SWTOTD SWTOTD 16 - Collectibles 12:03 PM | Zeroplate Running parallel in the history of Star Wars fandom are two powerful streams that have given George Lucas the momentum to make the prequels, build ILM, and loose the definition between his chin and his neck. The first stream, and the one that inspires most of this blog, and all the Star Wars nuttiness that goes on around here is the nostalgia stream. It's a pure and joyous kind of reliving of youth through movies that captivated our imaginations as kids. It's the kind of innocent fun memories that pop up whenever I see a lightsaber on a screen or see some kid with a skateboard with Stormtroopers on it. The second, more slippery and potentially sinister stream, is the greed stream. This is born from the realization that the nostalgia stream is a potential profit center, and while it helps fuel the nostalgia stream (I'm mixing metaphors now,) it also feeds off of it and cannibalizes the good will built up by the pure enjoyment of the movies. The latest addition to this greed stream comes in the way of "food collectibles," a category of collectibles I didn't even know existed! While I've tasted the C3PO's cereal and seen the Frito Lay chip bags with Episode II characters, I never considered really collecting these things. Food has a limited shelf life, sodas eventually bust or leak from old cans, and so on. Lucasfilm's licensing deals now have them set to topple the world of "food collectibles" with the introduction of 72 individual M&M's wrappers with different Star Wars characters on them. Mars/M&M is even launching a new flavor with this promotion, a dark chocolate peanut m&m (which I'll admit, I am intrigued to try,) called "Darth Flavor" or something. It doesn't stop there, of course, as the Fritos bags are back, Burger King is in tow, there are already Darth Vader and Chewbacca lollipops hitting stores, and who knows what else? Look, I'm as big a fan of this crap as you're going to find. This blog and any number of other things are proof of that. But can't we all just agree to draw the line somewhere reasonable? I realize what's reasonable for one person is tracking down every last Star Wars Japanese Diet Pepsi Bottle Cap for another, but really... can't we steer this collectible market in a way that's a little more useful or proudctive or at least less cheap and disposable? Of course we can't, because the very act of collecting is itself something that serves very little purpose other than to be a cue for that nostalgia stream or to satiate some OCD tendancies in people. So like all things that you spend the time to reflect on in life, the dual nature of Star Wars fandom teaches a lesson. There are two sides to being a fan, and they can't exist without each other, and there's a little bit of both sides in all of us, but we're fighting a battle to keep from being... wait, this sounds vaguely familiar. Damn. Back to Top {4} Comments

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