Tired of spending too much money of the clix you need to complete your collection or crush your friends? Are you puzzled and confused by the prices you’ve seen in the price guides in comics and gaming magazines? Sure, we all are. But what can you do about it? Well, fear not! HeroClix Marketplace is here to help! HCMP will demystify the price of singles on the secondary market to help you get the most for your money.

Today we’ll try to debunk a popular HeroClix myth as our focus turns to three colors that have never gone together before: Silver, Purple and Bronze.

It’s all about Fantastic Forces up in this joint, so come on in!

Click on “Replies” below to continue.

A Big ‘ol Smooch to WizKids
First things first, and just so I don’t have to keep repeating myself, these sculpts are beautiful, the paint jobs are fantastic and the overall level of quality of the figures from this set greatly surpasses anything I’ve seen from WizKids to date. Look at Spidey! Look at Green Goblin, Vulture, Hawkeye, and Iron Fist! Holy Smokes! All I want to know is how are they going to top this?!?

And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled HeroClix Maketplace
The first part of this edition of HeroClix Marketplace is from a request made by fellow HCRealmser and all-around good egg, Shadowchaser, who had a request to see some data that would help establish any sort of price differential between the coveted Purple Ring uniques and their Silver Ring counterparts. To that end, we’ll be looking at three of the pieces that I’m most excited about, 2099 Spider-Man, Days of Future Past Wolverine and the Big Pink himself – Nimrod. I’ve heard from many sources that Purples are worth at least one-and-a-half times the value of Silvers. I’ve heard it so many times, in fact, that I believed as a prima facie axiom. Does it hold water? Let’s take a look, shall we?

Ol’ Dut’s Purple Methodology
Some numbers that I’ve seen elsewhere on this site would indicate that there are about 6000 of any given Silver unique from this set and a very high-end estimate of 500 of each of the Purples. The number of each Silver unique seems kosher. However, since that number of Purples seems a bit high to me, and barring an official response from WizKids to my request for information I’m going to create my own number of Purples, thusly:

Number of Pre-Releases = 31
Assumed number of participants at each Pre-Release = 60
Number of each Purple Unique given out at each venue: 5 copies of each of the 12 Uniques (for a total of 60 pieces).
Total number of any Purple Unique = 155 (number of Pre-Releases X number of each given out).

So this means, per my methodology, there are 155 Purple Nimrods, 155 Purple Spideys, and so on.

The Reviews: Silver Rings vs. Purple Rings
The first batter in today’s line up is the 2099 incarnation of Spider-Man (Silver). While he doesn’t have any Perplex on his dial, he does offer something new to the standard Spidey dial full of Super-Senses, Leap/Climb, Incap, Willpower and Outwit; this Spider-Man has Blades/Claws/Fangs! I’m all a-quiver with anticipation of bouncing this Spidey up on somebody and rolling a big six for damage. Ka-Boom, baby! OK, so this Spidey also puts Combat Reflexes in the mix, but to me that’s a whole lot less exciting than BCF. Spidey is in pretty high demand, with 35 of 36 listings coming to a successful close. Only one failed to garner any bids, but this is due to the fact that the start price was a zany $34.95. I guess it never hurts to ask, but I’m not going to hold it against the value of the most amazing Spider-Man sculpt to date. The vital stats for Spidey are:

FF Spider-Man (Silver)Number of completed auctions: 18
Average Auction Price: $25.34 (highest $33.00, lowest $18.51)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 17
Average BIN Price: $27.79
Number of auctions with no bids: 1
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $34.95
Average “Guide” Price: Too new to rate. (TNTR) - Take that pesky magazines!
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $26.50 Spidey’s new, he’s hot and he’s gonna cost ya. Buy four boosters and take a chance or spend the money and be sure; it’s up to you.

By comparison, the assumed 155 purple Spideys are quite a bit rarer than the assumed 6,000 Silver Spideys. Given this disparity, one would expect a huge variance price, but instead we get a very slight price differential between the bid amounts with the Purples sitting just $5 higher than the silvers. The BINs for the Purple Spideys range from a low of $34.99 to a crazy $50.00. These amounts are too high to pay when you consider that the average bid price for this piece doesn’t break the $30 mark. STRIKE ONE!

FF Sipder-Man (Purple)
Number of completed auctions: 12
Average Auction Price: $27.13 (highest $41.00, lowest $20.50)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 5
Average BIN Price: $42
Number of auctions with no bids: 2
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $30
Average “Guide” Price: Too new to rate (TNTR)
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $30.00 I can’t advocate anything higher since 10 of the 12 bid auctions ended at or below this amount.

Next up at the plate we have the “Days of Future Past” incarnation of Wolverine, and for a mere 71 pointss, I don’t know that there is any better version of this character. He starts with a 12 attack and by his fifth click, he’s still got a tasty 10 attack. He’s got 3 clicks of Charge up front and three of Regen in the back, and a great Regen roll gets you back to the top of his dial. Even if you only get two clicks back though, he’s more than ready to casue some bigtime trouble. Biff! Sock! Zowie! I know there are a great many Logan fans out there, But I can’t see myself using any other version of Wolverine unless it is thematically necessary. For those wishing to give their opponents the Hama-esque “One way trip to Claw City”, this is what you can look forward to shelling out:

FF Wolverine (Silver)
Number of completed auctions: 15
Average Auction Price: $18.88 (highest $24.95, lowest $14.25)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 10
Average BIN Price: $22.24
Number of auctions with no bids: 3
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $30.00
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $20.00 is the median bid price and a hppy medium between the bid average and the BIN average.

Once again, with Wolverine that 1.5 multiplier is suspiciously absent. The Purple is fetching less than three dollars more than the Silver version’s bid price, and the same is true of the BIN prices. While anything Wolverine is certainly a hot collectable, we must understand the distinct possibility that due to these pieces being banned from official tournament play, their appeal lies mainly with a small niche of collectors. STEE-RIKE TWO!

FF Wolverine (Purple)
Number of completed auctions: 8
Average Auction Price: $21.20 (highest 36.00, lowest $12.09)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 5
Average BIN Price: $24.99
Number of auctions with no bids: 3 (and one more that ended unsuccessfully at $16.19 with its reserve not met)
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $31.95
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $22.00 is the most I’d pay for the Purple, and only $2.00 more than the Silver!

The last Unique we’ll look at today is Nimrod, probably one of the most sought-after pieces in the set. He’s big, he’s pink, he’s 264 points of trouble. And did I mention he’s bloody PINK?!?! I kind of like the clear version of Nimrod shown on the FF posters a little better, but I’m not going to quibble over his color. His first click is just about as scary as you’re going to find in the game: 12 move with Running Shot, 12 attack with Pulse Wave(!), 17 D with Impervious and 4 damage with Outwit.. Ka-Pow! Pair that up with a mighty 10 range with two targets and he’s a serious contender for one of the toughest pieces in the game. Although being grounded and lacking mobility after his first click will make him a little tricky to play and position, Pinky is undeniably a menace and should strike fear in those who face him. For those not lucky enough to pull one from a booster yet, here’s what you’ve got to look forward to:

FF Nimrod (Silver)
Number of completed auctions: 23
Average Auction Price: $33.00 (highest 46.00, lowest $26.01)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 20
Average BIN Price: $35.49
Number of auctions with no bids: 1
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $39.95
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $35.00 He’s new, Hot Pink and you just gotta have him. But the sellers know that, too.

Now if I were a betting man, which all my friends who have taken my money in poker games know I am, I would bet that if we were to see any evidence of the 1.5 price multiplier on any of the Purples it would be for Big Pink here. And placing such a bet would be about as wise as trying to draw an inside straight (something I am prone to do more often than I should). Let’s be honest. The folks with the Purple Pink have the best shot of making some quick cash, but we still only see a $4.00 price differential between the average bid prices of the Silver and the Purple. While the BIN price jumps by $13, my advice would be, “Patience, young Jedi.” If you can tone down the enthusiasm a bit and bid you’ll save yourself over $10. All in all, if you dig the Purple figures, for a few bucks more than the Silver you can get one. If you’re looking to sell, he’s not really the goldmine he was purported to be, so you may as well either keep him or trade him straight up for a Silver version if you need him for Tourney play. STRIKE THREE! YOU’RE OUTTA HERE!

FF Nimrod (Purple)
Number of completed auctions: 9
Average Auction Price: $37.20 (highest $40, lowest $30)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 5
Average BIN Price: $48.66
Number of auctions with no bids: 2
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $55.00 (The other was an astonishing $75 opening bid. Who do ya think he is, KC GL?! KC Supes?!)
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $40 for now. Watch this drop to $30 or less within a couple of months.

After looking at these pieces side by side, I’d consider the Purple Ring value myth completely debunked. If people aren’t going to pay 1.5 times the Silver Ring cost for a Purple Spidey, Wolverine and Nimrod, I can’t see them doing it for Armin Zola or the Mad Thinker. The bottom line is that a few impatient collectors will shell out $10 more than the Silver in a BIN, but to most bidders, that little bit of Purple ink is only worth about $4 more than the Silver.

But enough of my Amazing Randy impression. Now for something completely different. In light of the fact that FF has given us some of the best LE’s in quite some time, I thought it would be fun to include reviews of my favorite LEs from the set: Cain Marko, Norman Osborn, Sue Storm and Namor (before you ask, Night-lite (Kurt Wagner) will be reviewed next week).

The Marquee prize is truly The Unstoppable Juggernaut in all of his bone-crunching, building-crushing, booty-whuppin’ splendor. Cain Marko is a remix that really hits the spot. Charge? Check. 12 Attack? Check. 17 Impervious? Uh-huh. Natural 4 damage? Checkaroo! Dropping the X-Men TA and weighing in at a svelte 155 points, I will say right here and now I will never play any other Juggy. This guy is the personification, the avatar, the very embodiment of punishment made flesh, err, umm, plastic. What can I say, I’m a sucker for grounded bricks. If the rumors are true and FF is experiencing a shortened production run like Legacy, I would not look for the eventual influx of boxed LE’s to drive the price down much since the piece’s themselves are identical. I guess it will be neat to finally see just how much that little box is worth. Here’s how much cash you need to raise for Cain right now.

FF Cain Marko
Number of completed auctions: 16
Average Auction Price: $18.77 (highest $29.95, lowest $12.01)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 15
Average BIN Price: $19.83
Number of auctions with no bids: 2
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $17.99
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $20.00 should get you Cain just about every time, and in my opinion, he’s worth every penny.

Who hasn’t been waiting for Norman Osborn since day one of this fine game? I for one am much more OK with the wait after seeing both the sculpt and the stats. Long waits are peachy when quality is assured and satisfaction is guaranteed; and Norman delivers on both counts. Running Shot, 11 attack, Willpower and 4 Damage on his first click? I’m sold! This is all starting to remind me of the Infinity Challenge days when most of the LEs were just a little bit better than their REV counterparts. Not many Norman’s are on the streets just yet – only 19 were listed and 17 were sold. Just for the name alone, most clixers will want one. Since he’s carnage on a glider, he’ll be wanted even more. At just under 100 points, Norman is going to be a riot to field. Just how much is all this madness? Less than the cost of a Pumpkin Bomb, I’d wager.

FF Norman Osborn
Number of completed auctions: 8
Average Auction Price: $13.73 (highest $19.95, lowest $10.50)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 9
Average BIN Price: $15.77
Number of auctions with no bids: 2
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $18.00
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $15.00, the median price and a nice fit with the BIN average. If Cain, Sue and Kurt weren’t hogging most of the attention right now it’d be higher.

Everybody wants Sue Storm. Her 19 D coupled with the “Fantastic Four” feat card really make her a must-have in the same vein as Legacy’s Oracle and “In Contact With Oracle” card. If it weren’t for “Brilliant Tactician” being tailor-made for Mr. Fantastic, I’d think that WizKids was a bit misogynistic in relegating an exclusively female cast of iconic characters into these uber-support roles. At a mere 49 points, she provides a great alternative to the LE Invisible Woman and will most likely be the starting point for any Fantastic Four theme team. 33 out of 35 Sue’s listed ended successfully, and only one of the two that didn’t have any bidders was unreasonably priced ($29.95 for an opening bid). Currently, Sue Storm is commanding some very respectable money as we see below:

FF Sue Storm
Number of completed auctions: 16
Average Auction Price: $20.24 (highest $28.00, lowest $12.50)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 17
Average BIN Price: $19.66
Number of auctions with no bids: 2
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $19.95
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $20.00 will get you most bid auctions and almost all BINs. A fair price for a great LE.

Lastly, here’s one for the all the ladies out there. If any clix from this set was screaming, “I’m buffed, waxed, oiled and ready to drape myself across the hood of something shiny, red and fast at an auto show!”, it would be Namor. What kind of self-confidence or self-image does it take to gallivant around town fighting baddies in nothing more than teeny-weeny greeny Speedo?! While it may not be worth the years of therapy to get to that answer, the LE Namor is pretty solid and is definitely worth getting. When compared to the Sub-Mariner REV, he’s virtually identical to the Experienced version, save for Namor’s better opening speed of 10 with Charge and the loss of a TA. For 122, he’s probably the most cost efficient of the bunch. There were over 30 Namors listed during the review period. While all but five sold, his price tag is suffering due to Namor not being overly different from his REV and due to him standing in the shadow of Sue, Night-lite, and Cain. Here’s Namor by the numbers:

FF Namor
Number of completed auctions: 27
Average Auction Price: $10.12 (highest $16.67, lowest $5.00)
Number of completed “Buy-It-Nows”: 6
Average BIN Price: $13.23
Number of auctions with no bids: 5
Lowest start price of auction with no bids: $9.95
Average “Guide” Price: TNTR
Ol’ Dut’s Patented Price Point: $10.00 is an appropriate apex for our amorous and alluring amphibious auto show all-star.


Thanks and Plug Time
It was great seeing the old reliables and meeting some new players at the Fantastic Forces Pre-Release at the Monster Den on June 26th. As predicted, DOOMBOTSKI did a great job keeping the event going smoothly and just as he promised prizes rained on us like a monsoon! If you’re in the area, check out DOOMBOTSKI’s Fantastic Forces Marquees at:

Fantastic Forces Marquee at Dreamers

Fantastic Forces Marquee at Monster Den

And also, stop by Jay Johnson’s Twin City Comics for his FF Marquee:

Twin City Comics Fantastic Forces Marquee

ol_Dut’s Price Guide!!!
My “at-a-glance” price guide is up in the “Trading General Discussion” forum. Short, sweet and to the point, it simply contains “ol_Dut’s Patented Price Point” for each figure I’ve reviewed along with the date the price was set. Hit the link below or drop by the forum to check it out! Updates with today’s information and more will be coming soon!

ol_Dut’s Price Guide

Thanks for reading! See you next week for more Fantastic Forces Uniques and LEs!

Groovy.

I think it could be that the purples in the last two sets went for more because of the fact that purples were newer to the collecting biz. People didn't know what to pay for 'em.

Great read - The purples are not that high on my list traded a purple ring Nimrod for an Annihilus LE and purple spiddy for 3 mid range uniques

One thing in the article you mentioned pouncing with spidy and using BCF, you cant use the 2 powers together., although it would be nice!

D'oh! I should know better than that. Thanks for keeping ol_Dut honest and change my Ka-Boom! to a Plink!

Yeah, I have been disappoint in the price of the purples with this set since I am one of the people selling on eBay. I got 9 Purples at the Prerelease and I have sold 7 of them so far. I got these from trades and playing in several side flights. At least I have got my money back from the Prelease. I usually sell the Purples and get the silvers and use the difference to help pay for the rest of the set. In the past I got over $50 on a number of Purples the week after the Prerelease. In the past I could completely pay for my set buy selling the Purples and other figures aquired in the Prereleases. So in effect I got my MM and Legacy sets for free. This will not happen with FF. However, I do think several things are a factor in the lower price.

1.) Common perception on these boards over the last several month was that this set of Uniques was some of the weakest. I actually like the uniques in this set, but it hard to go up against the KC figures and Loki or Gladiator.

2.) Like Buddyhoss said, these are not as new a thing as they used to so the wow factor has been lowered. Even thought I have to say Spider-Man 2099 looks so much better with a Purple ring then a Silver Ring.

3.) Summer and the holiday weekend. One thing to note is that the first week and a half these figures were out coinsided with a Major holiday that people were gone on. The best time to ever buy things on ebay is on a weekend especially over a holdiay. There are so many great deals to be had on auctions ending during this time. The set came out last Wednesday, people immediately put on 3-5 day auctions when the set came out. These auctions ended over the July 4th weekend. Most people wait until the last couple of hours to bid on an item to get the lowest price. Heck most bids occur in the last several minutes (on reason I almost always do my auctions as fixed price). These auctions were ending on a weekend a number of people were gone. I got some of those really good deals on FF uniques this weekend.

4. The prelease was only 3-4 days before the release of the set. In the past it was a week and a half before. That must have it before anyone else mentality was not as present this time because the early eBay crazies would not be able to their figures before the rest of the normal Heroclix crowd got theirs. It is alot easier to wait 3-4 days for something instead of 10-14 days for some people. So that also had an effect on price.

At least selling my Purples made it possible to get more regular Silver uniques. As far as the number of Purples. Each Prerelease site got no more Boosters/Purples to handle 100 participates/booster buys. I don't think any place got more than 6 cases of FF. That is 288 boosters or 96 groups of 3. Thats 96 Purples to go along with the 96 3-booster groups. We had about 42 people participate in the prerelease. So 42 Purples went out to 42 people. The rest were snapped up in side flights. I dropped out of the main tournament after the first round so I could play in more side flights to get more figures and Purples.

From what I've seen, Holiday weekend and all aside, it seems the honeymoon on Purples is over. I've been watching Purples from the other sets as well, and they are all experiencing similar results. Even Purple KC GLs are going for even money or less than the Silver version, with most of the Puples camped out south of $20.

For the most part, these pieces appeal to a finite goup of colectors - most, it seems would rather have the tourney legal Silvers. There's also the "Why pay huge dollars for something you can pull from an $8 booster, the only difference is the color of the ring" mentality. And they're not wrong. Economically, it makes some sense. Me, I like the Puples. Their rarity factor appeals to the collector-geek in me so the price-drop is helping my wallet out a bit. And since most of the tournaments I play are sealed events, the whole not OK for tourney play thing doesn't bother me at all.

Another factor hitting their online value is derrived exactly from your experience - most of these figures change hands, if they're going to, right after they're handed out. The pre-releases are huge events with lots of folks looking to trade for or buy these things when there is a ready supply swimming all around them. Sounds like you did well, scoring 9 of them, and I know you were not alone in that bigtime Purple trading and buying action.

I always wondered what the appeal of the purple rings was. As a player first, and collector second, the purple rings hold zero appeal to me.

It wasn't until I just read your number aproximation that it clicked.

By your calculation / guess, there's ~200 of any purple ring figure. (Also keeping in mind that not all of those end up in circulation, some people actually hold onto theirs.)
There are easily more than 200 people out there that are hard core completists. Yeah, they might not be so hard core that they need a purple ring Mad Thinker, but due to the limited number of purples in circulation it makes sense that they would be in high demand.

Hey, I love my Purple Mad Thinker!

Oh, I agree the holiday weekend period only explains part of it. I think it had an effect more on regular Silver Uniques then Purples. Initially, I set Purple prices for the more sought after Purple unique at around $50. People will then low ball that with other auctions. Since none of the inital sells on eBay went no more than $50 and in most cases around $30, that was set as the high bar. All subsequent auctions usually go lower. However, since there was not as many buyers out there as usual when a set was release, that bar got set lower at the outset.

Your right about the Purple KCs, when they first went for over $50. Well, now since the Purple market has matured, people realize that with a little patience they can be had for no more than $20. It is now happening with Purples as it has with regular LE's.

I do think there is less completists out there then there used to be. I at one time had all but 3 LE's. I stopped my mad pursuit with everything when Purples, Super Rares, and Masterpieces were introduced because I realized that it was going to require extreme effort and money of course to get everything. Since I could no longer be a completist, why have a bunch of the stuff that I did. So I began selling off alot of my LEs. Luckily, I sold most of the expensive ones before the market fell out on those. However, I do know one or two other completists that also stopped chasing every figure at this time. Other games came along also at this time (SW minis that started to divert resources.

Oh as far as getting 9 Purples, that was a very small amount compared to a friend of mine.

Ol_Dut loves his purple mad thinker? I LOVE my Purple Pink Nimrod!

Hey man! thanks for listening to the little people! Loved the article. I would be interested in seeing this same comparison in a few weeks. Silver Ring uniques typically sell "high" for the first week or two after release, so I would expect prices all around to cool a bit, with exceptions for the "kc supes" of the set and such.

I paid about $25 for the purple wolverine, but I NEEDED one. I do expect that price to cool, but I could not wait for my favorite wolverine EVER!

I think your estimate of # of purples is low. Keep in mind I think they were giving purples for side flights and additional flights. I'm guessing that the truth lies somewhere between your number and 500 each.

Keep up the good work and thanks for fulfilling my request!

I think many or us would like to see the Fantastic forces complete Unique breakdown next.

Actually, I've been experiencing that people don't want to trade for purples because they aren't tournament legal.

Yeah, if it is as Ed0825 suggests, then we have:
(31 Pre-Releases X 100 Puples)/12 Uniques = 258.33 copies of each Purple unique.
Using some nice round numbers, maybe 300 of each but still very darn rare.

Glad you got your Purple Wolvie! Now if I can just chase down a Purple Prof. X and Purple Orphan I'll be happy.

at least in my area, every judge I know of allows them because they are identical to their silver ring counterparts.

I have yet to find a venue that doesn't have a house rule to allow the Purple Uniques.