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Why repro parts are bad


cobrasaboteur

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Has anyone else seen the new ebay store that has sprouted up? All very hard to find gi joe repro parts cast in EXACTLY the same colors. No one will ever be able to buy a complete hardtop or moray anymore without question of authenticity. This is why even casting repro parts in off colors isnt right...because they get into the hands of mold makers that dont care about joe and just want to make a buck off of collectors. Some of these items were probably picked up for a fraction of the price in an off color and then re cast in the original color.

 

Really too bad.

 

-saboteur

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Actually, that's why I buy all my stuff MOC, or in lots these days. :)

 

If it's MOC, I'm the first person to open it. I don't even buy it when it says "only opened once". As far lots, it's usually army builders I'm going after, or an actual group of figures (not their accessories, or vehicles).

 

-Kevin

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I can't believe it took anywhere near this long for this crap to start.

 

Methinks it was to be expected really, there's no limit to human capacity to sometimes want to feed off people and their wallets no matter what its says about that person. Greed is just a condition that will never end...

 

I hope Hasbro shuts that guy down really quick-like. Ridiculous.

 

And then shut him down again when he inevitably gets a new ebay ID someday and tries peddling the same stuff.

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I might end up on the outs here but im all for it. Im not in this hobby for how much my collection will be worth if i sell it. if i can get an exact copy of hard to find pieces then im happy my hard top will have a weapon my heavy metal a mike.

 

casting and mold making have been around a few years now who's to say somebody didnt slip a few into the hobby allready. really anymore unless you open it yourself any weapon could be a casted copy????

 

I dont think this hurts the hobby.

 

TM

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I think it is only bad if someone advertises a repro as the real thing. If it is an expensive repro that is not advertised as real and will make my figure complete, I'm all for it. But of course there will be the people who will try to sell repros of rare parts for high prices. It's a real catch 22.

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As one of the guys who does parts like this, I've always refused to cast anything in the original color for just this reason. I don't want some ass-hat to try and rip someone off with something I did. I saw this guy about a month ago doing this and knew it was going to be a problem.

 

I just pissed off a guy in Norway because he bought some "Robot-Changer" parts and thought they'd come in the original colors even though it says nothing of the sort on my site. I even went so far as to charge $15 for a mic, just to discourage someone from doing what this guy is.

 

When cast parts are done as ethically as they can be (given the nature of the hobby) they provide a fantastic service to the customizer and collector, but when they do stuff like this it makes everyone look bad.

 

The only thing left to do is try to educate the customer base how to distinguish between "real" and "not so real".

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The only problem with people selling repro off colors is that it makes hard to find pieces available to people who want to make exact duplicates and sell them as original. Or even if they do sell them as a repro, whats to stop someone from buying them and reselling it not advertized as a false item.

 

For example...someone sells a hardtop handgun brown knockoff for 3.00. A few collectors might want it to complete their figure but not likely...after all, if you wanted a brown handgun, why not just slap any handgun on the hardtop? Instead, another mold maker buys the cheap brown handgun because it is identical to the valuable one besides color. He can now make an exact copy far cheaper than if he had to buy the original handgun to make the mold.

 

"I even went so far as to charge $15 for a mic, just to discourage someone from doing what this guy is."

 

Thats just the point... charging $15 dollars for a mic would discourage most collectors from buying the piece as a repro because the collectors that want a repro would want something for CHEAP. thats the whole point of a repro. For someone who just wants to copy the mold however, 15 dollars is a whole lot better than $200 to get the same piece. He especially wouldnt mind paying this if he knew he could sell the piece he made for a profit to regain the $15.

 

Not bashing you Aly, I'm just saying that repros should either be extremely cheap to appeal to the average collector, or not sold at all because they fall into the wrong hands. $15 is just out of the range of the common collector to spend because he knows that that piece of plastic is essentially worthless. charging $15 for a repro is not really a service to the collecting community. I understand that you probably did have to buy the original mic if you didnt cast from a repro yourself...and for this reason you needed to recoup your losses. But unfortunately (as i'm sure you saw yourself) the heavy metal mic started sprouting up for 99 cents undoubtedly someone casting from an already casted mic.

 

 

 

 

-saboteur

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Ok let me chime in as well,is casting and molding bad,Yeah it is.

 

Do i do it,yes I do...why,for the love of the hobby and not the money,trust me for a year now at GTG we have been making new stuff and molding others,geared to customizers only really,not to replace a original.Its a good thing when you want to make a custom and have the access to get just the one part you are looking for.

 

When people over charge for something not there own,well it happens,and if you can find another avenue to go down you should.The hobby as we know it has changed,and if molders and casters dont make things available there is a good chance you wont be able to get it.

 

Bad bad bekker,I guess,i collect and custom for fun,i love it and would like to see as many people get on as the fun as me.i never sell on ebay for profit,just to make it available to another collector,ebay is good and bad for that,again its all up to the buyers.

 

Be smart buy what you know from who you know.

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Hey, I bought a repro heavy metal mic from marauder inc a while ago. I think it came out to like a buck something shipped...i even got a few cool knives and stuff too as free extras. Just a question though, would marauder have sold the hm mic for .99 if the heavy metal mic had ever been casted in the first place?

 

Dont get me wrong...i'm not against casting and repro weapons and such...but when an extremely difficult/expensive/rare piece is casted it kind of messes everything up. If collectors simply used these for their collections there would be no problem, but they fall into the wrong hands and collectors are the ones who get hurt/cheated in the end.

 

-saboteur

 

edit: i think i got it from marauder inc

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i THINK i found the ebaystore with the mic. what else is offered, can you provide a link?

 

personally, i dont care. i got a heavy metal mike from maruader john, actually 2 (one for rampage as well).

 

my collection is valued at 50k, and i didnt own a heavy metal mic and wasnt about to drop $100 to own one. to me, im happy to have the replacement cause at least my figure looks complete and i dont have to spend the rest of my natural life looking for one, then begging some one to sell it to me when i finally do find one.

 

my collection is for my enjoyment, and while it is worth money, i wouldnt freak out if it suddenly depreciated in value tomorrow. id still love it for what it is.

 

some one wants to do this, be my guest. people have the choice to buy it or not. i guess if i owned some original heavy metal mics, id be mildy annoyed, but not suprised in the least.

 

 

what is it exactly that upsets you?

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Ok good question. well I never had the mic on my part of the site,but we make the price,based on what we have to do to get it molded and tooled.You will see that we dont try and gauge anybody,what we aim to do is please customizers and not collectors.

 

I collect to keep,an I aim to please who I can,can we make everybody happy,NOPE.

 

Its hard unless people know how much time not amount of product goes into some of this stuff...I would rather buy a 15.00 dollar mic then pay 100.00 on ebay just to get the figure for the mic.

 

casting is a hobby,all in itself.and to those that know the good to the bad in ratio parts will know sometimes you can cast a item 10 times and only 2 of them be perfect.

 

Gtg is a resource for customizers and my biggest point would be its ment for customs,if you were to get a hold of one of us,we could and would help ya,and not just try and take your money,its about the love of the hobby to some of us and not how much or how big our collections are.

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what is it exactly that upsets you?

 

 

I only buy items when i know i can someday resell them...thats how i can justify paying large sums of money on toys...do i enjoy them? yes, but money doesnt grow on trees as they say. With these items out, i have a feeling there will be a lot more "complete" heavy metals on ebay.

 

I also want to someday own an original heavy metal mic for my collection. This will now be much harder and more expensive to do as i will probably need a misb figure cause i dont want a repro.

 

I've also purchased complete hardtops.

 

I also have complete worms.

 

I also have a complete moray.

 

I also have a complete lift ticket.

 

that is what bothers me.

 

Maybe my collection isnt worth 50k, but i do work to pay for it, and i do have a lot of hard earned money in it.

 

-saboteur

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I do understand about buying cheap off color copys and making them available in the right color and selling on the bay,it does happen,but only if you buy from someone you dont know or have no knowledge of,as collectors and customizers we have to pull togather and keep in the loop,so no one gets screwed.

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I understand what your saying, and your reasons for concern, but again it goes back to the buying public educating themselves.

 

Let's take the HM mic as a for instance. If you are a relitavely educated buyer, you know to expect that this will set you back around $100+ for an original piece. I'm also going to assume that since your considering making that kind of purchase, you know how to tell an original piece from a repro. A repro is most likely going to be cast in hard, inflexible plasic while an original is made from Thermomelt plastic pellets. Both have a very unique feel & weight and are easily distiguishable from one another if you've taken the time to learn about your possible purchase.

 

That being the case (and the argument your making) why are you afraid to get duped? You said in a previous thread how you've done casting yourself and how easy and economical it is (it isn't, but that's another argument), so you must be familiar with the plastics (either that or you were talking out of turn before). You also own original Hasbro samples of similar parts, so where is the problem? It should be easy for you to distinguish.

 

As for re-selling your collection for profit being your justification, you should probably consider stock options, because the last time I checked they provide a much better return on your investment that little plastic movable statues. It's sad to me, when folks start placing a $$$ value on something they are supposed to be collecting for the fun, and if that it a serious consideration for you then perhaps you need to reconsider.

 

BTW, and on a total side note....since you've done casting before, I'd like to see some of those parts. Surely you have some in your collection, right? Seriously, I'd like to see.

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I am the minority here because I have no problem with Repro parts. Anyone planning on retiring on their toy collection is going to have a long life of Wal-mart greeting and Social Security to look forward to.

 

The one repro part I would absolutely love to see is a Stun flag. Talk about few and far between.

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If I could find an unbroken original, this would have been done ages ago. Talk about a much needed part.

 

MUAHAHAHA... I love my sweet Stun still sealed in little plastic baggies. :-X

 

My collection is mine for fun, to show off, and for monetary value. I wouldn't be able to put a price on my own collection, since I'm sure I overpayed for a lot (my MOC original-13), but it's not the individual pieces for me. I look at it as a completion-thing. I have to complete my MOC-collection (156 so far, of the 382 unique moc figures, not counting different backs, or crappy little mini-figures), and my loose figure collection:

213 of the 497 (321 Joes/158 Cobras, 18 SFII/24 Mail Ins/91 Vehicles Drivers)...

 

The funny part about my loose collection, I already have the definitive version of each char (in my book). So it's on the back burner until I've got my 382 MOC-joes... The good news: I'm in no rush to finish it. The bad news: I can't pass up good deals on the Foreign figures I want either, which is killing me right now.

 

-Kevin

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If I could find an unbroken original, this would have been done ages ago. Talk about a much needed part.

 

 

I've got 3 of them, but need about 9 more. LMK if you'd like to cast one of mine. I'd be willing to mail it off to ya. You'd, of course, have to return it when you were done. But the offer is there if you want it.

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As for re-selling your collection for profit being your justification, you should probably consider stock options, because the last time I checked they provide a much better return on your investment that little plastic movable statues. It's sad to me, when folks start placing a $$$ value on something they are supposed to be collecting for the fun, and if that it a serious consideration for you then perhaps you need to reconsider.

 

Wow...you must not have read my entire post. ;):rolleyes: nowhere did i say i collected for profit.

 

 

 

I guess i would be able to tell the difference between a hardtop/liftticket mic or a handgun or something i already have.

 

However (you really must have not read my posts) :rolleyes: Like i said I DONT have a heavy metal mic, so it would be impossible for me to compare one that i bought to anything.

 

-saboteur

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As for re-selling your collection for profit being your justification, you should probably consider stock options, because the last time I checked they provide a much better return on your investment that little plastic movable statues. It's sad to me, when folks start placing a $$$ value on something they are supposed to be collecting for the fun, and if that it a serious consideration for you then perhaps you need to reconsider.

 

Wow...you must not have read my entire post. ;):rolleyes: nowhere did i say i collected for profit.

 

 

 

I guess i would be able to tell the difference between a hardtop/liftticket mic or a handgun or something i already have.

 

However (you really must have not read my posts) :rolleyes: Like i said I DONT have a heavy metal mic, so it would be impossible for me to compare one that i bought to anything.

 

-saboteur

 

 

if you need stardusters helmet, we can cast one for ya.

 

hehe, j/k

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Alyosha

BTW, and on a total side note....since you've done casting before, I'd like to see some of those parts. Surely you have some in your collection, right? Seriously, I'd like to see.

 

What do i have to prove to YOU? @loll@

 

Give me a break @smilepunch@

 

Thought you'd never ask big guy!! I love to post pics any chance i get!

 

 

The helmet is cast here

avac1dc8.jpg

 

Removable! yay

avac2ld5.jpg

 

head cast

stratoviperoz7.jpg

 

entire middle snake cast (repro stickers from 334th joe co)

snaketa2.jpg

 

some other cast heads i found in my parts case...a little dirty..

 

 

any other pics needed just let me know!

 

-saboteur

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