Previous chapter- The Dragon & the Ape part 2: Snapdragon
Apeface
Left: Robot; Right: Gorilla
Yes, I was totally fascinated by Snapdragon (back in 1987).
I became even more fascinated when I discovered his ‘brother’ and contemporary – Apeface.
There wasn’t just Snapdragon, there was another guy like him! Another guy that transforms into a robot, a beast and a jet; another guy who comes with a same sized box and with complimentary box art and a colour scheme like Snapdragon’s. It was like they both should be bought as a set just like Darkwing and Dreadwind should.
How symmetrically beautiful and poetic.
How logical that I need to have them both- in C9.9 condition with perfect boxes.
The path to obtaining an Apeface was more convoluted and slightly more torturous than Snapdragon.
I came by 2 Apefaces in and around 2000/2001. They were both unsatisfactory. Variously, the stickers were bad or missing, there were broken parts, joints were loose and they were incomplete. Collecting Objective [7] decreed that I had to get rid of these, and I did.
The search continued until 2007, until which time I had obtained my MIB Snapdragon. I urgently need Apeface now, very urgently. These 2 can’t be apart just as Darkwing and Dreadwind cannot be separated.
There was nothing on eBay that was satisfactory. Nothing except this:
Normally, I would consider this too expensive. Getting MIB Snapdragon for US$50.00, makes this relatively even more expensive- with shipping, it would cost 3 times more than Snapdragon. For 2 toys that should roughly be the same price, paying 3 times more than Snapdragon for an Apeface is pure folly.
Or was it?
The above questions if they ever entered my head at that time were relegated to its periphery at best. I was more focused on how I could obtain this most excellent sample of Apeface.
I waited for the auction to end. The US$135 Buy-it-Now price was simply too high. I contacted the seller after the auction ended with no buyer and no winning bid. I offered the seller US$85 for Apeface with the amount totaling US$105 with shipping. He was kind enough to get back to me and counter-offered Apeface for US$120 inclusive of shipping.
I thought about it.
If I accept, I would be (1) paying US$15 (S$22.80) more than I was initially prepared to pay; (2) MIB Apeface would be 2.4 times more expensive than MIB Snapdragon; and (3) I would be paying S$187 (US$120) for Apeface, a pretty large amount for this toy.
I thought about it more.
I weighed the value of saving S$22.80 or the chances of getting a MIB Apeface at the same price as Snapdragon versus the value I placed on having MIB Apeface now, right next to MIB Snapdragon.
As with most decisions concerning value to a collector, the result goes the opposite way of reason- I decided to go for the seller’s US$120 offer.
So here it is, the 2 Transformers I value almost equally (albeit I value Snapdragon slightly more), but paid vastly different sums for.
The ratio is 1 (Snapdragon): 2.4 (Apeface). The happiness factor: 10
Apeface MIB from eBay seller randyandemilystuff
See Apeface & Snapdragon together.
Next: The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections
***
Read the entire The Dragon and the Ape series!
Chapter 1 – The Dragon and the Ape part 1: Snapdragon
Chapter 2 – The Dragon and the Ape part 2: Apeface
Chapter 3 – The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections
Apeface
Left: Robot; Right: Gorilla
Yes, I was totally fascinated by Snapdragon (back in 1987).
I became even more fascinated when I discovered his ‘brother’ and contemporary – Apeface.
There wasn’t just Snapdragon, there was another guy like him! Another guy that transforms into a robot, a beast and a jet; another guy who comes with a same sized box and with complimentary box art and a colour scheme like Snapdragon’s. It was like they both should be bought as a set just like Darkwing and Dreadwind should.
How symmetrically beautiful and poetic.
How logical that I need to have them both- in C9.9 condition with perfect boxes.
The path to obtaining an Apeface was more convoluted and slightly more torturous than Snapdragon.
I came by 2 Apefaces in and around 2000/2001. They were both unsatisfactory. Variously, the stickers were bad or missing, there were broken parts, joints were loose and they were incomplete. Collecting Objective [7] decreed that I had to get rid of these, and I did.
The search continued until 2007, until which time I had obtained my MIB Snapdragon. I urgently need Apeface now, very urgently. These 2 can’t be apart just as Darkwing and Dreadwind cannot be separated.
There was nothing on eBay that was satisfactory. Nothing except this:
Normally, I would consider this too expensive. Getting MIB Snapdragon for US$50.00, makes this relatively even more expensive- with shipping, it would cost 3 times more than Snapdragon. For 2 toys that should roughly be the same price, paying 3 times more than Snapdragon for an Apeface is pure folly.
Or was it?
The above questions if they ever entered my head at that time were relegated to its periphery at best. I was more focused on how I could obtain this most excellent sample of Apeface.
I waited for the auction to end. The US$135 Buy-it-Now price was simply too high. I contacted the seller after the auction ended with no buyer and no winning bid. I offered the seller US$85 for Apeface with the amount totaling US$105 with shipping. He was kind enough to get back to me and counter-offered Apeface for US$120 inclusive of shipping.
I thought about it.
If I accept, I would be (1) paying US$15 (S$22.80) more than I was initially prepared to pay; (2) MIB Apeface would be 2.4 times more expensive than MIB Snapdragon; and (3) I would be paying S$187 (US$120) for Apeface, a pretty large amount for this toy.
I thought about it more.
I weighed the value of saving S$22.80 or the chances of getting a MIB Apeface at the same price as Snapdragon versus the value I placed on having MIB Apeface now, right next to MIB Snapdragon.
As with most decisions concerning value to a collector, the result goes the opposite way of reason- I decided to go for the seller’s US$120 offer.
So here it is, the 2 Transformers I value almost equally (albeit I value Snapdragon slightly more), but paid vastly different sums for.
The ratio is 1 (Snapdragon): 2.4 (Apeface). The happiness factor: 10
Apeface MIB from eBay seller randyandemilystuff
See Apeface & Snapdragon together.
Next: The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections
***
Read the entire The Dragon and the Ape series!
Chapter 1 – The Dragon and the Ape part 1: Snapdragon
Chapter 2 – The Dragon and the Ape part 2: Apeface
Chapter 3 – The Dragon and the Ape part 3: Reflections
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