AFA / UKG Grading

Saw this online the other day and it kinda caught me by surprise lol I won't name the toy shop this figure is for sale at. And I don't want to seem like I'm attacking AFA cause I love their company, I have figures graded by them. I think they are the best around. But how did this get graded? It got an 85 NM+. All it would've took was a simple 2 minute search to know what Ratar-o's weapons are. Just curious what you guys opinions are on the subject? Has anyone seen anything similar to this from them? In some way it makes me lose a bit of confidence in AFA's grading/authentication processes.


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That is frightening. Anybody who knows the first thing about vintage Thundercats figures recognizes Mumm-ra's sword right away.

"dan07, post: 120320, member: 398" said:

That is frightening. Anybody who knows the first thing about vintage Thundercats figures recognizes Mumm-ra's sword right away.

Yeah it is crazy man haha I really couldn't believe they graded it like that. As I said before I love AFA and I think they are great. In their services they are suppose to grade and authenticate the pieces. It makes me question them a bit. But nobody's perfect so maybe it was just one that slipped by haha somebody was slacking on the job that day :D


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"machew1031, post: 120321, member: 25466" said:

Yeah it is crazy man haha I really couldn't believe they graded it like that. As I said before I love AFA and I think they are great. In their services they are suppose to grade and authenticate the pieces. It makes me question them a bit. But nobody's perfect so maybe it was just one that slipped by haha somebody was slacking on the job that day :D


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That's really bad, though! And that's a standard figure. It makes me question their grading on prototypes and pre-production pieces. If they can't authenticate a run-of-the-mill Rataro...yikes!

And I agree - I really like AFA. I have more than a dozen figures graded by them. They display great and they keep my MOC figures safe. I just don't like seeing huge mess ups like that :/

"dan07, post: 120322, member: 398" said:

That's really bad, though! And that's a standard figure. It makes me question their grading on prototypes and pre-production pieces. If they can't authenticate a run-of-the-mill Rataro...yikes!

And I agree - I really like AFA. I have more than a dozen figures graded by them. They display great and they keep my MOC figures safe. I just don't like seeing huge mess ups like that :/

Yeah my thoughts as well. I'm sure it was just a rare slip up(I hope lol) but it does make me wonder and have some doubt in the process unfortunately:/


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That is quite embarrassing. I have seen many AFA graded MOC ThunderCats with minor mistakes like mentioning the wrong company, not mentioning the BENELUX ones, wrong variant (Lion-O's hair color) etc. I also have noticed that in some MOCs they put all the details in their grade like: Company, Year, No. of figures featured on backing card, Any additional info (Mummy Mumm-Ra Offer), but in other MOCs it'll just be the name of the figure and the company only.

"Wilycub, post: 120325, member: 25043" said:

That is quite embarrassing. I have seen many AFA graded MOC ThunderCats with minor mistakes like mentioning the wrong company, not mentioning the BENELUX ones, wrong variant (Lion-O's hair color) etc. I also have noticed that in some MOCs they put all the details in their grade like: Company, Year, No. of figures featured on backing card, Any additional info (Mummy Mumm-Ra Offer), but in other MOCs it'll just be the name of the figure and the company only.

Yeah those are some inconsistencies that are strange. You'd think they have a database or something that would automatically know what to list the figure as. But when I saw the Rataro I was kinda startled lol


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"machew1031, post: 120334, member: 25466" said:

Yeah those are some inconsistencies that are strange. You'd think they have a database or something that would automatically know what to list the figure as. But when I saw the Rataro I was kinda startled lol


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I don't know about what AFA have done with the other toylines, but it seems very evident to me that their knowledge about the LJN ThunderCats toys is quite limited. I can't really blame them as AFA probably started some time in 2000 and there's not a lot of info on the net about the LJN line. Only fans and avid collectors have the full info on the toys. So it requires a good deal of researching, which I feel AFA didn't do in many cases, like the Ratar-O one you posted.

If you do a quick search on the net you will find that there are many people who have lots of complains against AFA and how bad an experience they had when they sent their toys for grading. Some say that they favor big dealers and grade their toys higher. Others claim that they usually damage/dirty their MOC cards. of course these are just things that I've heard. I cannot verify if they are true or not. :)

I've seen big mistakes in other toy lines - for example a buddy was showing me one of his graded 4-LOMs that says "47 back" on the AFA sticker. Now, I know zero about Star Wars, but I can count to 48 haha. That's a small mistake, but a telling example about easily preventable mistakes.

[USER=25043]@Wilycub[/USER] - I totally understand your point about AFA starting much later than the toy lines, but if their graders aren't experts in the toy line they're grading, they should be consulting with experts. Otherwise, they're just fancy acrylic case makers with sub-par knowledge. It's pretty much why PGX is way behind CGC and CBCS in the comic book grading world - they had a grading scandal in the early 2000s that they're never fully recovered from. A tarnished reputation can be devastating to a grading company.

"machew1031, post: 120314, member: 25466" said:

Saw this online the other day and it kinda caught me by surprise lol I won't name the toy shop this figure is for sale at. And I don't want to seem like I'm attacking AFA cause I love their company, I have figures graded by them. I think they are the best around. But how did this get graded? It got an 85 NM+. All it would've took was a simple 2 minute search to know what Ratar-o's weapons are. Just curious what you guys opinions are on the subject? Has anyone seen anything similar to this from them? In some way it makes me lose a bit of confidence in AFA's grading/authentication processes.

Hahahahahahahahaha! Thats fantastic!

I spotted this on eBay.co.uk, its a standard LJN Monkian and it got a UKG 80. But he's incomplete, right? Where's his helmet? They only grade loose figures when COMPLETE, right?

"thunderianroyalguard, post: 122465, member: 524" said:

I spotted this on eBay.co.uk, its a standard LJN Monkian and it got a UKG 80. But he's incomplete, right? Where's his helmet? They only grade loose figures when COMPLETE, right?

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. ;)

Saw this on eBay. Thing is, best I know, Childbro didnt release a Tygra with Wilykat so... this is yet another mistake.

Also, another weird mistake; the label on this Jaga says 21 BK [card back], but it should obviouly be 22 BK :cautious

"thunderianroyalguard, post: 122489, member: 524" said:

Also, another weird mistake; the label on this Jaga says 21 BK [card back], but it should obviouly be 22 BK :cautious

Maybe they decided that since Jaga is on the front, there was no need to include him in the back count as well. :biggrin

Just saw this on eBay; this badly sun damaged Lion-O get's a 70% - 70% for the figure and a 75% for paint!? Sorry, but thats insane!! Thoughts?

i think you're bang on the money and these graders are taking people for a ride.

That's a VERY generous rating considering the state of the figure. And is it just me or does that glove look like it's from the Orange hair Lion-O?

"Wilycub, post: 124476, member: 25043" said:

That's a VERY generous rating considering the state of the figure. And is it just me or does that glove look like it's from the Orange hair Lion-O?

Looks like the regular red version to me.