Back in the late 1990s, I was just another college kid learning how to use the internet for things like dating, free music, and, well, screen backgrounds. Of course, as a college student, I still lived in my pseudo-intellectual world with cinder block walls covered in Klimt’s “The Kiss” and my own personal favorite, Magritte’s “The Empire of Light.” So, as any internet wanderer of the late 1990s would do, I found images in various newly minted internet stores.
One of these stores was AllPosters.com.
At the end of July, a solicitation came to GeekMom from AllPosters and, because I remembered saving their copy of “The Empire of Light” to my desktop screen lo those many years ago, I snagged the chance to see what had become of one of my old haunting grounds for nostalgia’s sake.
To my very surprised delight, AllPosters has expanded beyond simply posters. Their geek boutique products include most of my favorites from Marvel and DC to Star Wars and Pokemon. AllPosters gave me two options for my free review products: choose for myself or let them choose for me. To be honest, I was so overwhelmed at all the really cool offerings on the site that I said, “Ok, well, there’s a dearth of girl oriented back to school geekery out there, why don’t you send me some of your favorites. And, well, I do have a BB-8 addiction.”
A few weeks later, the awesome package arrived. The BB-8 Loungefly backpack and pencil case were nestled in the box along with a Star Wars metal lunchbox. All I can safely say is that there might have been squealing. It’s hard to tell. I know the dog suddenly started howling along in excitement.
Having previously purchased the Loungefly BB-8 mini dome purse on sale, I was already enamored of the product style and quality. However, having recently moved from a full-on purse to a wristlet, the pencil case worked perfectly. I moved the wristlet handle from one bag to the pencil case, shoved my BB-8 coin purse (with all my debit and membership cards) in it, a few lip glosses, and some headphones, and I was set to roll. For the first day of classes, I abandoned the little BB-8 rolling bag my husband had bought me for Christmas (noticing a theme? Why yes, yes you are) in order to try out the new backpack. Nice and light but also roomy, the backpack holds an iPad, some folders, and a BB-8 lunch bag. If I were in high school carrying around my high school books, I’m not sure they’d all fit well, but for a kid from Kindergarten all the way through middle school, the bag works well.
The metal lunch box has the traditional Star Wars movie art on it. I’m not sure that I’d be using it as a lunch box since it’s not insulated and doesn’t hold enough for one. However, as either a purse or a pencil box, I think it works nicely. In the past, I’ve hot glue gunned a lining into a metal lunch box, added a strap, and made a pretty nifty purse. For the high schooler geek girl who like to DIY, that would be a pretty phenomenal accessory.
Despite my preconceived (and long held) notions about AllPosters as a brand, I was pleasantly surprised to see that in 2016, they sell more than posters. They still sell a lot of posters, don’t get me wrong. However, the next time I want to buy a copy of “The Empire of Light,” at least I’ll also be able to add the Light side of The Force to my shopping cart as well.
