Getting all the vintage figures!

**JON9000** · 02-04-2005

I have recently decided to focus more on collecting vintage figures. Collecting the current figures has gotten kind of boring for me, I only get OT figures anymore and with prices going up,

. Not to mention there won't be much OT in 05.

And I think collecting vintage will be a lot of fun!

I have about 30 odd figures from my childhood, but only nine of them have weapons. The complete nine so far:

Dengar
Imperial Officer
Endor Rebel Commando
Sensor Scope R2
Greedo
Hammerhead
Zuckuss
Weequay

1. the first thing I want to do is purchase caches of vintage weapons I come across on ebay and complete the figures I already have. That seems cooler than just buying big lots of complete figures! Even though Bespin Han is looking pretty rough, I'll give him a new gun and take him any day over a C-10 one (whatever that means)! The other good part about getting weapons is that I can hopefully come here to SSG and sell any extras for a buck or two, or trade with people.

2. then I want to get the figures I had when I was a kid, but managed to misplace or destroy.

3. After that, I think I'll just start at the beginning and work from there!

Anyhoo, not that it makes for really interesting reading, but I will make this thread sort of a journal about my immortal quest for all the old figures!

**LusiferSam** · 02-05-2005

Sounds like a good plan of attack. Don't be afraid to buy figures of opportunity. And I tell you it took me longer to find all the my missing accessories than it did to find the rest of the figures (I started with 35 from childhood and had 8 complete). I don't know how you feel about repro accessories (I personally hate them), but if you want real ones you really need to do some hard core research and ask a lot of questions.

**JON9000** · 02-05-2005

I don't like repros either. I know it is going to be tough, and I can already tell certain accessories are going to be next to impossible to find separate and original, like capes and lightsabers. I have no capes for any of my figures.

**LusiferSam** · 02-05-2005

Capes aren't as hard to find as you might think (I even have a couple extra). Vinyl is normally pretty obvious. My take is most of the time people don't' try to pass off a repro cape as an original, unless we're talking about Jawas. The cloth ones I have no clue on. I'm real sure the stuff I've got is real, but not as sure as I'm about the weapons or vinyl capes.

Telescoping lightsabers were harder to come by, but I saw more of the other kind as repros. The drop test I find doesn't work real well with the sabers. Color and shape are good indicator for the telescopes. And size, color, shape and texture are all important of the regular type.

Real hard stuff to find are the POTF accessories. Lots of repros floating around and very few of the real thing.

**JON9000** · 02-05-2005

Originally Posted by LusiferSam

Capes aren't as hard to find as you might think (I even have a couple extra). Vinyl is normally pretty obvious. My take is most of the time people don't' try to pass off a repro cape as an original, unless we're talking about Jawas. The cloth ones I have no clue on. I'm real sure the stuff I've got is real, but not as sure as I'm about the weapons or vinyl capes.

Telescoping lightsabers were harder to come by, but I saw more of the other kind as repros. The drop test I find doesn't work real well with the sabers. Color and shape are good indicator for the telescopes. And size, color, shape and texture are all important of the regular type.

Real hard stuff to find are the POTF accessories. Lots of repros floating around and very few of the real thing.

Thanks for the advice. I am thinking about buying a leia bespin cape. I would guess no one would even bother, since it goes a step further and has actual printing on it!

**jjreason** · 02-06-2005

Nice project, Jon. I had 72 complete when I was a kid (inclusive up until the Leia-Endor line of ROTJ where I only had a couple) and sold them the summer before my marriage to raise money. I decided when VOTC came out that I wanted those 12 in nice shape to display with the new versions, so that's where I started. I'm not quite done that yet (still need Luke Tatooine and Stormtrooper), but have managed to grab a few extra figures with accessories along with way. I'm now back up to 20 figures, complete and in very nice shape. They're making me pretty happy, especially my Han Solo as it's the small headed version that my kid brother destroyed on me back in the day! My current goal is to finish off the first 21 figures (need Death Star Droid, R5D4 and Jawa to along with the ones mentioned above) and then decide if I want to get going on the 30 ESB figures or wait until the rush from ROTS is over. I think I'm edging towards waiting.

I've noticed pictures of a VERY nice display module for the first 20 figures floating around, a well-made base with some tatooine area blending into cantina area. I'd like to get one of those to display my babies, but I think it's valued at close to $100 Canadian. I'm wondering if that company is going to try and put something together for the ESB figures, that would be hard for me to pass up.

**JON9000** · 02-06-2005

Do you have a link to a picture of it? My quest was sort of inspired by a display I saw on Rebelscum of a lot of vintage figures.

Today a lot of auctions I was in ended. All I can say is that lot auctions of vintage weapons can pull a lot of money. I put in a $45 bid for a 42 weapon lot (which would have complete a lot of my loose figures) and lost. When it ended, the auction was up to $72!

But I did pick up a Cloud Car, complete ugnaught, Boba Fett, Dengar, Imperial Officer, and Bespin Luke with saber for $20 shipping included. I think this is a pretty good haul, considering complete Ugs look like they go for about $8 alone with shipping.

**evenflow** · 02-07-2005

It sounds like a good plan, but you may actually spend more money just trying to buy the weapns than buying complete figures. That has just been my experience. Good Luck

**jjreason** · 02-07-2005

Try this link, if it doesn't work it's likely a mal-formed URL problem. The name of the (UK) company is pridedisplays, so a search for them might dig it up also.

http://pridedisplays.com/indexx.htm

**JON9000** · 02-07-2005

Man, thirty quid is a lot of cash, especially when you add in even more for transatlantic shipping. I see alot of old Kenner 12 displays on ebay, but they go for a pretty good amount also.

And I am already finding out that white Leia's blaster and Hoth Han/Bespin Luke's blaster is difficult to come by as well. Oh well, that's what makes it fun!