Welcome back everyone to the third and final part of our look back to “The Vintage Collection” toy line.
We have covered the single packed figures and in this installment, we are going to check out the rest of the line including vehicles, multi-packs, mail-away and convention exclusives and the only creature set. There’s a ton of great stuff left to go through so let’s get started.
The line takes a slightly different turn at this point because the single figures were mostly available at all retailers minus a few exceptions. The multi-packs and vehicles seem to be the exact opposite, being mostly released as retailer exclusives through Target, K-Mart, Amazon and Toys R Us, again, minus a few exceptions.
Vehicles and Beasts
TVC saw 15 vehicle releases from all the movies except “TPM” and included one under “The Clone Wars” cartoon. All but three were retailer exclusives with the rest being divided up between Amazon (2), Toys R’ Us (5), Target (3) and K-Mart (2). Unlike the figures, there is no numbering system for the vehicles, but with only 15 releases, it’s really not hard to keep track of them. The easiest way is to look at each retailer and list their exclusives. I also included the only beast set from TVCin this section to makes things a little more organized and it’s kind of a vehicle too!
K-Mart
- The Scout Walker AT-ST from “RotJ”
- B-Wing Starfighter from “RotJ”
Amazon
- TIE Interceptor from “TESB”
- Slave 1 from “TESB”
Target
- Imperial TIE Fighter from “TESB”
- Land speeder from “Star Wars”
- Rebel Armored Snowspeeder from “TESB”
- Luke Skywalker’s Tauntaun from “TESB”
Toys R’ Us
- Biggs’ Red 3 X-Wing Fighter from “Star Wars”
- Imperial AT-AT from “TESB” – Also released in a variant “RotJ” package
- Millennium Falcon from “TESB”
- Republic Gunship from “AotC”
- Y-Wing Starfighter from “RotJ”
Non Exclusives
- AT-AP from “RotS”
- Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Star Fighter from “RotS”
- V-19 Torrent Star Fighter from “The Clone Wars”
The vehicles in TVC were just as impressive as the figures and like them were mostly re-issues. There was still an attention to small details that fit right in with this line like movie realistic control panels, realistic lighting effects, great paint apps, vehicle and movie-specific accessories and some of the bigger vehicles even came with figures included. This is something that the original Kenner line never did and is more associated with Hasbro’s G.I. Joe line.
The vehicles were a great addition to TVC, but most would carry such a high price tag, that it made it tough for collectors to shell out more money for vehicles that they already owned. The Millennium Falcon, for example, was an exact re-release of the 2008 Legacy Collection ship costing $100.00. When it was released for TVC, it came in at a staggering $250.00!
Multi-Packs
The 14 multi-packs were split between K-Mart and Target exclusives with 14 total. The vintage Kenner line had several of these throughout its run and included characters from a specific scene or those who shared the same affiliation (rebels, imperials, etc.). Hasbro kept the same theme with these packs and only focused on the original trilogy.
The 5 sets that were sold in K-mart were actually 2-packs with three of them focused on the battle of Endor with two Ewok sets and an AT-ST crew set. One of the Ewok sets actually came with the assault catapult from the battle.
The other two sets focused on the Imperial scanning crew from “ANH”. The neat thing of these two sets is that each one contained the two figures and either the bottom or top half the crate that they carried the equipment in from the movie so you had to buy both sets to complete the scene.
The other 9 sets from Target were straight three packs that only contained figures. These sets focused on characters with similar movie affiliations, droids, heroes, villains, imperials, etc.
These are pretty straightforward sets so there’s not a lot to cover with one exception. The “Android” set comes with C-3PO, R2-D2 and…. you guessed it, Chewbacca?! Your guess is as good as mine as to how these three characters were included together in the “Android” set.
Convention Exclusives and Mail Aways
There were two straight mail away figures included in TVC and one that is kind of a mix between a mail way and store exclusive.
The first mail away figure was in 2010 and was something fans and older collector’s had been promised for over 30 years. A Rocket-Firing Boba Fett was finally offered and delivered to fans under the TVC banner. It was made in the super detailed and articulated style of the line and looked great. This really helped kick off this line in a big way showing collector’s that Hasbro was looking to give us some unique pieces.
The second mail away was Boba Fett in Prototype Armor (#61) in 2011. It was done in the style of his original all-white armor that was early in the character design for “TESB”. It’s a really cool looking figure that has been done several times since this one in The Black Series line and by Funko and Sideshow. It was even given a number in the basic figure assortment to help it fit in the line.
The third figure was really more of a store exclusive than a mail away but I included it here because it could fit in either category. The online toy retailer, Brian’s Toys, offered a Jocasta Nu figure that was only available through them. Even though it is a basic carded figure it was not given a number in the basic line. TVCshines right here by not forgetting some of the background characters from the saga that we would not normally see a super articulated figure for.
There were also three convention exclusive sets that were offered to collectors.
The first was from Celebration V in 2010 and came in the form of a 4-LOM/Zuckuss two-pack in a box set. Each figure came on its own cardback that was foil stamped and in keeping with the vintage theme, kept the error from the original Kenner cards that had their names switched. The packaging was cool with a fold open box that revealed both carded figure behind their own window and a cardboard sleeve that slid over the box when it was closed up. Neither of these two figures was given a number in the normal basic line assortment.
The second exclusive was from SDCC 2011 and was called the “Revenge of the Jedi (Death Star Set)”. This was a 14 figure set that included two exclusives. The package is a MASSIVE circle with a graphic of the second Death Star on the front. Again, it folds open to reveal the 14 carded figure on the inside. It includes all of the 12 figures from the “Revenge of the Jedi” line in the basic assortment and 2 exclusive mini figures: Salacious Crumb (#66) and Mouse Droid (#67). These exclusives were given numbers in the basic assortment.
The third convention exclusive is the strangest of all the sets and is really only connected to TVC by one figure which is the oddest figure in the entire line. The 2012 SDCC exclusive was the “Carbonite Chamber Collector’s Pack”. This was a 7 figure set with one exclusive in a pretty elaborate package meant to mimic the carbon freezing chamber. Six of the seven figures were carded on a new card design that Hasbro was calling “The Lost Line”, representing one character from each film. This new card was a throwback to a design that was originally considered by Kenner in the 70”s. These six were eventually re-released in the stores with the new card.
The seventh figure in this set is the direct tie-in to TVC. Jar Jar Binks in Carbonite Block was the exclusive figure in this set and comes on a vintage style card under “TPM” heading. This is by far the strangest figure in the set but goes to show how much fun Hasbro had with this entire line. The figure was not given a number in the basic line of figures.
Whew! That does it for our rundown of The Vintage Collection from 2010-2012. I had a blast doing the research for these articles and looking at all the releases from this line. This was such a great set of figures and vehicles and if you have been following this article I hope you have enjoyed it and learned a little in the process.
The new figures are starting to hit stores as I type this so I would urge anyone who is on the fence about collecting this line to start looking now because it looks like Hasbro has got some great things in store for us this time. Good lucking hunting!
~Eric
