Seahawks
Jedi Knight
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2016
- Messages
- 300
Hey fellas - I'm new to the SWF.UK forum, but a lifelong Star Wars fan/collector. My name is Jason and I'm 41 years old and live in the Great Pacific Northwest United States. Growing up I was obsessed with the Kenner Star Wars toys and for many years, that is all I would ask for at birthdays and Christmas. At a young age I became a "completest" with the figures, even though I had no idea what that meant at the time. 
I have to thank my parents for not throwing away my old toys and they sat in boxes and spread around in the attic for many years.
I was in high school and college (or University as you Brits call it) during the "Dark Times" and focused on football (the American kind) and girls. Then in 1995 the POTF2 line came out and I was hurled back into the world of SW once again. It was around this time this crazy thing call the "internet" came out and I immediately started searching for info on Star Wars. That is when I found the Star Wars Collector's Archive (toyrgus.com) and a few others. I also learned about Usenet groups and became involved there and started to connect with fellow SW collectors. Thanks to the old Usenet groups, I was able to complete my loose collection where I was missing Leia Hoth, Yak Face and R2 with pop up saber. For several years I tried to keep up with getting all of the new figures, but after Episode 1 came out it became too much.
I purchased my first 12 back around 1998 or 1999 from a local hobby store in Portland. I have always been a huge Darth Vader fan and that's the one I had to have. I think I paid $300 USD for it and made payment over the course of 3 months. This is when I decided my ultimate collecting goal was to get the first 12 on SW cardback. Over the course of the next couple years, I was able to get a couple more, but then my wife became pregnant and priorities change dramatically as you can imagine. A house and 2 beautiful daughters later and fast forward about 12 years.
My garage was packed with POTF2 and Episode 1 stuff for many years and just wasn't doing anything with it. I ended up giving most of it away to one of my best friends who has four boys. I kept a few modern items, but decided to focus strictly on vintage.
Over the past couple years, I've got back into the hobby pretty strongly and have grown my collection by quite a bit. Unfortunately I have nowhere to display much as my kids took over the spare bedroom that used to by my Man Cave. I have a corner in the garage I can display a couple things, but that's it for now. One day I hope to get a room that I can dedicate to displaying much of my collection. In the meantime, I try to photograph some of it before they get stored away.
Enough with my long winded introduction, here are a few items in my collection.
First 12
My original childhood first 12. They are "beaters" to most, but priceless in my collection.
Figure cabinet I made last year. My carpentry skills are very lacking, but it's still holding together.
A few months back I entered a diorama contest and Kim Simmons was one of the judges. I won 2nd place and was stoked to get an autographed print of his iconic Imperial Attack Base photo. The contest was to put your own spin on that image. Here is the reference photo I used and mine is below it. I bribed my youngest daughter to be the hand model. About 2 seconds after I snapped the photo, the wall and bunker came crashing down.
I have to thank my parents for not throwing away my old toys and they sat in boxes and spread around in the attic for many years. I was in high school and college (or University as you Brits call it) during the "Dark Times" and focused on football (the American kind) and girls. Then in 1995 the POTF2 line came out and I was hurled back into the world of SW once again. It was around this time this crazy thing call the "internet" came out and I immediately started searching for info on Star Wars. That is when I found the Star Wars Collector's Archive (toyrgus.com) and a few others. I also learned about Usenet groups and became involved there and started to connect with fellow SW collectors. Thanks to the old Usenet groups, I was able to complete my loose collection where I was missing Leia Hoth, Yak Face and R2 with pop up saber. For several years I tried to keep up with getting all of the new figures, but after Episode 1 came out it became too much.
I purchased my first 12 back around 1998 or 1999 from a local hobby store in Portland. I have always been a huge Darth Vader fan and that's the one I had to have. I think I paid $300 USD for it and made payment over the course of 3 months. This is when I decided my ultimate collecting goal was to get the first 12 on SW cardback. Over the course of the next couple years, I was able to get a couple more, but then my wife became pregnant and priorities change dramatically as you can imagine. A house and 2 beautiful daughters later and fast forward about 12 years.
My garage was packed with POTF2 and Episode 1 stuff for many years and just wasn't doing anything with it. I ended up giving most of it away to one of my best friends who has four boys. I kept a few modern items, but decided to focus strictly on vintage.
Over the past couple years, I've got back into the hobby pretty strongly and have grown my collection by quite a bit. Unfortunately I have nowhere to display much as my kids took over the spare bedroom that used to by my Man Cave. I have a corner in the garage I can display a couple things, but that's it for now. One day I hope to get a room that I can dedicate to displaying much of my collection. In the meantime, I try to photograph some of it before they get stored away.
Enough with my long winded introduction, here are a few items in my collection.
First 12
My original childhood first 12. They are "beaters" to most, but priceless in my collection.
Figure cabinet I made last year. My carpentry skills are very lacking, but it's still holding together.
A few months back I entered a diorama contest and Kim Simmons was one of the judges. I won 2nd place and was stoked to get an autographed print of his iconic Imperial Attack Base photo. The contest was to put your own spin on that image. Here is the reference photo I used and mine is below it. I bribed my youngest daughter to be the hand model. About 2 seconds after I snapped the photo, the wall and bunker came crashing down.
