Strange Star Wars Collecting: MY COLLECTION, DECEMBER 2011

Here are photos of my Star Wars collection, taken December 2011. You'll get to see most of my knock-offs and bootlegs in these pictures. Some of my collectibles aren't on display, like my "Spacecraft" sleeping bag, because I just don't have the space. You'll also see much of my poorly displayed Hasbro/ Kenner Star Wars figure collection. While looking at these photos, keep in mind that I don't buy or trade off the internet, so I scoured flea markets, toy shows, garage sales, etc to get this stuff.

There's a bunch in the above photo. There's the red Space Defender Space Squad Saber (with the blue one hiding behind it due to a lack of space), my "super deformed" windups, the Power Player video game set, the Outer Space Laser Gun, the Space Gun, and more. Behind all the bootlegs are Power of the Force 2 (POTF2) red card figures, some green cards, and a few Star Cased figures. On the top left of the Squad Saber you can see my Boss Nass bottle tops I've told you about, the third one being from Duncan Jenkins. To the right of those are some bootleg Pokemon toys I played with as a kid, thinking they were the real deal!

Next we have my Robots Spacebot figures, a bootleg POTF2 Deluxe Luke, a Space Defender play set, etc.

A Combat Force toy (with a different one hiding behind it), Star World figure case, and the Galaxy Warrior robot toy among some official figures. Peeking out at the bottom of the photo is the Wonder Woman poster that features knock-off R2-D2s.

This next picture has some Hasbro/ Kenner figures (my Canadian missing saber Luke is on the far right), a style C Star Wars poster, and a Vader cardboard standee. There's a fair share of bootleg and knock-offs too. There's the Special FX Saber, Star Patrol figure set, Asian math book, Star World Chinese yo-yo, and the Light Sword.

Star Warrio and Elite Force figures and the epic Future Flash poster!

Russian bootlegs and Galaxy Empire figures.

Mostly Hasbro figures (two layers of them), but there's also a stormtrooper head robot, Windmill ceramics Chewbacca lamp, ceramic Vader bust, and other goodies.

Here are my prototype figures, guarded by Big Boss Nass. To the right of Jabba is a prototype super deformed windup. There's also Jar Jar Binks with his Gungan Assault Cannon, Jabba the Hutt's head from the "Jabba the Hutt with 2-Headed Announcer" box set, Nikto Jedi Knight (his accessories are at the two bottom corners), two battle droids with their Armored Scout Tanks, and the Expanded Universe Speeder Bike with Rebel Speeder Bike Pilot. The battle droids and their tanks differ from one another, which I'll go into detail with towards the bottom of the page.

The only knock-offs/ bootlegs in this photo are the light-up sword toys seen in the bottom right corner.

*Sigh...* Remember when I said, "poorly displayed Hasbro/ Kenner Star Wars figure collection"? Well, these next two photos just about sum it up.

Now that I've told you about the collection, I'll tell you about the collector. I started collecting Star Wars stuff in 2005, after Revenge of the Sith was released. I pretty much started out buying anything and everything Star Wars, but the Force was strong with me when it came to action figures and bootlegs/ knock-offs. That's what I had the most fun collecting, so I dropped all the other types of SW collectibles and focused on them (after awhile, though, I got sick of all the rehashes and stuff that Hasbro was putting out, so when it comes to figures I only collect the original vintage figure line and up to the 30th Anniversary line). For the most part it's been a blast... though I'm always low on room and cash. Some other stuff I also get a kick out of buying (though I'm not sure I'd say I collect them) are Fantastic Four comics, Japanese kaiju/monster stuff (especially the original Ultraman), and video games (mostly Nintendo).

Well, while I'm showing off my stuff, I thought it would be neat to present some of my favorite collectibles that aren't showcased elsewhere on this site. For the most part, these are my "favorites" because of the amount of fun I had hunting these items down. I certainly believe that the thrill of the hunt is half of the fun (if not more than half)! I kept a keen eye out for these pieces because at the time they were worth a bunch of money, but values have fluctuated so much that most of these guys aren't worth that much anymore. (By the way, this next section will be updated every so often, so the following photos aren't all from December 2011)

Here's the first: Power of the Force 2 (POTF2) Boba Fett missing a circle on one hand. I've probably checked hundreds of Fetts looking for ones missing the chest, shoulder, or hand details, and this was the first one I've found. The ones missing the chest or shoulder emblems are rarer, so the hunt continues!

Next is my POTF2 Darth Vader .02, holo, collection 3, Shadows of the Empire (SOTE) pose, which means Vader's lightsaber is higher in the tray and his cape flows to the left under the handle. I looked at so many Darth Vaders at toy shows and flea markets before I finally located this guy... I found him at a flea market in a box of Star Wars figures marked two for five dollars! That's the kind of story you tell your grandkids!

POTF2 with Freeze Frame Action Slide Captain Piett "WITH BLASTER PISTOL AND BATON" as opposed to "BLASER RIFLE AND PISTOL".

POTF2 Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight theater edition. A guy had two of these at his garage sale, though I couldn't afford both at the time. Mine even came with movie tickets for the Return of the Jedi Special Edition!

POTF2 with Freeze Frame Action Slide AT-ST Driver.

POTF2 Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker tan vest. "Innie" lightsaber on the left, "outtie" saber on the right.

POTF2 Boba Fett. The left figure is .01, half circles on hands, "Empire." on card's back and on the right is .00, half circles on hands, "Empire," on card's back.

The POTF2 Empire Strikes Back Collector Pack. Buying one of these three packs was the only way you could get a green carded Lando Calrissian in stores.

The exclusive Biker Scout figure (the one you got for pre-ordering the Star Wars Battlefront video game) in the cardboard counter display. I've always like store displays, but action figures and knock-offs don't have too many to collect.

Here's a plush Jawa with glow in the dark eyes.

There's similar plush Jawas like this out there, but with oval eyes. The only photos I've been able to find featuring this circle-eyed plush were taken at Comic Images' Toy Fair 2009 booth, so it appears what I have is a display sample, not meant for the public's hands. Kinda like the silly mockups that Kenner would throw together for catalogues.

Now, take a look at the tag...

It says SAMPLE, which indicates a plush is a prototype or display example (or so I've been told in the past). Not bad for something I picked up at a garage sale for a dollar.

The other side of the tag says, "Manufactured by Animal Magic B. V. Amsterdam".

A while ago on the Official Star Wars Blog Flickr page, I found photos of these plush at Toy Fair 2009.

Now as for those two prototype battle droids with Armored Scout Tanks... There's multiple differences, which just demonstrates how figures advance during the prototyping stages. For starters, the purple droid has a "backpack" thingy.