Back in '77 when Star Wars came out and there was no marketing to go with it, like many other parents of kids who had gone crazy for the movie, my Dad bought me the infamous "Empty box promotion" for Christmas that year. So there it was under the tree! How exciting! So that was how my collection began.

From there I got all of the other action figures available at the time and, being the ultra careful person I was and am, I took such good care of them, they had all of their weapons and everything. You would have never known that I had played with them (all of the time) except for the fact that they weren't on their cardbacks. At that time, they didn't really put out much in the way of vehicles so I would construct my own out of boxes and things (I made a fun Millenium Falcon out of a box with a ramp and a "game board" a "remote" for Luke to practice on and everything. It served its purpose until Kenner actually released an actual Falcon for the action figures). Needless to say, I LOVED my action figure collection.

Not only did I have my collection of the small action figures, but also the 12" figures, as well, starting with Luke and Leia. Oh I played and played with them! Since I was also a Barbie fanatic (yes, Barbie!), they went very nicely together and could have great adventures with a great big cast of characters until Kenner saw fit to put more and more figures out. I was thrilled when I finally got my Han Solo!! (When Indiana Jones came out, I got that 12" figure, too and had loads of fun with that as well! )

Anyway, here's where things get sad...

Fast forward to adult life...

I got married. Should be good, right? Well, I chose poorly. The first time. This was back in '89.

My first husband bullied me and bullied me and kept on me about the fact that I had all these toys. Now I had not only my Star Wars toys, but I still had all my other toys from growing up as well. I finally relented and "cleaned out" and got rid of the things that I had grown up with, except my Barbies and Star Wars stuff and a few various and sundry items that I simply couldn't part with. You would have thought that this would have been good enough. Well, not for him. He still thought that my "junk" took up too much room (you should have seen how much room his stuff took up, but that's beside the point). So, he kept at me about it. Bully, bully, bully. Now I mean pretty much relentless. Not daily, but enough, that you eventually buckle. So...

The Star Wars got sold. This was about 10 years ago now. And it got sold for WAY under its actual value. Not even to a collector, but to a dealer. So, I know that my beloved collection is separated, goodness knows where, I don't know what kind of shape it's in now and chances are some of it is just plain gone in the trash for all I know. I did keep a few pieces. I put my foot down about those.

The 12" dolls are still safe and sound in here in my home. Thank goodness! I love those so.

Good news is, I have a wonderful husband now, who has encouraged me to try to rebuild my collection. I've made some attempt, and collected a few items, but it's not the same. They're not MY toys. They're not the ones that I played with. So, I'm pretty much just going with the ones that are coming out now and sometimes just looking back at old pictures from way back then and thinking back on my memories, from time to time.

Gosh, this was hard to type. I'm going to have to mop up the tears off the keyboard now...