Modern MOC 'investing'

subzero

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Just wondering if there's anyone on here who suckered themselves into buying POTF2 figures or even Episode 1 back in the day believing they will be worth a small fortune in future?, or anyone who knows someone who did it?

With the prices of original vintage toys even in the late 90's I bet quite a few people got caught out 'investing' in the modern 90's figures, thinking they would be as popular and reap the same rewards later on. I'm not ashamed to admit I did this myself in a small way when I was a young lad and barely out of my teens, I remember buying a couple of Episode 1 figures because I really did like them and wanted to collect them, but at the same time I was naive to really believe they were going to eventually be rare, sought after and very valuable, I remember even looking at some POTF2 on shelves in Forbidden Planet and feeling a little tempted to buy some thinking they may be valuable one day.

There must have been some people out there physically crying over looking at a bedroom full of 200+ Episode 1 MOC's when they realised they could barely give them away. :lol: :lol:
 

yoda

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I remember one user on here but I can't remember his name. He had boxes of mocs for sale not that long ago.
I know it was a gamble buying them, it's funny how the originals hold the value and still rise. I guess it's collectors that grew up with the first movies keep the wheel turning. The newer mocs are just much of the same and don't hold much grip on collectors as the originals.
 

Crumm

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yoda said:
I remember one user on here but I can't remember his name. He had boxes of mocs for sale not that long ago.
I know it was a gamble buying them, it's funny how the originals hold the value and still rise. I guess it's collectors that grew up with the first movies keep the wheel turning. The newer mocs are just much of the same and don't hold much grip on collectors as the originals.

Thing about the originals is the higher rarity of them, back in the day they were opened and played with, then forgotten about when Star Wars fell out of fashion. Then collectors started picking them up in the early 90's again.

POTF2 and EP1 etc were kept carded on purpose by some people hoping they would become valuable on the back of the whole vintage collecting resurgence. They have kind of perpetuated their own downfall because there is no rarity to them, you can pick up many of them for a few quid MOC.

I was at Collectorabilia Leeds last weekend, a guy there had a stall full of them, no-one seemed to be buying.

I also think the POTF2 figures are horrible to look at, the sculpts are really bad. I would not collect them for sure.
 

subzero

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yoda said:
I remember one user on here but I can't remember his name. He had boxes of mocs for sale not that long ago.
I know it was a gamble buying them, it's funny how the originals hold the value and still rise. I guess it's collectors that grew up with the first movies keep the wheel turning. The newer mocs are just much of the same and don't hold much grip on collectors as the originals.

They really were more of a novelty than anything else, they just didn't tick the right boxes for vintage collectors, I remember even getting excited again when Episode 2 released and bought myself several figures, but that time I opened them all because by then I was a little bit wiser and realised it didn't matter to rip em open.
 

edd_jedi

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Nope, I knew they would never be worth anything because nobody was buying them to play with. Vintage toys were bought by kids, opened and played with. POTF2 was bought by adults and stored away. Pretty obvious why one is now scare and valuable and the other is not.
 

spoons

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I picked up a couple back in the day but for curiosity rather than anything else. I am strangley drawn to POTF2 these days and can see my self putting a carded run together, especially with the current prices of vintage. I think there are others with a similar view and we may start seeing modern increasing in value (but I hope not until I have a run)
 

Mini99

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spoons said:
I picked up a couple back in the day but for curiosity rather than anything else. I am strangley drawn to POTF2 these days and can see my self putting a carded run together, especially with the current prices of vintage. I think there are others with a similar view and we may start seeing modern increasing in value (but I hope not until I have a run)
I believe that POTF2 will have their day, but not to the same extent as the original ones for the same reasons as Edd said above.
I think we have spoken before Andy, there is something about the POTF2 line that is appealing, time will tell!
 

subzero

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Huh, interesting to hear that POTF2 is becoming more popular.... ( proceeds to pull bank card out of wallet ) :lol:

But nah in all honesty I think nearly all of them just look dreadful.
 

Snaketibe

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Mini99 said:
spoons said:
I picked up a couple back in the day but for curiosity rather than anything else. I am strangley drawn to POTF2 these days and can see my self putting a carded run together, especially with the current prices of vintage. I think there are others with a similar view and we may start seeing modern increasing in value (but I hope not until I have a run)
I believe that POTF2 will have their day, but not to the same extent as the original ones for the same reasons as Edd said above.
I think we have spoken before Andy, there is something about the POTF2 line that is appealing, time will tell!
I agree that there might be an upturn in interest at some point, but the crazy prices of Vintage will never be there. The very few genuinely scarce POTF2 / modern line pieces (e.g. 1st Issue R2-D2 with Holographic Leia; the one with the oversized dome and full circles on his 'ankles') may become exceptions as they have always been worth more, but overall I can't see any of the modern line ever achieving high value prices in our lifetimes.

As for putting together a full carded run, I hope you literally mean just the POTF2 figure line rather than the entire modern line :-D. The former is quite achievable, but the latter would be a truly enormous undertaking due to the sheer number of figures released! I know because I had exactly that until after the 'Revenge of the Sith' line, when I finally saw the light and sold my modern carded run and kept my loose run, which I display and still enjoy to this day. The carded run took up so much space (un-displayed) that unless you have a spare room to store it, let alone display it, it's almost prohibitive in size.
 

edd_jedi

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subzero said:
But nah in all honesty I think nearly all of them just look dreadful.

That is also a barrier for a lot of people, they just look awful. I believe they based the sculpts on wrestling figures? Which was a classic marketing mistake, being about 5 years behind the times as wrestling was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The generic cardbacks are also crap, so the packaging doesn't appeal either.

I think that's why newer lines like the VC stuff is more collectable and in some cases going up in value, like POTF2 they are just being hoovered up by collectors but the difference is they are not hideous.
 

subzero

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edd_jedi said:
subzero said:
But nah in all honesty I think nearly all of them just look dreadful.

That is also a barrier for a lot of people, they just look awful. I believe they based the sculpts on wrestling figures? Which was a classic marketing mistake, being about 5 years behind the times as wrestling was popular in the late 80s and early 90s. The generic cardbacks are also crap, so the packaging doesn't appeal either.

I think that's why newer lines like the VC stuff is more collectable and in some cases going up in value, like POTF2 they are just being hoovered up by collectors but the difference is they are not hideous.

Terrible mistake, that look worked for MOTU, TMHT and wrestling etc, but Star Wars.... :?:

I sometimes have a browse through The Action Figure Archive SW book which illustrates modern and vintage and sometimes have a look at the POTF2 for a laugh, sometimes i'm almost pissing myself laughing sitting on the bog looking at some of the body sculpts and the faces.
 

TK-7785

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subzero said:
But nah in all honesty I think nearly all of them just look dreadful.

Agreed. But by the time they got to the Power Of The Jedi line they really peaked I feel. They had great sculpts and the quality was top notch. I collected the post 1995 figures right up to Attack Of The Clones. At which point I got a little jaded and bowed out. I always collected for the fun of collecting but certainly took a financial hit when I sold it all in around 2001/2002.

I also think there'll be a resurgence of popularity with the POTF2 line. Partially pushed by the ever increasing cost of vintage, but also a little nostalgia. I have some fond memories of hunting down figures released in the late 90s. But given their abundance and, like others have said, everyone and their grandmother kept them carded means they will never really hit the kind of values we see with vintage. It seems you can pick up all but a few for near enough what they retailed for back in the day.

Chris
 

subzero

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TK-7785 said:
subzero said:
But nah in all honesty I think nearly all of them just look dreadful.

Agreed. But by the time they got to the Power Of The Jedi line they really peaked I feel. They had great sculpts and the quality was top notch. I collected the post 1995 figures right up to Attack Of The Clones. At which point I got a little jaded and bowed out. I always collected for the fun of collecting but certainly took a financial hit when I sold it all in around 2001/2002.

I also think there'll be a resurgence of popularity with the POTF2 line. Partially pushed by the ever increasing cost of vintage, but also a little nostalgia. I have some fond memories of hunting down figures released in the late 90s. But given their abundance and, like others have said, everyone and their grandmother kept them carded means they will never really hit the kind of values we see with vintage. It seems you can pick up all but a few for near enough what they retailed for back in the day.

Chris

That's it if they're going to get popular in future it mostly will be nostalgia and an alternative to collect something else that's 100 times cheaper and easier to acquire. I do remember times going into town shopping many years back i'd always go into Forbidden Planet on my way out as a bit of fun just to browse, I do remember looking at some Shadows of The Empire and Expanded Universe figures and thinking they looked pretty neat, if I ended up buying some ( which I didn't ) I may have a bit of nostalgia for them now. I do feel slightly nostalgic though when I see a couple of certain Ep1 figures that I had back then just because they remind me of that time.
 

spoons

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Mini99 said:
spoons said:
I picked up a couple back in the day but for curiosity rather than anything else. I am strangley drawn to POTF2 these days and can see my self putting a carded run together, especially with the current prices of vintage. I think there are others with a similar view and we may start seeing modern increasing in value (but I hope not until I have a run)
I believe that POTF2 will have their day, but not to the same extent as the original ones for the same reasons as Edd said above.
I think we have spoken before Andy, there is something about the POTF2 line that is appealing, time will tell!

Exactly - they did look dreadful on release but time has given them a bit of charm. Who cant love monkey faced Leia!

Snaketibe said:
As for putting together a full carded run, I hope you literally mean just the POTF2 figure line rather than the entire modern line :-D. The former is quite achievable, but the latter would be a truly enormous undertaking due to the sheer number of figures released!

Ha ha - definitely the former, with maybe the Shadows of the Empire figures too
 

Mini99

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spoons said:
Mini99 said:
spoons said:
I picked up a couple back in the day but for curiosity rather than anything else. I am strangley drawn to POTF2 these days and can see my self putting a carded run together, especially with the current prices of vintage. I think there are others with a similar view and we may start seeing modern increasing in value (but I hope not until I have a run)
I believe that POTF2 will have their day, but not to the same extent as the original ones for the same reasons as Edd said above.
I think we have spoken before Andy, there is something about the POTF2 line that is appealing, time will tell!

Exactly - they did look dreadful on release but time has given them a bit of charm. Who cant love monkey faced Leia!

Snaketibe said:
As for putting together a full carded run, I hope you literally mean just the POTF2 figure line rather than the entire modern line :-D. The former is quite achievable, but the latter would be a truly enormous undertaking due to the sheer number of figures released!

Ha ha - definitely the former, with maybe the Shadows of the Empire figures too

Yes, monkey face Leia, "now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time"! :lol:

Can you imagine what a FULL run would look like, there must be hundreds if not over a thousand?
Yes of course the orange POTF2 only, they really do have a certain charm.

SoTE, sorry, thats one line too far! :shock:
 

Snaketibe

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Spoons said:
Snaketibe said:
As for putting together a full carded run, I hope you literally mean just the POTF2 figure line rather than the entire modern line :-D. The former is quite achievable, but the latter would be a truly enormous undertaking due to the sheer number of figures released!

Ha ha - definitely the former, with maybe the Shadows of the Empire figures too
Yes, I always liked the Shadows line, and also the 9 Expanded Universe figures. For some reason I've always had a soft spot for those (but not so much the later EU efforts). They're a neat subset and the packaging is great too, both carded and opened as the cards fold out into displays, as you probably already know! :)

SOTE 01.jpg

EU 01.jpg
 

grinchy

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I collect both modern and vintage, to be honest the power of the force stuff is not something I ever collected, I do have some loose figures but the bulky look doesn't do it for me.
The later waves especially the thirtieth anniversary line are much more appealing, better sculpts great packaging, and they have held there value mostly, I have carded and loose examples, my favourite part of that line is the McQuarrie concept figure line.
The episode 1 figures I remember buying the odd one, its before I got back into collecting they were nice I thought but that's it, I remember friends buying doubles of each card one to open one to keep, I wonder how many lofts are stuffed with ep1 merchandise that is now not worth that much, there are still figures that kept there value, but the line as a whole I think was overproduced.
 

Ruby2511

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I got into collecting modern potf etc. Got fed up with it. Had a very reasonable collection. Sold the lot and bought a Vespa :D

Russ :D
 

spoons

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Sounds like you got a good price for them Russ :shock:

Good call on the McQuarrie figs guys, would go for a set of those too

And Mini, think I'd be happy with the standard 100 or so POTF figs. Even Sansweet has stopped collecting everything. Crazy amount of stuff out there
 
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