Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, October 5, 1999
Plastic-molded memories popular with collectors
By Brittaney Parbs
Special to the Kansan
Mike Meyers, Heather Graham, and Jay and Silent Bob have been in Lawrence for months. Janeane Garfofal and Ben Stiller will be here in a few weeks.
Recent interest in collectibles has brought these big-name actors to Lawrence in the form of dolls and figurines.
Comic Market, 938 Massachusetts St., offers hundreds of television and film-inspired figures, ranging from Xena, Warrior Princess, to the ever-popular Star Wars characters.
"Now, there are a lot more kids, and even the average 18- to 24-year-old, collecting the toys," said D.J. Gabel, Comic Market employee. "Now that the studios have the market for the thing, they might as well get as much money out of it as they can."
The majority of Comic Market's revenue comes from collectors between the ages of 18 and 24. Some collect the dolls as a hobby, but others invest in them to make money. The most profitable figures right now are those in the Star Wars line, Gabel said.
"You buy that figure for $7, you can turn around and sell it for anywhere from $100 to $1,000, if you get the right toy," Gabel said.
Luke, Chewbacca, and C-3PO are three of the several original *Star Wars* figures at Comic Market, 938 Massachusetts St. The store offers a variety of collectible dolls. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Sometimes, manufacturers make too few of the most popular figures or print errors on the packaging. These errors can boost the price of figures.
Even though an average Star Wars figure sells in the stores for $6 or $7, collectors can sell some figures back to other collectors to make a profit.
"My main goal for this is to preserve memories of the old shows as well as the potential for later resale," Merritt said. "Or, if I have kids, they will inherit, and hopefully take care of, my set for their future monetary well-being."
Phillip Merritt, a 23-year-old Lawrence resident, collects Star Wars figures and also hopes to establish a collection of '80s television characters.
The best-selling toys seem to be those that most resemble the persons or characters from which they are modeled. Some manufacturers have better molding techniques than other, and collectors have taken notice.
"When the X-Files dolls first came out, they sold really well," Gable said. "Then people started actually looking at the dolls' faces and realized that they looked nothing like the actors, and the dolls quickly stopped selling."
On the other hand, the Austin Powers line is still extremely popular because of its realistic look, he said.
Manufacturers are paying more attention to marketing and are designing more for the 18- to 24-year-old age group now. Even packaging has changed because of the doll-collecting craze Manufacturers design the packages as display cases. The dolls remain unopened so that, in mint condition, they could be worth more money in the future.
Anna Martin, St. Louis junior, has seen the various figures in Comic Market and thinks the idea of adults collecting dolls is crazy.
"I honestly can't see why someone would buy a doll for hundreds of dollars, and then not play with it," she said. "I think that these manufacturers are trying to produce instant nostalgia with these toys. You can't mold memories out of plastic."
—Edited by Jennifer Roush
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