Things That Frustrate Vintage Collection Fans:  Lack Of Kenner Alt Cards

The above images are from the KennerByKing Etsy shop.

First of all, this really isn't a TVC 2.0 problem because, quite frankly, there really aren't any good candidates for repacks on alternate Kenner cards except for maybe Bespin Leia and Chewbacca. For the latter, I sense that there's growing support for an all new version. The frustration for the 2.0 iteration merely stems from the fact that the fanbase isn't 100% certain that the team understands the breadth of the alternate Kenner card backs. Second, if you're a “loose only” collector, yeah we get it. You don't care. The figures could come in brown lunch bags as far as you're concerned. You don't need to remind the world of this every time there is an article about packaging. Roughly two thirds of the fan base collect in-package product in some way. These things are important to the overall health of the line.

As many of you know, the following figures had alternate cards during the vintage Kenner run

• Episode IV Luke (gunner)
• Episode IV Han Solo (Death Star)
• Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi (blue saber)
• Chewbacca (Episode VI likeness)
• Darth Vader (pointing)
• Bespin Luke (looking)
• Bespin Leia (portrait)
• Yoda (3/4 profile)
• Boba Fett (desert)

I think I got the whole list there. If I didn't, let me know below. To date, only two of those alt card have been released in TVC (once in each dot oh). There were Vader and Boba Fett:


You will notice that neither of those are true alt cards because they are actually different versions of the characters, but for the spirit of this article, they count. Perhaps the most irritating example is Luke Bespin. It has now been released three times on vintage style cards, and each time it was released on the "walking" card. It leaves fans feeling like Hasbro is unaware of the legitimate Kenner "looking" variant. In order for the Vintage Collection budget to continue to grow, sales need to grow. It's elementary. Alternate Kenner cards backs would definitely inspire some collectors to make additional purchases of a figure they would not otherwise make. It should help grease the skids to get the updates for 3/4 of those ANH heroes we desperately need. If they were each two per case, they could come one on each Kenner card similar to the "Lost Line" case from TVC 1.0.

Again, for those that care about this subject, they're just looking for Hasbro to demonstrate that they a) know the alternate cards exist, b) know that they are an important part of Kenner history, and c) matter to carded collectors. We can't act like the "Original 96" is some sort of revered subset without also acknowledging the vintage Kenner alternate cards. I'm specifically speaking to the TVC side because the TBS side definitely acknowledges the alt cards:


That's extra frustrating because TBS isn't even a carded expression at its heart.

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