OK, I'm feeling old. While cruising through eBay looking for the last few pieces for my Kenner collection (and for the Photo Archive feature I'm currently working on) I've come across many auctions titled 'Vintage' even though it's what -up until now- I had considered 'modern'. As it turns out, many sellers are listing
Power Of The Force 2 (1995-2000) as 'vintage', and it got me thinking.
At first, the concept turned my stomach, but you know what? I'm the one in the wrong. The reason being that there is a very strong generational divide between the
Original Star Wars Generation and the modern
Star Wars Generation. That isn't saying one is more important than the other, because that is simply not true. In fact, the
Original Star Wars Generation owes nothing less than the greatest respect and the most heartfelt appreciation to the modern
Star Wars Generation. With out new fans, us oldies would be reminiscing three films from our childhood and a finite collection of toys that just barely made it past 100 action figures.
Since the Kenner line was dubbed 'vintage' in the early Nineties -less than a decade after it ended- by the people who played with the toys as children, and then at that point were in their twenties, it is only fair the children that grew up playing with the 1995 toys should now, in their twenties, be able to call their childhood collections 'vintage'. Perhaps as a community we need to redefine our terminology to properly respect the modern
Star Wars collecting community by calling Kenner's
Star Wars collection (1978-1985) "The Original Collection" and pass over the 'Vintage' title to the next (current) generation.
Considering the fact that the modern era of
Star Wars collecting is moving comfortingly into its sixteenth consecutive year, it is time to pass the torch to the new
Star Wars collectors, and honour the line that has served as a central focus of their love for
Star Wars for so long.
Follow this link and scroll down to
see what I mean.
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