why are the 1987 figures so valuable?

[prob off]

i've noticed that the 1987 series 6 i believe are going to a lot of money. is it because the line was running out of steam by then and they didn't produce as many or was it something else. just curious thats all. thanks

[Dr_SLUMP]

Yes, the production number was low and some of them (such as the giants) were exclusives to Italy and Greece.

[Matthew L. Martin]

The Giants and Laser figures were exclusive to European markets, and a lot of them were just harder to find and underpublicized. The Power Gear sets were so underproduced/underreleased that I thought they'd been cancelled until the rise of the Internet (only Vintage toys I've gone to the secondary market for), and I didn't even know most of the 87 PoP figures existed until we found a Silver Storm on a clearance rack in 1989 or so.

Part of the reason for the former was that Mattel sent me a computer printout of all their MotU SKUs, and the Power Gear sets weren't on it. Strangely enough, Gigantasaurus was, but the Gyrattacker--which appears to have come closer to being produced--wasn't. Neither were the Giants or the Laser figures.

[prob off]

the giants and laser ones were in 1988. i was talking about the series before that. randor, clamp champ, ninjor, sorcerss, rotar, twistoid etc....

[Dr_SLUMP]

Oops... those were also produced in somewhat fewer quantities but they aren't nearly as rare as the final year's.

I remember the shops here having tons of Randors, Rotars, Twistoids, etc.. to be honest, it's my most vivid memory of MOTU toys at shelves.

[He-bro]

There was less of them made, the line was winding down.

[pH6]

There's also small interesting tidbits which makes a few of them even rarer: AFAIK Ninjor was never released in Sweden, because there was some kind of anti-ninja movement at the time. And Faker II, just like first Faker, was never released in Finland. Why? That's a very good question, which even Mattel Finland's brand manager at the time couldn't answer when I asked it.

[prob off]

anti ninja? wow. thanks for the input everyone

[SunDevil]

I just began the third MOTU collection of my life (long boring story) and have completed the 86ish figures you mention - Ninjor, Randor, etc.

I'm actually having more trouble with the middle years - Clawful, Whiplash, BuzzOff, etc. Just finally grabbed some of those.

@Matthew Martin - If you've been collecting straight through since the 80s and avoiding (mostly) the secondary markey, I am extremely jealous!

For our collection, it looks almost cerytain that the 'Euro Four' are priced out of the realm of possibility for our collection. Since we never had them as kids, it's easier to just forget them. Well, a LITTLE easier...

[iron_pride]

I rememebr seeing that wave in full and in multiple in a store called Watsons back in the day. They even had all of the last bunch of Thundercats too (Lynx-O, Bengali, Pumyra, Jaga). I bought the turbo-dactyl, but in hindsight, I wish I would have picked some figs from the following I saw:

Blade, Saurod, Gwildor, Ninjor, Scare Glow, Rotar, Twistoid, (I did get Randor and Sorceress and the Horde Trooper though, but still).....Of those, I have managed to find Saurod, Gwildor and Ninjor, but none of the others...yet....

[Matthew L. Martin]

@Matthew Martin - If you've been collecting straight through since the 80s and avoiding (mostly) the secondary markey, I am extremely jealous!

Original line only, I'm afraid. My sister does have the first two years of PoP, but we missed the 87 figures there. NA, I only have He-Man and Skeletor; I've got about a third of the 200X line, the first wave of the Commemorative Line minus the cats and the 10-pack, and my Classics purchases are very selective--although it's thanks to that line that I did finally manage to get Megator, Tytus, and He-Ro.

But for the originals, I've only had to go to the secondary market for the three Power Gear sets, back in the late 90s. I've got everything else released in the US, albeit all of those are loose, played-with, and a bit battered in some cases. (I do have an MIB Slime Pit that I found on the shelves of a hardware store in Iowa back in 1999.)

[SunDevil]

(I do have an MIB Slime Pit that I found on the shelves of a hardware store in Iowa back in 1999.)

Now you're just freaking me out - I live in Iowa!

As an undergrad at Arizona State in the mid-90s, I worked parttime in a comic/toy store. One day this guy comes in, a regular who always had crazy stuff, and brought us a bunch of late series MOTU that he had found at some hardware store in Utah while he and his family had been on a roadtrip. This would have a been a good 8 or 9 years after the MOTU line ended. Crazy.

[iron_pride]

Now you're just freaking me out - I live in Iowa!

As an undergrad at Arizona State in the mid-90s, I worked parttime in a comic/toy store. One day this guy comes in, a regular who always had crazy stuff, and brought us a bunch of late series MOTU that he had found at some hardware store in Utah while he and his family had been on a roadtrip. This would have a been a good 8 or 9 years after the MOTU line ended. Crazy.

Back in the day well early to mid 90's, harware stores were the place to go. Found a Horde Trooper at one. Yep, a Horde Trooper. Now a days all they have is drug store quality garbage like basic wrestling guys and a few power rangers.

[Wonder Bread He-Man]

In U.K the nunchucks-scenes in MA films were cut , also TMNT was re-named TMHT (Hero Turtles) due to the term "ninja" seeming too adult/intense

They DID sell the TMNT Mike figure fea his nunchucks but in the toon his nunchucking antics were cut.......

Also some horror films were quite controversial in U.K , Germany & Scandinavia (TX Chainsaw , Maniac for example).......censors thnking people would be corrupted , basically acting like nannies

Anyway , to find the movie figs on pristine cards......it ain't easy :/