This Week In Your Plastic Crack, Action Figures and Toy Collection 26 26

[whisp]

[Hepcat]

Plastic? Alright then. I'll show you some vintage plastic.

Now I've had this Bozo gumball machine for nearly twenty years:

But when I saw this unused O-Pee-Chee warehouse stock one on Etsy a few months ago I couldn't resist snapping it up as well:

There was one very much like it on the counter of Ken's Variety on Wharncliffe Road which was one of my go-to places for comics.

[Jesse-Lee]

This was an instant pre-order for me! On BBTS now, I assume this will be a sought-after one.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/272232?o=4

[F For Fake]

On 4/2/2024 at 1:52 AM, Jesse-Lee said:

This was an instant pre-order for me! On BBTS now, I assume this will be a sought-after one.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/272232?o=4

Oh wow! Well, you sold me. I quit collecting MotU Origins a while back, but this will get my money. It's a great line and I like the figures, but I can't afford the cash or space it takes to follow every single line that I "like", so I had to cut it loose. But I will find room for this, this is terrific!

[batman_fan]

A few more toys added to the collection

[B2D327]

Just made my wantlist. That sculpt looks incredible 

Edited April 4 by B2D327

[comicwiz]

On 6/9/2023 at 12:11 PM, comicwiz said:

This will be a long post, but it is meant to be both for informational purposes, and a public service warning to the wider community of collectors of vintage Star Wars. While it focuses on an unlicensed toy produced by a Hungarian manufacturer, it's relevance in the formerly described context is the manner with which one of the self-professed identification and variant 'experts' has gone about spreading disinformation, with an emphasis in exposing his flawed "research methods," particularly as it relates to being the ring leader for an identification site known as "Variant Villain." While I want to make one thing clear, and that is that I avoid this identification site like the plague, I do not want what follows to be tainted by this bias and personal opinion. And to be clear, I held this view well before what took place in the past 6 months. Instead, I want to provide the fact pattern of the specific example I've chosen to show why this individual should not be trusted to ever provide any opinion or expertise on the subject.

 

Back in October of 2022, I was asked to appraise a toy produced by Schenk. This toy spacecraft has a very interesting history, and I was very fortunate to have connected with the former company owner Károly Schenk's nephew Stephen, who is not only a family member with a passion for preserving and archiving the history of this toy company, but worked at Schenk right up until the company closed its factory in 2006. Prior to establishing contact with Stephen, I did make an effort to communicate with this Variant Villain "expert" whose name is Wolff Lipinski. Before I proceed any further, Wolff has a past of deception, lying and scamming, particularly in relation to how he tried to paint beater vintage figures to pass them off as original "variants." For those interested in reading more about this past incident, the following links should give you more to read on regarding this matter.

 

Touched Up Figure from Wbobafett

https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/touched-up-figure-from-wbobafett.1057049/?fbclid=IwAR24xdkjjY1pusc15k5mrf-O56ARl7Og7vRhcrJkG0rRRKhvfDomRiRPHME

 

Watch out---me, myself and I

https://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t1902-watch-out-me-myself-and-i

 

Wolff Scam highlighted by the TIG Team

https://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/threads/wolff-scam-highlighted-by-the-tig-team.7193/

 

Despite the past scam he pulled, I, along with many other collectors, gave Wolff a second chance. When I was tasked to the assignment of appraising a Y-Wing back in October of 2022, during the time the owner shared photographs of the ship for my work file, I noticed that this specimen was unique. I wrote about this in greater detail in this announcement post. So when I reached out to Wolff last October, while he knew about the ship already, the reason was to communicate the discovery of previously unknown characteristics which hadn't been noticed until I asked the owner to carefully open the cockpit and photograph the contents. 

 

During this conversation, he made a bigoted comment about the previous owner, which had nothing to do with why I reached out to him. I wanted to make him aware of what I had discovered about this specimen, which he may have confused as me asking for his opinion on legitimacy. It's important to note that the ship originally was purchased in November of 2020 off e--Bay. More on this later in the post. After the buyer received the item, he contacted Wolff about the ship, and Wolff told him it was legit. The previous owner did not want to be dragged into this, and this is why my PM conversation with him blurs out his info, and you’ll soon understand why his concerns have merit.

 

 

As it turned out, the ship changed hands from the 2020 buyer, and the new owner who had contacted me to appraise the toy was someone Wolff disliked, and suddenly, his views on the legitimacy of the toy changed. He began to talk about nonsensical characteristics, which I knew had zero relevance in our conversation, so I had to emphasize to him that I did not contact him to ask for his opinion on whether the specimen I was appraising was legitimate, but to make him aware that it was the only specimen to have been found complete, with both a replacement helmet and gun. The other reason I contacted him was to explain that I had some concerns over his example having a loose figure floating loosely outside of the ship within the netting. In typical fashion, Wolff ignored what I was trying to communicate, and focused instead on his made-up observations.

 

Beginning in April of this year, not too long after completing the final stage of appraisal in March, and the client posting the item for sale, he began posting his assertions and claims on why his specimen was the only 'real' example, and after he found his on e--Bay in May 2020, he made a post stating his was only the second known. He did this also stating that his ship was produced in "83/84."

 

 

First, there are 3 examples which I have used as photo reference for the appraisal, one is shown in this French collectors video at the 2:41 minute mark. The other was part of a Schenk exhibit held in Hungary in 2016, and this photo (Photo 1) was taken in the display used for that Schenk exhibition. There are supposedly 5 unopened specimens in one Hungarian Schenk super-collectors website, which I have yet to be shown to confirm the legitimacy of this claim, and I have collaborated with Stephen from back in October to arrive at the extant population being in the single digits. Essentially, there are more than just 2 known.

 

Photo 1: Rare example of a Schenk Y-Wing in original netting

 

Secondly, reading his post stating his ship is from "83/84" is like watching someone post that their Star Wars Early Bird set is from 75/76. Once you realize the person didn't even take the time to find out when the toy was actually produced before making such a clueless claim, it completely renders the comment devoid of any credibility or relevance. Despite this clueless claim, my intent was to make this informational, so here is the reality. 

 

Schenk owner Károly Schenk had a heart attack in 1984. While the Schenk toy company had been planning to initiate a figure line to capitalize on the success Return of the Jedi had achieved at North America box offices, they couldn't proceed due to his health circumstances, and as such, any plan to build the spaceship was postponed. The Schenk Y-Wing was produced for 10 years, between 1985-1995.

 

Now if we cut him some slack, and resign to accepting he was only a year or two off with his estimate, and place his ship in the early timeline of production (i.e. 85/86), it causes another series of issues with the specimen he has touted as "real." First, his so-called "unopened" specimen is the only one that does not have the figure inside the cockpit. The relational observation to this is that the netting is more taut than normal, and this notion that a figure popped out of the cockpit is highly unlikely as this netting plastic is simply not forgiving enough when it's stretched in such a manner, and as tight as it is, to allow the cockpit to open wide enough to allow the figure to come out of it. This taut netting characteristic will prove to raise additional questions further into the post. 

 

Photo 2: Wolff’s Y-Wing with loose figure - figure was produced using ABS plastic.

 

The problem beyond the figure loosely included inside the net packaging that is shown in Photo 2 is that Schenk did not begin to use ABS plastic for its figures until 1991, and Stephen believes that particular figure was only available after 1992. And it's very important to understand that while there has been the proliferation of overstock parts and figures on certain Schenk toys produced from that era, what is significant to take away from this is that it's akin to seeing a POTF2 era figure inserted into a Return of the Jedi playset. The two era's vastly conflict if we are to go by Wolff's assertion that this is an unopened specimen. 

 

Further adding to these issues is the legal advisory label on the underside of his specimen. Wolff has claimed that the label advisory is the only way to confirm a Y-Wing is legitimate. This couldn't be further from the truth. First off, he never once actually describes what the purpose or history of this legal advisory is, he just goes off on a tangent stating that the label is the be all, end all, to confirm legitimacy. So here is the reality.

 

Photo 3: Legal code with blue arrow showing gaps in netting and yellow arrow for width of label.

 

The legal advisory originates from child poisoning events that occurred between 1963-1965. While it took another 11 years before this decree was put into force, Schenk audits of its factory and production processes began as early as 1968. The decree itself can still be accessed through Hungary's legal code website. The wording on the label itself describes the materials Schenk used, and that it is safe to expose to water. While Wolff insists on the necessity of this label, he never explains the fact this is actually a joint decree. In the first part, it's a quality assurance that Schenk is disclosing the exact material, and in doing so, complying with the original legal code instituted 9 years prior to the production of the Schenk Y-Wing. However, it also combines with it a clever marketing aspect, as Hungary at this time had instituted a hygiene mandate, and including this language in the label could be seen as one way to encourage parents that this toy could be used during children's bath time. 

 

The choice of use on how this advisory label was applied was highly dependent on the packaging formats. When Wolff first began to openly contest the Y-Wing which I authenticated, I asked him if he knew what the different packaging formats were for this Y-Wing. He never responded and I gave him ample opportunity to do so. To get through this point more quickly, the netting was one of the three packaging formats used on the Y-Wing, and the netting was specifically meant for vending uses in outdoor fairs and market settings. The application of the label shown above in Photo 3 is Wolffs specimen, and if you will note, the blue arrow indicates the gap in the netting, juxtaposed to the yellow arrow, which is the width of the label. 

 

Photo 4: Schenk play scale in net packaging, with loose label

 

In Photo 4, you will see a toy scale playset that uses the correct label, which is significantly wider, to ensure it cannot be lost through the gap openings of the netting. If you combine the way netting was intended for outdoor venues, the "weathering" aspects of vending in outdoor settings and using a wider label would more intuitively ensure that a label cannot easily blow out from inside the netting with any gust of wind. As these nets were ordinarily hung on a booth or market stand, it's more appropriately the case that the type of label shown on Wolff's example was used for a different packaging format than netting. 

 

Photo 5: Legal code label applied on plastic toy wagon

 

In Photo 5, you can see another plastic Schenk toy that uses the same label, and this toy was not packaged with netting. These alternate packaged toys were also more commonly sold in Hungarian "traffic shops", with the toy usually laying flat on a shelf, with no opening in the packaging. 

 

The confluence of these facts - a later period figure, a loose figure floating inside the netting, and a label ordinarily applied on toys using different packaging formats - suggests that it is likely his specimen was actually opened, and the ship and/or figure were not native to that netting. And make no mistake, the fact he’d rather focus on disparaging the authenticity of other examples is deliberate - and it’s simply so he can claim his is the only real "unopened" example. For informational purposes, Photo 6 shows various examples of print litho and label methods which I collected for my work file back when I originally performed the appraisal.

 

Photo 6: Some differing packaging formats used along with legal advisory

 

If the fact pattern explained above wasn't concerning enough, when it was originally brought to the community's attention he had demonstrated nothing but baseless claims, he made a death threat to the owner of the ship and several of his supporters attempted to interfere with the sale. He then back-peddled claiming that because English isn't his first language, "You are dead" didn't translate correctly when he sent his threat by PM.

 

 

In addition to the research I did under the direction and guidance of Stephen, I traced the example I authenticated back to the original seller. I am glad I did this, not only to establish a chain of custody and ownership from the time it first appeared on e--Bay, but because after Wolff claimed it was a "fake", I wanted to communicate with the original e--Bay seller to explain what had been happening with the specimen he sold back in 2020.

 

Photo 7: e--Bay listing for Y-Wing from November 2020 

 

It turned out that the e--Bay seller is a Chief Museologist at Hungary's András Jósa Museum. It was a pleasant surprise, not only because this gentleman confirmed a lot of the research and information I had shared during my original authentication work, which included that he originally bought his from an outdoor market, but also because Stephen knew this gentleman. In fact, this gentleman held a Schenk exhibit in 2017 at the museum and Stephen was one of the organizers of that exhibit. Below are some photos of that exhibit. 

 

Photo 8: Set-up photos taken at the András Jósa Museum for an exhibit held in 2017.

 

I wanted to make him aware that there was a contingent of people that were calling into question a toy he had sold back in 2020. To say he was unimpressed is an understatement. As an accredited appraiser, I deal with a wide range of institutions, and I know someone in the position he holds is committed and passionate about the preservation of history, so when he asked me to provide the information on who this individual was, I did so, making him also aware that Wolff is a "restorer" and has done work for Württemberg State Museum because he boasts about in on this page. 

As many of you know, over the 20+ years I’ve been a member of these forums, I have always tried to do my part to raise awareness around emerging issues that can impact collectors and our hobby, and this includes outing bad actors. As this thread focuses on toys, I’ve done the same in the past with regard to matters impacting the toy collecting community. As a lifelong collector, it’s concerning when someone who has become one of the biggest weapon 'experts' in the current landscape accomplishes this because newer collectors don't realize he's a known liar. He painted loose figures and sold them as original. That's hardly the bedrock of reliable information. 

While I stated the purpose at the outset, the inspiration for doing this is found in the fact that the truth very much matters in the hobby's we pursue. I was not given the opportunity to explain any of these things I mention above, not because I was afraid of Wolff’s penchant to threaten, but because I was muted and blocked from sharing this information in groups run by supporters who take his every word and opinion as complete truth, as well as being blocked by his Variant Villain page. The take away I want to achieve most with this post is to newer collectors - and more specifically, that you do have alternative choices for weapon and identification research websites such as The Imperial Gunnery Weapon and Accessory Identification. Given the above outlined fact pattern, if you insist on using any information from Variant Villains, that you do so with a preparedness to scrutinize that opinion carefully, but to also ready yourself for an onslaught of questioning and scrutiny from people like myself who will not stand for hobby disinformation to be perpetuated, especially when it’s someone with a history as a known scammer.

He's back at with his lies. If you haven't already, read the post I quoted above.

Yesterday, he posted in a FB group called Bespin Prime, stating his "Hungarian Y-Wing" was the "only example."

I responded showing info/photographic proof that revealed his "limelight of lies for likes" campaign.

He removed the post.

Then proceeds to post in a group I'm not able to respond in because he's a liar and would rather peddle misinformation than confront soemone that can call out his lies for what they are.

This is the self-proclaimed VSW hobby segment weapons expert?? Variant Villain indeed!

Edited April 10 by comicwiz

[F For Fake]

As I mentioned in the Garage/Flea thread, I picked up a pretty nice haul at an Estate Auction yesterday. Lots of stuff to go through! Estate was of a former antique dealer, so there was a ton of furniture, dolls, costume jewelry, etc but also a very nice selection of 70's and 80's toys. There was a ton of D&D stuff, but I don't know enough about it to make a serious bid, I wouldn't know the value on that stuff, so I let it go. 

SO what did I get?

Let's start with the junk. Nothing fancy, but at the price paid, a little money to be made. The ERTL Die-cast Bats are for me!

[F For Fake]

Next, the slightly better stuff, including a butt-ton of Dragon Riders of the Styx, some incomplete Micronauts, and a ton of Starriors stuff I have to sort through. Maybe some Zoids stuff in there too, I know there's a lot around here somewhere that I bid on.

 

[F For Fake]

Now we're getting into the stuff I like. Imperial Monsters, rough paint, but I'll still keep them. These Mego Die-Cast Spideys are absolutely GORGEOUS...except each one has a chipped thumb. Total bummer, the paint is beautiful. These are really neat, I've never had anything from this set before, but I feel like I may need them all now.

Most exciting from this group was the lot marked "Go-Bots", which actually only included ONE Go-Bot, as well as 2/3 of G1 Reflector, and a goldang Diaclone Red Sunstreaker! Also a lot of G1 junk that will add up to nice money when parted out, including a complete Ravage.

[F For Fake]

And finally, the Belles of the Ball, the Reasons for the Season, the guys I really wanted: Shogun Warriors!

These boys are all a bit grimy, need a good cleaning. These are for ME. I'll be getting some sticker sets for Daimos and Dragun, after I clean them up, maybe get some repro accessories as well.

The real find was Rodan. One of my long time Grails. Missing a back talon and one of the wing clips is busted, but he still displays nicely. Couldn't be much happier!

 

[comicwiz]

Sweet haul! 

[F For Fake]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:23 AM, comicwiz said:

Sweet haul! 

Thank you sir, means a lot coming from you, king of the Cool Stuff!

[F For Fake]

Oh shoot, I forgot the Star Wars! Picked up a bunch of guys, highlights were the hollow cheek/tubes Tusken, Fett with blaster, and a blue saber/snap Jedi Luke (no blaster though, unfortunately.)

Several complete figures, and another group of loose guys, but lots of fun. I'm telling myself I'm not going to start collecting Star Wars again. Not going to do it. Must resist.

[comicwiz]

Amazing! The hollow cheeks is a killer find!

[F For Fake]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:34 AM, comicwiz said:

Amazing! The hollow cheeks is a killer find!

Yeah, at first I wasn't sure I was looking at it correctly, surely I was wrong, but nope, appears to be the real deal! No gaffi stick, but I can deal with that. 

[grendel013]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:21 AM, F For Fake said:

And finally, the Belles of the Ball, the Reasons for the Season, the guys I really wanted: Shogun Warriors!

These boys are all a bit grimy, need a good cleaning. These are for ME. I'll be getting some sticker sets for Daimos and Dragun, after I clean them up, maybe get some repro accessories as well.

The real find was Rodan. One of my long time Grails. Missing a back talon and one of the wing clips is busted, but he still displays nicely. Couldn't be much happier!

 

@F For Fake these are awesome. 

@Chip Cataldo did you see these?

[Chip Cataldo]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:02 AM, grendel013 said:

@F For Fake these are awesome. 

@Chip Cataldo did you see these?

Yes, I did. Couldn't be happier for him...the entire haul is a dream!

@F For Fake the hollow cheek Tusken won't be available for sale in the future, will he? I'm looking for one and would even be up for a trade if you're looking for comics or other toys.

Great great scores all around!

[F For Fake]

On 4/11/2024 at 10:14 AM, Chip Cataldo said:

Yes, I did. Couldn't be happier for him...the entire haul is a dream!

@F For Fake the hollow cheek Tusken won't be available for sale in the future, will he? I'm looking for one and would even be up for a trade if you're looking for comics or other toys.

Great great scores all around!

Thanks Chip. For the moment I'm sitting on the Star Wars stuff, but if I decide to let them go, I'll let you know.

[B2D327]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:21 AM, F For Fake said:

And finally, the Belles of the Ball, the Reasons for the Season, the guys I really wanted: Shogun Warriors!

These boys are all a bit grimy, need a good cleaning. These are for ME. I'll be getting some sticker sets for Daimos and Dragun, after I clean them up, maybe get some repro accessories as well.

The real find was Rodan. One of my long time Grails. Missing a back talon and one of the wing clips is busted, but he still displays nicely. Couldn't be much happier!

 

Great score! 

I remember getting the Rodan as a kid, dirt cheap from a clearance sale way back when but I can't for the life of me remember what happened to it.