Survival kit Chris wrote:Means nothing , the damage is done .
Yeap, you beat me to it.
I'm not actively buying any more but the sheer number of MOC's that have been destoryed over the last few years as people chase U grades, or send in "beaters" to get a U grade and double the price they can sell for, is staggering. I would say a tangible percentage of the MOC's around before U grading came along have now been destroyed. Those can never be replaced. Never.
I do accept some would have been opened by people or destroyed by mishaps/lost in the post etc. but AFA have been responsible for a huge increase in the destruction.
When I started collecting way back when, MOC's were fairly common on eBay. If you wanted to collect a set and weren't too fussy on condition you could probably have done it without too much effort. The numbers available now are a fraction of that.
Partly it's people moving away from eBay, but mainly it's because so many of those MOC's were destroyed so people could get a few extra quid. AFA are entirely to blame for facilitaing the greed.
And them no longer U grading won't stop people sending in MOC's. If AFA refuse to open them, people will just open them and send the figure in themselves. AFA have open the tin of worms. There's nothing can be done to repair the damage.