X-Men '97 has kept us guessing! At first, many were sure that the "big bad" of season one would be Mr. Sinister. And then after the Mutant Massacre on Genosha in episode five, Youtubers proclaimed that Cassandra Nova must be this season's primary villain. And then, we learned that Bastion -- and not Cassandra or Mr. Sinister -- was the mastermind behind the attack on Genosha.
We always knew Kevin Feige would turn to new villains when he brought the X-Men into the MCU, but Bastion is a deep cut. Never a top tier villain, how has the market reacted to his moment in the spotlight?
Copies of Bastion's 1st full appearance are flying off of eBay's shelves.
Bastion's 1st full appearance occurs in Uncanny X-Men #333 (1996), right as the X-Men: The Animated Series was wrapping up. In terms of graded copies of X-Men #333, Bastion's star turn as the big bad of X-Men '97 has had a significant impact according to GoCollect. Specifically, the 30 day average for a CGC 9.8 (the most common grade on the CGC Census) is roughly 26% higher than its one-year average. The most recent sale of a 9.8 which occurred on April 14th for $108 actually represents this issue's all-time high. That sale was likely eclipsed by another sale for a 9.8 listed for $145 on April 18th, but since it was identified as an eBay Best Offer Accepted sale, we don't know what the final sale price was.
Strangely, the highest sale for a graded copy of X-Men #333 was not a 9.8, but a 9.2 that occurred about a week ago for $150:
Since Bastion's full reveal in episode seven just over a week ago, raw copies of Uncanny X-Men #333 have disappeared from eBay's virtual shelves. To be more specific, an unbelievable 130 raw copies of this issue sold on eBay during the eight day period from April 24th to May 1st.
X-Men '97 hasn't had as much of an impact on Bastion's other key issues.
X-Men '97 hasn't had as much of an impact on Bastion's 1st cameo appearance in X-Men #52 (1996) where Bastion appears in two panels wearing a trench coat. Only two CGC 9.8s (the most common grade on the CGC Census) of this issue have sold on eBay during the past two months, and the 30-day sales average is roughly the same as the one-year average. Since April 24th, just over 60 raw copies of X-Men #52 have sold on eBay, but typically have sold for around $5 or less.
Although X-Men '97 changes Bastion's origins, another comic to consider is Bastion's origin in the comics which occurs in Uncanny X-Men #247. In this issue, the X-Men blast a merged version of Master Mold and Nimrod (along with Rogue) through the Siege Perilous who is then reincarnated into a human-like being, Bastion, who has no memory of his past. You should be able to buy a CGC 9.8 copy of this issue for less than $50. To me, that isn't a bad price considering that $50 would barely cover the costs of shipping this book to CGC and having it graded. You should be able to find high grade raw copies of this issue for around $5 to $10.
Would you consider investing in of these Bastion-related issues at their current price points? Please let us know what your opinion is in the comments section below!
