the phantom menace action figures

star wars episode 1 1999-2001 in 1999 a long awaited dream came true for star wars fans when episde 1:the phantom menace was released. after more then 20 years, the story of the fall of the republic and the destruction of the jedi knights commenced. the movie dealt with the final adventure of jedi master qui-gon jinn and his padawan, obi-wan kenobi and revealed the first moves of the sith infiltrator at the heart of the republic. new characters had to be created, since the movie takes place at a time before most of the popular heroe were born. Three years in the making allowed the producers to come up with a great marketing concept; regular household items such as mugs or towels were upgraded to collectables. The toy stores introduced new items that were of interest to small and big kids alike. the frenzy began two weeks before the official start of the movie in the USA. On may 3rd 1999, many big department stores opened their doors at midnight to present fans with the new series of collectablesw; sales were huge and ran into the millions. thanks to the internet, the new toys were offered to collectors around the world immediately and were sold on for prices much higher then those in the store.