Collecting SW figures in the '90s

[Darth Madden]

I didn't make all 10 mistakes but I am sad to say I participated in a few of those. Man we were weird back then.

 

[karamazov80]

I've never been a hardcore Star Wars geek (though I always loved the movies), but I had the toys as a young kid (early 80s) and picked up most of the early figure released in this line. I am no MOC collector, but I do still have one of those Boba Fetts with the half circles on his hands at my parents' house

I don't even know how I knew that this was supposedly rare as a kid. Probably something said at the comic shop.

I think one of the craziest experiences was the Spirit Obi-Wan promotion.

I'm surprised this one wasn't included on that list. I think that I had two of these, and two of the Solo troopers or whatever that were also mail-aways

Here is a great article on the Spirit of Obi-Wan:

https://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0883/

 

[galactiboy]

I remember when I first heard they were releasing new SW figures... I was very excited. At that point I wasn't a collector... but the groundwork was being laid moving me from having a bunch of old toys I didn't want to get rid of to eventually spending time with all you ^^^^ers

But, the first time I saw images of the figures (in Star Wars Insider/or maybe it was still LFL Fanclub) I thought they looked like crap. I was seriously disappointed by the odd marriage of He-Man and SW so I passed. And aside from buying the reveal Vader I completely stayed out of Hasbro figures in the 90's.

Although I now do have a carded buff Luke (with long lightsaber) as an homage to the craptastic nature of those early figures.

I do remember reading a letter from a collector though who was complaining that he had paid some obscene amount for a Leia figure (believing it was a rare variant) bought "off the truck" from an employee; later to find them clogging shelves all around him

 

[ProgMatinee]

adam pawlus is a name i haven't heard for a long time.

i never paid more than retail for any of those figures, but I have to admit stressing out about finding them all. it took a long time to find monkey face leia...

eventually i donated my entire 3 3/4" unopened collection to toys for tots.

 

[karamazov80]

I actually liked the style at the time. Compared to most other action figures at the time (excluding the Batman: the Animated Series figures, of course) I thought these figures were pretty nice looking.

Those Toy Biz Marvel figures at the time. . .

 

[pixletwin]

The only Star Wars related merchandise I bought in the 90's was the Kenner reveal Vader and Palpatine.

 

[galactiboy]

Oops... I lied a bit.

I forgot that after the SE was released I bought the Ronto and Jawa figure. And I did buy a few Ep1 figures at the end of the 90's

I have to say though, if the early figures hadn't been so buff and stupid looking... and had been more in line with the later releases (like the Luke below) I probably would have been hooked. But by the time the better looking figures had come out I was already too disenfranchised by the series to care.

1998 Luke

 

[morbidaj]

It was fun to be on the hunt back then.. I never paid over retail for any of my figures.. except for the first release c-3p0. It was hard to find in canada that fall of 1995.. and rumors back then swirled that the brass used on the figure was made with lead.. so it was recalled. holy crap were we stupid.

ah I should have finished reading the article, he made the list!

 

[MaulFan]

I didn't care much about the the buffness of the figures at first because they were all much better painted, accessorized and sculpted compared to the ones of the 80's. I was 12 when the line started up again, I remember the first time I saw new figures were coming out, it was in the Christmas catalog of a local store, it had the Falcon, Luke, Han, Vader and Leia pictured, I was beyond excited. I tore out the page and looked at it daily until I finally had those figures. For awhile, I only had the Obi-Wan, I found him first, it took awhile to find anything else. I remember Vader was one of the most exciting, while very off in accurracy, the helmet on him was so much more like the movie than the vintage Vader I was ecstatic, and with him the buffness worked a little bit. It kinda worked out that as I came to collect the figures more than buy them as toys, they improved, I was the perfect age to evolve with the line and have the offerings of the time always feel right. Hell, even the very kid-oriented AOTC early figures were neat to me and I was a college freshman when those came out, the only dissappointmen there was the fact that Obi-Wan, Padme and Anakin were all undersized to the rest of the line for some reason.

 

[choopie]

Fun article! That's a trip down memory lane. I can recall people waiting in long lines at Target to fight over just a handful of the Wampa figures. I remember alot of what's on the list, but really only got caught up in the hype of packaging numbers, stickers and colored cards. It carried over into Episode I when I finally came to my senses. I got rid of everything and I haven't bought Star Wars figures since.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Fun article! That's a trip down memory lane. I can recall people waiting in long lines at Target to fight over just a handful of the Wampa figures. I remember alot of what's on the list, but really only got caught up in the hype of packaging numbers, stickers and colored cards. It carried over into Episode I when I finally came to my senses. I got rid of everything and I haven't bought Star Wars figures since.

Episode 1 definitely ended the insanity.

The insanity of deliberate variants and never-ending reissues killed it for most collectors at that point.

 

[galactiboy]

I think part of it too was that as these figures churned along I realized I'd rather have the vintage figures... so I directed my energies there. Still need 10 or so figures, but the simple (by comparison) figures of the late 70's and early 80's are my bread and butter

 

[ProgMatinee]

what killed it for me was really the knowledge that it was an endless chase of figures...each new release being a better version of the last. I would have been happy spending the $8 to get the ultimate version of a character, but it almost seemed like they intentially did something subpar so that the next version would still be attractive to a buyer.

 

[Wor-Gar]

what killed it for me was really the knowledge that it was an endless chase of figures...each new release being a better version of the last. I would have been happy spending the $8 to get the ultimate version of a character, but it almost seemed like they intentially did something subpar so that the next version would still be attractive to a buyer.

I believe LFL still does this deliberately. Everything from incorrect Vader helmet to poor transfer of the original cut trilogy on DVD... so there can always be something better down the road to BUY.

There's an actual term for this if anyone knows it. Something like "built-in obsolescence" or something...

 

[icruise]

I'm sure that kind of thing happens, although I'm not convinced that they would purposely use an incorrect helmet or something similar just to get people to buy a later version. There will always be ways to improve on these figures as technology improves. What is the "ultimate" now will not be the ultimate for long.

 

[Coorectghosting]

My opened Monkey-Faced Leia just deteriorated by itself after being in storage.

 

[theghostinside]

if anyone has any original power of the force figures in the package they want to unload i wouldnt mind having some again. i know thats crazy but i have some memories of tracking them down. i got rid of mine a couple years ago thinking i would never want them again. oooops

 

[FLOSI]

The Incontinent Wampa

I can still remember skipping a morning class to go stand in front of Toys R Us and run to the Star Wars isle with a whole army of dorks doing the same... Buying multiples of figures I don't even want anymore.... Ah, the good ol' days.

 

[FLOSI]

if anyone has any original power of the force figures in the package they want to unload i wouldnt mind having some again. i know thats crazy but i have some memories of tracking them down. i got rid of mine a couple years ago thinking i would never want them again. oooops

If I get mine out of staorage anytime soon I'm sure I can spare a set of the first releases.

 

[prefused]

good article. although i've never cared about how rare a figure is. and i'm glad that i have a good education and a real job so i don't have to prey on people and profit off of "rare" toys. but, when i was collecting, i had to have EVERY character. and up to a point a few years ago... i did. i've since gotten rid of them and grew out of that "gotta catch 'em all!" phase. and i don't miss those damn things at all now.