Pokémon Trading Figure Game - Unreleased figures

[Archaic]

In the past few months, figures have been popping up on e-bay and other locations from the cancelled TFG. While a list for the Groundbreakers set exists due to the Walmart release of the Skydive starter set, a good number of these figures popping up, including both Pokémon and trainers, do not appear on the set list what was included in that starter set.

I have recently been able to acquire through a local grey-market source (who refused to reveal their own source) 7 figures apparently from an unknown set, along with a Pikachu labeled as a promo (promo 08, to be specific). When I purchased them, the seller implied they were meant to be part of the Groundbreakers set, however these ones are not on that list, and could only be part of a planned subsequent set to that, if in fact they are legitimate figures.

That is really the big question, to which I have no answer. Looking at the bases of the figures themselves, I believe they are most likely legitimate, though there are some interesting things which I find difficult to explain with the last published rules of the game. In particular, the existence of gold zones on the dial which appear to be intended as priority moves (Quick Attack and Extremespeed being two of the ones on the figures I have), which doesn't entirely make a lot of sense with how battles were handled in the TFG, with no HP.

As to the figures themselves....I'm very cautious about this. It's hard to tell if some of these figures simply failed quality control (which would be one reason for possibly ending up on the grey market), or if they're actual bootlegs. My own figures from the Next Quest set are packed away at present, so I can't compare the materials, but a few of these figures appear to have been constructed out of different kinds of materials to those used before, sometimes in the same figure. A few of the figure poses look very familiar as well, to the point where I wonder if the figure is a direct lift from another model. The detail remains very high though, so even if they did copy from another earlier model, it doesn't discount the possibility these are legitimate leaked figures.

I'll have photos as soon as I figure out which box my camera is in, or if I can figure out how to get my webcam on the laptop to take photos. The majority of these figures I have are identical to those in this ebay auction. I'm missing Entei and Bayleaf from that, but I have Suicune and Tropius instead. The Pikachu there is the one that's the promo.

 

[Politoed666]

This is interesting...

There's been a lot of speculation regarding the legitimacy of figures like this, as there is really no way to tell whether they are truly rare and unreleased, or simply well-made knockoffs. Personally, I believe they are real, as they lack any discernable inconsistency or flaw, this not being the case with any counterfeit Pokémon product I've seen.

Additionally, I highly doubt that a counterfeit product would introduce an entirely new game mechanic (priority moves), as that would be too great a risk that these figures would be instantly exposed as counterfeit.

I'd say you have some nice stuff on your hands.

 

[Archaic]

I'm just wishing I could get my hands on the Erika and Sabrina figures I know are out there. Both of them would again have to be part of this unreleased and unannounced set, since neither appeared on the Groundbreakers set list.

 

[OrsonZedd]

Okay, so here's my theory on this, having recently purchased some unreleased figures.

TPC commissions the third set, Promos 4-8, and Groundbreakers.

TPC ultimately decides not to release Groundbreakers. Most of the Groundbreakers figures are destroyed or sealed away. This is probably why you can't find any of them on the internet, or their stats.

The company who made the figures are stuck with a lot of figures from the third set and Promos 4-8 that they can't reuse, and instead decide to sell them themselves on the internet.