Where did it all begin?

[jackabina]

I was born in 78', so my memories of SW first time round are hazy, although I remember as though it was yesterday, cutting out the tiny pictures on the card backs and playing with them. I used to hide them in a bronze goblet mum and dad had in our lounge..............................ahh, memories. After that, I always loved the films but my fav toys as a small boy were He-man and Ghostbusters.
I remember however the exact moment that re-ignited my memories. I was talking with my dad in his garden, casually moving the soil in his border with my foot as we chatted. All of a sudden, a head poked out of the soil.
After a few :shock: :shock: :shock: and a quick wash (not me), this little fella was again mine

To this day, he is my fav piece, and means more to me than anything else I have.

Do you have a moment like that or an item of such importance. Sorry to go all Mills & Boon on you :lol:
Happy memories...........................................

 

[fuzzybuzzytoys]

I was 7 when Star Wars first came out and it was the first film I went to see. Just me and my Dad (god rest his soul). I remember the poster booklet that my Dad brought me before we went in with the iconic picture of 3po and r2 on the front (standing in the sand, 3po resting his hand on r2s head). I then remember how much my Dad was raving at me on the way home about how amazing it was and the 'first space ship flying over etc etc'.

Toys came pretty quickly after that as we searched long and hard for them. Ben Kenobi was my first (I really wanted an r2 but had to take the Ben 'pegwarmer'). I was a very easy person to buy for every Xmas and birthday after that

My passion was re-ignited in about 1995 when I was working in Southgate London. Came across a shop at the top of the high street selling vintage toys (anyone know if the shop is still there?). There were last 17s, figures I had never even seen before. There were carded figures commanding high prices. I brought a loose Yak Face (cost me about £60 even back then).

F*ck, I love Star Wars

 

[Pomse2001]

I was born in 79 and remember a lot about the toys from my childhood. I think it bagsn in the kindergarten for me, some of the other kids had star wars toy that the took with them in kindergarten so we all could see it and play with it. But that was first after ROTJ came out in cinema. We could buy star wars in the danish shops until the late 80s so that was cool.

I also remember buying star wars with my mom and uncle in the 80s.

 

[Jedi_june]

Wow that's so cool jackabina wish I still had my childhood figs when I moved out the house I never bothered taking my toys lol, my sister did take all of hers lol. Wish I did cause my mom lost everything in storage years ago till this day it kills me. All my Star Wars, ghostbusters, he-man, transformers, thundercats, silverhawks etc etc :lol: all lost. What can you do that's life.

My Passion was re-ignited years later. I went to watch episode 1 recently in 3-d and it sparked Star Wars in me again (always had love to SW ) well anyway a couple days later I ordered the original trilogy (Han shot 1st :lol: ) and watched all 3 I kind of forgot how amazing these movies were. So I was on youtube one day and searched vintage Star Wars :shock: and saw videos of people's collections brought so much memories of when my aunt got me all the figs when a new hope came out (wish I still had them). So of course being an eBay head lmao I went and searched and bought my 2 1st vintage SW in years which was Guido & Boba Fett (my 2 faves :mrgreen: ). Then joined some forums, caught the collecting bug and here I am almost 1 year later and 100 figs deep (thanks lain :lol: ) My wife thinks its ridiculous but she doesn't understand the memories it brings to us "vintage Star Wars". I am glad to be part of this community

Sorry for ranting on :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

June

 

[jackabina]

There's always a wife that doesn't understand June :roll:

 

[Pomse2001]

That was a good one Neil :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[phantom]

So of course being an eBay head lmao I went and searched and bought my 2 1st vintage SW in years which was Guido & Boba Fett (my 2 faves :mrgreen: ).

Guido must be a bootleg Italian space thug
Sorry, just had to :lol:

Nice stories guys

 

[db94]

Great topic/question

Well just like fuzzybuzzy Star wars was my first film, only 5 years old but I made such a fuss about it my mum took me back to see it the following Saturday and back in the 70's you never paid to see a film twice!

After that everything revolved around SW especially the figures - R2, Chewie then Ben. Getting Millennium Falcon for Christmas is definitely a childhood favourite memory, still have the instructions framed on the wall.

Actually liked growing up without internet and total access to information 24/7 it meant that any snippet on TV or article in paper or magazine was like gold, remember pouring over a Radio Times article about SW being shown on TV at Christmas practically memorising the cast names!

I played with my figures and ships from the moment I got up until bedtime, still have the majority although a fair amount were sold by my parents when they decided I was too old for them!

My wife got me back into collecting - bought me a MR lightsaber for my 30th seeing as I had always wanted a "real" one, after that it was a small step to getting everything down from the attic and displaying it.

Managed to replace all but a few of my toys now and going to enjoy every second of hunting the rest down - Mint in box B Wing and Wampa I know you are out there somewhere

As plenty of other people have said it's all about the happy memories looking at my vintage toys brings back, real proud to be part of the SW generation and equally proud our daughter loves SW as well - not that she had much of an option :lol:

Cheers

Colin.

 

[Richard_H]

For me collecting started again when I saw the Zahn books for sale back in 1995. Heavily bought into the EU then bought a Hoth Han on a whim from ebay 2 or 3years ago.

I remember seeing ESB and ROTJ double bill in the cinema when I was young. About 7 years old so circa 1983.

 

[jackabina]

Nice one boy's. Let's see some pic's of those battered figures that started it all.
Oh, and Colin. "my wife got me into collecting", you lucky bastard :lol: :lol:

 

[db94]

Oh, and Colin. "my wife got me into collecting", you lucky bastard :lol: :lol:

She actually prompted me to type that - think she likes being the supportive SW wife

My original 3 - had to buy replacement bowcaster and Saber but Ben's cloak is the one that came with the figure, scared to touch it, pretty sure it's just the Force holding it together

 

[jackabina]

Quality!, that cloak is very precarious :? . Careful now

 

[tundra9]

Great stories guys, fun read!

I got into sw because of my neighbour, who also used to babysit me from time to time,
and he had almost everything, ships, figs, minirigs, posters, you name it!
Also, when Star Wars first aired on the tv, I was at my grans house, under the living room table,
watching with wide eyes, and when Han and Chewie ran after the stormies on the Death star, the channel
got some technical difficulties and the movie stopped for about an hour, with this blue screen with an apology on...
The longest wait of my life! :lol:
This is me and him back in '83-'84 I believe, the only surviving pic of me and vintage sw.

I have another pic somewhere, but after 14 years of searching it has'nt surfaced,
it's of me and the Falcon my parents bought me for Christmas from the guy mentioned above, a very happy memory!

The only sw toys I have that survived the years, is a VME missing all accessories, and a wicket I gave to one of my cousins
which still is displayed in her china cabinet.

 

[jackabina]

Cool Tundra. The haircuts in mean :lol:
Is that a sticker album your mates holding?

 

[tundra9]

Yeah, the Panini ROTJ album.
Can't go wrong with a MacGyver mullet!

 

[kylesbullets]

I got into star wars when I saw Episode III. I saw it 2 times in a week lol. After that, I started buying the ROTS collection and the one after that. Sadly, I opened them all but still have all the pieces. Then when 30th Anniversary came out, I started to keep everything in boxes and its been that way since.....

 

[x-pack]

Like most folk on here i got into Star Wars when i was a nipper - probably around '81 when i was five. My first figure was bought for me by my dad and i think it was either Greedo or Vader ..i told Paul Blake it was Greedo :lol:

As you can see by my profile picture i had the At-At. A great childhood memory was Christmas day '83 and unwrapping a B-Wing at 6.30 in the morning in my dad's bedroom. We seemed to open present in random rooms back then :? I also remember instantly losing the rocket and engine stem things from it. Never had them after Christmas day. Probably got binned. Once i swapped my At-At (very briefly) for my cousin's Scout Walker. A moment of madness there :lol:

Anyway, i went on to give the remainder of my own toys to my brother. We then began collecting in about 1991. The collection grew to stupid proportions until we moved to our own places and had to scale back. Now i'm left with some nice bits and bobs and thanks to this forum have just got back into collecting MOC's

Oh and i almost forgot. I never actually watched Empire until the late 80's! Shocking but true

 

[Pomse2001]

Great stories guys

Jorn I love the picture from your childhood I hope you find the other picture with you and the falcon

 

[edd_jedi]

I was born in 81 so got my first Star Wars toys in about 86 (I remember what they were - Han Hoth and a Speeder Bike while I was in hospital.) My brothers and I had a pretty decent collection but we trashed it, and it all went to the tip in about 89. I only remember Tri Logo stuff.

I started collecting in 1994 when the digitally remastered VHS videos were released. I hadn't seen the films for years, but they got me hooked again. I started buying loose figures from a few junk shops, and then found my first 2 MOCs at a market in Wimborne. They were tri logo Klaatu and Nikto, and cost £7 each I then put together a pretty decent set of MOCs (considering this was pre-internet) mostly from a shop in Poole, which I know Dom also remembers.

Since then I've collected on and off, usually for financial reasons. My longest break was between 1998 and 2003, but luckily I had the sense not to sell anything, so I kept the 30 or so MOCs I had in a box all that time. My most active period was between 2003 and 2007, in which time I amassed about 150 MOCs. Sadly virtually all now gone.

 

[mr_palitoy]

In the summer of 78 I dragged my dad round every toy shop round Nottingham looking for a palitoy jawa so I had the first 12 figures MOC. Ended up finding one in a toy shop in Beeston. They had none on display so I got to open the shipping boxes they had in the store room to find the one I was missing!



Jason