By Collectors! – For Collectors!
Stories, Reviews And Best Practices
About me
Hi, I’m George, I started collecting after seeing Star Wars in the theater way back in 1977. I was 15, and I went along with some friends to the movies. I didn’t even know what movie we were about to see.
Imagine the surprise when, the movie just started without any actors names or anything… (which was the law before Star-Wars). Well, that music, those graphics, the never-ending star destroyer… etc. etc. I was blown away!
Remember, this was 1977, the internet didn’t even exist back then, so like everyone at the time, we bought magazines like Starlog and Cinefantastique to find out more about the movie and how those amazing effects were created.
I soon started collecting a few interesting things… Like the laser disks (when, at the time, I couldn’t even afford the player,… lol). McDonalds glasses, sheets of US stamp pages etc. But what I consider a real collectible is what I got at the 2007 Los Angeles Star Wars Celebration.
No, not the car – I saw one like that in the parking lot at my first Star Wars Celebration. It was the beginning of a great day!
Like at all Star Wars Celebrations, It was full of amazing cosplayers, many remote controlled R2D2’s, and plenty of vendors selling collectibles… and a lot of other great Star Wars stuff… like I said, it was my first SW Celebration.
But I wasn’t prepared to find what became one of my best one-of-a-kind collectibles. First, I bought a great limited edition poster that included Darth Vader, The Emperor and Luke… which the artist signed for me… but more importantly, I was lucky enough to later get that same poster signed by Darth Vader Himself! Dave Prowes!
It was such an honor. As I put the poster down for him to sign, he looked up, smiled and asked for my name… I asked him if he could sign it: “To George, May the Force be with you… He looked at me strange for a moment and said, “Darth Vader would never say that! I agreed with him, but then asked him to look at the unique poster I had purchased a bit closer… As he did, I explained… “but, as you can see here in the poster, you decided to save your son by lifting the Emperor over your head throw him to his “death”! So… at that moment, you decided to turn to the light side… Soooooo. you actually could say that phrase after that… right?
He looked at the poster, and realized my point… and said: “I guess you’re right!”…. So he signed the poster with both his real name – and Darth Vader… But here is the funny thing… He wrote down: “To George, May The Force Be With… YOU! Classic! It was a great moment.. which I’ll never forget!
The other cool collectible I have is from a week before the Empire Strikes Back came out in theaters. My sister was a teacher at USC back then and she learned that film students were invited to a pre-screening of the movie at the 20th century studios one entire week before it came out! My sister knew I was a huge fan and was able to convince a student for his ticket.
Imagine, I got to see the movie one week before, plus, I saw it at a 20th century fox theater with ultra plush seats… and imagine my surprise when I learned that Darth vader was Luke’s father! I found that out one week before it was shown in theaters!
I could have been a real jerk and told all my friends… but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, so I didn’t say anything… The best part was that they gave out these movie promotional programs (see above) and after the movie, the producer: Gary Curtz and Academy award winner Ben Burt, let the film students ask questions about the movie… and I was lucky enough to get their signatures on the movie program!
I know there are many other cool stories, tips and best practices we can share and benefit from that otherwise would get lost in time. That’s one idea for this site… if you have others, please leave a comment below. We hope Collectibl.com will become a great place to share and learn.
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Thanks for stopping by
George