LYNDORA — A biker Stormtrooper and other emissaries of the Empire greeted visitors to the Butler Area Toy Show Saturday at the General Vagabond Hall, 138 Whitestown Road.

In addition to the members of the 501st Legion Starkiller Garrison of Western Pennsylvania Star Wars cosplayers, the event was filled with 36 vendors spread over 92 tables and attendees browsing over collections of toys, wrestling figures, books, posters, VHS tapes, action figures, vintage video games, and My Little Pony and Polly Pocket collections.

All of which made the three organizers of the show — Ken Frederich, Rob Craig and Greg Ochaba, all of Butler — very happy.

The three, collectors themselves, had been working six months to put together the inaugural toy show.

Frederich said the trio had met each other through collecting. Ochaba said they had met each other at toy shows in Youngstown, Ohio, and Monroeville.

“We wanted to bring something to Butler. We booked the hall in early January and used guerrilla promotion to try and bring the toy community together in Butler,” Craig said.

The three got the news of the show out through fliers, social media, yard signs and word-of-mouth.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support from other collectors. Everybody helps everyone else,” Craig said.They sold out all the tables for the event in March.

Frederich said the show’s logo and the organizers’ shirts were made by one of the show’s vendors.

Frederich said the pandemic was a difficult time for vintage toy sellers. But with the easing of restrictions, he’s noted a renewed interest in people tracking down the toys of their childhood.

Ochaba said, “Nostalgia runs in 30-year cycles. Toys from the ’90s are big.”

Frederich said he’s been in and out of the hobby for years. He concentrates on wrestling figures and characters from the mid-1980s cartoon show “M.A.S.K.”

Ochaba collects wrestling figures and Masters of the Universe memorabilia.

Craig looks for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise which he said is a very big undertaking.

“They put their name on everything you can think of, chocolate molds, cake pans,” he said. “I’m rebuilding my childhood collection. I have a basement full of them.”

“My Holy Grail is the blue Channel 6 news van from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They took an old model and put new stickers on it and made it hard to find. I’ve got parts of it, pieces and the figure that came with it, the green April O’Neil Channel 6 news reporter,” Craig said.

Bill Luconti, of Friendship, was selling posters, jellybean-filled beer cans and bottles. All were adorned with a pop culture twist such as oversized mousetraps illustrated with Star Wars’ Admiral Ackbar and his famous phrase — “It’s a trap!”

Luconti runs a marketing business and said his toy show business is a sideline.

“The drawing part is not that difficult. It’s coming up with the concepts. Some of them take a long time,” he said. He said his three biggest poster sellers were ones depicting a Star Trek red shirt away team as the Walking Dead, an Imperial Academy shooting practice target (all misses) and a JedEx advertising poster.

Brandy and Chris Harry were showing off a pinball machine and video game console from their business Tokens Arcade, 28 Chesapeake St.

As well as trying to attract entrants for a pinball league they are setting up for the fall, Brandy Harry was trying to sell some her excess My Little Pony figures.

“I collect My Little Ponies. I had 400 My Little Ponies. They got lost when I went to college,” she said adding she’s been working to rebuild her collection and had recently attended the My Little Pony Fair last month in Tampa, Fla.

She said My Little Pony was originally produced by Hasbro, but Basic Fun had taken over their production in 2008.

“There are a lot of collectors but we’re spread out,” she said. And there’s a lot to collect. My Little Pony is into the fourth generation of figures with a fifth generation just released.

John Dankovich of Butler attended the show looking for a different toy.

“I’m actually looking for some Hot Wheels and just generally looking around,” Dankovich said. He was also looking for vintage Matchbox vehicles.

Kieran Adam, who recently moved to Butler from New York City, attended the show with his wife, Violet; and 8-month-old daughter, Valerie. Asked if he had his eye on any particular item, he said, “Yes, but my wife probably won’t let me buy it.”

Jeff Sorg was attending the show dressed as Count Dooku, a dark lord of the Sith from Star Wars.

He and his fellow members of the 501st Legion were uniformed as Tie Fighter pilots and Inferno Squad members.

Legion members dress up and bring awareness to occasions, such as hospital visits; parades, such as the recent Brentwood Fourth of July parade; charity events; and Make-A-Wish events. Their costumes are made at home, bought or 3D-printed.

Gibson Weir of Gibsonia, outfitted as a biker Stormtrooper, and Timothy Bentley of Lower Burrell, dressed as a Tie Fighter pilot, posed for pictures with show visitors.

Erin Greco, of Butler, brought her children, Vincent, 9, and Rose, 8 to the show.

“It’s for them, and for me to reminisce and feel old, let me tell you,” she said. “I used to have My Little Pony and Care Bears and Trolls. It’s a blast from the past.”

Vincent also had his eye on the past, an original Game Boy console.

“It’s fun to see how the game changed and how the graphics are,” said Vincent.

Frederich said he and Craig and Ochaba hope to put on another toy show in January.