Brian, run away, far away.
Unlike almost everyone else, I have (had) precisely zero attachment to vintage figures. I saw the original movie a ton of times in the theater (remember the good, old days with no video and when a cool movie stayed in the theater for a year?), was on a date with a really hot girl for ESB (little attention paid to the movie) and then missed ROTJ in theaters
I was 13 when the original came out and just basically getting out of toys and into sports (aside from hockey. eh.) and girls. And drinking (well, that was about a year or two later) so I never owned any of the figures at all. Honestly, I have no memory of the figures even being in stores or Sears catalogues or anything like that. Weird, ain't it?
You can trace pretty much my entire vintage experience in the forum here. Going from ground zero with no knowledge at all (thanks for the patience guys) to being very close to finished. Not much missing, but I am, in most respects, inherently cheap. Seeing a vintage figure go for cheap and missing it burns me deeply. Romba is a case in point. I've seen them go for under $15 so that's what I want to pay. Naturally, while I've been hunting them (Romba figs) the price has gone ridiculously high, IMO. I managed to miss one tonight of course, that ended right around that price point
Of course that inherently cheap comment doesn't always apply as is evidenced in the collector's challenge thread.
But I have watched vintage auctions for over a year now, so I do have a good idea what is or is not a good price. Plus Dale has been very helpful, pointing out auctions for me and even giving up the blue snag he won (variant feet??).
There's only a couple of figures I want to upgrade and I'm spending more time watching auctions now for the variant figures like brown haired Luke, turtleneck Leia, etc. I'll fill those in as I can. Here's where I think I am with respect to what I still need:
Klaatu Skiff and force pike
Jawa blaster pistol
Leia laser pistol
Yoda cane (brown snake version)
Death Star Droid - tight limbs, is this possible?
vinyl cape Jawa
Romba - have weapon, so without is fine, but need hood or just the hood would be fine
Ugnaught with blue apron
Luke Jedi with blue saber
Brown Hair Luke Skywalker
Brown Hair Luke Bespin complete
Han Solo small head
I could also use a mint Luke X-wing, an upgrade to my Han Hoth and big head Han Solo. So pretty darn close to done. Just over a year I think to get there. Had a huge advantage in that I was selling off the vintage toys of my youth that have paid for all of the vintage figures.
One thing I appreciate a lot more now is the comment I often see about neutral poses, pretty much a hallmark of the vintage figures. They display so well and in an orderly fashion. Just the figure as it is. I've learned to really, really like the vintage figures, something I didn't really like when I started. I found the sculpts to be poor in comparison to modern stuff, but that is pretty much a reflection of the technology of the time. Some of the pieces are extremely well done and I am slowly learning to prefer a great many of these to their modern counterparts.
I wish I had kept exact track of every auction I've won and what I've paid for the items. I can think of a few and some of the links are still active. Not all were cheap by any stroke of the imagination. And winning lots is a pain in a lot of respects, mostly because I now have to resell a lot of stuff
I am looking forward to recouping some money though, to say the least.
I've even got the three legged R2, windup R2, blue Snag, Rebo band (well, two or three actually
, but only one complete) and Jabba with Salacious Crumb. Pretty darn cool.
I'd be pleased to answer any questions you have, this has been a tremendous learning experience.
