Japanese PCE Magazines for sale OR TRADE - UPDATED

[dshadoff]

I've been collecting PC Engine magazines for quite a long time now (including Marukatsu PC Engine, Gekkan PC Engine, PC Engine Fan, and Dengeki PC Engine), and I have a lot of extra issues that I'm looking to sell (somewhere between 100 and 130 of these extra issues).  Just to put it into perspective, these magazines published 280 issues collectively (though some of my duplicates are actually triplicates).

Some are in pretty rough condition, but lots are pristine.
Pretty much all of them have been separated from their pack-in inserts, but if I can figure out what belongs with what (and if I have an extra one of the inserts to spare), I'd match 'em up and throw it in.


I'll be much happier if you could send me any of the following (no missing pages - fair condition or better would be appreciated):

I am completely missing these:
Marukatsu PC Engine 1989-01, 1990-07
PC Engine Fan 1989-01, 1989-07, 1990-02

I need a replacement copy of these, because my copy is missing one or more pages:
Marukatsu PC Engine 1989-05, 1990-05, 1990-10
PC Engine Fan 1991-12
Gekkan PC Engine 1990-01

...But if you don't have any of the above available for trade, money is always good.

Unfortunately, since I'm in Canada (Toronto area more specifically), shipping of individual copies could be pretty expensive... especially to people outside North America.  Shipping will be the responsibility of the recipient (for a sale; I'll cover both sides shipping for a trade), but I will help to find the best available means.


Note that the poor condition magazines are only being offered because of their severe age and rarity; otherwise I would probably throw them out.
I just thought that somebody might be interested in them, even in poor shape.
I will accept any offers on those; I'll even consider throwing them in for free if somebody buys others.

I am flexible on prices, especially if somebody is gong to pick up several magazines.  If I receive conflicting offers, I may favor the larger of the two offers if it saves me packing trouble, but otherwise the first offer will prevail.

Please note that I am not a professional used-magazine grader.  All of these magazines are used, and also old; do not expect anything to be in "mint" or "unused" condition.  In my descriptions, I am mostly looking for visible defects which could interfere with the enjoyment of the magazines.  This is (for better or worse) more information than you're likely to find anywhere else.  The information I provide here is done on a "best efforts" basis; I do not warrant the magazines in any way.


I have the following available:

Batch 1 - Marukatsu PC Engine:

1989 (a very rare year)
$40 - June - good condition with Susano wo Densetsu pack-in (OK condition - some creases on edge with fold)
*** - June - poor condition, but no missing pages (cover torn and falling off)
*** - July - torn cover but no missing pages, plus Tengai Makyo Ziria (part 1) pack-in (which is in good condition)
*** - August - poor condition (missing cover and 2 additional front/rear pages), plus Tengai Makyo Ziria (part 2) pack-in (good condition)
$35 - September - minor scuffs and cover creases
$35 - November - no obvious complaints

1990
*** - February - missing cover, corner tears, plus Ys 1-2 (part 4) pack-in (OK condition - minor creasing on edge with fold)
$25 - August - OK condition - some minor folding on a couple of the innermost pages
$30 - September - good condition, plus Image Fight pack-in (good condition), and Valkyrie no Densetsu (vol 1) pack-in (OK condition)

1991
$20 - January - good condition
$20 - March - good condition (minor fold on front cover)
$20 - April - good condition
*** - September - missing cover, but remainder of magazine is in OK condition
$20 - November - OK condition - some minor scuffs on back cover
$15 - December - missing center (removable) section, pages 83-98, but otherwise OK condition


1992
$15 - January - missing center (removable) section, pages 89-104, but otherwise OK condition
$20 - March - minor wear around the staples
$20 - May - minor wear around the staples
$25 - June - good condition
$30 - July - minor scuff on front cover, plus F1 Circus Special pack-in (good condition)
$30 - August - minor split at bottom of binding edge, plus Lodoss no Tousenki Fan Book pack-in
*** - October - split cover, but otherwise OK
$20 - November - wear around the staples
$20 - December - good condition

1993
*** - January - missing cover
$20 - January - cover has been repaired along the spine, with tape; otherwise OK condition.  Plus Eiyuu Densetsu II pack-in
$20 - February - crease in corner, but good
$20 - February - very minor crease on front cover; good
$25 - March - good, plus "Urawaza Hatsu Densho" (easter egg collection) pack-in
$15 - March - partially split cover
$25 - April - good, plus Fuun Kabuki Den pack-in (OK), plus Sotsugyou Graduation packin (good)
$20 - April - good
$15 - July - cover has been repaired along the spine, with tape; otherwise OK condition.
*** - September - missing cover, plus Langrisser pack-in
*** - October - missing cover
*** - November - cover separated from magazine, and split
$10 - December - staple wear, and some tearing on cover

1994
*** - January - staple wear, plus some inner pages loose
$25 - February - good, plus Emerald Dragon pack-in
$20 - February - good
$20 - March - good

[Bardoly]

Could you post up some pics?

I have no PCE magazines, but I would be interested in acquiring some (if not all), although there may be some here who already have some who would be interested in filling in any gaps.

[esteban]

STATUS: My wife will literally kill me if I get any more magazines/books. Hopefully, Dave, if you sell the magaizines here, the kind soul will scan 'em for us. I own a modest bunch of PCE magazines myself (~40+ issues), but they fell victim to moisture/humidity years ago and I fear they haven't aged well.

Good luck with your sale

[Tatsujin]

Yeah, they need to be scanned for Us now and posterity

[dshadoff]

Wow, max. attachment size = 128KB... not sure I can make any useful images that small.

I took some snaps of September 1995 Dengeki PC Engine (which I actually have 3 extra copies of, since I had to buy large lots in some cases in order to get individual rare issues).  The pic's were several megabytes though.

So instead of posting actual images of the actual magazines (which I will figure out at some point, when I'm ready to deal with a hiundred or so...), I'll post links to images I found on the internet, so you can see what they are.


Here's some specs on the magazines themselves:


Marukatsu PC Engine:
- Ran from January 1989 to March 1994
- staple-bound, roughly 120 pages to 160 pages
- included furigana over the kanji
- years 1989 and 1990 are super-rare; I'm still looking for several issues
- mascot on the front cover varied over the years, but was a bunny-girl for most of the run





Gekkan PC Engine:
- Ran from January 1989 to March 1994, but had 3 "special issues" published in 1998, in June, August, and October
- staple-bound, roughly 90 to 150 pages
- included furigana over the kanji
- less rare than Marukatsu, but 1989 and 1990 are still hard to find
- mascot on the front cover was various iterations of a gorilla, and slogan was "Monthly magazine for game freaks"





PC Engine Fan:
- Probably the most popular magazine outside of Japan, but not sure why
- ran from December 1988 to October 1996 consecutively
- "Super PC Engine Fan Deluxe" vol 1 was published in January 1997, and volume 2 was published in May 1997
- staple-bound from December 1988 to July 1996 inclusive; glue-spine-bound starting in August 1996
- roughly 90 to 150 pages
- no furigana
- issues from 1992 onward generally not so rare, but 1988 to 1991 can be as rare as early Marukatsu (I still don't have them all)





Dengeki PC Engine / G's Engine:
- published from February 1993 to May 1996 as "Dengeki PC Engine"
- name changed to "Dengeki G's Engine" for the run between June 1996 and July 1997
- they dropped the "Engine" part of the name starting in August 1997, and likely PC Engine coverage in general
- staple-bound from February 1993 to February 1994; glue-spine-bound from March 1994 onward
- roughly 120 to 200 pages
- no furigana
- individual issues can be rare, but generally not so much.
- bunny girl on the cover of virtually every issue; this is likely because MediaWorks was formed by a group of former Kadokawa employees (ie. Marukatsu)
- this magazine has considerably more "hentai" than the others
- later issues have a "cut the pages yourself for an 18+ picture guide" section


-Dave

[CrackTiger]

I don't know what they go for, but if they aren't too much, I'd be interested in issues that I don't already have.

I still plan on scanning in and hosting online everything I have, which is already quite a bit.

[kisaku]

I am interested in your ALL Marukatsu magazine, all Dengeki magazine, some pc engine fan and some tsushin. Please let me know. I leave here my mail.

kisaku@libero.it

thank you

[esteban]

I am interested in your ALL Marukatsu magazine, all Dengeki magazine, some pc engine fan and some tsushin. Please let me know. I leave here my mail.

kisaku@libero.it

thank you

kisaku, don't forget to scan them and I'll make them available... https://archives.tg-16.com/magazine_database.htm

[kisaku]

i have no news yet from the seller...if he sells

[dshadoff]

i have no news yet from the seller...if he sells

Oh, I'll sell - but I just don't have my act together yet.

With over 100 issues, I need to at least make a list of what I have available, list whatever condition they're in, and figure out what are reasonable prices.  Oh yeah, and figure out the best shipping options.  That will take a bit of time, which I don't have enough of at the moment.  I was trying to gauge interest and figure out fair pricing... still working on the pricing bit.

It might be easier to deal with one publication at a time... fewer variables, less initial work... but it would still be at least several days from now.  Which magazine would be the best to start with ?


Actually, better yet... I'll be much happier to trade for any of the following (which I don't own yet):

Marukatsu 1989-01 (January)
Marukatsu 1990-07 (July)
PC Engine Fan 1989-01 (January)
PC Engine Fan 1989-07 (July)
PC Engine Fan 1989-08 (August)
PC Engine Fan 1990-02 (February)


or these (which I own, but have missing pages):

Marukatsu 1989-05 (May)
Marukatsu 1990-05 (May)
Marukatsu 1990-10 (October)
Marukatsu 1990-11 (November)
Gekkan PCE 1990-01 (January)
PC Engine Fan 1991-09 (September)
PC Engine Fan 1991-12 (December)
PC Engine Fan 1995-08 (August)

(initial post modified to reflect the trade aspect)

-Dave

[NightWolve]

Hey Dave, good to see ya about! Hope your extra mags can find happy new homes. ;)

[kisaku]

OK, when you are ready, please let me know

[shubibiman]

Hi Dave, any progress on the Dead of the Brain translation? 

[kisaku]

news ?

[whisper2053]

news ?

Which magazine would be the best to start with ?

I think he's waiting on you to answer him bud...

[dshadoff]

news ?

Please be patient... I will soon post a list of available issues; I will edit the starting post of the thread at that time.

I think I will start with Dengeki G's Engine at that time, since it seems to be popular, plus since they are the thickest magazines, they will help me clear space in my room faster.  They're also generally in very good condition, and in some cases I have more than one copy available.

...Which brings me to the next question.
Are there guidelines at this site (or a "standard" elsewhere) as to how to grade quality of the magazines ?
I want to be as clear as possible without spending huge amounts of time describing each issue in painstaking detail.

[dshadoff]

I was thinking a little more about pricing.
I haven't decided on pricing yet - and actually the original purpose of the thread was to get some guidance on pricing.

When I put these up, I will be as fair as I can.
I will post the approximate amount that I paid (not including shipping) for nearly all of the issues.
I will evaluate offers below that price, especially in larger groups.

I will only ship using a service which has tracking numbers (ie. EMS, FedEx, UPS, etc.)... which might make shipping high for individual issues.
I will try to get estimated shipping rates posted with the magazines.
For example, I recently received some more magazines from Japan - about 20-25 issues - and shipping via Fedex was about $120.

As for my own cost, I recall that the price I paid (not including shipping) was basically in one of 4 categories:

1) About $15-20.  These were purchased either in North America at the time they were released, or in Japan years later.  Many of the more common Dengeki issues fall into the group.  Say about 15-20% of the issues.

2) About $20-25.  This was about half of the magazines in all, across all magazines.

3) About $50.  This was a relatively small number of rare PC Engine Fan magazines across the years, and about half of the issues of Marukatsu or Gekkan PC Engine from 1990 or earlier.  I have only a few of these in duplicate.  Those duplicates were either to replace a magazine in poor condition, or they were part of a larger batch purchase.

4) About $100.  Yes, painful as it is, I paid that much for some issues of Marukatsu and Gekkan in the 1989-1990 area.  I am still missing some of those issues, and would happily pay this much for a missing issue.  I may have duplicates of some of these $100 issues, but mostly they are lower quality (ie. I paid a higher price to "upgrade").  I do have some good-quality duplicates from batch purchases, and these will be priced accordingly.

[kisaku]

Cool!
Please tell me what magazine's numbers you have!

[dshadoff]

Good news/Bad news.

Good news: I got oragnized enough to check on shipping rates.


Bad news... actually horrible news - they are unbelievably high.

I was preparing to ship out a package of something else today, and I tried to find shipping rates...
They're atrocious to ship from Canada to anywhere in the world... a lot worse than I recall, the last time I shipped anything regularly.

So basically, it won't be worthwhile for anybody outside of North America to buy these magazines... and it could seem horribly expensive (but at least plausible) to a resident of the USA.

Here's how bad it is:  If I were to ship something to the USA as "Expedited Parcel", and have somebody forward the same article via ExpressPost to virtually any other country in the world, it would come out about the same price as shipping directly from Canada.... via surface mail, with no tracking.  Shipping ExpressPost from here would be 50% to 100% more expensive.  It just doesn't make sense.

Here's how I found out:
I was going to ship a 2.2kg parcel to a friend in Australia.  It's about the size of the retail box of a laptop computer.
- All couriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, Purolator) quoted prices between $300 and $350.
- CanadaPost quoted $257 for "Priority courier", $152 for "XpressPost", and $91 for "International Parcel - Surface"
- USPS, however... (if I lived in the USA) quoted $135 for "Global Express Guaranteed", $70 for Express Mail, and $53 for Priority Mail.


In order to see how this maps out for magazines, assume that
- Dengeki PC Engine magazines are around 400g each
- other magazines are around 300g each (although older ones may be thinner)
- plus inserts
- plus packing/shipping container

So, 2kg is easy to hit with just a few magazines...

Also, for any service that doesn't automatically include tracking, it's $15.25 to add it on... which is horribly expensive.

Not sure if anybody is still interested after hearing this... though maybe it's bearable for North Americans.
Or I suppose if anybody is planning to visit the Toronto area, we can meet or I can drop them off at your hotel.  ;)

Let me know what I should do next, about the sales...
And of course, for trades, I'd happily cover the appropriate shipping charges on my side, so this wouldn't affect trades in any way.

[CrackTiger]

Which city do you live in?

[dshadoff]

Which city do you live in?

Strictly speaking, Mississauga.
For those who don't know the city, it's immediately adjacent to Toronto, and is the actual location of Toronto's International airport.

[CrackTiger]

Too far away for me to do a pick-up.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Too bad Canadia doesn't offer global flat-rates like the USPS.  The medium flatrate boxes could hold a pretty huge stack of magazines.

Shipping rates for USA (and AFAIK, Canada) went up in January to the current borderline retarded pricing.  What used to cost 15$ now costs 25$.

[kisaku]

I need these if you have:

PC ENGINE FAN 1989 numbers. 4,5,7,9   
PC ENGINE FAN 1991 number. 11

[kisaku]

I sent you a pm!!! Please answer me!

[NightWolve]

Try reaching him via AIM if you have an account. His username is: morphos9

[dshadoff]

Marukatsu magazines listed.
See very first post in thread.

[esteban]

Marukatsu magazines listed.
See very first post in thread.

Comrade, I know you are too busy, but I had to ask: is there any chance you (or volunteers from family/workplace/neighborhood) could scan the covers + table of contents for the magazines?

It's OK, you can laugh. I had to ask, though 

Thanks for humoring me.