There is an unspoken rule that vintage toys are highly sought after collector’s items but a recent eye-watering eBay sale seems to have bucked the trend and kicked Super Mario out of the top Nintendo collectable spot. Vintage 1990s action figures based on Nintendo’s intrepid plumber are often available to purchase online for around $400, or a couple of thousand for rarer boxed examples. That is nothing compared to the $20,000 that a set of four 2015 figures from a different Nintendo franchise apparently sold for last month.
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On May 8, a set of four relatively common Star Fox action figures sold on eBay for the astronomical sum; one of two sets that have been sold according to the listing. To put that figure in perspective, action figures from the animated Super Mario Bros. series of the 90s sell for up to $300-400 right, while some rare figures based on 1993’s cult Super Mario Bros. movie go for up to $1000 for a Mario and Luigi set. This makes the recent sale of the less iconic if still well-loved Star Fox toys a real head-scratcher. Why have these particular figures sold for such a high price, and is it actually a genuine price point for anyone currently hoarding this collection in their attic?
Is Star Fox a Hidden Nintendo Action Figure Gold Mine?
While it is impossible to compare even the sale of near-identical action figures, as the recent disappointing sale of a Star Wars Boba Fett figure proved, the jarring difference in sale price of these four Star Fox figures is one that raises several questions. Are Nintendo collectors sleeping on valuable figures from the video game franchise, or does this fall into the category of being too good to be true? It could well be the latter for several reasons.
The Star Fox figures in question are barely a decade old and, more importantly, mass-produced compared to some vintage Super Mario figures or toys from other Nintendo games of the early 1990s. This quartet were released as part of Jakks Pacific’s “World of Nintendo” line, a budget-friendly range of four-inch figures that were originally sold 2015 and 2017. The set covers the core Star Fox team, Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad, each packaged with a small accessory like a miniature Arwing or a bomb. Although Jakks’ Fox McCloud is regarded as the first true action figure based on the Star Fox franchise, the figures were not a limited release and were readily available in toy aisles.
Factoring in other recent sales of Star Fox related figures, including a boxed prototype Fox McCloud from the same range that only sold for $350, the $20,000 price tag begins to seem more like an error rather than a reason for anyone hoarding these figures to get excited.
The reality is that this set of Jakks Star Fox figures are some of the more easily tracked down collectibles from Nintendo’s extensive catalogue of franchises and you will probably be looking at a couple of hundred dollars at most to bag yourself a full set of Fox McCloud’s core team. If anything is to be taken from the $20,000 sale, it is both a possible confirmation that everything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and a reinforcement of the belief that not everything on the internet is as it seems.
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