Author Jason Fry writes at StarWars.com how the original Kenner Star Wars action figures supercharged his fandom and inspired him to create stories in a galaxy, far, far away.
This was 1978, and Kenner had only made 12 figures — Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, R2-D2, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Death Squad Commander, Tusken Raider, and Jawa. That decision was how I learned about sales tax (the price tag at the toy store said $1.99 but you needed $2.13 at the register) and to budget. It also super-charged my impulse to not only collect but also be a completist: These days I collect not just action figures but also baseball cards, music, and books.
But collecting figures also super-charged my interest in Star Wars and storytelling. I’d fallen in love with George Lucas’ movie the previous summer, but back then the saga only consisted of one film and a monthly Marvel comic book. I turned to my action figures to invent the new stories I craved, but I had to start small: I only had enough allowance money to buy two.
So which two should I buy?
The obvious answer was Luke and Vader, but some precocious instinct told me that those two characters meeting was the climax of a good story, not its beginning. So I followed Lucas’ lead and bought C-3PO and R2-D2, who spent a few weeks wandering and bickering until I’d saved up enough money to get Luke.
Luke’s arrival opened up new possibilities, but I didn’t have any villains. So my new trio spent lots of time exploring planets made of LEGO and couch cushions in search of Jedi secrets. Next I got a stormtrooper, finally giving my stories an antagonist. And on I went from there, until there were three Star Wars movies and I had amassed an army of figures, vehicles, playsets, and accessories.
When Hasbro created a new line of Star Wars figures in 1995, I was in my twenties but had to have them — even if Luke, Han and Leia were so muscular that it looked like they’d spent years at the gym. (Hey, that was toy fashion at the time.) I was thrilled when Hasbro made figures they’d skipped when I was a kid, such as Grand Moff Tarkin and a rebel fleet trooper, and even happier when they started making figures that looked like miniature replicas of the characters, with articulation I’d never dreamed of in 1978 and screen-accurate costumes and accessories.
I sold most of my classic figures years ago (to a fellow collector I knew would cherish them), but I still have the original Kenner 12, displayed alongside their modern incarnations and their equivalents in the 6-inch Black Series line. Meanwhile, my huge modern collection fills stacks of Tupperware containers, with a selection of favorites displayed on shelves in my home office.
Read more here.
