Toy $tory: Looking at the Madness from the Inside

On the night of May 2, I got my first taste of the fervor that will surround the release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace next week. On this chilly night, I found myself standing in line at approximately a quarter to midnight, waiting for doors to be opened--the doors of Toys 'R Us, which was holding a special event to commemorate the release of toys for the new film.

Being an avid Star Wars fan, I found myself in good company. As we stood in line, customers debated how the toys would be set up, which action figures would be more rare than others and their excitement at the imminent release of the film itself. One fellow had just come off the plane from Colorado, where the Lucasfilm-sponsored Star Wars Celebration convention. Another fan strolled up and down the line dressed as Darth Vader, waving a toy light saber menacingly at the laughing crowd. Of course, this was a mere taste of the chaos that will surround ticket lines in a few weeks.

When the doors opened, it seemed fairly organized. The line moved steadily inside, turned a corner and found the toys. Then it became a little more typical: some pushing, some shoving, some grabbing in bins and at racks. Having to catch the T, I grabbed the three figures I was looking for and beat it to the cashiers. Behind me, dozens of fans were scooping up every toy their arms, or carts, could hold. But why would toys be enough of a draw for dozens of people to wait for hours in line for their release? The fact of the matter is that one of the most important components of the Star Wars phenomenon always has been and always will be merchandising. As one customer related to another in line, George Lucas actually gave up his cut for the first Star Wars film in exchange for the merchandising rights. It turned out to be a brilliant move.

While Star Wars characters and logos now adorn nearly every type of product imaginable, one of the first and foremost products created for the original film was a series of action figures by a relatively small toy company called Kenner. Many stories surround the inception of the figures, but what is known for certain is that their small size (less than four inches) was a radical departure from the larger superhero figures of the late '70s. The figures' small size allowed Kenner to make vehicles and playsets that the figures could interact with easily but wouldn't take up half a room and cost hundreds of dollars.

Star Wars figures, with a price of less than $2, were a big sell for years, all the way through Return of the Jedi. Around the late '80s, the line began to die out, and Star Wars merchandise became fodder for liquidation stores and thrift shops--and wise collectors. The early '90s saw a wave of nostalgia for the Star Wars films, and the action figures, now no longer in general circulation, became a hot commodity. Dealers thrived until Kenner unveiled a second, brand-new Star Wars figure line in 1995. Cashing in on nostalgic fans and people excited by rumors of the new film in the works, this new line was strongly influenced by an older fan base that demanded better sculpting and quality control than the previous line had provided.

The culmination, of course, came on the night of May 2, as Kenner entered a new era of toy production with the Phantom Menace toys. But where once there were excited little kids, now there were 30-year-old collectors buying multiples of each figure, one to open and one or two (or more) to keep in the package.

After the big rush, many Toys 'R Us stores, including the one in Alewife, pulled most of their regular Phantom Menace action figures off the shelves a few days after the release, to hold them until the film opens, when they will reportedly be released for a lower price. While this may ostensibly serve to combat the collectors who took half the merchandise in the first place, I can't help but remember what it was like for me as a kid, when I went to get that new figure I was excited about and had to settle for some guy I'd never heard of or, worse yet, an action figure from another line entirely.

Star Wars, in conjunction with a few other collector-driven lines, has managed to pull much of the focus away from the intended customers (children); collectors, with hundreds of dollars to spend on figures and a much more vocal presence on the Internet, determine the course of several toy lines. While I have nothing against collectors, I question whether they need to have four of each figure, when they could perhaps just buy two. If the kids get the other two and open them, then the collectors' figures will be that much more valuable. But most importantly, the kids get to enjoy them; that's what they're made for.