I've been thinking about why some MOC figures are more plentiful than others, and my theory is simple - overstock. In my opinion, 90% or more of MOCs in circulation now are not figures that were originally sold when the wave first hit the shops. A good example - Meccano Jawas. There are box loads of them out there, and we know they haven't all come from people who bought them in 1978, they are all from shipping cases sold much later.
I put overstock in to two categories:
1) Sold at retail after original release date, eg the peg warmers or the trilogos that Kay Bee had millions of in the late 80s (most with 2 for $1 stickers!)
2) Overstock that was never sold in shops, but went to dealers in the late 80s when the likes of Kenner and Palitoy collapsed (eg all the figures Toy Toni has)
I think this explains why some characters on certain cardbacks are easy to find, and some are not. It's surely not just luck - there's a reason why there are so many dead mint trilogo A-Wing Pilots and pop-up R2s out there, they all came from Toy Toni :lol:
Interested to know what people think.
I put overstock in to two categories:
1) Sold at retail after original release date, eg the peg warmers or the trilogos that Kay Bee had millions of in the late 80s (most with 2 for $1 stickers!)
2) Overstock that was never sold in shops, but went to dealers in the late 80s when the likes of Kenner and Palitoy collapsed (eg all the figures Toy Toni has)
I think this explains why some characters on certain cardbacks are easy to find, and some are not. It's surely not just luck - there's a reason why there are so many dead mint trilogo A-Wing Pilots and pop-up R2s out there, they all came from Toy Toni :lol:
Interested to know what people think.