Mail-Away: Display Arena
By 1982 the action figure line was much larger than 12 figures. Kenner decided to offer up another display stand for figures. This one consisited of 4 L shaped stand that could be connected in various ways. Each Stand could hold 14 figures, so with all 4 you could display up to 56. The stand also included 4 double sided cardboard backdrops with scenes from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. The stand required 10 proofs of purchase and $2.00. The offer expired on May 31st, 1982. This stand was never available in stores, so the only way to get it was in the mail promotion. Here is how it appeared on the back of the figure cards.
Here is the one in my collection with the mailer box and paperwork.
and finally the commercial advertising the promotion.
Metroplex is Here
Today I received my Encore Metroplex reissue from Hobbylink Japan. I would have had him a couple days sooner, but for some reason they could not charge my credit card, so I had to use paypal. For those that are interested here is a little back story to Metroplex. He was a character that was introduced after the original 1986 movie. Here is a quote from Transformers Wikipedia
“Metroplex rose out of the ruins of Autobot City after the Battle of Autobot City. During that attack, he was seen transforming from city to battle station by manual control. During the fighting, his Transformation Cog was destroyed. After the battle, he received a new Cog with the help of Sky Lynx, Wheelie, Blurr, and Marissa Faireborn, and it was installed by Pipes. Unfortunately, Metroplex was unable to stop the newly-constructed Trypticon from destroying the Ark, but he did defeat the Decepticon afterwards and hurled the dinosaur into the ocean.”
I originally had this figure as a kid and he was one of my favorites. The city mode works best with the smaller mini bot figures like Bumblebee. This Encore version is closer to the first release which had rubber tires and more chrome on the upper legs. Hasbro later on I believe to cut costs changed the rubber tires on most of their Transformers to plastic. The one I had as a kid was the plastic tire version. It is nice that Takara is going all out on these reissues by making them closer to the original releases.
Here is the original commercial for the toy.
Finally here are some pictures I took of the unboxing. This guy had a ton of stickers to apply. The final picture shows him with Trypticon the dinosaur mentioned in the wikipedia article who also turns into a Decepticon base. Mine is missing a lot of pieces still, so I am holding out in case Takara decides to reissue him as well.
Takara has gone all out this year with the releases of Sky Lynx and Omega Supreme on top of Metroplex. These are all figures that were thought to be too big for a reissue, but I believe they are selling well, so hopefully others will follow.
Another Collecting Book
This is the year for Star Wars collecting books. The end of the year is the release of The Saga Museum book by Todd DeMartino and now it has been announced that the book by Duncan Jenkens and Gus Lopez is now coming out soon. This new book is supposed to have an excellent update about the POTF coins I have been collecting, so I have been waiting for its announcement for some time. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet but this morning Gus treated everyone to the design of the cover show below.
The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
At least for a Star Wars Collector. Over at the rebelscum forums a discussion is going on entitled Ancient History which is showcasing some of the great finds over the years. A lot of them are finds from Kenner Employees that were contacted and had a lot of stuff that was used in the preproduction process of the toys.
Recently someone mentioned the find known as the Dogatuna find. The story goes that this person basically bought loads of old Star Wars toys on clearance and put them in a trunk in the attic. His family thought he was absolutely crazy for doing this at the time. As time passed he eventually forgot about the toys. Then one day his Grandma was cleaning out the attic and came upon the chest full of Star Wars figures. She asked him what he wanted to do with them. He put a few on ebay for insanely cheap prices and they sold very quickly. I believe after that he sought out some research into exactly what he had and another collector stepped in to help him with the values. After that the pieces sold closer to market value.
The amazing thing is a lot of the figures made during the 1983-85 time frame have had the bubble that contains the figure turn yellow.
Many of the figures he had were still clear as the day they were bought. Also, a lot of the figures he had were from the Power of the Force series. These were the last figures made which also included a collectors coin. When these figures came out the majority of kids had moved on to other toys, so they sat on the shelves forever and were clearanced for insanely cheap prices. Because no one wanted them back then, they are now the most desired figures. Even out of the package they are the most expensive figures.
Here are a few pictures that I saved a few years ago after the find. I wish I could have picked up at least one at the time, but I did not have the funds to do so. To give some idea of value just those Luke Stormtrooper figures are worth around $300 a piece today when back in 1985 they would have just been a few dollars.
Mail-Away: Survival Kit
This promotion was for all the kids that had lost weapons for their Star Wars figures. It also included some unique items that could only be found in this kit. It was offered during The Empire Strikes Back period, required 5 proofs of purchase and expired on May 31st, 1981. The kit consisted of 5 guns to replace lost ones, 3 Gas Masks to recreate the space slug scene, 2 Hoth Backpacks, Jedi training harness for Luke to carry around Yoda on his back, and grappling hook for Luke to swing onto the AT-AT. Not a bad combination of accessories to recreate movie scenes if I say so myself. Here is how the advertisement appeared on figure cards.
The kit also included a flyer like the previous ones describing all the accessories. Here is the kit I have in my collection. Unfortunately the seller blacked out their address in marker when I got it.
Finally here is the T.V. commercial advertising the promotion.
