The Energon Pub

Now to be absolutely clear, while I do want to draw attention to the story behind the selling of a fake Finnish Diaclone Black Corvette at BotCon 2012 for $2,800, this is not a naming and shaming exercise. The full details of this debacle are available on public Transformers and Diaclone forums on the Internet for people to research and dig up, details that the victim of this fraud and myself meticulously put together, resulting in a full refund for the victim and a public outing of the party responsible for the fraud. Now that’s out of the way, here's what happened...

http://tfsource.com/blog/the-3k-black-t ... d-of-2012/ <- CLICK TO READ



A massive thank you to everyone who answered the unending avalanche of questions and helped bring this to light.

All the best
Maz

Great article, and good work uncovering the fraud. I love reading your articles, so please keep it up.

Wow....Just Wow...That was a excellent read and at the same time terrifying. I couldn't imagine dropping that much cash only to find out it was a fake. I was at this past botcon but I dont remember hearing anything about this but With that kind of a sale Im sure it was pretty low profile..

Good stuff on helping that italian buyer out..

I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

that's horrible.

That's quite the thing, good work catching it though.

I'll have to invest that amount of $ in LD Unicron when the time comes but wow, I can't believe how hollow it'll feel to obtain a grail of that magnitude only to know that it was a fraud. Wow.

That was a good read. I would have been absolutely gutted If that were me. Well played on catching the villain.

Always pays to remember that the sharks are always circling.

MagnusPrimal wrote:I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

I could understand wanting to keep it all private. One time it got out that I owened a rare item, and people were hounding me about it. Not at whether it was real, but, how much I paid, who I got it from, and if it was for sale. I'd rather just not be bothered and enjoy the item.

MagnusPrimal wrote:I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

Are you suggesting the only reason to own something like this is so you can show it off? My TF collection is for my own enjoyment; I don't need to show it off to enjoy it. Even if I had $3000 to spend on a rare figure, I wouldn't buy it if I thought the only point in buying it was to show it off.

Screamfleet wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

I could understand wanting to keep it all private. One time it got out that I owened a rare item, and people were hounding me about it. Not at whether it was real, but, how much I paid, who I got it from, and if it was for sale. I'd rather just not be bothered and enjoy the item.

Is it real?
How much did you pay?
Who did you get it from?
Is it for sale?

C'mon c'mon c'mon tell me tell me tell me. I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!!

Is it real?
How much did you pay?
Who did you get it from?
Is it for sale?

Yes
A considerable sum
A seller
No

An answer that actually gives information, it's not transformers related at all.

GuyIncognito wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

Are you suggesting the only reason to own something like this is so you can show it off? My TF collection is for my own enjoyment; I don't need to show it off to enjoy it. Even if I had $3000 to spend on a rare figure, I wouldn't buy it if I thought the only point in buying it was to show it off.

No, but if you own a rare piece like that, and you just keep it to yourself, it just seems like hoarding, I guess. I'm not saying someone should give tours of their collection room or anything, but to not even post pictures of it... it just feels like Gollum and his precious to me.

MagnusPrimal wrote:

GuyIncognito wrote:

MagnusPrimal wrote:I understand the reasoning, but if you own a piece like that, and don't show off photographs or even describe it, what's the point? Is the possible thwarting of a con artist worth it?

Are you suggesting the only reason to own something like this is so you can show it off? My TF collection is for my own enjoyment; I don't need to show it off to enjoy it. Even if I had $3000 to spend on a rare figure, I wouldn't buy it if I thought the only point in buying it was to show it off.

No, but if you own a rare piece like that, and you just keep it to yourself, it just seems like hoarding, I guess. I'm not saying someone should give tours of their collection room or anything, but to not even post pictures of it... it just feels like Gollum and his precious to me.

Makes perfect sense to me. Posting pictures opens the door to theft and hassling from other collectors. I've talked to other collectors who will regularly seek out and hound people with rare pieces.

I'll just agree to disagree with you fellows. Cheers!

No, but if you own a rare piece like that, and you just keep it to yourself, it just seems like hoarding, I guess. I'm not saying someone should give tours of their collection room or anything, but to not even post pictures of it... it just feels like Gollum and his precious to me.

You know, this is kind of true. You'll probably never see me post pictures of rare items from this account. I could easily make a throw away account show off the rare things I have. If that screen name never posts it again, then, I was just doing it for those curious ect. It could keep me away from the attention and keep the whole thing anonymous really. I don't have anything THAT rare to begin with, there's plenty of pictures of it around anyway. If I ever got something that hard to find, and no pics of it around, I'd probably show it off on a throwaway account.