Has anyone come across double taped G1 color Slugs from TF Expo? I saw one that sold on Mandarake but none of the other listings mention double taping. I'm a bit concerned as my Japan contact found one for me but it's double taped unfortunately.
From what has been said regarding this topic for other TakaraTomy toys, it apparently simply indicates that the packaging was reopened by the factory for a QC check.
Nevermore is correct in that TT items do sometimes come double (re)taped from the factory. However, if Mandarake buy collections from people / take consignments then it seems like it's not impossible that the item in question was opened after it was first purchased. Perhaps more so because of their retail set up and that they are not dedicated TF sellers. On top of that, from anecdotal evidence i have heard, it's not unusual for collector shops in Japan to open a sealed item upon it being sold.to check everything is present and correct. So in short; Odds are factory reseald but since it's Japan and Mandarake odds are maybe not as favourable as if you had bought it from say TFSource, BBTS etc.
Hi all, thanks for the feedback. I'm not entirely sure where my contact got Slug from, but I don't think it's Mandarake since he said he was able to haggle with the shop on account of the double taping. The owner claims that Slug was bought directly from Takara and it was double taped, so I guess I can chalk it up to that additional QC check Nevermore was mentioning. I went ahead with the deal since this guy has gotten pretty tough to find at a nice price recently. Interestingly enough, I've been checking out Mandarake's sold items and noticed that they have never had a single sealed G1 Slug. They're all either opened, resealed or double taped. The sellers on eBay meanwhile make absolutely no mention of resealed/double taped boxes though.