Collecting SW figures in the '90s

[Batty]

Here's a good article about how nutty people went collecting SW figures in the 90s. Myself included.

https://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/10/the_10_most_embarrassingly_collectible_star_wars_t.php

 

[AngryEwok]

Kills me to see how much I've spent on this obsession, but I enjoyed it and so it was worth it.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I made all 10 mistakes.... and many more.

Remember the elusive Royal Guard when he first appeared?

Or the Darth Maul with black vest?

 

[devilof76]

Damn. You guys were nuts.

 

[barryo]

...........effin hasbro. had us jumping thru hoops they did. i am so glad those days are over & i moved on to server crashes on pre-order day. at least i get to sit in a comfy chair while sipping a tasty beverage when frustration hits.......

 

[Batty]

I never did find a half-circle Boba Fett, but I went crazy looking for one!

After collecting Hasbro figures for over 10 years, I finally sold most of them off. I held onto the the orange carded figures (for sentimental reasons) and the McQuarrie figures.

 

[MaulFan]

I made all 10 mistakes.... and many more.

Remember the elusive Royal Guard when he first appeared?

Or the Darth Maul with black vest?

I remember around here at least, the first Maul and the 12" Maul were impossible to find, I stumbled on a second 4" Maul and have kept it carded incase it was ever worth something.

I did at one time have a second, mint Lando thinking it'd be worth a bundle and got bit on that one. I just happened to get the tan vest Luke, but what's not mentioned too is his robe and his jumpsuit, at least on mine, are actually navy blue, and then the later re-release was all black.

 

[icruise]

Interesting stuff. I only started collecting Star Wars (after being a kid, that is) a few years ago, so I missed all of this.

 

[devilof76]

Me too. First new figures I bought were late in the AOTC line, and even then, I only got Yoda and the Bespin duel Luke & Vader.

I can see now why people get so jumpy when it comes to Sideshow.

 

[thenammagazine]

I still have all of these in storage. But I was never insanely OCD about them. The two that stand out are the half body sticker Obi vs. the rarer full body sticker Obi which I happened upon in TRU and the .00 Leia which I found by accident in Rite Aid after giving up on finding her. You can pretty much single-handedly blame ToyFare for all the hype.

 

[EVILFACE]

I got a few figures from that era, but not many. Just knew all that stuff would be good for nothing but a landfill.

 

[Batty]

I think a lot of people where hoping to get rich buying and selling the variants or "rare" figures.

Back in the mid to late '90s the only info you could get was from magazines like Wizard or ToyFare (I don't remember being on the internet back then). So when they listed these so-called rare figures, I had to have them. And this was before eBay became huge, so finding them wasn't that easy as it is today.

 

[MaulFan]

Thankfully, I've never collected with the intent of resale, so I never got caught up in too much of variations, and the rare stuff I only went by my own experience.

I actually got my original Lando and the Speeder Bike in 1996 direct from Kenner, my dad called them about how they were hard to find and he was able to buy them direct from Kenner. I remember when the second wave (Lando, Boba Fett) came out, my local TRUs had a 2 figures per person limit, I found 4 I was looking to get and I had to have my parents split up and pay for them separately to get them all.

I think one of the craziest experiences was the Spirit Obi-Wan promotion. I bought the Lays chips, mailed them in, my local comic shop got orders in months before I got mine through the promotion, really poorly handled, especially when the Kellogs Stormtrooper Han and Star Wars Fan Club Cantina Band figure mail aways were quite smooth. I think they poorly anticipated repsonse to the Obi-Wan or something.

 

[EVILFACE]

I think a lot of people where hoping to get rich buying and selling the variants or "rare" figures.

Back in the mid to late '90s the only info you could get was from magazines like Wizard or ToyFare (I don't remember being on the internet back then). So when they listed these so-called rare figures, I had to have them. And this was before eBay became huge, so finding them wasn't that easy as it is today.

I still have several issued of Lee Action Figure and Toy Review from that period. Nothing but action figure speculation and how much new figures were worth. It was good for pictures (of now inferior figures) but the price guide was a joke that was driven by dealer ads for their magazine.

The Toy Biz Marvel and X-Men figures were a joke as well. Worthless today.

 

[Batty]

I still have several issued of Lee Action Figure and Toy Review from that period. Nothing but action figure speculation and how much new figures were worth. It was good for pictures (of now inferior figures) but the price guide was a joke that was driven by dealer ads for their magazine.

The Toy Biz Marvel and X-Men figures were a joke as well. Worthless today.

I forgot about Lee's. Yeah, they listed crazy prices for figures, so if you actually found one, you thought you had something valuable.

I blame my wife for getting me to collect these figures to begin with. She bought me a Han Solo figure one day just because she knew what a big Star Wars fan I was. It was all downhill from there. At one point I almost bought a Theater Edition Luke figure at a toy show for $80!

 

[swim]

Why do I feel good that the prices crashed? I would get in line to get a few figures I wanted, and some crazy person would scoop up every Darth Maul. all I wanted is to have him on my desk. Like Maulfan resale is not the intent for buying. I'm with you..

 

[icruise]

Even though ebay has made it easy for anyone anywhere to be a scalper, I'm glad things aren't as bad as they apparently were back then. I can't conceive of anyone paying hundreds of dollars for a normal figure that was recently on store shelves.

 

[MaulFan]

I actually find it's calmer now than before eBay boomed.

When the 4 AOTC preview figures came out, scalpers were snagging all but the R2 unit or whatever it was called, and a few Zam's were left but Clones and Jangos were getting snagged big time.

I was young enough I didn't care, I was in line with my father when I picked up my Zam and I commented to him about the Jangos and Clones and in front of us in line this guy had snagged a boat load of them, he overheard and was kind enough to let me have one of the Jangos, but I was really jaded to that aspect of the hobby after that. It's one thing if you own a shop and place factory direct orders and charge more than other places, it still leaves the option for the shopper to hunt around for the best price, but when you can get something for retail but that option is ripped away because a few guys want to make a quick easy buck grabbing you by the balls, that's just lousy.

 

[jason2885]

I remember paying a like $40 for the Death Star Escape ToysRUs Exclusive Cinema Scene from someone at a flea market. I still cant believe I paid like 250% for that then but it was seemingly hard to find and I never found one at my TRU.

 

[Mad Old Lu]

I bought a few of the first wave of the POTF figures--the bodybuilder versions--and they're worthless now. I was thinking of getting rid of them but once I checked on ebay that you can't even GIVE these away, I just left them in storage. When they first came out, I remember thinking how terrible they looked that they had decided to pump them up on steriods, so I only got a select few. Honestly I can't even remember which ones I have. I'll have to check to see if ANY of them are worth anything.

After that I would just buy one here and there if I saw a good bargain.