G1 collecting advice

[ryceball89]

I think I almost have my CHUG collection finished and I would like to purchase my first G1 figure to start the G1 collection. Only problem is I've been doing some Google-ing and there seems to be quite the market of KO's out there.

I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice/help on a couple of things:

1) Is there a list compiled of known KO G1 figures out there? It would help a lot knowing which figures are known to be victimized by KOs (like dinobots).

2) I assume buying from a reputable retailers (for encores and re-releases), BUT how does one approach purchasing G1's from say, members? How do you guys go about collecting G1 figures?

I've been to this site:

http://highendtfs.com/?q=node/17

and honestly, from the box alone, the differences are so minimal that it's very hard to tell unless you have both next to each other.

Personally, I prefer not to have KOs (besides FansProject or TFC/Maketoys etc) but a blatant cheap copies of wheeljack or the dinobots isn't very appealing to me.

Any help is much appreciated!

[CrackerBoy]

you can check out the TFW2005 thread on how to tell the KO from the real thing for starters.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transf...ntic-toys.html

[chaingunsofdoom]

All I would recommend is: eBay is your friend and PayPal for buyer protection is a must. I still buy a few G1 loose/MIB every year (don't need very many more from my want list). Ask if it was repaired. I also ask if the stickers are original too.

At this point with KOs, unless you are 1000% sure, I wouldn't buy MISB from someone without (A) a ton of feedback or (B) without looking at it in-hand (like @ a Con or wherever).

[Shockwave 75]

And really, don't knock the KO's too much. They can be a valuable asset for some of the harder to find/more expensive figures.

I got a KO Reflector set a few years back and I love it! The quality is amazing and for $60 it fills a gap in my collection that it would have cost hundreds to fill with an authentic Reflector.

[Autobot Meister]

It's a lot of work and need patience. Personally I gave up on it after being disappointed too many times. I revised my want list because of it. Try and buy figures that come with their sticker sheets unapplied.

[Bruticus82]

Generally, expect figures to show a decent amount of wear and tear on them for their age. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. This is true of virtually every single loose figure, which will all show some kind of play wear.

If you're trying to buy MISB (not clear from your first post) then you have to actively look out for KOs. I would say as with loose figures, expect boxes to have some wear to them. You could also always try and find boxes that have price stickers on them from old stores (Woolco, etc.) so you know they're original.

Also, and maybe someone else can confirm this, I'm about 90% sure that all KOs use the English only packaging. If you buy anything in bilingual (Canadian) packaging it's pretty much guaranteed to be genuine.

[faustx]

There is a full list of all G1 figures and parts 99% complete on ShelfLife (along with almost every other Transformer catalogue). We'll be adding a catalogue of known KO's asap.

You can also track your collection and once the marketplace launches later this month, have your want list automatically fulfilled.

You can find it here:
http://www.shelflifex.com/transformers-generation-1

You can also drill down to each of Series 1 through Series 7.

Enjoy!

[Echotransformer]

Another thing I recommend researching is reissues. Now some collectors (whom I look up to--both respect and money-wise) must have everything vintage....like 1984 vintage...but that takes extreme patience and cash.

On the other hand, you can probably complete 70%-80% of a G1 collection with reissues...this means minty fresh, stickers unapplied, all weapons included. The trick is many reissues have minor differences from vintage that you may or may not care about. For example, several of the Hasbro reissues from ~2003 have strange "some lawyer said this is safe" weapons--the seekers and Jazz, for example...whereas the Hoist, Inferno, Grapple, etc. and great renditions of the originals and can be had for reasonable prices.

Many of the recent 'encore' reissues are still available and even discounted...and they are mostly accurate, save for the odd detail (i.e. Soundwave's chest).

There's too much info to list here but in general, I'd highly recommend reissues if 100% vintage accuracy isn't a requirement, and then you can focus on the "lost molds" such as Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, Dinobots, Shockwave, etc. etc.

--Echo

[ryceball89]

This is giving me a great insight to how I should approach G1 collecting. I definitely don't mind reissues because 100% accuracy isn't too big of a deal. Also, I'm by no means a completionist, I collect specific characters that I think are cool. Also I prefer loose over misb because of my lack of space.

With that said, how's the selection of G1 figures at TFCon? will I be able to find a vintage set of dinobots or shockwave/wheeljack? Should I bring credit with me instead of carrying all the cash?

[razin]

Originally Posted by ryceball89

With that said, how's the selection of G1 figures at TFCon? will I be able to find a vintage set of dinobots or shockwave/wheeljack? Should I bring credit with me instead of carrying all the cash?

You should have no prob finding any G1 (N.A.) at TFCon. Bring cash! Only a couple, if any vendors use CC's.