anyone else used to get the Star Wars Insider ?

[Mikey]

Back in the early 90's I started to get the Star Wars Insider magazine.
Even though I wasn't a huge Star Wars freak, I did like it enough to get the magazine.
I especially liked the build ups to the Special Editions and "the New Star Wars movie"

I enjoyed it up to about the time when the Special Editions and Phantom Menace was released.

After the SE's and Phantom, I cancelled my subscribtion and went Star Wars cold turkey for a long time.
I hated them that much

Just wondering if anyone else used to subscribe ?

Is it even still in business ?

[fallensaviour]

I never was a subscriber but I did pick it up.I just gave my collection to my son last week.He is a star wars nut.

[toys2cool]

I used to read my friends

[samurainoir]

Didn't it kind of transmogrify in to Star Wars Collector at some point? I might be misremembering. Always enjoyed the Steve Sansweet articles on obscure Star Wars collectibles.

[Blackkryptonite]

I had a subscription for many years but only because my wife at the time worked with the father of one of the editors and we had met once or twice and he hooked me up. Very well put together magazine, at least back then.

[huedell]

Loved it...it was nice until I moved to CA...didn't really miss it.

[Bizarro Amy]

I don't like it enough to subscribe, but I pick up an issue here and there. The collecting features and "Bantha Tracks"(fan stuff) are my favorites. They also used to publish some short stories, usually EU stuff, that were decent. I haven't seen any of those in while. I don't know if they stopped it or just haven't had one lately.

[kennermike]

never got the Insider but back in the early 90's or late 80's use to get the Star Wars Fan Club Magazine.That was the first time I ever read about Stephen J. Sansweet super duper mega Star Wars Colletor

[Tothiro]

Didn't it kind of transmogrify in to Star Wars Collector at some point? I might be misremembering. Always enjoyed the Steve Sansweet articles on obscure Star Wars collectibles.

I used to read it, I had a subscription for a few years...
I think it changed twice - There was the Fan Club magazine and then that turned into the Star Wars Insider (with the Jawa Trader inside it) and then the magazine was bought out I think by the current publisher? Anyway it got less fan/trivia/oddball related than it had been before and became more of a Prequel only magazine. It began to follow some weird People type format, and much of what I liked about the thing was edited out and I didn't renew.

I always thought Sansweet was famous mostly for being a self-promoter. I really enjoyed when someone sent him a newspaper scan of an ad featuring Star Raiders dolls, asking if he knew anything about them, and he proceeded to prove that in fact, he didn't, by claiming that he did. After some shameless "I know everything about intellectual property laws" babble he concluded that they were never actually produced.
It was highly entertaining - I put down the article and re-arranged my Star Raiders dolls. =)

[wolfie]

I get this on some occasions along with other star wars mags as i collect cards. When i know the mag is going to have cards with it i try to get a copy but it is not allways easy to do here in the UK and i end up missing some.

[vulcan2074]

I read it occasionally but just never really got that into it
Sammy

[Monsterama2000]

I bought it every month from my local comic book store for many years. I finally decided to give it up about a year or so ago when it went up to $6.00 per issue. I figured if there was anything I wanted to know about Star Wars, I could just find it online.

[darklord1967]

I do not have a subscription, but I do purchase the magazine whenever i see it.

Several issues ago, i was pretty blown away by Steve Sansweet's column where he responded to an inquiry from a teenaged collector:

It seems this youngster from New Jersey saw online photos of my giant custom-built Jawa Sandcrawler (correctly scaled for 3-3/4 inch action figures) and wanted to know why Hasbro did not advertise this toy nor have any info on it on their website.

Sansweet responded to the letter by explaining that it was a custom built toy, and he featured my crawler in his column with a 2-page splash photo of the Sandcrawler table top display in my collection room.

Now, since I'm not a subscriber of the magazine I knew nothing about any of this. Then some friends who are subscribers called me and said, "Hey dude, did you know you're mentioned in the latest issue of the Insider???!"

Naturally I freaked out when I saw the column. It was pretty cool.

[chunky B]

I was a subscriber up until about The Attack of the Clones, I think the mag changed hands again around that time.

Before Phantom Menace the mag ran a small add for artists to submit samples for an upcoming magazine, Star Wars Kids, and that's how I got into SWK doing illustration. After that run I thought about doing stuff for the Insider, but never really submitted anything.

darklord1967 - That's great that your friends told you about your feature, I had a friend send me a link from your site one time and I was in awe of that Sandcrawler, great work!

[Nostalgiabuff]

I just let my subscription run out earlier this year. the price was through the roof and there was never anything new in the magazine. at this point they are just rehashing old news and interviewing people who had bit parts. For the few good articles once in a while it was not worth the price.