General public service announcement

Please don't riddle your collection with the following:

Repro weapons
Repro capes
Repro stickers or instructions
Recarded/Repro Carded figures

Or any other kind of imitation piece for your collection, lot's of people start out thinking it's ok to buy into reproduction stuff because "Vintage costs a lot of money" well that is total BULLSHIT! Bargains can be had on ebay all day long once you do your homework and put some effort into looking for things and not overpaying.

Find your price range and enjoy collecting things that you can afford, budget yourself wisely and don't settle for cheap repros because ultimately you will end up replacing them and realise it was wasted money.

This forum exists because of the parent site - www.imperialgunnery.com - which if you click the link will soon realise was set up so people can avoid being sold reproduction weapons with their figures because so many people on ebay use repros to cheat others with less experience than them on how to spot the crap that they peddle. (Might be something to think about before buying some fake DT sabers and telling everyone on here about it eh? )

Learn from some of us that did find out the hard way that buying a dyed red Bib Fortuna for 15 quid or a 20 quid recard is a waste of cash and not the right way to collect and get into vintage on your own level, if you can't afford MOC but like it, use your funds wisely and buy 1 every 2 months if need be, don't settle for trash and don't line the pockets of people who ultimately hurt this hobby for many collectors.

Now you know! And knowing is half the battle.

I fully endorse this message.

same here coulden't have put it better my self spot on joe

I appreciate the warning for the dark side of collecting. Buying repro stuff might be very tempting especially in the beginning but in the end it gives you an empty feeling. I have no problem saying here that I bought some repro sticker sheets within the first months of collecting. But in the end I just could not do it. It felt so wrong to glue a laserprinted piece of paper onto my thirty years old AT AT. It just wasn’t the real thing, at least not for me, and I am glad one of my loose AT ATs still has a teared vintage visor.

Still it is my opinion that everyone should know for themselves how they enjoy their hobby the most within the frame of their available budget. If people like to buy repro weapons, capes, stickers, cards, it is their thing, just not my thing, and I respect that, as long as others who don’t like repro are not bothered.

Nicely put Joe! It is important to do your homework.

I had to smile about the comment on the repro red bib cloak. I still have my mine and a baggie full of repro weapons that I unintentionally bought without knowing. I keep them just to remind me of how much time and money I wasted back in the day and how lucky I was not to be stung any further.

At least these days the internet is more available to everyone than ever before so no excuses for not doing your research or even contacting more knowledgeable collectors.

It was much more difficult when I started seriously in the early 90s, there was no internet access for me and no way of contacting more experienced collectors for advice. I didn't finally get access to toyrgus until 1997when I went to Uni and had free internet . By then I had completed my loose figures so it was too late. Many of expensive pieces I bought then were very risky looking back now. I had to count on seller’s descriptions over the phone and hope that when it arrived, it was OK. I still think about the Blue Snag, DT Luke, and Vinyl Jawa that I bought without any second opinion and how lucky I was that they were all OK. Especially the Vinyl Jawa, since the same seller paired many of the figures I bought from him with fake guns and sold me a repainted Yak.

That risk is easily removed these days if you’re careful and do your research

Basically:

Repro=BAD

Naughty, naughty!! :noooooo:

Hi Joe, good thread you have started here.

I also hate repro, after I joined the forum and learned about repro.

I have found about 50 repro weapons in my collection, I hate repro.

Everything repro should be rounded up and offered to the Sarlacc Pit (but i reckon it would actually Regurgitate that crap) and the makers.....well i know what i'd do with them, anybody want to vent their anger

The repros are a big problem now a days and thats sucks indeed but I personally cant understand why people repaint his figures to show then like mint figures for getting the compliments of the rest of the comunity ,IMO those people are cheating himselfs, which is the most stupid and sad thing that i can imagine,seriously i cant understand it...
The thing getts worse when those people sell his repainted stuff and cheat other fellow friends ,that have no name.
I personally prefer to own an 100% original rubbish C-5 figure than a perfect repainted/faked figure.
Just my two cents
J

I still feel the sting of my repro Vinyl Cape Jawa I bought 6 yrs ago. I thought was authentic for two years!! Man that makes me soooooooo MAD!!!!!

I dare not buy a Vinyl Cape Jawa, because I am afraid that I get repro and I do not know yet to ID the real one.

pomse2001 wrote:

I dare not buy a Vinyl Cape Jawa, because I am afraid that I get repro and I do not know yet to ID the real one.

You can always run it by us 1st m8. Post the pics of it up (NOT the auction), & we'll let you know.

Tank1252 wrote:

pomse2001 wrote:

I dare not buy a Vinyl Cape Jawa, because I am afraid that I get repro and I do not know yet to ID the real one.

You can always run it by us 1st m8. Post the pics of it up (NOT the auction), & we'll let you know.

Thanks, nice to know somebody can help with the ID

When I started collecting again as an adult, I had no internet and was buying from a specialist shop that had opened in my town. After a while I started to notice certain weapons and accessories where not quite how I remembered them from childhood, or just generally looked a bit shody.
Utimately the shop shut ( too smaller town for a specialist Star Wars shop to survive ), Looking back, I'm glad he sold me some repro's, because it made me aware of them early in the game and gave me my first basic knowledge of what to watch out for. I still have them all for reference and comparison.
Why anyone would want repro's in there collection is beyond me, each to there own I guess, but personnally I'd rather have a badly chewed original than a repro!

Well I have to admit I have a repro Vlix figure. I do not think I will ever get the money for such a figure.

Maybe 9 years ago I also bought 3 repro double telescoping lightsabers, because at that time I never thought I would get the chance to get some real ones. The sabers they maid that time was not as good as they are today.

Today 9 years later I think there is a chance that I someday get those sabers as originals, but after they get better and better with those repro sabers. Then I dare not buy such sabers. I am afraid that I get repro and I do not know yet to ID the real one after they maid it with the letters on.

When I was starting out collecting in the early 90's, I got some repro weapons because I was trying to be "complete". Now I know the errors of my ways and it's been more fun trying to truly complete everything by swapping out all repros with the real deal. I know I'll never own any DT sabers, so I did break down and buy a set of those just because I think they're cool and display well.

On a related note - Anyone have a spare black POTF palace blaster I could buy? :-)

To be fair, I have a set of repro DT Saber and a Repro Rocket Fett, I know I'll never probably scrape up the cash for originals, more so, my wife wont let me. I just wanted to know what it felt like to pull out the inner saber, and see if firing the rocket on Boba really was a threat to my eyes.

don't know what all this is about but to say "i will never be able to afford a dt saber " to be fair the ben and vader will proberbly be out of may peoples price range and allso thats if you can find one
but lets be honist the dt luke we can all afford one as you can pick a minter up for £200-£300 pounds
and for the people even with very little funds you can pick a beater up for arround £100 with a broken tip
i mean i saw one sell on ebay last week for £7.50 ok very few and far between and it was only the outer and very beaten at that but lets be honist anything is better than a repro
all i am saying is there is bargains out there to be had without having to buy a repro