Last 17

Now I know the whole last 17 debate has been done to death but sitting in my collecting room (that sounds flash and much better than the small spare room) looking at my 77 loose figures most of which are my original childhood ones. I'm looking at them thinking they are absolutely the favourite part of my collection. They hold the fondest memories and take me right back to being a kid - and yet I don't have a single figure from the last 17. They hold zero appeal to me, yes I was getting out of collecting when they came out and was chasing girls instead of figures but still surprises me that even now as an adult collector I haven't added them to my collection. There are plenty vehicles and playsets in my room that i never had as a kid but wanted to own now. Honestly think it's a bit strange - the Collect them all just doesn't apply to those last few for me.

Been thinking about this a bit recently. I managed to put together all last 17 loose figures. Once I put them together I looked at them and it dawned on me why they didn't succeed the first time around. They're not very good. With a couple of exceptions they really don't compare to the previous 77. Funnily enough, the person I got the pop up R2 off was selling all of his last 17 stuff as they had no connection with him. He was selling up to buy 12 backs. The initial run are so cool. Once kids got into their teens, I think the buzz had gone and plus they are just a bit weak?! In a way I like that they are a bit naff, I don't dislike them, but they are not worth spending big money on. Especially the weapons!

Agreed, there are some absolute howlers in the last 17.

I feel the same. I only have two of the last 17, the Imperial gunner and Anakin. I will get a few more but I'm definitely not getting that awful dignitary thing.

I have mixed feelings on the last 17, some I like and some I loathe

Loathe:
- Amanaman; terrible figure with no relation to the line at all
- Barada; terrible figure, looks like POTF2's uncle

Like:
- Imperial Gunner; great figure all round... even cooler than Daft Punk
- EV9-D9; pretty basic, but I've always had a soft spot for the sculpt and the mouth action is fun
- Luke Stormtrooper; really should've been released earlier in the line, but still a great figure

The rest I can take or leave, wish they'd done 1 or 2 less Ewoks... four in that lot was a step too far really.

This line was a mixed bag, which I can understand why some collectors either love or hate certain figures.

Likes:
Imperial Gunner - one of my favourite figures in the whole line
EV9 D9 - great figure
R2 pop up - another favourite
Lando General.
Luke poncho

Dislikes
Too may Ewokes all be it Romba's not bad.
Luke Storm trooper - size of head is all wrong, helmet on or off.
Amanaman - Yak Face - Imperial Dignity - why bother?
Han in Carbonite - looks crap on a MOC, and loose no play value.

Couldn't care less
All the rest...Barada isn't that bad :wink:

This is another thread that could run and run, as again, very subjective.
But agree they don't have the "magic" of the first 12 or even 21 for me.
Thanks for making me think of these last 17

The accessories really wound me up. Trying to get a half decent Lando cape was a pain in the arse. And those fiddly little black endor blasters are the thing of nightmares. What kind of a deranged mind dreamt up Barada? They currently go for about 70 for one with nice paintwork- he looks like a ninja turtle. Four Ewoks would have been sufficient.

R2 has always been my fav fig but when I saw the pop up "club" I just thought it looked ****.

Same with Han in carbonite - as a kid I'd spend hours freezing my bespin Han in various containers (St Ivel Gold being the best) so when I heard about a proper figure being released I was super excited and what did we get..............****in Sloth from the goonies!

When I started collecting I set out to collect a full set of loose and I'd like to achieve it but I'm still not there. Gradually ticking off those last 17....still need a fair few of them. I think the price and perceived rareness affects peoples opinion of them. Who wants to pay 60 quid for a lame figure they don't really like. I quite like some of them but likewise have no real memory or attachment to them from childhood. The Imp Gunner and 9D9 are the nuts, my favourites by far.

I agree with you guys, my least favourite line. As i too was getting distracted with other things.
Like
Imp Gunner
Luke Stormtrooper
R2 Pop Up

Can take them or leave them
Barada
Amanaman
EV9D9
Yak Face
Lumat
Warok
Luke Endor
Lando General
A Wing Pilot

Do nothing for me
Anakin
Imperial Dignitary
Romba
Paploo
Han Carbonite

That said i always preferred the Han carbonite on a Tri Logo rather than POTF card as at least you cans see the figure.

I do like the Last 17 line but feel my attraction stems from the desire to own something that is perceived to be rare, exclusive and expensive to obtain. Luke Stormtrooper, Lando General and Imperial Gunner look cool and I always wanted to get hold of a mint Amanaman.

But when you look at the first 12, or the first 21 for that matter there really aren't any bad figures there. They've all got that something special, a little je n'ais se quoi.

I love the Cantina aliens, they're all so vividly painted. The Jawa, the Tusken Raider, the Death Squad Commander, need I say more... but my all time favourite is Han Solo. There's just something so simple yet so cool and stylish about him, and so many subtle variations between each of the different coos.

It's nothing really to do with liking or disliking figures, it's all about completing a collection. Even if one was a 1985 Jar Jar binks people would still collect it.

For example if you were collecting the 1998 England World Cup coins. You wouldn't miss out David Batty just because you thought he was a twat.

Strange thing is I don't hate the Imperial Dignitary?! I reckon the Emperor would have loads of creepy advisors around him so I kind of accept him. I liked the bit in Rogue one where the weird dude gets Vader out of the bath to say Krennic is here. I think there would be loads of weirdos hanging about Palatine. He reminds me of Philip Hammond. However when I was 11 I reckon I'd have preferred to spend my pocket money on Some Lego.

What came first, a wing pilot or a wing ship? I don't have any recollection of either?

The Last 17 work as a strange curiosity at the end of the line of the greatest ever toy run in history. However they are the equivalent of the last crap album by your favourite band just before they split up.

I see a lot of dislike for the Ewoks going by the replies, oh well, not everyone can have poor taste like me

Darth Bobby said:

Strange thing is I don't hate the Imperial Dignitary?! I reckon the Emperor would have loads of creepy advisors around him so I kind of accept him. I liked the bit in Rogue one where the weird dude gets Vader out of the bath to say Krennic is here. I think there would be loads of weirdos hanging about Palatine. He reminds me of Philip Hammond. However when I was 11 I reckon I'd have preferred to spend my pocket money on Some Lego.

What came first, a wing pilot or a wing ship? I don't have any recollection of either?

The Last 17 work as a strange curiosity at the end of the line of the greatest ever toy run in history. However they are the equivalent of the last crap album by your favourite band just before they split up.

Click to expand...

:lol:

I believe that the A wing pilot was first on the POTF cards and the A wing ship came out slightly later in the Droids line, both were 1985 from what I remember.

I think the Ewoks are great personally, perhaps there are one or two too many considering all the other figures they could have done like Tarkin or the Fleet Trooper, but they fit in nicely with the earlier figures where as some of the Last 17 do not.

Section 8 said:

It's nothing really to do with liking or disliking figures, it's all about completing a collection. Even if one was a 1985 Jar Jar binks people would still collect it.

For example if you were collecting the 1998 England World Cup coins. You wouldn't miss out David Batty just because you thought he was a twat.

Click to expand...

I quite agree. I'm sure we can all point to our favourite and least favourite figures throughout the line, and even throughout each wave (come on, no-one loves all the figures absolutely equally, do they? With the first 12, most people will prefer Luke over the Death Squad Commander, or perhaps the Stormtrooper over the Jawa, or whatever). For me it's never been a case of whether I prefer one figure or wave over another, as that's a natural part of being human; having preferences. Instead, it's about completing the run. Perhaps not everyone is (or would like to be) a completist, but I certainly always have been. When I was a kid collecting Panini stickers, I didn't just want some of the stickers released for an album, I wanted all of them. I didn't always get them all of course, but I still wanted them!

When I got back into collecting vintage Star Wars figures, I wouldn't have dreamed of not trying to get them all, no matter how good, bad or indifferent I might consider a particular figure to be. Money and availability might have prevented me from having everything that I wanted, but it doesn't mean I didn't want it. The only thing that makes me genuinely not want to buy a Vintage item is if it wasn't in the films. That offended my childhood sensibilities, and it offends them still, which is why I don't collect the Mini-Rigs, but hey, horses for courses and all that! :-D

I guess it comes down to why you collect and what hooks there are for certain items or lines.

The Last 17 (and for me it's 17, not 15 although I understand the arguments) have a number of hooks:

1) Yak Face - the only L17 I (remember I) had as a kid. Hated it. My brother and I both had one and laughed our heads off when the first person to the box of figures at the car boot we sold them at excitedly handed over £1 for both the Yaks. "Weirdo!" we thought

2) Nostalgia. I never knew the L17 (bar Yak) existed until around 1993/4 when I got back into collecting. It was the Tomart price guide that introduced them to me. I was blown away by the thought there were another 16 figures I had no recollection of (although a diary reveals I had both a Paploo and a Warok, I have no recollection of them). I was so excited. And every time I bought another collection through Loot the excitement of seeing an Imperial Gunner, Amanaman or Yak Face never diminished. So damned exciting.

3) What they represent. So much! The end of an era of toys that has never been seen before, since or ever will be. Fact. Also, the end of my childhood proper: from there on came computer games, divorce (not me, my parents), **** time at school and the car crash of a remarriage my dad went through. OK, bit heavy for here but deal with it They also hold an air melancholia about them. Kenner knew their time was up. Lucas had finished the Trilogy but how could they breath new life into an 8 year old toy line without movies? I know, let's release a big lizard, two old women and a baby-headed Stormtrooper.

Some of the sculpts are great. I happen to love Amanaman. Some aren't. Never considered Barada as the forerunner of POTF2, but you're absolutely right!

If I came across a Yak Face today for £5 I would of course definitely buy it, but then I would also definitely resell it immediately because I plain hate it I think it's ugly lol. Then i'd buy something I actually like with the profit, 8) for something I think I would enjoy actually looking at amongst my collection.

As for Ewok's i'm also only interested in 3, Teebo, Lumat and Wicket, the first 2 are from my childhood so I love them, Wicket wasn't a part of my childhood but I own it because I love that character in ROTJ and the figure looks nice. All other Ewoks I don't own and frankly never will no matter how rare it is or how nice it looks, for me personally 3 Ewoks is enough to have an 'Ewok set' in my collection.

Some of the last 17 Kenner took the piss with, Amanaman, Yakface, Imp dignitary are perfect examples. I think most people had to rewatch the movie to see if the character was actually in it. Luke Stormtrooper was a figure I'd always wanted though, I used to have 2 stormtroopers taking Chewy to the brigg (Pretending they were Han and Luke) Ewoks I loved them and having more variety was great, R2 pop up= Classic figure. A wing pilot, never cared about but the Imp gunner I still believe is 1 that should have made the first 21, Ev9d9 would have made more sense on ROTJ cards instead of 8D8 due to screen time and dialogue, Han Carbonite should have made the ESB range but I think with having the slave 1 Carbon and price to make its understandable why they didnt.
Id have loved the last 17 to grow beyond, Han Stormtrooper, Vader no helmet and a load more.