Are any figures really "rare"?

Seems to me that although collectors get all psyched about some figure they can't find right away, no figure is really all that hard to find. I remember when Ree-Yees and Death Star Trooper were impossible to find and the price rose to over $40 each, and then the Fan Club released them at regular price (regular for the Fan Club). R2/Holo Leia was considered rare, but as most people now know that's just due to the fact that retailers wanted newer stock, so there's warehouses full of the R2/Leia wave. Many have started trickling out. Seems to me that any figure you want that's hard to find will eventually be available a little later either through retailers or the Fan Club.

So, does anyone consider any figures really rare, or think that rare figures are a concern?

I think its just bad distributing not actual rare figures. A new wave comes out, the scalpers get there first and no one else can find them so they think they're rare, they hop on ebay and a few people have them saying they're rare, no one else could find them so the bidding starts and the prices go up.

I think if Hasbro distributed better(i.e. everywhere got the toys at the same time) then it would help get rid of this issue.

I agree that's a big part of it. I remember on the big May 3rd release, Darth Maul was scarce even though it was evenly packed. Fortunately there was enough stock that people didn't panic and in time Hasbro responded with solid cases of Mauls.
That brings me to an idea: Maybe retailers could have the option of ordering solid cases of figures. Apparently it's common practice overseas. This would be great because as soon as there's an increase in demand for a figure, a retailer could order more. Naturally, there would have to be a minimum order of assorted-figure cases first.

I don't care if they're rare or not... as long as I get them, I'll be happy

I think there's enough of them out there that if you really want to get onem you'l get one.

I got's one of them darn "nothing on the hands" Boba Fett figure's.
I opened a case a few years ago at TRU when the figure been out for awhile and 'BLAM', it was the first thing I saw. The case also had a Tri-Logo Stormtrooper which I picked up also.
I also was lucky enough to have a well paying job at the time and picked up every Short Saber/Long Tray figure I found, I have a mess of the things.
I am however stuck with about twenty Landos and C3Po's :(
I am not a horder, just a greedy collector.
®

I agree there's a definite distinction between the hoarder and the overzealous collector.
Anyone else hear about the guy who apparently has 100 stormtrooper 4" figures all opened and displayed in a big army? That'd be something to see!

100 Stormtroopers....not bad. I don't recall the name of the guy but theres a G.I.joe Collector who had pictures up on his site of his collection, of the 3 different kinds of popular cobra troops he had ranks set up of about 100 each(these are $15+ each figures), 5+ of all the big playsets(Aircraft Carrier, Defiant Shuttle which are $400+ each)...its sick, guess the guy just really like Joe toys.

The one thing that can really make a figure rare is a variation. It can be the figure or the card itself. The Orange carded Boba Fett and the paint variation on his hand is an example of figure variation. It's one I couldn't care less about but some variation hunters went nuts over it. An example of a card variation can be found in the orange carded Ben Kenobi with the spelling mistake in the character bio and the picture change. I've got the rarer version only because it was the figure I happened to pick up when I went on a toy run that day. I wasn't looking for that variation I just stumbled upon it and I still don't care that much about it.
Variations can make a figure rare, but only to certain collectors. And even these "variations" can be found in great numbers, there are thousands of them out there.

Remember the "short sabre/long tray/long sabre/short tray/whatever" variations? I actually passed those up when I first saw them because I thought they looked stupid! Then I see a long tray Kenobi on E-Bay for over a grand!

d'oh!

I heard of another Kenobi that went for over a grand on ebay. Besides sounding incredibly stupid, it sounds pretty shady. Sometimes I think that's a scam between a couple of guys on ebay. They run a bogus auction and sell something for a ridiculous price. The next week they sell the same figure and try to capitalize on the high price they set the week before. NO POTF2 figure should be worth that much.

Hell, I will sell you two of those Kenobi figures, mint on mint card for that price, and a free Lando and C3PO, hehe.
I remember the Kenobi spelling error. They sat on the TRU shelf's for ages. I picked up a bundle of them, just in case they would pay off some day.
Last count was two years ago, I had almost 1000 Power of the Force SW action figures. I have added at least 10 more cases to that number.
I like the figures that are factory sealed with either two left/right arms and the best one, the head turned all the way around, the "Linda Blair special". I have found two since the 1995 re-release.
I went to the pre-screening of the original trilogy and hooked up with one of those "shady" types that worked at the theater, actually my Girl made him think he was gonna get a date.
He sold me, out the back door of course, a dozen Theater Edition Luke Jedi figures for $100.00.
I told him as many as he could get I would buy.
I traded five more I bought from him for a parts car for my 69 Cougar.
Saved about two grand on parts.
I think that I was the only one that recognized "Richard Hatch" from "BattleStar Galactica" in the theater. Mark Hamil even walked right by him when he announced that Jedi was being pushed back one week. Hatch still looks like he did in the series, wicked strange.

Iv'e got two special ones myself. One is an original potf2 leai (she man). I call this leia "wicked wicth of the west Leia" , She has a boil on her right cheak (mold cast heat problem) and a mole on her chin (paint mark). I bought her right of the shelf and she's on a perfect sealed orange card. The other I have is a ff Vader w/removable helmet/mask. He has two complete right arms. This makes him have both elbows jointed and both hands removable. The only problem is that his left hand ofcourse is a right hand ( too bad it wasn't a protoype and have the correct left hand.) I feelboth of these figs are rare and priceless to me. They both provide me with greats amount of humor. I know of a guy localy that has blue storage barrels of original loose figs, he must have 15,000. He does have an original 1000 stormtrooper army all loose. He has shelves and shelves with rowes and rowes of loose vehicles, atleast 5 of each ever produced. I know this sounds like a lot but he is an avid yard sale person and dove into star wars big time when it first came out in the 70's.

I didn't see it mentioned elsewhere, so am I stating the very, very obvious if I mention the original Jawas with separate vinyl cloaks, or the Bossk figure with the wrong feet and height, or Boba Fett before they disabled his backpack rocket?

- V -

That Boba Fett was never released. The rocket fetts exist only in prototype form I believe. Even with those there are 2 major variations that have to do with the shape of the slot that activates the rocket. I remember seeing one of the versions sell for around $6,000 once. :0

They had an article about that a while back at www.starwars.com. It was called "Star Wars Urban Legends" or something like that. Apparently Boba Fett was even advertised as having a firing rocket pack, but it was never made. Those that ordered it got a little note explaining why the rocket didn't fire as advertised.

That sounds about right! I sent in the proof-of purchase from 2 figures in 1979 to get the Boba figure, as seen in the "Holiday Special" and the "upcoming" second film. The rocket in the backpack was obviously a separate plastic piece that was permanently cemented in its hole, and there was indeed an explanatory note. I remember this was around the time that the Battlestar Galactica toy ships also changed from firing to non.

- V -

One kid chokes to death on a plastic missile, and all of toyland has to be disarmed... ;)

yeah, that rocket-firing Boba is worth a pretty penny...i think i saw one go on Ebay for over $4000 once...ugh