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$TAR WAR$ |
Until the SW line debuted in 1978,
the term "action figure" wasn't part of the toy industry's language. Outside of
your G.I. Joe with Kung-Fu Grip®, what passed for action figures were little more than
"Ken" dolls dressed in military fatigues or superhero costumes. With the success
of the Star Wars motion picture evident a whole new marketing arena was about to
open on the public.
YOUR VERY OWN VADER
Lucas had written and intended SW to be for children: direct influences for the
films were the "Flash Gordon" serials and spaghetti westerns that played weekly
to child audiences during Lucas' youth at theatres. Perhaps Lucas had a feeling about his
"Star Wars" and what was to come, for when he made the deal with Fox
studios, he retained all merchandising and licensing rights.
Lucas met with the toy makers at Kenner. Just as with the
filming itself, he had a definite idea of what he wanted. Through several design meetings
Lucas and Kenner came up with the 3 ¾ inch figure and a cast of vehicles and accessories
to keep young minds and hands going for hours. Just as StarWars the movie had
revolutionized and changed film making, SW the toy line was about to do the same to
the toy industry.
CHANGE IS GOOD
SW opened the gate for toy designs to break free of the established molds and
helped to make the toy industry a multi billion dollar a year business. After SW
came (in no particular order) He-Man, the smaller version GI Joe, Voltron and
Transformers. During this period of plenty SW itself died out due to the superior
designs that were being invented daily in other toy lines. The SW line was
cancelled in 1985.
FLASHFORWARD...
"One of the things about getting older, is that you look back fondly upon the things
of youth."
I read that somewhere once and it fits into the context of this article. Those of us that were fortunate enough to be children during the first SW craze to hit the nation, are also fortunate enough to be 20 something adults for the second wave. We've got something we didn't have during those tender years. Money. We do look back fondly on those times when "Han Solo" was your friend next door and the kid up the street had the Death Star playset and some of the figures you didn't. The only thing that is different this time around is that we can get what we want, when we want (for the most part). While it is true that toys are designed primarily for children, Kenner has gone to extreme lengths to make new SW toys that are realistic enough to make collectors like myself, happy as well. There is one factor that has increased steadily along with the design of this new line. That is the price.
SW toy collecting is an expensive hobby (to say the
least). Not just for collectors and dealers but for the parents of the children who just
want to play with the toys and don't care about there collector value. First of all, these
aren't the 80's anymore; without boring myself or you with the details of America's
economy, I will just say things are a little more pricey these days. But everyone's got to
make a buck don't they? While I will by no means go down the entire line of new SW
toys and do a comparison of the old and new lines (see Rob Perry's series), I am devoting
the rest of the column to a cross section of the two lines with a comparison of 80's and
90's prices. (All prices are average North American and rounded up to the nearest
dollar.)
THE PRI¢E WE PAY
The action figures themselves have seen the most improvement in design, sculpting and
accessories. You name it, they've got their predecessors beat in every category, except
price. Compared with the average price of $3.50/figure, original line, to an average of
$8.00/figure POTF2, it seems that for a 100% improvement in the figures, we are
"forced" (no pun intended) to pay 120% more at the register.
The vehicles are better, to a degree. Mostly they are just reissues with new decals and some paint to make them look "battle worn." Several things bug me about specific vehicles, which I will take case by case.
Tie Fighter - The solar panels still pop off, like the old one, but the sound effects are gone. While it is not a big deal, I still find myself looking for the button behind the cockpit. Original price $9 (with sound), $11 without.
Millennium Falcon - Where the original had a single, irritating buzzing noise, this one has 4 realistic movie sounds. Aside from the $.50 in paint difference, it is the same toy. Here is the worst offender in the price category: Original $28, POTF2 $65. That is a 133% cost jump. Not worth it for the meager changes made (but I bought one anyway).
AT-AT - This one wins the award for the
best-improved reissue. The original had lights and a noise. The new one comes with 2
exclusive figures and 8 sounds! (Even General Veers' voice) The paint job is better, as
with all of the new vehicles, but the best part is the price. The original AT-AT, that
didn't come with anything, cost $55. The POTF2, with the vast improvements, cost
$80. While still expensive in it's own right, the improvements made vs. the increased
cost, compared with something like the POTF2 Millennium Falcon, make the POTF2
AT-AT, one of the lines "bargains."
LARGE FIGURES
This line is getting out of hand. Yes, the figures look great in some cases
(Han/Tauntaun), but the price is too much for what they are. Seemingly taking a cue from
Barbie, the SW Collector Series, a line of 12" cloth covered figures, has far
surpassed the original 12 large figures in price, design, number of figures and near
impossibility to find some of them. Without getting on a soapbox (well, without jumping up
and down on it, anyway) these large figures are also part of what I consider to be the worst
kind of toy marketing: Chain exclusives. There are the Toys 'R' Us exclusives,
KayBee Toys, Wal-Mart, FAO Schwartz, Service Merchandise and Target exclusives to name a
few. Unlike the regular collector series figures, you cannot find the exclusives! If you
do, they are ridiculously priced. Part of what makes this unfair is that some of these
"chains" aren't in every area of the country. Until recently, there weren't any
Targets within 200 miles of where I live, but I still can't find the damned Wampa/Luke 2
pack anyway. TRU is a joke; they never have anything new, unless you go there and camp out
waiting for the stockers to open a case for you. (I used to work at TRU and the employees
do take things out of the cases for themselves or to sell to dealers.) Chain
exclusives are a bad idea, period, for anything SW or not. If you are going to do
an exclusive, do it like the Kellogg's, Frito-Lay or fan club exclusives. At least that
way people have a chance at getting the merchandise through products or methods that are
available almost everywhere.
As to the cost and improvements: Yes, they look a little better (they still don't look anything like the actors) but they are twice as expensive. $12 original to $25 POTF2. The best thing about the original large line was that there were only 12 of them. It seems Kenner is determined to make every 3 ¾ inch figure into a 12" figure this time around.
The one thing the original and POTF2 lines have in common is that the toys are sturdy and are very playable. I beat the hell out of my originals when I was a kid and you can do the same to the new ones. The toys are meant to be played with, that's what they're made for. I buy two so I can play with one of them and preserve the other.
In conclusion, despite my complaints, the added cost to new SW toy collecting is worth it in my opinion. Hey, where else can you go plunk down $20, come home and be 12 again?
No, not Disney World - that will run you at least $50 a
pop.
( Chris Bishop is a SW fanatic - lunatic is actually a better word - who's collection of SW memorabilia is so large he can claim it as a dependent on his taxes since it occupies an entire room of his apartment. )
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