Homework Help: Why do we love Star Wars and Collect it?

I am currently attenting the University of Utah and I am doing a paper on Star Wars. The Paper is about why we love Star Wars so much and why we collect things from it - even 30 years after the original film was released! So here is what I'd like:

Just post why you love Star Wars and why do you collect Star Wars things. Be as specific as you like. I'll take a the general reasons why we love Star Wars and collect figures, busts, etc. If I would like to quote any of you directly I'll PM you asking for your permission and how you would like to be credited. Thanks for all of your help!

PS I am also conducting the same thing at Rebelscum. It will be interesting if the results differ.

Nostalgia, SW takes us back to when we were kids playing with SW toys and now we're adults with more cash we can afford bigger toys, but it takes us back to a more innocent and maybe even happier time of our lives, it's got a childhood association.

Also the looks of certain characters are attractive to us like how cool looking a Sandtrooper or Darth Maul might appear.

I also collect the GG mini bust line because I think they are amazingly accurate compared to other mini busts lines I've seen and very good value as well.

Hope this helps

FOR ME: THIS IS THE HOPE OF A BETTER WORLD ,ONE WHERE THERE IS SEXY IRON- BIKINI WEARING SLAVE GIRLS AND PRINCESS WITH ERECTED NIPPLES IN TIGHT WHITE OUFIT.....

Shai Hulud said:

THIS IS THE HOPE OF A BETTER WORLD FOR.... ONE WHERE THERE IS SEXY IRON- BIKINI WEARING SLAVE GIRLS AND PRINCESS WITH ERECTED NIPPLES IN TIGHT WHITE OUFIT.....

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Oh yeah that too, ignore my answer, his is much better

The original release of Star Wars took place during my senior year in high school. It was a big deal. People talked about it all the time. The soundtrack
was extremely sucessful. I can remember playing my copy repeatedly. I was not a collector of Star Wars until Sideshow began selling their figures. Star Wars takes me back to a innocent and less stressful time in my life.

So many reasons, but I'll break it down like this for myself:

It takes every great piece of classic story telling, wizards, pirates, young nobodies becoming something, old friendships broken, then redeemed. Everything, and slams it all into 1 (well 6...weeeelll 3 for me, anyway) story. And than it makes the story not take place somewhere familiar, but somewhere distant. It reaches every thing in us, pure good, pure evil, true love and blind hate, and slams it right into our unsuspecting minds. Big thing is, is when you're 5 and than 25 the SAME things touch you! The same basic ideas. Sure you gain understanding of some other parts as you grow older, but the core of it still hits the innocence of all us. To fall than rise again. To want something and sacrifice everything for it. It's classic.


Why collect? Cause George somehow got the best minds in the conceptual art game, gave them this story and they did what the story does, visually. They melted together multiple cultures and ideas into 1 brilliantly visual piece. Vader, part samurai, part robot, part giant. Luke, (anh) has a classic Japanese feel to his clothing but a classic British page boy hair cut and an all American farm boy face. I mean they just mixed all of these great things we've grown up with visually, and added sci-fi to them. It's stunning.

I know we can go on and on about it, but in the end it's the idea of taking classic ideas, adding a little bit of futuristic feel to them (which in it self the vision of the "future" is very classic) and getting a great story with great visuals that compliment each other to the T.

Thanks Jabba,Kelly and Red. Those are more of the comments I'm looking for. Keep 'em coming.

If I use Shai's comments... well... lets just say that would give SW collectors a bad(er?) name.

Buttmunch said:

Thanks Jabba,Kelly and Red. Those are more of the comments I'm looking for. Keep 'em coming.

If I use Shai's comments... well... lets just say that would give SW collectors a bad(er?) name.

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Boobs: the answer to everything.:chew

For me its the earliest movie I can remember seeing. It also was my absolute favorite. As a Kid I have to have anything Star Wars I could get. I had sheets, toys, posters, even for one of my Birthdays my aunt made my a Landspeeder cake(It was very impressive even now). I dressed up as Vader, Luke, Han for different Halloweens. I mean my childhood pretty much revolved around it. Then with all the hype of the upcoming PT I started to see SW stuff around and started to collect. Now that I can afford big cool collectibles from MR, GG, and SS I collect those. For me it just one thing I have loved my whole.

For me, as a young person since I wasn't born when the original trilogy was first first released it was all of the cool effects that first made me like Star Wars. I was a really sheltered kid but one of my friends down the street was a big Star Wars fan and so I got to see the OT from him. It wasn't until Episode I came out that I really started liking it. With all of the new stuff coming out with Star Wars becoming really popular I got into it a lot, mainly with Lego. My friends also were into Star Wars as well, the Hasbro toys were really cool, and we tried to make up our own stories.

When Episode II came out I was really amazed by the effects and the story was great, then I saw a special on TV about Star Wars fanfilms, and saw other people creating similar effects who weren't professionals. That made me think that I should be able to do it also. After that I started experimenting with movies and effects and with that came collecting. Half the reason that I collect things is that they are good references to do some kind of 3D CGI are with. Besides that, I just really enjoy it all.

I think the main reason people become fans is because they want to experience the movies. We all would really like to be a Jedi, but we know it's not true so the best way to give an experience from it is to copy the movies. Replicas and collectibles bring us into the movies and give us an experience to relate to them.

Well, for me Star Wars started out a little differently than maybe the majority of fans. The first two came out even before I was born so obviously I didn't see those in the theater. ROTJ came out in '83 when I was only 2 years old so I didn't see that either. I do recall seeing them after that on VHS or whatever and thought these where pretty cool.

I had a few action figures growing up to mix in the odd arrangement of figures I had. My interest in SW was always there but I always had questions why did this happen or what are they talking about. Then when I was 18 years old TPM came out in theaters and that was really where my SW Fandom took off. I of course had to get some of the action figures like Darth Maul. This movie also brought my favorite SW Character to life in Darth Maul. I just could not get over how cool he looked and how cool his moves are/where. There have been many that have had issues with the TPM but for me it kind of kicked started everything for me much like the LOTR Movies did with pushing me to that next level of fandom.

My friends and I would sit around the lunch table discussing what we thought of TPM. Then after that talking about the rumors and where we'd like to see things go from there. When AOTC came out in 2002 I was in college and it was a different point in my life. I was busy trying to get through and figure out everything I wanted to do for the next 35+ years of my life. I liked AOTC but it didn't hit me quite as cool as TPM did but I was pleased with where things where in the Saga.

When ROTS hit theaters I made sure I could go to the Midnight showing. I was able to do so since I did not have a full time teaching position for this school year. This is what I had been waiting for since I saw the OT as a kid. It finally tied everything together. I got to see on the screen and what was playing in my head Anakin's start as small boy wanting to do good through what he would become. I honestly remember setting there in the theater thinking of how sad it was to see this fall rooting for him to change, but knowing that he just wouldn't.

I spent a lot of that summer going out at midnight with a buddy hunting for toys. Sometimes, if I saw something I really wanted I would get it sometimes not. It was just fun to go hunting with him and spend time with friends. Then SS announced they where going to be doing Star Wars stuff in 1:4 scale. This had my interest to say the least and I was excited to get some kick ass stuff from a great company. I snagged Vader and Ben which IMO are two of the best things ever. Then we got the 1:6th figures and I had never been big on this scale but again I my interest was peaked. I got on the Exclusive Luke waitlist because I missed it going up due to going out after a break up with a Girl Friend. I did get him and that was that for me as far as collecting anything else. I quit getting the Hasbro figures but still went hunting just to hang with friends.

Between SS and GG my love for SW is renewed everytime I get a piece. It makes me feel like a kid again be it the kid who saw the OT and had his interested peaked, or that 18 year old who was like man this what I've been waiting for. Like I said I'm not the typical SW fan in how I came into it as hard as most, but I do really just enjoy being a fan of SW and sharing that fun with fans alike.

because George told me to.

i was too young for ANH or ESB(although i went with my parents to see ESB and do barely remember some stuff) but i picked rocks up all day in the southern heat so my parents would take me to see ROTJ. i did almost wear out a VHS copy of ANH that I had...bet i watched it 50 times when i was little. memories like that i suppose....oh yeah plus they were great flicks! i really only have one friend that loves SW's as much as I do(he only collects 3 3/4 figs so I bought him a 12" Obi for Christmas but he won't open it!!!) so it's forums like this that keep my collecting alive...being able to discuss it.

Cap, for you I'll make an exception Tell you what, if you need help I'll try to pay you back.

Thanks for the comments so far guy. They will be very helpful. Sure I need to include "academic" references in this paper, but I figure stuff straight from the horses' mouth would be just as good, if not better, to explain why we do the things we do.

Ironically, nobody at rebelscum has responded yet

I've loved Star Wars ever since I was a little boy, my love for it remains strong because I have fond memories from when I first saw them. From the moment I first saw Luke light up his father's Lightsaber it captivated me.

I wanted a Lightsaber, I wanted to be able to use the Force, to battle Darth Vader and fly the Millennium Falcon. I guess collecting SW stuff brings all those memories back and watching the movies today still makes me feel like a kid. Star Wars is and will always be a big part of my life and I hope that one day when I have kids, it can be a part of theirs too.

Ya know re-reading mine I don't know how much help mine was.

My love of Star Wars began for me, like many when I first saw that Star Destroyer come across the screen in episode 4, after that Lucas had me. Since then my interest has grown because of all the science fiction and mythological elements that he has managed to incorporate within the saga. I'm a big movie buff and Star Wars is a story that has it all adventure, romance, great space and sword battles, and the message that where we come from is does not define who we are. In a galaxy far far away there is more to life than what we are offered here.

I'm writing the paper up today (and maybe finish it tomorrow, but hopefully today) so if anyone wants to add a last minute comment please do so ASAP.

If I want to quote anyone I will PM you soon. I may or may not quote anyone but just give a general answer from the above. Don't know yet.

Its tough when I have to write a paper on Star Wars and collecting (My professor actually suggested I write on Star Wars, how cool is that?)

What class was your paper for?

pixletwin said:

What class was your paper for?

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Its for an Honors Writing Research class (Honors 3200 to be exact). Did you go to the U pix?