Interesting, rare and sometimes cheap ebay items.

[kup]

I don't think that's the same thing as what you do, which seems to be taking bits of incomplete or G1 toys and combining or fusing or fixing them into a single working toy that you're happy with for your own collection. Personally, as soon as someone else has put paint on or modified a toy, (for me) it's no longer that toy, I wouldn't buy it and it has no place in my own (personal) collection. That's not to say that I have a problem with people doing whatever they want to their own toys in their own homes - I just can't stand it when - as in this case - they put monstrosities up on eBay and expect to fetch more than an unmodified toy.

I respect your own perspective, like I said, I am not defending the guy, he is clearly in the wrong and I agree that what he did is very low as he is trying to deceive a potential buyer by simply slapping paint on the toy and calling it mint.

I will explain my perspective and hopefully show why I initially took offense to the term 'vandalizing'. At the time, I felt that you meant it as a generalized term to any act of restoration more than something specific to that incident.

I think there is a bit of sadness in finding a beat up and discolored vintage toy that is considered a 'junker' which nobody wants and destined to either be trashed or spend its life in a junk pile, forgotten never to be displayed or played with again. I take a lot of joy and pride in dedicating to that 'junker' toy the effort of changing its fate and giving its 'life' back by restoring it into a displayable piece which is identical or near so to its original condition.

Restoring a toy to something closer to its orginal condition from a state of considerable disrepair or wear is different to customising one. Restoring is giving that yellowed toy back its orginal colors, making the electronics work again, fixing that broken inner joint so it can transform again or retouching its worn/flaked painted datailing to restore is orginal look but the aim is not to 'change' the toy into something else - it's more as the name implies, restore it to what it once was or as close as possible to it.

To me it doesn't make it any less legit than a 'mint' toy as I feel that I have giving it its life back, another chance at being both a playable and displayable piece instead of otherwise being a piece of junk in a box or land fill. The aim is to make it more valuable than it was rather than more valuable than another toy - The meaning of 'value' varies from person to person but doesn't necesary mean financial, at least not as far as I am concerned.

As you can see, I have a bit of emotional involvement in making some junker a toy again and from a philosphical perspectve, I feel that I have giving it its soul back.