The Archive at 30: Mattias Rendahl

Ron writes:

 Swedish collector Mattias Rendahl is no stranger to the Archive blog, having authored a couple of posts (see here and here) and sat for an interview concerning his excellent book, A New Proof. In the below tribute, Mattias remembers how his interactions with the Archive's editors, Michael Mensinger in particular, helped him to discover new aspects of collecting. An excellent graphic designer, Mattias also created the terrific 30th anniversary graphic that you see at the bottom of this page.

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Mattias writes:

I discovered the Archive in the late '90s and, like many others, used it as my go-to reference for collecting. 

At the time I thought I was the only adult collecting Star Wars memorabilia, but "Toys 'R' Gus" (that's what we called it at the time) showed me I wasn't alone. That realization only fueled my passion even further. By the early 2000s I had also found the forums at Rebelscum.com. While I didn't post much, I spent a lot of time reading and absorbing the insights from the Archive editors who posted there. "JohnA" (John Alvarez) always advised everyone to "read, read, and read the Archive" -- which I did and already had for years, and still do on a weekly basis.

I particularly remember that Archive editor Mike Mensinger regularly posted incredible links to Archive entries each week. He would share threads about new entries as well as links to posts in the "Figure of the Week" threads (I can't quite recall if it was even shortened to FOTW back around 2003). The Archive links from "michael_mensinger" (one of the few RS names I still remember because of his use of his real name) were the highlight of my week. Those links encouraged me to explore the Archive more deeply and sparked a desire to dig into various collecting niches. They also led me to delve into Swedish collectibles, as I realized just how much rare and unexplored material was still out there. Eventually, I decided to focus on a character (Chief Chirpa) with few Archive entries, wanting to uncover what had yet to be documented.

All those links not only piqued my curiosity but also helped me form friendships with many of the editors of the site -- friendships I still treasure today. 

I’ll never forget Mike’s AOL email address after all the discussions and questions I bombarded him with. The same goes for Chris (earthlink), John, Gus, Ron (hvc.rr.com), Duncan, Todd, et al. Those old email addresses are like the first phone numbers you memorize for your closest friends.

So thank you, "michael_mensinger," for inspiring me to dig deeper. You and all other editors have played a big part in my journey to publishing books and hosting panels at conventions worldwide. Looking forward to the next 30 years on Toysrgu… I mean theswca.com!

The Archive at 30: Mark Salotti

Steve writes:

 Longtime friend and fellow collector Mark Salotti (who co-authored Coining a Galaxy with Archive editor James Gallo) fondly remembers finding his way to the site in its early days, reflecting on how it impacted him and created globe-spanning friendships that remain to this day. Cheers, mate! 

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Mark writes:

Most Aussies only had internet access at work in the early '90s, but my brother enrolled into an I.T. course and signed us up at home, and it wasn't long before I stumbled across the Star Wars Collectors Archive. I had always considered myself well-versed in Star Wars toys, but discovering the Archive opened my eyes to wonders I had never before seen, or could ever have imagined.

Every day thereafter I would check the "What's New" section and delight in the latest contributions. I remember when friends visited we would load up several Archive pages, and go watch an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (sorry, it's: collect Star Wars, watch Star Trek) whilst my 28.8KB dial-up modem s-l-o-w-l-y downloaded the images (my new 56KB modem in the late '90s was lifechanging)!

Shortly after discovering the Archive, I reached out to Gus Lopez, and recounted my local experiences collecting POTF Coins, which were my focus, and just collecting in general, and I was moved by how generous he was with his time and knowledge. Soon enough, we were bouncing emails daily, and I was also regularly communicating with Chris Georgoulias and Ron Salvatore and other editors of the Archive, and then in 2005 I finally met them all in person at Celebration 3 in Indiana.

These early conversations lead to friendships that I never would have thought could have been possible -- given the distances between us, and how infrequently we actually met up in person -- and the friendships continued, developed and strengthened as the years passed, much to my joy and continued happiness.

Today, I have travelled the world, given presentations at multiple Star Wars Celebrations, visited countless collections, proposed to the partners of several friends and even attended a wedding, all thanks to Star Wars. Although, as I write this, I realise that had I not typed "Star Wars" into WebCrawler 30 years ago and discovered the Star Wars Collectors Archive, my life would have unfolded considerably differently; so really, Star Wars was the cause, but the Archive was the effect that had the profound affect on my life.  

A heartfelt thank you and congratulations to Gus and the team for 30 years of informing and entertaining collectors, bringing people together and making the Galaxy a better place.

Looking forward to the next 30 years with much admiration and gratitude from this Aussie "mate" to the Archive and all who grace it with their hard work and dedication.

The Archive at 30: Jonathan McElwain

Jonathan writes:

Wow, 30 years of The Star Wars Collector’s Archive! That’s quite a milestone and a testament to the quality of the site that it remains a relevant and vital resource to the Star Wars collecting community, three decades after its founding.

When reflecting on this milestone for the Archive, I found that my experiences with the site divide pretty neatly along decade lines.

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Decade 1 - Information Overload

I don’t recall precisely when I first discovered the Archive. Although I went to college from the early to mid 1990s, and certainly used computers in my studies, I wasn’t really a computer person. So, I missed out on the earliest online interactions. Then again, I was mostly a lurker throughout the later forum era.

I rekindled my interest in Star Wars fandom and collecting in 1994 and got online after purchasing my first personal computer in 1995. At the latest, I knew about the Archive by August of 1996, when I read a profile on Gus Lopez in Topps Galaxy Magazine, authored by Steve Sansweet. But more likely, I stumbled upon the Archive via a search on AltaVista (my early search engine of choice).

However I came to find it, what I discovered when I reached the Archive was a wealth of information to explore. While my personal collection is focused in very specific niche areas, I have a broad interest in Star Wars memorabilia, far beyond the confines of my own collecting pursuits. The early entries on the Archive definitely scratched that itch.

As the Archive expanded and matured throughout its first decade, some of my favorite early content included the following:

• The Comprehensive Star Wars Cereal Box Checklist, authored by Gus Lopez. The earliest archived version that I can find on the Wayback Machine lists 124 Star Wars cereal boxes from just five countries. Gus still maintains a comprehensive list of cereal boxes in the Archive Database, currently standing at over 1,900 boxes from all corners of the globe.

• The Special Features, authored by many of the Archive’s editors and other contributors. The Special Features provided detailed road maps to collecting in niche areas.

• Relics of the Outer Rim, authored by Pete Vilmur. The in-depth articles featured there are an early precursor to what would come later in the Blog.

Looking back, it is truly remarkable how much content was added to the Archive during its first decade. Most of it has stood the test of time and/or been foundational for continued development of hobby knowledge.

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Decade 2 - The Archive Database & The ‘Chive Cast

The second decade of the Archive saw the addition of the Archive Database as well as the debut of the Star Wars Collectors Archive Podcast (The ‘Chive Cast).

The Archive Database was added to the site in 2004, with a vast number of entries by Duncan Jenkins and contributions from many others. The Database provided a new way to navigate the Archive. More importantly, it significantly broadened the content of the Archive. Early in my collecting, I had relied on the two editions of Tomart’s Price Guide to Worldwide Star Wars Collectibles, authored by Steve Sansweet and T.N. Tumbusch. While price guides can be useful to see pricing to understand relative values, the real value to collectors is in the list of known products. The Database provides that information in an interactive, searchable format. I was able to leverage the data available in the Database to guide my own collecting pursuits.

The Database came online around the time that I emerged from collecting in a vacuum, started attending Celebration events, and began to make an effort to meet other collectors, including many of the major contributors to the Archive. Those early interactions grew into friendships, which would eventually lead to my own involvement with the Archive in the next decade.

The ‘Chive Cast hosted by Skye Paine and Steve Danley has been a wonderful audio companion to the Archive, highlighting both its content and contributors. Like the Archive itself, the ‘Chive Cast has matured over time and is quite a body of work in its own right. Some of my favorite recurring segments on the ‘Chive Cast are the Nugget from the Archive and the Unloved, which do an excellent job at spotlighting items from the Archive. The Archive Parties are always a personal highlight of Star Wars Celebration events when they occur.

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Decade 3 - The Blog

It is hard to believe, but the Blog started a decade ago, coinciding with the Archive’s 20th Anniversary. Over the last decade, an amazing breadth of collecting knowledge has been shared via the Blog.

I would be remiss if I didn’t offer an appreciation for Ron Salvatore’s contributions to the Blog. As regular consumers of the Archive know, Ron has been a fantastic writer throughout his long tenure, from individual entries and Special Features to his many original contributions to the Blog.

With some encouragement from Ron, I’ve made my own contributions to the Blog, covering the strange corners of collecting that I inhabit. I was humbled to be added as a Blog contributor a few years ago. It’s been rewarding to give back to the Archive in a small way, after having been a consumer for so long.

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I’ll close with a final note of appreciation for the Archive. In my experience, the Archive is a unique place built on the free sharing of information. It is the sum total of countless hours of work by many collectors. I’m not aware of anything that parallels it. Some of my hobby interests crossover with other fields of collecting, some of them quite well established. I’ve often lamented the lack of quality online (or even print) resources of knowledge for those other fields of collecting. This makes me appreciate the Archive all the more.

The Star Wars Collector’s Archive remains a vital resource today. While there is always room for improvement, I’m thankful for the ways that the Archive has organically expanded and evolved over time. I very much look forward to what the next decade will bring and look forward to continuing to be a part of it.

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BONUS: Here is the profile on Gus Lopez from Topps Galaxy Magazine, published in August of 1996.

The Archive at 30: Todd Chamberlain

Ron writes:

 In his write-up, Archive editor Todd Chamberlain highlights what may be the most important aspect of collecting, and of the SWCA: the building and maintenance of friendships. I'm happy to say that I became friends with Todd during the time he was living in SoCal, which he describes in his piece as the period when he was first making friends through the internet. Gus Lopez recommend that I reach out to him, and I think I bought a pog from him. Or a lenticular trading card? Something like that. I'm happy to say he remains a close friend to this day. 

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Todd writes:

The Star Wars Collectors Archive is a great information resource, but for me the first things that come to mind are the relationships it represents. I first met Gus Lopez at a toy show in Portland, Oregon, back in May 1993. I was set up as a seller, and he bought an assortment of loose action figure vehicle and playset parts. He asked some thoughtful questions about the process of buying collections, and the interaction also stood out since he paid with a check. That was fine with me, but it also provided a name. 

 

That summer, I set up at a Seattle toy show and met him again. We struck up a longer conversation this time, and at the end of the show I went out to dinner with him, Pam Green, and Richard Glass. I had attended toy shows regularly since the mid-'80s, and while I met people through that, our interactions were always limited to the show. This was the first time I’d actually had an extended conversation with other collectors in another setting, and it was so energizing!

 

In practical terms, the internet didn’t exist for me yet. I had a vague sense there were ways to communicate through computers, and a few college friends had CompuServe or Prodigy accounts, but the implications for collecting simply didn’t occur to me. I had a network of people I bought from locally, developed through collectible shows, and I posted ads in the Oregonian newspaper. 

 

In early 1994, I moved to Hermiston, a small town in Eastern Oregon. All my old haunts and friends were now three hours away. This was the era of telephone communications for me, and Gus was one of the main people I talked to about Star Wars. My long distance bill was huge -- often $200 or more a month. But it was exciting to finally have other people I could talk to about something that had been an important, but private, part of my life for so long. I also had a place to stay in Seattle over toy show weekends. Gus and I would stay up until 3:00 AM talking, and then get up at 6:00 AM to head out for the show.

 

At some point, Gus told me about a new technology (the World Wide Web, as we know it now) that enabled people to present information on a network that was accessible worldwide. Gus talked about building a resource for Star Wars collecting, but this was all abstract for me, and it really didn’t occur to me that it was something I could access myself. Having seen a Clark’s Star Wars shoe display at my mom’s house, Gus asked if I could provide a photo of it to publish on his site. So I sent him a physical photo of it that he posted, even though I didn’t have a way to see it. It's still on the site at 

http://theswca.com/images-store/clarks-display.html. [The updated entry, with better photo, can be accessed here. -- Ed.]

 

By the time I started grad school in fall 1995, I had still never been online, but by then I had e-mail and internet access, as well as access to the Star Wars Collectors Archive, and that opened up a whole new world of information and connected me to dozens of people who had made contributions to the site. Since I now had e-mail, I could write to people globally who shared similar interests, trading with them to get items I couldn’t access before. I still talked to people on the phone a lot, but the Archive provided a hub for building those connections. When I moved to Southern California for graduate school, I was able to connect with collectors who met through internet newsgroups and provided the early entries that made up the SWCA. It was a ready-made group of friends with a shared passion.

 

Many of the relationships from that time form the core of friendships I have today. I have traveled across the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom to meet up for collecting events, but also attended weddings and shared about our lives. There are multiple factors that contribute to longevity in the hobby, but having people to share that passion with is critical, and it’s one of the things the SWCA enables.

The Archive at 30: Michael Lonergan

Michael writes:

 "IT'S THE 'Chive Cast" [insert jingle]...

 It was Skye and Steve's podcast, which started February 2010, that brought me to the Archive and all it had to offer. Like a lot of us "old timers," I found the Rebelscum forums in the early 2000s, and that was how I interacted for buying, selling and discussing the hobby. When the guys started up the podcast, I was there from the first episode (on my iPod no less). I couldn't believe there was a podcast (or "audio magazine") on my hobby. Based here in Brisbane (BrisBANE) Australia, I didn’t have access to large collector groups or meet ups, so collecting was very much an online pursuit for me. I got involved (in a small way) when I one day sent Steve a few examples of past Greedo sales he could use for the next month’s ‘Chive Cast MarketWatch. I hadn’t messaged or interacted with Skye or Steve before, and I wasn’t well known on the forums. Steve, always the gentleman, replied and then I got involved on a monthly basis. I even created a blog at some point and then joined up with Pete Fitzke as co-contributors (Pete’s articles are worth a read -- they contain some great interviews as well as overviews of auctions).

I felt honoured when I was invited to be part of the Archive’s change 10 years ago and contribute the monthly MarketWatch segments (has Ron listened to or read one as yet??). I’m sure I’m a low-end contributor in terms of volume (though I probably do make a few readers cry when they look at examples on the MarketWatch blog with ESB proof cards selling for a few hundred dollars).

 

Skye established the podcast with a real attempt to engage the community, even having a phone line you could call to leave feedback (the Wampa Line) at one point in time (it really is that old!!!). He encouraged people to reach out, which I eventually did. It was great to make the connection and add content for the podcast and make a few appearances on the show (I even taught Skye the phrase "my day has gone to custard" when I had to shuffle my time for recording).

 

I’d like to say thanks to Gus, Ron, Chris and everyone who contributed to the Archive over the years. It is a great resource and very much holds up today. The various ways to engage with the Archive, including the podcast, and then later on the blog, have kept it relevant (or in the 20th Century as Skye puts it). People make this hobby and I’m grateful that I found my way into that group in a small way.

 

-- Brisbane BrisBANE Mike

 

The Archive at 30: James Gallo

Ron writes:

 James Gallo has been an Archive editor since, I believe, the early '00s. His reflection on how the site has impacted his life highlights how collecting is ultimately about the people you meet and make friends with. It's not just about the stuff. 

(Okay...sometimes it really is just about the stuff. But friends are important too.)

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James writes:

As I look back on the Star Wars Collectors Archive, I remember a time when information was much harder to come by and there were only two major sites to visit when talking about vintage Star Wars collecting. If you wanted to, you could spend hours paging through the Archive like you would page through a good book. You would see things you never knew existed and learn new facts about the production process of these wonderful toys. When you thought you were done, there would be a new entry by one of the editors. It was certainly a place I went to on a regular basis, and I was always excited to see the updates. At one point I was contacted by one of those editors about my Lili Ledy set of boxed 12-inch dolls. I was not aware of how rare and significant these pieces were; I acquired them by managing to be in the right place at the right time. Little did I know how much they would change my life, and that first contact with Todd Chamberlain would develop into a lifelong friendship with not only him but the other editors as well. In the years that followed, I met and talked with many of the other editors, several of whom lived near me. As I grew with the Archive, I ended up becoming part of it, first by adding pictures and content, and then eventually became an editor myself. These connections have resulted in my being involved in the Collecting Track at several Star Wars Celebrations, visiting numerous countries, and getting to know people from all over the world. I can honestly say that without the Archive, my life, friends and collection would be extremely different. I will always be grateful to that small first group of people that started it all who were willing to welcome in the new guy. I hope that the Archive will continue to provide information and be a resource for years to come.

The Archive at 30: Yehuda Kleinman

Yehuda writes:

 There were a few rough years.

Surrounded by plenty of hip geeks in New York City, I was hard pressed to find anyone who was interested in anything other than comic books or Dungeons & Dragons. 

It was around 1990 and Star Wars was dead. Deader than dead. The only active part of the franchise on the planet I could remember was the Star Tours ride at the Disney parks. 

I had already scavenged my childhood friends' discarded collections of Kenner toys and I had been spending most of my weekends scanning the Chelsea Flea in Manhattan looking for Kenner action figures I hadn’t already found. But I was a man alone on an island even though I was surrounded by millions of people. 

There were two pivotal events that occurred during my collecting journey that for so many of us marked the true rebirth of this hobby after the vintage years. 

It was around 1992 and I was perusing the hobby and collectibles section at Barnes & Noble on the Upper West Side when I spotted an oddly proportioned book that was somewhat small in stature. Its black-and-gold cover displayed an artist's rendering of the Kenner Darth Vader collectors case. The title was Star Wars from Concept to Screen to Collectible. It was by Stephen Sansweet. 

Turning the pages was something of a redemption. Each page of information were peppered with jaw-dropping images of the memorabilia I loved. Star Wars collectibles were being elevated to the stature which they deserved.

I was also introduced to the toy production process and realized that many prototypes still existed for the Kenner line of toys. I also knew at some point I wanted to meet this Sansweet guy!

A few years later while I was in medical school, the internet became a thing. At times I find it hard to truly recall what life was like without it. But I do remember what it was like to be exposed to it for the first time. It was immersive, and although quite clunky compared to today’s technology, it was already populated with millions of nerds ready to have fun. 

And one day there it was, just like Sansweet’s book. Surfing the interwebs I stumbled upon a site called toysrgus.com (the old domain name of the Archive).

Created by Gus Lopez, the site was a collaborative effort of friends researching and cataloging every aspect of the hobby. 

I knew I had found my people.

Reading the special features and later discovering the endless ever-growing database took my collecting interest well out of the Kenner comfort zone and deep into the esoteric.

My dear friend Ron Salvatore was gently unrelenting in his suggestion that I should write for the Archive as one of its bloggers, and I thank him immensely for it. Contributing to the hobby has undoubtedly been one of my greatest pleasures. 

I am so looking forward to the next iteration of the Archive as our hobby enters its next chapter. And I am forever grateful to be a part of it.