As things happen I have not had a chance to post anything for over three months. Way too busy, but I do apologize. Anyway I have started work on the AFN Section in the Articles Database. I hope to post some new stuff in the coming weeks. The first full article is now posted. The AFN Loose Figure Review is now up, 6 pages in all. More to come!

November 10, 2016

Today’s post is a rant rather than a normal toy related posting. After recent events I have to stake out a position here that is both painful but necessary. The issue at stake is Star Trek and CBS/Paramounts horrific 180 degree turn on the fans and fan made films. There are a number of fantastic fan funded and made series of Star Trek shows such as Phase 2, Continues and Axanar to name a few. Paramount (and CBS), after 50 years of supporting their fan base to a praiseworthy degree, has sued Axanar and now issued its own “rules” to the fans of what they can and cannot do. While I expect this behavior from Lucasfilm or Saul Zaentz (Lord of the Rings) this is an unfathomable position for the Star Trek owners to take given its history and the true meaning of the franchise. Fans, and fans alone, kept the franchise alive during the dark years and Paramount nurtured and supported them for decades. To now turn on them is craven and a sign of the worst of corporate greed run amok.

As a result I urge all of you to join in a boycott of both the new Star Trek film and the upcoming series from CBS. While I hate to miss both of these events it is clear that money, and the loss of it, is the only thing Paramount and CBS cares about. It is with great sorrow and pain that I take this position against the new creators of Star Trek. If this is the direction they wish to take they can go it alone.

August 1, 2016

I thought today we would begin a series of posts that encompass a number of items including the History of Star Wars Toy Collecting, research before the internet and the actual use of both books and talking to real people and a tribute to one of the hobby’s great pioneers. Back in the Fall of 1990 Action Figure News and Toy Review’s first issue hit the newsstands for those who remember such things as newsstands. Leonard J Lee III aka Lenny Lee was the publisher of this revolutionary concept and creation. He launched a magazine totally devoted to the love and passion of collecting toys, specifically Action Figures. This was unheard of at the time as ALL toy magazines and collectors revolved around either Dolls or Trains. Nothing else mattered to the toy world and even GI Joe’s 12 Inch Figures were lumped into the Doll world as Action Figures were unimportant to the hobby. Lenny changed all that. His magazine was in comic stores and book stores everywhere in very little time. While the first issue was black and white they changed over to a color cover and a finer paper with issue #2. All color followed shortly thereafter. At this time this was a very costly and bold move and it paid off as the magazine ran for over two decades.

With that as a backdrop and with the gracious approval and consent of Lenny we are presenting to you some of the Star Wars moments (Vintage of course) in the storied history of Lee’s Action Figure and Toy Review (aka AFN). We begin with page one of a six page introduction to the world of collecting Loose Star Wars figures. Remember this is a time BEFORE the internet and resources like these were treasured and revered. Books on Action Figures would follow but this is where it all began. I present to you page 1 of AFN’s Complete Loose Figure Review on Vintage Star Wars. Subsequent pages to follow over the coming weeks and months and daresay, years. A section in the Articles Database has been set up totally devoted to the history of AFN.

Enjoy!

Reprinted here with permission from the editor and owner of Lee’s Action Figure News and Review. All rights reserved and copyrighted by Action Figure News & Toy Review
June 12, 2016

Welcome to my real first post. As you all know there are endless websites for Star Wars and toys, so the question must be raised…why one more? Hence the purpose of this post, to bring some clarity and purpose (Raison D’être for those who do not “parler en francais” means purpose or reason for being hence the post’s name) as to why we are all here.  There are two main points to the project, to educate while entertaining and as an avenue for me personally to pursue my passion, hobby and business in a new and meaningful way. For you see, those who do not already know, I am a die hard collector and a……dealer. Yes since 1994 this has been my full time occupation, not part time or dealer collector or anything like that. We have had several stores, done hundreds of shows as well as hundreds of ads and have, in my opinion, the finest website in the business. I am the owner of Final Frontier Toys (www.finalfrontiertoys.com) and I do believe that I am the only true collector that is a full time dealer. It is from that very vantage point that I think this site and its direction will flow and serve a purpose in the hobby.

You have all read on various mediums comments and speculation about the hobby, the business, deals gone bad, collections and get incomplete or more often than not incorrect information. My collecting days date back to when the movies where IN the theaters and I started buying seriously in about 1984/5 while in High School. So while collecting I was buying extras to someday, when retired or so I thought, I would sell toys as a side hobby/business. Things changed (I may share that story along the line) and I started the business, in earnest, doing shows in 1993. It was in 1994 that I decided to do this and nothing else and opened our first store in Gilroy, California where I grew up. I have witnessed this as a nascent hobby to the main stream investment platform that it is to some these days. My passion and intent here is to speak to the core collector, not just investors or fly by night collectors and there is nothing wrong with either of these people mind you, but to those of us who HAD the toys, LOVED the toys, COLLECT the toys and do not SELL the toys. Ironic the last part given my profession but I rarely, virtually never, sell anything from my collection. I still have the stuff I had as a kid as well as all the stuff I bought from 1984 – 1988 in the stores as well as from the shows I went to as a collector from 1986 – 1992 and it is a lot of stuff.

Anyway my desire here is to educate collectors on what is actually available, what is rare, common and uncommon, what is fake and what is real, discuss the history of the hobby and the things that go on behind the scenes, that collectors do not know or see or even hear about. For I have seen many customers taken advantage of in recent years due to lack of knowledge and information and by the less than honest sellers in the marketplace, some of which would surprise you. All the comments and information in the market is from collectors, some serious and some stupid, but never from anyone who actually sells for a living and knows the ins and outs of the business. I hope to add information and a perspective that is sorely lacking in this amazing hobby.

Secondly this is a way for me to express and share my knowledge and love of the hobby. I got started into this website because of Kenner commercials and the love of them. This website was started by someone else and I have rebuilt it close to what he had done with some serious modifications and improvements. Once that phase is done we will begin to explore into uncharted new waters and I hope you will share this journey with me. While I have some ideas and projects that will begin shortly I am open to suggestions, comments, criticisms or critiques and very happy to accept ideas and your work, photos, articles and input. It is a journey I want to share with my friends, customers and collectors to help us all understand more of what we collect and to educate so we know what we are doing. In the past, as it is now, collecting was fun but the prices that are common to the market now are shocking (even being in the business I would never and did not anticipate prices as they are these days) so I am certain that you as collectors want to be armed with complete knowledge and information to buy wisely. That I hope to be able to help you with. Thank you for taking the time to read this and visit the site. I hope you continue to do so forever.

May 18, 2016