What a difference a year makes!
It was just last November that we finally finished building my dream — or, at least, the foundation of it. After 18 months of planning and lots of hard work from countless contractors, friends who volunteered a bazillion hours of their time, and lots of patience and luck, we incorporated Rancho Obi-Wan Inc. as a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. And then we had a Grand Reopening party for 180 people including 30 volunteers.
7 Comments » | 
Tags: Rancho Obi-Wan
Collecting | 
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How strong was the Star Wars frenzy in 1977? That year a stylized version of the Star Wars movie poster blew past the top-selling poster of all time, that of Charlie’s Angels star and blond sex symbol Farrah Fawcett (look her up in Wikipedia, kids!). So is it any wonder that everyone wanted to be a character from a far-away galaxy that Halloween?
4 Comments » | Tags: ben cooper, Costumes, Halloween
Collecting | Permalink
Concept and Tradability
Sketch cards, Autographs, Relic Cards, and Parallels are all very fun, collectible and exciting, but what about the base cards? You know, the cards that comprise the vast majority of any given series? They are the meat of the pack in all card products. They are the cards that occupy most of the time, energy, and creativity that it takes to build these products. In the past, base cards were nearly always enough. Unfortunately though, modern competition has diminished their greatness and their novelty. Cable TV, DVD, Blu-ray, downloads, and the mighty Internet have challenged trading cards as king of movie freeze-frame, take-it-with-you splendor. So we needed to take this beyond what you’re getting from those digital wonders. This base set needs to be something special and should feel important. Not only should it be informative, but it should possess some interactivity between cards and it needs tradability.
3 Comments » | Tags: galactic files, topps, trading cards
Collecting | Permalink
I didn’t visit Paris to watch the conclusion of the Tour de France and I wasn’t planning to spot Quasimodo at the Notre Dame either. This time I had an appointment with history: an appointment with Star Wars toys. As president of TeeKay-421, the Belgian Star Wars Fanclub, I received an invitation from a respected Belgian newspaper to visit the exposition called “Les Jouets Star Wars” (”The Star Wars Toys”) at the Les Arts Décoratifs museum. I went by Thalys from Brussels to Paris, armed with the latest Dark Horse comics and The Essential Reader’s Companion.
4 Comments » | Tags: Action Figures, kenner, Les Jouets Star Wars
Collecting, Events | Permalink
When last you left this little corner of the net, I’d been relating how I had gotten the much-delayed go-ahead to start writing Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection last Dec. 9—yet the deadline for the first third of the book was 10 days later. On top of that, I had been informed that the book had to be written in hidden data fields that, unbeknownst to me and many others, are part of every jpeg photo file.
6 Comments » | Tags: Action Figures, ultimate action figure collection
Books and Comics, Collecting | Permalink
At least I assume that Gremlin-esque transformation of a part of my collection happened sometime during the insanely wonderful Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando. How else to explain the simple math: We arrived at the Orange County Convention Center with 17 pallets and crates weighing well over two tons. The returning truck has 26 pallets and crates weighing who-knows-how-much!
2 Comments » | Tags: Celebration VI, Rancho Obi-Wan
Collecting, Events | Permalink
Star Wars Celebration VI is approaching, and I’ll be there, doing panels and a number of signings for Dark Horse and Del Rey. I’ve always enjoyed these kinds of appearances immensely. Working in my office at Faraway Farms at the end of a dead-end road in Wisconsin traveled only by deer and other ungulates, I’m well removed from contact with readers. Or, well, primates of any kind. (The UPS guy is my only friend.)
4 Comments » | Tags: Celebration VI
Books and Comics, Collecting, Events | Permalink
I didn’t set out to amass the world’s largest private collection of Star Wars memorabilia, or WLPCoSWM for you acronym fans. It just kind of happened. It’s like a baby’s first steps: First one tentative foot forward, soon followed by the second, then a quicker third step…and the next thing you know, little Carl Lewis is winning nine Olympic gold medals in Track and Field!
5 Comments » | Tags: Rancho Obi-Wan, Steve Sansweet
Collecting | Permalink
A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to tag along with Course of the Force during its epic journey from Santa Monica to San Diego — which conveniently took a quick detour through LEGOLAND California. While we were at the park we couldn’t help but shoot some pictures of the awesome LEGO Star Wars Miniland, a whole area devoted to LEGO recreations of iconic scenes and characters from the Star Wars universe.
1 Comment » | Tags: LEGO, LEGO Star Wars, Legoland
Collecting, Creativity | Permalink
