Reproduction labels...the purists wouldn't think of using them. For others, they're the best thing since the Takara reissues. Personally, I'd rather display a clean G1 with nice labels, perfectly applied, than a dirty piece with fading, peeling, or mis-applied labels.
Many of my vintage G1 figures have been updated with reproduction labels. I don't know if it detracts from their resale value or not, but I think it makes them look much better and that's what matters.
I've put my G1 collection together slowly over the years, carefully selecting and keeping the very best pieces. But no matter how tight the joints are, flawless the plastic is, or perfect the paint application, mint vintage labels are hard to come by. Let's face it, G1 figures relied heavily on labels. After 20+ years many are faded, peeling, missing, or were mis-applied by an anxious fat-fingered previous owner.
I'm picky about my Transformers -- a crooked faction symbol drives me nuts. Apparently I'm no the only one as a thriving aftermarket label business exists for TFs. Where does one start?
My first choice is to buy an original vintage label sheet. But these hard to come by, expensive, and don't help you with the factory applied labels. And sometimes even the original labels were mis-cut, making them less than perfect out of the box.
The best source for replacement labels is of course Reprolabels.com. I've been buying from these guys for years and their quality has gone up. They offer pre-cut (thankfully) labels for most G1 figures, including the factory applied labels. The quality does vary by figure though. A set of Omega Supreme labels is indistinguishable from the originals. The seekers, I would avoid, as the repros aren't as thick, nor the printed parts as reflective, as the originals.
Other than the variable quality, Reprolabels.com does tend to be somewhat slow for me with an average order taking 2-3 weeks from placement to delivery. I also recently had a bad experience with them -- I never received a $71 order. I've seen or heard nothing after 40 days and 3 e-mail inquiries. Poor customer service like that kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth since I've bought so much from them in the past.
Aside from Reprolabels.com there are the millions of Chinese reprints on eBay. These tend to be hit or miss. Sometimes they are very good, even closer to the originals than the Reprolabels.com varieties. More often though they're unusable because they’re so poorly printed or cut. In the end, I usually end up buying both kinds and choosing the best. This can be expensive and wasteful I know, but like I said, I’m picky about my TFs.
Anybody have any thoughts on reproduction labels for their Transformers? Do you use them? Would you use them? What do you use?
