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Post by pharmako on Jun 11, 2011 6:50:25 GMT -5
Here's the story of a super robot enthusiast who scored a MISB (a.ka. "factory sealed") in ebay last December. Yes sir! after having for quite sometime a Blue Gladiator (Beta robo) missing the inner torso part (only) and having failed on scoring on eBay others in better shape or even with the box... our hero finally scored at a $129.86 USD + shipping costs, oh yeah! After the Christmas rush and all the delays, one month after purchase, our hero get's his notification to go to the customs to pick up the price... Once after taxes are paid and so on, at the package handling counter, a nice plump lady handles the package and... rack, rack ... rack - What's that? is it my paranoia giving me super-sense abilities, or do I really hear rattling inside the box... - - NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! - Our hero opens the box to find that the blue gladiator case was placed at the very bottom of the box with only Styrofoam peanuts around it... - No bubble wrapping? no extra hard cardboard piece in front of the cello window..? - - What's that... the legs seem to be placed on different levels (comparing to picture in eBay listing)... - more to that... - Are those blue little pieces inside the box scattered ... NOOOOO!!!!! - Indeed our hero's dreadest fear - carried on for about a month -came true: an unexperienced seller (on the matter blue plastic and Bandai early 80's ... )
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Post by pharmako on Jun 11, 2011 6:54:29 GMT -5
After tearing off his clothes and plucking most of his hear off, our hero throws ashes to his eyes and cry to the god of collectors...
- Why did you abandoned me..? -
cries, cries, cries....
After putting himself together, our hero writes to the eBay seller showing the pictures of the defeated crushed gladiator...
Happily, after several (loads) of e-mails, seller is responsible and sensitive enough to refund 50% of the item price to our hero.
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Post by pharmako on Jun 11, 2011 6:57:34 GMT -5
... there was only one thing left to do... (do you hear the "Eye of the tiger" intro in the back) hands to work
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Post by pharmako on Jun 11, 2011 7:06:43 GMT -5
After super-gluing all the broken parts and letting them dry, using Tamiya cement for finishing / coating modeling kits joints and putting back together all repaired pieces... our hero recovered his peace of mind and mental health. Happy end. Click on thumbnail below for the slideshow.
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Post by pharmako on Jun 11, 2011 7:22:25 GMT -5
I know, I know, I'm not the only one who has gone through such an experience with a Matchbox Voltron II Blue Gladiator... I just thought I'll share it. I would like to thank bella91203 from the Voltron Alley at eBay (from whom I got my MISB Black Gladiator) who aid me with her expert advice on how to repair Voltron II gladiators (super glue over tamiya cement to glue the parts together). NB. for those of you which wonder who I bought the Beta robo from at eBay: thecollectorsonlinemarket However word be told (do run and tell if necessary that this seller is top rated with great feedback results and handled the case with professionalism. It's just that this seller didn't know about all the horror stories about broken Voltron II gladiators sent over the mail.
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Post by chachipower on Jun 11, 2011 20:46:25 GMT -5
oh the dreaded blue popy/bandai plastic...hmmm lets see, out of all the toys that I care for greatly, the only ones Ive managed to break, either by staring too hard or transforming are the following: - Vehicle Voltron
- SOC GX-28 Xabungle
- SOC GX-56 Tobikage & Bakuryu
What do they have in common? THEY ALL USE THAT HORRIBLE BLUE PLASTIC!!! Is it the metallic flake they use? or is it the blue pigment? I was just thinking... GX-59 Daltanious uses that blue plastic too. The ironic part is that my blue gladiator is 100% intact and HEAVILY played with. Was even shipped to me loose in a box. Go figure
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Post by TheMazingerZ on Jun 11, 2011 22:22:09 GMT -5
Word of advice (from experience): DO NOT squeeze the die-cast lower legs at all! Not soft, not hard, do NOT squeeze them legs!!!
}D
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Post by droutmaster on Jun 12, 2011 1:25:21 GMT -5
ouch, good thing you manage to fix it.
but has this been always a problem with Gladiator?
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Post by pharmako on Jun 12, 2011 4:37:43 GMT -5
ouch, good thing you manage to fix it. but has this been always a problem with Gladiator? It seems so, I've read other horror stories and read somewhere before about the blue plastic color been the cause, also through time and following eBay auctions, usually the blue gladiators available hand been repaired or are sold broken "as is" and also bella91203 from the Voltron Alley at eBay which only sells / buys all three Voltrons (she's an expert, the best) told me about having this issue of broken blue gladiators that where shipped to her, over and over, so she got out of the Voltron II trade and now only does Go Lion and Dairugger XV.
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