Via Starwars.com:

Remember the thrill of vending machines? I’m not talking about the ones that distributed soda or chips — I mean the ones that let you trade quarters for gumballs and toy slime. You know, the good ones!

Growing up, those machines were our reward for tagging along on boring shopping trips. We’d suffer in silence as our parents waddled through aisles of light bulbs and vacuum cleaner paraphernalia, knowing that when all was said and done, we’d be able to put quarters into funny red machines, and head home with beautiful nonsense.

From plastic figures to cheap jewelry, the prizes were usually junk. Still, in those moments, nothing in the universe meant more than that junk. Only through the power of vending machines could a kid become so ridiculously fixated on stale candy and prismatic unicorn stickers.

Of course, the prizes weren’t always bad. Some were pretty great! In fact, some were so great that we’d end up pleading with Mom to exchange her 10 dollar bill for a roll of quarters…

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