Figures That Make Me Happy:  Gamorrean Guard (Vintage Collection)

There are serveral things about the Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard that are unique among the entries so far in the "Figures that Make Me Happy" series. The first thing is that it's the first Vintage Collection figure so far. The second thing is that it's the first figure from Return of the Jedi. Finally, it's the first figure in the series that is an update. The pig guard was first released in the Power of the Force "2" (POTF2) line, and later slightly repainted for the Original Trilogy Collection (OTC) line. While this Gamorrean Guard is the first figure that meets those criteria, it certainly won't be the last. A certain barfly with a PhD will also check off two of those categories.

The Vintage Collection Gamorrean Guard came in the third wave of TVC 1.0. It was planned to be a massive wave with 9 new figures, but two of them, Yoda and Wedge Antilles, would get bumped to a later date. This last minute shuffling lead to there being several different assortments of wave three which varied the figures that were doubled up. I know that one of those assortments did have the Gammy doubled up, but I don't know if that case ever shipped. I knew from the beginning that this would be the most in-demand figure from the wave (even though the britches were a bit too fuzzy). Knowing that it would be one-per-case, it would be one of those figures that I became nervous about acquiring. This would be the first Vintage Collection wave that I would order by the case, a practice that would soon become the norm.

Even though I had the case on order, that would only get me one piggy, and it would be my carded sample as unpunched cards debuted in the Vintage Collection with this assortment. I needed several to open. To put it in perspective of how long ago TVC 1.0 was, I found my first brick and mortar Gam Guard at K-Mart. The MSRP on TVC was a then exorbitant $8. K-Mart was charging an additional dollar over that. I remember feeling dirty paying "scalper prices" for that first Gammy. Then something from yesteryear happened. About a week or so later, I happened into my local Target and I found the last cornucopia of figures I would ever see. They easily had twenty cases of this wave. The toy section was primed for the holiday footprint, and it felt like a quarter of the action figure aisle was dedicated to Vintage Collection pegs. It was as close to the Kenner era "wall of figures" that TVC would come. I was able to get my fill of Gammies, hook up a buddy of mine (to include popping some cases to get him a mint unpunched one), and leave several behind.

The head sculpt on this figure should be hanging in the Louvre. It's glorious. The articulation isn't up to the standard of the latest figures from today, but it doesn't need to be. It has all the articulation you need to make Jabba's muscle do what it do. The Gammy would get re-released during TVC 1.0, and then again during TVC 2.0. Despite this, the demand still hasn't been met. Packaged samples fetch around $50 on the secondary market today. It's insane that something thrice released generates that much demand. It's a testament to how great this figure is. Hasbro needs to get the Gamorrean Guard back on the market some way, somehow.

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