December 28th, 2012 · 6 Comments

Walking Wookiee Down the Hall.

Walking Wookiee Down The Hall.
(Vintage Stormtroopers, Vintage Chewbacca)

Happy New Year to all the passionate followers of this blog. You know who you are. Messing around with all these wonderful toys is fun, but it’s your involvement and encouraging words that really make it worthwhile. So a profound ‘thanks for coming around’ is definitely in order. With your support I vow to keep at it ’til the wheels come off!

From the bottom of my heart: to all a happy, safe, and prosperous 2013. Cheers everyone!

Buying Notes on the Vintage Stormtrooper

Check out the current vintage Stormtrooper listings here.

The vintage Stormtrooper is among the most iconic of the vintage Kenner figures. The good news is they’re plentiful and you can pull a gorgeous, like-new one off the auction table for not much dough. Certainly no more than $15 delivered. But you’ve got to be a bit careful as you go.

First it’s common to see reproduction accessories. The vintage Stormie came with a beautiful little imperial blaster that helped him shoot up jawas and rebels alike. But small and fun often equals small and lost. Enter the repro accessory makers and with them a lot of confusion on how to keep things straight. How to tell? Thanks to the good guys over at Imperial Gunnery, this is a nut easily cracked. Check out their awesome guide first before you buy something your unsure of.

Second, take a good look at the photos to spot yellowing. The vintage figures molded in white plastic are the ones most prone to a change in color due to plastic degradation. Some are yellowing and some aren’t, just keep a keen eye on what the seller is showing you and ask for more or better photos if its unclear.

And lastly be sure to inquire on whether or not the figure has loose joints or not. Stormtroopers saw a lot of play in their day and the limbs became loose quickly. If this is important to you (it’s important to me) drop the seller a line through the eBay message system before bidding.

Feel free to add any thoughts in the comments and drop me a line if you run into any trouble!

Check out the current vintage Stormtrooper listings here.

j j j

October 24th, 2012 · 3 Comments

a.k.a. Little Big Gun.

aka Little Big Gun.
(Vintage AT-ST, Vintage Imperial Stormtroopers in Hoth Battle Gear)

The AT-ST. Is it heavy artillery or just a lightweight little bro to the AT-AT? Difficult to say!

j j j

July 25th, 2012 · 7 Comments

On Board for Anything.

On Board for Anything (Vintage AT-AT, Vintage Imperial Stormtroopers in Hoth Battle Gear)

The vintage AT-AT is so huge and so wonderful a toy, it would be impossible to capture its essence all in one photo. Better to capture details in the macro (like the personnel bay door on the AT-AT’s lee side shown above) and work up to something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. I think what I’m trying to say is this is the first in a series of vintage AT-AT shots. Enjoy!

j j j

July 17th, 2012 · 4 Comments

Power Droid.

Power Droid. (Vintage R5-D4, Vintage Stormtroopers, Vintage Power Droid)

Strange coincidence: it’s three years almost to the day since I last snapped a photo of the celebrated Power (or ‘Gonk’) Droid. Glad to see him back!

j j j

December 26th, 2011

Darth Vader.

Darth Vader. (Vintage Darth Vader, Vintage Stormtroopers, Vintage Death Squad Commanders)

Buying Notes on Vintage Darth Vader

Check out the current vintage Darth Vader listings here.

A nice vintage Darth Vader action figure is pretty much the alpha and omega of any collection. This is true for the beginner and advanced collector alike. A classic toy reaching back to 1978, the vintage Darth Vader has spun countless revisions and imitations but really has never been improved upon.

So I can’t blame you for thinking about picking one up. But because this item is so popular, it can be rough seas acquiring a good (and authentic) example for a reasonable price. Let’s go over some of the main points to consider before pulling the trigger on a vintage Darth Vader.

Once you’re on board at eBay the first thing you’ll notice is that the key words “Darth Vader” are used and abused ad nauseum to get your attention to buy other stuff. Don’t be discouraged and whatever you do don’t be distracted or tricked into buying something else. Your eyes will quickly learn to ignore all of the nonsense and aim strictly for the vintage gold. The links I’ve provided already do it to some extent, but you may also want to play around with the search engine’s advanced function on eBay to filter out the unhelpful stuff. Be especially aware of the new Hasbro toys labelled as “Vintage Collection”, “Original Trilogy”, etc. Their packaging is cleverly retro and aims to steer the newcomer off course.

Important to keep in mind with the vintage Darth Vader is that you’ve got two accessories to contend with: the vinyl cape and the light saber. Both were easily lost and/or damaged by their original owners so it’s common to see reproductions in the marketplace being passed off as original. There are excellent resources to read through at the Imperial Gunnery forum that will help you avoid pitfalls. Read them carefully. Go here for the light saber and here for the cape. This is also a good time to correlate a seller’s claims of authenticity with their feedback score. Have they sold a ton of toys? Do they score 100% with their buyers? If not, you can think twice about believing their claims. Don’t forget to double check the photos closely. Does the cape look torn anywhere? Do the arm-holes look distressed or sharp? How about that saber tip. Does it look straight and strong or does it like a toddler might have chomped on it for a snack once or twice?

As much as any other vintage figure, Darth Vader was a character that saw heavy play at the hands of us grubby kids in the 70s and 80s. If it’s not mentioned in the auction be sure to ask the seller in a message if the figure’s limbs and head are loose or stiff. Let the loose limbed Vaders go to the diorama builders. You want the guy that’s as close to package fresh as possible. The vintage Darth Vader had very little paint applied by Kenner so not much to worry about there. And chances are if you’re buying a figure with loose limbs there won’t be paint loss.

Feel free to add any thoughts in the comments and drop me a line if you run into any trouble!

Check out the current Darth Vader listings here.

j j j

September 10th, 2011 · 3 Comments

Deep Ties to the Empire.

Deep Ties to the Empire.
(Vintage TIE Fighters, Vintage TIE Fighter Pilots, Vintage Stormtroopers, Vintage Death Squad Commanders, Vintage Imperial Commanders, Vintage Bossk, Vintage Boba Fett)

The vintage TIE Fighter vehicle by Kenner is awfully sweet. The wings pop off in distress when you press secret buttons and another button lights up a chin gun and makes a cool laser sound to boot. I didn’t have one of these as a kid but was always deeply envious of my little buddies that did.

j j j

July 29th, 2011 · 1 Comment

Threepio.

Threepio. (Vintage C-3PO, Vintage Biker Scouts)

Just cleaning out some old directories and came across this outtake from a set-up I put together almost two years ago.

If memory serves me well, the Biker Scout was the only figure that I actually bought from the ROTJ line back in the summer of 1983. At the ripe age of 12 I was getting ‘too old’ for Star Wars toys. Obviously he was just too damn cool to resist.

j j j

June 3rd, 2011 · 4 Comments

The Dark Proceeds.

The Dark Proceeds. (Vintage Imperial Shuttle, Vintage Emperor, Vintage Emperor's Royal Guards, Vintage Stormtroopers)

This post marks a potential sea change in this blog.

See, about 9 months ago I was given an extraordinary camera for my 40th birthday. The Lumix DMC-LX5 captures our toddler’s every movement with piercing clarity and speed. But I’ve been reluctant to introduce it into these pages of action figure photography for fear that the results would be at odds with the existing body of work. The older camera with it’s inferior performance somehow seems the appropriate match for these ancient toys.

But lately I’ve been tempted to experiment and compare results. There’ve been tight races, but today for the first time I felt that the Lumix just couldn’t be denied. Mind you the old Panasonic came close. Really close. If you want to check out that image, you can have a peek right here.

What I like about the older Panasonic in this case is that it has a more narrow lens that shows exactly what’s in front of the camera, as it appears. That Imperial Shuttle really looks like the Imperial Shuttle. The Lumix on the other hand has a much wider lens, so imagery quickly becomes distorted, especially towards the edges of the frame. In this situation the shuttle has a distorted and dramatic perspective that unfortunately takes away it’s immediate toyness.

So what do you think? With me or against me?

j j j

December 7th, 2010 · 7 Comments