Has anyone ever destroyed a Toni figure?

Guys I have been thinking about this for awhile about these figures. My question is has anyone ever taken the final step and destroyed one of these figures?
I know a few would like to destroy Toni himself (in a nice way )
I have a lovely carded Han large head which I bought on e-bay around 4 years ago. I am not sure but I think I paid around £200 for it. The figure is also graded and I felt really happy at the time I finally got a carded Han.
I now realise while I was bidding on it you guys had probably spotted it as a Toni. And yes I was another victim of his scam. It's easy now to say people should research before buying but it caught alot of us.
I had absolutely no idea about this until I joined this forum.
The figure I bought came from England and from what I remember it stated it was a general mills. To me it was just a carded Han figure. There's no doubt people are still buying these unsuspectedly and have no idea.
Has anyone ever taken the final step and destroyed one of these figures or more?
The figure I have it means nothing to me now I don't even know if the figure itself came from someones loose mint collection that he bought from e-bay.
I do feel like selling it back on e-bay with full disclosure of what it is and looking for a original Han.
But then I am thinking am I just keeping the cycle of these figures going? I don't know? Whoever buys it could then sell it on again and rip someone else off.
Or should I care because I don't own it anymore?
What ever anyone does with there own figures is not my business because it's yours to do what you please. And I don't blame anyone not wanting to lose money on them. I am just curious to know has anyone smashed one of these up or thought about it? I am beginning to feel like putting a claw hammer though mine. But deep down I know I am losing £200 which is a hell of alot of money to me. Maybe I still don't really hate it enough to put it out of circulation.

Firstly I don't condone what Toni done, however the way I see it, the bubble, figure and card are all original, it is the fixation of bubble to card that's in question, to destroy a carded figure ( not moc) is still destroying a peice of history, and is no different than opening a beater or sealed figure.

I have 2, possibly 3 Toni carded figures, i know what they are and I will never sell them, they still give me great pleasure.

Rather than rip it open, why not Mark it in some way? Like writing TT on the back in permanent marker!

Anyway this is just my opinion.

I don't own a Toni but as Carl points out, however detrimental this has been to the vintage arena, it's has happened and is a part of the history of collecting ( all be it a negative one)
In no way can the Toni episode be condoned, for all of the reasons that have been raised over numerous posts.
However, intrinsically the component parts are vintage, but it's the way it was put to the vintage market that was the problem.
My personal opinion would be to keep, display but to mark in some way, you are therefore protecting the hobby moving forwards but not completely losing out. If it's something you can't live with then sell on with full disclosure JMHO
What's done is done, the way forward is to look at the positives as opposed to the negatives, you still have a vintage piece, that you were happy with, it has been tainted by the Toni scam, but only you as an individual can decide what's best for you.
As I've said these are just my opinions.

Carl Waterworth said:

Firstly I don't condone what Toni done, however the way I see it, the bubble, figure and card are all original, it is the fixation of bubble to card that's in question, to destroy a carded figure ( not moc) is still destroying a peice of history, and is no different than opening a beater or sealed figure.

I have 2, possibly 3 Toni carded figures, i know what they are and I will never sell them, they still give me great pleasure.

Rather than rip it open, why not Mark it in some way? Like writing TT on the back in permanent marker!

Anyway this is just my opinion.

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Yes I suppose that is true it's still a piece of history good or bad. Maybe your right that is a bit extreme smashing it up. The card and figure are still original, I am totally against the opening of any figures. I think maybe I felt the figure originally never came on that card if it makes any sense. Do you know if all the bubbles he used are from the factory stock? Or at any stage was a repro bubble used?

Michael Sith said:

I don't own a Toni but as Carl points out, however detrimental this has been to the vintage arena, it's has happened and is a part of the history of collecting ( all be it a negative one)
Therefore intrinsically the component parts are vintage, but it's the way it was put to the vintage market that was the problem.
My personal opinion would be to keep, display but to mark in some way, you are therefore protecting the hobby moving forwards but not completely losing out. If it's something you can't live with then sell on with full disclosure JMHO
What's done is done, the way forward is to look at the positives as opposed to the negatives.

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Yes Michael I think that's also an option display it as a part of the history of the collecting. I am sure alot of people do also collect these.
I wonder is there many Stateside or anywhere else in the world much?

My opinion of Tony's is they are reseals since they're all original parts and I wouldn't compare them to a beater.

I certainly would never destroy a reseal but if it was a bad job I might be tempted to improve it. I think in the long run the bubbles start to fall off from Tony's and when that happens they may be desirable again as reseals as all the parts will be minty.

Just leave it as is. The bubble will fall off given time.



Jason

As with any reseal I think its pretty much up to you what you do with it. But as others have said, destroying any component of the card is destroying vintage star wars.

Personally I feel they have a place in collecting and probably a decent value just because they are what they are. I wouldn't mind owning one for example, just as an interesting piece.

mr_palitoy said:

Just leave it as is. The bubble will fall off given time.



Jason

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Now THAT will be interesting to see.

stormcab said:

mr_palitoy said:

Just leave it as is. The bubble will fall off given time.



Jason

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Now THAT will be interesting to see.

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Yes it will it's great now knowing the bubble is more than likely to fall off over time also. I can just visualise it happening. I will have finally finished my Star Wars display room. A family member or mate will be having a look. Then they pick up my Han large head and the bubble and figure pops off! Then I'll just say don't worry about it those figures are ment to do that :lol: :lol:
It's at that stage I proceed to find out where that Cock knocker lives arrive at his door and kindly ask him to stick my bubble back on again with his sticky glue gun and iron because his product failed :lol: :lol:

mr_palitoy said:

Just leave it as is. The bubble will fall off given time.



Jason

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Is this definitely a Toni Jason? Or anyone else I just wanted to be 100% I have been looking at the bubble it doesn't seem to be sealed to edge? But no patteren on seal? What are the telltale signs on this figure? Is the bubble fake?

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You can say 100% with this one as toni used the right bubble. It looks like one though.

Cheers Jason

mr_palitoy said:

You can say 100% with this one as toni used the right bubble. It looks like one though.

Cheers Jason

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Ok thanks I wasn't sure at least I now know for certain.

If you have no love for it, I think you should sell it ( well described ) and get some of your cash back.

yoda said:

mr_palitoy said:

You can say 100% with this one as toni used the right bubble. It looks like one though.

Cheers Jason

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Ok thanks I wasn't sure at least I now know for certain.

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My bad, I tried to say 'you can't say....'

Jason

Can't understand why someone would want to destroy a toy Toni.
Its still essentially all real vintage items.

Sell it on described as a Toni.

mr_palitoy said:

yoda said:

mr_palitoy said:

You can say 100% with this one as toni used the right bubble. It looks like one though.

Cheers Jason

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Ok thanks I wasn't sure at least I now know for certain.

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My bad, I tried to say 'you can't say....'

Jason

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Wow that's good news at least It now puts a different light on this card .
Now you have told me this I have taken a closer look at the card. The bubble is sealed ok but not out to the outside edges of the seal. There are no press marks on the bubble or marks on the card. I can't see a pattern on the seal. The blaster is behind Han I can't see any tape holding it in place. The back of the card the bubble looks like it could have been pressed on but i am not sure. This has now made me curious if it is actually a Toni now. Has anyone else a card like this?
I am now going to see if I can find anything else that might help to identify this carded figure if it's a genuine factory product. Although Jason I know how experienced you are with these cards I doubt I'll find anything to help us.

tobedesu said:

Can't understand why someone would want to destroy a toy Toni.
Its still essentially all real vintage items.

Sell it on described as a Toni.

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Yes I now understand by reading the replys it wouldn't have been the most sensible thing for me to do.
I am glad now I asked the question though because it potentially prevented me from destroying it.
The reason I was considering it was because every now and again those Toni card topics keep popping up and I see people on e-bay buying them not knowing. I was feeling by destorying it i would be keeping it out of curculation and helping other potential buyers of vintage. I had looked at the whole thing wrong everything still is vintage Star Wars except the seal. So for me to destroy it would have been almost as bad as busting a moc which I am trying to preserve like others.
The way I look at it now to prevent anyone else potentially getting ripped off with my figure over time I will keep it. I can display it as still vintage Star Wars because that's what it is. It's a part of the history of these figures weather I like it or not and destroying it would have been wrong.
And also just on the topic of the card in question Jason has said it's still unclear it is a Toni. So that's good news so hopefully I will find out over time.
By finding this out it has made me realise that really would have been a stupid thing to do.

yoda said:

tobedesu said:

Can't understand why someone would want to destroy a toy Toni.
Its still essentially all real vintage items.

Sell it on described as a Toni.

Click to expand...

Yes I now understand by reading the replys it wouldn't have been the most sensible thing for me to do.
I am glad now I asked the question though because it potentially prevented me from destroying it.
The reason I was considering it was because every now and again those Toni card topics keep popping up and I see people on e-bay buying them not knowing. I was feeling by destorying it i would be keeping it out of curculation and helping other potential buyers of vintage. I had looked at the whole thing wrong everything still is vintage Star Wars except the seal. So for me to destroy it would have been almost as bad as busting a moc which I am trying to preserve like others.
The way I look at it now to prevent anyone else potentially getting ripped off with my figure over time I will keep it. I can display it as still vintage Star Wars because that's what it is. It's a part of the history of these figures weather I like it or not and destroying it would have been wrong.
And also just on the topic of the card in question Jason has said it's still unclear it is a Toni. So that's good news so hopefully I will find out over time.
By finding this out it has made me realise that really would have been a stupid thing to do.

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I think you took a wise decision. I own a Toni figure and just became aware of it by all the Toni topics on this forum. I bought it from some one in the Netherlands who had bought it in the nineties from A Space Oddity, a Dutch vintage toy shop in Amsterdam. Although the sealing of the bubble is sloppy I keep the carded figure. It displays well and that's the only purpose for me 8)