Star Wars The Toys Strike Back exhibition has rolled into Stoke on Trent and will be housed within the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery until June and we headed on down to Hanley to check out this mini sci-fi attraction.
Marketed as one of the UK’s largest collections of Star Wars collectibles I did seem quite astounded to find that the entire exhibition was housed in one rather small space with a few figures costume dressed mannequins plugging the gaps between a few cabinets with toys in them and the costumes were absolutely not movie accurate in the slightest which was my first niggle, unless Boba Fett wore a morph suit (he did not).
I have a loft full of my families old Star Wars toys and despite not having some of the gems they have on display here I certainly have more in quantity than what was on display here in Stoke, maybe this was just a small part of a bigger collection? It didn’t quite say, everything was very vague on the history of the collection and how the collector came to acquire these items.
What I did find interesting throughout this space was that there was a lot of text discussing the history of Star Wars toys and some fascinating insights including George Lucas being turned down from every toy company who didn’t believe in Star Wars until Kenner came along. Not having anywhere else to turn to he accepted a deal which meant that for every dollar of toys sold George would receive 5 cents.
Turns out that deal was quite lucrative for George as Kenner went on to create absolutely everything Star Wars they could design and not only that but in a Hollywood first the sale of toys from A New Hope and the film meant two more Star Wars (Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) movies were fully financed!
It’s quite fascinating to read and Kenner certainly hit the jackpot (George too) with this deal and many of the items on display whilst unbeknownst to me are some very sought after toys within the Star Wars collectibles market.
Whilst wandering around there were a few items on display such as blasters that claimed they were production used within the movie and even a helmet which was listed as being a stunt helmet used in the movie along with a clapperboard from the original movie.
I wish the curator of the exhibition was around as I’d have loved to speak to them about those particular items because the clapperboard looked like an entirely different design compared to the original ones used in the original movie and looked far too new and in good condition and the stunt helmet too but some clarity on why they looked that way would have gone a long way for me being a big prop collector and fan of this side of a production.
Museum plaques are very vague with these sort of insider details and I’d just love to get the back story of each item to fully understand why things looked a little different to the props and memorabilia that I’ve seen go through auction for 6 figures from the franchise.
There are some wonderful items dotted around but for £6 I expected maybe some screens to go over the items on display, a bit of history about them etc
Autographs on display included Dave Prowse’s (Darth Vader) and Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett) and I have those same autographs when I had the pleasure of meeting them both at conventions.
The costumes on display looked a little on the cheap side and were certainly not movie accurate in anyway shape or form and for a toy exhibition I felt there was more reliance on the bigger standees / displays than on the toys themselves.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a cool event space but for £6 and for what was on display, marketed as one of the largest Star Wars collections, I guess I was just expecting a little bit more.
Take nothing away from the items on display, they’re worth a whole lot of money and extra security has been put in place at the museum because of this but I just felt that there should have been a lot more to the exhibition to really drag me into the Star Wars universe and sadly that didn’t seem to be the case.
Star Wars The Toys Strike Back will certainly be a popular exhibition and I certainly enjoyed seeing the listed production used items including a very cool piece of armour from The Mandalorian series but my prop collecting brain had a LOT more questions on some of the items and sadly I don’t think those questions will ever be answered.
Childhood memories come alive in this fun sci-fi space but I can’t imagine you spending too much time in this particular area despite the cool things on display as there’s just not enough depth to the exhibition that you could really dedicate a long time too.
The helmets on display were definitely a cool addition but they looked a little lost in such giant cabinets, I have a few helmet replicas myself so I could have easily offered to throw some in there to fill up the cabinet, they looked lost!
I’m not even a big Star Wars fan and I did feel that my own collection of Star Wars memorabilia eclipsed what was on display here, definitely not in value but quantity that’s for sure!
I stayed in the space for 30-minutes and spent 15 of those minutes chatting to the security guard so that tells you all you need to know.
It’s worth a visit if you’re a die-hard Star Wars fan and you grew up surrounded by some of these wonderful toys and collectibles but for me personally, as I stated previously within this review, I just wanted that little bit more.
For more information on the exhibition you can visit https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/pmag/whats-on/events/the-toys-strike-back-exhibition/
It’s great to see the Potteries Museum getting a nice variety of exhibitions but I hope and pray one day they get a movie prop exhibition, I’d set up camp there for the entire duration. Make it happen guys!
