The tape cost what, $50 in 1986? So in a sense, someone just paid $74,950 for a clear lucite box. |
Sixty-five million Americans basically voted for real-life Biff Tannen in 2016. |
Said nostalgia was also predicted by those movies making me wonder if Robert Zemeckis is a witch... |
Doesn't matter, the point is I'm very concerned that the obsession with 1980's nostalgia is starting to resemble the worst of the Boomer nostalgia for the 1950's. Which, ironically, is all over Back to the Future. But seventy-five thousand for a VHS tape? I know it's no where near the absurd amounts paid for sealed video games, but that's a lot for something you can stream for four bucks. And sure, this is factory sealed, and that it was owned by one of the film's stars helps, but still.
"The 50's were the greatest time to be alive! The music, the cars, the casual misogyny and racism. We were the real greatest generation." -Some boomer |
After learning just how batshit insane collectors can be, Wilson took the tapes off eBay and went to Heritage Auctions, you know that company that was accused of colluding with WATA games to inflate the price of graded video game cartridges? And that's where he found out that there are people out there willing to pay a student loan debts' worth of money for thirty year old tapes that they'll never even take out of the boxes. Which, I mean, who even has a VCR?
Also due to background radiation, these tapes might well be blank in any case. But that's not stopping Heritage or the inexplicably wealthy people who frequent their auctions. The sale of Wilson's tapes were part of a larger auction that made a total of $584,750. Yes, of money.
C'mon Joe, you just got a cut of a half a million dollar VHS sale, it's a little bit about the financial aspect, isn't it? |
"We had no idea what was going to happen -- no one's done this before and to see the success, it's amazing. When you see that it's a great sense of accomplishment, not even the financial aspect of it but a moment of 'I knew it! I knew nostalgic VHS tapes would be good.'"
-Joseph Maddalena, about how it's
not about the money...uh-huh...
But what do I know? Maybe I'm just kicking myself for not having the foresight to stock up on VHS tapes and NES cartridges back when they were in the clearance bin. Sure, who could have predicted things like Heritage Auctions or eBay? If only I had a time machine, I could go back and tell my younger self to go and buy--or I could just sell rides on my time machine. That seems like it'd be way more profitable.
Now who's the butthead, old Biff? Now who's the butthead? |
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