action-figures-antiques-for-the-common-man
Action Figures: Antiques for the Common Man
Given enough time, one boy?s toy is an antique collector?s
prized possession. Strange as that may sound, there are
many collectors who would love to see an original G.I. Joe
or an original Star Wars action figure. Remember He-Man?
Action figures tend to be based on shows, movies, or comics
that always have a following, and therefore even years after
companies stop producing the figures, there are individuals
who still seek to collect them. There are many a man who
think of all the G.I. Joes they blew up with fireworks, only
to find out twenty years later how many hundreds or even
thousands of dollars their collection would have been worth
if it remained in mint condition!
One interesting story dealing with action figures involves
Takara, a Japanese toy company. They are best known to
modern toy collectors as the company that built the original
Transformers action figures. In 1974 Takara created a
4-inch humanoid action figure, which was called "MicroMan."
In the late 70's and early 80's this toy was brought over to
the United States by the Mego Toy company, which was
desperate for a hit after they made the famous blunder of
passing on Star Wars. They re-named the line "Micronauts",
and created enough of a back story for Marvel Comics to get
a good run of comics. Mego got several years of good sales,
which was about the same size as Star Wars figures, before
the whole company went down.
The basic construction of the Micronauts action figure would
soon be utilized by Hasbro for their new action figures: the
now famous and very collectible 3-3/4" G.I. Joes (an action
figure famous amongst young boys of the time for their
propensity to have bad run-ins with fireworks). In recent
years, the Micronauts concept has enjoyed somewhat of a
resurgence. There has been a decently successful series of
comic books, a trilogy of paperback novels, and a toy
company called Palisades managed to re-create many of the
original Micronauts molds. Now the original company is
coming out with larger action figures based on the
originals. Like many classics, companies want to keep
dipping back for more. Why mess with success? Still it?s
the old action figures that gain the most attention from
collectors, so if you?re thinking about putting out the old
toys from twenty years ago out in the garage sale, maybe
think twice and take a second look before putting the boxes
out. Who knows what you might find?
Dave is the owner of http://fun-action-figures.info and
http://cheap-action-figures.info websites providing
information on action figures.
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Given enough time, one boy?s toy is an antique collector?s
prized possession. Strange as that may sound, there are
many collectors who would love to see an original G.I. Joe
or an original Star Wars action figure
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Tags: antiques, collect antiques