Tommy and Yehuda write:
Welcome to the latest issue of Star Wars Community Digest, your place to get summaries about what's going on in the Star Wars collecting community across all of the forums and Facebook groups. We will present the news and current events each week, so that you don't miss anything. Please be aware that many of these are closed Facebook groups though, which means you will need to join them in order to read the conversations. But don't worry, it's free and almost instantaneous.
Participating Groups and forums:
Star Wars Displays and Advertising
Star Wars Records and Tapes
Star Wars 12 Backs and Early Vintage Collectors Group (A New Hope 1977-79)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Vintage Collecting Group 1980-1982
Star Wars: Return of The Jedi Vintage Collecting Group 1983 - 1985
Star Wars: POTF (Last 17) Vintage Collecting Group 1985
Star Wars: The "Dark Times" Collecting Group (1985-95, Droids & Ewoks, etc)
Jabba's Court - Vintage Star Wars Collectors Group 1977 - 1988
The Imperial Commissary - 1977-1985 Vintage Star Wars Toys, Buy Sell Trade
Power Of The Force Coins
Star Wars bootleg and knockoff collectors
Star Wars Micro Machines and Action Fleet Collecting Group
vintage star wars action figures
The RebelScum vintage forum
Jawa's Outpost (UK and EIRE Star Wars trading group)
Echo Base Vintage Star Wars Trade/Sell/Buy
The Prototype Exchange
The Star Wars Traveler: filming locations and road trips for Star Wars fans
If you are an administrator or moderator and would like your community to be a part of this feature, please let us know. We are always happy to include additional groups/forums in our summaries, but be aware that not every group can be featured every week.
In any case, lets get right down to it and get everyone caught up to date on what they may have missed last week...
Micro Gold
Toy
designers at Kenner considered other uses for the figures from the Micro line. Their pre-production experiments resulted in a limited
number of striking prototype Micro figures with different metal
finishes. Join in the conversation as the community discusses the known
different metal finishes seen on these prototype pieces.
The full thread can be found here:
Gold Micros
Further reading on the Archive:
Customs Auction on RS
As you might recall from our last issue, there is a series of auctions on eBay for replica prototypes which claim to be made by a former Kenner employee. This does not appear to be the case, but whether it is or not is ultimately immaterial. The bigger issue is the danger unmarked replica items pose to the hobby. The Rebelscum vintage community discusses the issue.
The full thread can be found here:
Perfect Example of Repro Dangers
The Blue Harvest and Fake Prototypes
The Empire Strikes Back vintage collecting group discusses whether or not a connection to an original employee makes reproduction prototypes more exciting. The fake prototypes auctions on eBay are compared to the Blue Harvest pieces of the 90s, and collectors debate the differences.
The full thread can be found here:
Fake Prototypes
Further reading:
12back.com Feature: The Blue Harvest
Ree Yees Blue Harvest Unpainted Hardcopy Arm Pair
A Limelight Worth a Look
Kenner
produced a line of Star Wars-themed board games throughout the vintage
years which are often under-appreciated. A collector from Echo Base
shares a picture of three different board games with their contents
displayed showcasing their colorful game boards and detailed artwork. Check out the further reading for Ron Salvatore’s comprehensive review
on Vintage Star Wars board games.
The full thread can be found here:
Further reading on the Archive:
Things You Never Noticed
Sometimes you get so used to seeing something that you don't even see it anymore. In this thread from the Jabba's Court group, the community discusses discoveries they've made about vintage action figures, which should have been obvious to them but weren't.
The full thread can be found here:
Things you never noticed
Revenge of the Jedi AT-AT Boxflat with Conceptual Logo
One
of the many unused alternate Revenge of the Jedi logos is displayed
on a AT-AT boxflat mock-up in a post on the Return of the Jedi Vintage
Collectors Group. Check out the further readings to see other conceptual Revenge of the Jedi logos.
The full thread can be found here:
Further reading on the Archive:
Collector Spotlight: Mac Dunbar-Bickmore
Meet
a natural born collector. A native of Chicago, Mac was born into a
family of collectors and antique dealers. He has been collecting vintage
Star Wars with enthusiasm his entire life and shares his travels and
collection this week on Echo Base.
The full thread can be found here:
Buying Responsibly Made Reproductions
The
community discusses the difference between a custom figure, a
reproduction figure, and a forgery. The importance of marking
reproductions as copies in an indelible fashion is also reviewed this
week in Jabba’s Court.
The full thread can be found here:
The full thread can be found here:
Fake R2 Pencil Sharpener
It's not every day that someone fakes an entire line of Star Wars toys, but that's what happened here. A well-known scammer from Argentina faked these Plasticola Star Wars pencil sharpener sets and they've been turning up on eBay lately. Thankfully, the community was warned about the fakes and expert collectors from Argentina confirmed that the toys are not genuine.
The full thread can be found here:
Fake R2 Pencil Sharpener
Further reading on the Archive:
Fakes gallery on the SWCA
Estes Rockets for a Galaxy, Far Far Away...
Estes
Industries, a producer of reliable model rockets, produced an assortment
of fun licensed Star Wars themed rocket kits throughout the vintage
years. A collector makes a find of an assortment of rare Estes rocket
catalogs featuring their Star Wars line in this thread on the 12 Backs
group.
The full thread can be found here:
Further reading on the Archive:
Rare Shuttle Variant Turns Up
There are few vintage vehicles as visually impressive as the Imperial Shuttle. It is usually on most collectors' want lists, thanks to its awesome styling, impressive scale, and expensive price point. The European version of the box ranks as one of the rarest vintage variants around though, and one of them was recently found. Since it's only the 2nd confirmed example of this version of the box, this is an amazing discovery!
The full thread can be found here:
Euro Meccano Imperial Shuttle variant
Further reading on the Archive:
Imperial Shuttle w/ Meccano sticker
Imperial Shuttle entry on the SWCA
Imperial Shuttle Proof Sheet
Vintage Podcasts
The community discusses which podcasts they should be listening to for vintage Star Wars news and discussion.
The full thread can be found here:
Vintage Star Wars Podcasts
Our Star Wars Community Digest Time Capsule Thread for this Issue:
"...A Stupid Descent into Cutesieism"
 |
| Ewoks "Damn Right We're Cute" Cast and Crew T-Shirt |
While the fandom still has a certain amount of dislike for Ewoks, they've mostly mellowed on them. I would hypothesize that as more collectors who were born in the post-ROTJ years enter the hobby, the Ewoks became just as much a part of the saga as Darth Vader or any of the things that the people who grew up in the ANH years cherished. Some people's childhoods weren't ruined by Ewoks; for some, their childhoods were Ewoks and Ewok toys. Of course, the softening of vitriol towards the Ewoks could also be because newer and more insulting examples of terrible writing have come along to take the brunt of the uncontrollable Nerd Rage (looking at you, The Last Jedi). But either way, in 1985 Return of the Jedi was still fresh in everyone's mind and the Ewoks cartoon show was just around the corner. Ewoks were taking over the entire franchise. As such, if you signed onto ARPANET and visited the net.sf-lovers newsgroup, you would probably have found at least one thread very much like this one.
In retrospect, fans of 1985 didn't know how good they had it.
The full thread can be found here:
"cute" Ewoks
You forgot to add the La Guerre des Etoiles group in the participating group list! ;) Matth
ReplyDeleteWhoops, sorry about that! It'll be in the list from here on out! :)
Delete