My lightsaber collection to date... (7 Years of the RPF)

[Dewy]

Well it's been more than seven years since I joined the RPF and it's been a lot of fun. I still often lurk but haven't purchased anything new for a long time. To give you a scale as to how much progress I have witnessed in this hobby:...

Back when I joined Graflex's were hard to find, Vader's saber was made from a Heiland in ANH and King Sol in ESB. The only part we KNEW from Kenobi's ANH saber was the graflex clamp!!! Those were exciting times. I've watched many talented artisans come and go and if I was lucky acquired one of their pieces in the process.

I've seen several generations of the RPF in it's various forms (but was never an AOL dinosaur (you old Geezers!! ). I don't know how many of you know me or remember me but I remember a lot of you and just wanted to say thanks for all the good times.

I was feeling all nostalgic today so I decided to break the collection out of storage, dust it off, and take a few photos. For the record not all of these are the state of the art super accurate replicas. In fact most are more sentimental then anything, but that's what's important to me. Only one photo was really worth posting:





Starting from the top and then working downwards left to right:

Roman's Empire DM3
MR Maul
Roman's Empire MkIV
MR Obi LE
MR Vader ANH FX
MR Vader ESB LE
MR Vader ANH LE
Larbel MPP w/ ESB style clamp
Graflex ANH (Yoda's House)
Graflex ESB (Yoda's House)
MR Luke ESB LE
Parks Graflex
Parks Graflex
Biskit Graflex w/ ElvisTrooper Vader ROTJ parts
BobaDebt Han ESB Denix
Larbel Ki-Adi-Mundi (one of, if not the last, saber he sold)
MR Dooku
Larbel Obi TPM EL
Unknown QGJ (not Larbel but based on a Larbel)
Unknown Anakin AOTC (just can't remember the makers name)
Tim Pienta? (Jedi135?) first ever Anakin AOTC
MR FX Anakin AOTC
Lightech Custom Green EL Saber

Feel free to reminisce or post your own collection photos if you're new or old and chime in if you're an oldy like me.

 

[rmschneider104]

What a great thread. I've been around a bit, too. I remember those old beliefs and the new discoveries over the years. I have very fond memories of Larry Larbel's sabers. I have a couple of Janice's sabers (Luke ROTJ and ObiWan ANH). I remember BobaDebt's tutorials (and amazing pictures he had on his site). I purchased my first costume (stormtrooper armor) from Dale at Galaxy Trading. I remember getting a sterling build up from Darkside. Biskit's repro Graflex run (anyone know what happened to him?).

Well it's been more than seven years since I joined the RPF and it's been a lot of fun. I still often lurk but haven't purchased anything new for a long time. To give you a scale as to how much progress I have witnessed in this hobby:...

Back when I joined Graflex's were hard to find, Vader's saber was made from a Heiland in ANH and King Sol in ESB. The only part we KNEW from Kenobi's ANH saber was the graflex clamp!!! Those were exciting times. I've watched many talented artisans come and go and if I was lucky acquired one of their pieces in the process.

I've seen several generations of the RPF in it's various forms (but was never an AOL dinosaur (you old Geezers!! ). I don't know how many of you know me or remember me but I remember a lot of you and just wanted to say thanks for all the good times.

I was feeling all nostalgic today so I decided to break the collection out of storage, dust it off, and take a few photos. For the record not all of these are the state of the art super accurate replicas. In fact most are more sentimental then anything, but that's what's important to me. Only one photo was really worth posting:





Starting from the top and then working downwards left to right:

Roman's Empire DM3
MR Maul
Roman's Empire MkIV
MR Obi LE
MR Vader ANH FX
MR Vader ESB LE
MR Vader ANH LE
Larbel MPP w/ ESB style clamp
Graflex ANH (Yoda's House)
Graflex ESB (Yoda's House)
MR Luke ESB LE
Parks Graflex
Parks Graflex
Biskit Graflex w/ ElvisTrooper Vader ROTJ parts
BobaDebt Han ESB Denix
Larbel Ki-Adi-Mundi (one of, if not the last, saber he sold)
MR Dooku
Larbel Obi TPM EL
Unknown QGJ (not Larbel but based on a Larbel)
Unknown Anakin AOTC (just can't remember the makers name)
Tim Pienta? (Jedi135?) first ever Anakin AOTC
MR FX Anakin AOTC
Lightech Custom Green EL Saber

Feel free to reminisce or post your own collection photos if you're new or old and chime in if you're an oldy like me.

 

[Darth Detroit]

:thumbsupVery imressive!

 

[Crimsonnaire]

Feel free to reminisce or post your own collection photos if you're new or old and chime in if you're an oldy like me.

Yes, you're an old timer here. I recall your screen name since I first joined in December of 2001, during the Dark Age.

It's ironic to think that at the time, I would've purchased every saber I could afford, but now that I can afford them, I've lost interest. Well, actually, I'm in the process of producing a master specimen above the several I own... or every replica in the history of the community, and that'll mark the conclusion of my collection.

Seeing your 135 Anakin AOTC brings back memories. Knowing how inaccurate it was, I would've still bought it if I could afford it at the time, just so I could take it with me to the first viewing of EP2 in theater. It would eventually be my persuit of fulfilling this goal that led to a memorable calamity. Live and learn. But looking back, I wouldn't change a thing knowing the present effect.

2002 marked the peak of the HK sabers, with the Maul and SS editions reaching well above $1000 on eBay, and the overall quality was worth every penny! Aside from the HK Maul, the scarcer UK Maul was more screen accurate, even having a unique weathering that just demanded attention.

MR has come and gone, and among the relatively short list of machined sabers that members attempted to master throughout the years, the Obi TPM remained the most popular. It is now going on 8 years; has this saber been mastered yet??

 

[Ham Solo]

Good to see you around, Dewy.

You don't sound like a youngster anymore.

 

[Johnlep]

That's a very nice collection you have there.

 

[Dewy]

Good to see you around, Dewy.

You don't sound like a youngster anymore.

I guess I'm not... anymore. :cool

Good to see you around too Ham.

 

[micdavis]

Nice collection. Some old stuff there.

When I first came here it must of been right around the time the grenade was "discovered". I was like who doesn't know that.

A friend of mine IDed that back before ESB came out. There was no where to post about it.

Man we lived in the stone age, it seems in retrospect.

 

[moffeaton]

What a great blast from the past! I joined around the premiere of Phantom Menace (having found the RPF through the R2 Builders), lurking for a good six months because I was still learning the landscape. It was just a subforum in a larger Star Wars message board, if I recall correctly, so I too missed the earliest days of the AOL-based RPF that Brandon started.

I remember it moving to a private server thanks to Cliff and Nikki, the Cerney Training Remote kit, the Irish Jedi Droid Caller, the Droidboy Artoo kit with sonotube, the JRitzmann vs. Boba Debt war, the Guy Raz vs. Icons stuff, the Jhyphen vs everybody stuff, GF vs Lucasfilm, my feeling honored to be accepted into T4BB, my curiosity about the Ronin banners and who they were, the private roundtables, the rise and fall of MR, the rise and fall of a dozen other people and projects, the Mike Tait debacle, the EDC debacle, the Jedi 135 debacle...

... sure were a lot of debacles! :lol

But through it all, we have all made friends (and enemies), our interests have grown (and have waned), and our bank accounts have grown (and have shrank and have grown and have shrank)... I am still glad the RPF is around, and no - it will never be 1999 again, but it will always be in my top 5 bookmarks. The RPF is a living thing, changing, growing, shrinking - I wouldn't want to see it any other way!

It has given me so much sheer joy. I'll never forget that first set of Stormtrooper armor (FX - yikes), that first Graflex showing up on my doorstep, trimming rubber saber grips, the rush I felt when Boba Debt's ANH Han Blaster kit came together on my workbench, and the intake of air when I opened the hinges on that first MR Jedi saber - it was just inconceivable that something that sexy was actually in my collection. And hell, it was the people I met here that got me a paying gig making Star Wars stuff, traveling to Skywalker Ranch a half dozen times to document and measure items in the Archives - items that have felt as real to me as anything else in the world since I was a child. Without the RPF, I would have never touched any of the living history from the greatest contemporary myths we have today.

 

[Dewy]

What a great blast from the past! I joined around the premiere of Phantom Menace (having found the RPF through the R2 Builders), lurking for a good six months because I was still learning the landscape. It was just a subforum in a larger Star Wars message board, if I recall correctly, so I too missed the earliest days of the AOL-based RPF that Brandon started.

I remember it moving to a private server thanks to Cliff and Nikki, the Cerney Training Remote kit, the Irish Jedi Droid Caller, the Droidboy Artoo kit with sonotube, the JRitzmann vs. Boba Debt war, the Guy Raz vs. Icons stuff, the Jhyphen vs everybody stuff, GF vs Lucasfilm, my feeling honored to be accepted into T4BB, my curiosity about the Ronin banners and who they were, the private roundtables, the rise and fall of MR, the rise and fall of a dozen other people and projects, the Mike Tait debacle, the EDC debacle, the Jedi 135 debacle...

... sure were a lot of debacles! :lol

But through it all, we have all made friends (and enemies), our interests have grown (and have waned), and our bank accounts have grown (and have shrank and have grown and have shrank)... I am still glad the RPF is around, and no - it will never be 1999 again, but it will always be in my top 5 bookmarks. The RPF is a living thing, changing, growing, shrinking - I wouldn't want to see it any other way!

It has given me so much sheer joy. I'll never forget that first set of Stormtrooper armor (FX - yikes), that first Graflex showing up on my doorstep, trimming rubber saber grips, the rush I felt when Boba Debt's ANH Han Blaster kit came together on my workbench, and the intake of air when I opened the hinges on that first MR Jedi saber - it was just inconceivable that something that sexy was actually in my collection. And hell, it was the people I met here that got me a paying gig making Star Wars stuff, traveling to Skywalker Ranch a half dozen times to document and measure items in the Archives - items that have felt as real to me as anything else in the world since I was a child. Without the RPF, I would have never touched any of the living history from the greatest contemporary myths we have today.

Great read. I hate to be elitist but I sure wouldn't mind a senior member's forum or something like that. Somewhere just to reminisce even more. Good to see some familiar names.

 

[moffeaton]

Can we call it the Springfield Retirement Castle?

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/6/6e/250px-Springfield-retirement.jpg

 

[Dewy]

Can we call it the Springfield Retirement Castle?

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/6/6e/250px-Springfield-retirement.jpg

hahaha I was thinking more along the lines of Old Ben's Den but that works... :lol

 

[Hitogiri]

Sweet collection!

 

[irishjedi]

I'm old, too!

Nice to see my droid caller mentioned again...I don't even have on of my own kits anymore!

Todd

 

[Chingon]

I'm old, too!

Nice to see my droid caller mentioned again...I don't even have on of my own kits anymore!

Todd

Time for another run! I remember having one that was built up by you. It was really great. I only sold it because I decided to scale back my collection to only sabers.

 

[Boba Debt]

It has been an interesting time for the hobby.


I don't know if it's the way the hobby has changed or if it's just me but I have lost interest in collecting and building props, which is very disappointing.

I used to enjoy running Active Projects but now I wouldn't want to do a parts runs if you handed me a blueprint, a list of 100 pre-paid people and a shop that was willing to make it.

Currently I have several props to finish but they're so low on the priority list that I doubt I'll ever get to them.

I might sell a few of my base guns such as the Nemrod spear gun and the air gun used for the Bespin Guard Blaster since I'll never get around to building them into props, and I've considered selling most of my props.

The only reason I haven't acted on these impulses is that I'm hoping I'm just in a slump.

......the JRitzmann vs. Boba Debt war.......

Funny you should mention this.

Many people got down right nasty with me when I called out Jeff on his claim that the Han ANH Flash Hider was a Fire Extinguisher Nozzle.

Most thought I was crazy because I called the fire house he claimed to have visited to check out his story.

Now we all know I was right and Jeff was a flat out liar, yet no one, as far as I can remember has offered an apology.

I guess it's easier to attack someone then it is to swallow your pride and apologize.

 

[Prometheus]

Heya you old timers!

 

[CeSquared]

2002 marked the peak of the HK sabers, with the Maul and SS editions reaching well above $1000 on eBay, and the overall quality was worth every penny! Aside from the HK Maul, the scarcer UK Maul was more screen accurate, even having a unique weathering that just demanded attention.

Ha! I was one of the people that got $1000.00 on eBay for my EL M with blades. I still have the printout just to remind me how crazy that was. I miss that hilt though. The matte finish with the polished emitters was just beautiful.

I also got $750 for my SS O with Jedivic valve. #23 out of the original 24.

Thankfully, I've since replaced it with 1 out of 2 numbered Larbel "super accurate" O's. :love

 

[Hitogiri]

Impressive.... Most impressive.....

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

I'm old, too!

Nice to see my droid caller mentioned again...I don't even have on of my own kits anymore!

Todd

Todd,I still have mine with the SF Props greeblie kit and it's on my ANH Han mannequin display!

I remember a few years back getting nearly $800 for just the helmet of a GT Stormtrooper that I customized the interior of. I was really surprised, but a sale that I'll never forget! Try that today.......

Things have changed and as Dave mentioned I too have thought about selling lots of my stuff. I've had a Snowtrooper costume for nearly a year and haven't touched it regarding assembly...again, hopefully it's a slump.

I'll always be a sideliner since I do like the hobby and like watching things evolve and all the new discoveries.