Toy Collector Terminology Thread

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Jiragozira14
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Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Jiragozira14 »

I felt this needed to exist, especially so that people can understand any of the terms that I may end up saying mean. This is obviously a WIP, since I'm not going to be able to get every term on my first run. If anybody else wants to submit terms, that'd be appreciated.

Now then, onto the list. These are listed by letter, and obviously the list is incomplete. Suggestions are OPEN, so feel free to add terms I may have missed! After all, this is supposed to be a thread compiling terms, so any term is welcome, so long as it relates to toy collecting. These are just a few hour's worth of terms, not even close to a full list.
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A:
Articulation: The moveable parts of a figure.
Accessory: Anything that isn't a part of the main figure, but can be used by it. Examples include weapons, tools or effect parts.
ABS: Shortform for the plastic type known as Acyrlonitrile Butadiene Styrene. Often called "hard plastic".
Age group: The demographic or demographics of which a toy is marketed towards.
AO: All-original. Used for toys that have all of the original accessories or parts.
Alt mode: Shortform for "alternate mode"; common among transforming toys.
Automorph: Term for transforming toys that automatically transform, either partially or completely.
Action feature: See "gimmick".
AA: Shortform for "AmiAmi".
AI: Shortform for "Anime Island".

B:
Ball joint: Joints which free 360 degree movement. Named after ball-and-socket joints. Mainly in the arms and legs of toys, but some toys have ball joints all over.
Blister packaging/Bubble packaging: A style of packaging where a figure and the accompanying accessories (should it have any) are held inside a transparent plastic shell which is attached to a cardback.
Brick: Originated due to the blocky shapes of most early Transformers toys, but modern use applies mostly to toys with extremely limited articulation. See "gimmickformer".
Blastification: A trend by Hasbro that has the word "blast" slapped onto names they no longer own, such as Shockblast.
BBTS: Shorthand term for Big Bad Toy Store, an online toy store.
Bootleg: An unlicensed reproduction of a figure. Accuracy, quality and paint vary between boots; some are excellent, others are quite bad.
Bandai: One of many companies to have produced tokusatsu merchandise. Currently hold the license in Japan for making Godzilla figures.
Bear Model: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.
Bullmark: One of the first companies to produce stylized tokusatsu merchandise.
Banpresto: A subsidiary of Bandai known for creating large-scale tokusatsu and kaiju statues that are dispensed in Japanese crane games.


C:
Card/Cardback: The cardboard backing in which a toy is sealed. Often discarded once the toy is opened.
Case: A shipping carton of toys sent to stores from the factory in which they are produced.
Case fresh: Toys sold directly out of the case.
Cello: See "Windowbox".
Collector-grade: The condition of which a collector desires a toy.
Complete: A figure sold with everything intact, mint in box or loose.
Custom: A figure that has been altered in paint, decals, deco, sculpting compounds, part reuse or is otherwise modified from it's original state by a non-official source. See Digibash. Retool is the equivalent from official sources.
CCP: A company that makes both high quality stylized and realistic figures in limited quantities, often with variants.
Candy toy: Refers to toys or models that are distributed with pieces of candy. Also known as keshogumi toys.

D:
Detachable: Parts of a toy that are intended for removal at some point.
Die-cast: A toy that uses metal content in place of plastic in certain areas.
Diorama: The adult version of playsets; a base of scenery where one displays figures.
Digibash: The act of digitally editing a toy to create another.

E:
Exclusive: A figure produced in limited numbers for certain occasions or toys only available at certain retailers.

F:
Feature: Extra actions given to a toy to enhance play value. See "gimmick".
FE: Shortform for "First Edition", used primarily for the initial production run for a toy.
Fresh Plastic: A term used to describe a plastic/vinyl figure that is straight off the production line. Generally shipped right to the buyer or found in B&M stores.
Factory Error: An unintentional error on a toy on the part of a manufacturer. Can range from mere paint errors to much more problematic issues, such as loose joints or molding errors. Serious cases can range from malformed parts that inhibit the toy's functions to actually missing parts.
Festival Exclusive: A more extreme form of theater exclusive figures, these are only found at one festival. Like theater-exclusives, they go for immense prices on the aftermarket and are usually highly-sought after.

G:
G1/G2: Shortforms applied to the first or second generations of a series.
Gimmick: A selling point for a figure; including high articulation count, action features or light and sound features.
Gimmickformer: A toy that is consumed by a gimmick, or a toy that is reliant on it's gimmick to function properly.
GPS: Shorthand for Gold Plastic Syndrome.
Gold Plastic Syndrome: A condition that usually affects toys made before 2006 where the toy's plastic is extremely brittle, to the point where the plastic will snap under even slight pressure. Infamous victims of GPS include the Generation 2 Electro toy, the Beast Machines Snarl toy and the Star Wars Transformers Millenium Falcon toy, among others. There is no absolutely known cure to GPS, though it's possible that hardware-grade lubricant might be a fix for this hideous ailment.
Grading: A system where toys are graded on condition and value.
Gang-molding: A practice in toy production where one plastic mold is used to make parts for multiple toys.
GID: Refers to glow-in-the-dark materials.
Gigabrain: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.
Gashapon: Essentially capsule toys that are dispensed from vending machines. Tend to be very small. See candy toy.

H:
HLJ: Shortform for Hobby Link Japan.
Header card: A card used to seal bagged figures. Figures with the card and bag are considered more expensive than ones without them.
High Grade: A series of highly-detailed minifigures, usually of high quality.

I:
Insert: Contents in a package that aren't part of the toy, such as sticker sheets, instruction booklets, catalogs, etc.
IA: Shortform for ImageAnime.

J:
Junker: A toy that is in very poor condition, usually missing pieces or are broken.

K:
Kitbash: The result of kitbashing, where a toy (such as the Jakks Pacific 24-inch Godzilla) is modified to get something that isn't available on the market, to improve existing toys or simply for the creative exercise.
Alternate definition: A toy that is made by modifying another toy, but using parts from many different toys in it's construction.
Knockoff: Unofficial reproductions of legitimate toys, usually with inferior plastic quality and often made in third-world countries. See bootleg.
Kibble: Parts of a transforming toy is obviously meant for one mode, but has nowhere to go on the other.
Keshogumi: See "Candy toy".

L:
L.E.D: Shortform for "Light-Emitting Diode". Commonly used for light-up effects in toys or electronics.
Line: The title given to certain groups of toys. See also "subline".
Loose: A figure that is not in the original packaging.

M:
M1: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.
MOC: Shortform for "mint on card".
MIB: Shortform for "mint in box".
MISB: Shortform for "mint in sealed box".
MOSC: Shortform for "mint on sealed card".
Middleman: Term for when a figure unavailable in your country is bought by another person offshores for you.
Marmit: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.
Marusan: One of the first companies to produce stylized tokusatsu merchandise.


N:
NRFP: "Never Removed from Package", often used as a synonym of "mint in sealed box" or "mint on sealed card".
New Figure Smell: The aroma of which a figure gives off when first aqquired; this varies between manufacturers.

O:

P:
Pegwarmer: See "shelfwarmer".
Pilot Ace: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.

Q:
QC: Shortform for "quality control".
Quality control: Refers to the testing phase of a toy's development, or the lack thereof.

R:
RC: Shortform for "radio-controlled".
Redeco/Repaint: A toy that is the same as another toy in everything but paint or deco. A synonymous term for animating or modeling is palette swap.
Remold/Retool: A toy that is made from the same parts as another toy, but has unique parts in it's construction.
Running change: A change in a figure that is made after inital product is shipped out, but before the toy leaves shelves. This can range from packaging changes to actual changes to the figure itself.
Refurbish: To touch up, repair or improve upon a figure.
Resin: A brittle material, usually used to create highly detailed figures and kits.
Reissue: A new production run of a toy that was formerly long gone from production. Often used as a commemorative run, but not always. There are a few different types of reissue.
Repackage: A toy that is simply placed in new packaging and nothing else.

S:
SD: Shortform for "super-deformed", a form of rendering a character that makes it seem cuter by squashing it to baby-like proportions. A similar term is "chibified".
Series: A subset of toys within a toyline which are often shipped out within the same timeline or box. Also called a "wave".
Shortpacking: The act of packing fewer of some toys than of others. Figures that end up being shortpacked tend to be more valuable, as there's less of them on the shelf at a given time.
Shelfwarmer: A toy that preforms poorly in sales, and ends up sitting on shelves for longer than other toys in it's wave, or it's whole toyline....and in the extreme cases, years after the rest of the line's product leaves shelves.
Shellformer: A transforming toy that is generally heavy on kibble. A excellent example of a shellformer is Beast Wars Neo Big Convoy and his redecos, though there are many others. The toys from the Japanese Beast Wars shows are notorious for doing this.
Scalper: A person who engages in scalping.
Scalping: The act of buying large amounts of a figure to artificially increase demand. Often, scalped toys are sold for high prices online.
SHMA: Shortform for "S.H MonsterArts", a Bandai brand of highly-articulated action figures of kaiju, which go from $60-$300.
Standard Scale: Used by Bandai collectors to refer to 8-inch figures. Can also be used to refer to the standardized scale of a line.
Slush molding: Method of sculpting that is usually used to create more stylized figures.
Subline: A line of figures within another line; as an example, the Transmetals group of figures is a subline of the main Beast Wars toyline.

T:
TRU: Shortform for "Toys R' Us".
Test shot: The photographs that are shown for products still in development. These are part of the quality control process; they allow manufacturers to spot potential issues, and also offer a glimpse of future product for the consumer.
Alternate definition: Early versions of a figure sent out by the company to reviewers, usually for a final number of QC fixes before mass release.
Top-heavy: A toy that, either due to a gimmick, proportional issues, kibble issues or mass disproportions, ends up being heavier above the waist than it is below the waist, which can lead to balance issues and can make a toy nearly impossible to stand without support. A common solution to this issue is to make the lower legs of the toy diecast metal, though this has become far less standard practice nowadays.
Tag: A piece of cardback that comes attached to figures sold on loose racks, instead of in boxes. Common in Japan for vinyl figures.
Theater exclusive: Figures that were only sold at theaters showing a movie. These are simply recasts of other molds in special colors, not new figures. Theater-exclusive figures also go for higher prices than the originals on the aftermarket.
Trendmastersing: The idea that strapping metal, muscles and lots of guns to something makes it "awesome". Named, of course, for the company Trendmasters. Many toys from the 1990's had this affect them.

U:
Universal joint: See "Ball joint".

V:
Vacuum-metalization: A process where plastic is vacuum-formed with silver and subsequently painted with a clear colour to add a shining effect.
Variant: A repaint or remold of an existing mold that is usually produced in limited quantaties to increase demand.
Vintage: Any toy that's over 10 years old. Vintage toys tend to go for more online than newer releases of the mold or newer figures in general.

W:
Wave: See "Series".
Window box: A box of which a toy is sold in that has an open section (or open sections), through which potential buyers can see the product inside.

X:
X-Plus: A company that produces highly detailed screen-accurate statues with very little or no articulation points. Often among the priciest of collectables, ranging from $80-$300.

Y:
YJ: Shortform for Yahoo! Japan.
Yellowing: A common occurance with older figures with white plastic, where said white plastic becomes a creamy yellow with age. There are solutions for the issue, but these generally require handling dangerous chemicals.
Yamanaya: A company that produces high quality, very stylized figures with frequent variants.
YMSF: A toy company that produces detailed figures of mixed quality.

Z:
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This is an open list that I think could be a great help for anybody on TK who wants to know collector terms but doesn't want to scour the Internet for them.
Last edited by Jiragozira14 on Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:53 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Kaijunator »

R: Reissue: When a figure is rereleased without any changes.
If you have digital copy codes for movies you want to give away, I'll gladly take them! :)
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It opens with Shinji, Asuka, and Rei walking along the lifeless, red earth. Suddenly the ground begins to shake.
Godzilla bursts from the ground, killing the 3 pilots. Godzilla will then battle his newest opponent...
parental issues.
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by All_Humans_Must_Die »

this should be a book or dictionary
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by JAGzilla »

This is a really good idea, and should definitely be stickied. A few possible additions:

Kitbash alternative definition: A toy that is cobbled together from parts of various other toys, and released as a new item.

Pegwarmer: See "Shelfwarmer".

BBTS: Big Bad Toy Store
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by All_Humans_Must_Die »

JAGzilla wrote:This is a really good idea, and should definitely be stickied. A few possible additions:

Kitbash alternative definition: A toy that is cobbled together from parts of various other toys, and released as a new item.

Pegwarmer: See "Shelfwarmer".

BBTS: Big Bad Toy Store
don't forget scalper
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Kaijunator »

HLJ: Hobby Link Japan
HS: Hobby Search
AA: AmiAmi
AI: Anime Island
IA: ImageAnime
YJ: Yahoo Japan
S.H. MonsterArts: A line of very articulated and accurate figures, around $60-80 in most cases.
NECA: A line of cheap (around $20 mostly) figures that are very accurate and sometimes very articulated, though they LOVE repaints.
X-Plus: A line of 100% accurate figures with little to no articulation and are around 8-18 inches tall. They are around $80-300.
If you have digital copy codes for movies you want to give away, I'll gladly take them! :)
Dillyziller wrote:Evangelion 4.0: This is (not) a joke

It opens with Shinji, Asuka, and Rei walking along the lifeless, red earth. Suddenly the ground begins to shake.
Godzilla bursts from the ground, killing the 3 pilots. Godzilla will then battle his newest opponent...
parental issues.
TitanoGoji16 wrote:"Do you think C-Rex and FeMUTO could make sweet love down by the fire and give birth to Gabara?"
Best song ever.
YouTube!

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by MandaSaurus »

Fresh Plastic: New stuff, just manufactured. Shipped directly to you, or found in a B&M store.

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by All_Humans_Must_Die »

New figure smell: a pungent aroma that occurs with the unboxing of a brand new figure, the scent varies with each manufacturer
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Panther10 »

Custom: When applications of paint, glue, decals, additional parts and or/part reuse or sculpting compounds have been modified or added by a member of the collector community and not the manufacturer itself.

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by MandaSaurus »

All_Humans_Must_Die wrote:New figure smell: a pungent aroma that occurs with the unboxing of a brand new figure, the scent varies with each manufacturer
And OVERexposure to said 'smell' could be considered huffing( see 'sniffing glue' for further info. ).

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by All_Humans_Must_Die »

MandaSaurus wrote:
All_Humans_Must_Die wrote:New figure smell: a pungent aroma that occurs with the unboxing of a brand new figure, the scent varies with each manufacturer
And OVERexposure to said 'smell' could be considered huffing( see 'sniffing glue' for further info. ).
*goes to TRU, buys an axehead and takes a big whiff* :dizzy:
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Jomei »

Ultra Act: no kaiju--the line
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

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Jomei wrote:Ultra Act: no kaiju--the line
Seriously? :eh:

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Starsteam »

Junker- Term used to describe toys that are broken and/or missing pieces, or are in terrible condition.

Refurbish- To touch up, repair, or to make improvement on.

Factory Error- Refers to a flaw or mis-assembly, unintentionally made by the manufacturer.

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Adeno »

Very nice and informative :) I remember the first time I asked some advice from people over at sideshowcollector's forum about my plan to buy different toy parts to make Don Vito Corleone, and I couldn't understand the "kitbash" and things they were saying lol :)

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Primevalgodzilla V2 »

Marmit- Japanese company that produces high quality stylized figures in limited quantity, usually with variants.
(Copy and paste for Gigabrain, M1, Pilot Ace, Bear Model and Yamanaya)
Marusan- One of the first companies to produce tokusatsu figures that are considered vintage today. It still produces stylized figures today.
(Copy for Bullmark)
Bandai- Company that produces the majority of Godzilla figures, and currently holds the license to produce Godzilla figures.
CCP- Company that produces high quality figures, both stylized and realistic in limited quantity, usually with variants.
Resin- Brittle material usually used to create highly detailed figures and kits.
Bootleg- Don't buy please
YHJ- Short for Yahoo Japan Auction
Mandarake- Japanese toy store that ships overseas
Popy- One of the first companies to produce tokusatsu figures that are considered vintage today.
(Copy and paste for Nitto)
Tag- A card attached to Bandai figures that is considered to significantly increase their value.
Vintage- Varies from collector to collector, but usually taken to mean the toys made before 1983 or the oldest Bandais and Yamakatsus. Vintage figures tend to fetch high prices.
Slush-molding- Method used in sculpting, usually used to create stylized figures
Standard Scale- Used to refer to 8 inch figures
Theatre Exclusive- A term used to refer to, well, theatre-exclusive Bandai figures that are usually made from translucent vinyl.
Header Card- A card on the top of bags of bagged figures (ie; Marmit, M1) that is considered to increase the value of the purchase
Festival Exclusive- What it says on the tin. Usually produced in very limited quantities. Examples of toy festivals include Superfest and Wonderfest
GID- Glow in the dark
Middleman- An intermediary trader that is useful in purchasing figures only sold overseas.
High Grade- Small figures usually of high quality
Gashapon- Small capsule figures dispensed from vending machines.
Banpresto- Crane toy company in Japan, best known in tokusatsu collecting for creating large Ultra figures.
Y-MSF- Toy company that produces detailed figures of questionable quality.
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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by mikenes »

I didn't see it, but I think PVC should be included in that list.

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Re: Toy Collector Terminology Thread

Post by Jomei »

Primevalgodzilla V2 wrote: Y-MSF- Toy company that produces detailed figures of questionable quality.
Image

I co-sign this motion. Frequent new sculpts that never see release. Worth mentioning the sculptor and the connection with Tempting Toys?

edit:

Trendmastering - the philosophy that more muscles and more guns strapped everywhere makes a design/toy better.

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XxHeiseifanxX wrote:Can we lower age limit! There are TOO MANY HEISEI HATERS!!!
miguelnuva wrote:Jomei is indebted to Shin. Shin killed him in 2015 and then revived him later.
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