Glossary

There are a lot of acronyms and other odd terms thrown about in toy collecting circles. I try to avoid using anything that isn't really obvious as to its meaning on the blog but just in case, here, in no particular order, are a few of them...

MOC - Mint On Card. A toy that is still on its cardback.
MOSC - Mint On Sealed Card. A toy that is still sealed on its cardback. MOC are also usually sealed, but sometimes cheeky monkeys will insist otherwise.
MIB - Mint In Box. A toy that is mint in its box.
MISB - Mint In Sealed Box. Unlike MOC/MOSC (surely when a toy has come away from the cardback it can't be reglued?) I can actually see situations where the bit of tape has been cut on a sealed box, the toy removed to be looked at, and then toy returned to the box.
TRU - Toys R Us. It's a shop, dontcha know. They sell toys.
Articulation - Places on an action figure which can be moved. Eg joints at arms, legs, etc. The more articulation the more ways you can pose your figure, however articulation joints are weak points and may be loose, resulting in falling or limbs not staying in position.
Pop - Things that stand out. E.g. brightly coloured sections on a toy will 'pop' when placed against darker ones, or a figure in a different colour scheme or design may 'pop' when displayed against the others in a toy line. I hate this term - it's overly used, sounds silly and results in people thinking it's a good idea to put Stinkor's arms on the wrong way.
Logistics - Reasons that can't/won't be explained any further, no matter how much you ask. E.g. 'We can't do what you ask due to logistics.'
Complete - the toy has all it's original parts and accessories. Beware 'complete with' does not necessarily mean '100% complete with all parts'.
Loose - the toy doesn't have any of its original packaging, or if it does the toy is not in it.
Re-paint - a toy which is exactly the same as another toy, except it is a different colour.
Re-mould - a toy which is almost exactly the same as another toy, but has a limited number of different parts, e.g. a new head. It's arguable whether most of the Masters of the Universe toys are re-moulds of each other as a lot of different characters are made from the same pool of parts.
Vintage - old, or the original version.
KO - Knock off. A (usually inferior) copy of an existing toy from a large toy company produced as cheaply as possible. It may be as good as the original, but often the plastic is very cheap and parts don't fit together very well. These are often sold (at high prices) by unscrupulous dealers pretending they're the originals .
Variant - A variation of a toy in a line (possibly a repaint or remould), produced in fewer numbers to increase collectability.
Wave - a set of toys in a line that are released in shops at once.
Sniper - Someone on ebay who leaves bidding until the last second to prevent other people outbidding them.
Scalper - Someone who buys up toys (usually rarer variants) in bulk in a shop and immediately sticks them on ebay to sell for a profit. The arch enemy of a toy collector.
Killin' teh lien! - When a toy company does something that, in the opinion of fans, is going to result in that toyline ending.