This is a great question, and, as with many of the topics we discuss here, it depends largely on the individual collector. As James Robinson, the author of the DC Starman comics in the 90s, once said, you have to collect on your own terms. In my own personal collection, I lean toward liking the latest modern releases of vintage-themed characters, such as Star Wars The Vintage Collection, GI Joe 25th Anniversary and GI Joe Retro Series, Super7's ReAction figures, Eagle Force Classics, and other toy lines that release modern versions of vintage characters on what I call "Kenner-style" cardbacks. For me, I like having clean, shiny, brand-new looking items on display in my collection instead of the aged originals. But before you judge me too harshly on that, hear me out. Throughout my adult collector years, I have wrestled with a strange issue. When I buy vintage pieces for my own collection at a toy show, antique mall, flea market, etc., and they are vintage original and worn and played-with, I struggle to feel like they're truly mine. I feel like the toys that I had as a kid, many of which sadly I no longer possess, were so well loved and played with by me, that they had some part of me engrained upon them. When I pick up vintage originals that were well loved by someone else, I feel like an imposter taking possession of them. I know it sounds strange, but most of the time the only vintage original pieces I can pick up and display are ones that are loose/mint/clean/complete to the point that they don't feel like anyone else's and can feel like they're truly mine. That's why I think I gravitate toward the modern toy lines, like The Vintage Collection, because, even though they're not original to the 70s and 80s, they are original to me. They're mine and I can begin to engrain myself upon them as I did with my treasured possessions as a child. Now, the reason they were such treasured possessions in my childhood is the subject of another article.