Growing up with Star Wars
April 10, 2016 7:38 PM Subscribe
I Grew Up Star Wars had been collecting and posting photos of people growing up with Star Wars for almost a decade now. It is chock full of photos of kids with amazing retro toy collections, fake looking Darth Vaders signing autographs and a ton of Christmas and birthday photos. While it is fun just to look at the old photos, the site also demonstrates the influence this franchise has had on people over the years.
The site is gallery style with infinite scroll.
The site is gallery style with infinite scroll.
I don't recall any Star Wars events when I was a kid, but I am sure if someone had painted a garbage can blue and white and made it beep like Artoo at the mall, I would have stood in line to meet it.
posted by metaboy at 8:18 PM on April 10, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by metaboy at 8:18 PM on April 10, 2016 [4 favorites]
In 1977, the dad of my friend was going to drive us to...maybe Montgomery Wards (?) where Darth Vader would be signing autographs. I think we sat in bumper to bumper traffic on local neighborhood streets for a while before the dad gave up and turned us around.
In my minds eye, I am yelling at the dad "You were the chosen one!", but I think we went home and probably had ice cream.
posted by blueberry at 8:48 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
In my minds eye, I am yelling at the dad "You were the chosen one!", but I think we went home and probably had ice cream.
posted by blueberry at 8:48 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
gonna self-promote here for www.jongoodchocolates.com where you can get chocolate Falcons and starfighters
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:52 PM on April 10, 2016
posted by Jon_Evil at 8:52 PM on April 10, 2016
Ice-cream bucket Darth Vader. Another ComiCon costume idea.
posted by rhizome at 8:53 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 8:53 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
Images of a simpler time; a time before.........the Empire.
posted by Freedomboy at 9:10 PM on April 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Freedomboy at 9:10 PM on April 10, 2016 [3 favorites]
No, before the Empire it was a boring'er time.
Nothing but trade disputes and racist caricatures.
posted by blueberry at 11:09 PM on April 10, 2016 [4 favorites]
Nothing but trade disputes and racist caricatures.
posted by blueberry at 11:09 PM on April 10, 2016 [4 favorites]
It was the art project of a 9-10 year old.
I know, that's the crucial part! I imagine a group of attendees in costume remakes of child interpretations.
posted by rhizome at 12:00 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know, that's the crucial part! I imagine a group of attendees in costume remakes of child interpretations.
posted by rhizome at 12:00 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
3) the movie theater being only about 2.5 miles from the house, a determined kid bike ride away.
Now, this is America's obesity epidemic right there. The day The Force Awakens came out on iTunes, it was a slight movement of the index finger away on the iPad and more than once I was called from a room away by a whiny voice "Daaaddddyyy! I want you to put it ooonnnn!"
Anyway, these kids have too many Star Wars toys. The Millenium Falcon, *and* the ATAT *and* a snow speeder? When I was a kid we had like 6 action figures and we were damn happy to have them ride in Barbie's pink corvette because you can be sure as hell the droids the storm troopers were looking for weren't in there.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:38 AM on April 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
Now, this is America's obesity epidemic right there. The day The Force Awakens came out on iTunes, it was a slight movement of the index finger away on the iPad and more than once I was called from a room away by a whiny voice "Daaaddddyyy! I want you to put it ooonnnn!"
Anyway, these kids have too many Star Wars toys. The Millenium Falcon, *and* the ATAT *and* a snow speeder? When I was a kid we had like 6 action figures and we were damn happy to have them ride in Barbie's pink corvette because you can be sure as hell the droids the storm troopers were looking for weren't in there.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 2:38 AM on April 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
For my last birthday family dinner my mum went all out with a Darth Ren plastic tablecloth and all the disposable Force Awakens tablewear you could imagine, banners and all because, as a kid in the '70s, there wasn't that much stuff,.
I am old. So very old.
But it was a sweet gesture.
posted by Mezentian at 3:33 AM on April 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I am old. So very old.
But it was a sweet gesture.
posted by Mezentian at 3:33 AM on April 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
I was lucky and had lots of the toys. Never got an AT-AT though. Feel an eternal jealousy for the kids who did.
But there was one toy I could never have. Chewbacca. When I went to buy a handful of figures, I put Chewbacca in the basket and my mum immediately tossed it back out. Why? "Because this figure is promoting evolution and I will not have evolution in my house!" Didn't help telling Mum this was an Wookie, who had never been to earth (as far as I knew), and had nothing to do with Darwin (who I only barely knew because my christian school held him up as a member in the pantheon of ultimate evil).
Years later, we were visiting my father and we all decided to go see Return of the Jedi. Despite the wookie and ewoks, mum kinda enjoyed it. Had completely forgotten the outburst 4-5 years before.
posted by honestcoyote at 4:44 AM on April 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
But there was one toy I could never have. Chewbacca. When I went to buy a handful of figures, I put Chewbacca in the basket and my mum immediately tossed it back out. Why? "Because this figure is promoting evolution and I will not have evolution in my house!" Didn't help telling Mum this was an Wookie, who had never been to earth (as far as I knew), and had nothing to do with Darwin (who I only barely knew because my christian school held him up as a member in the pantheon of ultimate evil).
Years later, we were visiting my father and we all decided to go see Return of the Jedi. Despite the wookie and ewoks, mum kinda enjoyed it. Had completely forgotten the outburst 4-5 years before.
posted by honestcoyote at 4:44 AM on April 11, 2016 [7 favorites]
At the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens they have an exhibit about film merchandising that includes a display of most of the original action figures and a lot of the toys.
I was nerding out showing my stepkids which ones I had, which ones I wanted, and the Tauntaun figure I really wanted but my mom wouldn't buy me so I had to go to a friend's house to play with it, oh but I had that one until my sister broke it... when the guy standing next to us interrupted me to say, "There's no way you're old enough to have had that one."
It was simultaneously the best compliment and worst slam I've ever received from a stranger.
I am so old
posted by Mchelly at 6:38 AM on April 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
I was nerding out showing my stepkids which ones I had, which ones I wanted, and the Tauntaun figure I really wanted but my mom wouldn't buy me so I had to go to a friend's house to play with it, oh but I had that one until my sister broke it... when the guy standing next to us interrupted me to say, "There's no way you're old enough to have had that one."
It was simultaneously the best compliment and worst slam I've ever received from a stranger.
I am so old
posted by Mchelly at 6:38 AM on April 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
When I was a kid we had like 6 action figures and we were damn happy to have them ride in Barbie's pink corvette because you can be sure as hell the droids the storm troopers were looking for weren't in there.
But if you had an older brother, like I did, those Storm Troopers found something in Barbie's vette that they liked.
My brother is six years older than me and I was 10 and I had no idea what he was talking about. Bowchickabowbow.
posted by The Bellman at 7:45 AM on April 11, 2016
But if you had an older brother, like I did, those Storm Troopers found something in Barbie's vette that they liked.
My brother is six years older than me and I was 10 and I had no idea what he was talking about. Bowchickabowbow.
posted by The Bellman at 7:45 AM on April 11, 2016
Having divorced parents, I ended up with odd situations like having a Boba Fett figure at mom's house but his Slave I spaceship was at dad's house. They had a very ugly divorce, so moving toys from one house to the other was frowned upon. I don't know why they cared what I did with my own toys, but I guess they viewed it as some sort of betrayal.
It was also kind of weird how large the snowspeeder toy was. It was as big as the x-wing fighter, and bigger than it should have been, relative to the scale of the figures. Maybe it was because their knees didn't bend, so it had to be long enough to fit two straight legged figures back to back. It was odd having a snowspeeder so large it could barely fly under the AT-AT, which was smaller than figure scale. Which of course, it had to be, because as awesome as a 3 foot tall AT-AT would have been, that would have been prohibitively expensive.
It also super annoyed me as a kid that the Millennium Falcon didn't have the hallway through to the cockpit. The thing was hollow, so why not have that? The movies show the characters running back and forth between the cockpit and engineering area and I couldn't have my action figures do the same thing. Argh!
My son has these chibi versions of the toys, which are really cute.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:54 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
It was also kind of weird how large the snowspeeder toy was. It was as big as the x-wing fighter, and bigger than it should have been, relative to the scale of the figures. Maybe it was because their knees didn't bend, so it had to be long enough to fit two straight legged figures back to back. It was odd having a snowspeeder so large it could barely fly under the AT-AT, which was smaller than figure scale. Which of course, it had to be, because as awesome as a 3 foot tall AT-AT would have been, that would have been prohibitively expensive.
It also super annoyed me as a kid that the Millennium Falcon didn't have the hallway through to the cockpit. The thing was hollow, so why not have that? The movies show the characters running back and forth between the cockpit and engineering area and I couldn't have my action figures do the same thing. Argh!
My son has these chibi versions of the toys, which are really cute.
posted by Fleebnork at 7:54 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
It was also kind of weird how large the snowspeeder toy was. It was as big as the x-wing fighter, and bigger than it should have been, relative to the scale of the figures. Maybe it was because their knees didn't bend, so it had to be long enough to fit two straight legged figures back to back.
It's more likely that your snowspeeder was closer to the right size. They're 5.3m in length, which, if you assume a 6" action figure represents a 6' person, means the toy snowspeeder should be about a foot and a half long. The X-Wing, meanwhile, comes in at 12.5m, so the toy should be about three and a half feet long. That would be a very big toy.
Action Figure AT-ATs, properly scaled, would be 6 feet tall.
posted by timdiggerm at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
It's more likely that your snowspeeder was closer to the right size. They're 5.3m in length, which, if you assume a 6" action figure represents a 6' person, means the toy snowspeeder should be about a foot and a half long. The X-Wing, meanwhile, comes in at 12.5m, so the toy should be about three and a half feet long. That would be a very big toy.
Action Figure AT-ATs, properly scaled, would be 6 feet tall.
posted by timdiggerm at 8:25 AM on April 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Ah, well thanks for that. There's all sorts of selective compression that goes into making toys that can seat figures and meet certain price points.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2016
posted by Fleebnork at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2016
Shout out to that first pic with the Squad Leader box in the corner, sitting on top of the Ungame.
posted by Chuffy at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Chuffy at 8:43 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Star Wars toys consumed a large portion of my childhood. I had a pretty good collection- snowspeeder, X-Wing, a couple of Tie Fighters, Millenium Falcon, lots of action figures, Droid Factory, Hoth Playset, Dagobah Playset. By the time I was in 7th grade in 1985 or so, I decided that I was really too old for toys, so I sold almost everything to my friend John for $11.00.
He blew them all up with firecrackers.
posted by Shohn at 9:44 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
He blew them all up with firecrackers.
posted by Shohn at 9:44 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, and a funny thing I noticed. Whoever originally painted the covers for the Adventures of Lando books obviously used the Kenner Millennium Falcon as a reference.
posted by Fleebnork at 9:58 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Fleebnork at 9:58 AM on April 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I haven't found any photos with Star Wars stuff, but I did recently come across my "Star Wars is the New Craze" letter to the editor printed in "Cobblestone" magazine (September 1982). A previous issue had asked kids to write in about their favorite games.
posted by belladonna at 2:11 PM on April 11, 2016
posted by belladonna at 2:11 PM on April 11, 2016
Unrelatedly, the concept of a "Better Call Beru" prequel has entered my brain as of this morning. You will be surprised about the origins of blue milk!
posted by rhizome at 3:14 PM on April 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 3:14 PM on April 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Hippybear's remembrance reminded me of the Destroy Death Star game. I loved those little X-wing pieces.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:41 AM on April 13, 2016
posted by ob1quixote at 12:41 AM on April 13, 2016
Lucasfilm Threatens And Threatens Non-Profit Over Lightsaber Battle Event
posted by homunculus at 5:30 PM on April 15, 2016
posted by homunculus at 5:30 PM on April 15, 2016
« Older Flickr Photobomber Tagged Image Game | Most (and least) meaningful jobs Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by honestcoyote at 8:12 PM on April 10, 2016 [2 favorites]