I wonder if there's a 100 AFA item?

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I doubt it because even sealed I've never seen anything's toy condition grade higher than 85 or 90.

Wouldn't 100 be the all-time perfect action figure? How could that possibly exist? Perfection isn't possible in terms of action figures in the strictest sense of the term if you're as obsessive as these people are.

I wonder if there's a 100 AFA item?

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I doubt it because even sealed I've never seen anything's toy condition grade higher than 85 or 90.

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An item has to be sealed for AFA to even consider grading them (although they have started to grade certain loose toys, but thats a different story).  I highly doubt AFA would ever give anything a grade of 100.  100 would mean perfect condition.  Giving something a perfect grade would, in the eyes of many, discredit AFA because, in the eyes of many, there is no such thing as perfect.

 

I've only seen a MISB USA Fort Max once.  And it went for $1500, not graded.  So a graded one, based on the aformentioned non-graded one, would probably go for $3000-4000 max.

My question is, again, what if you got an Alternator AFA-approved? I mean would it really be worth that much? Most people are saying Alts. won't be super-hot collectibles years from now, but I think the rare exception is Tracks. He goes for $60 or more MISB on eBay these days. I wonder how an AFA Alternator Tracks would fare.

My question is, again, what if you got an Alternator AFA-approved? I mean would it really be worth that much? Most people are saying Alts. won't be super-hot collectibles years from now, but I think the rare exception is Tracks. He goes for $60 or more MISB on eBay these days. I wonder how an AFA Alternator Tracks would fare.

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AFA Alt Tracks would probably go for max $150.  And I'm being generous on that guess.  AFA in this case, won't increase the worth by that much because the item is new and readily available compared to a toy that's 20 years old.  Plus, more people will believe a claim that an Alt Tracks is MISB if thats the claim.  Whereas people will be skeptical that a 20 year old toy is still MISB, thus proof that it is in fact MISB by having it AFA graded will be worth much more.  Some people will only be willing to pay the cost of the Alt Tracks, plus cost to get it graded, plus maybe a bit more for the trouble of getting it graded.  People will pay cost of toy, plus cost of grading, plus trouble, PLUS peace of mind for a 20 year old toy.  Even 20 years from now, AFA Alt Tracks will not command the same price as say, an AFA G1 vintage Tracks does now because there will be ALOT of MISB Alt Tracks even 20 years from now.  When I say alot, I mean relatively speaking of course.

It's hard to believe it's been kept tightly sealed up if the tape is missing (lots of people use the "it gave out over time excuse", which some are skeptical of), if the box is damaged, etc. I doubt Alternators will skyrocket in price a few decades from now, though, because like you said they're much more common. One reason AFA makes little sense to me from a personal POV is that all you do is put your MISB AFA toy on a shelf...and then what? YOU LOOK AT IT? That's boring to me. If you want to waste thousands on something you will never know the joy of playing with or transforming, that's your loss, I guess.

It's hard to believe it's been kept tightly sealed up if the tape is missing (lots of people use the "it gave out over time excuse", which some are skeptical of), if the box is damaged, etc. I doubt Alternators will skyrocket in price a few decades from now, though, because like you said they're much more common. One reason AFA makes little sense to me from a personal POV is that all you do is put your MISB AFA toy on a shelf...and then what? YOU LOOK AT IT? That's boring to me. If you want to waste thousands on something you will never know the joy of playing with or transforming, that's your loss, I guess.

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If a seal is broken or missing, then it will not go for nearly as much as if the seal is still there.  Even if it has never been opened but the seal broke off over time, too bad.  Your not so lucky.  And as you say, how can you be sure it has never been opened?  That's why AFA is so importand to some people.

 

The fact that you have it and few others do is enough for people to pay a high price for it.  Paintings are nothing but something to look at, but some fetch millions.  Same thing with baseball cards, coins, stamps, etc.  You can't do anything with these except look at them, yet some people love collecting them.  The fact that you own something brings a level of satisfaction to someone.  Many adult collectors, whether it be collecting baseball cards or toys, like to collect to own it and show off to friends or just show off to themselves.  They don't have any desire to play with it.  We live in a materialistic society where just owning something is enough for one to pay a high price for it.  It's the "I have this and you don't" mentality.

True. We're all about owning stuff today, just to have it. IMO if you aren't going to do anything with it but look at it, I don't see the value of...just having it there. I mean collectors seem to only get stuff like that to brag it up or tell others they now have something super-rare and vintage. To me it's a waste, but I guess people have nothing better to do than blow their money sometimes. Yeah, VP, I understand what you mean...plus, isn't it also kind of a way to show off how much spare cash you have? It's like you're also bragging about how friggin' loaded you are.

True. We're all about owning stuff today, just to have it. IMO if you aren't going to do anything with it but look at it, I don't see the value of...just having it there. I mean collectors seem to only get stuff like that to brag it up or tell others they now have something super-rare and vintage. To me it's a waste, but I guess people have nothing better to do than blow their money sometimes. Yeah, VP, I understand what you mean...plus, isn't it also kind of a way to show off how much spare cash you have? It's like you're also bragging about how friggin' loaded you are.

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Exactly.  And actually alot of people think like you do as well.  People who look at adults buying toys think to themselves "why the hell is this 30 year old buying toys for?  He's too old to play with toys isn't he?"  But they don't understand the mere owning side of collecting.  Now, I don't think you look down at other transformer collectors in that way or think in that condescending manner, but its the same "why do you still collect toys at age 30?" type of mindset.

I respect the collectors. I recently started collecting again (Armada got me jumpstarted, then I really went into it with Energon and some of the Alternators). I appreciate the collector's instinct. But I also buy toys to play with them, pose them, hold them, transform them, even though some would say 21 is far too old an age to do that at. To me, part of collecting things is holding them in your own hands and being able to enjoy them on a personal level instead of staring at them through a glorified hard plastic airtight case with a grade sticker on the side.