ESB-h style baggies WTF gives?

Frunkstar

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Hey guys, a subject I have often geekily contemplated & has in a roundabout way been brought up by Lee on the LA thread, basically the SWCA guide covers all the below baggies as ESB-h, IMHO this should be looked at & they should be re classified in to sub groups say ESB-h/h1/h2 & Euro baggies etc as it can be a tough baggie for the inexperienced collectors to identify correctly & or from a fake if they are just getting in to collecting baggies, I even had a pm today about a figure in one of these from a friend & they have been collecting baggies for some time, so I do feel it a subject worth discussion WARNING - don't bother reading any further if baggies are not your thing as it will bore the hind legs off you.

Please bear in mind - when reading all this info this was written in 2012, the new kenner guide linked below has since been written & all these baggies below have been given their own classifications to prevent the total confusion that was ESB-h "style" baggies, I really wanted to leave this thread in place just to give new collectors some insight as to how things have changed over the years & how easy they have it now 🤣


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First up the XXL ESB-h baggie which have a lot of "bleed off" a long way beyond the heat seal & is the largest of the all baggie types I have come across to date, these have the heat seal to the side of the figure rather than the more familiar top or bottom heat seals, IMHO simply just a case of it was what they had available at the factory & what was the point of trimming them down when they were going to be ripped open with no concern for the packaging, I have seen a few of these come in varying stages of "cut down" where at some point in the life of the item someone has taken it upon themselves to shorten the bleed off for whatever reason, which is IMO a shame, but should not be considered, to be damage but will no doubt in some collectors eyes diminish the value of them. Example below -

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__________________

Next up are the more standard size ESB-h's which are top or bottom sealed (just dependent on which way up the figure was placed in the packing process I presume? these are a lot smaller than the above, but still considerably larger than most baggie types, they also usually come with "crinkled" heat seals, which IMO indicates they were done on a small heat sealer most likely one that was for a more standard size baggie, so they just pushed them together a bit to seal them (pure speculation on my part may I add), these are way more common than the above type & crop up with a great many figures in them, some examples are pictured below (These are not to be confused with the Euro-b baggie like the example found in the clipper Dart Vader single figure mailers (Example shown further down the page)


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They also often turn up in this type of baggie without the crinkled heat seals which I assume would just indicate that they at some point bought a more suitable (larger) heat sealer -

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Again quite often these turn up with the bleed off trimmed back to the heat seal like the example below -

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Then there are the baggies which are very similar, but IMHO NOT the same & not ESB-h style baggies, there are a few, first of them pictured below which "I am pretty sure" is a clipper no text baggie ( EDIT - Now assigned the Euro-b designation in the more comprehensive guide ) , these were "IMO" also available for some other countries & covered some clipper & meccano baggies, maybe even some other euro baggies like PBP, the only examples that I have seen so far come with the deep scarred out coo associated with PBP -

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next up is a baggie that I have heard labelled under the ESB-h umbrella but IMO should have its own distinct classification as it is clearly a totally different baggie type/style & has both a top & bottom heat seal, to date I have only seen 2 figures in this baggie type, but both trace back to legitimate ex stock/store finds & I am convinced it to be a legitimate Kenner issued baggie -

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& compare it to my other "standard" ESB-h Papaloo below -

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IMHO clearly not the same & also IMHO should not be termed as such.

Now the as for's - from what I understand "so far" is that these no text ESB-h baggies (top 2 types) were made specifically for the US issued store catalogue multi-packs, or found as overstock, presumably (IMO) overstock that had been destined to go in to Multi-Packs, as I have never once see them available in any other format regarding officially produced toy lines containing baggied figures (single figure mail in's/Special offer vehicles & play sets etc etc).

Food for thought, or the inane ramblings of a baggie addict ??
 
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Grant_C

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Great stuff Frank, I was just getting my head around h-baggie, now............ :shock: :? :p

TIE Pilot has wrong weapon, can I buy him? ÂŁ1000?.... :p
 

Caswellbot

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Very informative Frank and your insights into baggies never cease to amaze me. It is a vast area to cover. Kudos buddy! 8)
 

Lee77

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Very informative Frank.
Btw, the vader that you think is a clipper is identical to mine that came in a clipper mailer box.
One question though! If these are ESB H baggies, why are there Jedi characters in them? Apologies in advance if its a stupid question mate.
 

Grant_C

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and for multipacks like 8 Pack- Sears (49-59181) Wards (48-62689) Spiegel (57-6277) - All the same pack but with a mix of ESB/ROTJ 1983.

Does that mean there are ROTJ baggies or are they the sane as ESB- so you could get an ERG in an ESB-h for example?

:?
 

Djbighair

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Frank

Good detail, i am in ore of your knowledge. I have now completed my first 79 in baggies butbonlyba handful fall in as ESb h style 3 in the latter style.

From what I believe you can get Rotj figures in a few ESb baggies, the code relates to the first time that Baggie style was used...

Rich
 

Frunkstar

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Lee77 said:
Very informative Frank.
Btw, the vader that you think is a clipper is identical to mine that came in a clipper mailer box.
One question though! If these are ESB H baggies, why are there Jedi characters in them? Apologies in advance if its a stupid question mate.

Nice one Lee, at least I'm getting there then, nice to know for sure that that is a clipper baggie & is pretty much the same as the meccano greedo Scott has just posted above.

aussiejames said:
are your Paploo belts a slightly different colour?

Will check tomorrow in daylight hours AJ - any reason & if so do you have any info?

Maulster79 said:
So are there ROTJ-a, ROTJ-b's for example at all?

Yes there are many many baggie types from SW-a style through to ROTJ-k, see the SWCA here -

http://theswca.com/images-speci/baggiefeature/baggiefeature.html

Unfortunately it is IMO not entirely comprehensive & does not cover things like what we are discussing in this thread or ANY Euro released baggies, it also does not cover everything 100% like this Wicket baggie I got from AJ that interested me due to its specific seal type, I have since seen the same baggie with the same seal type in a multi-pack & the one from AJ came with an overstock price tag so we know it to be legit -






But that as they say is another story!

Maulster79 said:
and for multipacks like 8 Pack- Sears (49-59181) Wards (48-62689) Spiegel (57-6277) - All the same pack but with a mix of ESB/ROTJ 1983.

Does that mean there are ROTJ baggies or are they the sane as ESB- so you could get an ERG in an ESB-h for example?

Not quite sure I follow you Grant, can you please clarify?, but if you are asking if a mix of ESB & ROTJ type baggies can be found in ROTJ multi-packs then the answer is yes, aslo the same multi-pack can often be found with various & differing baggies types from one run to the next, this seems to be pretty much specific to ROTJ MP's though as the SW & ESB packs "normally" are pretty generic & when the initial baggies used for a MP then they were "mostly from what I can tell" substituted for ESB-h baggies, but other variations in baggie type have cropped up like ROTJ-e style (made in Mexico ones)

Here are a couple of examples -

IMGP0050.jpg

IMGP9999.jpg
 

Frunkstar

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aussiejames said:
sdc12584.jpg

are your Paploo belts a slightly different colour?

They are indeed a different colour, not by much & very subtle James, you have a great eye for detail, the one in the standard ESB-h seems to be painted a light tan colour & the one in the twin heat sealed baggies would appear to me moulded (same colour as the rest of the body) - is that the same as yours?, that's my oddball baggies/figure fact of the day today - thanks James!
 

Frunkstar

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Dark Sith Lord said:
Frank this is one of the best threads in a while really informative mate! 8)

Thanks for that Liam, makes it feel worthwhile when you know a post that's taken a while to piece together is appreciated, nice one buddy, as you sometimes think why am I righting this post - no one will give a **** about seemingly irrelevant minor details, you have made me fell a tiny bit less nerdworthy :lol:
 

Joe

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ESB-H baggies are something I have collected in the past and been intrigued about for a while too Frank (I think we did have a chin wag about this very subject before once??) so I think this little thread is quite interesting, will have a good read when I get the time mate - Great effort! :)
 

Frunkstar

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You are indeed correct Joe we did have a natter about this baggie type, one thing I plan to keep track of is baggies turning up that closely match these but are not what I for one would call a standard ESB-h type.

Hope it proves of use to some.

Pm coming at you anyhow Joe :wink:

Also James has confirmed his 2 papaloo variations (belt colour) to be the same match of bag figure combo as mine, so another small lesson learned & something else confirmed which is great.
 

aussiejames

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I'm glad you're putting your baggie knowledge down on paper ( so to speak )
The old baggie guide is certainly getting outdated. I'm not sure how many new sub section plain baggies are needed but it is clear one is not enough.
 

**Delboy75**

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Ive also seen baggies like the vader (which is definately clipper btw) come from palitoy too.
Probably overstock they had sent them.
I've honestly always been confused by them lol, it doesnt take much but they all look so similar and tbh were my least favourite baggie.

The larger bags ESB-H usually come in the u.s mailers, the thinner bags (like the vader) tend to be european.
Palitoy, meccano and clipper. Thats just something i observed when i collected them but im rusty now and not so clued up on them as i was.

That wicket seal, the wide one with the crosshatch pattern ive only ever seen on that figure, it came in one of the u.s mailers, an ewok 3 pack i think it was.
 

Frunkstar

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**Delboy75** said:
Ive also seen baggies like the vader (which is definately clipper btw) come from palitoy too.
Probably overstock they had sent them.
I've honestly always been confused by them lol, it doesnt take much but they all look so similar and tbh were my least favourite baggie.

The larger bags ESB-H usually come in the u.s mailers, the thinner bags (like the vader) tend to be european.
Palitoy, meccano and clipper. Thats just something i observed when i collected them but im rusty now and not so clued up on them as i was.

That wicket seal, the wide one with the crosshatch pattern ive only ever seen on that figure, it came in one of the u.s mailers, an ewok 3 pack i think it was.

Again - many thanks for your great input Del its appreciated :wink:

TBH I love the no text baggies myself as they are so much of a mystery & as James has said, could do with a bit more classification/clarification as they are a bit of a mine field, but one I firmly have my teeth in to.

Also thanks for the conformation on the clipper vader baggie, I was 9(% sure its a clipper but always nice to know for sure, i also think that its most likely excess stock sent to Clipper to fill demand once there own baggies (Large black text made in macau) ran out for the mail away offer - have you any details or paperwork pertaining to the clipper mail in offers or has anyone for that matter? - maybe card fronts with the offers on?.

I also think its a similar situation with the ESB-h style no text baggies in the multi-pakcs, IM (vague) O I think when whichever baggie was destined for certain MP's ran out they were substituted with ESB-h's as a sort of "universal donor" like in blood groups etc & would have been an easy fix when things were not available, like in the MP comparrison photo below -

IMGP0050.jpg


The wicket is indeed out of a MP, but I can't for the life of me remember which one either, I wonder why its the only one to turn up (to date) with this seal type??? :?
 
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