I honestly do not know exactly how many items I have in my collection, but I know that it’s very extensive. If I had to take a hypothetical guess I would have to say a few thousand individual pieces give or take, but that’s just a guess. I have always been interested in collecting and as a child I had small hobbies, like collecting stamps and coins. Growing up Star Wars was my favorite movies and series of toys, but I sold my childhood toys except for a few pieces as a young adult (I am very, very sorry for that). In 1998/99 with the exciting news that the original trilogy was going to be re-released, followed by Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace I decided that it would be cool to get back into collecting Star Wars. So with every new Star Wars item I bought I started to re-live my childhood and it was very addicting and fun.

Anything I buy new I keep in its original packaging except anything that was bought opened, like off eBay or something. I know that a lot of collectors say that they take their figures out to display and enjoy them and that’s fine, but for me I love to keep things as new as possible and leaving them in their boxes or packages will make sure that the figure inside will be kept as new as possible. I do not have any intentions of selling my collection, but the value dose rise when things are kept new.
I have a lot of The Power of the Force 2 figures bought out of their packages and mostly all my original figures are also out of their packages and I do enjoy picking them up and looking at them. It is very satisfying to be able to pick them up and hold them and it does cross my mind sometimes to open everything I have to play with, but to me the packaging is as important to the collection as is the figure inside.

The original trilogy in my opinion will always be the best; these were the three that started it all. I love the look and packaging of the newer figures, but the new toys (1995 and up) do not compare to the original toys made by Kenner. The vintage part of my Star Wars collection is honestly my favorite and it’s something I take pride in and love to talk about.

It's hard to create a new product line, Star Wars seems to have explored all possible marketing angles, but if I could create a new line of Star Wars memorabilia it would have to be more interactive toys and more different kinds of action figures from the movies.

I currently store my Star Wars collection in what’s now known as my “Star Wars Closet”. I am really looking forward to buying a house in a few years so I can get my collecting room to showcase all my Star Wars and other interests, like vintage video game consoles and toys from the 1980’s. My fiancée Allison is very supportive in my collection, but she is quick to remind me when I start to get carried away, and I do get carried away from time to time.

One of the best things about collecting is sharing the passion for collecting with your child. My six year old daughter collects things of her own and keeps them freely in their original packages displayed in her room. I am very proud that she’s showing an interest in collecting and has done so from a very young age and she takes pride in knowing that as long as she keeps her Disney dolls in their original packages they will always be new. She has dolls she collects and dolls she plays with, she decides what she wants to open and what she wants to keep new and that's part of the fun. I will pass my collection down to my daughter in time.