When and why did you stop collecting SW

[db94]

Roughly when did you stop collecting SW toys and why? Did you move on to a different toy line like Transformers or GI Joe?

For me it was 1985 when I was 13. I'd got a B Wing, TIE interceptor, plus B Wing pilot and Nien Nunb for Christmas '84 but soon after wanted a mountain bike and starting thinking more and more about boobs I was obsessed with SW toys right up to the point of being "too old" for them.


The one thing I did get was a Han in carbonite. When I heard it was coming as a figure I couldn't wait to get it - but when I did, I clearly remember thinking what the **** is this?! Just looked ridiculous and nothing like my other figures. That pretty much finished my interest in collecting figures as a hobby.

I remember casually looking at the bags of figures and £4.99 ships in Woolies but never crossed my mind to buy any. If that Han figure had been better I might have cleared the shelves

So what about everyone else?

 

[lejackal]

I don't think I bought anything, or even got bought any more after about 86/87. I do vividly remember going into Dominoes toys in Leicester every two weeks from 88 onward (until at least 89, maybe even 90) and seeing a rack of Trilogos and never getting any. I was all about the market stall packed with Starcom after that.

 

[Ruby2511]

I stopped when i was around 15, be about 1988, got into BMX and had a Raleigh Burner and Mongoose, then Mountain biking took off and took up Shotokan Karate! Plus my lovely mother gave my SW and MOTU collection to my younger cousin's. Did manage to save my vintage space lego which I sold to fund a vespa scooter.

 

[Cazza]

1985. End of Year 7 trip to France. On the way back, we stopped at the huge Carrefour and I had a few francs to get rid of. Bought 19, by Paul Hardcastle on single and remember turning around and seeing a load of tri-logos. I didn't really play with the toys anymore (dabbling briefly with Zoids and transformers instead, before getting really into Fighting Fantasy books and Citadel Miniatures), but thought 'Why not?' and bought Nikto and Klaatu. I put them straight in my bag and didn't tell anyone I'd got them. I remember seeing the Luke Stormtrooper and Han Carbonite and like you, @db94, thinking 'WTF?'. Thought they were just cashing in and they looked awful.

Thankfully, I kept most of my SW toys and got them out and set them up, every now and then, through my wayward teenage years, even after football, music and girls had become my priorities.

 

[Pomse2001]

I think it was between 1985 and 1987 when there was no more star wars toy in the stores that I could add to my wish list after that I just played with it. In 89 maybe 90 I bought used star wars from my neighbor he was older than me and was not playing with it. In 90 or 91 I got my big brothers star wars that he had never played with, he only bought it for display. Later I gave it all to my little brother but I got it back in 2001 and then the star wars focus and hunting got crazy for me

 

[edd_jedi]

Around 1988 I think, when my attention turned to MASK. Probably influenced by the fact that MASK was on TV regularly, while I rarely saw the Star Wars films - the first time I watched the digitally remastered films in 1994, it was like watching them for the first time again

 

[peekaygee73]

Looks like I stopped earlier than most on here so far. Mine was whenever the 77-backs were first released in the UK. My last purchase was Wicket, my one-and-only second wave Jedi figure. Even then I recall looking at that wave of figures on the back of the card and thinking they looked pretty poor. In my mind this coincided with the release of Transformers, and once we started on those that was the end of SW toys.

 

[monkey_roo]

In terms of back in the day stopping, I'm much the same as Edd - late 80's saw an end to being bought SW and a heavy swing to MASK - For me as a kid I remember the play features on the MASK toys being better and the fact you got a figure and a vehicle together was much more fun, also the scale was less cumbersome (took up less space) couple with the fact that the cartoons were on almost every day with Saturdays being the big one (Timmy Mallet anyone...) - But I wasn't off SW for too long - by 95 I was buying again - this time myself....

 

[Snaketibe]

To my shame, it was 1983. I sold all my Star Wars toys and bought a (rubbish) BMX with the money because I thought I was getting too old for toys. However, the addiction was hard to shift and I couldn't resist buying a Chief Chirpa even after selling everything else. I never stopped buying (nor did I ever sell) my other non-toy Star Wars items though, like the books, annuals, jigsaws, poster mags, stationery, etc.. It took until 1993 for me to see the error of my ways, which is when I started collecting vintage once again, and I haven't looked back since!

 

[Dad of Luke]

For me, I had lots of stuff in the first wave of 1978, then more in 1980 with the release of Empire. But by the time of Jedi in 1983 I'd grown out of it.....I was only 11 going on 12 but bikes, football, fighting fantasy books and yes, boobs had taken over. Oh, and Atari. So my last figures were Empire in 1980-1982.

 

[kabuchi7]

I think i collected and had star wars in my room until around 11 or 12 years of age so that would have been around 88-89. After that they all went into the loft until i sold them all around 2003.

I remember setting up my Star Wars to play once as a kid then thinking 'what am i doing' and not having a lot of ideas or belief like i used to. I must have been around 10 or 11 years old 87'ish. I always recall this time as the moment i was starting to grow up and focus more on drinking special brew and smoking cigarettes in the park

 

[Robstyley]

I don't remember ever getting any Trilogo or last 17 figures or toys at all. All my Star Wars was on Empire and Jedi packaging. I was still getting them in 1984, possibly 1985 and still into them until about 1986/1987 then when I started senior school in 1987 I think I lost interest. Not really for any other reason than getting older and growing out of toys and action figures. I also wouldn't say I went from one toy line to another. Between about 1981 - 1987 (age 5 to 11) I was into Star Wars, Action Man, Transformers and Masters of the Universe mostly toy wise. But also into video games, skateboarding and BMX. And I played a lot of football.

 

[sith-smith]

I think I stopped around 1985. The last pieces I bought were 3 of the last 17 that were on sale. In my mind I think it was summer of that year, but I could be remembering that wrong.

By then I was nearly 13, the Star Wars hype had pretty much died down - I had no idea that there was a new wave of figure, outside of the last 3 I bought - and I think by then I was more into models/train sets. Toy soldiers became quite a big interest - especially as by this time my dad had left his Job at Matchbox and so could buy model stuff from other companies such as Airfix (he would not let me prior to this) so I got into lots of other wars, particularly Napoleonic - matchbox only did some WW2 sets.

That remained my interest - along with Warhammer 40k, until 1992, when my love of Star Wars toys returned and I started collecting.

 

[supergoose]

Last figure I remember buying was Amanaman so that would be '85 or very early '86. That would also coincide with the last Action Force figures I got as I never got Action Force on the Hasbro cardbacks only Palitoy but I did have a couple of the cross over figures with the multi articulation so again around 85/86. Why did I stop then? I guess I was just growing out of those kind of toys and was more into "playing out" then - bikes / conkers / "Gat" pellet guns..... and girls

 

[Gogsfett]

I stopped collecting I think around 1983/84, would have been in P6-P7.

Don't remember collecting when I was at high school , had then moved onto skateboarding, football, bikes etc.

Remember being in Scarborough on holiday and buying Nikto, Klaatu, Weequay and a few others which were among the last I recall buying.

Kept some of my original figures which still have in my collection

Started collecting again in 1997, which were a few green and orange carded POTF figures in the local CO-OP for a few pounds each, and that was me hooked again.. have never stopped since although go through spells of buying and.not.buying.