Star Wars vintage toys delight Elgin library visitors

It's not every day that an exhibit leaves kids and adults wide-eyed, but then again, we're talking Star Wars.

“It's so cool!” 6-year-old Myles Hunt of Elgin said as he examined a glass case containing an elaborate play set of tiny Ewoks roasting a hapless Hans Solo over a fire.

“It's really cool,” said his older brother Graham, 13.

Their father, Gregory, 51, concurred. “It's really great. I remember some of this stuff from when I was this age.”

The vintage toy exhibit “Star Wars: The Nostalgia Awakens” opened this week at Gail Borden Public Library and includes all 99 Star War action figures made from 1978 to 1985 by the now-defunct toy company Kenner Products. The action figures are based on the movies “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”

Altogether, the exhibit, on display through Dec. 30, contains more than 100 action figures — many featured more than once — and 13 play sets belonging to Jarrod Roll, a 43-year-old Wisconsin man who began collecting the toys as a kid.

Elgin's was the collection's second public showing after its debut last year at the Monroe County Local History Room and Museum, where Roll works as director.

The idea for a traveling exhibit came out of a conversation with a Gail Borden library employee whom Roll met at a conference earlier this year.

“We thought it would be a perfect time for it with a lot of kids coming home from college for the holidays,” said Liz Clemmons, the library's' public relations coordinator. “But we've seen a lot of people (check it out), from young kids to people in their 60s and 70s.”

Sharing his collection with the public has been great, said Roll, who also gave a talk at the library earlier this week. “It's been a blast to talk to people, hear their stories and share the nostalgia.”

Still, a traveling toy exhibit is no easy endeavor. “It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot work,” he said. “It takes a toll on the toys, too, to disassemble and reassemble.”

Like most kids his age, Roll was enthralled with the Star Wars series for years and eventually moved onto other interests — and other toys — after the third movie was released in 1983.

The spark was reignited in college, Roll said, when he visited a comic book shop and saw a set of Star Wars toys by Kenner that he'd never owned. “Something went off in my head that said, ‘I gotta get those. I never had them as a kid and I need them now.' That started it all.”

He amassed his collection by going to comic book stores and putting ads in local newspapers. And then it sat, untouched, in boxes at his parents' home for nearly 20 years until a colleague suggested Roll display them at the Wisconsin museum.

Roll said he bought the few remaining, and most expensive, holdouts last year to complete the set by selling other toys he'd collected. “I told my wife I will never spend family money on this hobby.”

So how much money is it all worth? Roll won't specify, but said he could buy a new car with it. “Sometimes I'm tempted to do that,” he said with a laugh.

But if you asked the Hunt family, they'd surely tell you that's a terrible idea. Unless the toys end up in their hands, that is.

“I want all these toys!” Graham said. “Me too!” Myles exclaimed, as their father laughed.