This week in Q&A - Jedi Symbols - where did they debut? Convention-al Wisdom - when and where should you buy your scarce, higher-end toys? And waves that haven't been officially announced yet. Yeah, you know. Also Galactic Hunter's server is acting up right now, so we're posting this at 16bit.com and on Patreon right now for our wonderful paid supporters. And send in your questions for next week. Read on!

1. The Jedi symbol . . . where did it originate from? I don't recall seeing it in any of the movies. Was it created for The Clone Wars?
--Greg

Here's a good way to start the column - I'm not 100% sure. We saw it in The Last Jedi trailer, and I think the first time I saw it on a Hasbro toy may have been the first Anakin and Obi-Wan figures from The Clone Wars in 2008. It wouldn't surprise me if it was in a video game I missed, so let me throw this one out to you guys - where did this one first appear?

Ad: Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy at Entertainment Earth!

2. I attended Celebration Europe last summer and saw several loose and carded figures from the vintage animated Droids cartoon line. On the first day, one vendor was offering a loose Sise Fromm with cardback for £500 (about $650). He also had many other Droids cartoon figures and animated Ewoks figures. I went back the next day, thinking I might haggle - but by then, most figures were sold and gone.

I'm attending Celebration Orlando next week. If another such opportunity comes my way, should I: (1) Just go for it and buy immediately (assuming I know the range of fair market prices) or (2) Instead, save my money in anticipation of Hasbro's Star Wars 40th anniversary super-articulated 3.75-inch line? (LOL)

My bigger question is: With vintage figure prices soaring over the last several years, are we in a price bubble that just might collapse? Or will Disney's Forever Franchise ensure that prices continue to remain this high for the foreseeable future?
--Glenn

...sometimes we're late to the game with these. Sorry about that, Glenn.

The good news is that in my experience, items at Star Wars Celebration tend to cost more than eBay. And as you've also seen, The Vintage Collection is making a comeback in 2018, but how extensively I honestly don't know. Are we talking a wave? Is this going to replace the "Armor Up" sets that, seemingly, nobody really wanted? I have no idea.

We might be in a price bubble for real 1978-1985 vintage Kenner toys, but I doubt it - prices sometimes level off but rarely have gone down. I assume this will change at some point as we see a bigger separation between people paying premium for C-10++++ perfect items and loose stuff, mostly as older collectors start dying off. I know that sounds morbid, but it's possible subsequent generations will care a little less about this stuff - the perfect stuff will likely increase in value forever, but I assume the endless supply of new wares will eventually take the edge off of some of the old stuff. A constant supply of new Darth Vader figures won't take away from an original figure, but it'll certainly hurt the long-term market for loose figures that a kid would want to buy as a plaything.

People at conventions are usually in a mood to spend. They paid hundreds of dollars to get there, and then the hotels, admission, and so on - the funny thing is they could probably get a much better deal (and have more spending money) just by staying at home, but without the ability to handle the merchandise up close. I don't think there will be a permanent market for this stuff, but I can't imagine 12-backs or the really rare stuff ever getting much cheaper without a sudden plague sweeping the collector class.

3. Do you know if any of the Rogue One WalMart exclusive figures are going to be carried forward in the Walrusman wave? Maybe I'll get another chance at them when the Vintage packaging relaunches, but I would prefer to get them sooner.
--Doug

At this time we don't know for sure what's going to ship later - even if we see breakdowns on a report from some online seller overseas, sometimes these can change. My advice to you would be to snag anything you want right now because Walmart has their 3 3/4-inch The Black Series figures on sale for about $5.86, less than half of regular price - a good deal if you're going to be opening them and not a bad price if you decide you need to sell them later when the new The Vintage Collection figures show up anyway. I've recently seen a fair amount of older figures suddenly show up again, so I'd suggest keeping your eyes peeled while the getting is cheap.

Become a Patron!

FIN

Uh... so we have a problem. Might be big, might be small. I don't know yet. The site runs on an older hosting platform, with Drupal and databases and - sadly - things I did not rig up and do not completely understand. As of right now GalacticHunter.com if unable to pop up, but it looks like all the files are there - you can still ping graphics and such, it's just the core thing that makes up the site that's acting up and I don't fully understand it. As of right now I'm under advisement to wait to see if some things change on the server. If everything is OK in the morning, I'm going to post this on Galactic Hunter like nothing happened. If not, I have some groveling to do and if it works, then we'll post it. And if that doesn't work? I don't even want to think about it.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.