Author Topic: Whatever Happened to...  (Read 3858 times)

Offline Scott

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Whatever Happened to...
« on: May 5, 2003, 04:17 PM »
This thread is dedicated to: Mike and Wayne Johnson, Chris and Nick Frank, Dana and Eric Larson etc etc

Ever wonder what happened to your Star Wars buddies from childhood.  The above guys were guys I either collected with or role played with.  

I wonder if they are still into as much as I am?  
Would they think it was cool if they saw my collection now?
What made them stop collecting?
I wonder if they have bought any of the modern stuff?

The SW craze during the early 80's was huge and we represent a small fraction of those that have survived, how many sleeping giants are still out there unaware that this world even exists?

Offline JediMAC

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #1 on: May 5, 2003, 04:26 PM »
My best Star Wars collecting friend as a kid was Matt Wallin.  He was the only person in town who had more stuff than I did - be it Star Wars or otherwise.  In fact, I was always a bit jealous of how completely spoiled he was.

So you wanna know what happened to Matt Wallin?  Check the credits for a couple of the Special Edition movies - he went on to work for ILM!!!  I heard he finally moved on a couple years ago - to New York to pursue an Indie film flick career.  But pretty amazing that my childhood best friend, wound up working for the Man himself.  I haven't talked to Matt in MANY years (know another guy who worked at ILM with him), but it's entirely possible my buddy Matt even wound up as one of the extras in the Special Editions, like many other ILMers and Lucasfilm staff members did...

No idea if Matt continued on with his collecting though...  Hey Matt Wallin, you out there anywhere?!?   8)

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #2 on: May 5, 2003, 05:23 PM »
Hmm, not old enough in the sense of collecting to have had friends that collected toys - too old to have collected originally (i.e. vintage).  

But from a slightly different standpoint, I am amazed how few people are still active over at the other board where I did my initial burst of trading.  Lots of great people there, but for the most part, they all seem to be gone or only pop up occasionally.  Really, really transient population.  Matt, Scott, Dale, Bob are guys I traded with that are still around, many others are gone.  Jim doesn't count, cuz we didn't start trading until GH was up and running.  Even lots of Minnesota guys seem to have come and gone.  

 :-[
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Offline dustrho

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #3 on: May 6, 2003, 12:15 AM »
I would have to say some of my friends that I remember playing with on a regular basis were...

-- Dan Gray
-- Brian York
-- Jeff Atten

I have seen or spoken to any of these 3 individuals since I graduated from high school in 1991.  I didn't see these guys at my high school's 10-year reunion, and I don't even have a clue as to where they are today.
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Offline FX-7

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #4 on: May 6, 2003, 11:31 AM »
My childhood buddy was Ricky Runyon, we used to play Star Wars and the GI JOes all day long.  We got in a big fight and his dad yelled at me and we haven't really talked ever again.  He still has my Luke X-Wing too, jerk
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Offline dustrho

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #5 on: May 6, 2003, 12:20 PM »
My childhood buddy was Ricky Runyon, we used to play Star Wars and the GI JOes all day long.  We got in a big fight and his dad yelled at me and we haven't really talked ever again.  He still has my Luke X-Wing too, jerk

That sucks dude.  You should get that Luke figure back from your friend Ricky.  Doesn't sound like much of a friend, huh?
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Offline Scott

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #6 on: May 7, 2003, 09:33 AM »
I had some older neighborhood kids steal some of my figures, never did get them back...the dude is probably selling them on eBay.  I had most everything through Empire which what around 40-50 figures.  I think I have 6 or 7 still, sad, so sad.  Not everyone was as anal retentive as Matt I guess  :-*

Offline CloneF13Y35

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #7 on: May 7, 2003, 10:35 AM »
Well my childhood sw buddy is no lnger with us, he is One with the Force now  :'(
But I keep intouch periodicallywith his family and his brother is open to the idea of letting me have some of his huge SW collection.
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Offline Reconsgt

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #8 on: May 7, 2003, 02:31 PM »
I grew up in the country and really only played SW with my brothers and a cousin. After I got into GI Joes I had a couple of friends I would play with. I really don't know what ever happened to my friends. My youngest brother collects SW along with me but he is not a hardcore collector. He mainly collects becasue I do.
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Offline Membraneman

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #9 on: May 7, 2003, 03:12 PM »
I had a number of Traders that I dealt over the years. Some of you might remember these 2...

SpaceGhost2K  RS and Collectstarwars x at least
40 trades.
Steve1138        RS and Collectstarwars,  just about as many.

And there are many more. People drift away in this hobby.I've seen them come and go.
I FIND, YOU FIND, WE TRADE

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Offline Scott

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #10 on: May 7, 2003, 03:15 PM »
Oh yeah Steve, he was one of the best ever, he got me my Jorg Sacul...I should send him a note.  I saw SpaceGhost make a post over at GH not too long ago

Offline FX-7

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #11 on: May 7, 2003, 03:45 PM »
I might have to go beat Ricky up...jerk.  He probably has him set up in his room somewhere, "The Figure I Stole" sign taped below it
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Offline JediMAC

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #12 on: May 7, 2003, 05:02 PM »
Well my childhood sw buddy is no lnger with us, he is One with the Force now  :'(

Sorry to hear that Frank.  My condolences...   :(

As for my childhood best friend Matt Wallin that I mentioned above, there's been this horribly nagging guilty feeling that I've had to live with for about 25 years now, related to something I kinda did to him and his SW collection.  Maybe if I share my thoughts and come clean to all of you here and offer up my apologies to him in this thread, it will help me to finally face my demons and move on with my life...   :-\   (this is like one of Big Red's stories, so you might want to pull up a chair...)

What happened was this:  I used to take some of my figures to church with me on Sunday mornings to play with and pass the time during the boring service (I'm about 8-9 years old here).  So one Sunday morning, as I was running up the steps of the church, I tripped and fell and landed on my side.  (I'm not clumsy though.  Really, I'm not...   :P)

I immediately realized the potential consequences for my lack of coordination, and quickly pulled out the Death Star Droid figure that I had in my pocket at the time.  Oh dear Lord...  I busted his right hand clean off...   :'(  I was mortified.  This was the first, and only time in my entire life that I had damaged (or even lost) ANYTHING related to my Star Wars collection.  Well, I tried to glue the DSD's hand back on, but to no avail.  I guess glue sucked back in 1979...   :-\

Needless to say, I couldn't live with a less than mint figure (much like today), so I considered my options.  I didn't have the $ to get a new one, and my parent's would've said it was still a perfectly fine figure and therefore likely wouldn't have wanted to replace it.  But alas!  An evil, sinister idea popped into my tiny, pea-sized brain...

I'd swap it with my best friend Matt's Death Star Droid when he wasn't paying attention!   ;D  God, I'm clever...  So later on, off to Matt Wallin's house I went, to play with our SW stuff, his video games, etc., with my busted hand DSD hidden away in my pocket.  I remember that Matt had his Death Star playset out in his room with some figures posed in it - though we weren't playing with it.  He walked out of the room for a moment...  Perfect chance.  Time to make my move!

His Death Star Droid was displayed right there in the Death Star... and BAM!  In the blink of an eye, I swapped my broken DSD from my pocket, with his nice mint, non-broken one in his Death Star!  He came back, we headed off to his video game system, and he never noticed the little Houdini trick I had just pulled on him...  Well, he did notice later on that his DSD was suddenly missing a hand, but he had no idea how the hell it happened, and never thought to accuse his very best friend in the world - ME!   8)

So, therein you see the guilt that I've burdoned myself with over the past quarter century...  Matt, if you're reading this - for my sinister deed, I offer up my most humble apologies to you and your Star Wars collection.  AAAHHH, I feel so much better now after getting that dark little secret of mine off my chest finally...   :)  So, am I a horrible person?   :-[  Will you guys still be my friends...?   :-\   Do you think I'm going to hell for my actions...   :'(

Well, if I do go to hell, I'll be taking Matt Wallin's fine example of a vintage Death Star Droid with me!!!   8)   :P
« Last Edit: May 7, 2003, 05:15 PM by JediMAC »

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #13 on: May 7, 2003, 06:25 PM »
Way back when, Matthew Norris and I were playing outside at his house, when, for no reason at all, he took my IG-88 and threw him on the roof.

I was never able to retrieve it, and have spent most of the last twenty years plotting his death.  If I could only figure out where he moved to. . .

Offline BigDumbWookiee

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Re: Whatever Happened to...
« Reply #14 on: May 7, 2003, 09:47 PM »
Was Steve1138 from Indiana? I could have sworn I met a guy at Midnight Madness who said his RS Screenname was Steve1138...
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