Has a sealed case of vintage ever been found?

[Imperial nut]

Wow this is interesting , the packaged in Ireland thing is odd. The woolworths collection is also intriguing as they were in Ireland but left in the mid 80's I think .
The thing that throws me most is toys r us as I know we didn't have toys r us over here then and apart from northern Ireland even now.

Ireland had a weird history of toy crazes especially in the 80's we were not as affluent as our British neighbours and we mainly got surplus of all toy lines.
This is not griping but based on many people memories and childhood collections which seem to be full of Rotj creatures, I remember buckets of bib fortuna in tescos and quinnsworth .

I will start looking into this I know a few folks in distribution but I think these may have been packed in Ireland but for another Market??

 

[Caswellbot]

Hey guys, this is what I managed to find out from someone I consider to be a reliable source:

"Overall there is a lot of information on the 3-packs from Ireland. Not much info on who did it and the assortment of figures. But, you are correct and they are extra bulk stock.

They can be compared to the ROTJ USA 2-packs. The company responsible for the Kenner 2 packs were sent drums of loose figures. Only when the employees got to the bottom of the drum (rumored?), is when they got to the weapons and placed them with the figures. This is why so many 2-packs have no weapons.

ANWAYS, the Irish 3-Packs are cool but the bad news is they are easy to open up and reseal. Because of this, many people over the years have pulled out crummy figures and placed in better figures or amazing combo of 3 figures like Vader, Luke and Emperor. So never trust the figures inside these days."

I know this doesn't answer many of the questions earlier in the thread but Im sure you will agree it is interesting nonetheless.

Pull on your contacts Steve and see if you can unearth any info mate.

 

[e30318is]

Wow Ironside meets Steve Sansweet!! Great detective work chaps.

The idea of loose figures in a drum with loose weapons sounds awesome. Another thing I woul love to stumble across at an old warehouse!!!!

The easy resealability puts me way off though..... If one comes up dirty cheap I might have a go but I am not going to pay three figures for a potential reseal. I wonder what sort of seal they are? Waffle pattern, mexican style with no waffle, glue, stapled?

 

[Caswellbot]

I have just been sent this information from a collector in Ireland regarding the Space Figure 3 packs:

"As far as i am aware they were packed in Ireland and they could have been packed for a Company called Dunnes Stores which still exists. It is similar toTesco and Sainsbury except family owned. I did hear that they were packed in Galway but that was just some one saying it i couldn't be sure. One guy i knew years ago said he remembers packages like the German Kraft packs with the speeder bikes etc. "

 

[BlueDog]

The story ( I stress the word STORY ) here in Australia was that in the late 80's we have show/fair called the Melbourne Show. They sell show bags with all sorts of useless toys, lollies and such. Apparently they released a Star Wars show bag that was to include a carded Yak Face. Supposedly one forward thinking gentleman caught wind of this an offered the person putting together these Show Bags the equivalent of a buck a piece for the figures. Nice retirement fund. Urban myth or truth it makes for a nice yarn.

 

[tatsie]

I really liked this thread, thank you.

 

[e30318is]

The most interesting thread I have read in ages! It will be great if more info is made available and some history is documented here!
Great work guys

 

[Imperial nut]

Chris it seems you already have quite a lot of irish sources on this, so i may not be able to add anything, but the dunnes stores route is very likely, as at the time they had a position similar to tescos and would often do what they wanted and copyright, licences be damned.

I dont think there is a warehouse anywhere as they really do run off a lot of stock , but it might be possible to ask them if they ever stocked them or commissioned the rip off packaging.

i will try and see what happens.

 

[tatsie]

In the mid 90s my friend found quite a few tri logos in Ibizi. All covered in dust. For some reason he didn't buy them all, the twat. I tried calling and calling, but the shop lady's pigeon English and my non existent Spanish ended in her hanging up on me weekly.

 

[Boba 71]

I remember walking into a shop called games and puzzles in Cambridge in the late 80's and seeing a box of figures, loads of yaks and Lando's all priced at a £1 each. Didn't have any cash on me so returned the next day... All gone :x
It still grits my **** when I think about it.