Happy 20th Anniversary Star Wars POTF2.

[Hedji]

I remember how excited I was when Shadows of the Empire came out. It was like a new movie before TPM.
There was a novel, and even a soundtrack.

Best thing about Shadows was the Topps cards set. 100 fully painted cards by the Brothers Hildebrandt. They were bursting with color and style.

The soundtrack by Joel McNeely... meh.

[Werewolf]

I remember all of the variation madness from the line.

When the short sabers were released I upgraded to those. But that was the extent of my interest in variations. I had zero interest in hunting down green cards over orange or every little typo and barcode change.

[enyawd72]

I remember how excited I was when Shadows of the Empire came out. It was like a new movie before TPM.
There was a novel, and even a soundtrack.

[jwyblejr]

I remember all of the variation madness from the line.

[dumbldor]

There was scalping and hoarding from the onset.

[Werewolf]

The POTF era also had great toy commercials. Like this one narrated by Mark Hamill.

[Werewolf]

I bought one of each and opened everything. I was never of the mindset that the toys would ever be worth anything. I was just enjoying having new SW toys to collect and I don't regret a bit of it. The vehicles are still amazing.

I did get frustrated by how heavily scalped the figures became as the line progressed. Like, people were hoarding Princess Leia as Jabba's Prisoner by the case. It was ridiculous.

I did get burned out for a bit by the Phantom Menace glut of 99. It's kinda weird to think PM nearly killed SW at retail twice now.

[huedell]

I remember seeing them in stores, never bought any though, I thankfully stayed away from all the hype and scalping on what are now basically worthless toys.

It wasn't "the hype & scalping" that got me back then---it was the nostalgia of being able to buy Star Wars figures new in the store again. I stopped collecting the toys in 1999 because... I guess... Phantom Menace rubbed me the wrong way...

And, now that the 6-inch scale Black Series is out, and now that I even got into the Kenner-style jumbos by Gentle Giant, I can actually thank the Phantom Menace's release for stopping me from collecting about 12 more years of toys that I would've seen as "worthless"---not "worthless" in the marketplace (altho that may be a coincidental truism), but "worthless" to me, just as a collector.

As, with the 6-inch scale Black Series thriving the way it is, I am more than happy to finally abandon the 4-inch scale for the more striking, exciting (IMHO) 6-inch scale---and with the 12-inch GG's and all the great Kenner vintage stuff still available on Ebay, my thirst for that vintage nostalgia can still be quenched too.

That said, POTF2 and modern action figure SW collecting in the 4-inch scale was integral to my SW fandom at one point (from 1995-1999), and sometimes I find it ironic that the sculpts of the characters got so much better from the 1990's into the 2000's up til now, yet the only figures I purchased in a 12 year span might've been limited to Jango Fett, Obi-Wan (to display with Fett), and Yarna.

Cheers to POTF2!

[cjefferys]

20 years?? Just what I need, yet another reason to feel old. I remember seeing them in stores, never bought any though, I thankfully stayed away from all the hype and scalping on what are now basically worthless toys.

[Nostalgiabuff]

yeah, it was great having SW figures on shelves again and trying to track them down. I remember I used to hit the toys stores on Tuesdays on my way home from work because that was when the shelves were restocked, at least at Caldors, LOL, how is that for a blast from the past? I got rid of most of that stuff, mostly to my son when he was little, but I still have all of the original red carded figures, including the grossly oversized light sabers

[huedell]

re: This thread. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

[Hedji]

Anyone feeling nostalgic my want to check my 12" figure For Sale thread . /Shameless plug

[acrovader]

I remember all the scalpers that were in full force back then. You could almost never find these on the store shelves.

[ovenmitt]

Hard to believe it's been 20 years! I was excited, too but letdown by muscular Luke and monkey face bow-legged Leia! The rest were ok. Vader and Chewbacca were a little too muscular and Han was preposed. Thing got better. POTF2 figures were also $5 eack a lot for 3.75" figure in 1995! That's why 1999 Episode 1 figures did not sell for $7 with the Comtech chips!

Smaller Star Wars figures have never looked like the actors, a problem SW Black 6" figures are having! Sideshow and Hot Toys 12" SW are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!

Now Hasbro 3.75" SW are $10 each and Black 6" $20! How much will Episode 7 figures cost?

[Earth 2 Chris]

Wow, if that don't make you feel old, nothing will!!!

Chris