gowaltrip · Post by **gowaltrip** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:25 am

I did not even read it the whole way through, I just posted 1st and looked 2nd, now that I am reading, I see it ended about 10hrs ago. Well, if there is a such things as alternate, fine. Otherwise....sigh.

Valiant_1 · Post by **Valiant_1** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:48 am

I feel your pain on the lack of notice on the book,, but it really fit in my schedule this way best as well. This way I had a little more time to focus on everyone's e-mails and not skip back and forth between work, school, family, etc....

As for the other 3 projects, I didn't get ANY of the other VcVSSs. That's one reason why I went VH2 on this one. I enjoy the books, AND it was an experiment in seeing if there was enough interest.

Apparently, there was.

Sorry I didn't have more.

dino · Post by **dino** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 2:15 pm

400yrs wrote:
betterthanezra wrote:I guess with this suprise project selling out so quickly it answers my question about a VH-2 VcVSS...the one I am working on is going to be the normal 50 issues and I thought that was going to be way too many. I didn't know demand for a VH-2 one would be like this.

Nice work Valiant1.

-Brian
I remember Dino saying he might pass, but he snatched one quick! Guess there is more demand for a VH2 project than we thought!

I did didn't I...WHY AM I SO WEAK???

I couldn't resist, I just couldn't. I will say though that the fact that it was part of the series was a big pull. If this was not a VcVSS and had a dif coa I might not have grabbed it. Then again, i am weak.

dino · Post by **dino** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 2:17 pm

Valiant_1 wrote:As for the other 3 projects, I didn't get ANY of the other VcVSSs.

.....this is a problem. We have to come up with a way to fix this in future projects. There aren't THAT many valiant fans, I'm sure we can come up with something. 100 copy print runs? 2nd prints?

Chuck · Post by **Chuck** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:22 pm

betterthanezra wrote:I guess with this suprise project selling out so quickly it answers my question about a VH-2 VcVSS...the one I am working on is going to be the normal 50 issues and I thought that was going to be way too many. I didn't know demand for a VH-2 one would be like this.

Nice work Valiant1.

-Brian

Hey Brian,

Sounds like you'd better give everyone 48hrs notice

Anyways Steve (Valiant1), thanks for taking time out to provide us a VH2 VcVSS, you did a greate job

elyhekrue · Post by **elyhekrue** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:36 pm

Aarrggg...

That's what I get for trying to have a day out with my daughter... Troll around some comic shops looking for books, nothing. Have some fun with my daughter in the process, great. Get home to see I just missed out on a big opportunity, crap...

I'm with the rest of those calling for some advanced notice next time. That way I can just lock my daughter in the closet for an hour while I hit the refresh button

Don't get me wrong guys, I think this is a great idea and I'm all for doing things for Greg since he does so much for us - but we might want to start thinking of making more of these since the demand is going up for them. The way I look at it is we have a fixed price on these, who cares if we produce 100 of them. Greg will still be getting the same amount for each book (he doesn't make anything on the aftermarket value).

Let's look at an alternate plan: right now we auction one off on ebay ($150 or so) and then sell 45 (guessing as some will be comped I'm sure) for $20 or $25 bucks - that's about $1,200 roughly (on the high end). How about if next time we produce 100 of these, auction the first one off before we put the rest up for sale (say #1) - that way the speculator price will still be higher (probably). After that auction the rest go up for sale on this web site.

Greg and this site stands to make a lot more money if we try it this way. Under this new model it would net this site roughly $2,000 (on the low end). Additionally, you won't have as many frustrated fan boys out here whining because they missed out. Everybody wins!

I don't know about you, but I think we could do 100 VH1 books right now. Especially if we open them up to people buying multiples after a week has passed.

However, I think some of you are also right that I'm not sure we could do as many for VH2. But, since this is now a series (the VcVSS series) more people would be willing to cross over (much like what happened with dino). Ahh, having fond memories of Unity and how it made me start buying every damn Valiant book. Worked then and it works now.

My $.02

Thanks for reading.

Kyle

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 5:54 pm

elyhekrue wrote: Let's look at an alternate plan: right now we auction one off on ebay ($150 or so) and then sell 45 (guessing as some will be comped I'm sure) for $20 or $25 bucks - that's about $1,200 roughly (on the high end). How about if next time we produce 100 of these, auction the first one off before we put the rest up for sale (say #1) - that way the speculator price will still be higher (probably). After that auction the rest go up for sale on this web site.

Kyle, I'm not really understanding you here. Do you mean that there would be no set price for board members or that the market price of the first one sold through auction would go into calculating board member prices?

elyhekrue wrote: Additionally, you won't have as many frustrated fan boys out here whining because they missed out. Everybody wins!

I don't know about you, but I think we could do 100 VH1 books right now. Especially if we open them up to people buying multiples after a week has passed.

I think a hundred would be too many. First, it may be tough to find 100 copies of a book (cased). Most importantly, I think it would cheapen the feel for the VcVSSs. EW #5 for example: Nearly all board members who wanted one got one and it probably would've been ALL if it wasn't for the half a dozen hit and runners picking up the book.

As the board grows, I believe it is wise to increase the numbers, but SLOWLY. With a hundred copies 1 of 2 things will happen. Board members will get multiple copies or they will have to be sold on e-bay. If the latter happens, to me it wouldn't really be a "ValiantComics.com" special, but just another offer of a signed book to the market.

I think auctioning one copy is good. Maybe it would be a good idea to auction one before making it available to board members and then one more copy afterwards. But there has to be some notice and also some qualifications as far as who is eligible to buy one.

wrunow · Post by **wrunow** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:10 pm

Not for anything, I love the VcVSS's that I have and am dissappoined that I missed out on this one while watching my son in in the Maine State High School Hockey tournament, so I wouldn't have been there anyway no matter what, but I think we can get carried away with these books and they should really be limited in number to so many a year. There are only so many sigs. to be had out there so why burn through them all, at least the popular ones in the first couple of years.

As far as how they go, I am all for a private dutch auction on ebay, I think it can be done, that would be fair, discrete, and could include all the boardmembers. It would also set the market value of the book.

Anyway, congrats on getting a book done, I know it's not all that easy to put it together, so credit to you for getting it done.

elyhekrue · Post by **elyhekrue** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 6:44 pm

400yrs wrote:
elyhekrue wrote: Let's look at an alternate plan: right now we auction one off on ebay ($150 or so) and then sell 45 (guessing as some will be comped I'm sure) for $20 or $25 bucks - that's about $1,200 roughly (on the high end). How about if next time we produce 100 of these, auction the first one off before we put the rest up for sale (say #1) - that way the speculator price will still be higher (probably). After that auction the rest go up for sale on this web site.
Kyle, I'm not really understanding you here. Do you mean that there would be no set price for board members or that the market price of the first one sold through auction would go into calculating board member prices?

No, sorry for confusing you, I think that there should always be a set price for these right out of the gate to board members. My thinking was that we do the auction first as it will likely get a higher $ value (as everyone will be needing the book at that point). If we let the board members at it first many of the people who might bid on it will already have it. This is an emotional purchase for many of us and we tend to spend more when we are passionate about something. As a general rule our passion for something lessens if we have already obtained it.

After the auction, the rest are open for sale on this web site for a fixed price.

400yrs wrote:
elyhekrue wrote: Additionally, you won't have as many frustrated fan boys out here whining because they missed out. Everybody wins!

I don't know about you, but I think we could do 100 VH1 books right now. Especially if we open them up to people buying multiples after a week has passed.
I think a hundred would be too many. First, it may be tough to find 100 copies of a book (cased). Most importantly, I think it would cheapen the feel for the VcVSSs. EW #5 for example: Nearly all board members who wanted one got one and it probably would've been ALL if it wasn't for the half a dozen hit and runners picking up the book.

As the board grows, I believe it is wise to increase the numbers, but SLOWLY. With a hundred copies 1 of 2 things will happen. Board members will get multiple copies or they will have to be sold on e-bay. If the latter happens, to me it wouldn't really be a "ValiantComics.com" special, but just another offer of a signed book to the market.

I think auctioning one copy is good. Maybe it would be a good idea to auction one before making it available to board members and then one more copy afterwards. But there has to be some notice and also some qualifications as far as who is eligible to buy one.

What is the greater risk for the fans of this site: having a great feel of a highly prized book that few people have or having a bunch of very happy fans visiting this site over and over that have a tangible peice of property associated with this site?

Look, I love this web site. It's the only online community I interact with (and the company I work for has a massive amount of community web sites). I missed the last VcVSS by only days because I hadn't found this site before then. I thought it was an awesome idea and wanted to take part. Found out I couldn't and figured I'd be in on the next one. Now I'm out on this one as well. It's not that big a deal, but for someone like me that is new here and want's to be involved it's frustrating.

If there were 100 of each of the previous issues, there would have likely been some around for me. I could have picked one up, helped this site, and felt like I was contributing.

Do I think 100 is a lot - sure - do I think it's unreasonable - not really. Who's to say that another newbie down the road wouldn't want to pick one of these up? I can't be alone in that. And that newbie would be helping this site just as much as the rest of us.

Special and inclusive I'm all for, special and unobtainable is crazy...

I guess all I'm saying is that I'd like to help and be invloved, and right now I'm not. All I keep doing is bugging Greg to keep my inventory updated

(by the way, I've gone from #94 when I first listed my inventory on this site, to #34 right now! Did this in just over 2 months - woo hoo).

I also have to say that I don't want to come off negative here. I think the person that got this together did a fantastic job! If you hadn't there wouldn't be all this hub-bub. Everyone who has contributed to this site is A#1 in my book. It can't be easy to get that done and it looks awesome. I have my ideas for helping to contribute to this site and it's community - but more on that as we get closer to Comic-Con.

I'm still a happy guy and love all of you, I guess I'm just frustrated I missed out on an opportunity to help and own an item from this site that I now visit on a daily basis.

Kyle

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:04 pm

elyhekrue wrote:
What is the greater risk for the fans of this site: having a great feel of a highly prized book that few people have or having a bunch of very happy fans visiting this site over and over that have a tangible peice of property associated with this site?

NONE of the people who registered to the boards in the days just before EW #5 to get the book have contributed since getting the book. Lots of "members" would just register to get the books and not contribute as these people did. How does that help the website besides $?

elyhekrue wrote:If there were 100 of each of the previous issues, there would have likely been some around for me. I could have picked one up, helped this site, and felt like I was contributing.

Something else to consider is that 100 books is a lot more books for creators to sign. Also, it could be a burden to those who do the projects to hold onto the books til 100 sell to 100 people.

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:10 pm

Locking there daughter in a closet for a hour??
elyhekrue???

elyhekrue · Post by **elyhekrue** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:38 pm

400yrs wrote:
elyhekrue wrote:
What is the greater risk for the fans of this site: having a great feel of a highly prized book that few people have or having a bunch of very happy fans visiting this site over and over that have a tangible peice of property associated with this site?
NONE of the people who registered to the boards in the days just before EW #5 to get the book have contributed since getting the book. Lots of "members" would just register to get the books and not contribute as these people did. How does that help the website besides $?

I hadn't really realized that as I haven't been around to see that. But is that such a big detractor in the big scheme of things? Did those people not benefit by getting those books and walk away with a positive feeling about this site? Did this site not get a bunch of money that it could really use?

I really think you are only re-enforcing my point in that a larger number of books printed would have now made it into the hands of people that wanted them. What is the down side here?

400yrs wrote:
elyhekrue wrote:If there were 100 of each of the previous issues, there would have likely been some around for me. I could have picked one up, helped this site, and felt like I was contributing.
Something else to consider is that 100 books is a lot more books for creators to sign. Also, it could be a burden to those who do the projects to hold onto the books til 100 sell to 100 people.

I really don't know the logistics of putting something like this together. You may very well be right on this point. If that is the case then so be it, all I'm saying is that there has to be some way to please a greater percentage of the patrons on this site.

Something just occured to me, are these things all done by people that are not Greg? With Greg only signing off on the project and helping with the certificate? If so, I apologize for inferring that we create boundries for these projects. I had no idea that people would be using their own inventory for such an undertaking. In no way did I mean for anyone to warehouse these books.

See what happens when you're new around someplace, you start sticking your nose in a programs business when you don't know how it works. If I overstepped my bounds I apologize.

That being said, I don't really lock my daughter in my closet... However, she did sleep in there once - but she wanted to do it and begged me to let her.

Kyle

Valiant_1 · Post by **Valiant_1** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:42 pm

Me personally.... if you do too many it will lessen the impact of the book. I mean, I didn't want to go around to comic shops looking for VF-NM copies of this book. I was able to get 25 copies of V2 X-O, and that's what I went with. And I agree, I can tell you that Chen wouldn't have been keen on signing 50-100 copies of this book.

Also, the fact that V2 isn't really VALIANT (I mean, THE V1 stuff), it left a little room to make changes, such as the COAs, and the name of the book. I think A.S.H. editions should stick for the name of any V2 books done. What makes is special is the EXCLUSIVE nature of the signed book made just for board members here. I always asked Greg about how this book should be handled (I started e-mailing him months ago about the X-O ASH) and I think it worked well. SonicDan was a big help as well. He approved the final design of the COA.

I don't know about the 48 hours notice thing, though. Even if you do, you're still going to get those that try to tell you they have plans made, scheduled events, etc, etc. and try to vocalize changes. I think it should be up to the discretion of the person who got the books together. I had lots of people who got THIS book, that were SO happy because they never got the VcVSSs.

Just my two cents...nothing but love!

400yrs · Post by **400yrs** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:47 pm

elyhekrue wrote: See what happens when you're new around someplace, you start sticking your nose in a programs business when you don't know how it works. If I overstepped my bounds I apologize.

Nah dude, I just think it's important to get all the information/opinions out there to consider - yours, mine, whoever's - so that way each and every project will go smoother!

elyhekrue wrote:That being said, I don't really lock my daughter in my closet... However, she did sleep in there once - but she wanted to do it and begged me to let her.

The closet's not so bad. I've spent several nights hugging the porcelein thrown, but I'm ok.

Valiant_1 · Post by **Valiant_1** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 7:59 pm

400yrs is right, my friend. Closets aren't so bad. My wife even designed me a matching dog house out back!

It's always important to hear ideas. This way maybe the next result will be even better!