Postscript: Shrinky-dink reissues, like Marusan's 2/3 scale reissues, Iwakura's Bullmark Legends and Bandai's Soul of Bullmark are extra cool. Carry the classic kaiju of yesteryear around in your pocketses.
They already did: http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?imag ... kboxfr.jpg However, they weren't too well-received, because if someone wants vintage Star Wars figures they can pick most of them up for the price of a fast food value meal. Now, as some have built on the coolness of the original Marusan and Bullmark reissues, if Hasbro made black Stormtroopers, or a new head to create a vintage-styled R4-M9, I'd jump for joy. Unfortunately they don't seem to have the guts to do this, though. Post-postscript: Marusan's Crawling Baragon and Swimming Godzilla are awesome-o, too.
first off only the tip of the iceburg has been reproduced so if you want a lion maru talker your shit out of luck . you can also go out and buy amazing spiderman number 1 for thousands or you buy a reprint for a couple of bucks . my point is for most people to have the reproduction is enough but for some only owning originals will do . kinda like you wanted a 60s style lamp . you could go to home depot and pick up something that mimics that look really well or you could go to the antique shop . im going to the antique shop .
I stand corrected. rog, are those the only 'repro' sw figs? I remember hearing rumbles of hasbro re-making all the vintage figs, complete w/ packaging. this enraged the vintage collectors, cause their collections would de-value. Hasbro ended up re-pro-ing the packages w/ new sculpted figs. good choice.
Yes, those are the only repro SW figs. I didn't hear any of the backlash against the idea of reproducing vintage figures.
I like 'em both for most of the reasons stated on each side of the above posts. Realistically I gotta favor repros at the moment because I'm just too new to know up from down and good deal from rip-off. Also I'd be terrified to wreck a choice old piece by dropping it or mis-handling it. I like to be able to pick things up, heft 'em, turn 'em all around and inspect detail, paint, joints. I re-arrange them on my small shelves and pretend that we're interacting. Of course the wife, neighbors and co-workers tend to give me a lot more space now but that's cool. Love the old designs, new or old vinyl.
At the risk of getting swarmed by the hippo police here is something totally random Its like an old vinyl record. Sure the original is great and cool to have and you can claim on it and all but the reproduction has a nicer cover and doesn't have scratchy sound and randomly skip. For me I am all about content and reproductions seem to have that if you are not a total purist, which I am not, I sleep with bunnies, in hippo suits. On another note I don't own any vintage or reproduction kaiju and just like lurking on the boards
Sorry to derail this thread further, but, that Star Wars 4-pack was a Toy-r-us exclusive back in the mid 90's when Hasbro first began making SW figs again. I didn't buy it because I had all the original figs already. I now wish I had bought it because I collect the cards and those are tough to find now. It seems nobody is willing to bust open the package and sell just the cards. The set definitely was NOT well received by old school collectors because of what tavaro said about it devaluing the vintage stuff. I couldn't care less about the value of my vintage toys because I don't intend to ever sell them, but, whatever. Hasbro pretty much shut down on the vintage re-issues and that Toys-r-us set became kinda precious. At least it was last time I checked which was many years ago.
Back to the original topic, I like both vintage and re-issues. I don't actually have a vintage collection, but that's because it's prohibitively expensive and vinyl toys aren't my only habit. That being said, I have a nostalgic connection to some of these toys and those are the ones for which re-issues just wouldn't cut it. I used to have the toy pictured in my avatar and would love to have him again. I really don't think I could afford it, though. If they made an exact copy and re-issued it today, I wouldn't really be interested. I might eventually break down and buy it, but I would always feel like the re-issue was just a place holder for the original that I would still dream of owning. I'd love to have an original Bullmark Mikuras, too. This kid who lived across the street from my grandmother in Hawaii had a huge collection of vinyl toys and his Mikuras made quite an impression on me. I used to try to draw him from memory (Mikuras, not the kid with the collection) . I could probably live with a re-issue of Mikuras, but I'd much rather have the original that I coveted as a child. The overwhelming majority of the rest of what's out there, I have no connection to. If I could afford it in vintage form, it would be neat to have, but I'd be perfectly happy with a repro if it was a sculpt I really liked. For those who said that they don't like their toys beat up and dirty, I feel the same way. If I got into vintage, my purchases would break me because the toys would have to be near mint.
When you put it that way I can understand the "value" of the original. If you have a fond memory of an original no re-issue can replace it.
Hmm now I want those vintage style Star Wars toys. The newer stuff does nothing for me. Looks like only about $15 on ebay for the set too. As far as kaiju goes I'd take the vintage stuff if it was the same price, but I don't see any reason to pay for nostalgia that I don't have. I'd rather a toy ends up in the hands of a guy who played with it as a kid anyway.
yeah, for me the updated versions tend to have more of an interest -- the paint application is tighter, colors more saturated and frankly there's just more care put into them. Manufacturers, for the most part, know that people want quality and will pay for it -- so the end production reflects this. "Toys" were more for "bang 'em out, get a buck (or yen)" and without super-care many of the older vinyl / toys didn't make it beyond a few years of play. Compare the old and new Bullmark / Marusan releases! I will say, though, that a few older toys / vinyl tend to have the nostalgia effect on me. Lately I've been having a terrible urge to start picking up Jumbos. My neighbor had some of the "Shogun Warrior" (bastard) and it's haunted me since the 70's!
They actually did! It was a box set. I cant find a picture but my local comic.collectibles shop has em. Ill snap a pic when I go back there for you who dont want to take my word for it
they do use higher quality vinyl on the newer stuff. But the newer stuff is more like art pieces then toys. Marmits use to have a age limit for purchase on their header cards. Of coarse that vinyl was crap. The vinatage stuff were actually made and sold as kids for toys. All this new stuff is made for adult collectors. How many kids would by some of those new barom kaiju for over a 100. There something nice about getting something made over 30 years ago, that only a few exist and will not be made again; compared to the latest color wave of 10 that could be followed next week by yet another color.
Sometimes the Vintage looks better...sometimes the Repro looks better Tons of Vintage stuff will never be repro'd so no choice anyway. Vintage Kaiju has a special quality just because its old....doesnt make it better...but it is special.
for me its a matter of finances. for instance, with the completion of my takara invader set (the 90's vinyl ones) my most recent infatuation is now with all things henshin. so i've started picking up some neo cyborgs. i know i will probably end up going for the originals as well, but for right now the repros are cheaper and more accessible. summary repros = cheap and accessible vintage = long term goal
13 years later, this short thread is still a good read. Nowadays they are reissuing more Star Wars figures, and a few folks are making new vintage-style figures, including my beloved R4-M9:
This is a really great conversation Roger, and thanks for resurrecting it. I can see the sides of the argument here. But, I would say also that the examples of the 'Western action figure' lines aren't really comparable in this instance. I think this particular case belongs more in either the Star Wars or Non-vinyl American toys thread. For my mind though, I would SO much rather have those [you've posted] available as licensed 'new' toys rather than what has come out recently. I was discussing this elsewhere but the entire thing of the 'retro' reproduction lines (for things like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, etc.) where they are just straight up copies doesn't make any sense to me personally. The original toys are so abundantly available, not costly, and not that old. They were never handmade, painted, or had anything particularly special about each one. And the new versions are just more mass-produced, high waste plastic, with no distinguishing features, but sold at incredibly ridiculous rates that are only aimed at adult collectors. And to suggest otherwise doesn't hold a lot of water. They have essentially ceased to be 'toys' at anything like the level of the originals.* BUT, there are just so many other possibilities that they could explore - the above which are just a tiny example (but well chosen) - of unproduced characters, vehicles, playsets, and whole toy lines which never came to be, that going to the well of stuff that is out there now is not only senseless but just creatively empty. At least for the Super7/Funko ReAction series they are trying to do a little exploring in a 'retro' style. I am about as big a Star Wars nut as there is, and have been buying SW toys for nearly four decades now; and yet this whole push for just reproducing the Kenner figures is a big disappointment and missed opportunity. * to be fair, I think that action figure collecting in general went this way a long time ago, but that is probably a conversation for another time.
