Previous Threads Hubcap August 5, 2007 http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=145929 Cliffjumper August 4, 2007 http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=145783 Devastator Giftbox Sponsored by: Agesthreeandup.com August 4, 2007 http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=145767 Mirage August 3, 2007 http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showpost.php?p=1505652&postcount=92 Before I start ... All participation is welcomed. If I missed anything please let me know. These differences are ones I found just by combing over the pictures. Huge thanks to the folks at Agesthreeandup.com. Spencer took product photos for this purpose alone. Keep all ethical "knockoff" discussion out of this thread. This is for educational purposes only. NO DEBATES PLEASE. I attempted to rank these in order of importance. Position 1 is the "dead giveaway". If you see this, you know it's not legit. There are some color differences, but those have to be ignored. Many variables with originals (fading, picture lighting, etc) make color matching against repro's inconclusive. Again, the purpose to this is to educate eBayers. There are AWFUL sellers out there who claim these pieces as being real. Soundwave Box August 5, 2007 Sponsored by: Agesthreeandup.com 00. This is more of a heads up Soundwave came with an additional foam inlay. I don't think this was reproduced with the box and stickers. 01. Missing key text Back in the 80's, common sense didn't exist. 02. Art alignment issue There are some key spots (highlighted above) which quite don't line up properly. 03. Grey border near foot I reviewed 3 Soundwave boxes. All had minor variations to the grey border around Buzzsaw's beak and Soundwave's battery gun. The only consistent part between all 3 was the grey border around the foot. The repro'ed box is much thicker than the originals. 04. Yellow butt The repro'ed box has quite a bit of yellow near SW's can. On the originals, it's a bit of a washed out purple.
The lack of text is a grievous error that renders the piece a failure in terms of replicating the box itself. If the seller's goal was to replicate the box flawlessly to serve as a legitimate replacement for the original box, this particular box will not do.
From the vendors (Spirit-of-Cybertron, Agesthreeandup.com), that is not the intention. These are made for the fans. Not once has a main source of reproductions claimed these to be real. These guys are very honest and tell it as it is. Now, if the item is resold, after market saturation, who knows? We saw this in the eBay forum around the time of the TF Movie. Again though, A3+ and SOC are good peoples.
Is this confirmed? Just stumbled upon this tread - I have a Soundwave box here that in all respects looks authentic, except for one: your no. 1 'dead giveaway', the missing text ... Do you, or does anyone know absolutely certain that there were never boxes released in other regions which didn't have this text? Perhaps interesting is that my box has a TM above the Transformers logo in stead of the circled R in the pictures here. Any opinions / experiences? I'd really like to to hear them!
The knockoff box was only released as the "(R)" version, not the "TM" version. So yours is real. "TM" (aka "Pre-Rub") versions are from 1984 (as opposed to 1985), so it's possible that the "TM" versions didn't have this text. Interesting!
Thanks all, for the replies so far. For the record, the soundwave in my missing-legal-text-TM box (...) does have a rub symbol, but seeing Malach Ra's post that'd be possible.
There's an AFA graded pre-rub on ebay right now; TM with no text. Aside from the text issue, everything else that you can make out in the photo seems to be consistent with e3nine's guide. 1984 G1 TRANSFORMER AFA 80 SOUNDWAVE *PRERUB* MISB - eBay (item 160350951445 end time Jul-26-09 19:52:18 PDT)
Pictures Hello I am just getting in to collecting G1 original Transformers and would like to see the pictures to theses posts. Does anyone have them to hand as photo bucket seems to have deleted them ? Or does someone have some other great guides they can point me to ? Many Thanks Matthew
G1 Soundwave I have a question. I have a Pre Rub Soundwave that is missing parts. On Ebay, I see someone selling a Pre Rub box with inserts. It fits the bill for a real box, but it has a section in the insert for Ravage. Is this a real box? Transformers Decepticon Communicator Buzzsaw in original box played-with | eBay
Thanks. PS. I will be posting pictures of the masterpiece Shockwave and Springer I am currently working on.
Good thread. I just picked up a SW and the box is vintage except it has no memo typed at the bottom regarding recording. The TM is at the flap logo.
I'm way late to the party, but I think the most obvious indicator of a KO Soundwave box is the lack of a perforated box flap. Here's a picture of an authentic G1 Soundwave flap.
