Kenner Star Wars X-wing Fighter some variations to look for

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

The X-Wing Fighter  is one of the most popular and known ships in the Star Wars toy universe. The first version of the fighter was released in 1978 By Kenner. If you are a collector of Vintage Star Wars toys and collectibles there are some things you might want to look out for in understanding  valuations.

The first boxed versions of the X wing and most Star Wars toys  had the LP logo on the box. The LP (long Play) logo was removed for the second release of the box.  LP logo boxes are worth a little more as they  were the first release.  Both versions had the same white X- Wing ship.

The early X-wings are  mld marked  ©GMFGI- (General Mills Fun Group Incorporated) a division of Kenner , and dated 1978  There are 2 versions of the mold mark – the earliest version of the X wing contained the Pat. Pending body  and most likely came in early LP boxes.  The more common ship is the non Pat Pending ships.

Finding an X-Wing box white special offer sticker, or any  Star Wars toy for that matter is like finding gold and can double to quadrouple the value of your box very easily.

The rarest box with a white Kenner X wing  ship is the red ESB box.  ESB saw the release of the Grey X wing and  most ESB ships were the later grey X wing, that included  the Battle damage stickers in a redesigned box.

Some things to look out for  in collecting vintage Star Wars toys and a little help in understanding why one may sell for double or triple another even if they look similar-   happy collecting

The Jawa Sandcrawler Vintage Kenner and Original Trilogy versions

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuff
OTC 2004  Sandcrawler
Original Kenner  1979 Jawa Sandcrawler

 

The original  Star Wars Jawa Sandcrawler is one of the rarest toys in the Kenner line. It was released in late 79 and was a remote controlled battery operated vehicle. It did not come with any action figures, but had plenty of play space for them inside.

Vintage and Original Trilogy Sandcrawlers.

 

It included a step down ladder, and elevator, the batteries were below a panel on the floor inside and the top hatch oped up. The remote control came with a metal antenna.

 

in 2004 Hasbro re-released the Sandcrawler as part of the Original Trilogy (OTC) toy line.  The OTC sand crawler is a non electronic vehicle. It sports a very nice repaint which is more authentic to the actual film version.  The top cockpit still opens, as well as the side door. It only came with a removable ladder, which is molded in a lighter brown color when compared to the original .

(original ladder left- OTC right)

The OTC Sandcrawler also included three figures. Jawa’s- which  were a reissue and slight repaint of the POTF 95 Jawa’s. and RA-7 a repaint of the Death Star Droid.

The current market (2017 ) has vintage  Sandcrawlers from $350 complete no box ,to $700 with a nice box and up to $1500 in a sealed box.

The OTC 2004 sandcrawlers   can be found form $225 to $300 in a box, and around $150 complete out of the box.

 

 

 

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R2-D2 Sensorscope ever looked close at the front sticker

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

Have you ever looked close at R2-D2 with Sensor scope the Stickers vary wildly. There are also single stickers and double stickers.

 

Here are the different COO marks found on R2- Other variations can be found in the color of the Blue on dome, paint on legs, and he can also be found with a hard-torso- (hard plastic drum, a super rare variant. ) It appears the from is  the same as the regular R2 since the dates are all 1977.

check out my guide on Figure variations for more info.

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Vintage Kenner Star Wars Stormtrooper COO marks

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

I Thought I would lay out all the COO marks available on Stormtroopers. There are quite a few out there.  Most Common are the 3 line Hong Kong as well as the 2 line Hong Kong, The Raised bar China is from ROTJ era it is legit. I still see people saying this is a fake, not true.

Several years age there were some recast  bootlegs of the 2 line COO Stormtrooper being sold on Ebay, but these were super white, and had some distinct molding distinctions.  I have seen none in the past few years out on the market.

Stormy’s have distinct molding sculpt  differences , take a look at the heads and the back panels for starters.

some heads variation examples:

Stormy’s were molded i a variety of plastics form very transparent soft and rubbery white to a very dense white.

 


More info can be found in my guide :

Vintage Kenner  Star Wars Action Figure Variations of North America

3rd Edition update now available :

check  www.starwarsfigurevariations.com for more info

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Star Wars Kenner Land speeder the most popular Star Wars vehicle

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

The Land speeder is likely the most popular Vehicle of the Kenner Star Wars Universe-  It is also one of the Few Toys actually made In the USA in the Star Wars Kenner Line. There are variations of the vehicle  from other licensed manufactures.

here are a few box  cover variations included in my  Guide

 

More o the guide go to : www.starwarsfigurevariations.com

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Kenner Obi Wan Kenobi COO figure variations

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

When you dig a little deeper into this old Jedi, theres a lot of difference between the COO variations.

There are several grey colors to the hair along with the white and distinct mold variations to his head. There are long and short fingers on the hilt of the saber hand. There are several saber and cape variations, as well as two distinct colors to both the brown  plastic of his body, as well as his face.  Some vars. are  much rarer than others

More information on Obi-Wan variations in my Guide. 3rd edition now available for download.

Happy collecting !

www.starwarsfigurevariations.com

 

 

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Vintage Star Wars knock off vinyl action figure cases.

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

When Star Wars Came out  in 1977 General Mills and Kenner were  not ready for the onslaught of interest in toys for the movie. In fact it was not until 1978 toys hit the shelves.

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This opened the door for a lot of Manufactures to fill voids in the market place. Here are some fun Vinyl  action figure cases.  Thee were available at Sears, Woolworths among others.  The graphics are great on some of these cases,  most were 12 figure, 24 figure cases can also be found. Its always fun to find one and see what treasure is inside. No matter your flavor if  collected Mego Super heroes, or Star trek, or MASH, Micronauts Lord of the Rings, or Dungeons and Dragons,  Zee Toys Metal masters figures these cases filled the bill.

I will be adding these to my glossary of my e book, Vintage Kenner  Star Wars Action Figure Variations of North America.

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Got any more versions not shown here, please share them with me  would love to see what else can be found.

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spacecasevinyl

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Vintage Luke Skywalker Taiwan COO head variations

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

There is a unique head variation for the Luke Taiwan COO. Notice the elongated chin, compared to the more familiar head similar to the Hong Kong Figures, The elongated chin head appears to be more common than the more traditional molded head. My suspicion is the left two shown are ROTJ era figures, where the far right one is an early SW release 12 back TAIWAN release. The

Figure also has either a bar in the slot int he arm or no slot. And a few other differences which I have updated in the newest revisions of my figure guide.
12 back Taiwan figures are relatively hard to find compared to the Hong Kong figures, Luke, Leia, R2, Darth and Chewy were also released on 12 back Taiwan Cards.

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12backtaiwancoo

 

To answer a question from a collector, No Luke’ s From China are not fakes.

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Darth Vader Double Telescoping DT saber figure original vs repro

by From My collection

It can be hard to authenticate a DT (double telescoping) saber as original.  Reproductions are becoming rampant,  and a fake saber can be had for under $20. I am dedicating a page in my figure guide, Vintage Kenner Star Wars action figure variations,  to the issue of reproduction sabers. Vs originals. etc..

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Here are some pictures of an original saber-  marked N- originals can be found with marks for A to ZZ  and some with just a dot on the hilt also can be found.   They are slightly transparent, and with age they can be come very brittle. dsc09842

Reproduction sabers are becoming very precise-  but there are some things to look for-   Some, but not all Repro’s by Revalvit are marked REV on the hilt, theres are not marked abut have II mark on the hilt. Any saber that is unmarked should be suspect as being a repro.

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reproduction pix of relative saber form eBay
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reproduction saber by revalvit. pix eBay.

Note seam, on the shaft, rounder tip – REV on the hilt.  Ejection point marks on shaft. screen-shot-2016-09-10-at-8-17-41-am screen-shot-2016-09-10-at-8-17-02-am

pix of revalvit sabers- from website.