Buyer Beware - Fake AFA Graded Toys!

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by Kickback, May 29, 2010.

  1. 03Mach1

    03Mach1 Logic has been replaced with blind ignorance.

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    This is just one more roadblock to collecting MISB, vintage toys. First it was KO's/remakes and now this. It was inevitable.
     
  2. MegaCepticon

    MegaCepticon Well-Known Member

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    Well one way to stop this is tell Ebay what's happenning. Show them proof that people are getting ripped off. I know the argument is that Ebay doesn't care, but it's worth a shot considering ebay is all about it's community. I know for a fact that Perfumes, Colognes, Designer clothes, purses can only be auctioned or sold once. If it doesn't sell,
    you have to wait a month or so to relist it. (These types of items are easily bootlegged). Why not show ebay the difference between a legit and a KO transformers? I know TFW2005 has some pull on this kind of matters and also it will make TFW a worthy site to go to. Or how about everytime someone lists a AFA graded Tformers, have ebay automatically link to TFW2005 showing the difference between the real deal and the KO! I seems like a good idea to me. TFW how about it? Be the Hero!!! Just my 2 cents...
     
  3. Arcee 69

    Arcee 69 Well-Known Member

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    No! AFA is "fucking stupid"!!! Who are these guys??? What makes them the so-called authority? Bashing them is AWESOME! People that bash them are AWESOME! They need to be bashed as much as possible.

    No! Why should we? We don't have to get over it if we don't want to. The MIB vintage figures are already worth high enough prices without the AFA supporters/scalpers jacking the prices up even higher.

    Again. Who the hell are these guys? What do we know about them? Where did they come from? Are they really qualified to grade our toys or are they just a couple losers that thought up this lame-ass business in their mommies basement? And what makes them the authority?

    Toy collecting as a whole really didn't need this stupidity. We already had enough trouble with scalpers. Now we have idiots taking a $200 figure & trying to get $4000 out of it. Maybe if AFA contributed something positive to this hobby people wouldn't bash them. But all we see from them is greed. As soon as anything is AFA graded the greed comes out & it's all about the money. Not about the toy, not about the memories, not about the nostalgia, only about flat out ripping people off.

    I hope they start doing this more & more. Get as many fakes out there as possible & bury AFA once & for all. I wanted to buy some GI Joe 25th figures from hasbrotoyshop. I couldn't, all the figures that used to be $7 are now AFA graded & $50 & $60. I wanna see AFA gone! Burn them, bury them, just get rid of them!!!
     
  4. mac&cheese

    mac&cheese Well-Known Member

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    yeah, thats the problem. ebay wants proof right in front of them or you have to have a police/ or a shop call them. otherwise they wont do sh*t.
     
  5. mac&cheese

    mac&cheese Well-Known Member

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    no
     
  6. Kenucme

    Kenucme Yes, I'd get that one too

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    You have to look to the fanbase for giving them the authenticity it receives. And so they are now the standard of record.

    Oh, I see where your argument is going. Following that logic, it must be AFA that is selling every single graded figure (excepting CSG of course). You are targeting the symptom, not the real problem of your argument.

    Don't hate on AFA for having a service that enough people decided to use. Channel your discord with those that are just using the service to get a better price out of it.
     
  7. Malach Ra

    Malach Ra TFW2005 Supporter

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    You have your fellow collectors to thank for the inflated costs and the so called greed, not AFA. And as I read it, most of you dont want you toys sealed in a plastic prison-right? Or is it the fact that most of you cant justify paying the high prices that an AFA toy commands? Or cant afford it? I get that a lot of people hate AFA for some reason or another, its just the reasons usually add up to bullshit claims that people have against AFA(see the quote above) that really have nothing to do with AFA at all, but more with the people selling the graded stuff. I dont see the point of sounding like a moron and bashing something when you have no proof to support your reasons. Want an AFA toy-buy one, cant afford one-adjust your priorities or leave it alone.
     
  8. wolfe

    wolfe Well-Known Member

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    There are plenty of loose figures and boxed figures that can be opened. I dont see why anyone needs to bash people for collecting AFA or MISB. Its no less a collection, its something that we love. I love lose figures, i love MISB figures, and i have one AFA but i would love to get another. I love having it in the cabinet in my collection. To hate and bash on collectors for collecting what they want is just plain idiotic.
     
  9. temptingtoys

    temptingtoys Well-Known Member

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    THIS IS VERY OLD NEWS and has been going on or quite some time.
     
  10. wildfly

    wildfly Fermenting pork tube.

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    Doesn't scalping involve restricting availabiltiy of something that is otherwise fairly common? Last i checked, high quality examples of MIB G1 toys were a rarity before anyone started having them packed in plastic boxes.
     
  11. mac&cheese

    mac&cheese Well-Known Member

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    i myself believe that alot people says if its something we want cant afford, then its no good at all. but if we can afford it then yes its the best. thats what i see in some people or just plain jealousy.
    as where i stand i love misb toys so i love the extra grading system to help keep the quality of the boxes. but i cant afford the grading. so i do without them. if i can afford them. i will have all of them graded for value and protection.
     
  12. Metal Chaos

    Metal Chaos The Spark of Chaos

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    I agree completely. AFA seems pointless to me, you pay them a ton of money to SAY your toy is worth a lot, seems to me you're really just paying them to make up a price for your toy.

    I wonder about these guys, this so called Authority on all things Collectible.

    Who are they?

    What are their resources?

    How do they come up with their prices?

    How the fruitandhamfilleddumpinbasket do you grade something that's misb? Do they remove it to see it's still in fine condition? Hell someone could have a perfectly fine mint condition G1 Metroplex box, minus the G1 Metroplex and send it in with a bag of dirt inside it. If they did it just right it would look factory sealed. If AFA opens it to make sure it's legit then it's no longer MISB.

    I don't understand how they grade their products or why collectors trust them so blindly.

    I tell you what AFA users, I'm gonna grade your toys for you, send them all to me and $100 cash and I will send them back with a label that says they are worth $100,000 a piece and a special edition certificate of authenticity for you to mount on your lite-brite so you can show it to all your friends, even in the dark. Your collections will be worth millions*

























    * Collection Prices not valid in

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    Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia or any non US Territories.



    I'm glad AFA is getting ripped off, maybe this will be the end of them and their scam. I mean seriously, no matter how you look at them they are not legit, no insurance company or judge would take their "graded values" into consideration therefor they are not legal. They have no authority on anything, they charge you to make your collection look valuable and nothing more.


    When it comes right down to it, the value is in the eye of the beholder.
     
  13. Easterling Capt

    Easterling Capt I am Vern Schillinger

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    I fully agree grading new stuff is pointless because there are so many other sealers around the collector world tdoay. Collecting MISb during the 80s and such did not exsist..during the 80s we ( myself included) played with the toys, ripped the boxes and all upp, dident mather if it was TF, MOTU, SW, GIJOe and so on.

    These days Sealed old toys are hot and expensiv. Especially certain lines like TF. Some company gets the idea, well ppl might want to preserve the toys and so on. If Im not misstaken gradin comics have been around ages before grading toys, this is the same thing. You dont buy a donald duck for $$$$$$$ and read it. You dont buy a MISB Wheeljack and sticker it up.

    AFA is just a company doing a service, if they dident do it someone else would. The inflated prices are there because there is a demand for sealed graded pieces and many only exist in misb form with a few some as low as 1 in the world...what you expect they would cost...$50 ??
     
  14. Paradigm-Shift Prime

    Paradigm-Shift Prime Unit Warrior TFW2005 Supporter

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    Waiting for fake AFAs of fake G1 Transformers.

    And I'm not a big AFA fan but I think some people here have dangerous logic by saying that they deserve to get KO'd. It's not the introduction of a competing grading service. It's the counterfeiting of the AFA grading service.
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2010
  15. Sidecutter

    Sidecutter Evil Former Dealer Scum TFW2005 Supporter

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    Well, maybe YOU don't. I sure as all hell do.

    MISB japanese Octane, pristine box...opened and stickered.
    MISB Landcross (the three 2-packs)...opened and stickered.
    MISc Sky Garry...mmhmmm.
    MISB Groundshaker (Japanese) and Countdown...yup, same fate.
    MISB/MOSC Thunderclash, Spark, Clench, yellow Euro G1 Constructicons, European Powermasters, Euro Predator jets, etc, etc...you guessed it.

    I am, in some cases, willing to pay that premium for a perfect, brand new figure, and then be the first one to ever open it. I can't be alone in that. And if I did get something AFA cased that I really wanted, you bet your bottom I'd smash that plexi to open it.
     
  16. Easterling Capt

    Easterling Capt I am Vern Schillinger

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    Side,
    I fully understand that and respect that but I think ppl like you are few in numbers. To buy a expensiv piece just to get that fresh feeling. In my world that is a waste of money and ilogical when you can hunt a minty loose one down for a fraction of the cost.

    But then again everyone to their own as the saying goes ;) 
     
  17. ninety

    ninety NERDS!!

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    I recommend a dremel, works a treat!

    Remember the conversation we had in my room at AA? The consensus between about eight of us was that I was nuts as I've done that. As Sidecutter said, for certain TF's I'll pay the premium to be the first to open them up, most notably a MISB G1 Megs. As my joint favourite TF I was happy to pay, then instantly lose the money by opening him, worth every penny to me.


    On topic, I'm not the biggest fan of AFA'd TF's, but fully understand those that collect them. A mate's got a full set of both Combaticons, and Seacons, both are beautiful in their cases, they're excellent display pieces.

    There's a hilarious amount of ill-informed opinion in here. :D 
     
  18. [Wing_Saber-X]

    [Wing_Saber-X] Takara Fanboy Collector

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    ^ Amen! ;) 
     
  19. Sidecutter

    Sidecutter Evil Former Dealer Scum TFW2005 Supporter

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    The thing about that is, the price difference between a truly minty copy of a G1 figure, and a sealed, packaged minty copy...are often very little. For the bigger name toys, yes, it can be the difference between $100 and $500, but for most of them, it doesn't really seem to work out that way. Just for example, I bought thAT sealed, absolutely beautiful Japanese Octane. For $80. At BotCon.

    He's not sealed now.
     
  20. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    I understand that for some of the collecting community, especially the MISB/MOSC community or people like yourself Tony, this is not something "gasp, wow, new!" ... but for a good majority of the general public, especially those new or returning to Transformers collecting, this is indeed news.

    I've been around for over a decade now and while after discovering that it's happening I was not surprised, this is the first time I've ever seen it really publically discussed on our forums.

    Don't see the harm in informing people new or returning to the collecting world about this.