So, up until recently I was doing some work for a mid-size Star Wars fansite. Nothing spectacular, just some news reports and forum moderation really. But I decided I no longer wanted to 'work' there, although I use the term 'work' lightly - very lightly, since work usually involves pay, and there was none of that. Don't get me wrong, there were perks - I was able to go to Toy Fair in New York City a few times, which the general public is not allowed entrance to. But anyway, I decided that being a staff member there was no longer for me.

So I'm going to start up my own fansite, mostly devoted to toys and action figures since that's mostly what I collect - and was just wondering - do we really need another one? I mean, there are so many sites devoted to toys, action figures and collectibles already. How can I make my site stand out of the pack, and not just get lumped in with all other no name sites?

Everyone knows about Rebelscum.com, TheForce.net, GalacticHunter.com, SirStevesGuide.com, and a few others I'm sure. But I'll bet there are hundreds of websites you've never heard of or seen. And I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them actually had content of some sort that was actually very good.

The main focus of my site is going to be a huge image gallery database. I purchased the book "The Star Wars Action Figure Archive" by Steve Sansweet when it was first released, and immediately fell in love with the photos of the action figures. The layout, the images, the information... this was great. Unfortunately (and understandably) the book's information is WAY out of date. It features information on figures that were released in the Vintage years (1978 - 1985) and then the modern years (1995 - 1998), but it stops in 1998. That means that eight years (and counting) of action figures - Eight Years!! - are not covered in that book. I've heard rumblings that another volume is coming, but it will still be out of date by the time it arrives.

My plan is going to be to take the information that was included in that awesome book, and re-create it for an online experience. And I'm going to make sure that it is kept up to date, every time a new figure is announced, it will be added. And as soon as that figure is released (or should I say as soon as I find the new figures when they are released - not an easy task by any means) it will also be added to my archive.

I guess my question here is - do you think this is a worthwhile task? It's going to take months, maybe a year or more just for me to get the first 500 figures or so that are already out there archived. But is this something that you would actually spend time on, visiting my site and checking it out? Or am I just wasting my time with all this work?

And what other features do you think would make the site attract more visitors? Forums (yeah, like there's not enough of those already)? Free downloads (fonts, wallpapers, etc. - again, like there's not enough of those already too)??

Let me know what you think.