Have you ever heard the term “girls have cooties?” This was a popular saying when I was a kid among young boys that would avoid girls due to them “having cooties.” This basically was another way for boys to say they really didn’t have any interest in girls. Well the same “cootie mentality” applies to the action figure collectible world.
In the late sixties, early seventies toy area when I was a kid, it was very common for toy manufacturers to produce action figures with only one (or even none) figure in the line being female. The main reason was simply this; the target market for action figures was (and still is) directed towards young boys who do not have an interest in girl figures. So when a figure series was produced and there was an action figure that was a girl, the boys did not want it. Even if they got it, it was likely they would not play with it and it would have gotten discarded in some way.
If you look back on it now, those female figures are valuable. Take the 12” GI Joe line as a good example. Out of all of those figures produced at the time, the GI Joe nurse is by far the most valuable. Another good example is Zira is the Planet of the Apes action figure line. There are 10 figures in the series and Zira is the only female figure and is the most valuable.
When you are collecting and investing in toys, don’t look past female characters. They can hold premium value due to the manufacturer’s production numbers. This situation harkens back to previous videos where I have explained about scarcity driving value. Because female figures are made in lesser quantities than their male counterparts, this drives scarcity and value.
Toy manufacturers have started to shift their mentality today by producing more female action figures but by and large the male-to-female ratios are still slanted towards having more male figures. In short, look for those female figures. They will be nice additions to your collection.
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