I purchased a loose AFA graded, complete pre-rub G1 Soundwave not long ago. I don't think I'd buy another loose graded one unless it happened to be well done. My AFA Soundwave also has Buzzsaw and all the weapons. The TFs are positioned well and will not move in the box. But the weapons are kinda loose at the top in a "boxed" area. I don't like that at all because they shake around when you pick it up. I prefer alt mode so that doesn't bother me. It's nice having it AFA. But like I said, I doubt I'd buy another AFA'ed loose TF like this. Soundwave is my absolute fav so it's just to have it kind of thing. I would buy a MISB/MOSC AFA TF... to me that makes better sense when it comes to grading.
There's a sticker on the left side - it's hard to see from the angle of the seller's shot. If you search that number on the listing at AFA's website then it'll pull up the data on that graded TF. Plus it looks like he's selling a whole bunch of graded G1 mini-vehicles on ebay. Pretty cool. But $50+ on the mini G1 TFs ain't a bad deal. The seller probably spent more in shipping the TFs to & fro AFA than for the actual grading service. lol. It's $17 to $20 to grade a loose mini-vehicle. He's got a good idea; $50+ graded TF... nice $$ shot in the arm for those little buggers.
I guess I should clarify a little bit. I don't mean that AFA is scamming people. I mean that we (the toy collecting public) shouldn't need an arbitrary rating system to set value on toys based on condition. I guess its personal preference, and you do need some sort of guidance in the world of online selling, but it seems unimportant to me. As in: I don't see the value in the service, but to each his own. *shrug*
AFA doesn't set a value on toys, they set a grade. It's the AFA collectors that set a price on the toys.
I understand why others like AFA'd figures but for me I wouldn't have any interest in keeping a figure in a Plexiglass case save for very rare/extremely rare figures. An Example would be a MISB G1 Jetfire with the Macross emblems on his wings. If its been opened i wouldn't do it as I prefer to display in Bot Mode. The one thing that bugs me the most that people AFA is Combiner sets as it kills so much potential display possibilities. I honestly believe that by in large the AFA creates artificial rarity and falsely in creases values of the figures its grade, Its known in the past they have graded KO's so they aren't perfect but as it humans doing the grading that impossible. I do give them credit for their efforts to get the KO's they errantly graded in the past off the market. In conclusion for those that are into the graded figures the AFA is great for those who aren't they are basically meh. As for loose ones like the Constructions in an earlier post i don't see the point of them being graded as they are out of the package already , just display them.
Why couldn't you have an AFA Combiner set, and then have a loose set that was displayed around it? If a Transformer is rare, then it's rare, AFA has nothing to do with making a TF rare. AFA does not falsely increase a TFs value, as it's the AFA collectors that set the prices. So AFA graded a few KOs when they first entered the market, that's easy to say 5 years later, and I bet nobody else caught that they were fakes back then. As you mentioned, AFA will buy back any KO that they graded by mistake. They take responsibility for their mistakes. Maybe the person who owns the graded Constructicon set doesn't want them displayed loose, and wants to keep them in their current condition?
Amen! I can't wait to get back my MISB Slag & MIB/MOSC Insecticons back from AFA so I can take pics of them AFA'ed displayed with their loose counterparts. But you know haters are going to hate no matter what. "Toys are for kids, MISB is for adults"...
Its wholly up to the individual. I got the constructicons graded loose because they were in great condition and I liked the way it looks. Theyre only there to please me. I uploaded the pic to give an example. I dont think theyre rarer, or worth more because they were afa'ed. Its just my preference. Im not into transforming them, or having them fight each other anymore now that Im in my mid-30's. I just enjoy looking at them. And I think the acrylic displays enhance that. If I decide to sell tham and someone wants to offer me more because theyve been graded, all the better. If the grade was irrelevant, or non-existent, would people still find fault in a simple acrylic display?
