I posted this on my FB wall yesterday, late evening (early AM for you guys) after a FB friend shared these images wtih me privately, as well as a link to the Mercari listing for the Vader. To my surprise there were a total of 5 listings - one for a Vader, FX-7, Han Solo, VCJ and Chewbacca. I was truly dumbfounded by what I was seeing. A label, describing the original year and maker of something that had been remarked as reproduction, and for all we know, could have been made the day before they were sent in for grading. No way I can see a recard meriting a label, much less an "Archive" designation for these reasons.
Worse was the whole angle of monetizing something that most of us feel should be destroyed. Even more incredulous is that the very people who have been screaming from rooftops for years, writing blogs, posting banners against repro, are seemingly either turning a blind eye to this, or are suggesting CAS is some protector of the hobby now?
I will fade to the background after this post, but I just wanted to provide context on what I consider a very bad idea. Furthermore, as I had posted this on my FB wall with the intention of sharing this only with "friends", I was approched by a long-time collector, a person I respect and consider one of the hobby's pillars and stewards, asking me to post it publicly. Against my better judgement not to be involved in any hobby drama, I did out of respect for this individual. Despite the attempts to deligitimize what I shared as something akin to having an axe to grind with one or more of the CAS partners, and/or CAS themselves, I want to make it clear I only decided to post it publcly because I was asked to by someone I respect, and in an attempt to create awareness around what I think is one of the worst hobby ideas ever. I'll leave it to the communities such as yours to decide what is best here.