Many of my friends know that what really got me into the toy biz, was Star Wars.
I was fortunate enough to be born before the original Star Wars era, and remember, more specifically going to see the Empire Strikes back with my dad and sister, at aged 10, at the ABC in Brighton, having to queue to get it, with the line wrapping round the block. It was awesome.
Now, I had lots of toys when I was young, but by the time the Empire Strikes back came out I didn't get as many of the figures as some kids did, and was a bit envious of the boys who got the lot, and sadly the ones I did have were 'got rid of' as I grew out of them. That's generally what happened to kids toys back then, you got them, out grew them and moved on...but we did play with toys until a much older age, because we didn't have video games. Maybe a friend with a PC had Fred or Manic Miner or Asteroids... but not me, toys lasted to 13-14 until bikes took over...
So, it wasn't until the re-release of the re-vamped Kenner range in 1995, with the buff Wrestlemania style Power Of The Force 2 figures that were released. I'd just finished University and was out working - earning my own money, and as a consequence could afford to buy my own things - I bought a whole heap of the new Star Wars toys and figures. It was great being able to buy and collect again, i kept the figures in boxes, because we knew that those who'd saved them before in the 1970's and 1980's in boxes now had collections worth £1000's.
Ok, the dream didn't come completely true, and there are many more figures in mint packets still in the market from 1995, 16 years down the line, which sadly don't fetch as much as figures released 20 years prior to their release in 1985 do, but that's the way the market changed. Lucas, a canny dude, managed to over populate the market with Star Wars, once he knew the franchise was rejuvenated. And boy what rejuvenation....
After the launch of the 1995 figures and tie ins with books, Shadows of the Empire a spin off was a massive success, Lucas announced that the movies would be revisited and repolished, to create the Special Editions, this undoubtedly generated new interest, more toys and more money for Mr Lucas. We as fans loved it, especially me, I had no kids only disposable income to spend, and boy did I.
The success of the Special Editions and their subsequent release on VHS Video - remember them - allowed for Lucas to announce the news that he was going to release the back story in a series of three prequel movies starting with Episode I - A Phantom Menace.
well that was it - fandom in Star Wars went into meltdown. And George Lucas sat rubbing his hands as everyone and everything wanted a piece of the Star Wars Pie, and boy was the pie big... there was so much stuff, in fact so much that there was more than some companies could cope with and the Licencing cause a number to fold soon after with stock piles of Jar Jar and Darth Maul embossed stock not shifting, there was only so much us fans could carry!
In fact with the launch of the second prequel in 2002, Attack of The Clones, licences were scarcer and less products were issued, but that's not to say they didn't continue to make toys and games. The release of the final ever live action movie was scheduled for 2005, with the Revenge of the Sith, and it tied the whole saga together, there were several key lines released during this movie as well.
We as collectors and fans thought that was probably it but we were wrong, the toys from Hasbro who have been with Star Wars since taking over Kenner, have kept coming with new ranges variations, anniversary releases and more.
The Clone Wars off-shoot movie, released in 2008 and subsequent cartoon series on Cartoon Network, now about to embark on its 4th Series, based upon a previous cartoon series, propelled Star Wars back into the domain of the kids, and the Clone Wars toys have been sought out by a new army of fans - some not even old enough to have been alive when Revenge of the Sith came out, let alone the Original Trilogy.
There are hundreds of Clone Wars products in the market, almost too many for the more hard core adult fans to bear, but Mr Lucas has all along said it was a kids movie, and has kept true to that, although the Revenge of the Sith did have its too dark for kids moments, at the heart of it all has been the kids, and the deal Lucas did to keep the merchandising rights was not only a canny one, but also a wide ranging one for the current toy industry. Its hard to differentiate between weather some movies today are made to sell toys, or to sell DVDs / theatre tickets. Take the two Pixar Franchises, Cars & Toy Story, and Transformers, all are based upon selling a secondary product, and in the case of Transformers, a cartoon based upon a toy, based upon a film remoulded back into a toy - its come full circle almost! I don't deny Toy Story was a success without the toys, but Pixar / Disney must have made more out of merchandise than the films, I know Lucas has! I mean look at the craze over the first Buzz Lightyear Toy!
So where does that leave us with Star Wars? With no movies to promote new product (see Cars 2 - there is Episode I Levels of products about for the latest Cars Movie) can Star Wars toys get back on the lists of kids this year?
Well in the last couple of years, I feel that the toys have dried up a bit, the Clone Wars products are still out there and these are boosted by Lego's continued involvement since 1999's The Phantom Menace, whereby they are releasing new and older movie sets, but other than that, the toys are a bit indifferent and thin on the ground, even if they are better quality and better styled these days.
It just seems Star Wars has slipped from people's minds recently, there are no big campaigns at the moment, because too many other big movies are competing for the space in stores, we've had Pirates, Potter and Transformers, Cars, Toys Story and Smurfs and Spider-man and Batman and more are coming...
Later this year the Blu Ray release of the entire Star Wars Series will hit the shelves, and in crisper high def, people will definitely want to renew their interest with everything Star Wars, which is why I'm doing my bit now to get some products shifted!
2012 also sees the release of all 6 movies, in order of Chronology, and firstly of the Phantom Menace (Episode I) again but in all new 3-D!!!
With that will come the launch of toys and more... and big promotional - I'm sure some majors will be on board to promote this, including McDonald's, and others....
so all is not dark with the force, there are some interesting events happening, and even if the long proposed live action TV series, doesn't materialise for another year or so, we will be celebrating the Wars for the foreseeable future...
so if you are looking for a few ideas, feel free to pop over to the Piggy Bank Toys store at Amazon, where we have a lot of new in - but mainly older Star Wars items from All six movies and cartoons, everything from Figures, to Trading Cards to Mouse mats and more....
all of the Star Wars items shown here are for sale on the site, (except the Blu Rays!) and much much more....
Star Wars here
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