Right after seeing the movie and before there were Star Wars figures, I dreamed of them. The best I could imagine at the time were rubber bendy versions that matched a beaten up Spiderman I owned. To actually have these figures was the official start to what would be considered "collecting" to me. I needed to have them all.
What really stuck with me was the colorful card-back packaging. The toy package photos, mixed with saturated colors behind the blister where the figure resided made me hang on to the open packages so I could look at the photos and the other toys I wanted on the back. The nostalgia behind these toy memories are some of the most vivid that I can recall from that age.
This new art piece is a fun/macabre statement on collecting. On the left, I have the vivid and colorful memory of the original 12 Kenner Star Wars Figures - with the words "Collect them all!" The purest way I look back on and cherish these figures. On the right, I'm depicting the other side of collecting, where it's all about value and variants, and less about being a kid. This is accompanied with the tag line "Dissect them all". A much less attractive representation of being a collector, and a loss of innocence in the toy itself.
I hope you enjoy - AND, if you will be in San Diego this year for Comic Con, stop by booth F5 and say hi! Let me know which figure was your first.
