Are you a Trekkie or a Star Wars Geek?

Are you a Trekkie or a Star Wars Geek? When it came to toys, I was a bit of both. Truth be known, I was much more of a Star Wars geek. My older brother was more of a Star Trek fan.

I actually liked Star Wars toys better than any other. That is why I had to follow up yesterday's Star Trek post with this one. Star Trek and Star Wars does have a healthy rivalry going you know?

Kenner Star Wars figures! It brings back such great memories. Notice that we usually drop the word "action" and just call them figures? Kenner took off where Mego and G.I. Joe began to decline. The Star Wars figures were the first to make the smaller size figures popular. This made the playset possibilities so much better! It was hard for a Six Million Dollar Man figure or G.I. Joe to have a good playset because it had to be so very big! Mego and Big Jim got a little smaller, but the airplane or Rescue Rig for Big Jim was enormous! (Sorry, I'll stick to today's topic, - Big Jim will be a future post) With the 4" size, Star Wars figures could have great playsets and spaceships like the Death Star Space Station, Snow Walker, millennium Falcon, X-Wing and Tie Fighters and the Land Speeder. I had almost every playset from Star Wars (now called A New Hope) and Empire Strikes back. Kenner kept making great figures for Return of the Jedi, but I became more interested in sports and girls at that time.

The other reason the small size was better was because it made the cost more affordable! I would do just about anything to get the $2.09 it took to buy a new figure at Gold Circle. Once I even walked our country road for what seemed like miles, searching for glass returnable pop bottles that people had thrown out of their car. I only needed 21 bottles to make enough money. I returned home with an armload of bottles! I think I only had about 8, but my mom rewarded me for my effort and gave me the rest of the money. It was off to Gold Circle in search of that elusive Yoda figure! You remember the one? He was tiny, with the orange snake around his neck. That was the hardest one for me to find. The great thing about collecting the figures was that if I couldn't find a figure that I didn't already have, I could always buy another Stormtrooper or Jawa. I always wanted to have as many stormtroopers as are on the millennium falcon box. I think I ended up with about 7 or 8 of them.

My favorite figures were always the aliens like Greedo, Hammerhead and SnaggleTooth. Of Course the bounty hunters were great too, with Boba Fett leading the way. I got my Boba Fett through that mail-in offer. Look at the picture on the right of the bounty hunters. I tried to match the bounty hunter photos from the trading cards. The trading cards were cool too! It was always a struggle deciding to buy a pack of cards or save the money toward another figure. Of course thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa or I would not have had the playsets and ships.

I also really liked everything that Kenner made from Hoth, the snow planet. They made the Snowtrooper figures and several playsets, along with the Snowspeeder and AT-AT Snow Walker. I had a cardboard Snow Walker, but the big plastic one was the only playset that I never got. It was over $30 which was way too much for a toy according to my parents. My Grandma would have paid for it, but it was the principal of the thing. I don't remember the exact cost, but it sure looked cool! Did any of you have it, or remember how much it cost back in 1980? Please leave a comment about it or any of your favorite Star Wars toy memories.

Sorry for rambling here. My other posts won't be so long. If you made it all the way down here, you must have been a Star Wars fan too. Thanks for reading!

Live Long and Prosper! - and - May The Force Be With You!!!

Comments

[David]

Hi

just found your blog through this blog catalog thread: favourite submissions - you got a special mention from one of the admins!...

...as far as toys go, I was a star wars geek (although i like star trek tv shows now) - had the millenium falcon, at-at, x-wing, scout walker and a bunch of figures - ah the good old says *sighs* :)

David
Web Mash

[JOe]

I have many toys for the 70's and 80's that I recently dug out of the attic and I'm trying to sell. If any of this is of interest to you let me know. check them out at www.whatsinjoesattic.com