A Little On 1994, the SWCA, and Fandom
It is amazing what a lasting impact the year 1994 has had on the timeline of Star Wars fandom. It marked the end of the Dark Times, an era that lasted roughly 10 years from 1984-1994 with very little in the way of new projects or products. While 1994 did see the start of some new items like books, comics, audio books and trading cards, it soon made way for an onslaught in the years to follow. Looking back we really have had a wealth of new collectibles every single year since 1994.
What 1994 did have going for it was a little thing called the internet. Then, a vast rolling tundra with new users joining every day to stake out their own points of interest online. For the first generation of Star Wars fans that grew up seeing the original releases in the theater, the internet became a place to connect. There they realized that there were many others out there that still loved Star Wars as much as they did despite having no new films on the horizon. Friendships were forged online, information was shared and places like the Star Wars Collecting Archive (SWCA) were born. For many, the SWCA became a fountain of information that evolved as fans shared more of their collecting knowledge and experience.
These early contributors to the SWCA went on to create their own gatherings, write books, and panels for future events like Star Wars Celebration.
Some of us had a seat just behind the front row of the SWCA in 1994, a generation of Star Wars fans I’ll term as 1.5. Our older siblings grew up seeing the movies in the theater. We didn’t collect the toys in the '80s because we were a little too young. Our time came in 1995 when VHS tapes of the Trilogy were re-released “for the last time” and Kenner brought back Power of the Force action figures. Who says teenagers can’t collect action figures?!
As a member of Star Wars generation 1.5, I knew the internet existed in 1994 but didn’t really use it till 1999 and didn’t collect till 1995. Up until that time, Netscape was just a thing I noticed classmates used at lunchtime in the high school library. That changed when I got to college and started looking for my own community. I stumbled across Toys R Gus probably after searching for "Seattle SARLACC." I had heard rumblings of a Seattle based collecting club of Star Wars collectors and wanted to join. I recall the landing page looking like this.
But within a few clicks I landed at the SWCA. After reading my fair share of Star Wars Insider magazines and living by the collector articles, I was down the rabbit hole. The SWCA was a massive deep dive into what I felt must have been every collectible ever! So my joining SARLACC was delayed for a bit as I was distracted by all the things that could be learned over at the Archive.
Slight detour here as SARLACC is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as one of the oldest Star Wars collecting clubs. The search for SARLACC and getting to join proved elusive to me but the payoff of joining was worth the wait. While SARLACC was what had started my search for Star Wars community online, the SWCA is what kept me returning week after week to see what new items were shared.
I am extremely thankful that the SWCA came along when it did. I would further like to express my thanks to Gus Lopez who not only welcomed me at my first SARLACC meeting (in August 2006) but also invited me to volunteer at the Star Wars Celebration Collecting Track (2007-onwards) and to be a guest editor at the Archive Blog (2014). Thank you Gus for welcoming me to this community and providing me the opportunity to have a seat at the collecting table. Here I have found friendships with people that I consider extended family. I would like to add in here that Gus must have been rather busy in 1994 as he was finishing up graduate degrees while also starting the SWCA and helping found SARLACC. Nothing like having no time on ones hands to create some of the most lasting impacts to the history of Star Wars collecting fandom!
Happy 30th SWCA (and SARLACC) may this be a year of celebrating our past as we look forward to the future.
