Hi fellow TIG's

I need help understanding the AFA grading, am looking to start collecting AFA / UKG graded loose figures (carded figures am not into).

I understand the higher the grading the better the quality. However I see AFA 90, 85, 80, etc. But I also see U85. What is the difference between 85 and U85?

Also has any experienced fake AFA items on eBay?

Any help would be greatly appreciated..


MTFBWY

There has been a small proliferation of faked AFA items but I've seen it on Transformers mostly. I don't think anyone is going to go through the effort on loose figures.

As for what "U" means, it's a designation for a figure that was taken off it's original card. It was deemed "uncirculated". The practice was , and is, frowned upon in the community. Here's a great write up on it:

http://powerofthetoys.com/afa/


Honestly , the difference between an 80,85 and 90 is almost impossible to see and you're going to pay a premium. Unless they're rare figures, I'd say don't waste the money. Buy nice loose figures, make sure the weapons are real, and you'll get better bang for the buck

Thanks DarthBerizing,

Great article on the link, very useful indeed.

You do have a point about the rare figures, but I know am not going to get Vinyl Jawa AFA (far beyond my budget ), might stretch to a blue snaggletooth though

the thought of the "U" grade makes me puke, and I don't even collect carded figures.

Ask yourself what the difference is between buying minty loose figures with original weapon and buying a graded figure. If it means that much to you to have it graded then pay the premium. If not, then go shopping without paying the extra and have fun

The cost of a graded loose set is roughly equal to a mint ungraded set & loose figure acrylic cases AND a MOC set of ROTJ figures ( with change left over if you are patient & 'smart' )

I think it's important to identify why you want to collect AFA/UKG figures (if you haven't already).

I know I was initially drawn to them for MOCs because I loved the cases and liked how I could display them with the cases. But when I started looking at the price, yikes! There were figures going for 3x what an ungraded one in just as nice shape was going for. And you can purchase acrylic cases if you wish and have the same effect.

My biggest concern with AFA, anyway, is that if I take an AFA85 and an AFA 75 and stick them side by side, often, I can't determine why they have different grades. I've seen high grade items that look worse than slightly lower grade items. It just confuses me. But maybe I'm easily confused! I do have some AFA and UKG graded pieces in my collection, but I ran into them at a good price and so I have no problem with them.

As for lose figures, I've found a few good sites where you can get pretty nice cases and stand for your figures, that again, give them the same effect as AFA graded pieces.

There are certainly some amazing graded collections out there and some awesome non-graded ones. I think it all comes down to collecting what you like and not what is the "cool" think to collect. Unless it's U-graded figures

I know 'each to there own' and such, but me personnally I think loose AFA figures are ugly, the cases are all different sizes which makes them difficult to display in a good way, and half the figures is obscured by acrylic holding it in place. Fare enough, they are protected, but from what? if you store your figures well or display them well, they will be equally as protected, without the additional AFA cost. Bare in mind, acrylic is plastic also, which means you still have to protect it, otherwise it will become stratched and dull, so if your going to look after the AFA figure, may as well just look after the original figure and spend your savings on.... more figures!

Give it a few years and you'll see loads of AFA figures on ebay that are beaten up and stuff!

Also, what do you get for your money? AFA is apparently non bias, but when you compare some, it does make you wonder, also, sometimes things slip past, which once again raises some issues (I saw a Luke Stormies AFA packed with a modern helmet, it's on a thread on here somewhere I think). I think carded AFA figures are great, it preserves something and still looks great, and displays well.

Like I said, each to there own, and if that's what you want to do, then go for it chief and good luck, I'm just posing a bit of food for thought, but if you really want to make a loose collection look good try doing what Wolff has done with his collection, admitidally Wolff does things to a very high standard, but with the money you'd save on AFA you could probably pay him to do it for you! or do what AJ said!

See what you think:
http://swspaceclub.com/wbobafett/my-collection/1252-2/

Either way stay clear of the U grade.

DarthBerizing wrote:

There has been a small proliferation of faked AFA items but I've seen it on Transformers mostly. I don't think anyone is going to go through the effort on loose figures.

John, do you have any details on this? It has piqued my interests as I collect MIB G1's and hadn't heard anything.

Joe I'm on my iPad but google AFA fake transformers. A few things should come up.

Here's one I found

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/generation-1-1/buyer-beware-fake-afa-graded-transformers-169815/

DarthBerizing wrote:

Joe I'm on my iPad but google AFA fake transformers. A few things should come up.

Here's one I found

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/generation-1-1/buyer-beware-fake-afa-graded-transformers-169815/

Thanks John.

I remember reading this thread when it first broke and around the time I started buying AFA graded toys.

The most unusual thing about people's use of the word "fake" is they tend to lump it under various fraudulant activity and/or they don't go into enough detail.

This particular situation never really panned out into anything more than someone possibly catching a seller trying to sell something not in their possession. Cobbled image from when it was previously listed/sold, and/or this type of activity.

Happened recently on eBay where a seller claimed they had 10 AFA graded MOC's (all the same figure and grade which was a big enough red flag on its own), and they not only lifted the image from CIB, but also copy and pasted the description belonging to CIB in their listing. I contacted Ron and they were already on it, but the impression I got from the situation is eBay took their sweet time pulling the items.

Going full-circle on all this, I don't blame the grading company one bit for this type of fraudulant activity. In fact, I lay more blame on the sellers and eBay. Over the years, I've caught numerous counterfeit certified comics being sold in the open market. Reporting the auctions doesn't always produce the desired result, because the seller sets-up another alias or finds an unconventional channel to sell, or eBay doesn't actually do anything when the incidents are reported.

As for AFA, I've been in contact with them whenever I find something suspicious and my impression is they tend to act on the more serious situations fairly quickly. I've seen some auctions pulled just with a quick message to the seller explaining what they are selling is illegitimate. Others however seem to be in a league of scamming all of their own. Overall though, I'd definitely say it's less on the certification companies and more on every collector to keep the hobby as safe as possible.

Does anyone have a whole set of Afa figures?

I'm sure lots of people do. In another forum someone had a limelight of their complete run of U85 and above vintage figure.

In response to the OP, a lot of people aren't fans of AFA, but there are some that are. I'm not a fan personally, but one advocate of them has said the reason why he likes AFA is that, if something were to ever happen to him, he knows that his family would easily be able to sell his collection and they would be able to get fair value on them easily.