So what exactly does Star Wars mean to you?

Ive been asking myself this question over the past few days - what does Star Wars mean to you??

To me, its been there since it all started in th 70's. It bought me hours of happiness throuout my childhood, and kept me going as i was growing up. Took a break from around 89-91 as girls, music and playing guitar took over. After rekindling my love for it in the early 90's i found myself buying POTF2,Bendems and then i started on the heavy gear again :lol:

It was also with me through marriage, kids and then divorce. There were times when i felt so low that just having it there kept me sane. It kept me company for many long nights and days, illness and other happenings. Between the years of 2003-2006 i actually relied on Star Wars and the pull of it was so strong that it put me off making potentially catastrophic decisions and i think it saved me in many ways.

Of course, now im happily married again but still have periods when i feel down, but my family and Star Wars get me through it. Just having the films on hand, the toys and other things i collect there when i want to hold them makes all the difference. It really does help to heal issues over time, and i thank god for letting me live it all the way from the start.

There have been times when Star Wars has caused me to become irate,annoyed and defensive to the point where i was just being nasty. However, i realise these mistakes and now take a much more accepting view to everyone else and dont let my mouth take over.

So what does Star Wars mean to you?

You pretty much summed it up... it's very much been a constant for my entire life, and is in my DNA, I'm sure :lol:

As below been keeping me sane since 77, SW for me is memories of fun childhood years of long summers playing sw and other toy lines with mates in the garden, swapping topps sw and the topps wanted stickers, (remember them anyone), in the play ground and street and along with BMX's / vw Beetles, diecast and micronauts gives me an interest in the wild now at boot sales etc and you cant beat that feeling of finding something in the wild that you had as a kid not a big spender thou as the fun is in the barter and only really like toys that show their history with their condition

Some of my earliest most vivid memories, some wonderful child and adulthood moments, a much emptier bank balance...

There was an episode of EastEnders ( bear with me ) a few years ago that showed the day after a family was broken as a result of the wife/ mother walking out on them. Almost the entire episode was the remaining three guys reminiscing about Star Wars. Which I totally got. When the **** ever hit my fan, I'd crack out the Star Wars. It always cheered me up. A few years ago the **** really really hit my fan. So, I started collecting the stuff.

Star Wars has been a rock for me too. As u get on in life u realise more and more how golden, special, happy and priceless childhood was and so many of my childhood memories r full of Star Wars

So when I am down I often think of Star Wars and sometimes escape to my collection room and think of past times which put a smile back on my face

My most vivid memories of Star Wars were being introduced to my friends collection in '82 which pretty much set me on the path, meeting Darth Vader at the Jolly Giant, seeing the first new ROTJ toys hit the shelves, discovering the last 17 when I thought it was all over, and re-discovering collecting in the early 90's. But I think the one thing that most indelibly etched Star Wars into my life was being allowed to stay up to watch the UK network premier of Star Wars with my dad in '82. I remember snuggling up under an old bathrobe and my mum bringing us snacks. My dad passed in '84, a month before my 8th birthday.
Watching A New Hope never fails to take me back to that golden time when I always felt happy and safe and whatever I spend on the hobby now, if it brings me a little piece of that feeling, it's worth every penny.
And it is amazing to be able to share and exchange those memories and feelings with all of you.

Cheers

JS

jimmyshoes said:

My most vivid memories of Star Wars were being introduced to my friends collection in '82 which pretty much set me on the path, meeting Darth Vader at the Jolly Giant, seeing the first new ROTJ toys hit the shelves, discovering the last 17 when I thought it was all over, and re-discovering collecting in the early 90's. But I think the one thing that most indelibly etched Star Wars into my life was being allowed to stay up to watch the UK network premier of Star Wars with my dad in '82. I remember snuggling up under an old bathrobe and my mum bringing us snacks. My dad passed in '84, a month before my 8th birthday.
Watching A New Hope never fails to take me back to that golden time when I always felt happy and safe and whatever I spend on the hobby now, if it brings me a little piece of that feeling, it's worth every penny.
And it is amazing to be able to share and exchange those memories and feelings with all of you.

Cheers

JS

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Brilliant. Speaking of Vader at The Jolly Giant, if it was the Anneisland Glasgow one, here's a pic averagely restored from the world's tiniest negatives found in my sisters boxes of old things!

Thanks so much for sharing! As it happens, it was the Jolly Giant in Anniesland (or Crow Road, Jordanhill to be precise!) We parked up near Victoria Park, and walked the rest of the way. I was kind of bummed I never got a pic so this means a lot.
Do let me know if there were any other pics in your sister's stash, no matter how tiny or poorly restored!

One of my most prized, oddball items in my collection is a Jolly Giant carrier bag - mint condish

JS

Like the others replying here, Star Wars has always meant an enormous amount to me. In many ways, it effectively was my childhood. About a year ago, I posted this true story from 1983 (http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29935), which pretty much sums up in one tale how completely obsessed I was with Star Wars through my formative years...and what a lucky sod I was for winning that competition

Since then, again like many others, I rediscovered the Vintage toys in the 90's (and have been unable to kick that particular habit since!), but even before that, Star Wars had remained an essential part of my life; always quotable, endlessly watchable, truly a fundamental part of who I am. That probably sounds incredibly pretentious (sorry about that, Ted), but it also happens to be true. It's testament to how deeply ingrained these films and all that flows from them has become for me that I wept buckets when poor Carrie Fisher died. Even now, just watching clips of her on YouTube, can quickly have me tearing up. When she died, I felt like I'd really lost a close friend. And that's what Star Wars means to me.

jimmyshoes said:

Thanks so much for sharing! As it happens, it was the Jolly Giant in Anniesland (or Crow Road, Jordanhill to be precise!) We parked up near Victoria Park, and walked the rest of the way. I was kind of bummed I never got a pic so this means a lot.
Do let me know if there were any other pics in your sister's stash, no matter how tiny or poorly restored!

One of my most prized, oddball items in my collection is a Jolly Giant carrier bag - mint condish

JS

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Ha great. PM coming your way. I've got several pics.

Snaketibe said:

Like the others replying here, Star Wars has always meant an enormous amount to me. In many ways, it effectively was my childhood. About a year ago, I posted this true story from 1983 (http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29935), which pretty much sums up in one tale how completely obsessed I was with Star Wars through my formative years...and what a lucky sod I was for winning that competition

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I might have mentioned this before when I saw your story . I have scans of results from the painting competition that some kid wrote away for. Maybe he suspected foul play when his masterpiece never one. But was The Mirror comp a different one? If so it'll be a list of kids names without yours at the top.

I have three main passions with Star Wars - the films, the vintage toys, and also video games. All three have been pretty much constant hobbies throughout my life. I think I got the toys before I saw the films, but definitely saw the films on video in the 80s (like most people recorded from the telly.) My first experience of Star Wars video games was the arcade game "Star Wars" on my Spectrum in 1987. I've been a keen follower of Star Wars games ever since, my favourites are probably the SNES platformers and 90s PC flight sims.

chipsteak said:

Snaketibe said:

Like the others replying here, Star Wars has always meant an enormous amount to me. In many ways, it effectively was my childhood. About a year ago, I posted this true story from 1983 (http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29935), which pretty much sums up in one tale how completely obsessed I was with Star Wars through my formative years...and what a lucky sod I was for winning that competition

Click to expand...

I might have mentioned this before when I saw your story . I have scans of results from the painting competition that some kid wrote away for. Maybe he suspected foul play when his masterpiece never one. But was The Mirror comp a different one? If so it'll be a list of kids names without yours at the top.

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Yes, the Mirror ran its own competition to win tickets. I imagine much like today, promotional tickets were made available to several different sources to run their own competitions and hence drum up interest in the film (not that it needed much drumming, as interest was pretty high anyway!). I didn't enter the painting competition, so my name certainly won't be on your list of winners, but presumably that of one of my fellow attendees at The Odeon on the night would be. ;-)

jimmyshoes said:

My most vivid memories of Star Wars were being introduced to my friends collection in '82 which pretty much set me on the path, meeting Darth Vader at the Jolly Giant, seeing the first new ROTJ toys hit the shelves, discovering the last 17 when I thought it was all over, and re-discovering collecting in the early 90's. But I think the one thing that most indelibly etched Star Wars into my life was being allowed to stay up to watch the UK network premier of Star Wars with my dad in '82. I remember snuggling up under an old bathrobe and my mum bringing us snacks. My dad passed in '84, a month before my 8th birthday.
Watching A New Hope never fails to take me back to that golden time when I always felt happy and safe and whatever I spend on the hobby now, if it brings me a little piece of that feeling, it's worth every penny.
And it is amazing to be able to share and exchange those memories and feelings with all of you.

Cheers

JS

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Beautiful Post

I had open heart surgery when I was ten, Star Wars was always there as a welcome distraction. Every check up, test or procedure was sweetened my the promise of a figure or if I was really lucky maybe a ship? Throughout my life it's always been there. I worked in a video store in the nineties and would play the original trilogy everyday on a loop. Collecting for me is pure nostalgia and good memories. You can't beat it.

Darth Bobby said:

I had open heart surgery when I was ten, Star Wars was always there as a welcome distraction. Every check up, test or procedure was sweetened my the promise of a figure or if I was really lucky maybe a ship? Throughout my life it's always been there. I worked in a video store in the nineties and would play the original trilogy everyday on a loop. Collecting for me is pure nostalgia and good memories. You can't beat it.

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That's a great story and a fantastic picture!

It doesn't get any better. Good stuff.

Great Picture and Story, thanks for sharing it with us!

Star Wars has meant all different things at different points in life. We all had that thing of either spending pocket money on a figure, or receiving a ship or playset for birthdays and Christmas. Sometimes I wish I could relive those moments in some way, but you know, we can't. So probably a nice collection, hanging out with other collectors and watching the films makes up for it.

Right now collecting means very little to me, but the social side of collecting is better than ever. Also we're spoiled with these new films. Great times to be a serious Star Wars nerd. I remember back in the early 90's I had this collection and no-one knew about it. Absolutely no-one, except my family! Seems weird now. Being part of this community has definitely enrichened the hobby for me