Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
How to make money from Star Wars
Reading Time: 5 minutesWith the recent flurry of Star Wars TV series – The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett – satisfying just about every corner of fandom from that galaxy far, far away, fans are no doubt dusting off old memorabilia and reminiscing about favourite moments and characters.
Spanning five decades, a remarkable amount of collateral – from movie posters to action figures – has accompanied this legendary series of films and TV series… some of which may be very valuable right now.
In the light of this, we explored some ways to cash in on the revival and make money from Star Wars.
Action figures
According to research conducted by PromotionalCodes.co.uk some of the most sought-after vintage figures (dating back to the 1970s and ‘80s) can sell for close to £30,000 each.
A rare Boba Fett figure from the 1970s – still in its original packaging – sold for £26,040 at Vectis Auctions in Teeside a few years ago, with this kind of value only going up in recent years as awareness of the memorabilia from Lucasfilm spreads throughout our galaxy.
Prior to this, Vectis also sold the following toys:
- A mint condition 1977 Jawa figure for £620
- A 1980 Yoda in its original packaging for £320
- An R2-D2 toy for from the 1980s The Empire Strikes Back for £750
- The ‘rocket firing Boba Fett’ figure is considered something of a ‘unicorn’ and one such toy sold for £18,600
Darren Williams from PromotionalCodes.org.uk says that more than 300 million Star Wars action figures were sold between 1978 and 1985, so there should still be quite a lot floating around in people’s possession. Perhaps even in your attic!
As for which could have the most value, Williams says it’s hard to predict but that it helps when the toys:
- Date back to the 1970s and ‘80s
- Come in their original packaging
- Are still in mint condition
He also mentioned that the very first versions of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which had “double-telescoping” lightsabres are highly sought after. So is the ‘small head’ version of Han Solo, which was taken off the market for not having a close enough resemblance to Harrison Ford.
Even if you don’t have these rare action figures, you are bound to make a quick buck or two with whatever you have on eBay.
Limited edition LEGO
Similarly to the action figures mentioned above, there are a number of extremely rare and highly sought-after Star Wars LEGO pieces floating around.
As of 2023, these are the 5 rarest figures you should dig through your collection for:
- Vinyl Cape Jawa (Price: $28,000+): When the Jawa, a filthy scavenger who kidnaps the droids in the first Star Wars, debuted as a figure in 1978, he came with a vinyl cape, that was replaced with a classier cloth one, making the original vinyl-caped Jawa highly collectible.
- Star Wars Droids: Vlix (Price: $45,000+): Vlix was cancelled as a figure before he became part of the second wave of Star Wars figures from the Droids animated series, but despite cancellation, some figures were produced by Brazilian distributor Glassite, so… if you can find one, you’ll have Boba Fett’s skills as a bounty hunter because you’ll have tracked down one of the rarest and least-known Star Wars toys!
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Double Telescoping Darth Vader (Price: $64,000+): Like Luke Skywalker, Vader came with the double-telescoping lightsaber but didn’t actually make it to market, making this figure now worth a fortune.
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Double Telescoping Obi-Wan Kenobi (Price: $76,000+): Like a true Jedi, there are a scant few of these left in existence but if you find one, with a needle-like protrusion from the main saber blade, he’s (shhh!) worth even more than Darth Vader.
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Rocket-Firing Boba Fett (Price: $150,000+): The original bounty hunter figure had a rocket-firing backpack, but Kenner abandoned the idea when another toy company reported an accident with this feature, so Boba was changed to a non-detachable rocket version. That means the rocket-firing Boba Fett is one of the rarest and most expensive Star Wars toys of all time!
Check out 5 more rare Star Wars Lego figures on eBay.
Once again, even if you have more commonplace Star Wars minifigures, but they’re in mint condition and still in their original packaging, you can put them on eBay for a few extra bucks. The average price point seems to be around £9.50.
Read more about making money from buying and selling LEGO.
Cosplay
If you’re a Star Wars super fan and love cosplay, you may even be able to make some money by visiting comic conventions and dressing as your favourite character.
While you won’t make any money from just showing up in your Star Wars attire, there’s always a chance that an influential agent might spot you and offer you the opportunity to represent a booth. From here, you could work at becoming a regular fixture and may even end up becoming a professional.
According to FOX411, popular professional cosplayers can make at least $5,000 to $10,000 (£3,745.50 to £7,491.00) a show. Some of these professionals even charge between $20 and $30 (+/-£15 – £25) for a selfie with fans.
Find more about making money from cosplay by reading this article.
Hosting a Star Wars-themed event
Finally, in celebration of the newly released film, you could always host a Star Wars-themed party and charge a small cover fee.
Of course, if you’re considering doing this, you will probably have to host the event somewhere other than your home.
Find a venue people won’t mind paying to get into, book a good DJ/band and you should be all set.
Since you’re wanting to make a bit of a profit from your event, be sure to work that into your cover charge per person. You can even try getting a few sponsors on board (perhaps for drinks) to help cover costs and add value to your guests’ experience.
For inspiration on how to run a successful event and make some money off it, read Sam Parr’s blog post about how he made $2,000 from hosting a Meetup. They sold 120 tickets to the event, but also put a good deal of effort into marketing, advertising and raising awareness. So, do keep this in mind when planning your Star Wars party.
Read more:
- Make money from the Disney Vault
- Weird ways for students to make money that you never thought of
- 15 Strange ways to make money
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