Super 7 has converted even the most stubborn of collectors, like me, with what they have been offering on a consistent basis for years now.  To me, they are not selling toys, they are selling nostalgia.   

For years now, I have been mocking my friends that collect action figures.  I know what you’re probably thinking -  "I hate this guy already".  Fair enough, but hear me out.

True confessions of an “unpackager" 

I haven’t necessarily been mocking the collecting itself but rather how they presented them.  I have always collected figures, but like I did when I was a kid, I ripped those suckers out of the packages to admire and beguile myself with their craftsmanship and attention to detail.  It's true. I was an “unpackager.”  I feel like I’m at a 12 step meeting.  “Hi, my name’s Dave, and I’m an unpackager.”

The package, to me, has always been just a conduit.  A way to get from the manufacturer to my grubby little hands for playing or collecting purposes.  But I have had an epiphany.  A moment of clarity.  A re-indoctrination into the Church of Classic Kenner by the new almighty, Super 7’s ReAction line.  

Purchasing nostalgia

The figures themselves are simplistic throwbacks to when we happily settled for five points of articulation.  He may have been straight-legged, but in my 10-year-old mind, Han Solo was running like a gazelle over the snow-covered plains of Hoth.  The ReAction line are four-inch tributes to a bygone era.  But, as I mentioned, it’s all about the card backing here. 

The Kenner-inspired design, right down to the font in the lower corner, elicits memories that any fanboy, fangirl, or fan(insert personal pronoun) can really get swept up in.  A weak-willed collector, yours truly included, can easily become addicted, hence the twenty-plus that adorn the walls of my fancave serving as miniature works of art. 

To bask in their glory is a kind of visual Zoloft, especially when accompanied by the spin of a killer rock album while drinking a ten percent beer that makes you feel like everything is going to be alright.

Character is everything

If the aesthetics of the figures isn’t already pleasing enough, Super 7 kicks it up another notch with one other factor…the content.  I guess for someone like me whose sense of humor could be considered obsidian, the subjects they choose are inspired. 

There is something brilliant and hilarious about an action figure, presented as it is and was for the purposes of child’s play, based on the cocaine inhaling, machine gun-wielding kingpin Scarface.  It makes me wonder which of my collection is, in fact, the most offensive.  Could it be prostitute saving/pimp killing “Taxi Driver” antihero Travis Bickle? Perhaps Regan MacNeil from “The Exorcist,” whose accessory is none other than the crucifix that she uses in the movie to…well…do stuff with?

No, I believe it has to be one of the eleven Iron Maiden ReAction figures they manufacture, specifically “The Number of the Beast” figure.  Yes, it’s Satan himself who joins the ranks of the kind of pop culture legends like Marty McFly, Jack Burton, Korben Dallas, and Johnny Lawrence that just make you feel groovy in the gooey parts of your soul.

Collect for you

So let this be not only my confession but also my sincerest apologies to friends and strangers worldwide that have known something that I used to only scoff at. 

Sometimes the packaging is the real attraction, and, from where I’m standing, Super 7 is the master of ceremonies. 

Do you collect action figures? Which do you think have the potential to be the next hot collectible? Let us know in the comments!

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not reflect investment advice on behalf of GoCollect. This blog is not sponsored by Super 7.