Duane and Martin and Torsten's Report on Fake Minibots
(Torsten)
I've taken a closer look, and also found an eBay seller using the same pics
you used on your site selling SHIPLOADS of Beachcombers:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2485&item=5963799813
Now, how do you tell it from the original?
I'm not sure about the Autobot vs. different sticker in the chest (you
might be the better expert for that), but the packaging is a CLEAR indication.
Take a look at the pics from P.Prime's thread:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/thread47551.html
So far, FOUR errors have been spotted:
1. "It is your evidence that this robot is a ture TRANSFORMER!" ("ture"
instead of "true")
2. "SAVE FOR SEPCIAL TRANSFORMERS PREMIUMS!" ("sepcial" instead of "special")
3. "No inrerest in warfare" ("inrerest" instead of "interest" - see the
original here:
http://transformers.winterchill.com/tech/specs/beachcomber_(1985).jpg ).
4. "Swing arms down and push wheels in. Swing arms down and push wheels in.
Swing" (Redundant much? See the original here:
http://www.tfracetrack.com/instructions/g1/autobot/beachcomber.jpg ).
It doesn't end here. The same seller also has G1 Backstreets MISB, with
that "Hong Kong" sticker I saw at your site.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5938389716
And these Seasprays might be bogus as well:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4696&item=5947767744
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4696&item=5938385888
Looks like a giant bootleg scam to me.
No-one can tell me these are from 1987. I even doubt they stem from the
mid-nineties. I suspect a bootleg operation still in full force.
April 2005
++++++++++++++++++++
(Duane)
Ok so I got into collecting toys from my childhood and I recently purchased a MOSC Beachcomber off of E-Bay......*insert laugh track here*...... Well I figured for 12 bucks it was a fake, but the average Joe looking at my collection would not know the diff. At any rate I came across you website and found your section about the Chinese forgeries very interesting. As I was scanning back and forth you mentioned beachcomber but I did not see any particulars for what to look for in a fake....might have just missed it....pain killers and all. At any rate I found a few distinctions that if you did not know would be a great addition to you website. The first thing that I noticed was the fact that most of the bubble carded transformers that I have seen have a cut in the cardboard behind the figures so you can pop him out the back. My fake did not.
Another thing about beachcomber is that all of the loose Hasbro G1 figures that I have ever seen have smooth tires on the sides. The G2 Hasbro ones had Dunlop printed on the sides. Which is funny cause the so called 1984 G1 Hasbro Beachcomber that I have has Dunlop tires. The final thing that I noticed was only when I put my beachcomber up to the MOSC. The color plastics were very different. The gray part of the figure on mine was a light gray and the fake has a darker gray with an almost glittery metallic shimmer. The blue in mine is also a lighter shade as well. Now the lighter shades could be from the age of mine but the glitter is most likely not. Anyway, I hope that I came to this epiphany on my own and maybe added some knowledge to the rest of the world through you and your site. If not just add me to your block sender list and be bothered no more.
Thanks again! -Duane (May 2005)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(Martin)(with help from JM)
Re: Chinese TFs from the 1990's -- Is this Slapdash legit or not?
Posted by: "Martin"
Date: Mon Jun 26, 2006 2:01 am (PDT)
Oh, and I spotted another way of telling them apart in auction pics
for those who have been reading along: The upper corners of the carded
toys are more "square" and "pointy" (like the corners on the bottom of
the card), whereas the originals are more rounded (and quite different
from the bottome corners).
to sum up for the carded chinese minis:
1) Different font for the assortment number, which is different as well,
2) No mention of Takara on the packaging, nor the toy,
3) Square corners on the top,
4) Slightly paler/deader colors on the toys (unnoticable unless compared),
5) (Most likely) "dead"/fake rubmarks.
Well, just found out that that only pertains to the minibots -- found
a chinese Squawbox on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220001476367
There's the (only sometimes seen) Chinese sticker on the front, and
then the lack of Takara in the printed copyright string on the back next to
the Tech Specs (it should be much longer, clearly visible even with this
bad pic).
The minis should be attainable for decent money -- like Seaspray and
Beachcomber for something like $15 (if you're lucky). Didn't we verify
a Bumblebee here on the list as well some time back?
So, no rules without exceptions, eh? *sigh*... So make my above-corrected
checklist for the minibots instead of 'all' the carded Chinese TFs, okay?
:)
Martin
++++++++++++++++++
JM and ((Martin))
I do believe that those are 2 different "batches"... the Primes are
the Singapore ones, and the Headmasters -- those I've seen -- are official
Chinese product. Can you provide some links/pics?
But I'm writing this with a great disclaimer, as I don't actively keep
track of those things... :/
I'm sure there was a mid-90's Beachcomber, but the ones I've seen
lately seem to be sold by the same guys that sell the other
Singapore stuff, and they don't have the little black Chinese name sticker in
the corner. So I'm pretty sure the ones I've seen recently are
Singapore knockoffs.
((Really? Now that's interesting. But a lot of the naughty chinese ones
are circulating without the small sticker anyway, so I don't think that is
"proof" enough, so to speak. And I do believe that the Singapore ones
retain the complete Takara-mentioning copyright on the package (again,
something I cannot verify myself))).
The Singapore stuff is just odd. Here's my review of the black
cassetes: http://s10.invisionfree.com/allspark/index.php?showtopic=1614&hl=
The easiest way to identify them is to look at the awful techspec
text. One letter will be skinny and thin and the next will be fat
and bold, etc.
((Ah, bad scanner job with the packaging. Nifty. And Frenzy/Rumble actually
looks pretty good in black...
Didn't the chinese Jr. Headmasters come with that sticker (you
know the ones: Those with the anime characters of Minerva etc. pasted
over the window for the HM))?
I know which one you mean. But this is a Powermaster so maybe it's
different? *shrug*
((Could be.. But I seem to recall that red sticker on those as well...
Hmm... Looking at the assortment number in the lower right corner it
looks like the "true" TF font, and to my knowledge no post-1986 TF toys
have been spotted yet from the mid-90s China production.))
I know of a few post-1986 TFs from the mid-90's production. The one
I see a lot of is Squawkbox. And there are also the Triggerbots and
cons. I'm sure there are others, too, but it would take me a while
digging around Taobao to find them. :)
((Of course -- forgot about those; my bad. But did the Squawkbox set
come with rubmarks? I know the Triggerbots/cons did -- "dead" ones as
well, AFAIR -- which they weren't supposed to have in the first place.))
(See also: Steins Article)