My brother and I began collecting Star Wars toys back in 1995. I was 13 and he was 11. I remember walking through Trader's World Flea Market north of Cincinnati with my parents when I came upon "Toys Plus of Cincinnati" and saw the most amazing display of vintage plastic glory I had ever seen in my life. Perusing the booth, I saw many figures that I recognized as having as a child in preschool, as many kids I went to school with had parents who worked for Kenner and would drop off boxes and boxes of overstock action figures in plastic baggies. They brought back fond memories, and the Tie Fighter Pilot stood out to me in particular, since I recall being about 9 years old at an antique show with my dad and it was the first toy I even haggled on in my life. He was complete with his gun and the dealer was asking $5... I got him for $3. Even though I was young, my parents' love for collecting antique tin toys had trickled over to my brother and me and we decided at that moment that we wanted to collect Star Wars figures. We took all of our petty savings money and bought a Darth Vader head case with full of near mint figures with weapons for about $120. We were hooked.
We several years going to toy shows, endlessly searching the local flea markets, and all the time bonding as a family. My mother even bought us our first holy grail figure the Christmas of 2000: A complete Yak Face. We continued to collect, but were swayed by the dark side into collecting the newer carded Star Wars items, which culminated in me getting my first real job at the age of 15 at the local Toys R Us. I would ask for any of the store displays that came in, where I would then drag to the flea market and trade for other new items. At that time, I couldn't understand who in their right mind would pay $300 for a 21-back Boba Fett
After years of collecting, almost exclusively consisting of items we bought from Don Gibbs at Toys Plus, I left for college, and our collection came to a stand-still. It wasn't until last year my brother and I started watching "Toy Hunter" that we had our interest piqued again. The episodes in Cincinnati struck a chord with me, because I could see all the potential for hidden treasures, items that weren't boxed, and Kenner employees that were sitting on some incredible items. With this motivation behind us, my brother and I hit the pavement and began to tenaciously and aggressively hit every avenue to find these treasures. While we each have our own place, we keep the majority of our collection still in my parents' basement where it all started. The wood paneling reminds us of a simpler time and keeps those memories alive of waking up early on a Saturday morning to go treasure hunting at the flea market. What I have pictured in this thread is 90% from the effort we've put forth over the past year. Even items from our original collection have largely been replaced with better examples we've found in Cincinnati and surrounding markets. I want to thank everyone who has contributed on this forum over the past year and for those I've gotten to know on a personal level, specifically Bill Wills. I will try my best to update this thread as I come across more items in our quest to build our collection.
2013
Current Collection in my theater / media room:
The Big Collection:
2014
We several years going to toy shows, endlessly searching the local flea markets, and all the time bonding as a family. My mother even bought us our first holy grail figure the Christmas of 2000: A complete Yak Face. We continued to collect, but were swayed by the dark side into collecting the newer carded Star Wars items, which culminated in me getting my first real job at the age of 15 at the local Toys R Us. I would ask for any of the store displays that came in, where I would then drag to the flea market and trade for other new items. At that time, I couldn't understand who in their right mind would pay $300 for a 21-back Boba Fett
After years of collecting, almost exclusively consisting of items we bought from Don Gibbs at Toys Plus, I left for college, and our collection came to a stand-still. It wasn't until last year my brother and I started watching "Toy Hunter" that we had our interest piqued again. The episodes in Cincinnati struck a chord with me, because I could see all the potential for hidden treasures, items that weren't boxed, and Kenner employees that were sitting on some incredible items. With this motivation behind us, my brother and I hit the pavement and began to tenaciously and aggressively hit every avenue to find these treasures. While we each have our own place, we keep the majority of our collection still in my parents' basement where it all started. The wood paneling reminds us of a simpler time and keeps those memories alive of waking up early on a Saturday morning to go treasure hunting at the flea market. What I have pictured in this thread is 90% from the effort we've put forth over the past year. Even items from our original collection have largely been replaced with better examples we've found in Cincinnati and surrounding markets. I want to thank everyone who has contributed on this forum over the past year and for those I've gotten to know on a personal level, specifically Bill Wills. I will try my best to update this thread as I come across more items in our quest to build our collection.
2013
Current Collection in my theater / media room:
The Big Collection:
2014
Last edited:
