Re-organizing My Entire Star Wars Collection

[Tycho]

I rented an extra storage unit (now I'm up to three) for the space to sort out everything and do a brand new complete inventory.

My new unit is right next to my other two (the PT and OT ones).

I've gotten about 1/2 way through The Phantom Menace in my first day's work (Saturday 9-12-09). It looks like it will take about 3 days worth of work per movie. That's alright. I plan to rent the unit until December, maybe January. Then I'll have everything returned to the original two, cramped units, but organized.

I'm color-coding the box labels to coincide with the rooms the separated scenes will be put into when I buy a large house.

TPM yeilded:

White (Trade Federation / 3-way-Jedi Duel)
Green (Theed, Gungan Battle)
Olive (Otah Gunga, Swamps)
Tan Rm 1 (Tatooine)
Black (Coruscant)

It is very hot down in the basement level of my storage facility and I expect to be soaked and in bad need of a shower each time I emerge from the day's work down there. As it takes a whole day's commitment, I can probably manage to work at it one day a week, maybe adding a day or two in there some times. Thus I think my estimate of the 3-4 months is accurate.

I'm actually not surprised I amassed so much stuff over all these years though.

In my Naboo Street Fight (for Theed) for example, I have 19 Battle Droids and about 20 Naboo / Jedi personnel (plus R2-D2). I'm looking into making sure I have an AAT Tank and Flash Speeder, Walking Vulcher Droid, etc. for that scene.

It's certainly interesting and I'm still excited to get back to it. That'll happen probably later in the week as I have other things I'm doing right now.

[Droid]

Will the heat hurt the figures?

[Tycho]

Doesn't seem to. I think it's only me who is getting hot down there from all that moving boxes around. Besides, the heat is seasonal. Then comes the cold...

[Slicker]

Will the heat hurt the figures?

I wouldn't think it would hurt his since they're loose but with mine I've noticed I have some warping from the weather changes in MI. I really need to get a climate controlled shed.

[Ji'dai]

I wouldn't think it would hurt his since they're loose but with mine I've noticed I have some warping from the weather changes in MI. I really need to get a climate controlled shed.

You mean the cards are warping? I have both loose and carded/boxed toys in storage exposed to extremes of heat and cold. I've had a figure or two stick together that was not bagged, so now every loose figure is separately bagged.

Some of my carded figures have curled cardbacks and I've noticed that the humidity changes can cause mildew to form on boxed toys that are stored closely together inside totes or boxes. I haven't noticed any other ill effects though.

Although my stored collection isn't organized by movie I do have a complete inventory (in Excel & HTML) of the stuff I have in storage. Makes it a lot easier to find something instead of having to dig through every box or tote.

[Droid]

I used to bag each figure separately and then I read that if they can't breath its bad for them. You can't win on figure storage.

Ji'dai, that G.I. Joe comic is the first Joe comic I ever read. Then I went back and read the others.

[SirSteve]

I've noticed your new collections on CollectionStation. How have they been helping you get organized?

[Tycho]

I've noticed your new collections on CollectionStation. How have they been helping you get organized?

I'm going to be able to really test the extent of the CS system once I have everything cataloged in my storage. I have no broadband / cell reception down in "the dungeon" so I'm doing it by the old pen & paper method for the meanwhile.

When I come up to the surface, so to speak, I can then add my stuff to CS for a great back-up (and easily updated) record of what I have once my work "in the dungeon" gets done.

[Tycho]

Almost a month later, I finally (almost) have The Phantom Menace finished.

I have every individual scene's figure and vehicle components in it's own box.

Now I have to double-check everything and record my inventory, like for example, Qui-Gon softgoods (end of 1999) comes with a commlink that can test things like midichlorians, too. Since it was key that Anakin was tested and it was determined that he should be trained, I wanted to make that scene outside the slave hovel. Well, I loaned the soft-goods Qui-Gon's commlink to a Jedi Duel Qui-Gon who is wearing the Tatooine accessory poncho.

I'm just noting everything in case I ever want to put complete figures back together again - so at least I know where everything is. Clone Troopers will be borrowing rifles and blasters, and so on.

I'm dismayed by how many of the battle droids' legs have warped. When I finally rebuild these scenes in a new home, I will be spending a lot of time just boiling water and reforming my figures.

I also noticed the left back leg on the Faamba doesn't touch the ground. Was this the way it always was? I guess it's sculpted to look like it's advancing with the Gungan Army.

It was cool to add the purple travel gown Amidala to the Royal Starship crew - and the Naboo Soldiers that came out in 2006 and 2007 (yellow and red). Reminds me, I want to check Wookieepedia to see what their uniform colors mean: rank? service? I want to make my scenes more realistic.

I think AOTC and especially ROTS will go much quicker, because I've got an organization system down now.

[Tycho]

I finished The Phantom Menace today - everything accounted for!

I brought home the Naboo Royal Starship with the blockade-running crew (all the appropriate astromechs included) as "a reward."

I also moved over everything I found from AOTC to the new storage unit to be worked on as I move on.

PROGRESS!

Anyway, AOTC has much smaller, tighter scenes except for the air speeder chase on Coruscant, and then, of course, when you get to Geonosis!