I'm late to the game here, and just remember you wanted the stories behind how/why these items have the status in our collections that they have but, we'll start with these 2 little critters
2 different scale versions of unproduced prototype Salacious Crumb plushs. The story behind
the larger scale one is that I remember in 94/95 seeing pics of it in Tomarts AFN magazine and
being floored by how cool it was (imo). At that time, me being a fairly unconnected and new to the internet
collector,I never believed that there would be a chance in hell of my ever getting such a piece. Fast forward several years later much knowledge(both about the items and workings of the hobby) learned, and many items gained; Jordan announces that he'll be brokering the sale of the Tomart SW archives, low and behold, what's on the list of items on the chopping block... The very same plush Crumb that sparked my initial interest in prototypes in the first place. I worked out a payment plan that was acceptable to all involved, and picked it up in person from Tom Tumbusch at a small convention in NJ. The 2nd and smaller plush Crumb here came to me after a few years of talking on and off with the original designer for them. She was also selling many of her plush items thru Jordan at CV, but had brought the Crumb just for me. About an hour of talking about her time at Kenner and some haggleing between us, and the smaller one was ready to be reunited with the larger version.\
The Uzay Imperial Gunner was my first Uzay figure(and among the first bootlegs I ever bought), it is also the piece that sparked my love for cheesy bootleg goodness that now is the only thing I still care about actively collecting. Money wise, it's probably the lowest value of the items I'm mentioning here, but for its lasting impact on my collecting habits, it's truly the most valuable piece I own.... Far cooler than any Kenner figure I dare say.....
I got it at a local toy show, there was a dealer who had the Gunner and a Blue Stars(I also ended up getting my BS from him too eventually) Those were the first bootlegs I ever saw/paid attention to. The same day I saw those, I ended up buying a much lower priced Hungarian Leia (moc) and 2 unarticulated Polish figures (a Luke and a Barada..if memory serves) Those were the first bootlegs I owned. A few weeks later at another toy show, I bought the Gunner from him and my current addiction was born.....
Speaking of my bootleg addiction. Anyone that remembers this lovely thread:
http://forum.rebelscum.com/t972528/
Knows that this lovely, still only known example piece resides proudly in my collection room
Not much of a personal story other than that it's cool and rare, and that I'd missed the only other known sale of one(loose w. cardback) by a couple of days in the Toy Shop magazine days. The sellers story is cool as he picked it up for the equivalent of about .75 cents at a small store while in Poland, and just kept it as a memory of the time there. He puts it on Ebay, and was amazed at how much interest it drummed up.
Last but not least is probably one of the most iconic pieces in my collection, for more than one reason(it's in the story) as well the story of how it came to be in my hands. The Uzay carded Head Man:
How it was acquired: 2 well known dealers went over to Turkey (and a few other countries) and bought up every bootleg figure they could find. In their hunt they brought back 2 MOC Uzay Head Man figures. One was sold at (I believe) Kane Co toy show, by one of the dealers, the other sat in the other dealers private collection for years. This dealer is done selling and starts to move his vast collection out to another prominent dealer, I happen to have an item that particular dealer wants from me( a J-Slot Rocket Fett). He offers me the MOC Head Man, and 5 other MOC Uzays in trade for this piece. I, realizing the glass ceiling that prototype collecting had for me because of my lack of "political clout" in that segment of the hobby, and that my at that point small but much enjoyed bootleg collection, and growing interest in more bootlegs represented a wide open space in the hobby because very few people were actively focusing on bootlegs at the time.I took the trade, and at that point other than the plush Crumbs above, have never really pushed into the vintage prototype realm on any grand level. That decision and deal changed the direction of my collecting habits and hobby involvement forever.
So there are my top 5 vintage items.
Enjoy and Cheers
Joe
