To continue celebrating my blog's 18th anniversary which is on November 21st I have another guest post for you today! Dan from Dan the Pixar Fan and I met over Instagram and immediately bonded over all things Star Wars and Disney. Dan's knowledge of Pixar is incredible and he provides all the latest news and reviews on the newest collectibles on his website. Some of my favorites include the Bao Vinyl Figure Review and My Incredibles 2 Themed Birthday Party. Besides being the biggest Pixar collector I know Dan also collects many Star Wars toys and is here to share some of his favorites with you!
Hi Jenmarie! Thanks so much for inviting me on your blog today as a guest. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Star Wars collectibles and memories! Like many of you, my love for Star Wars dates all the way back to my preschool years. While I don’t have many memories of watching the films at that age, I know from stories passed on that I would love to watch the original trilogy on VHS often (mostly thanks to my older brother Rob, who’s 14 years older than me. His passion rubbed off on me even at that age, which I’m sure was his plan all along).
The first real Star Wars memories I have that are clear as day are from Christmas 1995 (I was 5 years old). Yup, my first memories aren’t even in regards to watching the movies themselves, but acquiring the toys. This was the year that the Power of the Force 2 line had just hit stores (the first line of Star Wars action figures since the Power of the Force collection in 1985) and I was ecstatic about them. I was the perfect age. I’ll never forget that Christmas morning opening a HUGE gift bag featuring the complete first wave of POTF2 “Red Card” action figures and vehicles. The bag was so big that I remember literally crawling inside it to get all the toys out. This was pure magic for me and the beginning of what would turn out to be a lifelong passion for Star Wars collecting.
Three Special Editions, three prequels, four Disney era movies, six midnight madness toy release events and thousands of items later and here I am in 2018, just as hyped as ever for new Star Wars products to hit shelves. When I was given the task of narrowing down my “Top 5” favorites from my collection for this blog post, I wondered, how the heck will I be able to do that? My collection mostly consists of the standard Kenner/Hasbro figures, playsets, vehicles, creatures, multipacks, exclusives, etc. from the POTF2 line all the way through this year’s Solo line; so needless to say, it’s a lot of stuff (and mostly the same stuff that all Star Wars collectors have). While I do have many favorite figures and the like (all tied to countless special memories and childhood play), I wanted my choices to be as unique to me as possible. Here’s what I came up with...
This one is super special to me because this was my “big present” on my birthday in 2002. I had wanted it for years, mostly because it looked just so dang cool (I love playsets; big fan of creating movie accurate “scenes”/dioramas using playset environments) and because an ewok village had never been made in any of the modern lines (and to this day, still hasn’t). I got this mint in the package and have so many memories busting it out of the box and assembling it. My parents really came through here.
This one is special to me because this was the very first celebration I had ever attended (and was supposed to be the last since we had no idea Star Wars would be back one day). Me and my brother have some great memories from this trip—so classic for me to look back on (like waiting in line for six hours in the rain to see George Lucas). This figure represents those feelings of pure Star Wars joy and excitement that I felt there amongst fellow fans. Revenge of the Sith was about to be released theatrically and everyone was pumped to the max. Not to mention I got the figure signed by the man in the suite himself while I was there, David Prowse.
I wanted to throw in one vehicle and, while this one doesn’t have a special story of nostalgia [per se] tied to it, it has to be the coolest, biggest and most detailed vehicle ever produced by Hasbro (not counting the Sail Barge coming next year). This thing is epic and I love the sheer size of it! Not only that, but the play features and lights/sounds are amazing too (honestly, Hasbro at their best). No corners were cut here. At the time, this was a much-needed upgrade to one of my all time favorite Star Wars ships.
Ok, I’m cheating a bit here because this isn’t one item (it’s like well over 100), but I couldn’t resist including my entire collection of Star Wars Vinylmations from the Disney Parks. I was hardcore into collecting these and it’s a bummer the line has ceased as of last year. I will never forget opening my first blindbox during our Disney World trip in 2011 and then not being able to stop from then on. Again, these are tied to many memories and almost every one has a fun story on how I acquired it.
Last but not least, this is one of the most unique items in my collection. This BB-8 etched crystal cube (with commemorative box) was a holiday gift to Disney Store Cast Members in 2015 (obviously celebrating the release of The Force Awakens). That was my very first year as a Cast Member, so you can imagine all the memories associated here with this one. I’ll never part with it; not only because of how cool it is, but because it represents the amazing experience I had being part of the Walt Disney Company in a small way from 2015-2018.
There you go everyone! A few of my favorite Star Wars items from my collection. I wish I could go into details on so many more! I didn’t even get to touch on any of the figures, playsets, vehicles, books, Legos, t-shirts, Itty Bittys, Tsum Tsums, Funko POP! vinyls, Galactic Heroes, etc. that I’ve collected over the years. I’ve included some pictures though, so you can see all of my displays (and even all the bins of packed away merch) in my Star Wars room— still up at my parents’ house from when I was a teenager.
Wow, what a collection! Do you own any of these awesome collectibles yourself? Let us know what you think of these in a comment below. You can follow Dan's Star Wars collection on his Instagram account: Star Warz Collection. And if you like Disney/Pixar like I do you can find Dan on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
I will be hosting several giveaways through Wednesday. Be sure to check out the first one here on Twitter, and the second one on Instagram.
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