Is there any other transformer sites that sell g1 or g1 reproduction parts besides tfsource.bigislandtoys amd transformerland?
You could try the Wanted Ads here on TFW if you have a list of parts you need, there's always people with extra bits (including me) they want to sell off.
I have looked, and your best bet is E-bay. If your patient the parts will come for the price you want. Thats what I have done. Of course look back from time to time here as well. People are always putting up new parts they have for sale.
http://www.bigislandtoys.com/ The guy is a very good friend of mine and extremely trust worthy. Tell him "dave 1" sent you. Who knows, maybe it'll get you some type of deal.
You posted about wanting Apeface parts. They are not common to find - took me a long time to find the shield and the gun. I would have just went for him complete, but I happened across one at a toy show with the head and unbroken body for $7 - I had to get that. I probably paid about $35 between the shield and gun. Another friend was looking for the gun - months for him to find one. There are certain figures it is better to just put out the money for and just get them complete. I have been looking for Doubleheaders small gun for over a year - I will probably have to buy another one complete to get it. Longtooth was really hard to complete. Seems like most of the later year stuff is harder to find parts-wise. Some of the figures I pieced together cost me more than if I had just bought them complete, although I was able to spread that cost out over months/years - Siren being a prime example for me. The Protectobots and Stunticons, with all of the small weapons, were fairly hard to put together separately. eBay is the best barometer or availability (Wheeljacks slab, DIT), I think, but not indicative of the real prices. A lot of people here will give you better deals than eBay, but you have to catch them in time. John K.
Parts have always been the challenge in collecting. Back when I started collecting in the mid-90's, you pretty much couldn't buy parts - Most people would only offer them in trade. It wasn't until Robot Monster Toys started breaking up complete toys to feed the parts demand that things really changed. There are usually quite a few parts dealers at Botcon.
It's just my bad luck if i already had a complete figure the parts i was looking for then the parts would be cheap to buy.
