Secondary Market Prices For Unpunched TVC 1.0 Starting To Get Eye Popping

Posted by Chris on 06/30/21 at 07:05 AM Category: Vintage Collection

https://www.banthaskull.com/images/news/tvc1_unpunched.jpg

The prices of TVC 1.0 unpunched figures are continuing to climb, but it's not the holy grails that are catching my eye. Figures like VC102 - Ahsoka ($800) and VC101 - Shae Vizla ($300) have been grails for a while and have always fetched a premium. Nor is it about evergreen characters that only had one appearance in TVC, like VC34 - Jango Fett (pushing $300). It's actually that figures which once ranged from also rans to flat out unwanted are now fetching premiums to various degrees. Let's look at a few.

VC51 - Barriss Offee

Full photo gallery HERE

This sale almost singled-handedly spurred this article into action. Barriss Offee earned borderline peg warmer status due to being carried forward multiple times. For a while, case fresh unpunched samples couldn't even fetch MSRP (ask me how I know). The fact that one sold for $100 proves that value in The Vintage Collection is merely a time function...except for Snoke.

VC15 - Clone Trooper

Full photo gallery HERE

This figure was in the running for 2010 Peg Warmer of the Year. Along with the Sandtrooper, the VC15 - Clone Trooper was so problematic that it impacted brick and mortar well into 2011. It was one of a handful of figures that spurred Hasbro to send representatives into stores to recall the unsold product. Now it can fetch $80. To quote Cleveland Brown, “My word!”

VC71 - Mawhonic (Podracer Pilot)

Full photo gallery HERE

I don't think it's hyperbole to say that this figure was almost worthless at one point. It was only available in the final wave of TVC 1.0 which was a shared online exclusive. In those days, it meant that brick and mortar retailers didn't sell them at all since "e-tail" wasn't a big part of their business models at the time. Despite this, Mawhonic was showing up in Target stores in droves. Unscrupulous collectors were taking advantage of Target's general TVC DPCI and using old receipts to return Mawhonic from the cases they bought.

VC115 - Darth Vader

Full photo gallery HERE

Okay, no one would suggest that Darth Vader isn't a strong seller, but this was Vader's third release in TVC 1.0, and this version is highly scene specific. It's not a "general use" Darth Vader figure. This release hovered in the $50 - $70 for seemingly forever. To see it spike up in to the $300 range is, as the title of this article suggests, eye-popping. That's rare air for TVC, but it looks like VC115's value might be a temporary spike, and not sustainable. After a few sales in the $300's, the most recent sale came back down to Earth at around $150.

VC31 - Obi-Wan Kenobi

Full photo gallery HERE

As with Lord Vader, no one would suggest that Obi-Wan Kenobi is a slow seller, but this figure had a couple of collectibility strikes against it. One, this is a repack of the BD44 - Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. Two, VC31 was carried forward multiple times. This release verged on being over-represented in the line, and its secondary market value hovered around MSRP for quite a while. It's a testament to the popularity of the character and unpunched Vintage Collection cards that it now hits triple digits.

VC25 - R2-D2

Full photo gallery HERE

This figure shipped a LOT, and no one would suggest that it's because its diminutive size allowed Hasbro to offset the cost of larger figures in case assortments (wink). It was originally released in 2010, carried forward into 2011, and was part of the "Revenge of the Jedi" offerings. Despite an omnipresence in the line for nearly two years, "BAR2-D2" now approaches the $100 mark. Part of this is likely due to the bump in value that all Barge-related figures got.

VC85 - Quinlan Vos

Full photo gallery HERE

If you were collecting during 2012, this one probably gave you some sort of visceral reaction. VC85 - Quinlan Vos was part of the 2012 launch wave which is partially responsible for the Vintage Collection's hiatus by year's end. Despite initially shipping in late 2011/early 2012, Quinlan Vos stayed on the pegs for the entirety of 2012. Some holdovers were on clearance at my local Target in early 2013. This was Snoke before Snoke was Snoke. Now it can fetch $70. Gott im Himmel!

VC73 - Aurra Sing

Full photo gallery HERE

This sale price hardly seems remarkable today. Aurra Sing is a popular character and The Vintage Collection is a hugely popular line. But in the context of the figure's release, it is remarkable. As with Mawhonic, VC73 was released in the online-only final wave of 2012 (and also final wave of TVC 1.0). That case consisted of 8 new and highly and desirable figures, and 4 The Phantom Menace repacks. All four were released earlier in the year in Walmart's Discover the Force subset line. Most collectors ordered multiple cases of this wave to get the good figures, and then tried to recover some of their costs by selling off those repacked Episode I offerings. This flooded the market with those repacks, which depressed the secondary market value. Aurra Sing was the only one that had even a tepid collector interest at the time, and if you were lucky, you might get MSRP for it (once again, ask me how I know). Now VC73 is another member in the growing ranks of the TVC tripe digit club.

This article could keep going, but most of you probably stopped reading already. It seems like the premium that the "unpunched" status carries is only getting stronger.