Welcome to the Holocaust Short Here. I will be joined today with the buddy of mine that you may remember from a couple shows that we've done with him before. His name is Paul and we have a very interesting yet brief topic that we'd like to go over today. Here he is, my buddy Paul. Hey Paul. So for those that don't know my friend Paul here, he is the graded loose wealth. He's the vintage figure king, graded and loose as that's what he is in my phone book, graded and loose figure king. That's what it says. Paul made me aware of something a month or two ago that I am finding very fascinating in how my searches on eBay have changed and how the specificity in the loose figure world and then therefore the graded figure world is now changing with a very popular figure Boba Fett. So Paul, tell the people what you shared with me not that long ago that you found out about the Taiwan Boba Fett. So the Taiwan Boba Fett is been very popular in the Star Wars community lately that it and discovered more common. I think there's been some avid collectors have known for a long time but it's just kind of exploded in the last maybe six months is that the Taiwan Boba Fett exclusively came with a V5 blaster unique to only Taiwan Fett. So what that means moving forward is that if you want an authentic Taiwan Boba Fett, I guess we'd consider that a variant, right Paul? Yeah. So the coloring in the paint is just slightly different on the Taiwan version but now the blaster is also slightly different and you can look up on the imperial gunry they have they have in fact let me pull this up here, let me share my screen. And here's what it says the V5 imperial blaster is very sharp details and is much more squared off than other versions. It can also have a small circle at the top of the magazine although examples have turned up without this. The imperial gunry can verify that the V5 blaster has been issued in Taiwan packaging and then they give two different kind of colors that they have seen. The dark gray black version is the most common of the two but neither are super common. Is that what you're finding out to be true? I know you're trying to find as many as you can. So the spru or the tree that these weapons were originally broken from there would be a blaster on each side and one on the, so let's say for example the left side would all have that little dot on the clip and then the right side none of them would. So it's like 50, 50, 50 so there's not really more value for the one with the dot versus not. Okay. But that's where the dot comes from. Because what you say? It was just the old. Okay, I got you. So Paul what are these blasters going for? First of all, how much is in good shape? What's a Taiwan Boba fat going for these days? Oh, so in good shape. I'd say you're going to be 100 plus. If it's mint, if it looks mint, I think people will pay upwards of 150. And then the V5 these days has been selling right around 100. They were going for a little bit more a couple months ago. Like 130 was what they were averaging recently that kind of come down a little bit. That's so we're talking like last 17 prices for a Taiwan Imperial blaster. Yep. That's that seed. Now that that was new to me when you told me that I was like, man, I never I never would have known. I have a baggy full of Imperial blasters that I went through and probably about 25 of them or so and none of them were the V5 version. So I've been looking to get one too just because I have a nice Taiwan Boba but I don't have the V5 blaster. So you're telling me that I'm going to spend anywhere from 90 to 120 bucks trying to find this blaster. Most likely, yeah, if you're just buying one advertised as a V5, that's going to be what you're looking at. So I know I just read with the Imperial gunry had to say about it. And I'm going to post a picture that you sent me. And if you wouldn't mind being just a little bit more clear about the difference between a commonly mistaken for version four blaster and a version five Taiwan blaster. Yeah. So you've got the V4 picture above. I think the most unique thing or the quickest thing to look for is the sharp angles. And so on the front of the blaster, you've got the squared off edge. And so that is in common with the V4. They both kind of have the squared off tip. So that's the starting point. You want to look for that squared off and not rounded on the front of the blaster. And from there to eliminate the V4, you're going to want to look at the angle of the handle. It's angled. And then there's a sharp edge where the handle transitions onto the blaster. It's more like a step. Okay. I think I've got a better picture to show for that. Yep. Okay. So the circle one is the V5. And you can see that right above the handle, that square piece that attaches the scope is a little bigger. Yeah. And that's that piece. Yes. Yeah. It is a little bigger that square. And then there's some other difference. The grip pattern is much bigger on the V5. You can see there it's nice to have it blown up. More like bigger diamond pattern. And then on the very back of the gun too, you can see like the butt. It's very flat on the bottom, where it's like before it kind of rounds up. They're all like that. They're all going to be flat and it angles down on the top, but keeps the flat on the bottom. Okay. Man, well, that's good to know, man. Yeah. So as you train your eyes, you'll find on eBay. Once you get really good, you'll see somebody that didn't post good pictures of a blaster. That's what the hammerhead or something. And that's where you can, that's where you can oftentimes score one for 20 bucks. That, that sounds like a good collector tip there, Paul. Okay. So for a mint, like I want to send it in to maybe get graded. Oh, well, that reminds me too. You mentioned something about AFA, maybe not accepting Taiwan boba's without the V5 now. I have a graded Taiwan boba that doesn't have the V5 with it. And you're saying that that might no longer be the case. They may not be doing that anymore. Well, so I was getting ready to send in a couple and I've seen tons of them graded with the V, even in the new case, I've seen them with the V4. But then I saw somebody on Facebook post a refusal report stating that they sent in the incorrect blaster and that the figure needed a V5. So then I reached out to AFA and Marcy responded and told me that due to the recent bound knowledge that Taiwan Fets only came with the V5 that they would be phasing out any other blasters. And so because the V4 is similar, they've still continued. Well, at least they were back six months ago. But according to her, they're phasing that out and only the V5 will be acceptable. So I didn't take a chance. I just sent all mine in with V5s. Wait, you said all of yours? How many do you send in? I got two back and I have one more coming. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's why you're the graded master. If you're on first name basis with the people, you know, I just called up Marcy and she just told me and and she said, yeah, Paul, we're not doing that anymore. Okay. All right. So I'm learning a whole lot. Thank you, Paul. This has been eye opening for me and I hope that the people that watch this share that information around so that they don't inadvertently send something in that's going to get kicked right back to them. They're going to have to pay money for something that didn't go through. That would be unfortunate. So thank you so much for sharing that with us and happy hunting in your V5 pursuits. You looking for more still? I think I've got all my Taiwan bets now have one. I think I have one extra because I'm always looking for clean bets. So who knows maybe that one's got your name on it. Yeah, maybe more somewhere. Yeah. All right, but well, again, thanks again and thanks for watching this Holo Chronicles short with our buddy Paul. Go play with the toys.