The dissappearing cardbacks....

[salvatore]

From time to time i'll purchase some dollar store action figures for purely curiosity sakes. They're sometimes funny, an obvious knock-off, and sometimes they can be pretty cool. By now though, we've all come to accept how crappy the quality of these toys are, aka "The China Syndrome". So i guess in all the penny pinching these chinese toy companies decided it would be cheaper to just simply get rid of the cardback art altogether. How sad. Even in the 80s and 90s the dollar store figs usually always had depictions of other action figs in that line depicted on the cardbacks. It's always been a part of the mainstream line of toys (gijoe,TMNT,anything else sold in a reputable store) and up to this decade it was even a common practice for the lesser sought after figs.Don't these companies realize that the advertising on the back is what gets kids interested in buying the rest of the line. Even if it's the exact same bloody mold, different colours mean different figs (eg: power rangers). Maybe it's just me, but i miss staring at the back of these cards and then searching out these other figs. Kids nowadays should have that same feeling too. Anyways, that's today's rant. Let me know where you stand on this issue.

Sal

[Ghouldrool]

I agree, to me most of the action figure appeal is that they are part of a larger series. The figures need to interact with other figures to create the fantasy/story and for that, the card back helps to sell the story, along with the card art on the front. Remove those things from the package and it cheapens the toy immensely. Case in point: Fuerza T, which came out of nowhere and completely sold itself with awesome art and re-imaginings of characters everyone was already familiar with. They took the molds, kit bashed and repainted them. It could have been horrible, but the imagination behind the figures sold it.

[10incher]

I totally agree a cardback on figures is pretty important and it was always a big deal to me as a kid. Sometimes i think I looked over vintage Star Wars cardbacks more than I played with the figures I had, just to see what else in the line was all available. Even how allot of the Remco figure line cardbacks are B&W artwork (rather than actual pics) is still better than nothing. It is just as important as the front artwork of the card I think.

[toyboxraider]

Same with me guys, I really like those goofy 300 KOs but no frkn Cardbacks! Just a little stamp from Greenbrier, etc...

Even the front art is slowly dwindling.

[daltron]

I've got some wrestlers with the barcode on the back, of the wrestlers.