Within the BB Community it is no secret that the Beastformers White Rabbit is a perfectionist, and by now you could say rather experienced, collector but that doesn´t mean even the White Rabbit can get burned…
As a Battle Beast collector you probably have your own standards to work with selecting Beasts for your collection. Some are really strict and go for the best while others are happy with less. On the hunt you´ll often come across figures or lots which show some play wear (paint damage), figures with broken arms, figures covered with pencil, etc. All issues that can be clearly noted if correct and honest pictures are provided by the person who´s selling them, giving you the opportunity to judge for yourself whether they´re meeting your condition requirements. Things become different once imperfections or issues are not shown on pictures or mentioned in the description. And these are often the issues you´ll find out about once you have the figure(s) in hand leaving you with an unpleasant discovery…
Within the Beastformers Dungeons there´s a strict policy when it comes to incoming Beasts as they´re all checked individually regardless of the fact whether they´re planned for, or make it into, the private collection or whether they´re passed on to fellow collectors in the future. This is also where the famous, rather strict, Beastformers Grading System plays an important role in order to qualify each Beast individually determining the C (Condition) State. Recently a few Beasts arrived which where bought with the idea, based on the provided pictures, of them being in a C7.5–C8 (Good to Very Good Condition). And luckily this was indeed the case because they looked amazing, at first glans because this is what happened;
The at first glance C8 figures suddenly dropped hard from the Beastformers Grading scale because they turned from Very Good Condition Beasts into figures with an issue…
Unpleasant surprises like these, but also repaired/glued arms discussed a post from 2017; A possible risky (costly) operation…, are a real horror for perfectionist collectors who think and hope to have finally found the Beasts in the condition they desire. And it is something that can still happen to anyone of us if issues like these are hidden from pictures or not mentioned.
WHY?
One word that says it all because in the first place WHY? would you even mark a Beasts.
Obviously this is, hopefully, not something that is done recently but it´s done back in the days once someone came up with the tremendous idea of marking toys. In order to make sure it´s clear to who it belongs to. Might´ve been a great and suitable solution back than but how many collectable toys of today are ¨destroyed¨ because of those simple, effective but now hated marks. On other toy lines removing markings like these might work with some tricks and cleaning options but with the Battle Beasts line the marker, pencil or whatever has often penetrated into the rubber over time in such a way that it´ll be impossible to remove without seriously damaging the figure. Resulting in the fact that it´ll drop from a C8 figure to a C6 figure on the Beastformers Grading Scale. Because it can´t be compared to normal wear that might´ve occurred over time. Even the C6 might be a bit on the high side but if the figure itself is in great shape, like the ones shown in this article, and the marker is not visible on the figure while it is standing on it´s feet it still has the same effect, once displayed, as a figure without the markings. But the fact that it is there does make the big difference sadly enough.
Another WHY? is why (obvious) issues like these are not mentioned or often overlooked? The main responsibility for this is in the hands of the person who is offering them since that´s the person who´s responsible for the description and the pictures. Big chance that if they´re offered by a fellow collector it´s something that will be noted or addressed unless they´ve wrong intentions and try to get a good price for figures that actually have (hidden) issues. In most cases though, also in this case, the seller is not a BB collector and is just selling his or her Beasts without properly checking them or even caring about the issue (if it is noted). But with the current prices for BB it does make a big difference price wise because value wise the difference between a C8 or C6 figure can add up fast especially if you buy multiple Beasts that turn out to be marked or it is something that appears on Laser or Premium Beasts…
IF it is not clearly mentioned or pictured you do have the right to confront the person who sold them because it´s considered a hidden defect that does make a big difference value wise and from a collectable perspective. It´s up to the seller to decide how to act but hopefully they´ll do the right thing and offer a solution.
In this specific case the figures where listed as VGC (Very Good Condition) with pictures from all sides confirming this BUT without pictures from the bottom of the feet and it lacked a description mentioning about the markings. Due to this it´s not weird that The White Rabbit got tricked itself because what can´t be seen and what´s not mentioned and with only that was there (the VGC note and pictures) to judge it´s easy to get fooled. Based on experiences in the past the actual chances of buying figures in such good condition having markings like these are very limited because normally it are often those figures which already do show some visible wear or issues that have these but its not an exception so beware!
Lesson learned?
Despite the fact that the seller, who said he didn´t actually know about the markings, was reasonable and offered a partial refund in order to make up for the difference in value it is clear that for both sides it would have been better if this was mentioned up front. Because in that case they´d obviously not have been bought by a perfectionist collector.
Think this is a wise lesson for the whole BB Community, hence the reason why it´s shared and posted on the Beastformers Blog, that when in doubt due to (a lack of) provided picture or a description you might have doubts about or even to be 100% certain at all, ASK about issues like this as well as the repaired arms UP FRONT! Because it´s not always something the seller does check or cares about but in the end you´ll be the person paying for it and the last thing you´d want is to end up with an unpleasant discovery…
What´ll happen with these Beasts?
It´s obvious that these won´t stay within the Beastformers Dungeons due to obvious reasons so they´ll make it to a fellow collector, who might be a bit less strict about condition, in time. Because in the end they are still great looking Beasts which display well but they obviously won´t leave without clear pictures and a solid note about this issue to prevent any surprises.
That´s how it should and will be done!
This was the Eight post already (8/22/2019) of the ¨22 Project¨ dropping a new Post/Page/Update on the Beastformers Blog every 22nd of the Month in 2019. A post that´ll hopefully prevent you from getting burned or surprised by figures that are marked underneath their feet.
It´s up to the BB Community to protect and warn each other when lessons like these are learned, it´s only a little effort but if it helps just one or two of being tricked it´s done it job.
In time delivery by The White Rabbit although it wasn´t the most extensive post or update but it´s there and maybe there will be a bigger or one that´ll be more to your liking next time again…
You´ll find out on the 22nd of next Month!
Enjoy the Beasts!
The Beastformers Team
Beastformers Blog 