Discussion: 90's Star Wars toys classed as modern ?

supergoose

supergoose

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So I'm sure many won't be too bothered especially if it's an era of collecting that doesn't mean much too them, but for me, the idea that the 90's era of Star Wars toys and collectables are "modern" just isnt right.
I'm sure it's been discussed before but at this point some of these toys / items are over 30 years old ! Bend'Ems came out in '93, POTF2 and Action Fleet in '95, Applause had all sorts of ceramics and other bits around 96/97 and even Episode 1 figures are 25 years old !

I started collecting in 1996 when I discovered all my original Star Wars toys in my parents attic when I was moving to my first house of my own. I remember my 90's collecting days with very fond memories. I hunted down remaining figures at antique stores, markets and car boot sales to add to my childhood set to complete the run but also went to Toys Are Us, Forbiden Planet and World's Apart to collect POTF2, Action fleet and other items. The Special Editions were hitting movie theatres and then we lead into the prequels - it was a great time to be a Star Wars fan and collector.

I've started to refer to those items / that era as "Classic" so 3 eras..... Vintage / Classic / Modern.

Please share your thoughts........... 🍿:)
 
My wife and I were just talking about this.
Our loft is full of "modern" Star Wars but most of it 25+ years old.
 
Indeed this one gets thrown around a lot, but the simple fact is that in no universe can a toy that is 25 years old be called modern... To be fair you can't call anything that is 25 years old modern - would you call a TV you bought in the 90's modern or car, or mobile phone, computer etc.

Within this hobby it will be very hard, if not impossible to get folks to universally agree to a reclassification in such a way, although I do like the Vintage/Classic/Modern terminology you came up with, but there is a lot of die-hard that would say if it ain't pure Kenner then it is modern, often followed unfairly by a string of four letter words.

If you cut it by lines then I would probably stretch and say anything up to and including The Revenge of the Sith (2005) would fit in that Classic category (its also a need way to frame the Prequels), roughly speaking that is a 10 year run - 95-05. The next five years is a bit of a mess as Hasbro lost their way a bit (something they seem keen to do again right now) and then modern as we know it today kicked in when the VTC line kicked off, which I think was 2010 and of course TBS (2014) which is very modern, even if it is 10 years old now.

77-85 - Vintage
95-05 - Classic
06-09 - A mess (Modern)
10-Now - Modern

Rather obviously as the years roll on then lines slide between them.

Funny thought, I wonder how many kids from the 90's who view the Prequels as 'Their Star-Wars' see those toys as 'Vintage' due to the nostalgia it holds for them and view the 70's and 80's stuff as antiques (much the same way they probably view us :) ).

Also - totally agree, the 90's was a fantastic time to collect, Vintage figures were easy to find and didn't cost the earth, so many stores carried the POTF2 line and the EP1 line, so they were easy to get and mostly very affordable - there was no Evilbay and general internet nonsense to contend with - happy days....
 
I absolutely agree, I've been referring the 95-05 as "Classic" for a few years now.
After that is already mentioned is a bit of a mess, but at the moment "Modern" will do, and of course anything pre 95 is Vintage.
As always there will be a bit of a merger at the cut off dates, but its got to be better than just the two groups as it is now.
 
This will want a nice pictorial/visual representation, but if anyone was to ask my view of how the lines breakdown into the three categories I would say this would be it (Not including sublines - as things like Star Tours were part of other lines, although the Disney Cross-Overs were not, so maybe Star Tours should be on on its own - which would be in Classic category I think.

Screenshot 2024-04-28 at 11.20.43.png
 
OK

So a few interesting things pop out to me (maybe only me...)

1 - It is obvious visually what a hot mess Hasbro is in. The number of lines/re-brands and stuff since 2006 is stupid, like way tooooo much going on.
2 - Star Tours launched in 2002 and is still going today, making it the longest running SW line of all
3 - The number of lines in the 'Vintage' and 'Classic' eras are pretty similar, so it would be interesting to see production levels across both.
 
Some great discussion points here and It's nice to see I'm not alone in my thoughts on this !

I'd generally tend to agree with stretching the "classic" window out to 2005 to include all of the prequels it makes sense.

Can we pull back the opening of the classic window to 1993 though....... can't forget those Bend'Ems :LOL:
 
supergoose said:
Some great discussion points here and It's nice to see I'm not alone in my thoughts on this !

I'd generally tend to agree with stretching the "classic" window out to 2005 to include all of the prequels it makes sense.

Can we pull back the opening of the classic window to 1993 though....... can't forget those Bend'Ems :LOL:
Click to expand...
Bend-um's are a classic, highly addictive to collect.😀
 
Oh dear - I just looked those up.... But since they were not a Kenner/Hasbro toy I think we're safe, but anything in the 90's would be classic anyway :)
 
monkey_roo said:
Indeed this one gets thrown around a lot, but the simple fact is that in no universe can a toy that is 25 years old be called modern... To be fair you can't call anything that is 25 years old modern - would you call a TV you bought in the 90's modern or car, or mobile phone, computer etc.

Within this hobby it will be very hard, if not impossible to get folks to universally agree to a reclassification in such a way, although I do like the Vintage/Classic/Modern terminology you came up with, but there is a lot of die-hard that would say if it ain't pure Kenner then it is modern, often followed unfairly by a string of four letter words.

If you cut it by lines then I would probably stretch and say anything up to and including The Revenge of the Sith (2005) would fit in that Classic category (its also a need way to frame the Prequels), roughly speaking that is a 10 year run - 95-05. The next five years is a bit of a mess as Hasbro lost their way a bit (something they seem keen to do again right now) and then modern as we know it today kicked in when the VTC line kicked off, which I think was 2010 and of course TBS (2014) which is very modern, even if it is 10 years old now.

77-85 - Vintage
95-05 - Classic
06-09 - A mess (Modern)
10-Now - Modern

Rather obviously as the years roll on then lines slide between them.

Funny thought, I wonder how many kids from the 90's who view the Prequels as 'Their Star-Wars' see those toys as 'Vintage' due to the nostalgia it holds for them and view the 70's and 80's stuff as antiques (much the same way they probably view us :) ).

Also - totally agree, the 90's was a fantastic time to collect, Vintage figures were easy to find and didn't cost the earth, so many stores carried the POTF2 line and the EP1 line, so they were easy to get and mostly very affordable - there was no Evilbay and general internet nonsense to contend with - happy days....
Click to expand...
77-85- Vintage
86-98- Classic (Complete OT Merger and EU)
99-07- Prequel
08-12- Clone Wars
13- present- Disney
 
Still playing around with images - because I am that board :)

Screenshot 2024-04-28 at 23.12.14.png


One other interesting thing, or opinion is, that while looking at all Hasbro's artwork, the stuff up to 2006 is generally very good. The Kenner stuff is iconic, but the EP1, POTJ and ROTS artwork particularly pops. But after that, unless it is designed to mimic the vintage stuff a lot of the artwork in the Modern Era isn't nearly as good.
 
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