Craig originally had the idea of the petition, so he gets credit. As some of you know there has been some recent U grade discussion on RS. One of the posters believes AFA might take notice if we had a petition with several names. I've gone ahead and set this up at the bottom of the FAQ page. I'm going to shoot for 300 names before I present it to AFA. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to reach that goal.

Just a disclaimer, your email is only shown to me on the backend of the system and does not show up anywhere on the page for other users.

Aw , signed but the computer doesn't like my apostrophe Can you edit out the slash please lol

Joe_O wrote:

Aw , signed but the computer doesn't like my apostrophe Can you edit out the slash please lol

I'll see if I can find a way to edit it. On the list from the administrator side it looks fine.

I typed it fine, just came out displayed with one.
No biggy.

As I said on RS, its going to be interesting to see if anyone does sign the petition, I imagine you can get at least 150 from the forums, it won't do any good and the site doesn't need a petition to work but its still an interesting idea.

We have almost 300 members here and I don't think we have any U grade fans so that makes for 300 signatures right there if people aren't lazy of course

Don't forget to bump SWF and the vintage chat post on RS for some more exposure

Great initiative Shawn!

I have to admit about half year ago I had the idea to collect all bounty hunters in their U-grade cases.

That was untill I started to read posts on this forum, and learned about the dark side of U grading.

Just in time I came to realize that enjoying your U-grade figures comes at the price of an endangered population of MOC figures.

It's like eating bluefin tuna fish or whale beef, and I quickly abondoned the whole idea.

Let the MOCs freely swim in the collectors' oceans!

Bump

Joe_O wrote:

Bump

Thanks. Woke up this morning to almost 30 signatures.

I saw there were a few today actually, thats not bad for 1 day.

Even better, I only know about 10 of the names on the list, which means about 20 of them are people that don't really speak out much AND there are a hell of a lot of people I DO know that have yet to sign (that will I hope!)

I signed my name!

Even if it's just a few names... hopefully AFA will stand up and take notice.

Signed it.

Although all MOCs can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.

We know you care really Emi, its just your old age / grinchness coming out

It’s great to see the momentum been built with this!

I just Googled "Vintage Star Wars U Grade" and "Vintage Starwars U Grade" and the AFA site was nowhere to be seen on the first page instead you had, SWCC, SWF, TIG Main Site, TIG Forum, Chewseum.com, and power of the toys!!! All were links to negative threads or reports on the destructive nature of the U Grade!

In fact the only grading company to appear was UK Graders at the bottom of the first page on the "vintage star wars U Grade" search.

I have copied my post below from RS. One thing that hasn’t been highlighted is the fact that once the U Grade started to become incredibly successful for the AFA and U90's started selling for $400 - $600 each its seems the UKGraders also followed suit and started offering this service. Now someone else may chime in here but I have only ever seen 1 UKG U graded figure on eBay its pretty clear that 99.9% of U Graders use AFA and wouldn’t consider UKG for U Grading. UKG had a real chance to stand out on this issue and stick to a core grading principle I think it’s such a shame they didn’t do this as it would have benefited them greatly in the long run.

I would like to find out the reasons why the UKG decided to offer U Grading and on hearing the reasons it would interesting to see if they would reconsider. If as a Grading company the decided to remove U Grading then I feel that more UK / Europe guys who are looking for MOC Grading and Acrylic Cases would consider using them I certainly would!

Jay

Great Update Shawn!

I will add my signiture!

EDIT;

It also asks for a comment so I added this:

As someone who has been in both sides of the fence, I can be qualified to say that there is no need to sacrifice anymore of an already scarce supply of MOCs.

The reasons for U-grading are all totally unacceptable, selfish, and all go to show a pure manifestation of greed at its worst. I have had heard all the excuses before and I am even guilty during a very dark period of my collecting history of using many of them myself to make myself feel better.

There are millions upon millions of already opened figures already in circulation and many of them are in near perfect condition, if you want keep your loose figure collection in acrylic display cases then that is OK, but to open another MOC for the same purpose is destructive and wasteful.

What if the MOC is dogged eared, battered, or has a black bubble? If you don’t like that way then leave it the fuck alone in the first place! Buy a Nicer MOC or buy a loose one instead!

The “Old Chestnut” of: “The figure would look better outside” is pure bollocks also. A MOC is MOC and not just a figure! Some MOC are worse than others I admit that, but you’re not looking at just the figure when it still carded. You need to look at the whole picture: The Card; The Packaging (and any variation in the process); The Figure and Accessories combination; And the specific Factory of Origin.

When AFA U-grades the figure... It is only the figure that it left, everything else is stripped away and that history, that crucial link is gone forever! The majority of rare transitional MOC pieces in my Luke Jedi collection are the ones which some lunatic (and AFA for that matter) would be more than happy to rip open because they are “beaters”. These cards are all what is left of the design and development process that went on at the time. Every time you open MOC you are potentially destroying a missing link which connects once stage of manufacturing process to the next.

The best excuse I have heard recently from someone is: “I don’t want to collect figures that a kid drooled all over, I want perfect untouched ones” – That the most stupid thing I have ever heard. What you don’t think the sweaty men and women who worked in the boiling-hot factories in the Far East and Mexico washed their hands or used tongs in-between scratching their arse and packing the figures in bubbles? I don’t think so! You might have a big collection mate but as my Grandmother would say: You know Price of Everything but the Value of Nothing!

Bottom Line: Collect MOC because they are MOC, Collect Loose from the vast stocks of loose already out there.

WOW!!! There was like 30 last time I looked and now theres 77! Hopefully there will be alot more added and AFA actually takes all this and the comments to heart and start to re-consider their actions towards U grading. I'm just glad to be part of it.

Craig T wrote:

Great Update Shawn!

You might have a big collection mate but as my Grandmother would say: You know Price of Everything but the Value of Nothing!

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I like that quote of your Grandma, Craig!!

Good summary of arguments vs U-grading too.

Shawn, hi.

Glad the word is spreading - back on page one of this thread I was advocating a petition
against UGrade - so I'm very happy to have just added my sig!

Great work

I also would like to thank Shawn for the great initiative to put together this informative article about U grading. Hopefully some people who used to use the U grade service will stop using it. I'm really against U grading and I have made my point very clear several times on RS. At the moment there are 79 confirmed signatures on the petition. There should be lots more. Spread the word about it.

When it is no longer profitable to deal in Ugrades the hobby has won.

I think the hobby may win

Nice one Aussie!

Is the seller Robbie Mullen aka Galactables on RS?

It is.

In light of Tom's recent reply on the issue, I've made a few corrections/changes. Tom verified to me that no sw-c DT Luke baggies have been harmed because of the U grade, so I removed that example from the page. Also, because of inaccurate data in the population report, I have removed the numbers from last year. As of right, now I'm just keeping the overall totals of U graded figures, that were compiled by me in July.

Finally, I'm removing the petition from the site. I always meant for the article to be informative and in hindsight the petition detracted from that. I also feel that Tom has heard our voice and has expressed those concerns to CGA, which was the intent of the petition in the first place. I appreciate everyone who took the time to sign and shared their thoughts. It sounds like we might see some changes in the future and hopefully they address the concerns that have been expressed.

Please, still continue to share the article. AFA may have started the U grade, but the power to completely stop or slow it down is in the hands of the collector.

WOW!!!

Great stuff!!!


Gotta love the support TIG got from "Tom"!!!!!!!!!!