Star Wars Memoirs and Memorabilia

It's Star Wars Week in this blog! And here's some historical facts on some starwarsy days in my life.

I was in grade school when Episode 4 (a New Hope) was first shown. I remember our school had a day dedicated for Milo promotional activities, and part of giving chocolate drinks to us was also the handing-out of Star Wars and Charlie's Angels trading cards. Of course I settled for the former.

I have quite a number of toys and memorabilia, but many of them were not simply purchases. Here are some of their stories.

In 1993, before the Special Editions were being made, I was in frantic search for Episodes 4 thru 6. I was able to get my VHS copies in Greenhills. A year later, I was given a chance to make a business trip to the US for 2 weeks. We were fortunate to have a couple of days extra, and we used one day in Disneyland Anaheim! That is one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. I had a grand time, especially when we took the Star Tours Ride! And I bought a Star Wars Return of the Jedi poster there, as well as a limited edition ChromeArt of Artoo and Threepio (see photo at left). I was also able to buy the Star Wars original versions VHS in Toys R Us (Lucasfilm released these prior to the showing of the Special Editions).

Also during this year, I became interested in scale model painting (mostly resins). My first kit was that of a Tie Fighter, which was followed by R2D2 (see photo on top of this post). I was in the middle of making an X-Wing but stopped midway and has been kept in my cabinet that way.

When the Special Editions were shown, Pizza Hut ran a promo stint featuring large tumblers with the top-half featuring a character. Wish I got more than one set; the Threepio tumbler's damaged. But I knew then that subsequent Star Wars showings will become hunts for toy tie-ins and merchandize purchases.

For Episode 1, a friend named Francis Ibanez collected all KFC toys, bucket, and tumblers and gave them to me. I don't know what made him do it (he also gave me a couple of original Transformers casettes); perhaps it's the show of generosity between fellow fans.

My former boss Sir Renan (he now heads another department), knew how big a fan I was of Star Wars. So when he comes back from a business trip abroad, he'd buy me the transparent version of the vehicles as a present. I think he was able to give me 4 different kinds.

And then David (Claville's husband) gave me some old Star Wars toys in the late 90s. I was surprised when he also gave me a set of Metallic Impressions Card (see below)! And then Claville (who is now in Australia gave me a boxed set of Star Wars DVD for my birthday last year.




My latest toy search at the height of Episode III's popularity has yielded four figures from Jollibee and a poster from M&M. Pauline has also bought a lightsaber for me (one that can change color between blue and red, and is obviously Anakin's. Pauline and Anthony also has lightsabers). I want those toys from Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdogs but cannot seem to get my hands on any. Indulge me in this simple pleasure; it's the last episode after all, and it's an exciting time for me when a Star Wars film is showing.