The Archive at 30: Pete Fitzke

Pete writes:

 Information and how people gather it has shifted dramatically over the last 30 years, and with that the hobby has evolved as well. With every communications trend we find information becoming more readily available to collectors, some good, some bad, but the one constant we find in the hobby during that time is the Archive. It’s the one version of the truth in a world of a thousand spun tails. Being one of the first collecting sites of its kind and also the first Star Wars site of any kind, and that speaks miles as to the value and importance of the Archive throughout the last 30 years. The site doesn’t have membership, it’s not run as a business; it’s truly a first-generation reference page, and one of the best of its kind, much like the Wikipedia of Star Wars collecting. It’s brought new collectors to the hobby, and it’s helped those already in it ensure they were educated and more aware of the cascading landscape of items, and helped bring to light scams.

I started collecting in the 2000s, and by that point in time I’d say 90% of anything unique had been found by the previous generations of collectors. What was amazing about this group is that they openly shared information and kept up with trends of what was happening, and the Archive is the digital documentation of these efforts. Given the Archive was already a well documented resource when I started, it was crucially helpful and became more so as I ventured into preproduction in later years.   

The information on the site is so expansive and so comprehensive when it comes to preproduction items from Kenner and many other suppliers of the era. As many know, the preproduction space is a vast chasm of different types and categories of items, including everything from 3D items like acetate and wax, to 2D items such as Cromalins and proofs. That’s a lot of ground to cover. Given the contributions to the site, it’s become increasingly effective for documenting and benchmarking items across these spaces. Not only are individual items well documented, but articles on topics like many of the above help collectors compartmentalize information and make sense of the overall processes involved in bringing these lines to the market.  

By the early 2010s there was a lot going on in the hobby. Fakes had been a known issue in the market for some time but the approaches were becoming more complex and convoluted, flipping was driving up prices in the market, social media was leading to a new generation of misinformation, and through all of this, new and dangerous segments of collectors came to the hobby. In general it was a tough time to be a collector, and difficult to navigate the terrain. Not only were we dealing with macro and micro issues, we were dealing with hyper competitiveness for items brought on by investment collectors and other entities that were laying the ground work for the unfortunate market that we have today. During this time myself and a lot of other collectors scrambled to find what we could, for what we had, and given the challenges that many of us faced, it became apparent that perceptions of value and availability had become skewed due in part to the new nature of social media and the lack of facts being checked.  Through this I started to document more of what was going on, eventually leading to the creation of the MarketWatch with my compatriot Michael Lonergan. With the MW we hoped to lessen the spin that is out there and document more of the results that we saw in the market. Not the highest of highs which collectors tend to focus on, but the collective trends that were happening and how they affected collectors. This was our way of contributing to a resource that had been so helpful to us in our efforts as collectors. 

I mention the Archive as a resource repeatedly, however the Archive has become more than a resource for the hobby over the last 30 years. It’s become the anchor for the Collecting Track at Star Wars Celebration, and at the core has spawned a tight-knit but open community of people who want to learn, collect and help perpetuate the hobby. The 'Chive Cast became the monthly audio newsletter for our corner of Star Wars collecting, and was one of the most highly viewed and respected little digital segments in the grander scheme of collecting, bringing collectors and the toys to the forefront and sparking many unique discussions in the hobby.

The site continues to expand with new items added every year and helps paint an accurate and very current state of different pieces that have been documented in the hobby. As expansive as it is, the Archive can’t be everything for every item in Star Wars, and that’s where it’s great to see other quality site like VariantVillain and others supporting more specific topics with the same diligence as the Archive.

As the site is refreshed and updated I’m hopeful that more generations of collectors will benefit from the database of knowledge found in the Archive and hope that keeps collectors going for the long run, as collecting isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.