hi Guys,

besides the obvious Blue Snagletooth and Yak Face. What figure did you have the hardest time to find in the quality level you wanted?

to me so far it would be the Luke X-wing, every figure i have looked at on Ebay or in other places have poor paint left on them out of the hundred checks i have made only a few looked decent and the bad part is that the seller only had a front pic which to me is an automatic disqualification to even consider buying form that seller.

what figure gave you the hardest time to get? and was it because of the coo or paint job on it?


cheers!

Any of the bright white figures will take awhile to find dead mint. Also the Death Star Droid with black paint and the Bespin Guards with gold paint should be on the list.

Back when I was collecting LL's, the hardest one to find mint was Klaatu (and Klaatu skiff)... that damn nose! Also the tip of LL Obiwan's saber is always damaged... Oh I remember now, LL R2D2... that cheap sticker! It's always yellowed, played, or with glue marks on it, really hard to find Mint.

Thanks for reminding me, Ozio. Luke Jedi with the nose rubs.

DSD and LXW can be tough to find, I guess it's probably easier to lower your own standards than find a bunch of "mint" ones. (I accepted strong C8's on those and really from distance who can tell the difference lol)

Agree with all of the above. Especially the DSD. For LXW ask for additional photos - he spent so much time being put in and out of the X Wing vehicle he took a fair bit of battering.
I think R2D2 is also tricky because of the dome, sticker and discolouration. I still don't have a really minty one yet.

yes the r2's seem hard to find, i have one with dirty sticker but i paid dirt cheap for it. I call him the droid sale scene r2 because he is all dirtied up from tatooine sands like my r2...

i have just won an auction and it looks like the sticker might be better than the one i have...now the sensorscope and pop up sabers are gonna be harder to find.

However i was lucky with R5, i got 2 with slightly yellowed stickers not dead white mint but very acceptable...

cheers!

I know he's not in any way a rare figure, but in terms of condition, Han Bespin is a bugger for paint loss. I have a drawful of about 40 of them and probably only 2 or 3 are C9 or above.

Also the Emperor and the Imperial Dignitary invariably seem to have paint loss on their noses.

DSD obviously (as already said).

Deathstar droid arghhhhh!

Has to be the green limbed chewie for me Seriously though it's hard to find that coo without the green limbs

My additions:


- C-3PO with stiff limbs.
- Max Rebo w/o discoloured limbs
- Power Droid with mint silver 'feet'
- Snaggletooth with mint silver boots
- Bespin Guards with mint gold paint

Dr Dengar wrote:

My additions:


- C-3PO with stiff limbs.
- Max Rebo w/o discoloured limbs
- Power Droid with mint silver 'feet'
- Snaggletooth with mint silver boots
- Bespin Guards with mint gold paint

Yep, totally agree with these! (And would add Leia Bespin to the Gold Paint problem.)

Have to say Bossk also. The paint on him is just as bad as the Luke XWP. Its hard to find one with all the white paint w/o scuffs on it.

Fett is another bad one for paint lose also. Just remember him.

thise comes in to my mind: imperiel dignatary nose rubs, han solo bespin heir rubs, gam guards horn tips, wicket nose rub, rebel commando backpack rubs

EV9D9 with straight legs and non detachable arm

another one i worried a lot about is Han, i had to look hard and long but got lucky to get one without hair rubs or little damaged paint...all of the big sellers had none without hair rubs...i got lucky with a person who was just selling theirs to get rid of them..

to me the stickers and white plastics are the biggest problems...like my wampa, got one nice and all but he is cream colored, another figure so to speak that is hard to find in mint condition...

cheers

in no particupar order

DSD
Xwing luke
EV9D9

It took me a while to get a ginger hair Bespin Luke, that hair paint falls off if a mouse farts near it! must have had 10 each one slightly better than the previous before I finally landed a mint one.
I've added a pic of my DSD, its got the shinniest chroming ever, totally super stiff joints and perfect black paint apart from the smallest bit on one eye, but this is from the painting not a scrub. Only thing is, its gold! It's basically yellowing to the laqure or something, truth is i looks fantastic, it actually looks a better gold than any C-3PO I've ever seen. The picture doesn't do it true justice.

Found a better pic, you can see the gold better.


AT-AT Driver with perfect shoulder and glove paint can be a bastard as well!

General Kahn wrote:

Found a better pic, you can see the gold better.


AT-AT Driver with perfect shoulder and glove paint can be a bastard as well!

Nice pic, you are one lucky son of a gun ( blaster ) !

[quote]Nice pic, you are one lucky son of a gun ( blaster ) ! [quote]

Cheers bud,
in one sense, it's a shame it's yellowed because it's otherwise in such perfect condition, which as this thread has clearly pointed out, that's hard to find! But in another sense, the gold really does look amazing, and I know it's only degredation and not a variation, but it genuinly is one of my favourite figures.

Hi Kahn that Gold Death Star Droid is so cool, wish I had one that is so much Gold as the one you have there mate

You are so lucky

General Kahn wrote:

in one sense, it's a shame it's yellowed because it's otherwise in such perfect condition, which as this thread has clearly pointed out, that's hard to find! But in another sense, the gold really does look amazing, and I know it's only degredation and not a variation, but it genuinly is one of my favourite figures.

Funny, I also have a golden DSD 'transformant', and like yours it is in perfect shape too.
Just an idea: Maybe a thicker varnish coating was applied which protected the silver and black paint underneath very well during the years. On the backside, once the varnish started to yellow, it appeared more visible compared to other 'thin layer varnish' figures, because of the thickness of the layer, giving it a more yellow (golden) appearance.

Quote :

Funny, I also have a golden DSD 'transformant', and like yours it is in perfect shape too.
Just an idea: Maybe a thicker varnish coating was applied which protected the silver and black paint underneath very well during the years. On the backside, once the varnish started to yellow, it appeared more visible compared to other 'thin layer varnish' figures, because of the thickness of the layer, giving it a more yellow (golden) appearance

Sounds about right that Doc, you'll have to send me a pic of yours when you get chance, I'd like to see it. ( that sound well dodgy! )

What's the crack with EV-9D9 by the way, I've always heard about the arms breaking as long as I've been collecting but never seen one, the one I have is actually from my childhood ( heavily played with ) collection, so I've never had to buy one, apart from the bent legs its otherwise spot on. Infact only three figures from my childhood collection ended up in my recent vintage collection on the grounds that they where in very good condition, and the other two where both Hammerheads, which I think you'll all appreciate are pretty damn hard to damage! So I guess I've been lucky with the EV despite it been stuffed in a bag in the attic for 15 years!

I always try to find the best quality for my collection.
Thats why I bought cca 2000 (!!!) figures in more great lots in the last decade.
I sold them also in single ones and always kept the best ones for myself.
I can say, I have a "creme de la creme" collection today.

For me they were (are) the greatest challenge:

- Trilogo Boba Fett! I bought/sold cca 10-15 of them. (He always has some paintwear) But some weeks ago I caught a verrry nice one! I haven't seen a better before.

- Han Solo Hoth. I owned tons of Hoth Hans, but I havent ever found a full flawless one. And he is one of my favourite (I love all the Hoth things) :/

- Super mint first Luke. Today I have one and sold some before but he wasnt easy...

- First Leia. Very hard to find one in full white without yellowing

- Blue Snaggletooth. His boots...

- EV 9D9, you know the problems...

- Death Star Droid.

- Max Rebo with true-blue legs/arms. (last week I bought one!)

- Pop-Up Artoo. I sold my very-very nice one 2 years ago but haven't found better since then... arrrrgggghhh...

- Artoo with 3 legs (from the playset)

All in all I have to find only 2 (or 4) figures in super-top condition now:

- A better Han Hoth (I know, I know, it sounds ridicoulus, there are tons of Hans!)
- A better Blue Snag
- Pop-Up Artoo (which is absolutely missing from my collection)
- 3 leg Artoo (never have)

All the others satisfies me! After years of searching I dont think they can exist in better condition!
For example, my Jabba collection. Everybody is minty-mint WITHOUT ANY paintwear or so... (only the pop-up artoo is missing) (ohh, and maybe chewie is only a "transformant" here, but he is just my secondary chewie, as Boush's prey you know):






Anyway, I have to limelight my entire collection some day.