Tales From The Front:
Three Stories of Midnight Madness
Over The Episode 1 Toy Frenzy
5/4/99
Jeff Carter
Reports - "Abject Horror":
The time: just before midnight. The place: Toys R Us.
The weather: a tad chilly. The event: Star Wars Episode I Merchandise Unveiling. The mood:
Abject horror.
It didn’t start off that way. Stepping out of my car at approximately 11:40, things
seemed relatively calm. About 20 people were there in front of the store, and I joined the
small congregation in a relaxed chat about the upcoming prequel. I was pretty sure I would
just stroll into the store with these folks, get the main characters I wanted, and leave
peacefully. But, in the words of our favorite wrinkled baddie Emperor Palpatine, I was
soon to be "mistaken…about a great many things."
Our loose gathering of 25 people was becoming a massive organized lineup of around 150.
Cars were squealing into the parking lot, dumping out 4 or 5 rabid toy collectors and Star
Wars fans with toothy grins and twinkles in their eyes. The air became palpable with the
stench of greed and commerce. (That, or the stench of fans who decided not to practice the
best hygiene that night). Through the glass, nervous Toys R Us employees could be seen
making last minute preparations to receive the wave of humanity that was about to wash
over them. They reminded me of the hapless rebel soldiers aboard the Tantive IV, sweating
in their white helmets as they waited for Imperial Stormtroopers to blast through the door
and slaughter them.
Folks, believe me when I tell you that my analogy was not that far from reality.
At midnight, a young lady from the store stepped outside and made like Princess Leia
debriefing rebel troops for an upcoming battle. "Thanks for coming out," she
said nervously. "We have carriages and baskets for you in front of the display, and
we have plenty of Legos® and Action Figures to go around. Please be civil. No pushing or
shoving. I hope you all enjoy yourselves." With those sage words of advice, the doors
suddenly opened.
That’s when the abject horror set in.
All trace of human civility that had been built up inside each and every one of us for
thousands of years evaporated instantly and was replaced by primal savagery.
Twenty-year-old males shoved mothers and children out of their way to fill their
handbaskets with Darth Maul action figures and Jar Jar candy heads. Hordes of people
swarmed over open toy bins grabbing figure after figure. Wannabe Wattos set up shop in
side aisles, making trades with other shoppers for coveted items they needed and
couldn’t get to after their initial grab. I was forced to squirm, wriggle, and shove
my way through a middle aged couple filling their carriage just to get my head and arm in
far enough to grab some figures. It was at this point when I suddenly stopped and asked
myself….what the hell was I doing there?
Here I was, a grown, mature adult of 25, out at midnight battling dozens of ravenous
people for a few pieces of gaudy plastic? Was that Qui-Gon Jinn 3 ¾" action figure
really worth getting sweaty and agitated over? In that still, horrible moment, I felt that
the magic of Star Wars was destroyed in a hailstorm of greedy commercialism and tacky
merchandising displays. I came out to purchase a few small mementos from the release
of new chapter of a saga that has always been meaningful for me since childhood.
What I got instead was the sad realization that for many people, Star Wars is not about
magic and wonder, but about greed and obsession.
In the end, I walked away from the carnage with my 7 action figures and went to the
check-out area. I was the first one there, and I commented to the lady who just moments
before told everyone to "be civil". "You guys better call out the
National Guard." I said, only half-joking. Her response put the whole evening in
perspective. "I think they’d rather be in Kosovo, it’s not as scary."
Rob Tyrrell Reports -
"Wonderful Experience":
It was a dark and stormy night....
Oh wait. No it wasn't. It was a pleasant evening as three of us (myself and two friends) made the trek to a nearby 24-hour Walmart. I suggested that we go check out Walmart first, see if they had what we needed, then perhaps head down to Toys R Us if we needed anything else.
So, we arrived in the parking lot, and spied several people already loitering outside in the parking lot, clearly collectors (or perhaps the dreaded beast, "Scalperus-Money-Makerus"). After jokingly commenting that we ought to have a tailgate party, we headed inside and target the toy section where the Star Wars toys have always been shelved.
From the aisle, we spied several pallets blocking the toy section, but as we drew nearer, we observed that they hadn’t completely blocked off the toy section, just enough to give us shoppers the hint that we were not to peruse the toys until THEY (the faithful Walmart employees) said so. So my two friends and I just sat down and gazed with giddy thoughts at the new toys lining the pegs. Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul. All of the figures slated for release were there, along with all of the spaceships and beast sets. Some things were missing, like the action figure accessory sets, the 12" Action Collection dolls, and the Queen dolls, but since I was not interested in gaining these tonight, my heart did not skip a beat.
Glancing at my watch, I noticed the time was a depressing 11:15. Argh. Still 45 minutes to go. So my friends and I discussed, through a foggy haze, our enjoyment of collecting, the pros and cons of collecting, as well as why Legos® are so dang expensive. (I think we concluded that someone in Denmark was smoking crack, thus driving up the price of Legos). Well, at 11:30, we decided that it was time to get serious, so we headed to the front of the store to pick up a basket and/or cart. I held the last basket in my hands, while one of my friends grabbed a cart. We headed back over and continued to geek out over the new toys.
At about 10 minutes till midnight, some employees asked us to line up adjacent to the Star Wars Episode I aisle so that they could take pictures of the aisle, as well as the employees who stocked it. They then proceeded to take pictures of us standing in line. Apparently, these two pictures were to be sent in to the Walmart headquarters to be put in the company newsletter. So if anyone of you manages to see some dork dressed in a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey jersey, it ain't me. It's someone else. I swear....
I observed plenty of bewildered stares at all of us who are lined up to buy TOYS. Some Walmart shoppers look at us nonchalantly. Others stared at us with a blatantly confused look. But most people look at us as if we were a bunch of lemmings about to take the plunge into the sea, with just the appropriate tinge of sadness in their eyes at our apparent lack of self-control. It was almost time for us to begin our shopping. Glancing around, I counted a dozen or so people in line with us. Which I thought was great because that meant there was a phenomenal chance of getting anything we wanted.
And at the stroke of midnight, one of the Walmart employees told us to be orderly and have fun. The magic words? "Go ahead." And with that, the 15 or so of us throbbed towards the aisle. Most people in line had a basket on their arms. Others had shopping carts. First thing I grabbed was the CommTech reader. Not one of Hasbro's best innovations, but it shows great potential. Then, as I began filling my basket with the figures I wanted, I noticed other collectors appeared to be grabbing whatever figures they could get a hold of, shoving them in their basket or cart and idling off so that they could inspect the variation number and paint job. One of my friends was mostly interested in the Legos (which he was disappointed in this time around, although other stores seemed to have a wider selection). My other friend was hungrily nabbing figures as well, as with his wiry frame he was able to squeeze into areas that some of the other shoppers blocked. So as he grabbed some of the figures I wanted in one area, and I grabbed the figures we wanted in this area. It was sheer bliss. An event like this doesn't come around often for Star Wars collectors, and anyone observing the barely controlled frenzy would tell you that. Everyone seemed oblivious to everyone else. We were all in our own shopping zone. Our own Star Wars zone.
Carefully making a retreat after checking I had the figures I thought I wanted, I joined my friends to regroup (and recoup) just outside the toy aisle, next to an aquarium. We carefully looked over each figure to make sure they had good paint jobs, that the cards were in decent shape, and headed back into the slowly diminishing fray with the figures we wanted to exchange. My friend made the comment to me that the guy who had originally been in front of us line had two shopping carts full with stuff. We wondered how anyone is able to support that type of habit. Myself? I like to spread it out. That way, you don't have this sheer joy at a whole bunch of stuff followed by a sheer down when you realize you can't get anything else since you already have everything. Instead, if you spread out your shopping, it's like Christmas all over again, except it's once every pay period.
After about what seemed like an eternity (but was in reality about 15-20 minutes), we regrouped outside the Chaos Zone and just looked at our toys. I discovered that I had in my basket a little more than what I wanted to spend this time around. Luckily, my friend (the non-Lego collector) and I had promised each other before we came to Walmart, that we would keep each other's shopping in check. So after much deliberation, I proceeded to put two figures back and come away quite happy with the 6 figures and CommTech reader I selected.
We then hung out in the Star Wars aisle for a while, just checking out the array of coolness lining the shelves and pegs. The Micromachine sets displayed a detail never seen before Hasbro had purchased Galoob. The role-play toys were very cool and Darth Maul's saber, while fairly heavy, was quite the thing to marvel at. Making mental notes at which action figures I wanted to get next time I went shopping, I proceeded to help out the wonderful employees who stayed overtime to stock the shelves by putting figures that found themselves on the floor back on their appropriate peg. By this time, more people had come and gone and the TailGate collectors we had noticed outside the store had come back in for round 2.
The array of people that had perused the shelves this evening ranged from the very young to those in their 30s. There were the typical collectors, there were Star Wars fans, there were little boys, there were girls. There was undoubtedly a scalper or two since Walmart had not limited the number of each item that someone could purchase at one time. A young teenager's mother showed her son that peg where a Classic Collection Aunt Beru had once resided, now empty. I noticed the hint of disappointment in his voice when I noticed an Aunt Beru lying among a wad of Darth Mauls. I fished her out and handed it to the woman who graciously thanked me.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience. Sure, I knew that I wouldn't have much of a problem finding the figures that I wanted in the next following weeks. If rumors that Hasbro was well-prepared for Episode I toy sales are true, then stores would be well stocked for quite a while. But the essence of being there at midnight, when LucasFilm officially allowed toy sales to begin, was what made it all worth while. One might say it is similar to the experience of sharing a new movie with the audience lining up outside the theater. Whatever one might compare it to, it was a shared experience. It was fulfilling to see other collectors, other PEOPLE, share the same passion, the same love that I do for collecting Star Wars action figures. It was fulfilling to see all of us harmoniously sharing in our love for this universe that George Lucas created. The only thing that can top this is opening day of "The Phantom Menace".
Anna Scruggs Reports -
"The Most Orderly Thing":
I first arrived at our friendly
neighborhood Toys-R-Us at about 11, dressed in a Leia T-shirt and Episode I bucket hat.
There was about 12 of us there then, and we had great fun watching the employees
complain about having to open up. We spent a great deal of time trying to peek
through the windows, but we couldn't see anything. So, we were left to talk. By
around 11:45, the meager 12 had turned into about 75, and people were getting more and
more excited. One guy showed off his Star Wars tattoos, while a few others ridiculed
the news cameraman as he tried to get some footage. Most of all though, WE WAITED!!!
It seemed to take forever! Finally, they came to open the doors, and then we
rushed at a maddened pace with carts in hand to what we were so desperately waiting for.
I expected all heck to break loose. I expected the chaos theory to come into effect. Man,
was I surprised. Forget those columnists who say we're frenzied, slobbering idiots. At
least for us, you couldn't have asked for nicer fans.
Of course, we were all frantically scavenging for whatever we could grab, but it wasn't a
dog-eat-dog feeding frenzy. People rummaged through bins, but were careful not to
bend anything, and if you wanted someone, you just had to call it out, and if someone had
it, they'd pass it to you. That's how I got my Darth Maul. Some guy found an extra one and
asked me if I needed one. In fact, everyone was so great at helping everyone find
everything they needed that no one left without what they had wanted.
Personally, I got everything I wanted save a 12 inch Queen Amidala. It was the most
orderly thing I've ever seen, as I was expecting a scene like lunchtime in my high school
cafeteria. We didn't just pay and leave, either. A few of us stepped back to admire our
treasures, and debated what spoilers were to be found, and what kinds of stuff we had from
the first trilogy.
In short, it was the experience that almost eclipsed our new toys. Instead of a GIMMIE
GIMMIE GIMMIE attitude, the fans around me made the atmosphere more like a treasure hunt,
or Christmas morning. Plus, I know that whenever I see my Darth Maul hanging there, after
I think of how cool he looks, I'll remember that anonymous guy who passed it to me.
There's not much left for us now, you guys. Like these last few weeks of school, there's
only a few more things to look for. Just the books, soundtrack, and then the big one THE
MOVIE!! 15 more days. Now if only I could get this excited about my prom….
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