When most on-line collectors hear the name Gary Smith, they no doubt think of the Palitoy logo and quite rightly too, as Gary is a true Palitoy pioneer.
What they may not realise however is that Gary also has quite an extensive run of Trilogo figures and Trilogo miscards too!
Trilogo.info welcomes him to the site to talk about all of the different Trilogos in his collection!
Trilogo.info- Hi Gary! I doubt there are many people reading this that don’t know you by now but for those who don’t, could you please introduce yourself?
Gary- Sure thing! My name is Gary Smith and my main focus is Palitoy MOC and also Trilogo Miscards!
(Group shot of Gary’s miscards)
I’ve been collecting Star Wars toys since ’92 when I first discovered the toys selling rather cheaply at car boot sales. I used to regularly hit the sales every Sunday morning for a few years or so until Star War became much more popular and the toys had largely disappeared. After that period I started buying from collector shops, shows and eventually the internet.
Like many collectors I didn’t really have a focus when I Set out and only really became more focussed on Palitoy items in early 2002. I decided to focus on Miscards about 5 or 6 years ago.
Trilogo.info- I mentioned earlier that while you are best known for your incredible Palitoy collection (and more recently your miscard collection) you also have quite a few regular Trilogo cards too don’t you? Could you tell us which Trilogos you have in your collection?
Gary- Yes that’s right, I currently have all the UK released Trilogo figures, which means no Madine sadly (although I have had the opportunity to purchase him) and I also have 31 different Trilogo miscards.
Here is a picture of my regular Trilogos on one of the walls in my old collection room.
Trilogo.info- That’s a fantastic wall of Trilogos and the miscard collection is just insane. Do you think that Trilogo miscards have become more appealing to collectors over the years? They’ve certainly gone up in price from what I recall them selling for in the early 00’s.
Gary- Yes they do seem to be more popular these days. I don’t really know anyone that only concentrates on miscards though. I do know a number of people who have a small selection of miscards but not as many as me and they are usually part of a much larger collection of all different things.
I think the main interest comes from character focus collectors actually as they view a miscard as another MOC to add to their run.
I’ve seen prices rise quite a bit since I’ve been collecting them and there have been a number of very high priced sales too. In particular the Tie Fighter Pilot/Vader which sold at Vectis for over £2k a little while back.
Trilogo.info- Can you remember how they were advertised by sellers in the early days? When I first got involved in on-line collecting (2003/2004) “miscard” seemed to be the most commonly used term for them on the internet but I do recall them being referred to as factory errors before that, which I assume is all collectors thought they were.
Gary- Yes, like you said I also remember a time when most were still considered errors actually, I guess people hadn’t really thought about why they were packaged like that or why there were so many of the same combinations!
The earliest term I can remember was factory errors in the early 2000’s. Not sure when I first heard the term ‘miscard’ but certainly by the time I started to focus on them, that’s what they were more commonly called.
Trilogo.info- Which of your miscards are you most fond of?
Gary- I do like the Luke Jedi Baggie/Ben combination that I have, I think there are a couple of them out there.
One of my all time favourites and also one I didn’t have in the collection for quite some time is the Hoth Stormtrooper/Fx7 miscard.
The TFP/Vader is also a fun one too.
To be honest, it’s really hard to choose as they are all pretty cool in a strange sort of way! I picked another interesting one not so long ago actually, Rebel Soldier/Luke Hoth:
Trilogo.info- Love them all! Which combination took you the longest time to track down?
Gary- Probably the Death Squad Commander/ATST Driver. I was looking for that one before I’d even started focussing on miscards believe it or not but I did eventually find one.
Trilogo.info- Do you have all your Trilogo stuff displayed currently?
Gary- Sadly I don’t. I’ve been between houses and between collection rooms for quite some time now which is why all the pictures I provided for this interview are old! Most of my collection is boxed up so it’s a little hard to get to, hopefully before too long I will have a new collection room and will snap some new pictures.
Trilogo.info- I’m sure I speak for many people when I say I can’t wait to see your collection displayed!
What’s the craziest miscard you’ve seen that you don’t currently own? I remember a Yoda/Logray coming up for sale at some point which you were thinking of pursuing, did you end up with it?
Gary- That Yoda/Logray is probably the weirdest one I don’t currently own actually and yes I do remember seeing it for sale. Miscards are notorious for their thin bubbles so although I was tempted at the time I didn’t think it would survive the trip so I decided not to purchase it.
Another one I’ve always liked yet don’t have yet is C3P0/Zuckuss, so if anyone reading has one they might want to part with please let me know!
Trilogo.info- What’s your aim with miscards? I know at one point you were trying to get 20, then having reached that milestone you said were going for 30, which you have now surpassed..theoretically it’s a quest that could never end isn’t it? If unique and random combinations keep appearing you could be collecting these forever, literally! I know at least 3 or 4 totally unique ones have shown up in the last couple of years alone.
Gary- Ultimately my goal is the same as it was at the beginning, which is to have as many as I can find! There is no set number in mind, just as many as I can pick up. They make for great display pieces due to their oddness, so the more I can add to that, the better. Part of the fun of miscard collecting is that you never know when a totally random and previously unheard of combination will show up.
I have an Anakin/Romba with the normal Trilogo bubble for example, it’s not really one of the intended miscards and probably more of a real error but it’s factory sealed and I’ve certainly never seen another so who knows what’s possible or how many mismatched/miscarded figures are out there (intentional or not!).
Trilogo.info- You mentioned earlier that you don’t know anyone else that has had (or still has) as many miscards as you, do you think there could be any less public collectors out there with as many?
Gary- I’ve certainly never seen anyone else limelight as many as I have but who knows? To be honest I haven’t really been looking for anyone else against which to compare. There are plenty of people out there who have ones I don’t yet have of course and it’s always good to see what other ones people have found, hopefully more people will share their collections after this interview!
Trilogo.info- The only collector I knew of other than you that had a pretty cool collection of miscards was UK collector Daren Wilde, here is what he managed to put together:
Daren sold those off to fund a few bootleg purchases a while ago but I still get a kick out of that old picture. For me at least, that group shot was probably the first time I realised there were so many combinations out there actually.
Gary- Oh yes I remember seeing that picture, it really was a nice collection! I have most of those combinations now, in fact some probably came from Daren.
Trilogo.info- Yes you are right, I helped him sell a few at the time and you definitely picked up a couple of his old ones.
So coming back to your regular Trilogos, which of those is your favourite and which ones took you the longest to track down?
Gary– The Jawa is probably my favourite as I really like the cardback picture and he was also the one that took me the longest to track down. It was in fact the last regular Trilogo I bought.
I like all the others too of course, I might like them better if they had a huge Palitoy logo on the front though haha!
Trilogo.info- Ha! Now, I think you mentioned it earlier but I know you’ve been offered several Madine Trilogos over the years but so far you’ve not pulled the trigger. Do you ever intend to pick one up or would you rather spend that kind of money on filling in the gaps in your Palitoy focus?
Gary- Madine is definitely not a priority for me and I would rather focus the money elsewhere. It would be nice to have a complete Trilogo collection of course, Madine included but that was never the intention when I started collecting Trilogos so at the moment I think I would only be buying one for the sake of it and that’s not a good way to collect.
If one is offered to me at some point in the future there is always the possibility I may finally go for it but he’s never been one I’ve wanted to hunt down and that’s not changed.
Trilogo.info- OK Gary, before we go do you have any odd or cool stories about Trilogos or Trilogo purchases you want to share?
Gary- Not so many relating to Trilogos but I do have a slightly forgetful one! I have a Han Hoth/Han Bespin miscard in the collection which, even to this day I have absolutely no idea where it came from!
I found it while searching through some old boxes at the back of my parent’s home years ago and it was just randomly sitting it in an old box! I’m guessing someone sold it to me, but who and when is a total mystery.
Here’s hoping that I find others I didn’t realise I had!
Trilogo.info- That’s pretty cool! Although I can safely say I’ve never stumbled upon something that I had forgotten I had even bought lol!
Gary- Sadly, it doesn’t happen as often as I would like!
Trilogo.info- Well Gary, it’s been a pleasure to sit down and chat with you, thanks for coming on and here’s hoping we see a brand new limelight from you in the not so distant future!
