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hi all

I have been buying/selling transformers for many years on EBay and other sites as i suspect we all have and so i have come up with a short list of the 10 most expensive transformers from 80s-90s that i have seen. I have decided to ignore the other lines as thats just far too many:

Fortress Maximus (Goes betwenn £500-£1000 boxed/unboxed)
although i did see one for £120 once years ago after X-mas

Optimus prime (around £500 onwards)
The most expensive are the grey roller version/pepsi promo

Overlord EU version often sells for £200-£300 boxed

TM Hotrod (can be very expensive over £300)

Monstructor Pretender combiner that i only realised was actually in the original comic in the part where unicron captures Galvatron from the Future. They are briefly seen. They go for around £200-£300

Menasor Giftset (i got mine for £220 well worth it)
Make sure it is authentic you can tell by scuff marks to side/look of box

Both Cyclonus/Scourger Targetmasters can also go for well over £300 if sealed or in excellent condition.

Pretender Bludgeon
Pretender Thunderwing
Both of these pretenders are very popular and expensive either boxed or loose.

What do you all think?

these are expensive bots, but they dont even come close to what Japanese market G1 collectors have to fork out for their bots.

Galaxy Shuttle for example is more expensive than even Fort Max on average. Blue Bacchus, Metalhawk etc etc

I totally ignore that side of G1 collecting, the pricing is simply too ridiculous to justify in my opinion. I have a friend who only collects this stuff, he was at botcon last year with me and dropped 3 grand in 5 minutes! at one booth! On THREE TOYS!

Honorable mention to BotCon 2006 Megatron weighing in at between $800-1400.

Also, are we going by weight per ounce? Because certain Mini-Cons and smaller BotCon exclusives become very heavy hitters at that point.

This can be an expensive Hobby.

In addition to the above, many Botcon figures fetch a high price. Botcon 2006 Megatron alone can sell for as much as $1500.00 USD.

I saw the Botcon Megatron figure on EBay for £1000. I choose to deliberately ignore the Japanese and other versions for my list as i only have two of them Jetfire/darkskyfire two of my current favourites and although some of the botcons look excellent i prefer my generation Transformers.

Although if you play the market a little you can get some very good deals i once got a Ramjet G1 MIB for £20. If you go by weight then by definition Fortress Maximus is by far the heaviest pureley because of his size followed probably by either Overlord or the two unicron figures.

Most expensive loose Transformer I ever saw was one of the Golden Armada prime which went for over £1000.

All Transformers can have ridiculous postage/custom charges placed on them. For example i had to fork out an extra £8 for my spinister figure and it was not even that heavy!!!. This also happened when i got a boxed swoop i had to pay £25 handling fees and had to travel to get it. Yet it only ever happens on EBay not in the other online stores.

I highly recommend only buying Transformers from your home country/surrounding region so in my case UK/EU. Its not worth the extra price you have to pay for abroad although i would risk it if it was for something special such as Botcons/Fortress max and japanese figures.

Sid Burn wrote:these are expensive bots, but they dont even come close to what Japanese market G1 collectors have to fork out for their bots.

Galaxy Shuttle for example is more expensive than even Fort Max on average. Blue Bacchus, Metalhawk etc etc

I totally ignore that side of G1 collecting, the pricing is simply too ridiculous to justify in my opinion. I have a friend who only collects this stuff, he was at botcon last year with me and dropped 3 grand in 5 minutes! at one booth! On THREE TOYS!

That is truly incredible. I can't commit that much money to a hobby. I wish I could, but I just can't do it.

I also don't go after the Japanese G1 stuff. I stay with the US versions of G1 characters.

SJ21 wrote:

Sid Burn wrote:these are expensive bots, but they dont even come close to what Japanese market G1 collectors have to fork out for their bots.

Galaxy Shuttle for example is more expensive than even Fort Max on average. Blue Bacchus, Metalhawk etc etc

I totally ignore that side of G1 collecting, the pricing is simply too ridiculous to justify in my opinion. I have a friend who only collects this stuff, he was at botcon last year with me and dropped 3 grand in 5 minutes! at one booth! On THREE TOYS!

That is truly incredible. I can't commit that much money to a hobby. I wish I could, but I just can't do it.

I also don't go after the Japanese G1 stuff. I stay with the US versions of G1 characters.

Same here. Seeing this kind of money being dropped just has me shaking my head in astonishment.

how about shining uncron although lucky draw last one i saw was something like 3500

I once saw an AFA95+ MISB G1 Megatron go for just over $4,000. Ouch.

AFA Graded Tfs are a huge investment in my opinion for the future. As i live in the UK i use UKG graders they did my Thundercracker and i'm also gonna do my G2 Stormtroopers as well as any other Transformers i get MISB.

"I totally ignore that side of G1 collecting, the pricing is simply too ridiculous to justify in my opinion. I have a friend who only collects this stuff, he was at botcon last year with me and dropped 3 grand in 5 minutes! at one booth! On THREE TOYS!"

Your friend must secretly be a millionaire or have a highly skilled paid job i Wish I had that then nothing would stop me from completing my Collection.

All giveaways/club conventions goe for a staggering amount the highest i ever paid was £300 for a bulk lot of TFs which had a boxed TM Hotrod and then i sold the rest off.

My most expensive Transfomer i got was my Giftset 1980s original Menasor which is one of my favourite when i was a kid. He is also now very expensive and rare due to the reissues coming out.

I always consider carefully weight when buying Transformers and of course price as i have discovered quite a few sellers openly rip people off on postage.

norwichchris wrote:AFA Graded Tfs are a huge investment in my opinion for the future.

The whole "graded" thing with toys kills me. If you buy one of those you get a nice, cool toy, in a display box that you are aren't going to open. It just seems like a huge expense for an item you can't use for its intended purpose.

Every time is see one of those AFA graded things I just want to rip it open so badly.

SJ21 wrote:

norwichchris wrote:AFA Graded Tfs are a huge investment in my opinion for the future.

The whole "graded" thing with toys kills me. If you buy one of those you get a nice, cool toy, in a display box that you are aren't going to open. It just seems like a huge expense for an item you can't use for its intended purpose.

Every time is see one of those AFA graded things I just want to rip it open so badly.

At the point that somebody goes to get something graded it ceases to be a toy and becomes a collectible - provided it was worth grading in the first place.

norwichchris wrote:I saw the Botcon Megatron figure on EBay for £1000. I choose to deliberately ignore the Japanese and other versions for my list as i only have two of them Jetfire/darkskyfire two of my current favourites and although some of the botcons look excellent i prefer my generation Transformers.

How can you make a list of most expensive Transformers, but ignore ones that don't interest you?

Here's a real list. We all know unproduced figures can go for a lot, the most expensive I know was G1 Unicron then went above $10,000. As far as produced figures, we all know Lucky Draws can go for over 2 grand. As far as store sold figures, I believe the White Headmaster HEads are at least above $1500 each last I saw them sold. Then your Typical Grand Max, Black Zarak, DinoCassettes, LioKaiser, and the rest of those hard to get Japanese Exclusives. US, G1 Fort Max takes the top spot.

Didn't G2 Motormaster go for nearly 8K?

My friend (also a toy dealer at the cons) once sold a sealed G1 dragstrip for $700+

apparently he does almost all his business on those kind of high end items with customers from china and japan. He explained to me that it is actually a status symbol to own sealed american release bots there.

I believe he also sold a sealed G1 vortex and brawl to the same buyer for similar amounts.

These were super mint sealed items mind you but still...

I actually just saw a AFA 80 Fortress Maximus for $10K on Ebay plus $199 S&H....crazy.

why does fort max cost so much?! i know he's huge with many parts, but i just dont get it.

Personally I find AFA to be a bit of a sham, but I guess there are those that like the idea so who am I to judge?

I'm very glad that I don't collect G1 figs to avoid some of these prices. But then I look at what I spend on some of the modern figs and I simply shake my head.

500 bucks for an Antagny was my most expensive drop on a single TF.

On a price per gram, definately the minicons are up there in terms of expense. Thankfully I don't collect minicons. PCC Minicons on the other hand may proove to be a bit of a pain, but we shall see.

The thing I don't get about AFA grading is this -

If you have an MOSC\MISB figure that is clearly untouched in a battered box, why do they get grades like 80\60?

How can a figure that is MOSC\MISB be less than 90+?

Amelie wrote:The thing I don't get about AFA grading is this -

If you have an MOSC\MISB figure that is clearly untouched in a battered box, why do they get grades like 80\60?

How can a figure that is MOSC\MISB be less than 90+?

the quality of factory paint and sticker application through the window, AFA are tough with their numbers.

A buddy of mine is an AFA junkie, he once owned the highest rated misb G1 scourge in the world (90)

he has sent well over two dozen bots to them, they are very strict on what they give good grades to.

Sid Burn wrote:the quality of factory paint and sticker application through the window, AFA are tough with their numbers.

A buddy of mine is an AFA junkie, he once owned the highest rated misb G1 scourge in the world (90)

he has sent well over two dozen bots to them, they are very strict on what they give good grades to.

I can understand it with factory stickers ect - but I've seen MOSC Constructicons with less than 80 on the toy rating. Sometimes it makes me wonder if they just pocket the money and bugger off.

there is a entire subculture to that afa stuff, my buddy sees flaws in sealed figs I would never see and I am really critical of my bots. He actually drives down to the AFA headquarters sometimes, if he is too nervous to ship a minty bot.

its one of the great things about collecting transformers, there are a hundred different ways to collect.

Sid Burn wrote:there is a entire subculture to that afa stuff, my buddy sees flaws in sealed figs I would never see and I am really critical of my bots. He actually drives down to the AFA headquarters sometimes, if he is too nervous to ship a minty bot.

its one of the great things about collecting transformers, there are a hundred different ways to collect.

I do understand that in a way, I get pretty anal when I paint Gamesworkshop stuff.

I've always felt its just a very expensive way to pay for another human to tell you if your own toy is in good condition.

Mkall wrote:Personally I find AFA to be a bit of a sham, but I guess there are those that like the idea so who am I to judge?

Agreed, but this is the internet. We get to judge everything.