From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Action Figures.
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It might be hard to believe that the toys that are currently sitting on toy shelves could allow you to retire. But for those who have wisely invested in decades past, they may be reaping the financial benefits of taking care of their toys…if they are able to let go of them, that is!

Toys from the 1960's and 1970's that once retailed for three dollars or less are in several cases worth hundreds of dollars, and in some cases, the prices climb into the thousands, with some even reaching the five figure mark. Now that children of the 1980's are starting to accumulate more expendable income, action figures from that era are setting new record prices. This is very impressive considering the materials used in these action figures were cheap, the lifespan of a toy is as long as it's not broken (read: not very long), and these toys most likely have no appeal as playthings to the kids of today.

That’s not to say that every action figure from decades past is worth a fortune. Like almost every collectible line, some action figures are worth more than others. G.I. Joe figures from the 1980's are much more desirable than Super Naturals. Even similarly made toys command vastly different prices. Kenner made the first Star Wars figures and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid figures in the 3-3/4" scale at roughly the same time, and of course, Star Wars figures are far and away the much more desirable and valuable figures. Even within the same line, the value differs greatly. Most Dick Tracy figures based on the 1990 movie are worth about what they retailed for, but The Blank, based on Madonna’s character and only available at Sears stores in Canada, still fetches hundreds of dollars when she comes up for sale.

Unfortunately, because of number of new action figures being made each year, the market for action figures can be extremely fickle. A famous example is Hasbro's Nightmare Before Christmas toy line from 1993. The figures were discounted almost the second they hit stores. The movie gained a massive cult following, especially in Japan, and figures that couldn’t be given away at low prices were suddenly being sold for hundreds of dollars. Though Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise is still extremely popular, new and improved figures have been released since 1993, and in the early twenty-first century, the toy company NECA reissued almost the entire Hasbro line, changing only the copyright dates that were stamped on the figures. Now, Hasbro’s figures are collected for nostalgia, but they are not commanding the prices they were even five years ago.

How can you tell if it is worth investing in an action figure? There are a few telltale signs.

Buy what kids are buying. The reason action figures from the 1980’s are so desirable is not because collectors were investing in them. They’re hot collectibles because kids were buying them. And not surprisingly, toys that sat on shelves in the 1980’s while others sold briskly, for the most part, are not worth nearly as much as their more popular counterparts. When the kids of today grow up, they’re not going to be as interested in what collectors are storing away.

Keep track of what is hard to find. Unfortunately, this can be tricky because sometimes collectors create hard to find action figures. For example, in the 1990’s, many collectible dealers knew that female action figures were only included in small fractions in a case of toys because many toy companies felt that boys wouldn’t be as interested in the “girl” figures. The dealers scooped them up and temporarily made small profits. A decade later, those same dealers are sitting on piles upon piles of unsold, undesirable female action figures. If a toy is hard to find because it is popular with kids, and the toy company never gets the chance to resolve this by shipping more, it’s usually a good investment down the road.

Pay attention to when a toy line is about to end. It’s not necessarily a rule of thumb, but in general, the last series of an action figure toy line is usually the most desirable to a collector years after the line has stopped being sold in stores. This holds true with most of the lines Kenner produced in the 1980’s, along with many of Mego’s lines of the 1970’s. Eventually, kids’ interest in a line takes a dive, and toy companies will try and pull out all the stops to keep a toy line selling. If that fails, so does the toy line, but when kids go back to collect those lines, they’ll want to complete their collections with the toys they didn’t buy when they were younger.

Be aware of small but loyal followings. If collectors of a particular line make a point of buying every single figure in the line, it’s usually a good sign that other collectors will discover the line down the road. If a movie is very popular but there aren’t a lot of toys to go with it, usually, what’s available to collectors isn’t nearly enough to meet demand.

The most important thing to keep in mind with new collectibles is that some have immediate profitability, but everything that is available today really needs to be put aside so that it has time to appreciate in value. While something that retails for five dollars might be able to sell on an online auction site for twenty-five dollars today, it might be something that will sell for hundreds of dollars twenty years from now. If you plan to invest in action figures, it’s good to keep them and even display them during the time that you have them, but it’s really up to you when you want to part with them.