Vintage Star Wars 12" figures...Discuss.

[rche]

I have no idea why Kenner gave Boba Fett a "bionic" eye like the Six Million Dollar Man. Maybe they were going to have him as a bad guy for him?

Hiya jwy,

Well, Kenner had the bionic thing, and they had a character with a scope. You click the scope down and look through to find your target. Made sense to me.

For bounty hunting expeditions, we rigged up something with the backpack and some string to let Boba fly down from my cousins mezzanine. That was a great toy.

rche

[jds1911a1]

My Brother and I got Luke Han Vader and Bobafett in 78 and we still have them. Luke is missing he hook and his hair ahs some paint loss, han is complete with medal, fett I had to upgrade due to losing almost every part as a kid, vader is a body no cape or saber and was the least impressive of the 4 with the wide v legs so I had no desire to replace him

they have been played with proudly with our original life-like body talking gijoe commander (USE THE KUNG FU GRIP has since been repaired) and our hardy Boys and a pair of 82 Indiana Jones (which is the han solo with recolred hair and eyes in new clothes)

later they were proudly displayed with my 12" joes and action men

Later I got the 78 stormtrooper even less impressive than vader

the 90's ones (came out about 95) weren't much improved on the vintage ones as the joe body they were based on was a kenner design

[daffy213]

Fifth grade my school was having a yard/rummage sale and the students got to hit it first before it was open to the public that weekend. I bought Darth and a Jawa for like $1.00 or something. I know they weren't complete cuz I remember thinking that Jawa didn't have its cloak and Darth being without his saber (me thinks).

Anyway, I took these up to the classroom and started playing with them and what not. My teacher came up to me and asked me how much I bought them for, I told her and she in turn offered me $10.00, which being in fifth grade was a goldmine to me. Naturally, I quickly made the exchange. Years later yet years ago I saw Darth in some antique store going for like $100 or so.

Not my wisest choice. Oh how I've wondered what she did with them.

[VintageMike]

The only one I currently have is the Stormtrooper. I bought it off Ebay and don't remember why. At various times I had a Chewbacca, Luke & R2. I got the R2 at at a family get togther as a child and as far as things I've sold this is my #1 regret. Not due to any monetary value but nostalgia.
I was in my 20's and desperate for cash at the time but I regret it a ton now. I went back to the store a few years ago and was able to recover two 3 3/4 figures (I was able to identify them by paint/nail polish on the feet and other distinguising marks) but didn't even ask about the R2. There was really no way for me tell mine from another so I didn't the guy trying to to sell me whatver he had claiming it was the one I sold him.

[cjefferys]

Collectors of these figures really have to be careful of the affects of "melt", caused by two different types of material touching each other. IG-88 and Jawa's rubber bandoliers are vulnerable where they touch the plastic bodies (in some cases, right through the Jawa's cloak!) and Stormtrooper and Boba Fett's rubber hands where they attach to the plastic arm socket (I've seen some nasty looking chemical reactions occur). Just something to look for if you are shopping for these figures. Oh, and if you buy a Leia with undone hair, thinking that you can redo her hair back to it's original style, even if you have the plastic "donuts", forget it, you will never get it to look good as original. I've seen people try, but it just can't seem be done.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I just looked at Darth Maul again. It is Hasbro, and the body definitely has 1993 on the back. The head has no markings...they must have just been recyling stuff...



I sure love my Jar Jar :D

[ctc]

>I have no idea why Kenner gave Boba Fett a "bionic" eye like the Six Million Dollar Man.

The original Fett figure was gonna have a zillion special features: removable armour, working light, and I think there was word of the backpack firing the rocket. Most of it went by the wayside when they found out how much it'd cost, but I still wonder why Fett got the total treatment and nobody else did.

Don C.

[rche]

<<"I just looked at Darth Maul again. It is Hasbro, and the body definitely has 1993 on the back. The head has no markings...they must have just been recyling stuff...">>


The copyright dates on the bodies has nothing to do with the release date of the characters. Just like Mego.

Those bodies were from Hasbro for the Joe line which had a revamp in '93. The first batch of 'new' 12" figures was in 1997, I think, and were on the not very flexable rubber fashion type bodies made by Kenner. It wasn't until Hasbro bought Kenner out that the figures became fully articulated. If you can call the Joe body that.

[Brue]

where is a good gallery to view past and present star wars toys

i just went to sir steve's - it used to be a nice resource - now it is just discombabulated.

[rche]

where is a good gallery to view past and present star wars toys

i just went to sir steve's - it used to be a nice resource - now it is just discombabulated.

Hiya Brue;

Reblescum.com is good. Heavy emphasis on modern toys.
Jeditemplearchive.com Might be archives.com also pretty heavy with modern stuff
And Gus changed the name of his site, but I think you can still get there with a jump from toysrgus.com.

have a good time
rche

[rche]

I forgot

Landoslocker.com

[4NDR01D]

Collectors of these figures really have to be careful of the affects of "melt", caused by two different types of material touching each other. IG-88 and Jawa's rubber bandoliers are vulnerable where they touch the plastic bodies (in some cases, right through the Jawa's cloak!) and Stormtrooper and Boba Fett's rubber hands where they attach to the plastic arm socket (I've seen some nasty looking chemical reactions occur). Just something to look for if you are shopping for these figures. Oh, and if you buy a Leia with undone hair, thinking that you can redo her hair back to it's original style, even if you have the plastic "donuts", forget it, you will never get it to look good as original. I've seen people try, but it just can't seem be done.

Interesting that this would come up a day after moving some figures into my new Ikea "detolf's", as my Stormtroopers hand kept falling out of the socket. I thought it was a crude glue job an ebay seller never mentioned that had just escaped my notice. So, it's a plastic chemical reaction? anything one can do to prevent further erosion?

[dumbldor]

I have a MIB set, all original. I acquired most of them in one shot in 1995 and finished the set not long after that. I treasure these as much as any of my Megos. Unfortunately, Darth Vader's arms have fallen off since this photo was taken. Sorry about the partial obstruction:

[rche]

Unfortunately, Darth Vader's arms have fallen off

That was an undisclosed action feature.
He did that in the movies as well.


Seriously. Nice work there. It is a cool and concise collection with the SW 12s.

rche

[cjefferys]

Interesting that this would come up a day after moving some figures into my new Ikea "detolf's", as my Stormtroopers hand kept falling out of the socket. I thought it was a crude glue job an ebay seller never mentioned that had just escaped my notice. So, it's a plastic chemical reaction? anything one can do to prevent further erosion?

From what I've read, once the reaction starts, it's hard to stop it. To prevent it from happening to figures that are so far ok, there's the usual advice: avoid exposure to UV light, temperature extremes, humidity, etc. I don't know how much this helps, but it sure couldn't hurt. Sorry to hear about your Stormtrooper. I've been watching the hands on my Stormtrooper carefully, so far so good.

Unfortunately, Darth Vader's arms have fallen off since this photo was taken

Yeah, that's another common problem with the line, the rubber band holding Vader and Chewie's arms together inside the torso tends to rot. Luckily it's an easy fix.