The Energon Pub

AFA would like to announce our new 'AFA Qualified' grading scale for which we are now accepting submissions. Items including, but not limited to, opened box vehicles, playsets, and Transformers as well as certain hand-made pre-production items will now be eligible for grading under the new 'AFA Qualified' grading scale. Each 'AFA Qualified' item will be cased with a blue (rather than red) label and will be accompanied by a document with detailed information about the item and contents. In order to be eligible for 'AFA Qualified' grading, a boxed toy must contain new, complete, and unused contents and must not have a sealed blister which has been opened. (For example, a Transformers Megatron with cut tape would be eligible, but a Transformers Grimlock with an opened blister would not be. A Star Wars Landspeeder with cut tape would be eligible, but a Star Wars Sy Snootles Band with an opened blister would not be.) More details about this scale will be available on our website later this month, but feel free to contact us in the meantime with any questions. For a limited time, the AFA Qualified scale will be priced identically to our Sealed scale. Please reference our custom-size tier pricing to calculate grading fees.

This is in my opinion a reaction to the grading by the CSG grading company that have graded similar figures with cut tape from the start.

FP & C!

Thanks for the heads up bro. I'm sure this makes it a lot easier on most die hard collectors.

So they are expanding what they will grade so as to maximise on profits?

Down_Shift wrote:FP & C!

Thanks for the heads up bro. I'm sure this makes it a lot easier on most die hard collectors.

Indeed! Guess what somebody's going to be sent in for grading Cheers buddy and thanks!

i_amtrunks wrote:So they are expanding what they will grade so as to maximise on profits?

I would say to stay competitive with the CSG (AFA's competition) company's grading options who have graded similar items without any problem:

http://www.collectorsourcegrading.com/index.php?pgid=5

I wonder if this is also in response to sellers having to insert plugs into any and all Megatrons to sell them online. That's a thought; 5 to 10 years down the line how will these reissue Megatrons be graded?

It does make life easier for us collectors... but the thing is for some people, like me, the MISB is still the holy grail. I still prefer these hard to find "perfect" items to be sent to the AFA. To me it doesn't seem right to send an open item for grading... with the exception of Lucky Draw items of course.

*sigh* I have not a single Transformer I have not removed from the box. I know they may be valuable EVENTUALY, but I've just gotta play with the little suckers!

I'm not entirely familiar with the process, but don't they cut open even sealed product to verify its authenticity and condition? So, technically, every MISB toy you submit to AFA comes back just MIB. This isn't much of an announcement then anyway, since if you have a Megatron that simply wasn't taped back in the day or whose tape has rotted'peeled off, yet never played with the figure inside, they will be able to prove it thorugh their secret technique.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I wonder if this is also in response to sellers having to insert plugs into any and all Megatrons to sell them online. That's a thought; 5 to 10 years down the line how will these reissue Megatrons be graded?

That's what I was going to ask: Does this have something to do with the fact that Megatron has to be opened to have his plug inserted when you import it?

Nickolai wrote:I'm not entirely familiar with the process, but don't they cut open even sealed product to verify its authenticity and condition? So, technically, every MISB toy you submit to AFA comes back just MIB. This isn't much of an announcement then anyway, since if you have a Megatron that simply wasn't taped back in the day or whose tape has rotted'peeled off, yet never played with the figure inside, they will be able to prove it thorugh their secret technique.

That's not at all how AFA grades a sealed transformer. If a figure is sent in to AFA sealed, it stays sealed. They don't open it for grading. After grading, it is encased in acrylic still sealed. If it ever becomes unsealed in the case, it is still considered MISB (the grade stands as long as figure stays sealed in acrylic). This is big news (though it has been known for several weeks if you subscribe to the newsletter or frequent the website). If a figure would have been previously rejected because the factory tape seal could not be verified, now it would qualify for grading under this tier. As it seems, fewer figs will be rejected and returned ungraded. This will hopefully eliminate alot of collector frustration that AFA took their money but didn't grade the figure (rejected figures are still charged full price).

afashockwave wrote:That's not at all how AFA grades a sealed transformer. If a figure is sent in to AFA sealed, it stays sealed. They don't open it for grading. After grading, it is encased in acrylic still sealed. If it ever becomes unsealed in the case, it is still considered MISB (the grade stands as long as figure stays sealed in acrylic). This is big news. If a figure would have been previously rejected because the factory tape seal could not be verified, now it would qualify for grading under this tier. As it seems, fewer figs will be rejected and returned ungraded. This will hopefully eliminate alot of collector frustration that AFA took their money but didn't grade the figure (rejected figures are still charged full price).

QFT! Most frustrated owners will no longer be frustrated with this change.