Blood for the Baron!

Most likely right. I'd think that anyone with a base that doesn't have figures may well have a final version. If they ever got sold off in boot sales or ebay etc, I'd doubt anyone would have asked either if the figures were still available, or what they were. In most cases I'd assume the original owner didn't know or didn't care. To busy playing to worry about figures. Most original owners were kids 30 years ago.

About 10 maybe 15 years ago I actually say an boxed Command Centre with Gung Ho and Stalker on the box. It was definitely released with these figures.

Basically, it had been restickered with the logo on the box and the contents had the US figures but the box pic was of Gaucho and Jammer. I've also seen another box with proper Gung Ho and Jammer on it too meaning the former was a transitional box from the specialised teams and The Enemy to the latter AF style boxes...

Also, there defo was a BLACK Hyena on the market too.....I've even seen them!

It could be that Palitoy were sat on loads of boxed Z Force bases, and then ditched Z Force. So maybe they promoted the new Action Force base with Gung-Ho and Stalker, but carried on selling it with Gaucho and Jammer. That would explain why Gung-Ho and Stalker were released carded.

Another thought is the base variation. Could it be that the spray-paint camo is the Z Force version (I know that for a fact as my one is) and the jagged black camo is the AF version?

Was the Black Hyena a mainland Europe release only, perhaps?

The Baron wrote:It could be that Palitoy were sat on loads of boxed Z Force bases, and then ditched Z Force.

I think this is very likely, I mean for the time, this thing was incredibly expensive. In all the Palitoy invoices I have, there isn't a single order for one as I guess the stock you could buy for around a similar price mean't less risk, higher margins to be made and faster turnaround.

yeah, I don't know any website that calculates what the Net Present Value of that would be today, but I'm sure there is one out there that can do it.

As for the retail price, I know I have it in a couple of Argos catalogues, maybe some others too, but will need to check.

*edit* I have one Argos catalogue to hand here, it sold for £37.95.

Dave.

Going back to 1984 and recalculating in line with the Retail Prices Index (yawn) modern price for something costing £37 in Dec 1984 would be roughly £90 as of last August (most up to date figures I could lay my hands on) so not too bad really, compared to modern prices of toys.

a good investment if you'd bought a load up and stored them for 25 years, as they have outperformed inflation based on current selling values.

Do I get a badge?

yes, I'm sure there's a tufty one knocking about here somewhere

£90? wow.

Question is though, AF vintage aside, would you fork out £90 for a toy like that in a toyshop now?

I'm not sure I would.

Thing is, it's not like it was the only toy needed. It would be pretty whack without infantry, jeeps, enemy to attack it etc. I think that's where the difference lies. I got my nephew a Cars Mack Playset back for Xmas and that was pretty pricey, but it came with pretty much everything you needed to play - a few cars, etc. The Base with just & would be a bit solitary?

"Anything to worry about Jammer"
"No enemies on the horizon until at least Thursday"
"Why Thursday?"
"Pocket money day, so he's buying a red shadow"
"That's assuming young Johni GI Joe from down the road doesn't elbow him out of the way in Toymaster and buy them all up first?"

SteveD wrote: "That's assuming young Johni GI Joe from down the road doesn't elbow him out of the way in Toymaster and buy them all up first?"

ROFL. He is a bit selfish, isn't he?