In a voting mood and want to possibly help Hasbro with the Star Wars action figure lineup? head on into our forums for
The Vintage Collection Greatest Hits Poll, where you can choose your favorite classic Star Wars figure you would like to see repackaged in the classic Kenner cardback!
It all started with the latest
Jedi Temple Archive Q&A Session, where they asked Hasbro the following question:
"The TARGET exclusive 9 pack of figures fills us with joy. And it has made us think about a few things. Since we are in “vintage mode” now, would you be able to repack some of the “older” but nonetheless fantastic figures that were originally available in the original Kenner line as well as some other strikingly cool looking characters? For example, 2001’s FX-7 and 2006’s Chief Chirpa really do not need a revisit. Can you incorporate them into The Vintage Collection at some point so we can have them in vintage packaging? Also, we would love to see Gargan and R1-G4 entered into The Vintage Collection since they were original Kenner concepts back in the day. (And we are sure Gargan would sell much better in vintage packaging.) Even other figures like Tessek (if you’re not going to redo him at some point), Warok, Romba, Luke Stormtrooper (and why not throw us a vintage styled Han Stormtrooper too), R5-D4, Bib Fortuna, Malakili, Death Star Droid, Ugnaught, AT-AT Driver and Zuckuss are all prime examples of figures that are perfect as is and can now have the honored gift of being placed on a vintage card. It will save you on some tooling costs and make hardcore collectors very happy by getting us closer to getting all modern figures into vintage packaging. ."While I won't copy the full answer (click the link above to check it out), here is part of Hasbro's response:
"If Vintage has a very long run, it opens up more chances for these characters to be repacked and it would be fun to see both of these, along with many others, on Vintage cards."So that got our forum members thinking: what if we could tell Hasbro which figures we want to see repacked in this fashion? (Not that they need our help, of course...but hey, we're all nitpicky nerds who love to say what's on our minds!)
Now having "Greatest Hits" repacks in
The Vintage Collection not something collectors generally want to see...save that for
Saga Legends. Besides, we truly appreciate the effort Hasbro makes with every little upgrade and refresh to make each figure seem somehow "new", but we also understand that sometimes business needs demand a balance between new and old. Frankly, kids won't notice anyway....
MUCH discussion & debate commenced, and while it was quickly decided that the candidates should be limited to the
original 96 Kenner figures, choosing exactly which figures would qualify was NOT an easy task.
Starting with that list, the eliminations began. Thinking logically, the following figures were removed from the list:
any character that has not yet been remade in the modern line (1995-2010)
any character that has already been released on Vintage (VOTC/VTSC/VTAC/TVC)
any character that has already been announced for TVC, either at conventions or in the Q&A sessions
any character that has a strong rumor behind it (quite often the rumors are not really "rumors")
any character that needs any kind of refresh to make it a "true" Vintage upgrade*
* This last point was possibly the most-debated point, since opinions vary widely over which characters truly represent the Kenner style. At the end of the day, it was determined that figures that are "good enough" just won't do...Hasbro should keep The Vintage Collection special by only adding the best possible figures of each character. ANY kind of kit-bashing, part-swapping, new sculpts added, repaints, etc. should simply be saved for the basic line any not included in this poll...let's keep this poll strictly for repacks with NO changes made.
If you think this is an easy task, then you don't know Star Wars fans! ;)
EVERY little detail was scrutinized over, from the lack of ankle articulation to the way knees bend to which accessories should be included to the final deco...an exhausting task (but as I said, we're all a bunch of nitpicky nerds at heart...so why not take to the extreme?) In the end, most of the modern figures prior to 2006 were immediately ruled out, favoring super-articulated versions.
One curious suggestion was brought up during the discussion...having the "original 12" brought out on STAR WARS cardbacks. Although the characters of R2-D2, C-3PO, Darth Vader, and Chewbacca have been included in the "modern Vintage" line previously (some a few times by now), the figures and cardbacks were from different films. This was especially important for the R2-D2 figure from the Resurgence of the Jedi battle pack: the version that collectors have been asking for since 2005...using the R4-G9 body, and nearly every other R2 unit in the entire saga was made before we finally got it...and it was only available as part of a battle pack? It NEEDS to be on a single card!
So to sum it all up...IF Hasbro does indeed decide to include certain "Greatest Hits" figure repacks in the future, here are 18 figures we all agreed on (well, at least as much as you can get a group of Star Wars fans to agree on anything anyway...) which represents the best action figure representations of the characters.
Now, just to make it a little MORE fun, we've set up a The Vintage Collection Greatest Hits Poll in our forums where you can rate your favorites.
And while you're there, check out our latest debate over figures that were in Kenner's Power of the Force cardback...do we want those exact cardbacks without the coins, or just reuse the artwork and keep The Vintage Collection design consistent.
See how nitpicky we are? But that's the fun of being a Star Wars fan!
 from POTJ "FX-7 (Medical Droid)")
 from LC BD50 "Bespin Security Guard II")
 from LC BD22 "Malikili (Rancor Keeper)")
 from TLC BD 30 "Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise)")
 "Amanaman")
