A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

General Grievous is one of the several villainous "tools" used by Darth Sidious in his quest to destroy the Jedi Order in the waning days of the Republic. Photo Credit: © 2018 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd.. (LFL)  The Black Series When Hasbro introduced its ongoing The Black Series  (TBS)  collection of Star Wars toys in 2013, I was up to my forehead in the duties of being a caregiver to my ill parent. Even though I shopped online for new books, home media editions of movies I'd missed during their theatrical runs, music, and the occasional computer game, I didn't look for Star Wars collectibles of any sort. I had to choose my purchases carefully, and at the time I thought that spending $15 or more on Star Wars figures, vehicles, and other Hasbro products was a bit unseemly given my circumstances. I found out about the TBS line roughly around the time that Lucasfilm was getting ready to release Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. I saw some of the 3.75-in ...

Photo Credit: Hasbro, Inc. Packaging design ©2018 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) When I began to collect Star Wars action figures in 1978, I decided that I would not try to be a "completist" and stick to the small 3.75-inch scale figures that were all the rage when Kenner introduced them early that year. Even at the age of 15, I suspected that I'd never be able to afford every collectible Kenner produced, let alone every collectible made by all of the other licensees that belatedly jumped on board the Star Wars bandwagon in the late 1970s and early '80s. I couldn't afford it all, and even if I could, where would I store it? Over the years, my collection grew from two action figures (R2-D2 and C-3PO) and one vehicle (Luke's Landspeeder) to several hundred figures and at least 15 vehicles, most of them in the aforementioned 3.75-inch scale collections made by Kenner Toys and its eventual parent company and successor, Hasbro. And as toymaking tec...