Appraiser or expert needed
 

Loking for an appraiser or someone who actually has a vintage toy store for a opinion.

The Story:
I recently won an auction on ebay. The item
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=190254056465&ssPa geName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=009

When i got it, it was a knock off. Maybe i should have asked more questions but by the title and description figured it was OK.

The result:
Filed a paypal dispute. Now paypal wants someone to actually appraise it and tell why it was not an actual G1. To anyone who may be able to do this, or know someone who can do it i can forward the email from paypal and give the specifics. Thanks in advance.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

I am not an appraiser... but seeing that this seller cannot rotate his pics properly, this would be an easy pass for me.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

look for date stamps. i think the cheap chinese kos have none.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

Also look at the stickers, the first sign that would pop up a warning for me would be the missing autobot logo on Silverbolts red chest piece.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

For one, the originals Aerialbots have Hasbro '85, Takara '85 Japan (while some UK origin figures had Macau) as date stamps on all of them (even if they were 1986 line figures). Also most bootlegs lack the heat rub sticker and normally have another autobot/decepticon logo instead in it's place. All 1986-1987 TFs have the heat rub faction logo which started to disappear in 1988 with Pretenders and the like.

Also issues like plastic quality are obvious (like the square heads on the combiners being damaged or weak after one combination)

Lastly is a part that "IF TRUE" would be very helpful. He said they are old. Superion WAS one of the first bootleged TF toys back in the 80s, but his "china town" bootleg was SLIGHTLY smaller then the original and didn't have the guns for the smaller bots outside of Silverbolt. So if you had atleast one bot (If not, I measured Air Raid's robot mode, he is 3.2 inches from head to toe (not nosecone in the back). So compare that to your bootleg Air Raid.

Hope this helps.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

the first thing that makes it scream knock off to me would be the haphazardly made autobot symbols.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

I have that bootleg version. The white chest plate does not fit properly. All stickers peel like crazy. It has the same Autobot decals on the Superion feet - the original did not have them (I purchased the gift set before, but traded the jets away over time:( )

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

here are the problems that the seller can argue:

The guy never mention if it is made by Hasbro or Takara, the seller did not specify the release date.
These characters are transformers characters, they do match the title. I am not sure if Ebay has a rule that seller must specify KO or Original.. etc etc...

good luck man

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

I'm afraid I'm looking at it from this side as well. He didn't really specify what it was, or claim that it was an original. You might be out of luck on this, but here's hoping for the best.

Re: Appraiser or expert needed
 

He does say "UP FOR BID IS AN OLD, G1 AERIAL BOT"

If it's a KO, it's not G1...in my humble opinion.