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Post by Branjita on May 6, 2014 8:06:02 GMT -6
I remember buying all four of those at Gamestop when they came out. Those were made by jakks though, so technically they shouldn't be in the irwin topic. I liked it when striking z fighters gave us characters we otherwise didn't get. One of the worst selling irwin figures of all time had to be the szf great Saiyaman. He was on the pegs for months at toys r us as the only DBZ figure they had lol.
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Post by Namekian Dragon on May 26, 2014 17:43:35 GMT -6
Wow! This is an awesome thread. I was going through the 5" Basic Figures line and couldn't believe I have every one of the action figures from the line. I still remember the nightmare it was trying to find Burter, Jeice, and Chiaotzu. Sadly when I was collecting them I opened a lot of them, so their resell value isn't nearly what it could be. I don't know why I'm always so worried about that since I don't see myself ever selling my 5" line collection anyway, but I guess it's my collectors mentality.
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Post by Adrenaline on Jun 26, 2014 8:13:51 GMT -6
I'd do anything for this type of line to continue again. If I was a really wealthy business man, I'd start my own company and specifically hire the resources needed to make basic articulated 5 inch scaled DB/Z/GT figures again. lol Then I'd only make characters that need to be made and haven't been made, to fill all the holes in my collection.
I'd Kick it off with DB Series 1
-Bulma in Pink Dress
-Master Roshi in Letter Shirt
-Toh Toh
-Oolong as the Red Demon Ogre
-Boss Rabbit's Agents 2-pack (like Shin and Kabito)
DBZ Series 1
-Bulma in White Jacket
-Farmer w/Shotgun
-Princess Snake
-Ox King
-Saibaman 3-pack
DBGT Series 1
-Lord Don Kee
-Gail
-Sheela
-Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy
-Machine Mutant Mutchy (Whip)
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Post by erik557 on Jul 16, 2014 12:15:25 GMT -6
I remember this line very well, i still have quite a few of these figures. Most are scraped and what not as I had them as a kid.
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Post by doomprevails88 on Jan 18, 2016 9:25:51 GMT -6
So is master roshi in an orange shirt in a saiyan saga package uber rare or does it just not happened to be pictured here? Does anyone know if it was exclusive, regional, or just a variant?
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Post by SuperSayin9000 on Apr 8, 2016 5:26:34 GMT -6
I'm loving these older figs and play set!
Usually just collect the SH Figuarts, but have slowly been picking these up here and there.
Classics!
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Post by Boddah on Jul 29, 2017 20:45:26 GMT -6
List updated.
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Post by Branjita on Jul 22, 2019 11:04:22 GMT -6
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Post by Branjita on Jul 22, 2019 12:02:52 GMT -6
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Post by Branjita on Jul 3, 2020 16:10:43 GMT -6
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Post by Branjita on Jul 3, 2020 20:28:29 GMT -6
Back on July 15, 2003, I wrote a news item on DBT about the strange distribution of Irwin figures at KB Toys at that time. This is unique, because I was seeing these figures release as fresh, new products in Irwin packaging 7 months after Irwin's bankruptcy. Here's what I posted in 2003: Variations in Irwin DBZ figures are kind of unseen until now, except for the extremely noticeable Majin Vegeta hair colors. Anyway, in the recent flood of figures to KB Toys, you will find tons and tons of Series 4 Piccolos, Vegetas, and Gokus, along with tons of SS Goten and SS Trunks 2 packs, and I think Daburas. There were also a ton of Series 2 Striking Z Fighters and Secret Saiyan Warriors. I only picked up a Goten and Trunks 2 pack and a Series 4 Goku.
When I was in the store, I noticed that the Piccolos, Vegetas, and Gokus all lacked the gloss of the original Series 4 figures. When I opened the package Goku was in, I discovered the plastic he is made of is much softer in texture (perhaps not in quality though), and his pupils were much larger than the old Series 4 glossy one (side-by-side comparison) Which is better you ask? I prefer the original; I liked the glossy clothes because they looked very smooth. To sum it up, these are definitely a second release of series 4 figures, because there is no way there would be such a difference. In a way, it is a correction, because the Android 17 and 18 from Series 4 lacked the glossy look of those three. As for SS Goten and SS Trunks, no major difference, the pupils are a more lime green than my originals and the hair seems to have less red or orange in it. It’s undeterminable if it is a variation, or just a re-release of the figures because of a large popularity boost from the character Gotenks.
Update: I discovered someone who also updated the news on DBT reported these strange assortments at KB Toys on April 29, 2003:
Whoever reported this failed to notice that the figures were not glossy.
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Post by Branjita on Jul 3, 2020 21:27:48 GMT -6
Another bit of history came from DBT member named Bamf in this thread from 04-15-2003. I'm quoting the important part. It concerns SS3 Goku from series 11.
So... how did this actually pan out? And what was the situation before this?
I still remember. It's story time. Irwin filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2002. Originally, they said series 11 would release in October. I remember we were all a bit frustrated waiting for both Series 10 and 11 to finally come out. I got so frustrated with going to stores and finding nothing but old figures I already had, that I called up the local comic book store and asked them if they had them. They didn't, but they said that if I tell them what figures I wanted, they would hold them for me. So I did that. I told them I wanted every character, but an extra Yamcha from series 10 and an extra Bulma from series 11. Weeks went by. But then one day I got a call from the comic book store, and they told me all of them came in. I was like "All of them? Both series 10 and 11?" "Yep" "AWESOME!" "Except none of our cases have SS3 Goku" and that was the story everywhere, except for possibly Canada. Irwin was in Canada and for whatever reason, Canadians were always able to get figures sooner than us in the US. Very few people on DBT were able to find SS3 Goku. And he was selling for like $60 or something crazy (at the time) on ebay.
Months went by, and still nobody had him, for the most part. All of the other characters were possible to find, though honestly a bit tricky. I don't even remember when I finally got him, but I did not get him until Irwin's packaging changed and we were all unsure whether this was Jakks shipping Irwin's warehouse full of stuff, or Irwin's last few shipments. There was only speculation, as far as I know, but I believe Jakks did ship things that Irwin already had packaged up, because I didn't get SS3 Goku until probably the spring of 2003. And that spring, series 10 and 11 were easy to find at places like Toys R Us.
So... is SS3 Goku still rare and/or valuable? Well, I think it would be somewhat safe to assume that he's more uncommon than any of the other Series 11 figures (at least in the old packaging), and perhaps still uncommon in the old packaging, but his value on ebay hasn't really reflected it. It's possible that he was just extremely rare in November, December, and January, but eventually he started being included in cases, perhaps even 4 or more per case. I have no idea. Characters like Goku and Vegeta tended to be included in cases of figures at a higher rate than other characters. So perhaps Irwin actually did produce a lot of him, it's just that they took forever to actually start putting them in shipments to the US...?
Anyway, that's the end of that story. I'll tell another in a fresh reply. |
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Post by Branjita on Jul 3, 2020 22:36:17 GMT -6
My next topic is Series 7's black haired Majin Vegeta figure. Recently, I've noticed this figure being treated like some sort of urban legend, holy grail, or like it is something that should be incredibly valuable. But it really isn't. It's a common figure. It's honestly a great looking figure. It's fantastic. Did Majin Vegeta ever appear with black hair in the anime or manga? No. But the figure is really great looking.
This figure was probably discussed elsewhere, but the archive of DBT is incomplete. However, there was a thread about this figure on September 13, 2003. Considering nearly 17 years have passed since then, you can reference that to back up the story I'm going to tell y'all.
Since I'm an oldie who was buying these figures when new, I'll give a brief history on this figure. The figure itself is NOT unique because he has black hair. That was not a rare figure back in the day.
When this series of Irwin figures first came out, "Majin Vegeta" only came with black hair. According to DBT, this series was released February 2002. On DBT, we all thought that it was odd he had black hair and I believe several people emailed Irwin Toy complaining. Those cases of figures kept on distributing and distributing for months though. And while I didn't work in a store, so I wouldn't know for sure... I would assume that about 1/3 of the figures in every case were this figure. This was Vegeta after all...! They weren't going to short run him like Chaiotzu, and they certainly did not. If there were 12 figures per case, surely 4 of them were black haired Majin Vegetas. The pegs at the stores always had a few black haired Majin Vegetas and they were like that for months.
SS Majin Vegeta with yellow hair released in July 2002, so the rest of the shipments included him instead. Irwin's Series 8 figures were supposedly released in April of 2002, so they were already on the pegs for months before we started seeing SS Majin Vegetas on the pegs. However, Irwin did not always release solely figures from the same series in each box, so it's possible that the yellow haired versions weren't being sent with other series 7 figures, but instead with series 8 figures as the figure continued to be distributed. I vaguely remember Angel Goku and SS Majin Vegeta on the pegs at stores at the same time, so I believe that's correct.
Were SS Majin Vegetas likely shipped with Series 9 figures? I don't really think so. Those didn't release supposedly until September 2002.
I do wonder if SS Majin Vegeta took the place of SS Goten and SS Trunks in Series 8 shipments though, because I "think" I remember them being hard to find at the time. And... if you scroll up... you'll see that news post I wrote in July 2003 (over half a year since Irwin went bankrupt) and how KB Toys was fully stocked with odd assortments of Irwin figures. Either Irwin had a surplus of SS Goten and SS Trunks or backstock from not being able to ship them due to including SS Majin Vegeta in Series 8 cases... or they produced more of them, because I do remember they were popular figures.... until they weren't.... but they weren't popular anymore after Jakks rereleased them multiple times. I don't know how popular they were in July of 2003.
Anyway, back on topic. To be 100% honest with you all, I would be shocked if there was actual data (somehow) that said that the black haired figure is rarer than the yellow haired figure, because that disagrees with my experience. The black haired Vegeta was super common in stores for months. In fact, despite the fact that he is excellently well painted, he did not sell all that well. I'd visit Eckerd Drug store (one of the most common places I'd buy Irwin figures) and he'd sometimes be the only character they had. That sort of unpopularity was only later seen with characters like Pui Pui and Babidi (despite both being awesome figures). The yellow haired version I don't have as much of an anecdote about, but I don't recall him being very common. He's actually a little uncommon to find in the package on ebay still, and more valuable.
My whole point is: Don't let anybody fool you... this black haired version was VERY common when it was released... it was not, and is not, a rare factory error. I would wager that far more black haired ones were made than yellow haired ones.
The coolest thing about Irwin trying to make its customers happy was that they didn't just paint the hair yellow... they painted his eyes green... used a paler pink on the edges of the eyes (which is nice, but they technically needed to use black)... the package insert says "S.S." and the back of the package (the cardboard) actually has the blonde version and S.S. written on it. So... if you actually collect these figures mint on card after all of these years... you can theoretically look at the back of the cardboard and know whether your Series 7 figures are early production ones (super common) or late production ones (surely, significantly rarer) just by looking to see if Vegeta's hair is black or yellow on the cardboard.
It would be incredibly interesting to (hypothetically) discover that the only Series 7 figure to have a cardboard with yellow haired Majin Vegeta on the back to be exclusively SS Majin Vegeta figures and nobody else. Can anyone check their collections?
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Post by Machine00Mutant on Jul 6, 2020 22:00:02 GMT -6
My Spopovich, great saiyaman, and ss majin vegeta have the yellow hair on the back. I dont own a goku yet but I noticed my ss teen gohan has the black hair majin vegeta, its also one of the irwin figures that has the dbz card showing instead of flipped over.
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Post by Branjita on Jul 7, 2020 10:29:40 GMT -6
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