It was suggested to me at work the other day that another employee had “more Lego Star Wars magnet figures” than I had. Anyone who knows me should know these two things:

01. Nobody has more Star Wars crap than I do.

02. If someone claims to have more Star wars crap than I do, they will soon discover that I am not only an idiot, but an idiot with credit cards (one of which has Darth Vader on the front — and no, I’m not kidding).

With that I present to you the entire collection of Lego Star Wars magnet figures. Now you cannot have more of these than I do. The best you can do is tie.

Do, or do not. There is no try.

Last week I received an e-mail informing me of a “Star Wars Art Show” taking place at a local Vintage Stock location. Star Wars Day events were to include (quoting from the flyer here) “Take Pictures with Star Wars Characters, Star Wars Coloring Table for Kids, Enjoy Frozen Treats from Freddy’s Frozen Custard, and Drawings for Star Wars Prizes.” The show was scheduled to begin at 1pm and end at 4pm.

Let me say up front that there’s really no good way to critique a free event without sounding like an ungrateful jerk. I am going to try and be constructive as possible with what follows.

I will start with the art show, because it is the least that I have to complain about. The artist had about 40 pieces of art on display, and about 20-25% of those were Star Wars related. Some of the others were sci-fi related and the rest was not. If I had any complains about this it would be that I would have liked to have seen a sign with the artist’s name and/or website on it, or some business cards out with contact information (I did not see the artist nearby when we were there).

Next up was the Star Wars Coloring Table for Kids. The table was small (maybe four-feet-wide) and had one metal chair in front of it, meaning that only one kid at a time could sit and color. The table was located directly next to the store’s front door, which is a poor place to put a kids area. Even worse, because of where crowds were gathering, it was impossible to go anywhere else in the store and actually see your children if they were sitting at the coloring table. That meant if your kids were coloring you had to stand right behind them, directly in the path of the store’s doorway, which meant constantly having to say “excuse me/pardon me” to every single person trying to enter or leave the store.

Then there were the costumed characters, who came in around 2pm (we were about to leave when they walked in through the front door). Of the four adults that showed up, two (Darth Vader and Queen Amidala) looked great and were glad to pose with the kids for pictures. The third guy in costume was Indiana Jones. His costume was great and he also posed with the kids, but it was Indiana Jones at a Star Wars event. Then there was the fourth young lady, whose costume consisted of little more than a few strategically placed strips of narrow fabric. I asked a couple of people at the show what character she was supposed to be and nobody knew. Eventually we had to leave the children’s coloring area because this girl was standing right next to it and Morgan kept pointing and saying, “I can see that girl’s butt!” I am sure the people who came dressed up in character did so for free and they are certainly welcome to dress up in any way they wish, but for a kid-friendly Star Wars event, it would have been nice if they had all (A) been in Star Wars costumes, (B) been recognizable, and (C) had been wearing slightly more kid-friendly costumes.

There was a giant prize wheel to spin. I don’t know if that was the advertised “Drawings for Star Wars Prizes”, but that’s all we saw. Both kids spun the wheel; Mason got a 50% off coupon and Morgan won a $5 gift card. Hard to complain too much about that. There was some minor confusion when Mason tried to buy a toy and we discovered that his 50% coupon wasn’t valid for that, but we were able to use the gift card instead.

I did not see nor did we enjoy any frozen treats from Freddy’s Frozen Custard (which is located next door). As we were leaving we were handed coupons for a free mini frozen custard treat. One look at the line coming out of Freddy’s told me that wasn’t going to happen, at least not that day.

This post sounds more negative than the experience really was. The kids (not having seen the flyer) weren’t disappointed at all and had a good time.

This weekend marked the thirtieth anniversary of both The Empire Strikes Back, and Pac-Man. I don’t know if there’s any significance to a thirtieth anniversary, but it does give me a quick opportunity to talk about two things that impacted my life.

I, along with millions of other kids across the world, became enamored with Star Wars at an early age. I was only four-years-old when the original Star Wars debuted, but it took me no time at all to collect all the action figures, playsets, pillow cases and sheets. We have a video tape from Christmas morning, 1978, where I dump out my stocking to find a complete collection of every available Star Wars figure at that time. I also got an X-Wing Fighter, a TIE Fighter, and a Land Speeder.

The Empire Strikes Back raised the bar. It turned a great movie into a great series. As a kid I know many of us were disappointed with the ending of Empire, but looking back, it’s one of my favorite Star Wars films. It’s where you get to see the Empire wipe the egg off its face (after having its Death Star blown up by a farm boy) and finally kick some ass. The Empire Strikes Back was responsible for so many cool toys … from the gigantic AT-AT and the sleek Snowspeeder to the Taun-Taun (with a slice-able belly to stick Luke in) and of course Boba Fett’s ship, the Slave One. And speaking of Fett, TESB introduced a slew of new characters, which translated to a slew of new action figures to collect. Along with major characters such as Yoda, Lando and Boba Fett, we got all those cool bounty hunters, denizens of Cloud City (Ugnaughts, Bespin City Guards, Cloud City Pilots), and all those cool Hoth figures. There were of course multiple Hoth playsets as well, although my friends and I had just as much fun crumpling up white bedsheets and creating our own ice planets.

One of my favorite toys from The Empire Strikes Back has to be the gigantic AT-AT, or “snow walker” as we called them back then. On one snowy morning back in 1982, a friend of mine and I drug out our AT-ATs and set up our own scenes from Hoth. My dad took the picture below.

Even though The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, it wouldn’t get its own game on the Atari 2600 until 1982. No, the video game world did not belong to Star Wars in 1980 — instead, the country’s attention was focused on a little yellow guy that ate dots and sometimes ghosts.

I have to say that, for as big as Pac-Man was in 1980, I don’t remember playing it much. None of my local haunts (the gas station and the bowling alley) had Pac-Man back then. I’m almost sure my introduction to Pac-Man came through playing Pac-Clones on our computers at the time. As I was telling a friend earlier, I remember getting Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 and, for all the bad press it has received throughout the years, I don’t personally remember thinking it was all that bad. Sure, it didn’t look exactly like the arcade version, but to a kid who lived just outside the city limits, it was better than playing nothing at all.

Pac-Man (the game) eventually gave life to Pac-Man cereal, Pac-Man the cartoon, millions of Pac-Man collectibles, and of course, Pac-Man Fever, the hit single by Buckner and Garcia.

You know what would make this post perfect? A picture of C-3P0 holding a copy of Pac-Man Fever.

Oh my God. I win.

Halloween 2009 was a smashing success!

Around lunch time, we all sat down to carve Jack-O-Lanterns. Mason found some Star Wars carving templates via Google, which I freehanded onto one of the pumpkins. We winged a second, Stormtrooper Jack-O-Lantern which didn’t turn out quite as nice. Mommy and Morgan carved one pumpkin and they painted a few others. When I was a kid we had one or two pumpkins, max. Here, Susan has an entire pumpkin patch. Eh, pumpkins are cheap.

When it was time to trick-or-treat, the whole family showed up at the house. Linda and Doug brought Griffin and Phoenix, who were dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Darth Vader, and mom and dad came too. Dad and I ended up driving his truck along with the group. Dad’s job was to drive; mine was to hop in and out of the truck and load Morgan and Griffin in and out of the bed as we stopped.

After covering a sizable part of the neighborhood and little legs began to tire, everyone left and the four of us (Sue/Me/Mason/Morgan) hopped into the van to trick-or-treat some family friends. We stopped by Pat Deckard’s (who emptied her candy bowl into the kids’ bags), Doug and Linda’s, Paula and Larry Willrath’s, Amma Martin’s, Neil and Cathy Martin’s, and Tim and Dawn Novosad’s. Everyone was home at every house we stopped at, so that worked out great, too.

The kids got enough candy to live off of for six months so they’re happy, and since they’re happy we’re happy. A good night for all. No drama, no costume malfunctions, just a lot of fun for everyone. Yay for Halloween!

A few pictures from Halloween 2009.

For my birthday this year, Mom bought me two tickets to go see Star Wars: In Concert. The show is a roughly two-hour concert featuring music from all six Star Wars films, performed live by an orchestra.

Mason and I arrived half an hour early to check out what else the travelling tour had brought, and we were not disappointed. The hallways of the Ford Center were filled with authentic props and costumes from all six movies. Mason really got a kick out of seeing all that stuff.

C-3P0 Costume

This was the largest collection of Star Wars props I’ve seen assembled since Justin and I saw the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit in Fort Worth. Also scattered around the Ford Center were large colorful backdrops, set up for people to have their pictures taken in front of.

Look out, Mason!

Our timing was perfect. As soon as we were done looking at everything, it was time to find our seats, which turned out to be fantastic. We were on the second row, maybe twenty to thirty feet from the stage. We could feel the percussion in our chest and the heat from the plumes of fire on our faces.

Taken from the stairs. We sat much closer than this.

Soon the lights dimmed and out walked Anthony Daniels, the voice of C-3P0.

Anthony Daniels, as himself.

Behind the orchestra stood a 100′ screen (three stories tall) that displayed movie montages in breathtaking digital clarity. For the first time, I saw both the benefits and the drawbacks of such a clear picture. In several clips you could literally see the pores on the actors’ faces.

As a life long Star Wars fan, I am not ashamed to admit I got choked up when the band broke in to the Star Wars theme. As Mason clapped and cheered throughout the show, I couldn’t help but think of all my old Star Wars memories … going with Dad to see every movie together, getting home made Star Wars birthday cakes from Mom, dumping out Christmas stockings to find every available Star Wars figure in 1978, having a Star Wars groom’s cake at my wedding … the list goes on and on.

My Star Wars Collection, 1982

The show is a definite must see for any Star Wars fan. Period. I know I’ll never forget it, and I doubt Mason will either.

Click Here to see all our photos from last night’s performance.

Last night when I stopped by Mom’s to pick up the kids, they were watching Return of the Jedi –specifically, the scene when Yoda dies. I remember watching that same scene for the first time in Almonte 6 Movie Theater on May 25, 1993.

After Yoda died, disappeared and joined the force, Morgan exclaimed, “Fiyoda’s dead!” She calls him Fiyoda, a combination of Yoda and Fiona (Shrek’s wife). On the way home, that scene launched an impromptu game of 20 questions. “Do people really disappear when they die daddy? Is Fiyoda real daddy? Why does Fiyoda sound like Grover daddy?”

Mason already knew the answers to most of these. I started him out on Star Wars pretty early on.

Last week, Mason got an e-mail from his grandma informing him of a Star Wars event taking place at the mall. The e-mail was titled “Star Wars: In Concert to take over Penn Square Mall this Saturday!” and the first line read “Limited photo opportunities will be available with members of the 501st Legion in Star Wars costumes.”

For those of you who don’t know, the 501st Legion is a world-wide group of Star Wars enthusiasts who make and wear authentic-looking costumes from the movies and often show up for charity appearances or other events. If you happened to catch the 200+ Stormtroopers in the 2007 Rose Bowl Parade, you’ve seen the 501st Legion.

I, Dad, and Mason (wearing his Lego Star Wars t-shirt) made it to the mall around 3pm and set out in search of the troops. Since the 501st was set to “take over the mall” we didn’t think it would be too hard to find them. After ten minutes of walking, I finally found the guy in costume in the middle of the mall. Yeah. THE guy.

And, it was a Snowtrooper. A Snowtrooper, in August. What was he defending, Darth Vader’s refrigerator?

We did eventually spot two other Stormtroopers, on break. One was wearing the bottom half of his costume; the other, just the black leggings.

Mason enjoyed seeing the Snowtrooper and all and his costume was really good, but let’s just say the event was “less impressive than anticipated.” Despite the low Imperial turnout, Mason, Dad and I had a good afternoon hanging out together. Dad enjoyed seeing the new Lego store at the mall and everybody was stuffed after we left Freddy’s Frozen Custard.

Link to the Star Wars Dance off. (Had to remove the embedded, wide-screen version — it was killing my site’s formatting!)

Sadly, my Jabba the Hutt routine didn’t make the cut.

As I continue hammering out my 2009 resolutions, one thing I cannot decide is what to do with my Star Wars collection.

I grew up loving Star Wars. In 1982, my bedroom looked like this:

The vast majority of my Star Wars action figures and spaceships survived my childhood and ended up boxed up and packed away. I’ve lugged them from house to house, occasionally unpacking and displaying them but, for the most part, just storing them. In 1995 when the original films were re-released, Star Wars toys flooded stores and I bought everything I could get my hands on. By the time Susan and I had moved back to Yukon from Spokane, my computer room looked like this:

My walls were covered with action figures and my closet was full of toys. And to be honest, I would say these pictures represent somewhere around 20% of my collection. The collection didn’t stop with the toys — it spread out to include everything from pencils, dishes, and drinking glasses to replica lightsabers and other goofy items. At one point I even had half a dozen or so of these guys:

So, what happened? The collection outgrew its room and, more or less, our house. There’s no single room in our house that I can display my collection in. When Mason was born, the vast majority of the collection was boxed up and put out in the garage as storage.

And yet, it grows. Just this year for Christmas I got over a dozen Star Wars-related items. I’m not complaining — I love the items, but I’m simply out of space to put it all.

So if you were me, what would you do? I’ve considered selling it but at this point I would get pennies on the dollar (if that). Conservatively speaking I probably have somewhere between five and seven thousand dollars worth of Star Wars toys sitting around and I would do good to get a thousand for it all — there’s simply no market for big collections right now. Without turning the house into some ghetto-looking toy-nut shop I don’t know how to display it all at this point, and yet, no one is getting any enjoyment out of it sitting out in the garage at this point.

If you’ve got any suggestions, I’m all ears. Like Yoda.

The weekend before last, Susan’s mom informed me that there were would be some Star Wars items up for sale at Danny’s Friday Night Auction. Stephen and I attended the auction, and I came home with a pretty decent haul.

Here are the action figures I got. I paid on average about four bucks each — not a great deal, but they were there. The only one I really wanted was the classic figure at the bottom of the picture. The other thing I really wanted was this:

The Death Star, complete in the box! Now most of you who know me probably think that this went out in the garage into storage, but I had a change of heart. What good is a toy that never gets played with? I ended up letting Mason open all the figures AND the Death Star — and boy did he have a good time!

The only thing missing from the box were the original instructions, but based on the pictures on the box we were able to get it put together in just a few minutes. One piece seemed to be missing but Mason later discovered it hiding in the elevator shaft.

Here’s Luke in a Stormtrooper disguise, guarding a doorway.

Look out! Walrus Man took over the guns!

Here, Darth Maul looks on as Gollum tries to escape the trash compactor. Wait — what’s Gollum doing in there?

These aren’t the only Star Wars toys that showed up last week. For several weeks Mason tried collecting all the Star Wars Bobble Heads that McDonald’s was giving away. Unfortunately, we must’ve missed a few weeks because he had less than half of them when the promotion ended. Fortunately, I was able to solve this problem in about two minutes on eBay. For $40, which is much less than the 18 Happy Meals would have cost, I was able to get not only a complete set of all 18 Star Wars bobble heads, but the display case from McDonald’s, too.

The cardboard display case didn’t do so well during shipping, but that’s okay. What Mason really wanted was the bobble heads, and now he’s got ’em. It didn’t take long before the bobble heads moved into the Death Star, too.