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Remember the GI Joe, Captain Action, Lone Ranger, and Mego action figures you used to play with as a kid? If so, you're not alone. Millions of 30-something Generation-Xers from around the country have started recollecting bits of their childhood in the form of the action figure.
There were literally hundreds of different action figures produced between the late sixties and early eighties, but the most popular include the 12" GI Joe, 3 ¾" GI Joe, Captain Action, Six Million Dollar Man, Lone Ranger, and the Mego line of action figures, which includes Super Heroes, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Happy Days, CHIPs, Monsters, and many other series of 8" fully-articulated figures.
Where can you find the toys you used to play with as a kid? Right here on your PC. Online auctions such as ebay.com frequently offer vintage action figures for all us nostalgic grown-ups to bid on. Some of the prices aren't cheap - the Mego Superman Clark Kent Alter Ego figure, for example, has been known to sell for as much as $4,000 - but there are many figures that were mass-produced that you can purchase for as little as ten dollars.
Toy shows, flea markets, and yard sales are another source for vintage action figures. As more and more people get Internet-savvy and sell online deals are harder to find, but they're still out there, especially if you're willing to start with a less than complete figure (say, a nude GI Joe) and work your way up from there.
How do you know what to pay? There are several newsstand magazines that will give you a general idea what the figures are worth, including Toyfare and Lee's Action Figure News. "Real world" prices are often less expensive than prices quotes in books, though, so be careful when making someone at a flea market an offer. You might be able to get that loose Lone Ranger doll for less than book price!
As you progress in your collection, you'll learn terms such as "mint in box" and "mint on card" and grades for the figures such as C9 (condition 9 out of 10). Don't be intimidated. Learning the lingo is part of the fun of starting a collection. Before long, you'll easily be able to tell the different between a C9 Mego Star Trek Klingon and a MIB (mint in box) Gabriel Lone Ranger.
Collecting vintage action figures takes the collector back to the carefree days of youth, when you had nothing better to do than spend a lazy summer day building forts for your GI Joes. It's all about memories, and if you're willing to pay for those memories, the figures are out there for the taking.
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