Soooooooooooooo.....who gives a crap about AFA? Even as a Star Wars collector it's just a rip off to me, it doesn't appreciate somehting in my eyes.

Anyway, I love this guy.

I wonder if he's aware we're in a recession?

What is afa u95?

I should sell him mine...cause it's the only one in existence...

AFA is a load of crap.
but i would love to get my hands on some of those hard plastic cases with the built in holder for the backing card for my dc direct figures, but there is no way in hell i would grade them just to get that shite...

everyone who has one should put theirs up at cost plus shipping then buy each other's figures.

I think all of you that have one should list them on ebay at the same amount as douche.

...It would be funny to see 5-6+ Cobra's on ebay all listed at $2,887.50.

So I asked him what I should do with mine since the eyes are cut out on the hood...

his reply:

what kills me is that the guy is aware that his price is a rip off (I mean, ppl who actually KNOW something about this toy and own it are telling him what the deal is) and he still tries to push the big price like he's just doing what's fair.

but then he's not trying to sell it to us, right? he's trying to sell it to some poor G.I. JOE collector who doesn't know any better. I just hope that whoever might be considering this purchase does their homework. If they do that, then it shouldn't be long before they're flaming the guy for trying to F them in the A with a big green C. I mean if you're trying to make an honest buck (at least he's trying to push that front) for your toy, at least do YOUR homework.

I mean if nothing else $165 --> $3000 in a year because some stupid movie is about to play in a theater?

but if I thought I could get a $3000 payday for a $65 purchase I made a year ago, I might come off a bit obtuse too.

Dude, YOU do your homework! AFA graded, THE ONLY AFA GRADED ZOMBIE! That's worth like, way more than what he's asking for.

I'm such a douchebag.

if you spend close to three grand on a toy without doing a little research and knowing nothing you deserve to lose your money

can you post stuff on ebay with the title being "The Cobra Zombie for $2887.50 that is currently listed is a major rip off! Click here for info..."?

No matter how whacked this guy may be, I find it refreshing that he actually responds to all the questions. He could easily ignore all of them. And keep in mind, his is the only one AFA graded U95, so all of our regular issues are worth $165 tops. What's insane about that?

I don't remember selling anyone a display - remember "he bought it from the owner." - yeah it is super lame, but he is not trying to sell to us, he is trying to sell to people that collect AFA graded items. My thought is - how could AFA have graded it? They obviously did not even know it was no longer MIP, or what the vinyl may have originally been like. We all know this is silly, but it is interesting that the guy is responding, at least he is a polite gouger.

Peter, a little bit of info. These guys set up a nice little scam here and it has blossomed into a fairly lucrative venture for them. You basically send in your toy and some of your hard earned cash - and they look it over, give it a grade (on a scale they have invented), throw it in a hard plastic case with an AFA CA and they laugh all the way to the bank. Take a look: http://www.toygrader.com/


I have stories but I am in not mood to type them put. Plain and simple - these guys are scamming douches also - not on par with the auction lister but close.

It's a CRAZY scam, I'll never understand who collects toys and CARES what some bullcrap company says, but clearly there's tons of people who do. Maybe the lazy who can't look at a figure and just say "not mint enough" or OCD nerds who feel there NEEDS to be something official for their toys/comics to be "worth" something.

It's for those who ONLY really care about the "value" of their figures.

I wonder what info/resources they have on obscure Japanese vinyl? The Zombie had a SLIGHTLY larger amount of info out since it was marketed/designed in the US (even though, as was pointed out, there's no bag or header so shouldn't it be "less" of a grade?) but I wonder what they'd do with something they had nearly NO info on, like Anraku or some obscure bootleg vintage?

I never knew, until today, that Cobra Commander Zombie is a takeoff from GI Joe...

Friend sent in a boxed Transformer once for grading - there was no cello in the box. It has fallen out but the box was still sealed and in great shape. Came back with an UBER hight grade in it's little plastic case.......... AFA = Scam. They will take you money and run.

A majority of action figure collectors along with Hot Wheels guys seem to be in it for the "value" of the items. Look at all the price guides that use to be printed monthly. Toyfare, Lees Action Figure Price Guide, Tomarts............ I dealt with these guys for years. It took a lot of years off of me sometimes.

Thanks, I googled it and just got tons and tons of auctions.
BTW are you trying to perpetuate the myth that I'm actually someone else also?

Whoops - forgive me - I thought It was LS that asked about it. But - if you want to start a new life I will gladly call you whatever you would like!

Just curious as I have no idea. If someone was selling this figure here, what would a likely asking price or price range be?

hey dean!

it would probably be right around retail, app. 50 or 60 bucks

but c'mon, whats an extra couple grand here or there

Howdy wing_clipper, thanks for the answer! I wasn't sure how rare that one was, but the person who asked how this sort of flipper-inflation was realistic during a recession was right on the money so to speak.

The flipper might be polite in his interactions but also appears to be misrepresenting Brian and putting words into S7 employees' mouths. Plus judging from Brian's post it sounds like the "display" claim is a fabrication.

It's probably inevitable that the Cobra Commander tribute would make its way into the G.I. Joe collector scene but because "neo kaiju" fight figures haven't previously been a part of that scene I can't imagine that anyone with the bucks to blow would be anxious to blow 'em on this, especially if the AFA rating has a poor reputation in that community.

On the other hand, a few years ago there was some Hollywood producer who was paying exorbitant prices for KR Dummys in the belief that they'd be recognized as valuable art some day. Some KR kids got hip to the deep pockets and a few managed to scam the guy until he finally found people talking about how stupid he was at the KR board. He'd probably spent over ten grand before realizing he'd been had.

Hopefully the flipper's references to Super7 will lead any interested potential buyers to this thread.

I am fairly sure I sold this figure over the phone to this fella. I vaguely remember selling the store display model The "we got a box of figures" line is mine, I say lots of stupid vague stuff when people push me on run size after being told we don't release run numbers:

We bought one can of vinyl for this run.
The postman made one trip from the truck the day he deliver these toys.
The roto machine didn't need yp make many revolutions to produce this run.
We have lots of header cards left over; it's a hot dog hot dog buns situation.
If you have to ask its probably really rare.
ect.