Then came the Prequels:
And Star Wars will remain relevant as we go back to the end of the 90s. By the back part of the 90s we weren’t running BBSs anymore and instead websites. One website I was running for fun was a little TPM “rumors” page. In 1997 it had received a few emails claiming this and that which I posted online. All of which I didn’t believe. They ranged from the Obi-Wan Kenobi was really named OB1 and was a clone, which I was right wasn’t true, to a weird email about a “see-through” C3P0, which ended up being true even though I didn’t buy it.
I had been keeping up in 1998 with the newer releases of the new line of figures and was watching the websites yakface.com and rebelscum.com in 1999 on the release date of the figures for the new movie due out in May. During this time Dad had expanded his eBay selling from his stamp collection to trying to match Russ’s profits from selling hard to hind Hot Wheels cars on the website.
The new figures were slated for release on May third. So, playing to the hype and demand of the new movie due out a couple weeks later, some locations, like our Toys R’ Us at Arden Fair Mall, chose to open their doors to sales at 12:01am. Creating what they would call the midnight madness sale. Now that sort of puts the date for the new toys as May second. Which is important because May second is Mother’s birthday. It was also a Sunday, which meant a church day for the folks. But somehow things all came together.
Dad got particularly excited about going at midnight. Peculiar since he would have to work on a Monday, but he solved that by using a sick day. So, at around 10pm Dad and I rolled out to Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento and waited in line for Toys R’ Us to open. I told Dad we were only there to get a few specific important figures to the cause and not everything, too which there was a lot. Which is a good thing because I think Dad would have just got them all in the excitement of it all and there was something like 21 figures alone not counting all the extra.
Once the store opened for the heat of battle, most of my list was easy to pull off the pegs, it did take some work to get Darth Maul. Maul would be a figure for the next month or so that everyone had a hard time finding until Hasbro started sending out entire shipments of just him. Dad would also wander back into the other aisles and buy a few die cast cars. Whatever the reasons, be it a new interest in new Star Wars or the energy given off at the event, Dad started really enjoying the hunt for new toys. For the next several weeks Dad would jump on opportunities for early morning action figure escapades through Sacramento.
I think that in a way was the first big turning point for Dad seeing a life after work. Dad now in his 60s had been working in a store, be it shoe or thrift since he was younger than I was at the time. But now there was eBay and I was at home and willing to go on toy hunts with him. He could still maintain an income and retire earlier from a job I think he had grown tired of. So not only did the new Star Wars film give Dad and I some of our first adult bonding time, I think the events also helped him become comfortable with retirement, which would happen in about six months from the midnight madness sale.
Of course, May 19th was coming right down the pipe as well. I was in an interesting position with the film. I was super excited about it coming out, I wanted to see it at midnight if possible. But at this time I was mainly hanging out with Marty, who was coming home only on the weekends from the Police Academy and I think was feigning being to cool for something so nerdy as Star Wars. Other films that had come out this year he had skipped out on as well. Our friend Hein though had not been. He had been going to the theater that year and when I called around to see who wanted to see TPM opening day he was the only volunteer.
On May 12th the tickets went on sale and boy did I head over to the theater way too late to get their midnight tickets. This caused a real issue with Hein who had finals that day. After waiting hours in line and coordinating with him we picked the earliest time that day he could go after finals. I think it was 1:05 in the afternoon. That made the anticipation that day way more than it needed to be as I waited and waited for him to finish his exams. It was so bad I had to write an itinerary for the day as to not go crazy. Still carless, around noon I biked onto UCD campus and locked up at the site of his last final for the day. When that exam was over, we both hopped in his car and parked at the theater.
Since we cut the time so close, we got in just minutes before show time. Normally not an issue, but for a film people were lining up days in advanced for. It caused a bit of a seating issue. We had to sit in the back far right aisle for the showing, allowing us to work on those cricks in the neck that are so pleasant. However, since I wasn’t a man-boy at the time the film was enjoyable to the point that the inconvenience of having to look left for over two hours was fine.
I would really enjoy the film and go back a few times that weekend. Eventually I would start scouring the internet for more immediate feedback on the film. This is where my ability to take the jump into online communities and actually engage in some of the TPM hype. This led me to a group devoted of fans bent on seeing the film, for whatever reason, a month later on June the 19th, as some sort of weird one month anniversary appreciation thing. I was down though, I liked the film and just half a month prior to the film’s release I started hanging out a lot more with Dad when we got into the toys for the film. TPM had some real value now.
image 107 earliest backup of courustcity.net I could find.
Okay so remember I said my DCN Star Wars website became a Natalie Portman themed site since that’s where the money was. Well as we know I didn’t stop liking the wars in the stars. So, I found another website to take over the non-monetary needs. This is when the Coruscant City Forums enter the game.
I guess due to lack of interest from anyone around me I had to go online to find people excited about the upcoming movie. I had after all invested greatly into the toys and was not disappointed by the film itself even with all the silly hoops I had to jump through to get there with Hien on the day of. I latched on and consumed.
This is where I met Jen. Running under the handle of Jedi Master Princess I got to talking to this young lady on the Star Wars forums. One thing led to another, and I got her on my ICQ list. ICQ for those not in the know was maybe the first popular instant messenger, replaced these days almost primarily with cell phone texting. We were of the same age, in fact we were born in the same week, so we got along. Then another of my hobbies decided it wanted to get involved with Jen.