So I just received a Top Toys Stormtrooper and Vader that I won on e-bay. They were both wrapped in a single piece of bubble wrap, and put into a larger box for them to freaking rattle around in across the country. The Vader's bubble is now 99% loose, and barely hanging on by a thread. Awesome. I hate e-bay.

Anyway, the Stormtrooper managed to survive, but the figure itself looks like crap. Is this normal for Top Toys? From what I can tell, the bubble doesn't appear to be re-sealed. It doesn't have the wafer pattern, which I think is normal for Top Toys, but the figure has significant paint wear. You can actually see what looks like little black paint flecks on the actually card, where it apparently rubbed off of the figure.

Is this normal? Should I be worried about shenanigans?

Here's the best pics I could get. I had to use my Droid, because my normal camera had a drained battery.








Man, seeing the pics this big, they look really crappy. Sorry about that. But can you see in the bottom one how there's some sort of black paint dust on the arm and torso, as well as on the red part of the card behind it? It's like there's black/gray smudging all over it, too. Like he's a freaking coal miner stormtrooper. And there's rubs on the hands and helmet.

I'm just not sure what to make of it.

Hi DarthTad,

This is absolutely normal with TopToys figures. My Stormtrooper is as crapy as yours. The paint job is really poor on TT figures and the plastic used to mold the ST is softer than the regular Kenner one, almost like rubber.

There's no COO at all. The figures is un-trimmed, there's plastic joint/mold residue between the legs and there's no peg holes at the feet. Definitively a poor production line.


Plus, TopToys bubbles seems to fall off the card with time. Many of them were already taped at the door of the factory. It's like bubbles were glued insteed of sealed to the card because the seal is really poor, almost invisible. That's what happened to my Vader, my ST and my Luke Jedi. All the bubbles are off...

JC

It's just annoying when someone decide to sell something and no longer care about what happens to it. Not nice stuffing down carded figures just on top of each other with not enough packing material. I'm not experienced with top toys but I think the things you said are normal.

Thanks for the warning guys, now I don't get a when I begin to collect Toltoys figures.

Sorry to hear about the damage, Tad.

pomse2001 wrote:

Thanks for the warning guys, now I don't get a when I begin to collect Toltoys figures.

Sorry to hear about the damage, Tad.

Toltoys and top toys are different

Rawlin wrote:

pomse2001 wrote:

Thanks for the warning guys, now I don't get a when I begin to collect Toltoys figures.

Sorry to hear about the damage, Tad.

Toltoys and top toys are different

Oh sorry, I was a little

DarthTad wrote:

So I just received a Top Toys Stormtrooper and Vader that I won on e-bay. They were both wrapped in a single piece of bubble wrap, and put into a larger box for them to freaking rattle around in across the country. The Vader's bubble is now 99% loose, and barely hanging on by a thread. Awesome. I hate e-bay.

Ouch, that sucks! I'm so worried about making ebay purchases for figures like that. Sorry to hear you got hosed.

JesseVader08 wrote:

DarthTad wrote:

So I just received a Top Toys Stormtrooper and Vader that I won on e-bay. They were both wrapped in a single piece of bubble wrap, and put into a larger box for them to freaking rattle around in across the country. The Vader's bubble is now 99% loose, and barely hanging on by a thread. Awesome. I hate e-bay.

Ouch, that sucks! I'm so worried about making ebay purchases for figures like that. Sorry to hear you got hosed.

Just to give an update, the seller was very apologetic and professional, and gave me a generous partial refund. But I still have essentially a minty loose Top Toys Vader with a card back, and semi-attached bubble. Not sure how to proceed. Do I just take it out and display it loose? The only part of the bubble that is still connected is on the top, so I don't think I can "remedy" it like I did with my PBP Vader. Right now it's laying flat on a bookshelf so the Vader doesn't fall out.

Not sure what to do with it.

Here's a pic. Any advice is welcomed!

if you dont want it anymore i would be happy to it it from you

Or me

I would take it out for display and save the cardback, or maybe you could put it in a star case? I am not familiar with them but it might hold the bubble up.

You could send it to AFA and get it Q graded and have them make a custom rail. Might not be worth the investment but just a suggestion

Darthberizing wrote:

You could send it to AFA and get it Q graded and have them make a custom rail. Might not be worth the investment but just a suggestion

Either the suggestion that DB has come up with or go with the double bubble method. I used this on a miscard I had which was battered to shit. If you can get hold of a single loose figure case and cut off the larger half - this should slip over the bubble of the TT. Then get yourself an oscar case (or similar) and the whole thing should fit into the case and you can display as a MOC.

Steve

Rawlin wrote:

Or me

I would take it out for display and save the cardback, or maybe you could put it in a star case? I am not familiar with them but it might hold the bubble up.

I actually already have a loose Top Toys (minus the saber) and a card back on display. I was really looking forward to having a MOC one.

Thanks for the ideas John and Steve. I'm just not sure if I want take the time and money to do that. Or just have a minty loose one with saber, and sell the loose one I have. It's almost blasphemous, and kind of u-grade territory. But I figure if keep the card and loose figure as a set, it won't be as bad.

I'll definitely keep looking for a MOC one. But for now the debate continues......

Tad

Just to be devils advocate, to get it graded and railed (if you choose the lowest service) is about $70 total investment. That's including the rail, shipping back and forth, etc..

If you ever decided to sell this, I'd comfortably say you'd get back your investment in the total cost of the item. Right now you have a cardback and figure , this way you'll have a MOC.

Might be worth an Email to Tanisha at AFA. Send her a couple of pics, ask if a Q grade is possible, and then make a decision.

not a huge fan of grading, but I gotta know...whats a Q grade??

b4nth4 wrote:

not a huge fan of grading, but I gotta know...whats a Q grade??

I second that not that aware of AFA's gradings, would love to know what that grade means.

Ironically almost the same thing happened to me now. It ain't vintage but it's still a collectible. Bought a moc of a seller named eric662005 on eBay. Seems he got some policy that stuff lost or damaged in mail is not his responsibility. But he did ship it in a 0.5millimeter thick cardboard box. Ofc it arrived ruined. Doesn't these things happen a lot more often lately?