Star Wars

I'd watched the movies when I was younger... I had them on video (taped off the TV!), and I'd watched them several times... loved them! But then over the last few years it's turned into more of an obsession really... I have books, games, toys, several lightsabers.... and a couple of these very cool Tshirts (you know, so that when they wear out from constant use, I have more to replace them with) :)

I was pretty stoked when a Stormtrooper walked past when I was lined up at a LEGO convention, so I had to ask for a photo! Unfortunately there was a fingerprint on the lense so the photo has a blurry spot, but I GOT TO HUG A STORMTROOPER! (ok, so it was a dude in a plastic suit, not a "real" one, but that's real enough for me!)

I suppose I started with games... I had Episode 1 racer and Shadows of the Empire on N64 :) (I played Rogue Squardon once but I don't like flying games) Then Jedi Outcast was one of my first PC games, and I loved that so much I had to get Dark Forces II, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Academy... Of course the LEGO Star Wars games, which I have on both PC and Wii!... and then I was really looking forward to Force Unleashed which I was a little disappointed in (I prefer the gameplay of Jedi Academy) - but I did like it enough to buy that on Wii and PS3 (After seeing how much better it was on PS3, after I'd got it on Wii, I had to buy the PS3 version too!)

The first real "collection" type items I got were 3 little toys I bought for about 20c in an op shop once - that sat on my monitor with a bunch of other toys and things... Chewie, Han and R2...

My Mace Windu lightsaber was next, and had pride of place along the top shelf of my computer desk. Then a while later I was out again and saw some more toy lightsabers, so bought the red (which was really pink), blue and green - so that MrObsi, MiniObsi and I could all have one if we were to have a little battle :)

Eventually I had to buy a Ultrasabers lightsaber though - (shown on the left). They have a tough blade you can hit stuff with and they won't break! (unlike the flimsy plastic telescopic blades of my other toy ones). While the photo shows the blade as white, there is a purple LED in it, so the blade glows purple (the camera just seems to make it white). I'd wanted a Force FX one, but the Ultrasabers one was about $50, so half the price... and the Force FX ones can break more easily. Still... ultimately I'd like a whole set of Force FX ones... (another "when I win lotto" thing). I bought one for hubby too (white blade with colour change discs), so we can duel :D

I also decorated a cheap $6 lightsaber to make a "Steampunk Lightsaber" for my Steampunk costume... The hilt started out plain black plastic, so I painted it with 3 different metallic colours of model paint, added a brass spring thing and some swirly clay stuff (which is supposed to be a guard, so I could wear it while it was lit up and have a reason why my skirt wasn't on fire) - I'm not so keen on the "guard" part, but I like how the hilt turned out.

The supermarket got in some little plush toys of the Star Wars characters, so I had to get a set of those because they were cute. I'm still not sure quite how to display them... I think I need to find a large picture frame thing that I can put them in, or some sort of shallow shelf thing with glass front... so they don't get dusty.

And after seeing some awesome shots done with toy stormtroopers (Click the pic for more - it's a series of hilarious photos of Stormtroopers!!), I had to buy myself some. They are quite expressive things really!

I managed to find a purple one too, which was pretty cool (he's apparently Mace Windu's clone trooper guard).. and I have a female Stormtrooper too... for equality's sake!

I've even put them to work modelling Lightsaber Earrings for my store ;)

Then I started on the novels... A friend sent me one because she'd bought 2 of the same by accident, and knew I would like it. I'd never read any of them before, but that got me hooked. I think it was part of a trilogy, so I had to buy the others in the set... then I bought more... and more. I have 25 of them now (but will be shopping for more soon). I managed to get the book ends from a bookstore (they were a fair bit more pricey than I would have liked, but I couldn't resist!)

Next up came my LEGO collection... (Click for a larger pic)

That started when we went to the Star Wars exhibition at Scienceworks - where they had movie props and costumes and things on display, and in the giftshop they had a bunch of merchandise - including LEGO sets.

When I saw the little LEGO R2D2, I thought it was so cute, I wanted one. So I scoured ebay and Bricklink and started up a MiniFig collection. It hangs beside my desk. I ended up having to buy some for MiniObsi too, because I wouldn't let her play with mine :)

I still have quite a few I want - some are REALLY expensive though! Ones like Jango Fett can be around $100! It's insane.

If you look at the pic of the top shelf of my desk (below), you'll see that MiniObsi made me a C-3PO out of a oval gift box, pipecleaners and a spoon... and (a flip top) R2D2 out of a toilet roll, polystyrene ball and some wooden pegs - Classic!

And, can't forget my Lightsaber Chopsticks!

I actually wear them as hairsticks sometimes :) I bought my first set (Mace) off ebay, but then I've bought the Vader, Luke and Yoda ones from Think Geek.

One of the things that caused the most angst was my cookie cutter set! They are available only at Williams sonoma, and while it seems they now ship internationally, they didn't then... so I had to beg some people I knew in the US to go buy me a set.... 3 times that fell through (the people who said they would, never ended up doing it)... so it took AGES... but finally I found someone who would do it for me, and I got my set! Not that I really make cookies enough to justify them... But I have made sandwiches and designs on the lids of pies with them :) Multi-functional!!!