Jordan Hembrough has decided to do the Comic Con in Puerto Rico. This is the first time he has done the show and figures he will only do $15,000.00 compare to his average of $25,000.00. Jordan plans to take American television toys with him. Steve Savino kids Jordan if he know Spanish. Jordan replies he knows a little Spanish as he worked in a restaurant with Spanish workers.
Jordan and Steve are in Denver Colorado where they go to Marilyn and Marty a mother and son collectors. The first item that Jordan finds is two Tron light cycles which he pays $35.00 and plans sell for $175.00. Checking EBay, I found two offerings on with two cars and figures for $47.00 and one car for $30.99. Next Jordan finds an Elliot the Dragon blown up figure from Disney’s Pete and the Dragon. The Elliot the Dragon piece is a movie promotion which Jordan has never seen before. Jordan pays $75.00 and will sell it for $125.00. I found no examples on EBay of this item. The final item that Jordan buys from Marilyn and Marty is the Clash of Titans Kraken loose. Jordan pays $100.00 and will be selling for $175.00. On EBay there is one loose Kraken with some loose figures for $271.00.
Next Jordan and Steve go to the New Egypt Flea Market in New Egypt NJ. They go on a day that the market is closed to meet Keith, who has one buildings at the market. Jordan finds a Batman Activity Set, which Jordan pays $70.00 and will sell $150.00. Looking at EBay I could not find any examples. Next Jordan finds a Beatles Wig Game that he buys for $90.00 and plans to sell for $200.00. Looking at EBay one party had a game for $50.00 and an international buyer has the game for $90.00.
Jordan goes with Vickie who he bought the Kiss van from in first episode of season two. Vickie takes Jordan to Mike, who was the person that Vickie was suppose to sell the Kiss van to. Jordan is worried because Mike is a big guy and might crush him for stealing the van from him. Jordan finds a Six Million Dollar Man Bionic Transport that is signed by Lee Majors. Better yet, on the autograph it is not personalized so anyone can own it. Jordan pays $100.00 and plans to sell it for $175.00 Looking at EBay unsigned Bionic Transport are selling between $39.99 to $109.99. Jordan also buys MacDonald’s Puppets a set of two for $30.00 and will sell for $75.00. Looking at EBay the puppets can sell individually for a low as a few dollars up to 20 Dollars each.
Jordan prepares for the trip, because he has to fly his merchandise down to Puerto Rico not drive as he normally does (we did not build Miami to Puerto Rico tunnel), Jordan has to be careful on what he takes. Jordan sets up at the show and soon discovers his taking of American television show items looks like a mistake as people are looking for Star Wars. Jordan is able to buy some Star War items from collectors and he sets up to broker a deal for another party for Uzay Blue Star. Uzay Blue Star are bootleg Star Wars Figures from Turkey. They are prized because the figures, the cards and the goof presentation. The party wants $8000.00 and Jordan offers to broker the item for a fee of twenty percent, which the person accepts. By the end of the show Jordan has done thirteen plus thousand dollars.
In my review I will cover first the last episode of season two and then the entire season two. Once again the show revolves around Jordan going to a Comic Book Convention this time in Puerto Rico. At least on the show he did not call Puerto Rico another country as he did on several interviews which were posted on various web sites. Once again, we had Jordan go to three spots to buy toys. Two of which were with Steve Savino. In both of the spots with Steve, Jordan did all the talking and it is all about Jordan. Steve is very knowledgeable on toys and has my respect. Jordan does not, I look at him as a pretty face. I did not like in the New Egypt flea market section where Jordan knocks Steve as the king of the flea markets. The flea markets are one of the main sources for material (the others are auctions and private sales} for collectors and dealers. Jordan’s comment came across as mean spirited, Steve takes it because Jordan is his bread and butter and I cannot blame him.
The section with Vickie and Mike, I wonder if it was a pay off in a way for Jordan taking the Kiss Van from Mike. Having the Bionic Transport piece not personalized by Lee Majors was a good idea by Mike. This allow the person who bought the piece to claim he got it sign by Lee Majors. An aside, Laurie and I get our items personalized as we are not looking for resale, we got that item as a memory of meeting someone we enjoyed.
Jordan made a big mistake on the Puerto Rico Con. He should have gotten some information on what the collectors were looking for. This can be gotten by going to the show as attendee and talking to collectors and dealers, who do the show. This will give you a better chance of success, but you can still have problems. When Laurie and I did the Birmingham Toy Show when we were in the UK, I had plans to buy smalls of character items as had done in a previous visit. When we got at the show, we found very little if any smalls, I still did very good at the show as there was a number of toy soldiers dealers that had not been at the Plastic Warrior Show. Jordan started to get nervous when his plan for bringing television related items seem to fall through. He got saved by buying a lot of loose Star Wars toys, this can happen at a show someone can come up with items to sale. I once purchased at a show from a party a lot of farm toys that a dealer that passed on. The Uzay Star Wars hold a unique spot in the Star Wars collecting field. Normally bootlegs do not command a high price, but Star Wars collectors love these figures for the goofiness of the figures and packaging. I do not know if the figures command a high price that party claimed and will be checking on them with other people.
As to the second season of Toy Hunter, I would sum it up in one word boring. The writing on the episodes was disjointed and several episodes looked patched together. For some reason there was a decision to have some of the episodes tie into a comic book or a horror convention. Each episode that was tied to a comic book or horror convention had make big bucks. While there is great rewards at these show there is great risk, as you are competing not only against other dealers at the show, but other attractions at the show. The last Chiller show we attended we saw dealers sitting bored because the people attending the show were spending their money on autographs.
I got to dislike Jordan in the second season due to his attitude. In first season, it was who is this person, we had not seen or heard of him at any show or flea market in our area. We laughed at how stupid he was on his prices. I had fun picking on him in person at Wayne Toy show. My opinion changed on him when the first episode of season two aired. In the episode, Jordan took out of the hands of a collector, a Kiss Viewmaster set. Stage or not it last thing a dealer or collector should do at a show is take something out of a person’s hands that they are buying. Doing what Jordan did can lead to verbal confrontations or worse. Jordan compounded that error when he took the Kiss van from someone who was promised it.
I did not like how Jordan treated Steve Savino on the show. Jordan knocked Steve’s knowledge on dolls yet when Jordan went on interview programs, he took the doll that Steve found. The show got more and more how important Jordan was. You could see his arrogance come through when Mark Huckabone did a snooze or lose on him. I did not like when Jordan got annoyed with collector who had fire damage. He should have shown empathy with the collector, which he did not. These bits and other left a sour taste in my throat of the show. Sadly I am afraid we will see more of this in season three.