Hi guys
Its been nearly 2 months since I joined TIG and have been blown away with the knowledge that most of you guys have acquired collecting VSW and to see some of the threads etc asking for confirmation whether a Ledy or not has been a real eye opener.
I have started to try and collect a full set of figures and as long as they are in pretty good nick c/w with original weapons I am not worried about variations etc but if on the 2 or 3 that I perhaps look to focus on then this is different and seeing some of the focus collections and to see the amount of variations / Ledy etc (even before bootlegs etc) makes me wonder how the hell I can start to know how many possible variations there are and what to look for.
I know that Wolff is working on the 'Holy Grail' which hopefully will be available soon but in the meantime does anyone have any advice as to where (apart from reading these great threads) is a good place to start ?
Thanks as always
Tony
ps Not sure if this should be in Q & A 101 thread ?

Tony,

ive not been collecting much longer mate and i asked virtually the same question when i joined

there are lots of pictures available on here with more pictures of variants being added almost daily, plus the monster wolf is working on.
i bought a couple of cheap books myself off ebay, star wars from concept to screen to collectable which more os less tells how the toys where developed designed etc, its well worht a read and can be picked up pretty cheap , i also got a collectors book by fantasia its a 2005 one but was new and again cheap. it has hundreds of pictures with variations included.

ive got a couple of variations, ,ainly different coo but othere like my gam guard have different skin and armour colour, or imperial guard that have different tasches

i think the list is pretty big depending on what you class as a variation...

hope this helps a little but im sure of of the more experinced lads will be able to tell you better

cheers
Andy

This is where I started : http://www.landoslocker.com/ and I use Wolff's old COO variation guide. Other than Luke Hoth which characters are you looking into? I can post up pictures of the variations I have & I'm sure others will add to it.

My advice is to look at doing it 1 of 2 ways

Option 1, Put together a loose collection together one of each figure including major variations e.g small head / large head Han Solo.

Easy to do as there is no real research commitment needed bar finding the funds as all figures can be found mint and complete on any day of the week really. Even Blue Sangs VC Jawas etc.

Option 2, Work at one or a few figures at a time and study, learn and collect all the variations for that figure that you can find.

Once you have exhausted the options are are waiting on the harder to find or more expensive variations move to a second figure and follow the same pattern.


They were the choices i was faced with regarding loose and i am very happy i went down the second option!

One thing i will say is wherever possible only buy complete figure with original accessories!! Its only costs a lot more further down the line!

Plus take my Vader variants a lot of the Vader variants have very specific types of Sabers / Capes you cant just add any saber or cape to the figure later down the line its the same principle for many other figure variants.

Just my thoughts hope that helps lads

Guys

Geordie - Have the Concept to Screen book which is a good read plus a couple of others so thanks for info.

Aussie James - Just had a look on that link and certainly looks good so will have a study and as for figures other than Luke Hoth there is Luke X-Wing

Jay - Thanks for the info and suggestions.....all the figures I have bought so far are complete with original weapons etc and its interesting to see that you can pick up quite a lot for pretty cool prices but I guess as it gets closer to completing the collection the prices for the rarer ones will increase

Thanks
Tony

Tony I would try to get a complete loose set of figures first. To get this done I'd buy lots. You can keep the doubles for a variant collection or to display them in playsets or ships.

By this you can find out what you like the most and maybe focus on a special char / direction to collect.

Uli

Hi Tony,

It wasn't long ago I was putting together my loose run and I decided to go for major variants
like Bespin Guard tash, Leia Bespin Turtle and flesh neck, IG88, Luke Jedi blue and green sabre,
Lando bespin teeth and no teeth etc. And colour variations like Leia Hoth Red and brown hair,
Bossk, Walrusman tusks. Luke Framboy hair colour variants etc.

You can then move onto more expensive variants like Tusken Hollow tube, Moulded Leg Han Hoth,
Moulded face Luke Jedi, Unpainted knee Fett.

The list goes on. I never really got into COO variants, but as you pick figures up you can do that aswell.

I had great fun putting together my loose run and I would strongly recommend trying to complete it.

Good luck with what you choose buddy