Star Wars Vintage Toys: An Exceptional Collectible Franchise

By Jared Conley

There are many opinions on the "coolest" collectible toy markets, but most objective collectors agree on vintage Hot Wheels, vintage Star Wars, vintage Pez, and vintage Transformers. Out of these, Star Wars vintage toys are arguably among the most valuable individually, though with the myriad Pez prototypes and variations available, Pez are likely more valuable in sum.

In the late seventies, Kenner produced the original line of twelve Star Wars toys, and this entire line is highly desirable to Star Wars enthusiasts, each netting more than two thousand dollars in great condition and in their original packaging. The most valuable vintage toy is argued to be Vlix, a short-lived character who was featured in a 1983 cartoon. Vlix runs well over $6,000 if in great condition.

Contributing to the valuation of these figures is the exclusivity of the license. For example, Kenner Canada, located in Ontario, held the license for Star Wars toys in Canada from 1977 until 1985, but only distributed about ten percent of the figures at that time. That, along with the fact that the Canadian lines were printed with bilingual packaging, adds a unique twist to those interested in the collectible value of Star Wars toys.

Another interesting collectible item available, but incredibly hard to come by, are figure prototypes. Prototypes and test products are very common in other markets, , but much rarer in the Star Wars market.

While many current Star Wars fans are young, and because there has been a glut of new licenses on the market, these newer figures will likely never attain the valuations that current vintage figures attained. For example, a recent release features Star Wars toys that morph from characters like Darth Vader into objects like the Death Star. These Transformers figures mashups are selling right now, but supply is also high, removing one of the valuation factors from the equation.

There are also other foreign releases, with the Japanese Star Wars toys being very unique, and therefore, very desirable and highly collectible. European toys are also popular and regularly confused with Canadian releases, due to their bilingual packaging. The easiest way to tell these releases apart is by viewing the address on the package, which will clearly indicate the country of origin.

With Star Wars toys, you have a rabid fan base, a killer movie franchise, and heavy demand for vintage figures. These factors combine to lead many professional collectors to believe that Star Wars vintage action figures will retain their valuations for the long haul.

So dig in your attic, uncover that old AT-AT Walker or Landspeeder, and see if you have a collectible on your hands!

About the Author:

Jared is an avid collector of Star Wars vintage toys, Pez, and Transformers. He has been obsessing over the Star Wars franchise ever since he received his first Landspeeder for Christmas nearly 30 years ago. He writes about his collections on his Star Wars and Transformers figures blogs.

Monsters In the Closet

By Fabian Toulouse

Peeking out of closets around the world, MONSTERS INC. hit theaters in 2001 to rave reviews and massive audience attendance. Co-produced by Pixar and Disney, the film went on to earn well over $524 million -- ranking it second only to "The Lion King" in terms of overall earnings. Furthermore, it went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song. Not too shabby for a couple of monsters.

The main power supplier of Monsteropolis (think Brooklyn in the 1930s) is Monsters Inc. The intrepid monsters employed at this power station clock in every day to power the city with the screams of human children. Remember those dreaded nights when you could saw something moving in the closet? Well, little did you know your screams would be powering a city of monsters. Had you reached out to fight them off you would have found out they are convinced one touch from a human is considered toxic. If they should ever touch a human, or any of their belongings, they have to endure a rigorous sanitation process.

As fate would have it, the highest rated monster at Monster Inc., Sulley (voiced by John Goodman), accidentally brings a human child back to Monsteropolis. Sulley, in a frightful panic, hides her with the help of his good buddy, Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal). They soon discover humans are not toxic after all -- in fact, making them laugh generates more power than a scream ever could. Sulley and Mike hatch a plan to disguise Boo as a monster to get her back home. The insidious monster Randall Boggs (voiced by Steve Buscemi) has devised a power extractor that can double the scream-based fuel systems.

Sulley smuggles Boo straight to the CEO of Monsters Inc., where he is roped into teaching the new recruits some basic scare tactics. Seeing his frightening display, Boo blows her cover by bursting into tears. Sulley soon discovers the CEO, working along with Randall, is behind the new scream extractor but not before Boo is taken from him. He and Mike are quickly exiled to the Himalayas, where they begin to search frantically for the portal that will get them back to Monsteropolis in time to save Boo. Can they get back to Boo in time? What will happen to the children of the world if the scream extractor works?

This spectacular film was the end result of the skill of the digital masters at Pixar. A good example is Sulley's fur. The animators managed to render over two million individual hairs to give him a completely realistic look. Pixar invented a proprietary program called RenderMan DSO (Dynamic Shared Object) that effectively distributed the hair on any given character and added depth to the renderings. The end effect is a magnificent film that never disappoints.

About the Author:

If you're interested in adding MONSTERS INC. to your Disney Movie Collection, make sure you buy from a reputable Disney vendor.