For beginning collectors, visiting the various action figure blogs, forums, message boards and buy/sell/trade listings can seem a lot like stumbling into an ancient Egyptian crypt, its walls covered in hieroglyphs, with no way of translating many of the little bits of action figure terminology and the multitude of abbreviations pertaining to our hobby.
What do they mean by "MOC"? Why does everyone keep talking about "ROC" lately? What toy line is often labeled "POTF"? It can get a bit confusing for first-time forays into the world of online collector communities, so we thought it would be a fun idea to attempt a list of some of the most commonly seen terms and abbreviations found in the world of action figures.
We've chosen to break them up into categories as best as we could, and will ad more to this list as they become available.
Condition Terms & Abbreviations
- MOC: Mint on card
- MIB: Mint in box
- MIP: Mint in package
- NRFB/NRFP: Never removed from box/package
- M: Mint
- NM: Near mint
- VG: Very good
- G: Good
- F: Fair
- P: Poor
- HTF: Hard to find
- VHTF: Very hard to find
- Carded: Figure is still on original backing card.
- Boxed: Figure is still in original box.
- Loose: Figure is no longer in it's original box or card.
- Complete: Figure has all of its original accessories.
- Punched: The hole used to hang the card on a peg in stores has been knocked out.
- Unpunched: The hole used to hang the card on a peg in stores has not been knocked out.
- CNP: Complete with no package (usually the same as "Complete")
- AO: All original
- EX: Exclusive
- PRO: Prototype figure (often extremely rare)
- CON EX: Convention exclusive (could only be obtained at a special convention)
- FS: Factory sealed
- Shortpacked: Means that less of one particular figure was released than the other figures in that line.
- VAR: Variation
- Mail Away: Figure could only be obtained through a mail in offer from the toy's manufacturer or other promotion.
- LE: Limited Edition
Buy/Sell/Trade Terms & Abbreviations:
- FS: For Sale
- FT/TT: For Trade/To Trade
- WTB: Want to Buy
- WTT: Want to Trade
- NFS/NFT: Not for Sale/Not for Trade
Brands and Toy Lines Abbreviations:
- HAS: Hasbro
- MAT/Matty: Mattel
- KEN: Kenner
- TB: Toy Biz
- TRU: Toy R Us
- SW: Star Wars
- ANH: A New Hope
- ESB: Empire Strikes Back
- ROTJ: Return of the Jedi
- EP1: Episode 1
- ROTS: Revenge of the Sith
- CW: Clone Wars
- POTF: Power of the Force
- POTJ: Power of the Jedi
- SOTE: Shadows of the Empire
- JOE: G.I. Joe
- RAH: Real American Hero (G.I. Joe)
- ROC: Rise of Cobra (G.I. Joe)
- RES: Resolute (G.I. Joe)
- MOTU: Masters of the Universe
- MOTUC: Masters of the Universe Classics
- TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- BTAS: Batman the Animated Series
- LOB: Legends of Batman
- LOTDK: Legends of the Dark Knight (Batman)
- PR: Power Rangers
- SLU: Starting Line Up
- FF: Fantastic Four
- ML: Marvel Legends
- MU: Marvel Universe
- DCU: DC Universe
- DCUC: DC Universe Classics
With these terms and abbreviations, you can be sounding like a lifelong collector in no time, or at least understand what the other people are talking about, which could save a novice collector from an embarrassing situation or even a bad purchase or trade.
You will probably come across many other mysterious abbreviations as new ones are being created everyday, and once they catch on, the spread like wildfire, so keep your eyes peeled and you'll do just fine out there.