The spark that started it all....

This is the story of one of my hobbies and how I came to really enjoy playing with and eventually collecting action figures.  It started with a movie, then Saturday morning cartoons and then it was further fueled by my love for sports and the silver screen.

In June of 1983, my uncle took me and my two cousins to see a movie called "Return of the Jedi". I was 8 years old and simply put... the movie blew me away!!! Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-won Kenobi, Chewbacca, C3PO, R2-D2.... these characters were just plain cool. Luke Skywalker's "sword", the light saber, was the coolest weapon ever!!! To this point in my life I really wasn't into watching movies or TV. I spent most of my time in school or outdoors playing with my friends.  Then I found that Return of the Jedi was part three of the Star Wars saga, eventually I saw Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.  A few months later a friend of mine showed me Star Wars figures that his dad bought him.  I think he had Obi-Won, Luke Skywalker and Greedo.  I was mesmerized, to see these characters on the big screen was cool, but to be able to have a Han Solo action figure in the palm of your hand was awesome!!!!  I played with the action figures for a few hours at my friends house and the second I walked into my house I ran up to my mom "mami, can you pleaaaseee buy me some Star Wars figures????"   

I grew up in the inner city and we didn't have a lot of money (when I write that "I walked into my house..." I mean our apartment) so it wasn't often that my mom could afford to buy me toys. About 6-8 times a year we took the bus to downtown crossing so my mom can shop for clothes, although I disliked going shopping with her because she took FOREVER, she would always buy me a Star Wars action figure before we went home.  We would go to Sherman's Department store located on Bromfield Street because they had the best Star Wars figures in the area, they were in a locked glass case and I'm pretty sure it was so that the shoplifters wouldn't walk away with the goods.  My mom must have bought me 8-10 Star Wars figures within a year... this was the beginning of my love for action figures, this was the spark that started it all...