Topic: How did you start collecting?

[jkno]

We are collectors, we present our collections and acquisitions in this section of the forum. So how did you start collecting? What do you collect mostly?

[jkno]

I grew up with SW OT in a hard time when Romania was under Communist and Soviet rule (70's and 80's). I watched ANH and ESB on cinema, but ROTJ had to watch on a friend's VHS player since Ceausescu (the Communist leader/president) didn't allow it to run on cinemas. Before 1990 there were hard times in this part of the world, and Star Wars OT was like a light tower for people here, especially for children who watched it. Of course there were no SW toys to be found in the Eastern Block, but even so I considered SW an inspiration, a way to make people forget about their every day problems.

I remember one day coming from school with two friends (I was about 9-10 back then if remember correctly), and we've seen a new BMW car parked near the school. since it was a different car that the ones we were used seeing ever day we got near it and looked inside. On one of the doors there was a bumper sticker with Vader fighting with Luke with their lightsabers, we stood there for half an hour looking at it and remembering scenes from the movie. The car was still there for about 3 weeks - seems it was a German from Western Germany (the non-Communist Germany, from across the Wall) who came in visit to a house in our city...

I started collecting SW in 1998, when I got the first figures. Then I helped my cousin Roby Adi who had a really bad car accident to get a few SW figures and especially Action Fleet ships. Thus I gotten into Action Fleet and MicroMachines (MM playsets) and managed to have a 99% complete collection by the end of 2006. I also collected Hasbro action figures back then, having quite a nice collection, even some rare Ep. 1 figures. But before that, Galoob, the company who produced Action Fleet was bought up by Hasbro, who soon canceled this line together with MicroMachines. This was one of my first steps into focusing my collection.

There was a Romanian online store carrying various SW figures and toys, and once they brought the Barc Speeder set. I tried to order it but they had it sold out in hours so I missed it. In the same period I was looking for the new Kotobukiya ROTS Clone Troopers especially the exclusive Koto Shocktrooper which was a limited edition and also sold out on all stores back then (the funny thing is now you can easily find it for less than retail). Even the German Toy Palace store had this Koto statue sold out. I was so disappointed that from that day I canceled all my Prequel orders and started selling/trading/donating all my Prequel figures and clones.
 
Thus I gave up on collecting Prequels, and I managed to focus more clearly on Original Trilogy Imperials, so my budget goes accordingly. But I always have to consider international shipping, 19% VAT tax and customs charges, because of the simple fact that there are almost no SW toys in Romania or at least in the region where I live... An US or Canadian collector or even a German or French collector could go to the closest TRU or comic shop and get almost all the figures he needs. That makes it very difficult to be a non-US collector, and more so a Romanian collector. Focusing only on OT Imperials (with very few minor exceptions) and on very few non-SW items I manage to get the items I'm really interested in.

With the new OT Imperials focus I concentrated on the higher end collectibles like Kotobukiya, Sideshow, Gentle Giant, Medicom, Hot Toys  and Master Replicas/eFX. I realized that most of the times it was cheaper to get a Gentle Giant bust in Romania than 2 carded Hasbro action figures. So if I want to buy a new carded Hasbro figure I would pay 3-4 times the price a US fan would because of shipping and import tax & fees etc. I wanted to order 3 Imperials figures from BBTS and total plus shipping would have been over $80, the same with Entertainment Earth or other stores. So why bother in the first time? Thus I better save my hard earned money for higher end collectibles.

So now you know how I started collecting, how about you?

[Gripen90]

Hmm when did I begin collecting !?.

Well in the early 8oties I do remember having a "now vintage" Stoormstrooper and Ewok, but the Star Wars figures quickly dissappered in Denmark, in around 86 or so I guess when I was about 6years old, and also I was becoming an avid fan and collector of another toyline that appealed a lot more to me at the time.

However eventhough not having the toys etc I still watch the original 3 movies in the late 80ties and I recall loving them. I got the 3 of them on VHS and later on in late 95 the special edition sets also on VHS.

It wasn't untill Galoob introduced the Star Wars Action Fleet range I began to collect Star Wars. Now being about 15-16years old and collecting "toys" wasn't the most popular thing to do.. also not among my parents. So the Action Fleet vehicles I bought in 96-97 from my local toy store I smuggled into the house hidden in the schoolbag, and locking my door an then open them for display...
However you can hide like 3 or 4 vehicles fairly easy on your desk among other stuff, but it soon became appearent for my ol' folks that these ships didn't land on my desk on their own... however I didn't get to hear anything for it, because I assume they regarded them as "accepted" collectibles.
I collected the Action Fleet primarily I love the "techs" involded in Star Wars and I was more after the vehicles than figures, and then all the vehicles had stunning detail. What more could you wish for in such a collectible size ?.

The POTF toys etc were also in our area at the time, but the out-of-scale vehicles and awkward figures  and didn't interest me one bit at all.

However in '97 my other bigtime passion remerged when I finally got access to the interwebs TransFormers ofcourse and I started collecting and trading with people all over to get the figures I always wanted but never got or could afford.

This also doomed the end for my Action Fleet collection. I traded it all away for a G.1 Scorponok 100% complete and with many other cool headmasters etc. I don't regret ever doing the trade because it was awesome (especially now when you see the prices of the old G.1 figures and what they sell for... Vintage Star Wars has a hard time competing even here).
Nevertheless, I still missed my Action Fleet vehicles...

Fastforward 10 years and parents already giving up on you with your toy-collecting etc (still I will say they have always been supportive in my TF Generation 1 collecting, for some reason they like it... sometimes even stepped into my room having a look and to see if I got some other nice G.1's).
So in august 2007 while browsing eBay as I usually do I thought why not do a little search on Star Wars Action Fleet to see if some of the old vehicles are still around.... and to my big surprise ! there was loads and them. Both loose boxed etc and all the ones I couldn't find in my own toyshop. Better yet ! they were much MUCH cheaper than G.1 TransFormers, so I went ahead and abused my Paypal account because I decided to recreate my collection I use to have that consisted of Tyderium Shuttle, Snowspeeder, TIE Fighter, TIE Bomber, TIE Interceptor, TIE Advanced X1, Red A-wing, Gold Y-wing, Red 5 X-wing - a collection I was very happy with back then.
However I went overboard and got what I could find, also ending up with realizing there was variations etc ! and I got them too...

Fastforward to October 2007 and on a field trip to Germany I checked a supermarket and I saw a 30th Anniversary TIE Bomber. Knowing that I never like the POTF etc lines I gave this a closer look, and it seemed to be ok in scale and the pilot actually looked very nice... still not sure about it since I collected SW AF, I eventually decided to buy it.... and then.... well the rest you know and can see in my collection thread .

[lambonspit]

My story is nowhere near as interesting as you guys!! I was 7 when phantom menace came out and my uncle was really into star wars and collecting. I picked up the interest and everyone began buying me star wars stuff. The craze died out though after the fanatic craze of Pokemon, and my collection really remained dormant until ep II where the collection picked up again. Same happened between ep II and III, where Yu-Gi-Oh replaced my star wars interest. However, figure quality really dragged me into collecting and i have never stopped since!! if you have seen my youtube vids, you would know i have close to 500 clones. Every single one of those clones i acquired last year after my 16th birthday when i was 'in the money', and the obsession really began from then on. So thats the story of my collecting. Hope you enjoyed!!

[110clones]

When I was about 3 years old I collected power rangers.Then after power rangers it became gi joes.Then when my cousin came
over to play he had star wars toys.I played as the gi joes and he as star wars.I looked at the clones he had.I thought they looked pretty awesome
and my dad took me to the movie star wars episode III.And I loved the movie.I made my dad buy the OT and episode I and II.I loved the movie.
When I went to target when I was seven I saw a clone trooper that my cousin had.I yelled to my dad that I found a clone trooper.Then I saw general grievous
,the enemy in episode III.My dad bought those 2 figures.Then my collection grew.
       But in the 30th anniversary collection I got a bit bored cause I mainly collected clones and stromtroopers.There wasnt a lot of them.So I stopped then got back
into star wars.I had to stop again,now,cause my parents said I had to save up for other stuff.Who knows,I might get more figures.

[CloneCaptainV2224]

very interesting topic mate!

my story is funny.  when the ROTS episode was release, in Romania have also been released the 2D Clone Wars series which i hated: 1st reason: the translating was a disaster and they were using some weird and annoying voices  2nd reason they were displaying some cartoons that i liked and this was annoying me. for my B-day, mom bought me my first 2 star wars figs: ep 1 Padme and ep 1 Senator Palpatine. i didn't know they are from star wars though i opened the boxes myself lol. then when i was 8 i think a guy gave LEGO Star Wars video game and i loved the game. i wanted to see the movies but i couldn't find them. at the time , in Romania were imported some ROTS collection figs and my parents bought me many items about a half of my now days kinda little collection. in 2008 i sen at the cinema they were displaying Star Wars The Clone Wars The Movie. after that movie i started loving SW as i never did Lol. then i started adding items to my collection and nothing else...

[Squirepec7]

My story is okay. When I was six my dad gave me his tie  fighter from the kenner line that was awesome. After that I just started collecting until ROTS was over and then I thought Star Wars was done. Then I started again when my cousins gave me their clones and that is what I mostly collect today still.

[RedLeaderOne (00fire501)]

Hi guys, well my story starts in the eighties, when I was about 9 my uncle would visit my family and I in the school holidays,  he would bring me lots of star wars toy presents.  So I was hooked then, but over the years growing up most of my figures where  given  away by my mum or lost. So I didn't really start collecting  till the start of 2008, and then it wasn't much. I really got started after watching some of the guys on youtube like jedim4str, rasputin37, sithlord229.  Ive allways loved star wars so I needed a hobby when I stopped playing sport, so I started  collecting star wars figures and vehicles.

[jkno]

No replies from the older members here and from mods/admins yet? You prefer keeping this a secret?

[Phatty]

LOL!  I didn't even get a chance and was called out!  That's ok, here we go...

I was born 2 months before ANH came out, and remember going to see ROTJ as a 10 year old.  From the time of about  4 or 5, I remember my parents buying me many Star Wars figs, and my mom's best friend worked at Toys R Us, and had a son my same age, so she would pick us up stuff all the time as well.  Around the time of 1989 or so, when I was in 8th grade, I felt that I had "grown up," and gave all of my SW stuff to my brothers to play with.

1995 came around, and I was at a random Target store, and saw they were re-releasing the figures all over again.  I snatched up Luke, Han, Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and a Stormtrooper right away, followed quickly by an X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and Millenium Falcon.  From there, it was on.  Picking up all kinds of figures with no real direction.  Slowly, I began to fade out of it again, as they figures just weren't very exciting, and they were already beginning to repeat figures in new packaging.

1999 arrives, and TPM is getting ready to hit the theaters.  I went with a couple friends to a Toys R Us having a Midnight Madness sale, with the thought of picking up only 5 figures.  Then I saw there were 4 different versions of the battle droid, so I was at 9 figs and got one more to make it an even 10.  Then I snagged 3 more because I only saw a very few on the pegs to begin with.  I have a bit of OCD, so 13 wasn't sitting well, so I got 2 more to get an even 15 figs.  By the time I left, I had gotten all of the first wave, including variants, with a total of 23 figures.  Oops.  I now have the entire set of TPM figures, complete with variants.

Then I was after one of every figure, carded.  AOTC came along, and I started off getting one of every one, but quickly stopped that because there was a lot of repeats, and it then went to Saga figs.  Then I switched to just picking up which ones I wanted.

ROTS hit, and I was once again back into the one of every fig mode to complete my ROTS collection.  I have every single variant of every figure in that line, with the one exception of the lighter faced Meena Tills.  I had one, and traded her away for something I wanted more at that time, though now I can't remember what that was.

Now, I'm just about collecting the figures and ships I want.  I open my ships, leave my single figs carded.  Hasbro has taken a lot of the fun of collecting out of it for me, so I've broadened quite a bit into Gentle Giant and Sideshow Collectibles items.

[Clonehead]

Well, I would have been about 7-8 when ANH came out. I remember getting some of the vintage stuff when it came out and not doing very well about keeping it. I believe the only one of my original vintage figures that i still have is a dog chewed mail-away Boba Fett figure.

Flash forward to when TPM came out. There was a promotion in-between three fast food franchises for the EP1 cups with the character torso cup toppers. I believe that there was 12 of them. I ended up finding the whole set and still have em. That started me collecting. I started picking up TPM,POTF figures that I liked and hanging them carded on a wall. Then, I started to collect the posters and the model kits. This continued like this till after AOTC came out and I slacked off a bit. Then, ROTS came out right around the time I started selling on ebay. As I was accumulating inventory to sell in my store, I started to focus on ROTS figures and toys. As I consider my inventory to be part of my collection, both grew and I started to focus on the clones. About this time is when I started to customize clones and then things really started to pick up momentum. Now, part of my inventory is to sell, part is to customize, and part is to keep.
  Now that the Clone Wars line is so popular, things continue as they have for years now. I no longer consider myself a carded collector but have alot of MOC stuff that I haven't opened yet.
  I normally do better selling loose stuff than MOC stuff but still sell both and will continue for some time.

[clones are awesome]

well i only started collecting last year

[Tamer]

Well for me it started off when ANH came out and I saw the opening scene with that Star Destroyer. It and Vader coming into the Tantive and that first ship space battle. I remember going to the store and buying one dollar figs. I can remember my brother telling the cashier he didn't want tax with his figure, just the figure. It was so hilarious the cashier didn't charge him as I recall. Then TESB came out and I saw those walkers and atat drivers and from then on it was circle the wishbook for a walker which I never got, but I rectified that when ROTS came out.

My story has a sad middle part as a fifth grade school trip I took all my figures so me and another boy (Noah) could play with em on our way to the Pittsburg Zoo. We ate lunch on the school bus and left our lunch bads there and my figs were in my lunch bag. After lunch we left the bus to go back to the zoo a little more and the bus driver threw away all the lunch bags. I can still remember the discussion I had with the bus driver about going back to get my figs, which ofcourse didn't happen as we were going home for the day. My mom still tells stories at how ticked I was when I got home that day, that and worried my mom was gonna tan my hide as she warned me not to take too many.

Well, ROTS came out and a few of my kids noticed I had just a couple SW items on my desk and they bought me a few sneak preview figures. I was so blown away by the better looking figures that I decided I was just pick up a couple more. Then I saw how good the vehicles looked. My wife knew my sad walker story so she indulged me a bit and before long I had one of everything. I still have all my rots figures including the rare white faced tills in the Target ROTS cases. I met up with a few other Yarders on other sites and developed trade partnerships and it sure was fun seeing who would be first finding the figs.

Then, I bought my first walker off of ebay. I get at least one a year now, whether I need it or not. I can't even describe how delighted I was to open that ebay box with the walker in it. My wife talked me into getting one of our cats Luke by saying she would buy me a walker on ebay. She knows my weaknesses daggone it.

[UnitedStatesDemocrat]

As for me, I started collecting back right after ROTS came out.  To be honest, I loved the Star Wars movies, ever since I had seen Episode I at my old neighbor's house, and I thought that it was like a show that had tons of episodes.  I didn't even know that action figures existed.  Then my friend Brihtric showed me his small collection, so I headed off to Wal-Mart and the first figure I have ever had was Kit Fisto.  That was the start of my collection, and my first clone, as I recall, is Alpha-17, which came from the comic two pack.  That figure is the main reason I began collecting  just clones.  That's my story.

[110clones]

well i only started collecting last year

and your customizing already.dang i didnt start customizing until after the second year.