sort of off topic:The sheer sadness of us

[Devo]

As I read down through various threads with people listing off figures they wanted it occured to me the extent to which we are all invested in Star Wars and toy collecting. Lets take a moment to laugh at ourselves. To laugh at the fact that most of us here can name and give a brief history of every obscure background character in every shot from the films. That we go so far as to call the third droid from the left in the jawa sandcrawler our 'favourite character' in all the films. The way we can say we were 'disappointed' when Hasbro made one 'when the hell was he in the film' character rather than another that we had been 'longing for since childhood'. Aren't we all terribly sad people? Before anyone takes offence bear in mind that I include myself in this. Its just wierd isn't it?

There's probably not much scope for response to this thread but I suppose if it picks up a lot of 'views' then it has fulfilled its purpose.

[Beast]

I don't think we're really sad. More like, really dedicated to the Star Wars universe. It's no different then LOTR's fans that can rattle off all the character names and their family trees. Or Comic fans that can rattle off the names of all the mutants from Marvel's X-Men and their histories. After all, most of us grew up with these movies. They helped forge who we are as adults. And one of the things many of us always used to wonder, is who is this character? What are they? What's there story? And before the West End Games books, most of them were unknown characters that just shared a moment of screen time and facinated us. But then West End Games came along, with their RPG source books. And filled in all this massive ammounts of characters that had before been a mystery. Sad, not really. Overly dedicated, probably. Obsessed, definatly.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[I am Jabba the Hutt]

Nothing wrong with being very interested in something. I'm very interested in Great White Sharks and can probably name loads of obscure facts about them. I have been referred to as "a Shark Geek" a few times but I don't care cause I enjoy reading about them.

The way I see it. The world would be a better place if more people were interested in Star Wars and watching the movies and collecting the figures as opposed to being bored and going out causing trouble and taking drugs etc.

Jar Jar's right, we are who we are and I for one wouldn't change who I am for the world. Growing up with Star Wars was a great thing, I've loved it my whole life. The only people who understand Star Wars fans are Star Wars fans. The people on this site are very cool, normal people who have a shared passion for all things Jedi.

There are people like Stamp Collectors who are seen as sad but as long as they enjoy it and get fun out of doing it, that's all that matters.

[Turbowars]

Sad? Where do you get sad of of something that some of us enjoy? Maybe you think of yourself being sad collecting this stuff, but when I'm not here shooting the shiit, Life goes on. SW is a part of me and that's that. Is it sad to know everything to know about fishing, movies, racing, or football? No, it's others hobbies and thats not sad at all. Sad is not having anything to do.Oh and I'm not one that can name every character in SW. Sometimes I think I should, but don't. My wife asked me sometimes what a certain Characters name is and I have no clue.

[I am Jabba the Hutt]

No, it's others hobbies and thats not sad at all. Sad is not having anything to do.

Couldn't agree more dude. I see some people who are real sad. They hang around on street corners drinking cause they have no hobbies and cause they're bored.

To me, we're the cool people.

[jjreason]

Sad? Maybe to others, but Im not overly concerned about it. Some people would have a look at this site and think we're out to lunch, but nearly everyone has some money-pit area of interest. Some people can't get enough of tweaking out their cars or computers, some people buy baseball cards you'd have to get a mortgage to afford. We, for the most part, are passionate about a series of movies and the related 14 billion pieces of plastic. Same thing, just channelled differently.

To live life without a passion would be much sadder I think.

[Devo]

Ok I regret my use of the word 'sad'. I personally don't see it as sad anymore than someone passionate about fishing would see themselves as sad. And Turbowars you imply that I must not enjoy this hobby when in fact that couldn't be more wrong. However we would be perceived as 'sad' by some people. I shouldn't have implied that those people are right, indeed I find myself looking down on people who believe themselves in a position to make those kinds of judgements.

Lately though I've been getting an impression from my mum that she 'worries' about the fact that I still collect toys (the only one opening toys at christmas and I'm not the youngest in my family) and am quite admittedly obsessed with it. A lot of you are in full-time jobs and,judging by the vast armies of figures you build up, you certainly have the resources for the hobby. I get pocket money (third level student). So I suppose she's concerned that so much of that is going on toys and too little on that pesky social life scene.

Now look what you made me go on about by objecting to my use of the word 'sad'-why couldn't you all have just gone along with the joke instead of making me go on the defensive? I don't know what it is but on Spawn.com and now here the main thrusts of my threads (the good humoured bits about remembering the names of fleetingly seen aliens) are passed over in favour of some small detail that people object to-if I could get the smilies to work this is where I'd have a frustrated icon.

[Turbowars]

Ok I regret my use of the word 'sad'. I personally don't see it as sad anymore than someone passionate about fishing would see themselves as sad. And Turbowars you imply that I must not enjoy this hobby when in fact that couldn't be more wrong. However we would be perceived as 'sad' by some people. I shouldn't have implied that those people are right, indeed I find myself looking down on people who believe themselves in a position to make those kinds of judgements.

Lately though I've been getting an impression from my mum that she 'worries' about the fact that I still collect toys (the only one opening toys at christmas and I'm not the youngest in my family) and am quite admittedly obsessed with it. A lot of you are in full-time jobs and,judging by the vast armies of figures you build up, you certainly have the resources for the hobby. I get pocket money (third level student). So I suppose she's concerned that so much of that is going on toys and too little on that pesky social life scene.

Now look what you made me go on about by objecting to my use of the word 'sad'-why couldn't you all have just gone along with the joke instead of making me go on the defensive? I don't know what it is but on Spawn.com and now here the main thrusts of my threads (the good humoured bits about remembering the names of fleetingly seen aliens) are passed over in favour of some small detail that people object to-if I could get the smilies to work this is where I'd have a frustrated icon.

What did you think we were going to do, agree that all our lives are sad? Dude don't worry about your Mum telling you stuff like that. As you know they will be trying to tell you what to do all your life. I'm 28 and I get crap from my parents all the time, but not about SW collecting. They know I enjoy it so they don't care. That's not to say I didn't party when I was in High school. Hell I didn't collect SW until a year or 2 after High school. I had football and girls to deal with. Now it's the wife and SW to worry about, oh and that other thing I do 40+ hours a week, building high rises.

[Devo]

Now that you put it that way your reaction is understandable but please try not to focus in on the fact that I stupidly (just look at my sig!!) used the word 'sad', which I've already apologised for and myself rejected. If you could look past that perhaps and have a sense of humour about this hobby we have in common then you'll have gotten to the root of what I meant with this thread. I'm beginning to think I should never again attempt humour in a posting forum as it apparently doesn't translate well in writing.

Actually would anyone happen to know if its possible to edit the title of the thread and an old post so hereafter people will get my meaning which was only good natured I assure you.

[bobafrett]

I'd take Star Wars collecting over sitting on a bar stool every night until closing time, or spending my money on drugs. Star Wars and collecting it's toys gives me a high, and it's still here for me to enjoy for the rest of my life. Anyway, I really need to get to bed. Got an early day tomorrow.