tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post3427488974975811138..comments2023-10-23T00:04:35.356-04:00Comments on The Vault of Buncheness: THE RIDICULOUS BUT TRUE STORY OF "STAN BUNCHE" AND THE SKETCH-A-GRAPH SCAMBunche (pop culture ronin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-67947388994957616682008-10-28T14:05:00.000-04:002008-10-28T14:05:00.000-04:00I proudly display an original Stan Bunche A.I.M. A...I proudly display an original Stan Bunche A.I.M. Agent on my fridge...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-40351420759596710892008-10-26T10:47:00.000-04:002008-10-26T10:47:00.000-04:00I dunno.. I thought this story was great and havin...I dunno.. I thought this story was great and having gone to high school with the "illustrious Stan Bunche", it could be a cool keepsake/memento... going to Ebay right now to find some.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16734199494460123049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-80444465790543657322008-10-25T23:34:00.000-04:002008-10-25T23:34:00.000-04:00Alas, there are no AIM Agents currently on Ebay, j...Alas, there are no AIM Agents currently on Ebay, just "real" Stan Bunche cards: http://desc.shop.ebay.com/items/Other__bunche_W0QQLHQ5fTitleDescZ1QQLHQ5fBINZ1QQLHQ5fIncludeSIFZ1QQ_nkwZbuncheQQQ5ftrkparmsZ72Q253A1205Q257C66Q253A2Q257C65Q253A12Q257C39Q253A1QQ_psizeZ3QQ_sacatZ37901QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14John Blighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543592173944572738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-37161945045970682432008-10-25T19:55:00.000-04:002008-10-25T19:55:00.000-04:00I have to disagree; considering what they are, an ...I have to disagree; considering what they are, an A.I.M. agent card going for anything more than $2 is insanely inflated.Bunche (pop culture ronin)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11831085937894725459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-76284763748205967962008-10-25T10:08:00.000-04:002008-10-25T10:08:00.000-04:00The "illustrious" Stan Bunche? I hate to burst you...The "illustrious" Stan Bunche? I hate to burst your bubble that's the "infamous" Stan Bunche. I know that everyone is the hero of their own story but this is a tale where you happen to be one of the villains.<BR/> First off the reason that they used guys in the guys in the bullpen was that their original plan, to have famous Marvel artists do the sketchagraph cards, ran up against the cold rocks on the shore of their budget. They wanted to pay three bucks a sketch. That was way too low to get any famous artist to do a hundred sketches. They got three or four sketches at most out of the big names. And the big names did that as a lark. Not for the cash.<BR/> Hence the dumb-asses in charge had to come down to the bullpen and get all the unknown artists to pitch in. And at three bucks a sketch that was still a ridiculously low price as you know. Too low for my lazy ass. I never did any but I also didn't have a big credit card bill. <BR/> There was a little bit of a competition going on in the bullpen to see who could figure out how to do a decent drawing in the shortest amount of time. I emphasize decent drawing though. Everyone knew that they were no-names and if they turned in shameless crap that would be the end of the little extra money coming in for these cards. And make no mistake the bullpenners doing these cards were doing them to make some extra money.<BR/> This went on for a couple of days. And then as the deadline approached you came in one morning with the A.I.M. Agent cards. Five hundred of them. They were so shamelessly bad that everyone knew they would end the sketchagraph card "gravy train" (I hesitate to call it that because there really wasn't much gravy). There was no talking to you. You handed in the crappy A.I.M. Agent cards and they immediately shut down the job. This was what everyone had feared. Using unknown artists and getting crappy work back. Even Dave's "Mysterios" were the Mona Lisa compared to those A.I.M. Agents.<BR/> And you may have been payed but not everyone was. They just stopped accepting everyone else's cards for fear of getting more bad sketches. And we all knew that was going to happen if you turned in those bad A.I.M. Agent cards. Still you were adamant.<BR/> And the reason that "Stan Bunche" is infamous is because of the fans. The card sets that the sketchagraph card came out in made the claim that if you bought a whole retail box of these cards you would get a sketchagraph card. A retail box went for about $75. Imagine you're a fan and buy a whole box of cards just to get a sketchagraph card and it's a Stan Bunche A.I.M. Agent. That is one pissed off fan. He just payed a whole lot of money for a bad drawing.<BR/> Now you are certainly not the top villain in this piece. Hell, they should have never let those A.I.M. Agents see the light of day. They should have payed you and thrown those cards away. You did have others that were nice. But you did ruin things for some of your fellow bullpenners. I don't think anyone ever held it against you because the whole thing was such a fucked up job to begin with but "Stan Bunche" is not a revered name among sketchagraph collectors.<BR/> And the price for A.I.M. Agent cards isn't what I'd describe as "insanely inflated". The usually go for between $8-$15 (that the cheapest price of any sketchagraph card). That's quite a hit being that someone compared to $75 to get the box of cards it came in. But not may of the sketchagraph cards go for more than $75 though I haven't looked lately. I have mine already!Jaredhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10335380869775400977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415178.post-19964349945830648132008-10-25T00:41:00.000-04:002008-10-25T00:41:00.000-04:00I know for a fact that at least Jared and myself h...I know for a fact that at least Jared and myself have both won original Stan Bunche A.I.M. Agent Sketchagraphs off Ebay. I actually have mine framed!<BR/><BR/>Looks fabulous on the piano!John Blighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543592173944572738noreply@blogger.com