International Spotlight – Identifying International Figures

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From the desk of Cobra Mortal:

“Ok Elite, this time on the “International Spotlight with Mortal” we are not going to talk about an exclusive figure or even a group of figures, I want to talk about Identifying and authenticating international figures.

Let me start off by saying the Ebay seller, The Black Major, offers some great affordable reproduction figures as well as other custom figures and Joe related items. I have bought from and traded with him on many occasions and plan to keep doing so, but a few of his figures have caused some confusion so I think this is a good starting point.The Majors Invasors and de Acos have been used by scammers to fool people unfamiliar or new to collecting foreign figures. So with that said here’s some ways to prevent getting ripped off.

#1 Research: Do your homework, know what you are looking for, check around for info, pricing, and images. You can talk to friends, look on collector sites/pages, and check out completed listings on Ebay. Ok let’s stop right there, I’m not saying to buy from Ebay just check prices, you will get a better from another collector and may even have trade options.

#2 Look for Distinguishing Features: A lot of international figures have no maker mark or date stamps so you will also have to look at Logos (location, placement and style), color, paint application, how the figure is constructed, and even the rivets. All of this will tell you where the figure is from and if it’s legit or not. Keep in mind that just because a figure has the Estrela makers mark doesn’t mean it’s from Brazil; it could be from Argentina or Mexico as well. International figures have variants and errors as well so look at the figure closely and check all the tells.

#3 Too Good to Be True: Yup that’s right if it’s too good to be true it probably is. If someone offers you a Cobra Moral for $80 it’s not the real deal, it’s most likely the US version from Joe Con or a custom and not the highly sought after Argentinian Plastirama Mortal.

Here are some examples of those distinguishing features with some notes, hope this helps you guys out in your conquests.”

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