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.

damn i would have bought those. never even seen them

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

Sorry, shouldve read the whole thread before posting on that. Shame on me

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.

Amen to that !

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.

Vintage vinyl smells better.

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