#4 - Star Wars Action Figures: Chewbacca and R2-D2, Palitoy (1977)
Something big was coming in my young and impressionable life, and I had no idea how much of a massive impact it would have.
I'd seen that double-page spread about the upcoming movie Star Wars in the 2000AD Summer Special Supercomic, and, while I thought it looked cool, I just went back to reading Judge Dredd and MACH-1. But those images of Stormtroopers, Han Solo, and Chewbacca must have stuck in my subconscious, ready for a little more fuel.
That fuel came in the form of a pair of gifts from my dad. My dad was a nurse. I don't know how he got into that job – I'd heard stories about him doing his part during the Second World War in various positions until they realised how short-sighted he was. He ended up working in a hospital, and that's how he met my mother. They married, relocated to my hometown, and worked at a huge psychiatric hospital as a nurse.
Once a year he'd get called away from work for something to do with work, some conference or training or something. He never really talked about his work. It never seemed to be easy, though I visited his work a few times when he needed to pop in to pick up something he'd forgotten. It was huge. I mean HUGE. They had a massive hall which they used for special occasions like Christmas parties, and I remember going with my parents and discovering that my dad could play the drums. Another of his little secrets. (I'd later discover, many years after his passing, that he had piano qualifications from some fancy school in London).
However, it was after one of his work training conferences, and he'd had to go away for two or three days. He came home, travel bag in hand, with a few gifts. Always was the way in those days, wasn't it? You went away on a trip, you always brought something back for the family. I don't know why. I'm sure he'd bought mum something she usually liked, something like dates or coconut ice - remember that pink and white stuff? I never liked coconut...
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| Palitoy Chewbacca from 1977 |
Anyway, my dad handed me this little bag and said that the guy in the shop had told him this was going to be "the next big thing" and that they'd just arrived. I looked inside and there were two carded figures – Chewbacca and R2-D2, from the new movie called Star Wars.
And there was that fuel. Those characters were the coolest things I'd seen for a while, and I remembered seeing them in that 2000AD Special. It was all starting to make sense.
My parents knew the value of things, and how valuable things could become, and my mum instantly told me to open the blister card carefully. Not just ripping it off the card, but carefully cutting the top of the blister so that the figure could slide out the top. That way, when it wasn't being played with, I could slip it back into the packaging, and it'd be safe.
So I did. I looked after those figures. They were my prized possessions for many years. But it was the start of a bit of an addiction.
Y'see, on the back of those first two figures was an illustration of the other figures in the range. The first twelve. I had no idea who these characters were at first, but they looked so incredibly cool.
The list of names were awesome, the pictures were cool, the vehicles at the bottom were fantastic. I needed to know more.
(Like many, many others at the time)
Star Wars became a heck of an obsession for me, and eventually I managed to complete that collection of the first 12... I even cut the nameplates out of all of those backing cards to mail off for the mysterious Boba Fett figure. And I continued collecting through all of The Empire Strikes Back waves.
They were my favourite thing in the world. When I went away on holiday to those lonely self-catering bungalows in the middle of Scotland or Wales, I took a selection of Star Wars figures with me.
Of course, when I was older, I thought I'd grown out of them and sold the lot... One of my biggest regrets. What an idiot...
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| Palitoy R2-D2 from 1977. Glorious!!! |
