As a child of the '70s and '80s, I grew up with Star Wars and particularly the Star Wars 3.75-inch figure line from Kenner. Having acquired a fairly complete set once, I sold them all off in the late 80s in pursuit of other toys - to then collect nearly all of them again. Eventually, as I grew out of toys the collection was sold again with a couple of survivors by luck rather than judgment.
Roll forward to the 90s and I started a POTF2 collection through to and including the Phantom Menace releases, but I got a bit bored of that and side-stepped slightly with a plan of picking up a set of the original Kenner releases. That focus fell by the wayside and the small handful of figures I had picked up were boxed away and partly forgotten.
Nowadays I am a collector of the Star Wars Black Series, but I have found myself recently drawn back into the Kenner Vintage collecting - but with the knowledge that it is pretty unlikely I have the resources to pull together a complete set. At an Antiques Centre in Summer 2024 I was surprised to find several Vintage Star Wars figures at sub £10 and realized that while there are very expensive and sought-after Kenner figures, there are also many of these 40-year-old figures still in the wild, particularly across more common figures and those with a little - or indeed a lot of - play wear.
And so I kicked off my Star Wars Vintage Rescue challenge, a way to expand my limited collection, ideally with figures that I find on my trips around the UK - allowing each purchase to represent a memory of an event I have attended or a store I've visited.
March 2025
As we head into March, it has been 6 months since I kicked off this personal project to build a cheap & cheerful Star Wars Kenner Vintage collection. In the past few weeks, I have found myself more engrossed in the project and have also had a couple of realisations. Firstly, the physical market at Toy Fairs and Collector Stores & Centres is limited, and I have found myself seeing the same figures over and over again now - which means continued online purchases are going to be needed. The second realisation is around how complete this collection may get. I've initially targeted the first 79 as a goal - and from there I would like to build out the figures with accessories where possible. That brings us to the question of reproductions and while they do not sit completely comfortably with me, they may be something I will explore to enhance the collection while keeping costs low - particularly as some matched accessories are often more expensive than the figure. That decision is still weighing heavily and needs further consideration.
Onto the March purchases...
...and like February there were quite a lot of online purchases, particularly as I joined Echo Base Vintage on Facebook opening up a new supply route for figures and a wealth of knowledge for an amateur collector like myself. The first purchase of March was a good deal from an eBay seller with four figures I was missing. The lot gave me the Endor Rebel Commando, Imperial Commander, Lobot, and Leia Bespin - with the latter coming with what I think is a reproduction robe.
Barry Potter Fairs came back to Bolton in early March, and as it is our local show, my son and I paid a visit and I made two purchases to expand the Vintage collection. The first was a Rebel Hoth Trooper from a £5 figure bin. The second, as a complete Lando as Skiff Guard, including helmet and weapon, from a seller who came down from his £12 price to a tenner to secure the sale. I did leave the show kicking myself over some missed figures that I saw on our first sweep of the stalls and that had sold by the time I returned - notably a very clean Death Squad Commando and a nice Lando Calrissian including cape - the lesson is to be more decisive at these events!
And then came another extensive run of online purchases across Echo Base, eBay, and Vinted and an influx of new figures including an Ugnuaght, Greedo, Bossk, and a Death Squad Commander (making up for the recent miss at Bolton).
Another bulk lot at a very reasonable price of less than a fiver per figure also brought in a Bespin Guard, Leia on Hoth, a blonde-haired Luke Bespin, and a cleaner Walrus Man than the one I got last year in Wolverhampton. I know I have a darker hair Luke Bespin somewhere so it will be good to have both side by side as a comparison of the variations.
After these deliveries had come in, I found myself in Newcastle with work and dropped in on Big Kid Toys and Collectibles in North Shields. Another gem for fans of 80s toys and a handful of Star Wars Vintage to choose from - and I settled on the other Bespin Guard to complete the pairing.
The month's purchases concluded on Echo Base with a pair of pilots as I picked up both the Imperial TIE fighter Pilot and a Cloud Car Pilot at under £20.
As March concludes, and for those who remember one of the bulk lots I bought back in February, I finally matched up some accessories from those lots to figures I have had for some time. That means I now have a complete Logray with hood, bag, and staff. And Wicket - one of only two figures I have from my own childhood - was finally reunited with his hood. While I was digging out the Ewoks from one of my storage bins I also got my hands on Admiral Ackbar, a figure I bought back in the 90s who came with his baton - so he has been rolled out and added to the shelf (there are more to dig out when time permits).
February 2025
February kicked off with a few more online purchases as I targeted a few Vintage figure lots to expand the collection. Up first was a small lot that featured a pretty clean Princess Leia Boushh, complete with her helmet. The other figures in the lot were ones I already had, but there were some acessories that would suit a Logray I knew I had somewhere (more on this soon).
A second lot of 8 figures set me back £20, so £2.50 a figure. While there were duplicates again, the purchase expanded my collection with Han Solo in his Hoth gear, and a Rebel B-Wing pilot. Like the Boussh lot, there were also some accessories that will bolster existing figures once I dig them out.
I did my best to stay away from online sales for the rest of February and took advantage of improving health and taking half a term off work to venture out a bit, hunting vintage figures in the flesh.
That hunting in person kicked off with the Barry Potter Toy Fair in Doncaster in mid-February, a vast event with circa 350 stalls selling a variety of toys, collectibles and figures. There was no shortage of Kenner Vintage - and after some deliberation, I ended up picking up four figures from a seller who was asking for £7 each or 4 for £20. In that bundle I got Yoda, a Biker Scout, another Jedi Luke Skywalker, this time with original cape, and another Darth Vader. Vader has gone into the spares section, while the cloaked Luke has replaced the one I bought back in January.
Yoda came with his robes, but no belt. Fortunately, two aisles over in the hall, another seller was offering genuine spares including Yoda's belt. I spent another tenner on the belt, bringing my spend to £30 for all four figures - £7.50 each.
I finished February and the Half Term holiday with a trip over to Saltaire near Bradford, where a seller called Star Wars Man Saltaire has taken up several cabinets within Carlton Antiques on the second floor of the Salts Mill where he sells Star Wars figures. Having explored all the cabinets - a mix of Vintage and Modern including Black Series - I ended up buying a Snaggletooth and an Emperor's Royal Guard complete with a nice set of robes.
The total price was £22 so that was a bit higher than I have been paying - but I am starting to get to a point where the lower priced figures are all in my collection, so I am bracing myself for a bit of extra spend each month - and probably lower volume - to continue to expand the collection
January 2025
Following surgery in December, I spent much of January recuperating at home, which put pay to any trips hunting for figures. I did however scratch the Vintage itch thanks to the internet (continuing my rule breaking), winning a small lot on auction comprising of Darth Vader, Endor Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight, and R2-D2. At under £20 for the lot, this certainly fell into my 'cheap and cheerful' approach, setting me back less than a fiver each.
R2 had distorted legs, but some gentle heat with a hairdryer and a bit of patience did manage to straighten these out to some degree. Leia was also missing her poncho, but by a weird coincidence I found a lot on Vinted that included an AT-ST Driver wearing Leia's poncho so that was purchased too and put Leia back into her Endor fatigues while adding a nice AT-ST Driver with just a touch of paint rubs to the feet and hands into the blossoming collection.
November & December 2024
Having had a fruitless October, I picked up a trio of new rescue figures across November and December.
In November I visited the brilliant King Street Toys and Collectables in Wolverhampton. There was plenty of Kenner Star Wars to chose from, but I ended up leaving with a Walrus Man (Pondo Baba) having found him all alone in one of their cabinets. Walrus Man was joined in December by Dengar and a Klaatu Skiff Guard, both picked up in Bolton at that months Barry Potter Toy Fair for a bargain of £2 each.
September 2024
September 2024 was the first month of my Star Wars Vintage Rescue, starting at the end of the school holidays and finishing at the NEC Toy Fair.
The first of my Vintage Rescues came at Bygone Times an Antiques and Collectors Centre in Chorley, Lancashire when I found a lonely Ree Yees on a stall for just £3. The seller had him labeled just as 'figure' and everything else on the stall was very much McDonalds Toys and more modern 90s stuff. The day after my son and I went to York Unleashed Comic Con and with this idea of 'rescuing' old Kenner figures in mind I had plenty to choose from - finally settling on bringing home a cape-less Prune face for just £3.
While the NEC Toy Fair was the big event of the month, the week prior to the NEC it was the Bolton Toy Fair, which is quite often themed more around Trains and Cars than action figures. The September event was a pleasant surprise with a wider representation of toys - although Vintage Star Wars were a bit limited. I ended up adding some Jabba's goons to the collection with a Gamorrean and a Weequay for £3 each.
On the Sunday evening after getting back from the Bolton Toy Fair I broke my own rules when I was trawling Vinted and saw a very nice example of 4-LOM (Zuckuss) complete with coat and harness but with a stain on the reverse. Having watched it, the seller offered me a reduced price - rescuing a 4-LOM (Zuckuss) at just £6 plus postage.
And then it was time to head to the NEC in Birmingham for the Barry Potter Toy Fair with a couple of figures in mind to purchase, namely 8D8 as one of my favourite Star Wars Droids and with Hammerhead front and centre of my thoughts after receiving the Black Series release the day before the event.
I ended up picking up both of these at what worked out more or less £10 each from a dealer - both have a few dings and Hammerhead has a loose neck, but they look great on display.
On the way out of the NEC I spotted a Chief Chirpa complete with hood on a table and marked at £3. I do already have Chirpa but he is hoodless, so this one was picked up to put a more complete Chirpa into my collection. The dealer offered to do two figures for a fiver, so I added Zuckuss (4-LOM) to the purchase and he goes nicely with the recent acquisition of 4-LOM (Zuckuss)
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About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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