Happy birthday Star Wars toys! 30 years ago, you came into our lives, and 30 years later, we're all kicking ourselves for not hoarding you away, keeping you in pristine condition and eventually getting rich by selling you to the highest bidder. Fortunately, there are more of you being made today and the London Times has declared which of you recently released, still-cheap items are likely to go up in value.

The spotlight is part of a list featured in today's Money Central section of the Times. Titled "The top 10 Star Wars collectibles," the list includes 30-year-old, super-rare action figures like Kenner's Darth Vader with double-telescoping light saber (currently valued at £5,000-plus, or almost $10,000 US) and this year's Lego version of the X-WIng Fighter (currently sold for £150, or $293 US). Coming in at #10 are the two-year old, "too cute" Galactic Heroes line of figures from Hasbro, which are currently only "the price of a rip-off sandwich" (£3, or $5.86 US).

Speaking of "too cute", I'm personally going for the plush SD Darth Vader (pictured) that the Times lists at #9. But I actually haven't learned anything from the past 30 years and so I'm going to actually play with it. Or use it as a stress reliever whenever I see articles telling us to invest in action figures. See, I believe toys are for playing with, comic books are for reading and collectibles made solely to be collectibles are a waste of space.

For images of all the toys listed in the Times article, check out the gallery below. I also included the unmentioned Galactic Heroes Darth Vader Unmasked toy, because it fits with the criticism that these toys are "too cute." What person who'd seen Jedi as a kid would have ever expected a cute version of the unmasked Vader/Anakin?



[via Fark.com]

Are you a child of the '70s or '80s? Okay, then be honest with me now (part 1) ... how many Star Wars action figures do you own? Come on, you know you've got em, unless you were one of those losers whose mom gave away all their stuff. Now dig out the old plastic containers and start counting. Does it number in triple digits? I know it does for at least a few of you out there. And I'll bet (for you '70s and '80s kids), nearly all of them are from the classic trilogy. If you are reading this and thinking, "oh no, I only have the cereal box Han Solo in Stormtrooper costume and a broken C3PO, I feel so inadequate," you've now got (yet another) chance to shore up your collection. Hasbro, like they have done before, will be releasing a new round of action figures to accompany the re-release of the classic trilogy. It'll come in the form of collector's triple packs, and you can catch a peek at some here.

Right-o, kids, time for be honest with me now (part two) for you aging generations ... how many Legos do you own? Those suckers used to be everywhere, remember? Again, plastic boxes just full of the suckers exist in the backs of our closets. While Legos might not be as popular as they once were, they do still exist, and they really enjoy a good movie tie-in. Today's nifty Lego collection is an 860 piece set of the Arkham Asylum, which you can view here. Doesn't Batman look great in Lego?