3.75" Collecting Thread

[Khev]

Gotcha and with the dryer do you just do medium heat on the edges of the sticker or just blow heat on the entire sticker?

 

[jye4ever]

3.75" Collecting Thread

Gotcha and with the dryer do you just do medium heat on the edges of the sticker or just blow heat on the entire sticker?

Medium heat on just a part of the sticker almost impossible due to blow dryer spread.

The good thing is that the heat has a lot less to damage on the cardboard than it does on an action figure because of the paint discoloration or cracking that can occur on a figure but even then like everything else you still have to always be careful with heat or goo.

The sticker glue residue I?m referring to is that really thin annoying layer that can get left behind.

A tiny bit of pressure should remove it with goo.


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[dukefett]

I never thought about using a hair dryer. I found a figure with just the residue left, I must've tried to remove the sticker like a decade ago. I wanted to try and clear it up, I'll try the hair dryer first.

 

[DiFabio]

I got a few Boba Fetts last week. The figures are cool, but man, those retro stickers are so stupid and tacky. I hate the cards too. That whole distressing damage along the sides of the card are just ugly. The card backs are totally kitschy.

As a designer and a huge fan of the design work Kenner did back in the day, the cardbacks are pretty insulting. You have this obnoxious red and yellow sticker that hides the photo of the character. You have the fake distress on the cardback. You have trilingual languages and warnings all over the package. Zero work done on the back. They could have done something special since they have a second wave now, but they didn?t even bother. To top it off, the actual cardbacking is chintzy. My Bobas and Bespin Luke were minty fresh right out of the packing box and they were STILL warped. The cardstock might as well be paper.

It?s just really cheap looking and feeling presentation. It?s not just the retro and Vintage lines either. The whole black series line with those red and black boxes are just so ugly. The random typography running up the side panel, the lazy red and black theme (that hasn?t changed in 5 years), hell, you even got a recycling symbol smack dab in the middle in front of the figure?s coffin telling you that what you have in your hands is recyclable.

Hey Hasbro, if you?re gonna cut costs to save some pennies, how about knocking a couple bucks off your figures and vehicles? Might as well throw them in a plain *** cardboard box with a name and UPC stamped on it at this rate.

I open most of the Star Wars crap I get, but when it comes to the 40th Anniversary and Vintage throwback stuff, I usually keep em? MOC since I like the aesthetics. They make it harder every year. Hell, I have the 40th Anniversary Star Wars ANH 6? Han from 2017 and the new Bespin Han from this month and the cardbacks are night and day. 2017 40th logo is embossed on the upper left corrner on a harder cardstock. The 2020 Han has a cheap 40th logo sticker that?s crooked on a flimsy card back that?s going to get bent out of shape if I don?t get a case for it.

Then if compare these vintage cards/figures to back in 2004, 2006 and 2007 with their Vintage OTC, Saga and 30th lines, the vale has dropped tremendously. For 10 bucks you got a premium figure on a very nice cardback IN A PROTECTIVE clamshell. I didn?t even blink when I bought Luke, Han, Leia, Obi-Wan, Vader, Yoda, Lando, 3PO, Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, R2 and Chewbacca. THOSE were tastefully done.


2004




2006



2017



2020





Backs then,






Backs now,

 

[TaliBane]

How do the loose retro figures compare to the vintage original figures (other than date stamps obviously)? Are they the same size and quality?

Bit of a bummer that the main draw is the packaging and yet the pckaging is crappy quality. You'd think they would have gone all out on that package when it's 90% of the draw.

I mean they remade four of the classic Kenner figs back in the 1990s, so it's not like the remaking of the figs is new, other than them doing many more this time.

 

[DiFabio]

Fett is the same size as the original. It’s closer to the original than the mailaway Fett from 2011. That one was a little big. They’re nice. Wave 2 actually holds their weapons, unlike Wave 1.

 

[Matt S]

The new retro card backs are so crappy looking, I'm not even going to bother with them. I got wave 1 and the ones I enjoy, I opened. LOL. Rather Hasbro sold them in retro kenner baggies for $5.


As much as I want the Fett, already know I'm never going to find him at Walmart. And I have the retro one with rocket firing backpack Hasbro did as a mail-in ten years back or so. Now, that is a well done retro fett with nice card.

 

[ShootingtheGalaxy]

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

 

[DiFabio]

Love that shot. Especially the reflections on the troopers.

 

[TheDucky]

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

Good book and awesome shot.

 

[cerealkeller]

Hell yeah it is!



Awesome collection I need to pick up some goo gone. I tore a few of the SW cards trying to get the stupid stickers off and don't want to do that with ESB.

I know there is another product that does the same job without the smell. It doesn?t bother me and goes away quickly but just be aware there is something that is more expensive and is odorless.

For me, this is my collection and I don?t plan on selling so while I want them as mint as possible, I also would rather not have the Retro sticker on the front. I know why they do it, but man is it ugly.


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[Khev]

So the Targets in my area keeping stocking the new ESB 40th Waves (the 6 inchers) but NO Mandalorian TVC whatsoever... Does that mean those figs are already done??? Mando, Cara, Remnant Trooper? Nothing at all being shipped with the ESB waves? Seriously?

 

[TheDucky]

So the Targets in my area keeping stocking the new ESB 40th Waves (the 6 inchers) but NO Mandalorian TVC whatsoever... Does that mean those figs are already done??? Mando, Cara, Remnant Trooper? Nothing at all being shipped with the ESB waves? Seriously?

Hasbro distribution is awful. I think they are just really behind.

BBTS has Cara in stock, but no Mando, despite being in the same wave. I really have no idea what Hasbro does.

 

[Khev]

Effing Hasbro with their freaking figure reveals that never actually hit store shelves!!

 

[DiFabio]

I remember when Star Wars had almost a dedicated aisle at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, K-Mart, etc.

Now they have this tiny slither of a space or half an endcap. What’s there are mostly role playing lightsabers, Jannah, Yavin Luke (who is packed 2 per case in every assortment) and that forgettable Rise of Skywalker droid.

Every year just gets worse. I predict there won’t even be a retail presence in the future and everything will be preorder directly on these toy sites. Really surprised the license got renewed with Hasbro. Thought for sure Star Wars was going to go the way of 1985 POTF and disappear for a while.

 

[jye4ever]

3.75" Collecting Thread

I?ll never forget my TPM midnight toy hunt in 1999 lol


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[MaulFan]

Re: 3.75" Collecting Thread

I?ll never forget my TPM midnight toy hunt in 1999 lol


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I missed out on TPM and AOTC but made sure I got in on ROTS, I still remember it very vividly, I was one of the first 5 in line and I just rolled past the pegs like a cat almost just swatting one of everything into my cart. It was around $500 when I was done , then I went out for more at Target the next day because my TRU didn't have everything.

In hindsight, I wish I knew I wouldn't want a lot of those toys eventually so I wouldn't have bought them in the first place

 

[Bo Shrek]

Re: 3.75" Collecting Thread

I?ll never forget my TPM midnight toy hunt in 1999 lol


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I was there lining up at Zellers (miss you Zellers) to purchase most of the 3 3/4" star wars figures. The PT was a unique time for me because during the OT era I had to beg and plead (with tears) for a action figure when we went shopping. The PT era I was a young adult finished University and working a professional full time job. I could buy what the **** I wanted!! And I did.....and I did!!

 

[jye4ever]

3.75" Collecting Thread

I missed out on TPM and AOTC but made sure I got in on ROTS, I still remember it very vividly, I was one of the first 5 in line and I just rolled past the pegs like a cat almost just swatting one of everything into my cart. It was around $500 when I was done , then I went out for more at Target the next day because my TRU didn't have everything.

In hindsight, I wish I knew I wouldn't want a lot of those toys eventually so I wouldn't have bought them in the first place

It?s ok MF we have all done horrible things we regret lol

I own TOHO Godzilla movies nothing is more embarrassing than that though lol

I was there lining up at Zellers (miss you Zellers) to purchase most of the 3 3/4" star wars figures. The PT was a unique time for me because during the OT era I had to beg and plead (with tears) for a action figure when we went shopping. The PT era I was a young adult finished University and working a professional full time job. I could buy what the **** I wanted!! And I did.....and I did!!

Yup that memory of independence is what makes us continue buying well into our adulthood.


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[TheDucky]

I remember when Star Wars had almost a dedicated aisle at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, K-Mart, etc.

Now they have this tiny slither of a space or half an endcap. What’s there are mostly role playing lightsabers, Jannah, Yavin Luke (who is packed 2 per case in every assortment) and that forgettable Rise of Skywalker droid.

Every year just gets worse. I predict there won’t even be a retail presence in the future and everything will be preorder directly on these toy sites. Really surprised the license got renewed with Hasbro. Thought for sure Star Wars was going to go the way of 1985 POTF and disappear for a while.

2005-2012 was like a second golden age of Star Wars 3.75” collecting. One full aisle of figures, vehicles, lightsabers, Mighty Muggs, games, etc... Always stocked with stuff. I remember even freaking Kohl’s had an aisle! And I found a bunch of full waves of 30th TAC figures there.

Now my stores have like 1/3 of the aisle for Star Wars. No 3.75”. Just stupid masks and toy lightsabers, some of those animated styled figures, old black series figures from TROS that are still rotting.

I believe Hasbro has slowly started to make the move to have a lesser presence in retail via hasbro pulse, at least for Star Wars. I don’t think they will ever fully go and might move into more store exclusives, but they have everything new up for pre order on their own site, with premium memberships getting free shipping for the year.

It’s starting to feel like Star Wars is going to become like the GI Joe line, limited online only releases.