What toy lines to collect for investment?

[leitmotiv]

I remember visiting Action Figure News on the web back in 1997. Whatever happened to that site?

One user posted some comments on collecting on that site. He said something to the effect of: "I'm collecting all the toys that kids are into today, like Power Rangers, etc., because they're cheap, common, and very easy to obtain at garage sales. Star Wars and other collectible lines won't be as much in demand because hardcore collectors are swarming over these, and there will be a glut of them later, but no one is swarming over the kids stuff. My money is on Power Rangers."

I probably butchered his quote, but you get the point. He means that he invests in the unpopular toys that adults steer clear of, thinking that it will be worth more money than the obvious collector lines. Since everyone and their dog collects Star Wars, he figures the money is in Power Rangers or something else that is popular with the kids.

What do you all think? Of course you should collect what you love and not for the money, but his statement does have some merit.

[BoogDoc7]

That era, I am finding out that it's about the rare figures, not about the lines. WAY too much overproduction in the 90s.

[leitmotiv]

How is it possible to have rare figures when there's too much overproduction?

Something like The Blank from Dick Tracy?

[BoogDoc7]

Check my article on Star Trek for a good explanation. Several of those lines had a couple of figures that were highly limited or prototypes or something.

www.action-figures.ca/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1311872798&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&

[leitmotiv]

Okay, I see your point. What do you think about toys of the 2000s?

[leitmotiv]

oh... and sometime in the late 90s I remember reading on Action Figure News that the girl figures were kind of like the chase figures. Is that true?

[anna]

Yeah figuring boys wouldn't want the girl chars they tyended to unproduced them.

[BoogDoc7]

I really don't know much about the 2000s lines, other than maybe Marvel Legends which got into the chase figures some, and only then because I had a big score I moved on ebay a few years ago. I think it's pretty much the "in" thing to have some hard-to-find figures in each line now.

[leitmotiv]

Any particular lines that don't do as well?

[rawlin]

Hmm I don't know about the 90s I got a box of turtles, maybe 20-30 of them but think I stopped with new toys there. Now I have started with clone wars and the Ahsoka figures are highly demanded also most other girl characters. It's rather hard to find them.

[victoryleo19]

Pretty much everything from the 90's and 2000's will be choking yard sales and flea markets for decades to come. The interest in 80's/70's toy lines was never their rarity, it was their nostalgia and actual design. The rarity came later, when people realized that there was a finite number of 80's/70's toys available. I think the 90's was a ridiculous decade as far as over production. Lines like Power Rangers and toybiz marvel toys probably will never be considered difficult to find. I remember when I first started collecting again around 2000 I would literally drop off buckets of power rangers toys. The good stuff from the 90's, is what YOU like. Watch some lesser known cartoons, and do a little digging. There are some absolute gems in the 90's and 2000's, you just have to dig a little.

[rawlin]

I'm pretty sure it will be for todays younglings like it was for us back in 80s. Star Wars, He-Man, Barbie, My Little Pony and a lot more lines where the ones most played with and now when grown up it's mostly those we want.

At least that's why I have been collecting Star Wars for around 15 years.
I think kids today that play with ex. Clone Wars will want those if they fall for the collecting interest/hobby and that will add a value of demand to them.

The first released, low production and last releases are usually the hardest to find and might be the valuable stuff in the future, maybe the really ugly ones that no one want's might catch some value as well in 20 years Biggest problem though is that now days most stuff are made in china so there ain't much variations to collect. just my thoughts though.

[leitmotiv]

Is there a list of some general collectible chase figures that someone has written up? hopefully from the 90s or 00s?

[BoogDoc7]

Check my Terminator and Robocop articles - I'm kind of writing a series on some of them, so figuring out the rares is part of what I am searching for. The info is out there on the more popular lines, but I don't know if anyone has sat down to do the actual research or not.

[leitmotiv]

Do you have links to your articles?

[BoogDoc7]

They're on the main website

www.action-figures.ca/

[dannyrand]

Sept 1, 2011 18:13:28 GMT -6 BoogDoc7 said:

They're on the main website

Too Funny.

I just finshed reading em, nice job Doc. I didn't really know too much about these lines and you did a good job with your research.

[BoogDoc7]

I appreciate it. I'm thinking of doing Aliens and then starting in on some of the Marvel lines, though that would be a chore. I need to re-do the Robocop one and take out the footnotes - the format just doesn't work. There's also some minor editing that is about to be put in on one section on the Terminator article.

[den82]

I've actually given thought to this. I thought it might be wise to look at toys that are peg warmers and maybe buy them for the same reason, but it would be a waste of time a money. In order for them to be worth anything down the road, you'll need to have a bunch of nostalgic adults. Something I do not see kid's of today turning into. I might just be me, but I rarely see kids with an interest in action figures and it seems most modern lines are geared towards adult collectors. My 7 year old nephew has little interest in toys. The kid actually owns his own "gaming" laptop and is on X-Box Live 24-7.

It's also not true that less popular lines are worth more. Supernaturals weren't popular (I owned the entire line when they came out) and even today, there seems to be little interest.

Old toys of the past are valuable and rare, because kids actually PLAYED with them...which means not many survived.

[rawlin]

Sept 3, 2011 4:15:45 GMT -6 den82 said:

It's also not true that less popular lines are worth more. Supernaturals weren't popular (I owned the entire line when they came out) and even today, there seems to be little interest.

Either you misunderstood me or I misunderstood you. I did not mean less popular lines, I meant less popular figures, take Yak Face for example in vintage star wars. That was not a popular figure it also where in the last wave in 1985, they where selling them out for half price here and they still hardly sold, and now it's one of the more valuable.

More popular like Darth Vader are worth less because since they sold so much they got a higher production. But in later years darth vaders cape and saber have become pretty valuable, though the figure it self is not worth much at all.

Golden Girl which I collect casually isn't worth much, it was a bit popular, but not one of the larger lines, it did how ever make it pretty good during the year that it lasted. While for example Palace of the Gems is not worth much, I can imagine that serious collectors of the line will still be willing to pay a large sum for it because it's so hard to get.

My original note of that ugly and less popular figures might be valuable a bit more in the future is just based on the amount they sold and could end up at a lower production.

Yes sadly that is the normal way to raise kids these days, put them in front of video games or the computer instead of visiting friends. But you can't say that kids don't play with toys.
Just watching my cousins kids, when visiting they always got friends over and they play with toys even though they got both laptops and wii.

Edit: About the part that not many survived, I can't tell for sure with Clone Wars ofc, it's a gamble but it's a popular line that break silly easy.

[josha]

Sept 2, 2011 5:01:11 GMT -6 BoogDoc7 said:

I appreciate it. I'm thinking of doing Aliens and then starting in on some of the Marvel lines, though that would be a chore. I need to re-do the Robocop one and take out the footnotes - the format just doesn't work. There's also some minor editing that is about to be put in on one section on the Terminator article.

I think you should do an ALIENS article also

[Deleted]

I think a person should only collect things they like and not for how valuable or popular they are. If you're into Power Rangers only stick with the deluxe megazords. You don't need the other PR toys. Don't buy the American versions of megazords, they suck. The Japanese versions are way better. How ever the American versions of the megazords from In Space, Lost Galaxy, and Lightspeed Rescue are as good as they're Japanese counterparts.

My likes:
Power Rangers, Transformers, and any other robot toys.

[tootles]

I agree with fun15power, people should collect what they like. I do not consider action figures to be good as an investment. It is much better to invest in truly valuable things like pharmcological research, precious metals, and land. Such things will have a strong demand, and will naturally increase in value as the population increases. The value of action figures largely depends on peoples' interest in them. There are plenty of examples of things that used to be popular that are now not worth much money. Baseball cards are an example that springs to mind. Another problem with investing in action figures is storing them. You need lots of figures to get even a small amount of money, and figures take space. If you invest in a stock, all you have to keep is a piece of paper. Even if you sell a figure for a big profit, it will probably not amount to much money. For example if you turned a 100 profit on a figure, that is not much cash. If you turned the same percentage on a car or house you would be rolling in money.

[brcthrift]

Some of the early Ben 10 stuff is pretty collectible today. Also the Teen Titans figures are pretty sought after. Other than that I don't know much about the 2000s figures. I have a lot of the Gi Joe 25th and Pursuit of Cobra stuff. I like it, but it doesn't sell really well.

[funkyterrance]

I agree that it makes most sense to collect something that has personal nostalgia for you, not to make money in the future. These days everything that is collectable is known or anticipated so it already commands a price. Therefore you will be hard pressed to turn a profit since you will most likely be paying top dollar for something that is "collectable".