Star Wars Fan Assembles a Galaxy at Design Exchange
"We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life."
- C-3PO from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
He just can't catch a break, shown above (a reproduction mask, anyway) decapitated all over again at Ian A. Anthony's Assembly a Galaxy exhibit at the Design Exchange.
In the relatively short time that I've been contributing to blogTO, it's rare that I've been able to reveal my true geek nature, but I'm thinking that this just might do the trick.
You might say 37 year-old Ian Anthony enjoys Star Wars. His personal collection of Star Wars action figures, reproduction props, posters, and set pieces will surely bring any child of the 70's or 80's back a few years to their childhoods.
Visiting Anthony's exhibit at the Design Exchange just a few weeks after the 30th anniversary of the series brought back fond memories and plenty of nostalgia in seeing all the action figures and memorabilia on display.
A helmet signed by Albin Johnson, the founder of the 501st Legion, AKA "Vader's Fist," an international organization of (usually) costumed Star Wars fans that attend charity events, film launches, and the like.
Believe it or not, Ian only started his sizable collection after the last Star Wars movie, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He didn't waste any time though, and began scouring eBay for new and rare collectibles, "Instead of trying to get every action figure, I tried to get the first editions; The first Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and so on."
An advertisement in the Toronto Star on June 22, 1977, two days before the first film's launch date in Toronto.
The exhibit also has quite a few of local historical pieces on display, such as the ad shown above, tickets from the Toronto opening at the Odeon Finch Temple theatre, and handbills announcing the film's opening at the Varsity and Fairview theatres.
Original Darth Vader and Obi-Wan figures do battle inside the Death Star, the first Star Wars playset that stands at two feet tall, and comes complete with all accessories, instructions, and associated action figures. Fan boys, eat your hearts out!
What I found truly remarkable about the exhibit is that there's a story behind every collected piece.
Ian remembers the year of the first film's release, "In 1977, I was 8 years old, and my Mom was a religious person, so she didn't want my brothers or I to see it because she thought the Force was a negative influence." In an ironic side note, little did she know that around 20,000 Canadians would later mark their religion as 'Jedi' in the 2001 Canadian census.
As fate would have it, that wouldn't be the end to Anthony's run-in with the film, "In 1982 CBS started showing it on network television, and I was channel-hopping and caught it 20 minutes into the movie." With a quick close of his door, he was off to the races, "But it's probably good that I only started collecting now, since my parents would have had to spend a ton of money (buying the memorabilia) back then."
An excerpt from an original press kit from 1977 describes the movie's then whimsical and, as it turns out, highly revolutionary premise and themes.
Other items at the exhibit include an original trailer still on the reel, a work print from the first film, a copy of Media Scene magazine (the first to feature Star Wars on its cover), X-Wing and TIE Fighter toys, and one of my favourites, a copy of the Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back video game for Atari that I played quite a bit as a kid.
Ian says he had a lot of fun putting together, and it shows after seeing his exhibit, particularly with "The Many Faces of Vader" display, which features around 20 different Vader action figures, going from his youth as Anakin Skywalker, through his transformation into Vader and battle with Obi-Wan, all the way until his death.
As for Ian's future as a collector, he has most of what he first sought to collect, but is still holding out for a couple pieces, "Most of my vintage collection is completed, but I'm still waiting on a few items."
Ian Anthony's personal collection of Star Wars memorabilia, Assembly a Galaxy, will be on display at the Design Exchange (234 Bay St.) until August 25. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday 10am-5pm, and Saturday-Sunday 12pm-5pm.
Comments (8)
I thought this was one of the most boring exhibits I'd ever seen. Perhaps I was expecting more than an oversized toy collection when I heard "Star Wars Exhibit", but it took about 5 minutes to soak it all in and realize I'd wasted valuable time that could've been spent buying lunch.
I'm with Ryan C. here. Having read articles in the Star, NOW, and elsewhere, I was expecting an actual exhibition, with some focus on, well, design, and maybe some commentary on Star Wars' impact on the style of sci-fi or collectible toy industry. It turned out to be a room, with things sort of assembled together. I was really surprised to see first-edition movie posters set up on cheap easel boards.
I was sorry I had hyped it to my geek boyfriend, who, while appreciative of a few of the incredibly rare objects on display, was mostly underwhelmed like me. At least the DX hadn't been asking for money.
Star Wars® and all related indicia are © and ™ Lucasfilm Limited. All Rights Reserved. “Assembling A Galaxy” is an educational exhibit not affiliated with nor supported by Lucasfilm Limited. Not an official exhibit. Not an authorized exhibit.
As my items are safely back in their storehouse, so now I can respond to the comments without concern for retaliation against the display. Of course, everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, and I am likewise entitled to respond. Assembling A Galaxy was not an "oversized toy collection", and to see it as such is wholly incorrect, as only 1/3 of the exhibit was devoted to toys - and as well, many visitors commented how it brought back pleasant memories of their childhood to be able to see these toys again. In any event, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed your meatball sub and slurpee from the 7-11 up the street after seeing the exhibit - thank you for not slobbering your lunch over any of the display cases. And of course the items were assembled together by theme; production, promotion, publication, toys, fan clubs, models and so on. The vintage posters were not on cheap easel boards, they were showcased on finely-crafted wooden easels. Did it occur to you that your boyfriend may not have otherwise had the opportunity to have seen those incredibly rare objects locally, and for no admission charge? And yes, it was a free exhibit whose intent was to share one fan's collection for other fans to see.
Whatever you say, the exhibit still sucked. As a Star Wars fan, I was excited to see the C3PO helmet, but then had to wonder wtf you were thinking turning it on it's side instead of having it proudly displayed like the storm trooper helmet.
The toy display looked like it was placed together by a child. Where were the mint-in-package artifacts of yesteryear?
"Finely crafted easels" don't mean a thing, unless that is what was on display. Putting what are supposedly rare posters on such an easily messed with display instantly devalues them for me; it looked like very little care and thought went into the exhibit on a whole.
Perception is reality. I perceive it to have sucked ass, and therefore, to me, it sucked ass. We got what we paid for; pretty much nothing.
Yes, perception is a key factor. Your use of crude language in a public forum, in addition to spelling errors, unsubstantiated claims, and over-generalizations, states a lot regarding the perception of what you are all about.
The C-3PO helmet was in the film production case, while the Stormtrooper helmet was in the 501st Legion case. The C-3PO helmet was angled as the film production case was narrower, whereas the 501st Legion case was taller. The Stormtrooper helmet was the personal helmet of the Legion founder, and autographed by him. It was worn by him at various events over a seven year period, accounting for some light scuffing, not marks leftover from "cheese".
The 1978 Death Star Playset included all original parts, accessories and labels, as well as all the vintage figures associated with the Death Star from the film. It was arranged properly, and placed in an active setting.
Mint-in-package items were featured in the exhibit. The Early Bird action figure kit included all four first-release figures with accessories, complete with their original mailer box, and all inserts, as well as an authentic newspaper advertisement for the kit. The large-size Princess Leia doll from 1978 included the original box and all accessories. As well, there was the first release of pewter figures, complete in unopened blister packaging, for the role-playing game from 1988. One can only presume that Ryan missed seeing these as he was not paying attention during his five-minute jaunt through the exhibit.
In his first posting, he complains in stating that the exhibit is "an oversized toy collection", yet in his second, he is complaining because there are not enough mint-in-package toys. This contradicting-himself is quite strange, and largely invalidates his commentary.
Any genuine Star Wars fan can recognize the pre-release posters. These posters are rare as they had a limited print-run in 1976, and the majority of these were discarded prior to the film being released as it was not anticipated that the film would be garner such tremendous popularity. The only "supposedly" about their rarity is to the uninformed. As well, having all three on display together in one exhibit is a rarity in and of itself.
Dude, the exhibit is not the sum of its parts. The exhibit sucked ass, free or not. Saying the exhibit was an over sized toy collection and then saying there weren't enough mint-in-package toys is not a contradiction you twunt.
And for fuck's sake, I wouldn't have defaced the exhibit. My opinions may not be shared by you, but at least I'm not both paranoid and delusional about my toy collection.
I am having fun with this, though. With each response on your part, MY STRENGTH DOUBLES!!!
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