It all started with this little fellow here – well, okay, not this one exactly, but one just like him who wound up getting dropped in a full bathtub somehow; this is the one who replaced him, and believe me, somehow, my mom figured out a way to make him waterproof. But, after a fashion, this was the first Star Warsfigure I ever got – heck, I even remember the store where I got him: Service Merchandise at Central Mall in Fort Smith. (That chain no longer exists, and ironically, its space at Central Mall is now occupied by the theater where I stood in line at midnight to see Episode III.) Like any geek-in-training growing up, I got as many of the various characters from the first three movies as I could get my hands on. Years later, when Hasbro revived the range, I was…well…unimpressed by the grotesquely overmuscled depictions of my old friends. (I did spring for Artoo again, however, just for old times’ sake.)
When Hasbro started getting it right, though, it was like I fell off the plastic wagon. And let’s not even talk about the Episode Itoys. I was standing in line at midnight in Green Bay for those. I was so grateful for the one guy who roller-skated through the store wearing Jedi robes, blasting Star Wars soundtrack music from a massive jam box on his shoulder. I felt so…….normal when compared to that, what with buying a bunch of new toys in my late 20s.
Between that and Episode II, I got married, and moved back to Arkansas, which severely tightened my budget. (It may or may not have changed since then, but the economy in Green Bay was fantastic, and it’s truly one of the things I miss most about the place.) After my successful (and extremely geeky) push to collect all of the Episode I characters, my Episode II collection paled by comparsion. And the same seemed to be shaping up for the latest movie.
As of the most recent waves of characters, however, I’ve fallen off the wagon again. I did initially pick up some “legacy” characters, so I could chronicle the evolution of Anakin/Vader, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Padme, and so on. But with the umpteenth minor revisions of the various Jedi Knights, I felt a bit irked. I’ve got four Mace Windus already (including the Episode I preview figure that I sent off proofs of purchase for, and one from a Jedi Council Cinema Scene). His look hasn’t changed significantly. Nor has Plo Koon’s, or Kit Fisto’s. I gave up. (You may, of course, feel free to consider this comedy gold from someone who happily picks up every variation of astromech droid that they turn out.) But now that we’ve moved on to less obvious characters – relatively minor characters or folks who aren’t represented in the other films already – I find that I’m snatching up Star Wars figures yet again as budget allows.
At some point, I will give it up (freeing up my cash for all those other collections I have going). I have a feeling that sometime in the next 2-3 years, Hasbro is going to switch to a more modern, larger scale and abandon the 3 3/4″ line, which probably would’ve been abandoned already had it not been grandfathered in by previous generations (literally!) of figures and their owners. At that point, as I did with the Playmates Star Trek toys, I’ll declare victory. Or, perhaps, if you want to look at my check register, defeat. But here’s the thing: I still get such a thrill out of busting these little guys out of the blister bubble. That feeling was always one of my greatest pleasures as a child, and so help me, I still get excited about it, despite Hasbro’s attempts to reduce the experience to sheer frustration by making it approximately 247 times harder to even reach the figures. I’ve found that it’s always a good pick-me-up to go buy one of these things if I’ve had a rough week, open it up, examine it closely, admire the workmanship, put it on the shelf, and then, when no one’s looking, having an all-hands-on-deck lightsaber-duel-palooza.
OK, just kidding on that last part. So far as you know.
In the fall of 1978, my parents bought a VCR packaged with a black and white camera (don’t ask — I think it was over a grand). I have a videotape of me receiving and quickly opening the original eight figures (you know, the set that sells for thousands of dollars sealed nowadays!??!).
I’m with you though. When Episode I came out I was making money hand-over-fist and living in a cheap apartment kid-free. By the time Episode III came out I had one kid and a very pregnant wife. It sucks, but priorities change. In 1999 the walls of my computer room were dedicated to Star Wars displays; these days, 95% of my collection is in storage.
Sigh.
I’m actually surprised by how much of my collection is out there on display. I’m going to need a bigger Jedi shelf sooner or later. (Whatever else anyone has to say about the prequels, they did at least give us lotsa cool looking guys and gals swinging lightsabers, and I’m thinking that can’t possibly be a bad thing.)
I’ll post pictures when I get the Skywalker Family Tree shelf going, though. And I think I could just about fill a shoebox with different R2-droids.
It all started with this little fellow here – well, okay, not this one exactly, but one just like him who wound up getting dropped in a full bathtub somehow; this is the one who replaced him, and believe me, somehow, my mom figured out a way to make him waterproof. But, after a fashion, this was the first Star Wars figure I ever got – heck, I even remember the store where I got him: Service Merchandise at Central Mall in Fort Smith. (That chain no longer exists, and ironically, its space at Central Mall is now occupied by the theater where I stood in line at midnight to see Episode III.) Like any geek-in-training growing up, I got as many of the various characters from the first three movies as I could get my hands on. Years later, when Hasbro revived the range, I was…well…unimpressed by the grotesquely overmuscled depictions of my old friends. (I did spring for Artoo again, however, just for old times’ sake.)
In the fall of 1978, my parents bought a VCR packaged with a black and white camera (don’t ask — I think it was over a grand). I have a videotape of me receiving and quickly opening the original eight figures (you know, the set that sells for thousands of dollars sealed nowadays!??!).
I’m with you though. When Episode I came out I was making money hand-over-fist and living in a cheap apartment kid-free. By the time Episode III came out I had one kid and a very pregnant wife. It sucks, but priorities change. In 1999 the walls of my computer room were dedicated to Star Wars displays; these days, 95% of my collection is in storage.
Sigh.
I’m actually surprised by how much of my collection is out there on display. I’m going to need a bigger Jedi shelf sooner or later. (Whatever else anyone has to say about the prequels, they did at least give us lotsa cool looking guys and gals swinging lightsabers, and I’m thinking that can’t possibly be a bad thing.)
I’ll post pictures when I get the Skywalker Family Tree shelf going, though. And I think I could just about fill a shoebox with different R2-droids.