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Whaaa? Is this the real W.O.P.R.?

I didn't realize there was a second War Games film, but apparently this direct-to-DVD "sequel" was made in 2008. The description in the auction does mention the title of the sequel but the rest of the description is about the original film, so it's easy to overlook that part :)
 
I believe the deceptive description is in order to be able to sell the prop at all. Like you, I had never heard about the sequel and think that for $3000, one could just as well build your own WOPR replica as getting a prop used in a recent but almost unknown sequel. I suppose the worn and rusty look is on purpose, like a super computer that has remained abandoned for the past 20+ years.
 
I seriously doubt the original prop was even built of metal, so there wouldn't be any rust.
Maybe the seller bought who bought it in the first place thought it was the original W.O.P.R. as well.
It will be interesting to see if it sells.
patscc
 
Confusing, this auction I think indicates it's the original not from a sequel. I thought I remembered it getting sold a few years back though but I must be remembering something else. The part that bugs me with auctions are the fees. I guess when you're in the auction scene you're used to all the terms but for a beginner I'd be quite put off to even try entering the auction world. You have premiums, additional fees depending on payment, weird stuff. In this auction (which apparently doesn't start for 2 days) whatever the winning price is you'll end up paying an additional 23% of the final price to the auctioneer company. Then if it's over $5000 and you use a credit card apparently they also want another 2.5% on top. Icing on the cake is the premium (additional 23% to the final payment) is also taxable so another 8.75% on that.

Interesting how much price creep gets involved.
 
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The title of the auction is "War Games Original WOPR Computer" so yes, that's very misleading unless you carefully read the description.
 
Ok what I didn't do was look up the title of the movie "War Games: The Dead Code" which is where you all got the sequel info. The odd part thought is, in the rest of the description they go on to talk about Matthew Broderick, etc. But I guess they're saying this is the prop from the specified movie. The original movie that this one was based off of starred so and so, and that's the rest of the auction description. Pretty odd and misleading. It's almost like they're trying to sell ya something. <g>

Oddly they say the starting price is $500 but the estimate is 20,000.00 - 30,000.00 end. I guess folks are able to pre-bid since it's at $3000ish?
 
Well, if it was a prop from the 1983 movie, it really has fared bad if it is so rusty, dirty and generally scruffed up as the pictures seem to indicate. Perhaps not a problem for a dedicated restorer, but even as a possibly significant item in movie history, I can't see many people or businesses spending $3000, much less $20000 on an item in that condition. Or am I narrow minded in my thinking?

Actually, I think most of us on this forum would prefer Broderick's IMSAI over having the W.O.P.R. in your livingroom.
 
carlsson said:
Well, if it was a prop from the 1983 movie, it really has fared bad if it is so rusty, dirty and generally scruffed up as the pictures seem to indicate.
Click to expand...
It is a composite material, made to look like a rusting hulk of a computer.

From the listing:
The prop is full size, made with heavy resin and painted grey, with a myriad of wires that light up the front panel.
 
Anders, you should check out a TV show called "Hollywood Treasure". It's just another reality show but is somewhat interesting (sorta wonder if this is them) where they specifically go to collectors of specific themes/movies and get an auction going selling it for the person. They take their cut on top so it's a bit nicer than the pickers show where you're just watching them screw someone out of their stuff then afterwards say how much more they think it's really worth.

What's been amazing (and of course it's TV so I'm sure the bad items go unaired) but some of the prices of the items have been ridiculous. A lot of time the price the main guy/(owner?) quotes the customer seems overly inflated but in most cases it goes higher than that. Amazing some of the folks bidding too. Some of the folks were bidding on original items from some space sci-fi tv show (can't quite remember which one). One of the people there was a major collector (largest collection I think) but wow the price the items were going into were the price of a house. Interesting in itself to see what someone that can bid a house price on a sci-fi object looks like ;-) one guy just looked like a plain jane farmer type. I always wonder what these people do for a living.
 
So, I was hoping like other sites it would post the end prices but I guess they don't or perhaps you have to be registered to know what things sold for? Anyone actually watch the auction or see a place to know end prices?

OT: I believe the Wargames sequel is available on Netflix streaming (per my wife's comment thinking she saw it recently and had wondered what it was as well).
 
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