more about old Star Wars toys



 And, here they are: the rest of my junk Star Wars figures. Dudes I picked up at various garage sales and antique stores in the late 80s/early 90s. Spent about 25 cents to $3.50 each on these figures, junk I wouldn't have otherwise bought if I had money back then. Buying these is how I learned to be a wiser collector, in that I wouldn't even look at these now. On a side note, even figures in this condition will have someone out there on craigslist or ebay thinking these are worth a fortune just because they're Star Wars toys. Check your local craigslist page for insane people trying to get a fortune for junk. I remember seeing the blue elephant dude Max Rebo and having to have it. Unfortunately, I never located the rest of the band at that garage sale, so just 50 cents for Max. I remember seeing this set at JCPenney, and my mother wouldn't buy it because it was $12, which was pretty steep back then.

This is the Max Rebo Band as they originally appeared in Return of the Jedi, the jazz trio from Hell as I like to describe them. George Lucas greatly added to the musical number in Jabba's Palace for the Jedi Special Edition, and greatly diminished it in the process. It remains that way to this day in all subsequent video releases, and it's one of those things that just grates on me. I never watch the Blu-Ray I have of this, instead viewing my 2006 DVD that has the original version of Jedi. I keep hoping Disney will get that nice restored original version of the Holy Trilogy out there someday, but it's something I don't hold my breath for. I remember being stoked to find Yoda. I never was able to find one at retail, so he must have been popular. Hell, look at what Yoda will cost you on ebay right now. Same with Boba Fett- these guys shipped in huge volume, but man, are they expensive. Kenner sold an estimated 300 million of these toys between 1978-1985 (not sure if that includes vehicles, playsets, and carrying cases, which Kenner also produced), and with 96 figures, would mean that there's at least 3 million of each, likely more for older figures that shipped through the entire run with no changes (Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper are some examples). Now some, like the final 17 figures that were released in 1985, would have to be much less than a million of each. Sure, there are a lot of them on ebay at any given time, but nowhere near the volume that a figure like Yoda or Boba Fett or Lando Calrissian are. So, where was I going with this? Not only does scarcity make a collectible, so too does the character's appeal. Aliens! Those weird dudes that populate a galaxy far, far away. Be they bounty hunters, smugglers, or just cantina patrons, they're fun to collect. Something Kenner realized right away, getting the Sand People and Jawas into the first series of figures, then putting Walrusman, Hammerhead, Snaggletooth, and Greedo into the next. I have always loved Greedo's green space outfit. One of my favorite figures in the run. Dig the space disco boots, man. And finally, we come to Luke Skywalker. Even to this day, I buy every Luke figure Hasbro makes. He was always one of my heroes, right next to He-Man. I like Han and Chewie, but I guess due to my age when I first saw Star Wars, I just gravitated more towards Luke. Still waiting on my Jedi Master Luke from The Force Awakens, too...

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