Vintage Collectibles Thread

[The Boot]

Seems like both Luke and Leia are pricier than the other early figures. I guess it's harder to find white ones or something.

Yuuuup. There's the yellowing factor, Luke's more-often-than-not broken saber tip, Leia's prone-to-tearing cape and her tiny lil' blaster. Not to mention trying to avoid all of the repro accessory land mines that are out there. Those two are nothing but trouble, hence the $30 a pop price tag.

Gotta have 'em though. Gotta have 'em.

 

[Pixelpiper]

There seems to only be repro and very damaged cardbacks on ebay. I didn't notice any where someone had been nice enough to cut the bubble without damaging the card.

Even a set of repro 12 is going for upwards of $90. Ouch.

My Luke and Vader both have broken tip - I'm not really concerned about that at the moment though.

 

[jimjimmyjones85]

Recently picked up a set of 6 Mego Eagle Force figure like these:

But waiting for delivery - will post pics in-hand when I get them.

And most of the parts for the GI Joe Adventure Team Smoke Jumper I'm piecing together. Still need the Land Adventurer body though.

Jesus, I had all of these when I Was a kid !

 

[karamazov80]

I had some of those little metal MEGO guys back in the day. They were all wearing gold outfits I think.

 

[Pixelpiper]

I had some of those little metal MEGO guys back in the day. They were all wearing gold outfits I think.

Much of the collection was in gold. And Mego > Gi Joe.

 

[DPrime]

Seems like both Luke and Leia are pricier than the other early figures. I guess it's harder to find white ones or something.

Yuuuup. There's the yellowing factor, Luke's more-often-than-not broken saber tip, Leia's prone-to-tearing cape and her tiny lil' blaster. Not to mention trying to avoid all of the repro accessory land mines that are out there. Those two are nothing but trouble, hence the $30 a pop price tag.

Gotta have 'em though. Gotta have 'em.

Well, yeah.

And they're two of the three main characters of the whole series.

 

[karamazov80]

Mego > Gi Joe.

 

[Furious1]

So much awesome in this thread.

 

[DPrime]

Much of the collection was in gold. And Mego > Gi Joe.

Mego shmego.

 

[Pixelpiper]

My favorite Joe series is the Action Team from the 70's. Awesome toys, awesome accessories.

Here's another Mego treat. 12" Incredible Hulk from 1978. This one is new in box as I think my brother must have eaten the one I actually got for Christmas in 1978.

 

[sladesuperagent]

As much as a Joe fan hates to admit it, those Mego Eagle Force figures pre-dated GI Joe by about a year and had the whole concept of specialized characters in one line set before the first Grunt hit the shelves. I mean, they had the prototypical sexy female (Scarlett), a black doctor (Doc), a judo master (Quick Kick), a cowboy named Wild Bill (Wild Bill), an evil ninja (Storm Shadow), and a leader based off a bird (Hawk)! There's no way around it, GI Joe was a highly successful knock off. Probably helps too that Mego folded a few years later.

 

[karamazov80]

Some of the ideas may have been there, but you can't discount the real distinction that the Joes gave us in terms of having a balance of articulation and good looks that I don't think any major line previous had. Most figures in those days had the kind of limited articulation of the MEGO guys or Super Powers/Secret Wars. The earliest Joes allowed great posability, and they only got better with the swivel arm innovation. And probably more important, the Joes had unparalleled success in the way Hasbro handled the marketing--selling toys through cartoons and comics!

 

[Pixelpiper]

You're giving credit to the wrong people. Hasbro ran the business and they did the 12" line, but the small Joes and the concept of GI Joe as an organization was all Marvel. If it weren't for Marvel you'd never have seen the new line/concept of GI Joe.

And of course Kenner was the pioneer of the small articulated action figure. But the bottom line is that action figures of this type really owe a huge debt to the comic companies like DC and Marvel.

 

[karamazov80]

I didn't say it was all Hasbro, though I don't know who was technically responsible for what. In any case, Marvel may have wanted it, but unless they bankrolled the whole thing and had their execs on Hasbro's board of directors then Hasbro had to choose to implement it and then they had to make it work, so they deserve credit for that. I'm sure they were approached by other ideas from other companies constantly, in in that case they chose a winner. But sure, Kenner did small figures, MEGO did small army figures, it's just that GI Joe took all that and did it much better. And for that reason, they succeeded like few other toy lines ever have despite not being associated with one of the most popular movies ever made.

 

[sladesuperagent]

And of course Kenner was the pioneer of the small articulated action figure.

Actually, that is incorrect. The Fisher-Price Adventure People line was the first to incorporate multiple vehicles and figures in the same line at the 3 3/4" scale. They hit in 1975, early bird was 1977.

https://www.plaidstallions.com/3inch.html

Yes, the whole product surge of GI Joe was what set them apart, which led to so many other properties following suit. Having branding that was well known since the 60's probably helped too, but I definitely think someone was taking notes on the Eagle Force line--down to their specific weapons and military specialty.

And we can thank Mego for the O-ring design too--that came from Bill Lemon's design of the Buck Rogers and Black Hole figures.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Damn, I don't know how I could forget Adventure People, probably my favorite action figure line of all time. While the Little People started my fascination, it was the Adventure People that really captured it.

I just snapped this a minute ago:

 

[Darth Waller]

^^ I seem to remember having a couple figures in that line. Maybe divers or something.

 

[sladesuperagent]

It was a great line--the space ships were very rad for a company known for pre-school toys and the racecars were also pretty badass.

 

[Pixelpiper]

These are the Adventure People divers (Sea Explorers) that I also have. This isn't my photo as mine are still packed - I'm also still missing the tow rope and dolphin.

Does anyone remember this?

It was my favorite non-action figure toy for a long time as a kid. Amazingly it was also educational.

 

[Darth Waller]

Round two!