AFA MOSC G1 Beachcomber... or is it??

[5FDP]

There has been many KO's posted on eBay claiming to be originals, but this one stood out to me mostly because the seller couldn't even get it straight if the thing had been AFA'd or not

Description Of Goods For Sale:

YOU ARE BIDDING ON AN AFA GRADED VINTAGE TRANSFORMERS FIGURE.

THE FIGURE IS BEACHCOMBER

THIS FIGURE HASNT BEEN GRADED BUT IS FANTASTIC SO COULD BE!

You would think that the absence of an actual AFA case is obvious enough

For those wanting to know how to spot a fake Beachcomber, the main giveaway is the hole punch from which the toy could hang on a store peg. Original Beachcombers had the hole off-center so it would hang straight. The one in the above auction does not.

[griffin]

The flash is strategically placed on the front to cover the chest sticker (which is the most obvious giveaway. But on the back, the Step 1 instruction panel has the words repeated, so is definitely not an original.

[kup]

These KOs are very tricky as the seller may not necessarily know he is selling a fake.

[griffin]

That's true. That's the problem with KOs - down the track, someone will think it is real and try to sell it as such. Fans might think it is okay when they are released and think collectors will know how to recognise it as a fake, but don't think about the victims months or years later who fall for them.

[liegeprime]

a rather confusing description of the item there. funny

[kup]

That's true. That's the problem with KOs - down the track, someone will think it is real and try to sell it as such. Fans might think it is okay when they are released and think collectors will know how to recognise it as a fake, but don't think about the victims months or years later who fall for them.

The thing is that I can see someone buying it and keeping it for years thinking is real and then selling it as such with the buyer never realizing it either. Eventually, they may become indistinguishable from the real thing with many collectors unknowingly assuming it's real.

Unlike most KOs, these look legit unless you have a guide to tell you what to look for which many collectors do not know about. As I have found out over the last few years of meeting some local collectors through random opportunity, a few don't have any online presence whatsoever and some are oblivious to Transformers online communities so their knowledge about these sort of thing is limited at best.