Bounty Hunting

Hello there

So this, really, is another spin-off post from a tale I half-told on the recent Cabin Fever run of podcasts.

During the “holidays” (no “holiday” here, mate) I was bundled onto a treasure hunt, quite against my will really.  Dr Kate, who – if you’ve ever seen her patreon, you would know – is quite the scavenger of vintage ephemera, decided to take me on a quest.

On and off, for quite a while, I’ve been wistfully looking at the “first 12” Star Wars figure display I acquired and battling with the urge to expand it.  I know, I know, my argument with getting them was that they would be enough, and a nice little display, and all that bluster, but when I drew the Kenner/Palitoy Bounty Hunter figures, it did light an urge in me to get those as well.  Just those six more, that’s all.  Then that will definitely be it and come on you are a grown up boy now Ian.

If I could get them, I would be satisfied and then I promise (don’t promise) that I won’t get any more of the vintage collection, even though it would look great, wouldn’t it?  Imagine that, the full collection of original figures in a big glass display on a wall.  Yes, I know I used to have it, and sold it ten years ago along with a ton of other stuff for a pitiful amount of money, but – I’ve worked out a caveat – they were in pretty bad nick.  Barely any of them had their original weapons, for example.  They were mine from childhood, and I was known to put petrol into vehicles to blow them up.  In many respects I wasn’t far off Sid in the Toy Story movies.

Anyhow, I had a look on eBay and they were all there (the Bounty Hunter figures this is), but the prices were off-putting.  Bizarrely, Boba Fett, once the most ubiquitous of figures, had taken on a weird holy grail trait.  Not that it wasn’t still ubiquitous, there are loads of them around still, but the price has shot up (unlike the glued-in rocket on his back that caused such a fuss in the olden days). I wrestled with it but couldn’t work out a way of getting them all, in good condition, for under 200 quid at a minimum, and even I have some self-control.  For 6 figures…that felt too much (especially as I’d still need to locate weapons and accessories in some cases).

I’d been blabbering about them again recently because I’d thought I might be able to find some at a toy fair. I checked when the NEC toy fair was next happening, and it turned out it had happened on the day I checked.  You know when you get an idea in your head, but everything seems to be against it?

So that’s where I was at when Dr Kate announced we were to go on a treasure hunt.  She had to go up north to pick up a Victorian dead body or something, I wasn’t really listening, and said we could double it up with a search for them figures I was talking about. I was immediately driven up to a toy fair in Bolton to look for Bounty Hunters.  I’m hoping the irony of that isn’t lost on you.

Here's what we are looking for…

But we aren’t paying that, because I’m not an idiot nor made of money.

For somebody who has toys all over the place, it may surprise you to know that I have never been to a toy fair. I’ve been to two convention things when I got free tickets, where there were toy stalls, but never to an actual bespoke one.  I have now.

I think, one of the issues with any sort of collecting nowadays, is quite how difficult it appears to be to get a bargain.  Most-everyone is clued up and mercenary. Surprisingly, there really weren’t that many original Star Wars figures knocking about on the stalls, and the ones that were there were pricey.  I saw a stall that had three Boba Fett figures on it (of course there were three, there’s literally millions of them), but only one was in good nick.  £35 though.  I am not paying now, and never shall, £35 for a Kenner/Palitoy Star Wars figure.  If it was still on its card, I may well be tempted, but for a loose figure, with no weapon, simply not happening. I know people pay more, but not this lad. The chap on the stall was nice enough, and we had a bit of a chat, but I moved on.

Next stall, about thirty tables later, there was a basket of vintage figures.  At this stage, can I mention (as I did on the Cabin Fever podcasts) I really regret not filming this day.  It actually turned into quite the little adventure, and for this moment alone it would have been worth a video.  I was going to say I now know for next time, but don’t forget I am not collecting vintage Star Wars figures, this was just a little quest for a day…

I started rummaging through the basket, looking for Bounty Hunters, eventually finding Dengar.  Or rather, Dengar whose torso was as yellow as can be.  Really bad condition, and not the sort of thing you could even disguise or fix.  There’s a lot of light colours on the Dengar figure, and it really showed up how different they were on the torso.  I also realised that there was no price listed for these figures, so asked the chap on the stall if all the figures in there were the same price. He looked over, clearly gauging where he should be aiming.  I was still holding the knackered Dengar figure, which he looked at and said “They’re all like that in the basket, so a fiver each” – which, of course, made me then have a proper look in there. Now, whilst I have Kate to thank for the day anyway, I specifically have her to thank for the next thing.  The chap on the stall got very taken with her.  I think it fell short of proper creepy, but he declared that she was “far too glamourous” to be at a toy fair.  I resisted saying “Oh, if she took the mask off you’d see you’ve been fooled by the blonde hair” because this wasn’t a time for jokes. I think he was flirting, as I wrapped my hand around another Dengar in the basket.  It wasn’t a knackered one.  It was clearly in the wrong box.  I held it up and said “This one is alright” and he looked right at it, unable to hide his own surprise.  The problem was, he’d “made friends” now. Kate and I both agreed afterwards that he hadn’t hidden it very well.  He’d said a fiver though, and that’s what I paid.

Dengar, good nick, check.  Tiny scuffs, all fixable, minimal yellowing. The hunt is well on now.

Hand on heart, that would have been enough for me.  I just wanted to acquire them all over time, and getting one was a result.  We had a mooch around for another hour or so, being bumped into a lot, and I had a quandary conversation over a vintage, fully kitted out, Star Destroyer playset.  No missing pieces, really good nick, and he wanted £120 for it.  I think I may regret not just biting the bullet, but I remained sensible.  I am not collecting vintage Star Wars toys.  Stop trying to make me.

As we were leaving, we passed the Boba Fett table again.  The chap on it came around the front and said it had been a really slow one, and if I wanted it, he would do it for £20.  I said there was no weapon with it, but I’d give him fifteen in his hand right now.  He immediately said yep and reiterated that it had been a slow day.

I had a spare gun from when I bought the retro versions of the figures when I was feeling sad on the movie tour. Again, minimal scuffing (it’s near impossible to get a figure with zero scuffing), and we have Boba Fett in the bag.

Leaving the toy fair with two Bounty Hunters was a cracking result for me.  As I said, I’d have been glad with just one, and it was only ruined by the fact that Kate beat me to this board game…

We know how much I love ghost trains too.  I’m scanning all the artwork and she can have it cluttering up her house.

Next thing, she gets on her phone, like some sort of “glamourous” (vendor’s word) David Dickinson, and starts searching for other vintage places we can go and hunt at, and twenty minutes later we are pulling up at a big warehouse.

Now, I love and hate these places.  They’re proper treasure troves but they’re incredibly overwhelming.  I did however have a hunt to get on with, and a side hunt to get a foot stool as I’ve moved my sofa in front of the fire and would like to warm my feet. It looked like a good call for a footstool, but two hours into the search it looked like a poor call for Star Wars figures.  Not a solitary one.  I found an original Darth Vader Collector Case for fifteen quid, which I’m still baffled at my non-purchase of, but I was blinded by my hunt and the sheer mass of “stuff”, and I’m also not collecting vintage Star Wars stuff remember. Every time we thought we’d finished looking, there was a sign that said “Much more this way” and it was another warehouse. After going through two of these gateways to another new world I was starting to flag a lot. We saw another “Much more this way” sign and wanted to just quit.  I was very aware we still had to go to Liverpool to pick up Queen Victoria’s death mask or whatever it was she bought.

“Let’s just have a very quick look”

Look closely.  That’s the first thing I found.  Right at the back there.  Beige-headed monster.  That’s Bossk. That’s one of the Bounty Hunters. The price tag was turned around though…

The vendor came over and we got it out of the case.  £15.99 it was.  Which was borderline but it had the weapon.  Which is what I said, and it somehow miraculously dropped to £9.99.  I’d love to say I was bartering, but I was literally speaking my thoughts.

Halfway point of the hunt.  Three in the bag.  Bossk officially in stock.

The chap told us there was another stall right at the back of the warehouse that had a few Star Wars figures, and I stumbled down there.  It was tucked away in a corner, and if it had been at the front of the store it would have saved a lot of time, yet I'm also glad it wasn't.

That’s the first case. Now, if you know about these things, you may be very proud of yourself for spotting 4-LOM right behind the Anakin Skywalker figure.  Oh, and for the record, I am calling them by their original release names, that’s why I say 4-LOM.  It turned out the original figures were mislabelled so 4-LOM and Zuckuss got transposed, but I’m gonna honour the mistake.

So that’s 4-LOM there, and that is one of the Bounty Hunters I needed.  It also had its original weapon which is hard to find. It was £8.99.  So, we were about to have 4-LOM in stock but wait…look again…on the right…

Who’s that hiding there?  For £7.99….It’s only IG-88.  Who, if you don’t know, is another one of the Bounty Hunters.  No weapons though, but when the vendor came and chatted with me, I said it was annoying that the two weapons he needed were actually there but on other figures.  The blaster held by Hammerhead and the rifle held by the Snowtrooper.

“Oh take them then” – it was genuinely that easy. I really, really wish there were more folk who were reasonable.

So, at the end of the day, we have five of the six.

4-LOM (sic), with original weapon, in stock….

IG-88, with original (pilfered) weapons, in stock…

And then, to crown it off, the vendor had another bit to his stall.

Lots going on here.  Firstly, my heart sank when I saw another Bossk and another Dengar, but I was relieved to see Bossk had no weapon, and particularly relieved to see that Dengar was two quid more than I’d paid at the toy fair.  You’ll also notice that we have not seen a solitary Boba Fett since the toy fair.  Despite me claiming they are everywhere, there were none again.  So, the last-minute impulse buy at the Toy Fair was right.  Especially given that in the very last cabinet…

Two Zuckuss (Zucki?), one of which has the hard-to-find original weapon and is £8.99.  The last case of the day. Containing only the last figure of the hunt. You know what that means?

Target of the quest number 6 – Zuckuss, in stock.

How many Bounty Hunters were there again?  Oh yeah, six.  So that’s all of them, right?

Yep, that’s all of them.  In one day.

I’ll tell you what I loved about it.  Not just the completion of the task, as I would have honestly been happy getting one to start me off, but the quest.  That it wasn’t a Google or eBay search, immediately finding them for sale and buying them (over the odds that would have been too).  It was going out and searching through loads of “junk”, rummaging through baskets whilst a vendor stared at blonde hair, the whole thing coming together in different places, none of which were advertising that they had them.  That’s why I wish I’d filmed it; because it came off.  I had no hope that it would at the start of the day, which is why I didn’t film it, but that should be a lesson learnt.

It felt as close to the olden days as it could possibly be.  I had memories flooding back, of going into St Helens town centre, pocket money at the ready, searching through Toy & Hobby for figures, occasionally finding some Holy Grail tucked away at the back of the rail.

Also, when I look at the pics now, I notice the prices on the other figures.  They’re really good prices.  I just wasn’t looking at them at the time.  That Snowtrooper has its vinyl cape, and (used to have) its weapon.  That’s a brilliant price for a “complete” Snowtrooper in great condition. I didn’t even look at the price on the boxed Speeder Bike, and I reckon it would also have been a proper bargain.  I saw one last year in a vintage shop for £200…and I’m so certain it wouldn’t have been that.  It’s irrelevant of course, as I am not collecting vintage Star Warsremember, but it’s worth keeping in mind if I do go mad…

It was an ace day where things went right. Come on, don’t begrudge me a lovely day in the midst of gloom.

Stuart Bray has kindly started 3-D printing me some repro weapons for the missing ones too.

Oh, and you know this means you’ll have to sit through me making a display for these Bounty Hunters right?  I already know exactly what I’m going to do for it…

Hope your week is off to a lovely start over there

Sending all the love

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