AFA fail:

Shocking!! I saw that on FB and it makes you wonder how AFA will cope with these aging toys as they begin to get more and more fragile.

Oddly enough a collector friend based in the US contacted me 2 days ago with some shocking news about AFA. He had recently sent his Glasslite 3PO off for grading and somehow they snapped the head off

This isn't the first time he's suffered at the hands of AFA as they did the same to his Hungarian Bootleg Vader WTF?!?!?

Now the most shocking part I find is AFA's refund policy, in regards to the 3PO they have agreed a fair price in todays market.

However if they pay out compensation for damaging or breaking a figure they give you 2 options...

1) Return the figure
2) Receive compensation

If you opt for compensation then will not return your item, as they claim to dispose of them!?!?!?

That poor Fett
Paying a premium to have your item trashed. If I was a grade fan I'd be having kittens every time I waited for something to come back.

There is a way to avoid this.dont use afa and make your own judgement at what condition its in.sorry but ive seen this happen before with afa and shoving cards into the cases badly so they bend or crease.terrible business imo.sorry to see the fett trashed.on a 21bk aswell  

Daren

Wish I could say this is shocking, but AFA is full of fails.

On another note I thought the bubble protection was supposed to be glued to the front part of the case? If not then the bubble protection is just a free floating piece that depends on the bubble strength to hold it? That seems like a sure fire way to end up with things like the fett where it just takes the entire bubble off the card.

Hey guys. It is a horrible thing that happened with that figure and we have talked to current owner, but please be aware that this isn't a recently graded item.

We graded and cased it ~7 years ago (not recently) and we have no idea how many times it may have changed hands. All it takes is some shoddy packaging by whoever sold it, and an overzealous UPS worker dropping or kicking a package to completely ruin anything.

We have changed our design for the bubble protectors in the past seven years since that item was graded, and even now still continue to change it, making it more secure to protect the aging bubbles as they get more fragile.

emperorburns wrote:

There is a way to avoid this.dont use afa and make your own judgement at what condition its in.sorry but ive seen this happen before with afa and shoving cards into the cases badly so they bend or crease.terrible business imo.sorry to see the fett trashed.on a 21bk aswell  

Daren

If this has ever happened with one of your graded items please let me know so we can make it right. We never shove anything into a case since all of our cases are custom made to the item.

 AFA guy.
It's great to hear AFA being proactive.
You must admit that Fett 'bubble protector' was never going to benefit the bubble seal.

The VC Jawa has some hope if it is glued to the bottom surface.  I'd like to see a recent example. (one that should be expected to provide protection against a fall/drop)


Once again thanks for joining in the discussion


edit:

aussiejames wrote:

 AFA guy.
It's great to hear AFA being proactive.
You must admit that Fett 'bubble protector' was never going to benefit the bubble seal.

The VC Jawa has some hope if it is glued to the bottom surface.  I'd like to see a recent example. (one that should be expected to provide protection against a fall/drop)


Once again thanks for joining in the discussion

Glad to be here, just trying to help. Recent ones are glued to the bottom so that it is more secure and I believe they are working on even more options. Have to walk the line between protection and display.

I am still nervous to get mine graded as they are in both really nice shape for their age at least an 8.5 but personally I suck at grading . The other reason to grade them is if I did decide to sell then anyone buying would have more assurance that they are legit.

AFAguy wrote:

Hey guys. It is a horrible thing that happened with that figure and we have talked to current owner, but please be aware that this isn't a recently graded item.

We graded and cased it ~7 years ago (not recently) and we have no idea how many times it may have changed hands. All it takes is some shoddy packaging by whoever sold it, and an overzealous UPS worker dropping or kicking a package to completely ruin anything.

We have changed our design for the bubble protectors in the past seven years since that item was graded, and even now still continue to change it, making it more secure to protect the aging bubbles as they get more fragile.

emperorburns wrote:

There is a way to avoid this.dont use afa and make your own judgement at what condition its in.sorry but ive seen this happen before with afa and shoving cards into the cases badly so they bend or crease.terrible business imo.sorry to see the fett trashed.on a 21bk aswell  

Daren

If this has ever happened with one of your graded items please let me know so we can make it right. We never shove anything into a case since all of our cases are custom made to the item.

Thanks for replying.no ive never used your service myself.i think the idea behind afa is good.a way to prove something is not a fake etc.i have only ever used this service(allbeit ukg) as i was selling a carded dt luke and the buyer wanted it sending their so he could be sure it wasnt fake.but i think youve created a bit of a monster.i wont go into toytoni or the fact tri logo bubbles get a different grade to any other.but it seems more and more people arent interested in the toy.just the grade they have.i have bought a couple of afa graded figures.as i could only find graded ones.the bad one i had was a tri pbp figure.the card wasnt in the runs thats supposed to hold it.one side was and a bit at the top.it was like it had just been shoved in.i solved the problem by smashing of the base and pulling it out.the sad thing was it slid back into the runs with no problem.theres no way it could have come out of the runs once it had been slid into them properly.but i take on board that your learning as you go with the bubble protection.i cringe looking at rick springfields headman.the bubble protection in that is miles away from the bubble and for $30k i would have thought more thought would have gone into it.i appreciate its a business so i guess youll improve as you go.but its an expensive way to learn(for the customers)

Daren

Joined/glued at the bottom(much better):

the boss'

Lots better.practice makes perfect

Daren

so sad to see another MOC 'preserved & protected'


Never been a fan of the taped weapons in loose graded figures- but WTF is this:

Boba clearly doesn't like being couped up in bubbles.  If he is yours I am terrible sorry for your loss. There was a 12 back Leia on RS that did have a cracked bubble (didn't know AFA even graded cracked bubbles.) but the figures had practically come out if it along with the weapon.  Honestly this is why I don't like MOCs.  They are cool and all but just to fragile for me, and can get quite expensive.  I prefer to stick to loose figures.  And since I like the art work on MOCs I will probably collect cardbacks at some point.

I am not sure even with the newer bubble protectors they would be completely safe.  Unless there is absolutely no space between the acrylic and bubble the figure could still bounce around, even in normal shipping.  If one of these sat in a hot truck during the summer I could see this happening regardless of how well its packed.

Wow. That is a shame.

sad day
Another one bites the dust

I recently broke out my loose AFA graded Fett and Ackbar.

Knife + pliers = happy result.