My Star Wars Toy Collection, circa 1977-1983

When I was a kid in the late 1970s, I collected two very different types of toys: Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, and Star Wars! I know, it's hard to understand how a 7-10 year old little Chinese girl could have a fascination with these two things that seem so very different from the other. I can't explain it. I still love them both!

Most of my Raggedy Ann collection still lives in my old room at my parent's house in Milpitas. (I'm in big trouble when they decide to move!) My Star Wars collection has been boxed and stored in my Mom's closet for at least a couple of decades now. Every great once in a while, I take them out to look at and reminisce. I remember taking it all out in 1999 with my sister and Mykail, when Star Wars, Episode 1 was released. Before that, Terri and I took all my Star Wars toys out in the summer of 1986 and did a hilarious mini-movie with the action figures, using the Story of Star Wars album in the background.

This morning, I called my Mom to ask a favor. My parents are visiting me in Seattle later this week, and I was wondering if she could bring my old die-cast X-Wing fighter with her. My friend, Nicole, needs a small X-Wing model as reference for a piece of art she's working on, and I offered to lend it to her.

I just received these three photos from my Mom - I loved that she displayed them all like this, and sent me the photos. As far as I know, I never took any photos of my collection before. This is mostly all the pieces I have. I know my Droid Factory play set is missing, and assorted comic books and collectors cards live someone in my closet. Oh, and of course, I have two stuffed Ewoks.. :)

It's a good collection - not bad for a 7-year old girl who fell in love with the original Star Wars when it came out. I was obsessed, and saw it multiple times in the theater. I had all of the action figures for the first two films, and some from the third - I started to out-grow it by the time Return of the Jedi came out. (I didn't outgrow the movies - just wasn't into getting all the toys.) I had 3 play sets: The Hoth Play Set, and the Cantina Play Set. These were a big deal to me because of how large they were, and how much space they took up. Generally, my parents only let me buy the smaller-sized items like the action figures and miniature die-cast models of the ships. I did have a full-sized X-Wing Fighter, a sonic control Land Speeder, and a Imperial Transport Machine that had cool sound effects. :) You'll also notice the Dewback and the Tauntaun. Cool stuff.

Thanks for sending the photos, Mom! It's fun to see all these great pieces together again!

Oh, and thanks for letting me collect these in the first place. I still love them!!


The Vehicles - mostly from Episodes IV and V:
X-Wing, large and small, Sonic Contolled Landspeeder, Imperial Transport, and small die-cast versions of the Y-Wing Fighter, Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter, Imperial Star Destroyer, Millennium Falcon , and the regular Tie Fighter


the Playsets from Hoth and The Cantina
Also shows my Tauntaun, Dewback, and remote controlled R2-D2


The action figures - complete sets from Episode IV and IV, and a few from VI.
Note that the mail-in only Jabba Fett is in there. I also have the original Star Wars Figures Stand that I had to collect 12 proof of purchases and main them in for. It's not pictured here

...and now you know just how geeky my childhood was. :)