When I was a kid, I collected many things. While going through my childhood belongings, I rediscovered my toys and action figures. I decided to create this blog to showcase these vintage toys and display some of my more recent collectibles. Feel free to leave comments and share your nostalgia.
Before: This is going to be the best movie ever!
After: *sigh* At least the last 25 minutes were good.
1999. The end of my junior year in high school. I was and still am a huge Star Wars fan and was eagerly anticipating the return of the film franchise to the big screen. A few weeks prior to release, the promos began airing on MTV for the trailer/music video of "Duel of the Fates" and guest stars from the movie appearing on TRL (anyone remember that show?). They also started highlighting the merchandise about to launch and introduced the figures. A couple days later, the stores started receiving the action figures, and the hype machine was in full gear for what would certainly be the best movie ever...
At least the music video was awesome. The movie... you all pretty much know how that went... The sad thing is it still didn't stop me from seeing it about four or five times while it was in theaters. Saw it again in 3D back in February for the pod race and final battle alone.
Back to 1999, I figured I would get a jump on stockpiling these figures with dreams of striking it rich 20 years later like collectors before me. I spent most of my summer searching stores like Wal-Mart, Target, KB Toys, etc. to try and complete an entire set. I even was checking the serial numbers at the bottom for the .0000 mark showing its a first edition. Here is the fruit of my 17 year old labor.
Let's break this down a little bit so you have a better idea of whats really here. Although I was unable to complete every figure, I did get pretty close. First off is wave 1, the first collection of figures released right before the movie released. I also included the preview STAP Battle Droid figure.
Row 1: Jar Jar, Qui Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan, Battle Droids
Row 2: Anakin, Darth Maul, Padme, Queen Amidala, and Battle Droid
STAP w/ Battle Droid, and Jar Jar with Kaadu
Then throughout the year, they continued to release wave after wave so here is what I have organized by release.
Holographic Qui Gon and Darth Maul
Senator Palpatine,C-3PO, Watto, Darth Sidious, Ric Olie
Boss Nass, Gasgano, Mace Windu, Ki-Adi Mundi, Chancellor Valorum
Captain Panaka, Adi Gallia, Anakin, and Naboo Royal Security
Darth Maul, Holographic Sidious, Anakin, and Qui Gon
Now here are the best parts of my collection. At a Dallas Sci-Fi convention (yes, I am a nerd), I was able to meet a couple of the actors from Phantom Menace and got them to sign figures for their respective characters. Pictured below are two Ki-Adi Mundi and Nute Gunray, signed by Silas Carson, and Rune Haako, signed by Jerome Blake.
Well, its only 13 years later... and these figures are worth next to nothing. But fingers crossed.
