Odd as that might sound, there are lots of collectors who would enjoy to see an original G.I. Joe or an original Star Wars action figure. Action figures tend to be based on shows, movies, or comics that always have a following, and for that reason even years after business stop producing the figures, there are people who still look for to collect them.
One fascinating story dealing with action figures involves Takara, a Japanese toy business. They are best understood to modern-day toy collectors as the business that constructed the initial Transformers action figures. In 1974 Takara developed a 4-inch humanoid action figure, which was called "MicroMan." In the late 70's and early 80's this toy was brought over to the United model action figures States by the Mego Toy business, which was desperate for a hit after they made the popular blunder of handing down Star Wars. They re-named the line "Micronauts", and developed enough of a model action figures back story for Marvel Comics to get an excellent run of comics. Mego got numerous years click here of excellent sales, which had to do with the very same size as Star Wars figures, prior to the whole business went down.
The standard building of the Micronauts action figure would soon be used by Hasbro for their brand-new action figures: the now popular and really collectible 3-3/4" G.I. Joes (an action figure famous among young kids of the time for their tendency to have bad run-ins with fireworks). Now the original company is coming out with bigger action figures based on the originals. Still it's the old action figures that get the most attention from collectors, so if you're believing about putting out the old toys from twenty years earlier out in the garage sale, possibly believe two times and take a second look before putting the boxes out.