Interesting, rare and sometimes cheap ebay items.

[bboy-toransufoma]

I remember that, and unfortunately, yes, some sellers (other than me! haha) will do that, either ignore emails or use lines which act as a buffer against unsatisfied buyers. While some do it deliberately, with this seller I think it's 50-50. It's a hard call unless you understand them and are in their shoes, but THAT seller is particularly hard to understand oftentimes. Good guy, means well, but difficult to understand

[5FDP]

Just an update for everyone regarding the Pre-G1 Transformers Shockwave reported earlier in this thread - I received an email from the seller after informing him that what he was selling was actually a recent cheap Chinese KO that sells for approx. 12 bucks.

His reply was...

"thanks for your help. iv dropped his price".

- fishnut4eva

What a stupid S.O.B...

He hasn't even changed the heading or made any note of the fact that this is a counterfeit item in the description

Please, please, please... everyone report him.

[kup]

This exact same drongo has in the past said (and I quote) "i am an avid collector for over 16 years and know what im talking about".

He's also infamous for taking a Fortress Maximus and having "REPAINTED EVERY SINGLE PIECE (except the red parts)". He then called it "DEEP NEAR MINT.(I PERSONALLY THINK HE IS MINT BUT PEOPLE JUDGEMENTS DIFFER SO I WROTE NEAR MINT)" and said "if you want an item that can qualify for an AFA grading then u came to the right place". He believed that someone could AFA grade a Fortress Maximus that he's vandalised and that in the process of his vandalism he somehow made it mint.

It's there a link to this? I personally restored the greened parts of my Max with paint but would never sell him without informing possible buyers of my restoration.

I would never sell him, actually.

I must say that the use of the term "vandalised" in restoring a Fortress Maximus from looking like greened and yellowed junk on the shelf to a more optimal display piece that one can again look at with pride is somewhat distressing. I am not condoning what that seller did by calling the toy 'mint' as that is intentionaly deceiving and very poor form. However I can't help to take a bit of offense in the use of the term 'vandalising' to efforts of restoring a toy from being a junker to an attractive display piece.

[Sky Shadow]

It's there a link to this?

It's been over ninety days - in the event that there's some sort of expired eBay album cache you can look at somewhere on the net, it was item 180356662558.

[kup]

It's been over ninety days - in the event that there's some sort of expired eBay album cache you can look at somewhere on the net, it was item 180356662558.

No luck finding it.

[Sky Shadow]

I must say that the use of the term "vandalised" in restoring a Fortress Maximus from looking like greened and yellowed junk on the shelf to a more optimal display piece that one can again look at with pride is somewhat distressing. I am not condoning what that seller did by calling the toy 'mint' as that is intentionaly deceiving and very poor form. However I can't help to take a bit of offense in the use of the term 'vandalising' to efforts of restoring a toy from being a junker to an attractive display piece.

Hey Kup - I'm on the other end of the spectrum on this. There's this culture of 'customising' that's reared its head over the past few years, where - owing to obviously talented people like Frenzyrumble - every second man and his dog on eBay seems to think that by sticking some paint and Sculpey on a junker it somehow becomes more valuable than a perfectly good used toy that's had nothing done to it. The guy's Fortress Maximus auction was an extreme example of this - it was a junker with no accessories that had paint all over it, and he thought it became some sort of "MINT" masterpiece that could be AFA graded. I just noticed that it even got international 'attention' (of sorts): http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transf...ce-377-us.html

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.

[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.

[bboy-toransufoma]

I'm very much against it. What he did was murder...He got A LOT of bad press from that, which both buyers and sellers are gonna remember for a while. Customisers like frenzyrumble and Sabrina Ng are awesome...they truly produce works of art (and if I could afford them, I'd buy them with no regrets!)...but his Fort Max was utter destruction of an already destroyed piece. As I said, very difficult guy to understand...Now he's trying to pass off a PROVEN KO Shockwave as a Pre-TF...he's missing a few lugnuts! fishy fishy fishy, whatever will you do to aggravate people next?

[bboy-toransufoma]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TRANSFORMERS-...item5638c1c975

AAAAARGH.....wisht I had the cash...*sigh*

[kup]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TRANSFORMERS-...item5638c1c975

AAAAARGH.....wisht I had the cash...*sigh*

The Master sword alone can cost US$700 so start saving!