THE TEAM
Flex.
Sniffs out sealed Nintendo.
Flex handles the retro video games and toys side of the catalog at Keep It Classic. Nintendo through sixth-generation consoles, complete-in-box carts, sealed games, vintage action figures, and the weekly shelf of weird one-of-one toys that keep coming in the back door. Authentication on a sealed game is a real skill, the kind that takes years to develop and seconds to apply. The shop leans on Flex for that call.
What Flex does
The retro games shelf is one of the most-watched corners of the shop floor. NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Dreamcast, original Xbox, and PlayStation 1 and 2 inventory all flow through Flex's eye. The condition-grading call on a loose cart, does the label have the right gloss, the right printing depth, the right pull resistance on the cartridge tabs, is his call. The authentication call on a still-sealed game in original shrink, where the difference between a real factory seal and a re-shrink is invisible to most eyes and obvious to a few, is also his call. The vintage toys side of the catalog runs through him too. Star Wars Kenner figures, vintage WWF Hasbros, transformers in original packaging, and the long tail of one-of-one collectibles that walk in the back door of the shop.
A specific story
More from Flex soon. The grading and authentication conversations that happen at the retro games shelf are the kind worth writing up; we will let Flex tell those stories firsthand.
What to look at
What Flex would point you at right now: the Nintendo collection for the depth of cart and console inventory, or the Sega collection for the rarer Genesis pieces that move quickly when they show up.