‘Star Wars’ Collecting Is Equal Parts Passion, Nostalgia And Community

If “Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens” is the most anticipated film of the year -- and it could be among the greatest box-office successes of 2015 when it hits theaters in December -- one big reason may be almost four decades of momentum in marketing the franchise’s memorabilia to generations of moviegoers.

But things were not always so auspicious for what is a massively lucrative industry today. When the first film came out in 1977, nobody could have predicted how popular “Star Wars” products would become. When accountants and attorneys sat down with George Lucas in the mid-1970s to divvy up rights to “Star Wars” revenue streams, 20th Century Fox did not claim rights to market movie-related memorabilia, encompassing clothing, posters, toys and the like. By default, they fell to Lucas, which is why he is now one of Hollywood’s bona fide plutocrats.

When the first film was released, there were no related toys available in stores for the holidays. In fact, customers were only given coupons to mail in so they could later receive the coveted items. In contrast, Force Friday events and midnight launches are planned at toy stores from coast to coast this week, with the new movie’s premiere more than three months away.

So how did the “Star Wars” franchise go from zero to the speed of light in the marketing department? Two factors are key: childhood nostalgia and an adult community of collectors.

In the area of childhood nostalgia, the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO long ago were reimagined or relived with the aid of film-related toys. Instead of being able to rewatch the original movie on videotape, DVD or the Web, the only options for most children in the 1970s and even the early 1980s were their imaginations and maybe a nearby theater rerunning “Star Wars.” Kids back then had some of the action figures, but they didn’t have any seriously cool lightsabers.

“‘Star Wars’ immediately imprinted itself on my brain. It was exactly what I loved,” Brian Stillman, director of the documentary “Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys,” told International Business Times. “It was science fiction, it was adventure, it was fantastic, the idea of going on great, epic quests.” Stillman has been collecting “Star Wars” and other sci-fi toys ever since.

“The toys were an extension to this movie you loved. It was an opportunity for you to take it home with you and live these adventures,” Stillman said.

Without the Web, cable television or any other way to satisfy their “Star Wars” itches, many children relived the film with these toys day after day. Those kids have grown up, but their passion for the movie franchise has given rise to a massive collector market.

Childhood playtime has evolved into a massive business. Collectors can spend hundreds, or thousands, of dollars on rare figures. Serious collectors hunt for the ultrarare prototypes or one-off items that were never mass-produced. “Star Wars” collectors are a passionate, dedicated group, and you can see interactions between them on sites such as RebelScum.com and online price guides. Through the dollars and rarity, there’s a true sense of community among these collectors.

Nobody would know that more than Steve Sansweet, the CEO and president of Rancho Obi-Wan Inc. and the Guinness World Records-certified holder of the largest collection of “Star Wars” memorabilia. His experience with the film franchise is not directly tied to childhood -- he was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal when the first movie was released -- but it did make him feel like a kid again.

Sansweet said he was born to be a collector and grew up reading fantasy and sci-fi literature. “About six months before ‘Star Wars’ premiered, I started collecting old Japanese robots and rockets. I got to see ‘Star Wars,’ on the backlot of 20th Century Fox, two weeks before it opened and before all the hype began,” Sansweet told IBTimes. “I was just mesmerized and blown away, and the 12-year-old was reawakened. By the time ‘Empire Strikes Back’ came out [in 1980], it became the focus of what I love. From a few toys to, oh, 350,000 objects, it’s been a long, wonderful voyage with ‘Star Wars.’”

The Internet has globalized the community of collectors. “One thing about ‘Star Wars’ collectors and the community is people helping each other and trying to find out the history and sharing that information,” Sansweet said. “It’s only been around the mid-1990s and eBay starting in 1998 that collectors started discovering toys that were produced all over the world that were different from the U.S. toys. My first book in 1992 showed people prototypes and the international toys, and I think a lot of people blame me for starting their addiction,” Sansweet said with a laugh.

Sometimes, it’s not about the toys, but the packaging. Sansweet described a set of three “Star Wars” figures with packaging different from that used with the stand-alone toys. He’s managed to track down 14 of the 16 sets, but the two that have eluded him would come with a hefty price tag. “I was told I could probably get the other two if I wanted to spend around $10,000. I passed, I’m happy with 14.”

As for the weirdest item in his collection, Sansweet somehow wound up with a bounty hunter’s crotch, making him the proud owner of 4-Lom’s midsection.

The appeal of the “Star Wars” film franchise won’t go away any time soon, with a new generation growing up with these fantastic adventures set in a galaxy far, far away. Disney and Lucasfilm will be releasing new “Star Wars” movies every year. Some will be core stories chronicling the aftermath of the Empire and the events after “Star Wars: Episode VI-Return of the Jedi” while others will explore the expanded “Star Wars” universe. The prequels were not well-loved, but Lucasfilm got back on track with two popular animated series that captivated younger audiences.

“You have ‘The Clone Wars’ cartoon and you have this new show ‘Rebels,’ and I think those are what’s connecting with little kids. When I talk to them and say, ‘I love ‘Star Wars,’ they start talking about something I’ve never heard of before,” said “Plastic Galaxy” director Stillman. “I think that’s great. It’s extending the property; it’s extending the brand and giving a new life to a new wave of toys. It’s not just about nostalgia.” And it’s not only about the first three films, but also about the universe itself.

“It’s one of those wonderful things where people connected to ‘Star Wars’ for so long and passing along that love for both the movies and collecting to their children and now we’re into a third generation,” Sansweet said. “It’s that underlying mythology, it’s the stories, it’s the fact that the galaxy is so huge and there are so many stories, characters, vehicles and planets. There is no limit to what could be done in the world of ‘Star Wars’ -- and that goes for the merchandise, too.”