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Star Wars Toy Mania
Colin@sinisterfluid.com writes "The most-hyped line of movie-themed merchandise in history -- for the still unreleased ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'' -- finally
went on sale just after midnight Sunday on a studio-imposed schedule,and fans and retailers weren't wasting a minute.
Toys R Us stores around the country decided to open their doors at 12:01 a.m. Monday for an all-night selling marathon
of toys based on the movie.
Wal-Mart and K-mart called in extra staff for their 24-hour stores to handle the post-midnight crowds. Many stores planned to limit the number
of items a customer could buy to prevent immediate sell-outs.
Fans had been waiting for months to get a glimpse of the vast array of goods -- from action figures to wigs to body lotion to snack food -- tied to the movie, which opens May 19.
But LucasFilm Ltd. had signed strict licensing deals that prevented manufacturers from releasing virtually any information about their products ahead of time.
As a result, people had been speculating for months, especially on the
Internet, about what the toys and other merchandise would be.
To see the famed toys for yourself, surf to Toys 'R' Us or E-Toys "
Its not only the people waiting in lines and at the toy stores. There is a very good chance that the market is driving some of these folks.
I heard on the radio today that the original 1977 Luke Skywalker with the extending lightsaber that probably costed 4 or 5 dollars at the time is now worth $1300 today. The Darth Vader with the extending saber is worth $1600.
--Storm
You're missing the entire point.
I'm a huge hard s.f. fan myself, and I think complaining about lack of science in Star Wars is like complaining about lack of science in the Lord of the Rings.
Star Wars is "space fantasy" if anything.. Its purpose is to be rousing epic with cool stuff, not to explore scientific issues.
I think they're marketting everything and anything w/ star wars on it.
Toys R Us has an inflatable swimming pool w/ Jar Jar all over it...that's just over done
-Jae
The reason a lot of the items from ~20 years ago are worth so much is simple. Nobody really knew that SW would be the craze it would become. Thus the *early* items (i.e. the 12-back figs, earlybird kit, etc.) of which most were ripped open by kids, are worth the most. ($500+) Whereas the ROTJ carded figures, which everybody started hoarding in anticipation, can be easily had for $10-$15. There are exceptions, such as the POTF line, which was at the end and really saw a limited release, are even now DEcreasing in value from what they were a few years ago.
Fast forward 20 years, and everyone and there brother is sitting on a stash of Episode I figures, are they going to be valuable? NO. Because everybody has 'em.
Go spend your time and money tracking down those early 12-backs, etc. That's where the investment potential is in Star Wars toys. Don't even think that your $7 investment today will turn into a $800 payoff in 20 years.
Or hell, just buy stock in the latest internet IPO, wait 5 hours, and sell.
Toys should not be investments!
And as an aside: Anyone griping about the commercialization needs to be stuffed in a time machine and sent back to about ~1979 or so. When Star Wars is branded on dog food, yogurt, and underpants....
Blech. Signatures.
When I was four years old, I spent the summer in this tiny, itsy-bitsy house. It was near the ocean. WE lived there for three months. In the course of those three months, I went through 21 Yodas. I liked his size and muppetness, but the size made him very loseable for a little kid. He was just so darn cute, and his cape made him look so cool. And the snake staff. Yowzers. 21 Yodas. That's a helluvalot of Yoda.
when Push Comes to Shove
First off - all of the "collectors" who are buying these things with plans to keep them in their boxes for twenty years and then sell them for profit are going to be disappointed. The reason that an X-Wing in its original box is selling for $500+ is because there are hardly any of them around - nobody thought to "collect" one twenty years ago. (Mine is somewhere at home, with lots o' scrapes and battle damage from dogfights with the neighbor kid's TIE fighter - box is long gone, but we had FUN!) There was a guy at ToysRUs this morning (10:00, didn't go at midnight thank you) who was "collecting" all sixteen basic action figures, dutifully checking each one off of his list and laying then CAREFULLY in his cart. This was probably a common scene, and eventually there will be more "boxed, mint" Darth Mauls than you can shake a stick (lightsaber?) at, and none of them will be worth $$$$$.
Collection sickness aside, the new toys are neat, and bring back many good memories. I did buy an Obi-Wan and Darth Maul, but they'll get unwrapped tonight and will wind up guarding my desk at home.
(Hey, where's the Mace Windu figure, dammit?!)