The Rock Bottom Gang. (Vintage Ree-Yees, Vintage Amanaman, Vintage Squid Head)
Essentially a man-sized leech featuring flaccid skin and absurdly-long atrophied arms, the Amanaman creature from Return of the Jedi is a double dog dare in the grotesque. Did I mention his knobby staff decorated with the skulls of his hapless victims? Yeah, well there’s that too. As you can see the vintage action figure in Amanaman’s name adds a nice touch, finishing the weirdness off with a devilish grin.
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time you already know that the Ree-Yees and Squid Head action figures are perennial favorites. As far as the vintage line of Star Wars toys goes, these two beauties came along at the high-water mark period. Demand was still peaking for Star Wars goodies at this point in 1983 and Kenner clearly sought to keep their end of the bargain, designing toys that offered greater detail and newer features than their predecessors.
But sadly nothing good lasts forever. The Kenner line of Star Wars action figures would be dead (or at least relegated to the 59-cent bin) within 18 months.
Buying Notes for Vintage Amanaman
Check out the current vintage Amanaman listings here.
Hunting down the vintage Amanaman is pretty straight forward affair. It’s just a figure and a staff, and one can predict with almost 100% certainty that any existing example that turns up on eBay will be in virtually mint condition. It’s true. Neither the figure itself or his staff were actually played with by anyone, ever. The downside is of course that as a member of the ‘Last 17′ crowd, he can be a bit pricey. Be patient. With a little luck and some determination you should be able to snag one for about 50 bucks.
Now there is one twist: Amanaman was originally packaged with a coin by Kenner. If that’s important to you it may add another $25 your total to make it happen. My advice would be to start with just the figure and add the coin later. If you’re unfamiliar with the Power of the Force coins try buying a more common and inexpensive one first. If you find it’s something to your liking then loop back around and get the coin for ol’ Amanaman.
Squid-head was always an favorite of mine as well.
I just came across your site showing my nephew some toys (trying to figure out exactly what it is he saw in a box here so I can fish it out for him in a couple of days) and have to add that I really love your photography of these great sculpts! Although a lot of the newer stuff may be more detailed, there was a high point back with the Vintage Kenner line in the type of detail they were trying for. Thanks for your amazing pics and posts!