Hey Dan, I've been watching your content for years now and by far you toy hunts channel is my favorite content that you make. Today I realized something, when I have really down days and I'm struggling, quite often I'm finding that I search out your toy hunt videos and they really bring my mood up and make a possitive impact on my day. As someone who's had many TH-cam channels over the past 15 years or so, some sucessful, others very niche like my main channel. I've never had anyone tell me that, and I wanted to be one of the people that tells you, you make a possitive difference in my day to day life and I think that's really cool so thank you 🎉 because I'm sure your videos add some happiness into many other people's lives too.
I remember searching desperately for Scratch when he was first released and never finding one, and it soured me a bit on collecting the TMNT line at the time. So, he truly was my Holy Grail. Playmates needs to just reissue him and correct this, however much the handful of owners of the original figure might protest.
Those are asking prices. No one is shelling out $500 for that Leprechaun. It's a $300 piece at the high end. Basically once you cross the $100 threshold you're in a whole other ball game for casual collectors.Grail or no grail. I can move 10-50 dollar toys all day. But something about that $100 bill crossing the palm just gets people to pause. Most of us that's a power bill, an insurance bill, whatever. For a piece of plastic...
Scratch was definitely hard to find, the last original figure released on that early 90's card and likely had the double whammy of low production and limited distribution. BUT, $2000 for that is still nuts, as his value is definitely a case of TMNT popularity mixed with urban legend among collectors.
Time to get out the pitchforks and torches! Just kidding these types of conversations are important, above all else though buy what you enjoy! Great video!
If I had to guess, that Troll 2 was probably sent to Video stores for the release. Stores that bought so many copies got one, or it was sent to the stores to try and drive them to buy copies back in the day. And if that is indeed that case, they probably got thrown away in the trash most times. A lot of mom and pop video stores back in the day would just hoard stuff for awhile and then dump it all in the trash. There was a video store near where I grew up and we used to go dumpster diving and dig out standees and posters.
I don't collect TMNT, but have to agree that sometimes these figures have a high price tag, but not that hard to find. I live in Canada and collect vintage Star Wars, so sometimes I don't have as much available to me as people elsewhere. Looking back, I was able to get a YakFace rather easy, it cost for sure, but for the most part the price and condition seemed pretty standard, so it was really just justifying it to myself. I had a much harder time finding a Popup R2D2 or EV-9D9. The R2D2 I actually had the saber for 2 or 3 years before I was able to find R2 in a decent shape, as it seemed after I got the saber, all I could find were complete ones. Lately been filling out playsets and sort of surprised how hard it is to find any Princess Leias. Great Topic.
Playmates could do the funniest thing ever if they did Scratch in the reissue line, and justified it by saying 'the figure just seemed so popular online'
I was that kid growing up with the mentality that if it wasn't on the cartoon series, I didn't want it. It was SUPER rare that I asked for a character that never showed up on a cartoon series that I was into. So when Scratch was out, I wasn't into it. PLUS... I was already out of collecting Ninja Turtles; I moved on to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by that time, lol.
What makes something a holy grail is a fascinating topic and this is a unique video! It is true that some figures that are considered rare and are super expensive can be found relatively easily.
You touch on it briefly, but I believe the biggest factor for qualifying something as a grail is demand. Something can be rare, but not in demand as you mention, therefore not qualifying it as a grail, just rare. Also, grail does not always equal cool either. Imo, Scratch is so meh as a figure. Now those Bike Mice euro figs were dope and rare! 🤘
Incredible video as always, really great points brought up I agree that term is thrown around fairly loosely I definitely need something to be an item I never thought I’d be able to find/afford and in certain condition…but even then it’s a hard call sometimes if it’s at that level That Alien projector thing though…totally could see that as a grail piece in that shape with box!
i'm always reminded of the muck man saga of recent times when everyone went crazy for muckman because people said he would be impossible to get and then it ends up everyone could get him and the value dropped. People say scratch is the 'must have' yet i see so many toy hunts of no one buying him because he is too highly priced, seems to me what makes him super valuable is people over pricing him, if he was more reasonably priced would we suddenly see more people own it, it become less rare and less valuable? Is it valuable because we are told its valuable? I wont argue its less common/rare but is it because it's not being bought so it's distribution among collectors is what's stalled.
Myth Busted!!! As a lifelong ninja turtles fan and someone who's always wanted that "Scratch The Cat" figure, I thank you for the valuable information.
So this is a fascinating topic! I think, especially in terms of grails and rarity, it's based a lot more on demand vs. true rarity. There are just going to be a lot more people looking for Scratch to complete their collection vs someone seeking out a Leprechaun or Troll II troll. So I don't inherently disagree - rarity is relative! I'm a fashion doll collector, and for me the grails I think of are extremely limited European exclusive release Novi Stars dolls, ones that only pop up in the States occasionally with four digit price tags. I don't anticipate owning them, but it is definitely an interesting think point!
My grail would be all of the entire collection of 12" GIjoe action figures from the 1960s,1970s, 1990s, and beyond plus all the vehicles weapons and any extras. It would be probably hundreds of figures and dozens of vehicles and extras but it would be one of my grail collections. If I could afford it. It's on my wish list.
Scratch may be pretty rare and expensive, but something like Pimp Daddy Destro would be more of a "grail" I would think. It barely made it out of the factory and how many are actually out there is anyone's guess.
It's a tricky matter in collecting as one has to pace themselves so you don't run yourself ragged and burn out from chasing too many grails too often. $2000 TMNT figure hmm, I think I might just petition them to produce that one again as preorder product instead and call it the "rare line" heh. A few years ago I never would have thought The Real Ghostbusters toys would be made again but it happened.😉 Different hobby field but Silent Hill for PS1 has taken on "rare" or "grail" pricing for no reason I can see, they produced many millions of copies in both original black and the greatest hits green packaging, so not rare or a low production run at all like Shantae GBC.🤔
Hope you make it out to the Kansas City area sometime to check out some of the cool vintage toy shops! I really recommend Old School Collectibles in Independence, Missouri!!
I love that you came at this topic the way you did. It was respectful but informative. What makes a grail. Rarity plus availability, plus how sought after. Those have always been the 3 things I go on.
Yeah I see scratch all the time. Another real holy grail is the “Tales from the Cryptkeeper Freaky Ball” It was a Madballs version for the TotC cartoon and I still have an original I bought as a kid, but there are 2 others. The Cryptkeeper one pops up on eBay every few years and I honestly think it’s the same one being resold over and over by each new owner. Maybe it’s haunted idk 😅
Part of the “Lore of Scratch the Cat” is the early 1990s political issue of glorifying crime and violence so a figure near the end of the line that got some controversy; short pack that and call it a day! Playmates caved because they could and would which created a believed scarcity. After all, it took Playmates years to get around to making a dog & cat mutant which is their creative forces at work
I believe grail is subjective, I don't necessarily believe it should only mean unobtainable but I've seen people use grail to mean stuff that is literally currently in stores at the moment for retail price and that annoys me Grail should be something with importance, a decent rarity and something that has been sought for some time before obtaining. The holy grail though.. yes I can agree that should be nearly impossible to obtain
Scratch is very rare considering he was packed one per case in only one case assortment..... the last case assortment of the blue package run before the packaging refresh. This case assortment did not ship to stores in quantity. However, by the time of his release collectors were actively looking for him and grabbed him up so the bulk of them ended up in the collector hobby instead of kids hands. Kids never had a chance to find them and play with them. Surprisingly he was never reissued in later packaging.
I’ve wondered about Scratch myself. It seems like there’s always a few on eBay and I actually know a few people that own one. My grail is a moc Remco Skull Man. Never seen one in person and I’ve only seen maybe three listed on eBay in the last 5ish years. A loose Skull Man isn’t that difficult to find but carded are very few and far between.
I just know that for me personally, Scratch is a character that I just don't really care about. He was never really one that I was worried about having in my collection even when he was at normal price. And if I did own a vintage one (if hypothetically I had received it as a gift or something) given how much he goes for now, I would happily sell the figure and cash out on it. Heck, I have been cherry picking the Super7 Ultimates TMNT figures. I have no interest in adding that version of Scratch to my collection... and that figure is currently on sale at BBTS for less than $20.
What is a grail is an interesting question? For me, I use the term for things that are financially out of reach (or at least would be a poor decision financially). There are a couple of pieces I need that are so rare that there is no evidence online that they exist, but I am almost positive that they do based on other things I know. I don’t usually use the word grail for those ultra rare items when maybe it would be more appropriate to do so.
Hey Dan I would love to hear your thoughts on this when talking about something rare. I heard one collector said it depended on how many of that product were produced/sold. Such if only 1000 units were made vs 10000 units or whatever. Of course with a nationwide/international brand it would be a lot bigger numbers. Personally and I have heard this from others, a rare item wouldn't be how many were made but how many were sold and/or in circulation. In other words if 10000 units were made but only 100 of them were sold and only 80 of them in circulation that would be rare. Where as if 1000 units were made and all were sold and 900 of them were in circulation that wouldn't be. Does that make sense?
Nice pick-ups with the comics, Dan. Do you have DC Comics Presents #47?? MOTUs 1st appearance in full-size comics. And before people jump on me, Im not claiming that as the true 1st appearance. Personally, I consider the comic packed with He Man and the Power Sword the true 1st appearance. Being that it was released with the toy a few months before DC presents #47 in 82'.
There's I difference between rare and scarce that I don't think people understand. A figure limited to 200 is rare, a figure that was produced in the thousands but hard to find because they're all either in attics or collections is scarce. All rare figures can be scarce, but not all scarce figures are necessarily rare. As for rare figures in my collection. I used to write for a toy website and would get review samples that weren't always the final product. One is a Ashley Wood ThreeA Real Steel Noisy Boy figure. It had no box, the instructions were color photo copied and the plastic was a little brittle (the battery cover broke in a couple spots trying to remove it). These were going for nearly $400 in 2013 money! I'm sure they didn't make a ton of them. Other rare thing I got was a 12" Ruby figure from RWBY from ThreeZero that I'm almost positive is the same figure they were using in promo photos. Same story as Noisy Boy, she came in a random box from a ThreeA 12" figure, her joints a little loose, her weapon doesn't quite hold together right, and the biggest clue that she was a well handled pre-production figure is her legs are painted and so over worked the paint had rubbed off at the hips and she could no longer stand. Thankfully they were kind enough to send me some unpainted replacement legs later that I was able to swap out to give an actual review and take photos. Of course I've kept those worn down legs with the figure just in case I decide to part with her one day to give some authenticity to her origins. As far as retail goes I have a few Transformers that aren't very common. One I know they made fewer than 2,000 of is Grand Maximus. He was part of a Japanese pre-order campaign where he was only available on the Takara Tomy Mall website. They didn't set a minimum to go into production, but they did offer a bonus figure if they reached the goal of 2,000, which it failed to do so we at least know there's less than that. These were so unpopular that BBTS had ordered a bunch of them and would later put them on clearance which the lucky few of us that noticed were able to take advantage of. He's now highly sought after thanks to his cartoon rival, Black Zarak, having been made a few years ago, suddenly everyone wants Grand Maximus.
Interesting topic. Like you, I would prefer the term white whale. It makes more sense to me based on what I understand of the literature. It's certainly something very rare but not necessarily broad fascination with most people. It becomes your specific obsession. Grail to me is a once in a lifetime thing. But I feel like I hear people using it like, "Hey, what's this year's grail for you?" That implies you're snagging grails all the time, well, roughly annually. But there's literally only one Holy Grail, and it's pretty much universally recognized as something desirable. So if language were up to me, that's how I would use those terms. My white whale is the thing that's currently tormenting me as I hunt it down. The grail / Holy Grail is one really amazing thing I never really expect to come across, ever. And it would be universally recognized as an amazing find. All that said, that's not how language works. And since almost no one is using white whale and tons of people use grail the way I would use white whale, that's become the meaning. And I guess I'll have to go with it so people know what I'm talking about. I could insist on using white whale, but I'd probably have to explain it most of the time I use it. So there we are. Fun stuff to think about. To me at least. And another fun video!
I was thinking one day how Neca never has done a Toony Terrors version of the Leprechaun. Well, there go. Actually I don't think there's Neca anything related to Leprechaun.
The rarest item in my collection is a Masterpiece Transformers MP-29 Laserwave test shot. I bought it for $700 dollars. Rarity only brings in a higher price when someone wants it. As far as the Leprechaun figure I would only use that as it was saying, "where's me gold". Which led me to think, "yarr, I not want that". I imagined what that would have been like and now I want to redub the movie so the Leprechaun talks like a pirate.
I stopped believing Scratch was rare some years ago. I mean yeah, he may have been produced in a much smaller quantity compared to much of the rest of the line, but he can be so easy to find. So if you've got the cash, he's very easy to get. I myself have some figures in my collection that I hardly ever see show up in other shops, or videos, or collections at all. Last I checked, a couple of them have sold for 1200+ and I feel if they were as widely known as scratch, they'd probably go for more than him.
Demand is always more important than supply! And completionists are wild. Like, those adventure turtles look super dumb to me, and I'm not even slightly interested, but I super love TMNT.
I don't care about scratch. When it comes to vintage turtles I mostly just get the ones I had as a kid or were featured on the cross sell. Besides I could collect entire toy lines like Bucky O Hare for less than that figure.
Part of the “Lore of Scratch the Cat” is the early 1990s political issue of glorifying crime and violence so a figure near the end of the line that got some controversy; short pack that and call it a day! Playmates caved because they could and would which created a believed scarcity.
one of the many reasons he's sought after and valuable is because he's one of the only characters thst never made it to the cartoons...so they madeca character that no one had any idea of who he was
I don't know, but our local VHS store (that was also a video distro for South American/Europe) had a few of these Leprechaun toys and gave me one when the VHS came out. No need to enter any contest :D
I'm tempted to buy the super 7 scratch as his price is seeming to lower and hes on sale at big bad toy store. I just love cats tbh. its why I want him. or if Playmates ever re-releases him.
Also, just an fyi, Google search is now AI driven so applied learning is its code. Doesn’t surprise me that the answer for Scratch the Cat’s rarity isn’t correct.
There's this same phenomena with vintage star wars. Like vynal cape Jawas really aren't rare at all. There's was at least hundreds of thousands and thousands of carded examples currently circulating. But then there's palitoys action force desert rat which has maybe 4 carded examples left but only goes for about 800 not $20,000
I was at a toy store in Oklahoma City, I was buying a soft head Donatello on the card to get signed by Kevin Eastman that was going to be at a amazing Comic-Con, I was talking to a random customer in the store, he showed me a picture on his phone where he had five scratch the cats carded.
I remember seeing scratch on the shelf when I was a kid never really thought it was that rare but neither are base set charizards and look at their price
I've never seen that Leprechaun figure. I love the movies and should find one ha ha. I never saw those TMNT Adventures figures in stores. Those comics are amazing. Mer-Man took to the skies because there's too much mercury in the waters ha ha.
Wait a second! You’re telling me we had biker mice from MARS and now we discover European Biker Mice from Mars…. Elon Musk is just POWERING FORWARD with his plans at such a rate!
Its like all vintage items, price is dictated by: Condition, rarity, desirability, completeness. Just being 'rare' doesnt mean a item is worth a fortune, try telling that to some eBay sellers though.
Scratch is the Little Samson of the TMNT line. Both are not even close to being rare but just way overhyped early on and alot of misinformation spread and when the hobby blew up it went crazy. Scratch isnt in the Top 25 rarest TMNT figure.
TMNT has a bigger collector base than the other two that’s why the price is higher. No matter how little Avator the action movie figures are made, people not gonna pay attention because people hated the movie 😂
I Have the adventure turtles. I have metalhead Mikey. I made molds from my Original metal head & Made his accessories so I have a complete one. I made a mold for my chrome dome weapons. In case if I find the variant loose with nothing I have all the apollo turtles ect. Lucky for me their accessories were all same thing. So I just needed one complete one to make mold for the rest. Some people 3D print I make molds. pop out more.
Well.... I maybe wrong but they are more Rare but do people want them more? Also the value paid for Tmnt S has already been paid. So the value is more. But that doesn't make it more rare.
So he is the rarest mutant. All the other characters either have more copies or more releases of the character. The only way you can get an og scratch character, is the scratch one and only figure.
Wait. Hold up. Trust me - I have no theological motive in making this comment whatsoever… but you’re telling me the first-usage definition of the term “Grail” includes the mention of Christ’s cup at the last supper, but the definition of “Holy Grail” has no mention of JC whatsoever??? Methinks you’re referencing different source materials to make your point… 😏
It's the same in the sports card world. Why are 1st or 2nd year players rookies going for more then hall of famers like joe Montana, or a tom brady rookie. And it's across all sports. Some things are just considered rare by the consumers.
If you see it often by many diff people then how much a real grail is it. Especially for that exploited price. That’s ridiculous. People will argue that’s it’s a grail just to keep the price that high.
Do you own a Scratch? Do you want a Scratch?
It's funny bc I heard that playmates is supposed to bring scratch back out.
Waiting for playmates to reissue Scratch!
@@GoNinjaGoNinja6o Exactly what I was going to say.
@@emerje0 all the OG Scratch owners will scream. All of us other folks, saves $2k 😂
If there is a reissue coming, let's see if the colours will vary as the reissues of the turtles, to differ from the vintage
Rare does not always equal valuable and Valuable not always equal rare.
Hey Dan, I've been watching your content for years now and by far you toy hunts channel is my favorite content that you make. Today I realized something, when I have really down days and I'm struggling, quite often I'm finding that I search out your toy hunt videos and they really bring my mood up and make a possitive impact on my day. As someone who's had many TH-cam channels over the past 15 years or so, some sucessful, others very niche like my main channel. I've never had anyone tell me that, and I wanted to be one of the people that tells you, you make a possitive difference in my day to day life and I think that's really cool so thank you 🎉 because I'm sure your videos add some happiness into many other people's lives too.
I have that Leprechaun figure. I bought him for $100 several years ago. I’m a horror collector and that was a grail to pick up for my collection
I remember searching desperately for Scratch when he was first released and never finding one, and it soured me a bit on collecting the TMNT line at the time. So, he truly was my Holy Grail. Playmates needs to just reissue him and correct this, however much the handful of owners of the original figure might protest.
Those are asking prices. No one is shelling out $500 for that Leprechaun. It's a $300 piece at the high end. Basically once you cross the $100 threshold you're in a whole other ball game for casual collectors.Grail or no grail. I can move 10-50 dollar toys all day. But something about that $100 bill crossing the palm just gets people to pause. Most of us that's a power bill, an insurance bill, whatever. For a piece of plastic...
Can’t go wrong with He-man comics, the old art is amazing, I am surprised you didn’t already own these
Great video! Personally I divide the grail figures in my head by categories:
1) It's rare (yet usually available to buy, just out of my budget).
The conversation of actually rare vs sought after and desirable just makes me think of Earthbound. Not rare, but expensive.
Scratch was definitely hard to find, the last original figure released on that early 90's card and likely had the double whammy of low production and limited distribution. BUT, $2000 for that is still nuts, as his value is definitely a case of TMNT popularity mixed with urban legend among collectors.
Time to get out the pitchforks and torches! Just kidding these types of conversations are important, above all else though buy what you enjoy! Great video!
If I had to guess, that Troll 2 was probably sent to Video stores for the release. Stores that bought so many copies got one, or it was sent to the stores to try and drive them to buy copies back in the day. And if that is indeed that case, they probably got thrown away in the trash most times. A lot of mom and pop video stores back in the day would just hoard stuff for awhile and then dump it all in the trash. There was a video store near where I grew up and we used to go dumpster diving and dig out standees and posters.
Ppl SPEND A FORTUNE ON SCRATCH and are NEVER gonna get what they want for it in the future 😂😂😂😂
I don't collect TMNT, but have to agree that sometimes these figures have a high price tag, but not that hard to find. I live in Canada and collect vintage Star Wars, so sometimes I don't have as much available to me as people elsewhere. Looking back, I was able to get a YakFace rather easy, it cost for sure, but for the most part the price and condition seemed pretty standard, so it was really just justifying it to myself. I had a much harder time finding a Popup R2D2 or EV-9D9. The R2D2 I actually had the saber for 2 or 3 years before I was able to find R2 in a decent shape, as it seemed after I got the saber, all I could find were complete ones. Lately been filling out playsets and sort of surprised how hard it is to find any Princess Leias. Great Topic.
Playmates could do the funniest thing ever if they did Scratch in the reissue line, and justified it by saying 'the figure just seemed so popular online'
I was that kid growing up with the mentality that if it wasn't on the cartoon series, I didn't want it. It was SUPER rare that I asked for a character that never showed up on a cartoon series that I was into. So when Scratch was out, I wasn't into it. PLUS... I was already out of collecting Ninja Turtles; I moved on to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers by that time, lol.
Same here. I also hated 95% of the themed turtles as a kid haha
What makes something a holy grail is a fascinating topic and this is a unique video! It is true that some figures that are considered rare and are super expensive can be found relatively easily.
You touch on it briefly, but I believe the biggest factor for qualifying something as a grail is demand. Something can be rare, but not in demand as you mention, therefore not qualifying it as a grail, just rare. Also, grail does not always equal cool either. Imo, Scratch is so meh as a figure. Now those Bike Mice euro figs were dope and rare! 🤘
Incredible video as always, really great points brought up
I agree that term is thrown around fairly loosely
I definitely need something to be an item I never thought I’d be able to find/afford and in certain condition…but even then it’s a hard call sometimes if it’s at that level
That Alien projector thing though…totally could see that as a grail piece in that shape with box!
Great video Dan, I don’t collect turtles but love the explanation of why these figures can be so expensive 👍
Dang! You woke up and chose war with this video title ;) And I'm not even in the Turtle community and I can hear their screams!
i'm always reminded of the muck man saga of recent times when everyone went crazy for muckman because people said he would be impossible to get and then it ends up everyone could get him and the value dropped. People say scratch is the 'must have' yet i see so many toy hunts of no one buying him because he is too highly priced, seems to me what makes him super valuable is people over pricing him, if he was more reasonably priced would we suddenly see more people own it, it become less rare and less valuable? Is it valuable because we are told its valuable? I wont argue its less common/rare but is it because it's not being bought so it's distribution among collectors is what's stalled.
Myth Busted!!!
As a lifelong ninja turtles fan and someone who's always wanted that "Scratch The Cat" figure, I thank you for the valuable information.
Hey Dan if you want those Biker Mice i can for sure sort them over here.
Cheers and great video!
What a great topic. It really is fascinating to examine what collectors find desirable and why.
So this is a fascinating topic! I think, especially in terms of grails and rarity, it's based a lot more on demand vs. true rarity. There are just going to be a lot more people looking for Scratch to complete their collection vs someone seeking out a Leprechaun or Troll II troll.
So I don't inherently disagree - rarity is relative! I'm a fashion doll collector, and for me the grails I think of are extremely limited European exclusive release Novi Stars dolls, ones that only pop up in the States occasionally with four digit price tags. I don't anticipate owning them, but it is definitely an interesting think point!
I don’t go to many cons but when I do I see Scratch as well. This is a great concept, loved this!
I see Scratch a lot at conventions too, surprisingly more MoC than loose. Always at least one, think the most Ive seen at one show was 4.
Of all the grail pieces in toy collecting the one I have never seen anywhere is The Blank.
My grail would be all of the entire collection of 12" GIjoe action figures from the 1960s,1970s, 1990s, and beyond plus all the vehicles weapons and any extras. It would be probably hundreds of figures and dozens of vehicles and extras but it would be one of my grail collections. If I could afford it. It's on my wish list.
Scratch may be pretty rare and expensive, but something like Pimp Daddy Destro would be more of a "grail" I would think. It barely made it out of the factory and how many are actually out there is anyone's guess.
This need more discuss on this theme, thanks for the awesome video.
It's a tricky matter in collecting as one has to pace themselves so you don't run yourself ragged and burn out from chasing too many grails too often. $2000 TMNT figure hmm, I think I might just petition them to produce that one again as preorder product instead and call it the "rare line" heh. A few years ago I never would have thought The Real Ghostbusters toys would be made again but it happened.😉
Different hobby field but Silent Hill for PS1 has taken on "rare" or "grail" pricing for no reason I can see, they produced many millions of copies in both original black and the greatest hits green packaging, so not rare or a low production run at all like Shantae GBC.🤔
That's a cool topic, would be cool if you talked about this more with different stuff like fortress of fangs
Hope you make it out to the Kansas City area sometime to check out some of the cool vintage toy shops! I really recommend Old School Collectibles in Independence, Missouri!!
I tend to say things like “it was a grail for me.” I don’t really spend the money for the true grail pieces.
I love that you came at this topic the way you did. It was respectful but informative. What makes a grail. Rarity plus availability, plus how sought after. Those have always been the 3 things I go on.
Been saying this for years! You and I discussed it last year in Tampa as well.
Yeah I see scratch all the time. Another real holy grail is the “Tales from the Cryptkeeper Freaky Ball” It was a Madballs version for the TotC cartoon and I still have an original I bought as a kid, but there are 2 others. The Cryptkeeper one pops up on eBay every few years and I honestly think it’s the same one being resold over and over by each new owner. Maybe it’s haunted idk 😅
Im convinced that tv show back in the day made scratch rarer then it should be
Part of the “Lore of Scratch the Cat” is the early 1990s political issue of glorifying crime and violence so a figure near the end of the line that got some controversy; short pack that and call it a day! Playmates caved because they could and would which created a believed scarcity. After all, it took Playmates years to get around to making a dog & cat mutant which is their creative forces at work
I believe grail is subjective, I don't necessarily believe it should only mean unobtainable but I've seen people use grail to mean stuff that is literally currently in stores at the moment for retail price and that annoys me
Grail should be something with importance, a decent rarity and something that has been sought for some time before obtaining.
The holy grail though.. yes I can agree that should be nearly impossible to obtain
Scratch is very rare considering he was packed one per case in only one case assortment..... the last case assortment of the blue package run before the packaging refresh. This case assortment did not ship to stores in quantity. However, by the time of his release collectors were actively looking for him and grabbed him up so the bulk of them ended up in the collector hobby instead of kids hands. Kids never had a chance to find them and play with them. Surprisingly he was never reissued in later packaging.
I’ve wondered about Scratch myself. It seems like there’s always a few on eBay and I actually know a few people that own one. My grail is a moc Remco Skull Man. Never seen one in person and I’ve only seen maybe three listed on eBay in the last 5ish years. A loose Skull Man isn’t that difficult to find but carded are very few and far between.
I just know that for me personally, Scratch is a character that I just don't really care about. He was never really one that I was worried about having in my collection even when he was at normal price. And if I did own a vintage one (if hypothetically I had received it as a gift or something) given how much he goes for now, I would happily sell the figure and cash out on it.
Heck, I have been cherry picking the Super7 Ultimates TMNT figures. I have no interest in adding that version of Scratch to my collection... and that figure is currently on sale at BBTS for less than $20.
What is a grail is an interesting question? For me, I use the term for things that are financially out of reach (or at least would be a poor decision financially). There are a couple of pieces I need that are so rare that there is no evidence online that they exist, but I am almost positive that they do based on other things I know. I don’t usually use the word grail for those ultra rare items when maybe it would be more appropriate to do so.
Hey Dan I would love to hear your thoughts on this when talking about something rare. I heard one collector said it depended on how many of that product were produced/sold. Such if only 1000 units were made vs 10000 units or whatever. Of course with a nationwide/international brand it would be a lot bigger numbers. Personally and I have heard this from others, a rare item wouldn't be how many were made but how many were sold and/or in circulation. In other words if 10000 units were made but only 100 of them were sold and only 80 of them in circulation that would be rare. Where as if 1000 units were made and all were sold and 900 of them were in circulation that wouldn't be. Does that make sense?
My personal “grail” I managed to get is a resin prototype of Fast Cat from the cancelled and unproduced MOTU-esq Tribes line from Hasbro.
Nice pick-ups with the comics, Dan. Do you have DC Comics Presents #47?? MOTUs 1st appearance in full-size comics. And before people jump on me, Im not claiming that as the true 1st appearance. Personally, I consider the comic packed with He Man and the Power Sword the true 1st appearance. Being that it was released with the toy a few months before DC presents #47 in 82'.
There's I difference between rare and scarce that I don't think people understand. A figure limited to 200 is rare, a figure that was produced in the thousands but hard to find because they're all either in attics or collections is scarce. All rare figures can be scarce, but not all scarce figures are necessarily rare.
As for rare figures in my collection. I used to write for a toy website and would get review samples that weren't always the final product. One is a Ashley Wood ThreeA Real Steel Noisy Boy figure. It had no box, the instructions were color photo copied and the plastic was a little brittle (the battery cover broke in a couple spots trying to remove it). These were going for nearly $400 in 2013 money! I'm sure they didn't make a ton of them.
Other rare thing I got was a 12" Ruby figure from RWBY from ThreeZero that I'm almost positive is the same figure they were using in promo photos. Same story as Noisy Boy, she came in a random box from a ThreeA 12" figure, her joints a little loose, her weapon doesn't quite hold together right, and the biggest clue that she was a well handled pre-production figure is her legs are painted and so over worked the paint had rubbed off at the hips and she could no longer stand. Thankfully they were kind enough to send me some unpainted replacement legs later that I was able to swap out to give an actual review and take photos. Of course I've kept those worn down legs with the figure just in case I decide to part with her one day to give some authenticity to her origins.
As far as retail goes I have a few Transformers that aren't very common. One I know they made fewer than 2,000 of is Grand Maximus. He was part of a Japanese pre-order campaign where he was only available on the Takara Tomy Mall website. They didn't set a minimum to go into production, but they did offer a bonus figure if they reached the goal of 2,000, which it failed to do so we at least know there's less than that. These were so unpopular that BBTS had ordered a bunch of them and would later put them on clearance which the lucky few of us that noticed were able to take advantage of. He's now highly sought after thanks to his cartoon rival, Black Zarak, having been made a few years ago, suddenly everyone wants Grand Maximus.
Agree with that, every TH-camr who vlogging every toy show, Scracth often spotted
Interesting topic. Like you, I would prefer the term white whale. It makes more sense to me based on what I understand of the literature. It's certainly something very rare but not necessarily broad fascination with most people. It becomes your specific obsession.
Grail to me is a once in a lifetime thing. But I feel like I hear people using it like, "Hey, what's this year's grail for you?" That implies you're snagging grails all the time, well, roughly annually. But there's literally only one Holy Grail, and it's pretty much universally recognized as something desirable.
So if language were up to me, that's how I would use those terms. My white whale is the thing that's currently tormenting me as I hunt it down. The grail / Holy Grail is one really amazing thing I never really expect to come across, ever. And it would be universally recognized as an amazing find.
All that said, that's not how language works. And since almost no one is using white whale and tons of people use grail the way I would use white whale, that's become the meaning. And I guess I'll have to go with it so people know what I'm talking about. I could insist on using white whale, but I'd probably have to explain it most of the time I use it.
So there we are. Fun stuff to think about. To me at least.
And another fun video!
I was thinking one day how Neca never has done a Toony Terrors version of the Leprechaun. Well, there go. Actually I don't think there's Neca anything related to Leprechaun.
The rarest item in my collection is a Masterpiece Transformers MP-29 Laserwave test shot. I bought it for $700 dollars. Rarity only brings in a higher price when someone wants it. As far as the Leprechaun figure I would only use that as it was saying, "where's me gold". Which led me to think, "yarr, I not want that". I imagined what that would have been like and now I want to redub the movie so the Leprechaun talks like a pirate.
I’ve never considered Scratch as a grail because I’ve had him since I was 9.
My TMNT Holy Grails were the Technodrome and Sewer Lair. Luckily I got them brand new in open box several years ago.
I stopped believing Scratch was rare some years ago. I mean yeah, he may have been produced in a much smaller quantity compared to much of the rest of the line, but he can be so easy to find. So if you've got the cash, he's very easy to get. I myself have some figures in my collection that I hardly ever see show up in other shops, or videos, or collections at all. Last I checked, a couple of them have sold for 1200+ and I feel if they were as widely known as scratch, they'd probably go for more than him.
A ton of us Turtle kids, including myself, my brother, and many of my friends, jumped on the Power Ranger bandwagon in 1993
Demand is always more important than supply! And completionists are wild. Like, those adventure turtles look super dumb to me, and I'm not even slightly interested, but I super love TMNT.
I don't care about scratch. When it comes to vintage turtles I mostly just get the ones I had as a kid or were featured on the cross sell. Besides I could collect entire toy lines like Bucky O Hare for less than that figure.
That Scratch price is insane. My cousin bought an on-card Scratch for a quarter of that price a few months ago.
I remember doing the same thing with a Sliver Hawks contest. Had to call in and answer a question.
My opinion here, if a seller wants top dollar like $300 for artic Don should they not store/protect in something better than a ziploc?
The Leprechaun figure looks like it would display very well with TMNT.
Part of the “Lore of Scratch the Cat” is the early 1990s political issue of glorifying crime and violence so a figure near the end of the line that got some controversy; short pack that and call it a day! Playmates caved because they could and would which created a believed scarcity.
what a great show🎉
TMNT 3 Movie released in 1993 killed my interest in the Turtles all together, so yeah I had no clue about Scratch either.
I have some of the dino turtles and other figures that are actually from the last year of the line, but no talks about them like they do Scratch.
one of the many reasons he's sought after and valuable is because he's one of the only characters thst never made it to the cartoons...so they madeca character that no one had any idea of who he was
well said Pixel
I don't know, but our local VHS store (that was also a video distro for South American/Europe) had a few of these Leprechaun toys and gave me one when the VHS came out. No need to enter any contest :D
I'm tempted to buy the super 7 scratch as his price is seeming to lower and hes on sale at big bad toy store. I just love cats tbh. its why I want him. or if Playmates ever re-releases him.
Also, just an fyi, Google search is now AI driven so applied learning is its code. Doesn’t surprise me that the answer for Scratch the Cat’s rarity isn’t correct.
There's this same phenomena with vintage star wars. Like vynal cape Jawas really aren't rare at all. There's was at least hundreds of thousands and thousands of carded examples currently circulating. But then there's palitoys action force desert rat which has maybe 4 carded examples left but only goes for about 800 not $20,000
I was at a toy store in Oklahoma City, I was buying a soft head Donatello on the card to get signed by Kevin Eastman that was going to be at a amazing Comic-Con, I was talking to a random customer in the store, he showed me a picture on his phone where he had five scratch the cats carded.
I remember seeing scratch on the shelf when I was a kid never really thought it was that rare but neither are base set charizards and look at their price
I've never seen that Leprechaun figure. I love the movies and should find one ha ha. I never saw those TMNT Adventures figures in stores. Those comics are amazing. Mer-Man took to the skies because there's too much mercury in the waters ha ha.
Great insights.
After this video that Leprechaun will be in the $2000 😂😂😂
Scratch costs more because he is needed to complete a set. Something impossible for every collector if each wanted one.
You want Scratch? You gotta pay scratch.
Wait a second! You’re telling me we had biker mice from MARS and now we discover European Biker Mice from Mars…. Elon Musk is just POWERING FORWARD with his plans at such a rate!
Its like all vintage items, price is dictated by: Condition, rarity, desirability, completeness. Just being 'rare' doesnt mean a item is worth a fortune, try telling that to some eBay sellers though.
Scratch is the Little Samson of the TMNT line. Both are not even close to being rare but just way overhyped early on and alot of misinformation spread and when the hobby blew up it went crazy. Scratch isnt in the Top 25 rarest TMNT figure.
Quite scary troll and leprechaun awesome masters of the universe comics dan 👍
Finally getting caught up on yt vids. Saw the title. I am in lol!
TMNT has a bigger collector base than the other two that’s why the price is higher. No matter how little Avator the action movie figures are made, people not gonna pay attention because people hated the movie 😂
Something can be common and valuable, and other things can be rare and not valuable, rarity isn't necessarily a measure of valve of the item.
I Have the adventure turtles. I have metalhead Mikey. I made molds from my Original metal head & Made his accessories so I have a complete one. I made a mold for my chrome dome weapons. In case if I find the variant loose with nothing I have all the apollo turtles ect. Lucky for me their accessories were all same thing. So I just needed one complete one to make mold for the rest. Some people 3D print I make molds. pop out more.
Well.... I maybe wrong but they are more Rare but do people want them more?
Also the value paid for Tmnt S has already been paid. So the value is more. But that doesn't make it more rare.
20% toys 80% yappin
So he is the rarest mutant. All the other characters either have more copies or more releases of the character. The only way you can get an og scratch character, is the scratch one and only figure.
Just because something is rare or old doesn’t mean it’s valuable
Awesome toys action figure ❤😊🎉
Wait. Hold up. Trust me - I have no theological motive in making this comment whatsoever… but you’re telling me the first-usage definition of the term “Grail” includes the mention of Christ’s cup at the last supper, but the definition of “Holy Grail” has no mention of JC whatsoever??? Methinks you’re referencing different source materials to make your point… 😏
It's the same in the sports card world. Why are 1st or 2nd year players rookies going for more then hall of famers like joe Montana, or a tom brady rookie. And it's across all sports. Some things are just considered rare by the consumers.
The biker Mice are quite common here in the UK
I think scratch has a ko market too which sucks I think somebody was remaking them in Mexico on card and selling them on Facebook but I could be wrong
If you see it often by many diff people then how much a real grail is it. Especially for that exploited price. That’s ridiculous. People will argue that’s it’s a grail just to keep the price that high.
Things that are rare aren’t necessarily valuable and things that are valuable aren’t necessarily rare.