I have seen an article here before that was related on Toy Collection figure and I myself was not just an ordinary manga reader, anime lover but also, I am collector myself so let’s find out things related on toy community so that you can have an idea if you decide to be a collector or you want to join in toy community. Before entering into some party or group or association of course you need to know or learn about the simple things about them so I will share some basic knowledge on collecting toy action figure.
When you are just a beginner and starting to collect of course you don’t know the difference between the fake and original right? Well, you are on the right track so let’s start on terminologies used in toy community. Let’s start with figure condition, in toy community we declared the item as MISB, MIB, BIB, LOOSE, so what does this for abbreviations means? Let’s find out.
1. MISB (MINT IN SEALED WITH BOX)
- It means that the item was still sealed in box minting from outside to the inside, items were also brand new and a lot of collector’s preferred on this condition because it completely sealed and new.
2. MIB (MINT IN BOX)
- This condition was also the same as MISB but the only difference was the mint on the outside was open sometimes because for checking in customs, or for checking of seller to know if the item was authentic or not, the plastic on the figure was still not opened thus the action figure itself was new.
3. BIB (BACK IN BOX)
- From the word itself the figure was opened, displayed, checked or anything that the owner though, since it was back in box the prize of this figure was lessened and the seller need to declare if it has a issue specifically for selective buyer and collector. Some BIB figure increase it’s value because the figure was either rare or limited figure.
4. LOOSE
- If you don’t have enough budget better start collecting loose figure, the figure was less cheaper, NO Box, What you see is what you get as it is simplified term by collector. Though a lot of loose figure has many issues still you can find good figure from different seller in toy community
Now you have basic knowledge on the condition on figure, now you need to find whether the figure you bought or the one you will buy in the future was authentic or not. Here’s the thing you need to know before getting a figure.
First knowledge to know if it’s authentic or not was the markings on the figure itself, a lot of authentic figure had a marking on the different parts of the figure and also not just the markings was the only proof if its authentic you will know that the figure was authentic, by details, texture, and paint jobs. One more specific proof of authenticity was the sticker from the manufacturer of figure itself like Banpresto figures they have sticker on the upper box that indicates it is authentic, known stickers was the sticker of TOEI that you can see in the figures. The fake or class A were called BL (BOOTLEG) and KO (KNOCKOFF). The difference between the 2 although both were fake, knockoff was had a higher quality than BL because almost the details from authentic were copied by knock off while bootleg has a lot of errors, ugly face, not so well paint jobs, broken peg or parts and more.
The things I have said were just a basic knowledge to know when you decide collecting an anime action figure or other figure such as marvel or transformer. All I can say that this hobby was an expensive hobby if you cannot cope and able to invest on it well you better stop but it’s still up to you as long as you are happy in collecting that’s what matters. I began collecting figures two years ago but I can say that my collection was not that many but soon if I took more time and investment on it for sure there will be more collection to come.
This is just my perspective, if you are a collector what can you say about this? Or if you just heard this for the first time will you begin collecting? Feel free to say your opinion on it, thank you for your time.
