What a delightful thread.
Well SW is personable to us all in a myriad of different ways.
My introduction i can still taste, smell and hear.
I was 10 years old when my friend's Dad took us to the old ABC in Sheffield.
I seem to remember it being Christmassy as it was cold, icy and snowy but it could have been Jan/Feb of '78 as we didn't get it in May '77.
The things i remember are a bit strange some might think.
I was unprepared for the huge queues outside and remember Jim (my mate Steve's Dad) saying the world was going mad for this film and it was breaking records.
I was spellbound by the imagery on the posters outdside so didn't notice the long wait or my freezing toes.
Once inside the foyer we had an age to get to and up the winding stairs as another queue was forming to a downstairs auditorium.
Please remeber in those days i don't think it was a thing to pre-book so you just turned up to get a ticket.
Once we were on the first floor my pulse started to race as we could hear a fanfare of music, i could see the doors to the auditoriums and i was absorbing further movie stills and artwork.
There was a posh red twisted rope railing separating two queues for each auditorium as they were both or all showing Star Wars.
The rope undulated up and down to various free standing ornately carved wooden posts and my head was just about level with each one.
A sign at the end said "queue here" which looking back seemed a bit daft as we'd already been queueing for more than an hour.
The queue slowly made it's way through the door as we could hear explosions and talking.
We got around the corner and i was blown away by the size of the auditorium, about 4 times bigger than the multiplexes of today.
THE FILM HAD ALREADY STARTED ffs!
As we walked down a few steps and took some seats the scene was dark. Who was this little droid moving down a rocky path? The noises had me immersed instantly, the robot was making beeping murmurings as his motors whirred before the shining lights from behind the rocks and boulders revealed themselves and blasted the poor little guy.
I was hooked, that moment kinda changed my life in a way.
Less than a week later i made my Dad take me and my friend to see it again, this time at the Gaumont which was even bigger.
The lights went down, the huge curtains swung away and the fanfare and beginning had me mesmorised as i had missed this before. That scene with the Stormtroopers boarding instantly became my favourite and i felt a huge sense of pride and excitement that i was making my Dad see this.
Within weeks i was buying SW soaps from shops and magazines with any pics i could lay my hands on. I even started to 'read' the neswspapers
I'm certain it was Star Wars that made me become a very good reader at an early age.
Sometime later i was buying toys that were starting to come out.
One week I'd be in Redgates of Sheffield and the next Coopers of Rotherham.
I bacame a member of the Star Wars fan club before it was known as Bantha Tracks and still have my old letters which i would be excited to receive through my letter box from America and read up on any info about the new Star Wars 2 they were making.
I thought it was so cool back then as i was a member of 2 fan clubs both with the same initials of SWFC..
Star Wars Fan Club
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club
How cool is that 8)
I used to draw pictures and even devised a new character for a competition in the fan club for a new bounty hunter in the upcoming new film which they had now titled The Empire Strikes Back.
I need to post all my scrap books on here sometime.
By the time Return of the Jedi came out i had started to 'grow up' and although it still blew me away and i went to see it a few times, money was tight due to football and starting to fancy girls and buy clothes.
I sold most of my stuff to a bloke called Kevin Sayles from my Mums workplace for his kids, i needed some spending money.
I remember the exact amount.
All my vehicles and playsets were Palitoy and the figures were half and half with Kenner. I sold my Landspeeder, DV Tie, Slave I, Cloud Car, Death Star and 12" figures of Boba Fett and Stormtrooper.
He also had my Denys Fisher R2 and C3PO model kits i had built and i had £50 in my pocket which didn't last.
I managed to keep my figures, around 60 (all SW & ESB) plus both blue and red full sets of Topps trading cards although a little beat up from the playground.
I regretted selling it all within a week but it was too late.
Fast forward about ten years and i had a full time job with good wages as i got re-introduced to SW via the Timothy Zahn trilogy..... a dangerous combination and the die was cast as i endeavoured to get back everything i once owned as a kid and the toys my parents couldn't afford as my Dad was down the pit and my Mum worked at Handsworth Asda ( the one in the Full Monty)
There was no internet or eBay then so i subscribed to Model and Collectors Mart and started to visit car boots, small toy fairs and then the big one, NEC Memorabilia!! :shock:
I was blown away by the things you could still buy and prices they were fetching.
100quid for a Palitoy Luke still on card, outrageous!
As soon as i walked into the big hall there was a dealer selling full trade boxes and seperate packs of MY original trading cards.
I had to have everything and did try for a time buying every single figure on every single cardback, well i gave it a good go :lol:
I do regret parting with my full set of Glasslites, Top Toys Yoda etc but when i actually started to stand at fairs myself it actually became quite cleansing but unfortunately it also added more fuel as i was able to acquire more stuff and i was there in the first place to try and de-clutter my house.
However, the main ingredient of this journey are the people and friends i have encountered over the years with a similar passion to mine.
Characters i wouldn't have had the pleasure to bump into without our galaxy and still to this day keep in touch with a few of them.
People from the old days like Gary, Carl and Bernie.
The first two even stayed at mine one weekend after we went to see Madness at Sherwood Pines so we all reciprocated a year later and had a curry weekend at Sith Smiths palace in London.
Whenever i acquire any SW merchandise to this day or talk with a friend or fellow collector, i am instantly taken back to the whirring mechanics of R2 in the Dune sea and realise his journey is somehow inherent with my own.
I apologise if i have meandered a little but this in a nutshell is what Star Wars means to me and if i had the time or indeed you had the patience, i could write a novel of my experiences and how it has shaped me.
MTFBWY
