2020 Marvel Masterpieces

[uncodan]

think i've done pretty good for myself with MM20. i'm just a collector, not an investor or anything trying to make $$. i bought a box and 4 packs on epack and after some wheelin and dealin here's how i did for myself

- complete tier 2 base and what if sets
- xmen and avengers mirages
- kaleidoscope /25 captain america
- captain america and she-hulk what if acetate achievements
- captain marvel and captain america what if rainbow achievements
- misc. what ifs of characters i love
- orange /99 storm

i think i did great. and that's the upside of epack, despite the terrible website, if you have a knack for trading, you can turn nickels into dollars.

my fav characters to collect are cap and storm. been trying to trade for the storm whatif to no avail. like others have been saying, seems like metallurgy is the only currency on epack currently, and i could really care less for them :/

[mnvikingstwins]

Wasn't expecting them to be thick stock, corners/edges suck

[merwase]

Originally Posted by dd316

Can you better define "mailed it in"? We didn't copy the older MM cards to save time, we were instructed to do so.

"Mailed in" in means - ones I couldn't figure out if an 8yr old did them. Rushed work almost scribbles in some cases. Yes I do understand the reason in most cases was lack of time with most artists working to very rushed deadlines. Im sure some also felt the 1-2$ they were getting paid per base sketch was not worth the time, which I also understand. But it is what it is.
Some artists thought that the sketches were be based on any of Joe's art and others thought it was only his 92mm artwork. So even the sketch artists were confused. Anyway, the overall quality of sketches in mm sets has improved since 16.

[sfgiants4life]

Originally Posted by merwase

"Mailed in" in means - ones I couldn't figure out if an 8yr old did them. Rushed work almost scribbles in some cases. Yes I do understand the reason in most cases was lack of time with most artists working to very rushed deadlines. Im sure some also felt the 1-2$ they were getting paid per base sketch was not worth the time, which I also understand. But it is what it is.
Some artists thought that the sketches were be based on any of Joe's art and others thought it was only his 92mm artwork. So even the sketch artists were confused. Anyway, the overall quality of sketches in mm sets has improved since 16.

Really? Overall I prefer 2016 MM sketches. I thought it went downhill after 16.

[TimBuckTwo]

I think this years sketches were pretty good overall. None really mailed in.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by sfgiants4life

Really? Overall I prefer 2016 MM sketches. I thought it went downhill after 16.

Originally Posted by TimBuckTwo

I think this years sketches were pretty good overall. None really mailed in.

90% of sketches in MM aren't done well. They weren't in 2016, 2018 or 2020. Someone mentioned it a few posts above, but I'm not sure what anyone expects when some artists are paid a few dollars per card. Of course the effort will be minimal.

If you're buying sketches, from any set, hoping to make money...you're doing it wrong. Very few artists actually gain value. Very few sketch sets actually gain value. They're heavily over produced. That could change going forward(I don't think it will...) and of course there is always the outlier who makes a huge jump(see Effix from a few years ago and Effix now as an example or as far as sets go see FUXM sketches).

MM is about the inserts/parallels and even the base(buying nickel base cards and moving at 20 cents a few years later is a good way to make money if you can do it in bulk). Artist autos. Gallery Reds. Kaleidoscopes. Metals this year. If you just look back at the last 3 sets, those are the cards that typically seem to actually gain in value.

[sketchopolix]

Originally Posted by orion9578

90% of sketches in MM aren't done well. They weren't in 2016...

Will respectively disagree with 2016 since it gives me a chance to shill my eBay listings. Just finished posting 200+ sketches from that set that represent the ones I did not sell at the time (so you can expect the ones I no longer have are probably better "quality"). My remainders do contain some less impressive efforts, but not anywhere near close to 90% of them are dogs. Did not buy '18 and '20 in the same quantity so can't compare except to say that what I did pull and what I did see on ePacks gave me the perception that those years were a lower level down (many more head shots would be my main comment). For those that were in this in the Rittenhouse years, they banned head shots and hired Warren Martineck as an art director to work with artists on "drawing the Rittenhouse way." That seemed to work quite well.

On average, willl take RA over UD sketches in a heartbeat.

Let the quibbling commence.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by sketchopolix

Will respectively disagree with 2016 since it gives me a chance to shill my eBay listings. Just finished posting 200+ sketches from that set that represent the ones I did not sell at the time (so you can expect the ones I no longer have are probably better "quality"). My remainders do contain some less impressive efforts, but not anywhere near close to 90% of them are dogs. Did not buy '18 and '20 in the same quantity so can't compare except to say that what I did pull and what I did see on ePacks gave me the perception that those years were a lower level down (many more head shots would be my main comment). For those that were in this in the Rittenhouse years, they banned head shots and hired Warren Martineck as an art director to work with artists on "drawing the Rittenhouse way." That seemed to work quite well.

On average, willl take RA over UD sketches in a heartbeat.

Let the quibbling commence.

Haha. Fair enough. I'm basing it off of what I pulled and saw in the marketplace on ePack. I opened a lot of 2016(I know you know that as I sold a lot of NICE sketches to you!). I opened a lot of 2018 as well. 2020 I took a big step back as I wasn't as big of a fan of it as a whole(though I do like the Metallurgy set and will show it once it comes in from COMC).

With that said, the sketches in all 3 years weren't of very good quality overall. I'm pretty confident my 90% number isn't to far off. Of course you'll have outliers, not only in different artists but of course certain characters will sell for more even when poorly done.

I think a great example from this year is the quality of sketches in Anime vs the quality of sketches in MM. Yes, Anime were harder to pull, but if you chase down the same artists from either set...the effort that was put into their Anime work VS MM work is noticable(both via ended prices and just the eye test). I'm not sure if they were paid more(I assume they must have been), but a lot of these guys who are putting trash sketch cards into MM are capable of doing better work...they just don't.

It becomes pretty easy to see, not only by opening a lot, but again...looking at market place. I'm not a big sketch collector but the added value is always nice when you're opening to use as trade-bait or recoup cost. And, 90% of them...from all the years I opened, are not worth much on the open market.

[sketchopolix]

Originally Posted by orion9578

I'm pretty confident my 90% number isn't too far off.

One more chance to shill - check my listings. I think there are considerably more than 20 good looking sketches there. Part of it may very well be that, because artists were told to draw in the style of Jusko's '92 set, you see a lot of repros there and if you are mimicking Jusko, how bad can it be?

Always happy to buy your sketches in bulk Starry Archer so feel free to ping me next time you go deep into a Marvel release.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by sketchopolix

One more chance to shill - check my listings. I think there are considerably more than 20 good looking sketches there. Part of it may very well be that, because artists were told to draw in the style of Jusko's '92 set, you see a lot of repros there and if you are mimicking Jusko, how bad can it be?

Always happy to buy your sketches in bulk Starry Archer so feel free to ping me next time you go deep into a Marvel release.

Shill away my friend . There are tons of great sketches, from all years. I'm not sure how many boxes where produced in each set. I'll use 10k as a nice round easy number. If 90% of sketches aren't great quality, that still leaves 1,000 good/great sketches. That's a lot! I'm sure there are a lot more than 10k boxes per set as well, so tons of great sketches to be had/bought/sold.

As far as your sketches go, you hand picked those . Of course they're likely better than the average sketch on site. 2020 is the freshest memory I have of MM since I just opened it. I did 5 cases, so 60 boxes. I was short a few sketches, as I did it by the pack, but I think I ended up with 52~. 1 of those sketches was great and 2-3 were good. The rest were not good and were traded for nothing or sold for nothing. That'd be less than the 10% I quoted, though only by 1. 2018 and 2016 were no different, I just don't remember the numbers so I can't be as exact.

[afrobandit]

Any ideas what the other half of this Mark Stroud sketch will look like, it's 1/2.

[sketchopolix]

Originally Posted by orion9578

2020 is the freshest memory I have of MM since I just opened it... 1 of those sketches was great and 2-3 were good. The rest were not good and were traded for nothing or sold for nothing.

I completely agree about MM20 sketches on epacks purchased by the pack. (about 3 cases)

[mnvikingstwins]

How about 92 marvel masterpieces? I've got 250 cards from it at PSA

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Haha. Fair enough. I'm basing it off of what I pulled and saw in the marketplace on ePack. I opened a lot of 2016(I know you know that as I sold a lot of NICE sketches to you!). I opened a lot of 2018 as well. 2020 I took a big step back as I wasn't as big of a fan of it as a whole(though I do like the Metallurgy set and will show it once it comes in from COMC).

With that said, the sketches in all 3 years weren't of very good quality overall. I'm pretty confident my 90% number isn't to far off. Of course you'll have outliers, not only in different artists but of course certain characters will sell for more even when poorly done.

I think a great example from this year is the quality of sketches in Anime vs the quality of sketches in MM. Yes, Anime were harder to pull, but if you chase down the same artists from either set...the effort that was put into their Anime work VS MM work is noticable(both via ended prices and just the eye test). I'm not sure if they were paid more(I assume they must have been), but a lot of these guys who are putting trash sketch cards into MM are capable of doing better work...they just don't.

It becomes pretty easy to see, not only by opening a lot, but again...looking at market place. I'm not a big sketch collector but the added value is always nice when you're opening to use as trade-bait or recoup cost. And, 90% of them...from all the years I opened, are not worth much on the open market.

I agree with this. Overall sketch quality in the last 3 MM hasn’t been the best, and it doesn’t need to be the best since the brand/base/inserts sell the set just fine. Good point about Anime, I noticed this as well. There are still great sketches to be found in these MM releases for sure, but the average sketch quality does seem to be down.

[TimBuckTwo]

Originally Posted by afrobandit

Any ideas what the other half of this Mark Stroud sketch will look like, it's 1/2.

Fighting someone grey or there is a rock in the scene. Search ebay and epack for Stroud sketches -Solved. PM sent.

[majorflippers]

Originally Posted by sketchopolix

One more chance to shill - check my listings. I think there are considerably more than 20 good looking sketches there. Part of it may very well be that, because artists were told to draw in the style of Jusko's '92 set, you see a lot of repros there and if you are mimicking Jusko, how bad can it be?

Always happy to buy your sketches in bulk Starry Archer so feel free to ping me next time you go deep into a Marvel release.

good lord, if your listings are any example, MM20 sketches > MM16 sketches

[GrangerCollectr]

Finally had a few cards show up from COMC

They look so much better in person versus the scans online

[yaoming]

Nice! Is that deadpool a kaleidoscope?


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[imwonderboy]

Originally Posted by GrangerCollectr

Finally had a few cards show up from COMC

They look so much better in person versus the scans online

How long did it take to get a delivery from COMC? Just curious - I have some stuff I have been waiting on hoping they would get their #@#@#@#@ together.

[GrangerCollectr]

Originally Posted by yaoming

Nice! Is that deadpool a kaleidoscope?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep, kaleidoscope /25 - bought that one on COMC pretty cheap. Luckily pulled the Spidey and the Venom.


I did the express rushed (was about $21 for shipping) and got them in about 2 weeks.

[yaoming]

Nice cards Granger


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[orion9578]

Originally Posted by imwonderboy

How long did it take to get a delivery from COMC? Just curious - I have some stuff I have been waiting on hoping they would get their #@#@#@#@ together.

Supposedly they're 1-2 weeks behind. Random results when shipping different stuff. Purple MM set I requested on the 2/24 was delivered today. 19 Alexis YG's I requested on 2/3 haven't even moved. Both where shipped using the most expensive option(fastest).

We'll see what happens on the next set I requested. Almost positive it was shipped after the notice they put out on the 1-2 week thing. Requested on the 6th though, so we'll see. I'll post pictures of that one(full MM Metallurgy set) when it arrives .

[imwonderboy]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Supposedly they're 1-2 weeks behind. Random results when shipping different stuff. Purple MM set I requested on the 2/24 was delivered today. 19 Alexis YG's I requested on 2/3 haven't even moved. Both where shipped using the most expensive option(fastest).

We'll see what happens on the next set I requested. Almost positive it was shipped after the notice they put out on the 1-2 week thing. Requested on the 6th though, so we'll see. I'll post pictures of that one(full MM Metallurgy set) when it arrives .

Hopefully they are getting caught up with the hiring of 50 new shipping people. I love the platform but their execution has been awful since COVID. Prior to that I had no problems at all getting timely submissions and delivers.

[GrangerCollectr]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Supposedly they're 1-2 weeks behind. Random results when shipping different stuff. Purple MM set I requested on the 2/24 was delivered today. 19 Alexis YG's I requested on 2/3 haven't even moved. Both where shipped using the most expensive option(fastest).

We'll see what happens on the next set I requested. Almost positive it was shipped after the notice they put out on the 1-2 week thing. Requested on the 6th though, so we'll see. I'll post pictures of that one(full MM Metallurgy set) when it arrives .

Look forward to seeing a pic of that Metallurgy set. They look pretty incredible in person

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by imwonderboy

Hopefully they are getting caught up with the hiring of 50 new shipping people. I love the platform but their execution has been awful since COVID. Prior to that I had no problems at all getting timely submissions and delivers.

They've actually been awful for many many years. I wouldn't use them at all, for anything, but if you buy on ePack...you're stuck using their platform. The price gouging on shipping has always got under my skin! I'm getting old so I don't recall things to well anymore, but I think shipping alone for 2016MM was in the $1,500+ range. You can literally get a car shipped for roughly that amount.

Originally Posted by GrangerCollectr

Look forward to seeing a pic of that Metallurgy set. They look pretty incredible in person

Good to know! I actually haven't seen any in person yet. 2 are coming from eBay and the other 88 from COMC.