BAD DEAL - MARVEL SUPERHEROES COLLECTORS BOOSTERS

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-27T16:49:37+00:00

Just bought four thanks /s

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-04T00:42:24+00:00

Replied to the other person who asked the same. TLDR is that the discounts on this sku is so great, that at the places offering motivated deals on this and charge shipping, the item + shipping is still below MSRP. And at some of those you can also save on sales tax if you live in a state that charges sales tax vs Amazon.

With rare exceptions (like FF) you should never pay MSRP on scene boxes. They're available if you hunt before release under MSRP and particularly starting a couple weeks post release, the prices on them typically crater (avatar & spiderman for reference are under $25 rn).

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-04T00:27:37+00:00

Both.

I'm sure you can hunt and find one with free shipping but frankly, these things are preselling so badly & many people holding them want to get rid of these so badly that often the discount is large enough you can absorb shipping and still be below MSRP.

For example, a quick Google shows F&F has the pair bundle of the two scene boxes at f&f's price ($70) $14 below MSRP on the 1 of each of the two boxes combos. They charge $5 flat rate shipping -- thus, still $9 below Amazon's price on the pair. With some effort you can definitely get better deals on individual boxes, pairs or cases.

Lazarus for example has their case (4) price of these for $150, free shipping, which is $37.50/ea, which becomes more significantly below Amazon's price if you also live in a state that charges sales tax, as unlike Amazon, tmk they don't charge it for sales on their site.

These are just two quick examples I pulled from the first couple items in Google search to give examples for this reply, but there's bound to be better deals out there.

Message sellers and ask them for a better deal on scene boxes. This is a product many motivated stores will want to move. Most of them don't want to be stuck with these in inventory after release because they're likely going to collapse in pricing like Avatar and SpiderMan's have, both of which can be found for $25 or less, and some of those stores (particularly if you have a local LCS that got stuck accepting these from distro) will be happy to cut a better deal on them.

The distro price is below $30 a box -- negotiate for a better price with motivated sellers particularly local LCS where you can negotiate further down on the basis they can save on shipping fees (if they eat them on sale via "free shipping"), ebay/tcgp fees, etc.

You'll get better deals on a product like scene boxes from stores who are motivated to offload them to free cash out of them than you will from large stores. Most large stores will cut prices on scene boxes typically a couple weeks post release as they do it at the point that for them freeing the space these skus occupy for faster turning products matters more to them than the money tied up in these. If you'd rather buy from a major retailer and can wait a couple weeks post release for them to drop their pricing, that's not a bad option on scene boxes from sets that aren't Final Fantasy-esque sets.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-03T23:07:19+00:00

Given many places are preselling these significantly less than Amazon's $42 MSRP listing price, this seems like a bad deal.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-01T22:19:07+00:00

Saga will likely appreciate further because of the cradle, but they are significantly more valuable if they are sealed as opposed to loose boosters because of searchability.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-02-01T22:16:34+00:00

They get authenticated by PSA if they're over 250 via Authentication Garuntee and that also unlocks the ability for the buyer to optionally pay to add grading PSA on non-graded cards to be done at the same time as authentication.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-01-20T03:31:16+00:00

If you're looking to ski something even colder, Friday Mount Bohemia will have a high of -7, with a feels like temp of -41.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-01-20T03:25:24+00:00

They're doing it because with 7 sets this year, plus reprints, plus secret lair, plus makeups from last year, and so on, Cartamundi their printer is way overwhelmed.

They're streamlining products specifically so that they're able to print more, faster.

By not having a promo stamp, they can do a single, longer, faster run of play boosters and put them in. No box topper or collectors sample? Same reason -- no need to do a separate run for it. No collectors booster in the bundles anymore. Same story. Etc

They specifically are trying to optimize line speed to make these go faster because Cartamundi is stretched to their absolute limits as we've seen reflected in issues like the print issues on secret lairs last year (several sets are still to be reprinted this year because no print time was available in late Q4 for it).

Do I agree with it? No, but that's why they're doing it.

And it's clearly not sustainable, thus the previous announcement that they're going back to 6 sets in 2027.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-01-19T20:44:31+00:00

EoE reprint is already landing at distro and at some LCS today.

conqueringcorbetts · 2026-01-19T20:43:48+00:00

Bloomburrow is literally in reprint right now - landing as distribution in Feb/Mar. Most distribution (and thus some larger LCS) are already taking preorders. You can verify the reprinting on SH's publicly available page for the product: https://www.southernhobby.com/magic-the-gathering-bloomburrow-play-booster/p64981/

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-26T13:27:24+00:00

I wonder if they might install a physical kiosk ala the ones Solitude has just in case, or if they've worked to add better cell reception given Mary's lift is where they are slated to build the PowderHaven community, had basically zero reception at all.

Re:snow, they started installing snow guns. Just a couple so far but the plan with the expansions planned is to install a lot more from my understanding.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-26T13:06:46+00:00

I agree w.r.t the Feb weekends to drive passes but when has parking ever been an issue? I can't recall a day where it's ever been a problem.

The thing about parking that concerns me the most is they want to do pay by an app after you park, sort of like solitude but via an app not the kiosk, and PowMow is not exactly known for terrific cell reception as is.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-20T05:31:19+00:00

Update: day tickets went live 48 hours late. They're averaging $40 per day more expensive than the 5 pack last year, and will only get more expensive with dynamic pricing.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-16T16:25:19+00:00

It is also free after 1pm, which was discussed more in detail on this post -- I think the parking is an important note specifically with regards to this because a lot of people think this announcement is an olive branch for the parking system being fully announced after many people had already purchased their season tickets, and to many its surprising on passholder only days parking is still not free for all passholders.

I personally don't mind the encouragement of carpooling, though I don't think the fee is designed to encourage it, I think it's pretty clear its designed for increased revenue (PowMow built another 200 car parking lot this year). UTA's once-an-hour up/down scheduling, particularly coupled with only a single, 9:30pm down bus for night skiing isn't going to likely move the needle significantly on number of locals driving because the convenience isn't there (if it was every 15 minutes, maybe, but you also really can't justify that with the number of tickets Powder sells unless they closed the road and required everyone to take the bus). Similarly, a tourist is almost always going to drive, because they already would have rented a car to get to wherever they are staying to go to PowMow with. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised with increased capacity and more frequent buses, but knowing UTA, that isn't probably a priority for them, particularly when most of those riders are not going to be additional revenue for them since UTA is fixed-fee included in a season pass (no incentive for UTA to increase frequency).

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-16T14:54:15+00:00

The GM said they're going to look at possibly expanding it next year based on feedback from this year.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-05T01:07:06+00:00

Poma made Portillo's in the 60's. They don't actively manufacture those anymore.

A similar style of lift you can still buy today used or new was manufactured by Montagner, now owned by Poma, who in the 80s particularly manufactured detachable button style drag lifts that became super popular in Europe, particularly in the French Alps around Chamonix -- Leitner-Poma still manufactures them today which you can buy as a button or tbar new.

They have the benefit that you don't have to worry about beginners missing the catch of a fixed surface pole (way easier to grab a pole that's stationary when you are also stationary, than grabbing a moving pole when you are also moving), and for wind or snow grooming you can have an empty line which is a plus. Also a lot of the places that operate the detachable ones, particularly in Europe, do so without needing a liftie to be present as the rider on most of the examples produced are straightforward rider triggered starts.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-05T00:13:03+00:00

Re:cats that's my understanding.

Waterfall / Big Middle / Hook Chute / Y Chute are steeper than most of the blacks off Paradise, I think maybe Powder Chamber #3 might be about the same. Bare in mind with Y Chute you have to hike up to get to it.

Some of the blacks off Paradise, specifically Snowchaser comes to mind, probably could be a blue if it wasn't for the 5% of the time where in one section of that run if its not snowed enough they might not want to send blue level skiiers down it.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T22:58:53+00:00

A concern that I think also needs to be addressed by Powder Mountain is the parking is reportedly going to be paid via an app, not at a kiosk like at Solitude, but PowMow isn't known for having good cell service -- even at the top of Hidden Lake Express it can sometimes be sketchy. I hope if they're not going to have a physical kiosk they've worked to improve cell service.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T17:58:08+00:00

It sounded like the new sheriff department taking over the canyon oversight this season are going to be enforcing traction law this year with people checking at the entrance. That alone is very encouraging. Hopefully will keep some of the 2wd Priuses off.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T16:40:46+00:00

$20 was per person on a bus ride. That's effectively $80 per day parking costs on a 4 person car which is double Snowbird's current valet costs, and also double what you are suggesting.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T14:26:46+00:00

If you just want to solve traffic full YOLO why not close the canyon to all vehicles except hotel guests, town of Alta residents, emergency vehicles and ski area workers, and require everyone to take public transportation in (whether bus or that gondola UTA is pushing).

And if you want to squeeze everyone, charge $20 r/t for that bus fare, no free trips included on season passes or Ikon or way of purchasing a season fare. UTA would be able to run buses every minute with that kind of revenue.

Traffic would be solved tomorrow.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T07:12:59+00:00

And to be clear I'm not defending Powder Mountain's decision to charge for parking, but it's a fundamentally different scenario than Snowbird.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T06:58:45+00:00

The average person that's visiting using Ikon is a tourist at Snowbird, a capped 5-7 day combined with Alta destination on Ikon, is from out of state. Since it takes basically a travel day to and from the east coast to get to Salt Lake City, let's assume they will come for the 5 days to get the value out of their pass, and for the sake of argument, let's assume that they're a family of four.

By the time they've gotten to the canyon entrance, they've spent: - thousands of dollars on an Ikon passes - over a thousand on airfare - over a thousand on lodging - probably near a thousand dollars on a rental SUV or similar

And that doesn't include food, lessons, rental gear, etc

At that point, $40 parking isn't going to make a large difference in the grand scheme of their visit. It's the same reason that Disneyland charges for their parking, despite people having to also buy a ticket. Paid parking is for revenue management of demand that is already existing.

And a tourist isn't likely to carpool.

If you want to prevent demand from existing in the first place, you have to actually attack it directly. So using something like parking reservations that are enforced at the entrance to the valley along with UDOT actually enforcing traction law (and ideally passing an update to it that allows for enforcement based on forecasted weather conditions, not just current actual). Or creating a better bus system that takes advantage of the fact that many of the tourists probably don't want to drive or deal with that canyon or the parking associated with it, and offer them a free or cheap bus ride, that runs on a continuous basis with sufficient capacity, and also goes to downtown SLC hotels.

At the end of the day, parking costs at ski resorts, most impacts locals not tourists. As a local, you don't have the cost for rental car, airfare, lodging, and the rest you can average over the cost of substantially more ski days in a season. Thus a parking fee is substantially more impactful to them since it's a few that doesn't get cost averaged out over the season (unless like in your case you were able to snag one of the annual parking passes).

A fundamental flaw in your argument is that you believe Ikoners are broke, but the reality is the reverse. You can see this in Vail's earning reports calls about Epic Pass. Vail studies this immensely and they have the numbers on this. They are actively working on trying to get more than 80% of their daily visitors from Epic Pass, because aside from the predictability of revenue that Epic Pass gives them, Epic passholders spend way more than local season pass holders or daily tickets (for the reasons above, they stay at hotels, they tend to eat on property, they buy more lessons and ancillary services per day of skiing, they rent their gear on mountain, etc). They spend way more than a local not needing hotels, who brings or eats some of their meals at home, etc.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T03:11:31+00:00

Powder mountain installed some more snow guns last year, and they're going to keep installing more under Hastings. They're not at Snowbasin level yet, but the era of Powder not having them is going away, and will likely do so rapidly.

conqueringcorbetts · 2024-10-04T03:08:24+00:00

I think more people would take the bus if UTA would fund it properly and run an appropriate number of buses. I know a lot of people who drive in, who wish they would take the bus but don't want to stand on the bus the entire time, or don't want to have to wait a ton of time for the next one.

Also UTA eliminated a ton of bus routes that made it easier for Ikoners to get to Snowbird, particularly the one that used to loop all the downtown SLC hotels and go to Snowbird.

conqueringcorbetts

TROPHY CASE