The Return of the Force, Part 2: From Apache to Zuni

This post is the second in a series that showcases Star Wars art by Native artists that were included in a recent exhibition entitled The Return of the Force at the Tempe Center for the Arts in Tempe, Arizona. These stories were provided by artist and curator Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné), volunteer consultant and librarian at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

Rod Velarde, Jicarilla Apache

Rod Velarde, Jicarilla Apache TD112 Mixed media on canvas and plastic

Rich: Sam, as we start to make our way through the exhibit, can you tell me about these two mixed media pieces?
Sam: These first two pieces are by Rod Velarde, a Jicarilla Apache artist who incorporates a lot of mixed media artwork on pieces, like licensed helmets and toy figures. He’s previously done pieces like these in the Mimbres style from southern New Mexico.
You can see that in the animal figures, and in the way he highlights the influence of traditional art and his cultural heritage in the four-foot figure and the mixed media painting. He sometimes creates pieces in black and white, but these are a little more colorful. You can see there’s things like fish, birds and natural elements incorporated, while also taking on that pottery style that is really popular with all ages. You can also see how he uses both 3D and 2D elements. I like that he left the blaster in the canvas piece white to draw your eye to that specific element.
A lot of the guys are also enthused about Rod Velarde because he does a lot of comic cons and dresses up in costume too. So he’s probably one of the most popular artists in this exhibit.

Credit:
Rod Velarde in Native American-styled Mandalorian Costume
áyA Con 2024
Photo by Daniel Suave

He’s done a number of helmets and people have collected those, so when we premiered the second exhibition, some of his collectors wore them to the exhibit. It was really cool to see people not only enjoying them as art pieces but actually wearing them!

Alessia and Fabian Queisowki, Zuni

Rich: There’s a little bit of a glare on the case, but please tell us about this little collection of beaded figures.
Sam: Those pieces were in the initial exhibition. They actually belong to the Museum of Northern Arizona in their permanent collection. Those are by two Zuni artists – a husband and wife duo, Alessia and Fabian Queisowki. What Tony (the person who purchased them for the museum) really liked about them is that some of them are articulated. If you look at the Leia piece, you can see not only did they bead the whole Leia figure, but they also made a hood for her robe that actually moves on and off. Definitely really cool and different, especially since it takes great skill and effort to make lightsabers. Yes, all the details on Chewbacca to make him look furry, and Boba Fett even has his blaster and his cape!

Darby Raymond-Overstreet, Diné

Rich: I’m going to come around the corner to the other side of this case and we’ve got some very interesting bead work here. Please tell me about these beaded lightsabers.
Sam: Those are by Darby Raymond-Overstreet, a Diné artist who has another piece in this exhibit as well. One of the things that we’ve tried really hard to do in this exhibit is to be inclusive of different people’s perspectives. A lot of the artwork of course is done by male artists, but being able to incorporate the female perspective and picking up on what they want to highlight is very important to us.
Darby does a lot of graphic design, but she is very accomplished and skilled at beadwork, as you can see in the fine details she has incorporated into these lightsabers. People do have their favorites when it comes to lightsabers – they have certain colors and are associated with different characters, so we are excited to have such a wide array among the ones that she featured.

Ryan Singer, Diné

Rich: All right now, we’re moving on to a piece by Ryan Singer. I would love to learn about the influences that inspired this piece.
Duane: This one actually belongs to the Museum of Northern Arizona. This is part of the permanent collection and the title of it is (De)Colonized Ewok. It is playing off of a really famous before-and-after portrait of a young native man whose photo was taken before he entered into boarding school and then the other after he was “assimilated”.
What Ryan is saying in this depiction expresses some really tough situations and topics regarding boarding school and the impact that it had on native people and their culture. From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, children were forcibly removed from their homelands, and put into these boarding schools in an effort to “civilize” them. The goal was to remove elements from their culture, like punishing them if they spoke their languages, or changing their appearance to make them look the part.
It’s important that he’s kind of spoken about that idea and it is interesting to people because it incorporates characters they know from Star Wars and can kind of relate to. It makes them begin to think about a really tough subject, and I think that’s a really interesting part of what he’s able to do with his artwork.
Randy Kemp, Choctaw/Mucogee-Creek/Euchee

Rich: Alright, Sam, please tell us about this interesting piece by Randy Kemp.
Sam: I love this piece by Randy Kemp. He was featured in the first exhibit, and we’re glad that he was able to do it again. What I like is that he’s Choctaw/Mucogee-Creek/Euchee, and he really taps into mixed media. You can see some different pieces that he used for the buttons on Councilman Wookie, which are pretty funny. You can see a couple of Buffalo-head nickels, chips from a casino, and Chewie has a gold tooth. I love that commentary right there, maybe a political aspect of this artwork, but his use of texture and color really draws people in. I think that he has collectors who really like his perspective. I sure can appreciate the mix. All his pieces have been about the Wookiee, so he loves Wookiees.

Stay tuned for more diverse perspectives coming up in Part 3: Wearable Art, Comic Art & More.
Read Return of the Force Part 1

July 2, 2025July 2, 2025

Echoes from the Galaxy Auction now open for Bidding!

Julien’s & TCM Present: Echoes from the Galaxy.

Comic-Con Museum presents: TCM & Julien’s Auctions Echoes from the Galaxy

The exhibit and auction will feature many items from the founding collections of The Saga Museum® of Star Wars Memorabilia.

Additional featured collections include those of former Lucasfilm Art Director Rio Phior and former Lucasfilm In-House Designer Melanie Paykos.

The auction will end with live bidding at Comic-Con Museum® in San Diego on July 27. You do not need to be present to continue bidding. See Julien’s for different ways to bid on the last day.

REGISTER AND START BIDDING TODAY!

More about The Saga Museum® Initiative

June 27, 2025June 27, 2025

The Return of the Force: A Celebration of Native Star Wars Art Part 1

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) in Tempe, Arizona to see an exhibition of Star Wars art created by contemporary Native artists entitled The Return of the Force. This exhibition ran from January through mid-May, and was the second showing of The Return of the Force, which debuted in 2023 in Durango, Colorado. This exhibition was a follow-up to The Force Is With Our People, held in 2019 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, and curated by the museum’s ethnographer, Tony Thibodeau.

the return of the force — Credit:
Duane Koyawena and TCA

I’d like to recognize the artists who participated in this exhibition. Thank you for sharing your creativity and your stories. I would also like to acknowledge the Gallery team at TCA for hosting this exhibit, and I want to express my heartfelt thanks to Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa) and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné). I am grateful for your insights and your collaboration in helping me share these stories.

Credit:
Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné) and Hopi R2

When I learned about the exhibit, I reached out to artist and curator Duane Koyawena (Hopi/Tewa), and asked him if he’d tell me about a few of the artists and their work to share with the Rancho Obi-Wan community. At TCA, I met Duane and Samantha Honanie (Hopi/Diné), volunteer consultant and librarian at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.

As soon as we started exploring the exhibit, I realized that these works, and the rich stories they convey, need to be shared far and wide. So, with their permission, I am thrilled to present this blog series, The Return of the Force: A Celebration of Native Star Wars Art, to provide a virtual tour of the exhibit as led by Duane and Sam. The series will consist of six parts:

The Return of the Force, Part 1: Meet Hopi R2

The Return of the Force, Part 2: From Apache to Zuni

The Return of the Force, Part 3: Wearable Art, Comic Art & More

The Return of the Force, Part 4: Canvases Take Many Forms

The Return of the Force, Part 5: Endings Are Always Beginnings

The Return of the Force, Part 6: For the Guy Who Has Everything

Part 1: Meet Hopi R2

Duane Koyawena, Hopi/Tewa, and Joe Mastroianni, Anglo

Rich: Duane, this exhibit is phenomenal. To kick off this virtual tour, can you share the origin story of Hopi R2?

Duane: Yeah, I’ll tell you the story of Hopi R2. In the beginning, the first exhibit was called The Force Is With Our People. They wanted to get a droid for the exhibit, but it was going to be pretty pricey to get a real, functioning one. So, the marketing director of the museum asked her husband who is an engineer from New Jersey, Joe Mastroianni, if he could build one. He did some research and decided, “Yeah, I can build it.”

That’s when he discovered a whole new world—the R2 Builders Club where people build different pieces from all over. So when he decided to build it, he started collecting the parts and asked me if I would paint it. At first, I didn’t really believe that he was actually going to build an R2.

But then I saw the dome when we went over to his house. He said, “Check this out! I got the dome.” And I was like, “Wow, he’s really going to do it.” That’s when I had to buckle down and start coming up with ideas.

The concept I landed on came when he was holding the dome upside down, kind of like a bowl. It reminded me of a Hopi pottery bowl, the way he was carrying it. I asked Joe if he could make the head spin fully without the wires getting tangled. He said, “Yeah, I can do that.” So once I knew it could spin, I added a band around the head.

Then he started giving me all the different panels, and I decided to paint it all like Hopi pottery. A lot of people say he looks like wood, but I was really going for the look of clay pottery. We started putting symbols together, and when he was finished, we brought him to the show. We call him “the first Indigenous droid in the galaxy”.

Rich: Where has Hopi R2 traveled?

Duane: We’ve taken him to the last two shows we’ve had: The Return of the Force in Durango, and the original The Force Is With Our People in Flagstaff.

We’ve also taken him to a lot of schools and a few museums. He’s kind of built a name for himself. Since he’s decorated in Hopi pottery designs, that’s why we call him Hopi R2.

The cool thing is, when we take him around, Joe is able to talk in-depth about the engineering and robotics behind it, which helps inspire kids—whether they’re already interested in that stuff or not. He’s controlled by a PS4 remote and loaded with Arduinos and servos, so Joe definitely worked his magic on the droid.

Rich:
He’s awesome, and he represents exactly what drew me here. At Rancho Obi-Wan, our mission is to inspire through the Force of imagination. Hopi R2 is the perfect example of that. But he’s just one of many.

Stay tuned for more fascinating artwork and stories in Part 2: From Apache to Zuni.

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025

The Colorful World of Keshigomu Star Wars Part 2!

Let’s continue our look at the colorful world of Keshigomu (rubber erasers), the popular Star Wars collectibles from Japan! If you missed out on part one you can click here to look at the Maruka Toy Company series of small erasers from 1978. For part two we are turning our attention to the Jumbo series, also by Maruka Toy Company in 1978!

Although the series is called “Jumbo”, don’t let that fool you. To paraphrase a wise Jedi Master, “Size…is relative.” Whereas the small series are about 1.5 inches high, this larger series are roughly 2.5 inches high. Another easily noticeable difference, is that the Jumbos come in individual bags with colorful headers depicting a photo of the character or vehicle for that keshi. The small keshi, you will recall, were sold in bags of 50 random pieces, or in blind bags of five. These were sold individually. An attractive display box holding these erasers would sit on the counter of small mom and pop shops, confectionary stores, or kiosks. The first series of the Jumbo line consisted of many of the same characters and vehicles that made up the smaller counterparts: R2-D2, C-3PO, Landspeeder, Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, and Y-Wing. Fans of the Empire were out of luck. Also, just like the small series, the Jumbo were made in opaque and translucent versions of each color. It is worth noting that the opaque versions are significantly more difficult to find than the clear ones. Another fun observation when looking at the Jumbo series is that the Millennium Falcon has two cockpits!

At some point after the first series, a second series was briefly released. This much rarer set is considered by most collectors to be the most difficult to find. Another six Jumbo keshi make up the second series: Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Sandcrawler, Star Destroyer, Vader’s TIE Fighter, and R2-D2. But wait a second, I hear you saying to your computer screen, wasn’t R2-D2 in the first series? Good catch, however, the first series R2-D2 has two legs and the second series version sports three legs. If you want a major challenge, try tracking down even one of these second series Jumbo keshi.

The final area we will discuss regarding the Maruka Toy Company’s vintage keshi involves their “Magic Ruler” (or stencil) line. At the same time they released their large and small keshi, Maruka released a set of ten small plastic stencils that featured outlines of Star Wars characters and vehicles. The trick was that the outlines were separated into right and left halves so that when you traced them together the full character would appear like magic. Don’t worry, no need to burn anyone at the stake, it’s really science. Now that you have extinguished your mob torches, you are probably all asking what does that have to do with keshi? I am glad you asked. These magic ruler stencils came in several different colors but they were sold in solid black plastic bags so you couldn’t tell what character or color you were buying. Once you purchased it, you opened the bag at the counter and if you were lucky enough to get a black plastic magic ruler, the store owner also gave you one of the Jumbo keshi as a prize. There were only three black stencils in each counter display box. Collectors today occasionally find sealed boxes of the magic ruler stencils. If they were to open the box, in addition to the 36 black bagged stencils, there are also three bagged Jumbo keshi that the store owner would remove and set behind the counter to be handed out as prizes. Yet another way young Japanese students could get their insatiable fix for erasers to help them fix the countless errors they were writing. After all, as we discussed last time, that was the sole purpose of the keshi. They were certainly not toys.

For our third installment in the colorful keshi trilogy (which may or may not be longer than a trilogy depending on how verbose I feel) we will look at those erasers made by another famous Japanese company, Takara. Stay tuned!

May 24, 2025May 24, 2025

A Vintage Star Wars Kenner Toy That Never Was…

This month’s item from the Imperial Archives features the story of a vintage Star Wars Kenner toy that never was, but this prototype of an unproduced rifle shows it was apparently considered for release in 1980.

This toy is a hardcopy, meaning it was hand-cast from a silicone mold using a two-part urethane (unlike production toys which are made from steel molds using injected plastic). It’s hand-painted, with a hand-applied photographic logo sticker, and it includes bespoke electronic components. Pulling the rear trigger activates a motor, creating a whining sound effect and lighting up a kaleidoscope contained in the gun’s sight. Squeezing the front trigger mechanically alters the kaleidoscopic view and decreases the motor’s speed, changing the pitch of the sound effect.

Before this item turned up, about two decades after it was made, Star Wars toy collectors didn’t know it existed. Kenner had never solicited the toy for sale, so it never appeared in a catalog or on a product list; there were no known photos of it, and no Kenner employee had been known to mention it. It doesn’t look much like any weapon in Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back; the only indication that it has anything at all to do with Star Wars is the paper Empire label hand-glued to the toy.

When we bought it, the primary reason we had to believe that it was really an unproduced Star Wars toy prototype was the excellent reputation of the seller, The Earth Collectible Toy Mall in Cincinnati. As that city was the longtime home of Kenner, a stunning number of prototype toys had come to The Earth from Kenner employees over the years, so we believed that this probably was a real Star Wars toy, but we nevertheless wished we had some hard evidence.

A couple years later, Lisa was looking through an auction lot of items being sold by someone whose father had worked on the Star Wars line at Kenner. The lot consisted largely of paperwork, though Lisa was drawn to a set of photographs that wouldn’t have attracted the attention of virtually anyone else:

These photographs show the wood pattern for our mysterious gun. A wood pattern is essentially the original sculpt of a toy—a one-of-a-kind piece of original art that would then be duplicated to create the finished toy. In this case, the wood pattern would have been used to create the silicone molds that were then used to create our hardcopy. Sadly, the person who sold us the photos didn’t have the pattern, but at least we now had independent evidence connecting this rifle to Kenner’s Star Wars line.

But the best was yet to come. A while after that, we had the opportunity to purchase some artwork from former Kenner designer Steve Hodges, and among the pieces he had were these drawings from August 1978:

While none of the drawings that Steve had saved precisely match our rifle, their design style unmistakably matches that of our gun, so we asked Steve about it. He recalled that Kenner was contemplating a follow-up to their Laser Pistol (based on Han Solo’s blaster) and Laser Rifle (based on the standard-issue Stormtrooper weapon), but lacking solid reference for any other movie guns, they asked Steve to come up with a handful of original designs. And it appears that a year or two later, one such design made it all the way to hardcopy stage before being cancelled. Perhaps Lucasfilm balked at the non-movie design, or perhaps cost analysis or some other internal factor killed the project—we likely will never know, unless some bit of paperwork happens to turn up someday—but at least we have this evidence of a vintage Kenner Star Wars toy that never was.

May 7, 2025May 7, 2025

Rancho Obi-Wan at Star Wars Celebration Japan

Rancho Obi-Wan was excited to be at Star Wars Celebration Japan! We had so much fun at our booth meeting fans from all over the world who came to celebrate all things Star Wars!

We had a small display of Japanese Star Wars Collectibles and handmade crafts, but utilized most of our space for attendees to sit and create their own Star Wars sketch cards!

Rancho Obi-Wan at Star Wars Celebration Japan

About 350 sketch cards were completed by guests of all ages and were displayed at our booth for all the enjoy!

We had fourteen volunteers that assisted with the booth and we couldn’t have done it without them. Many fans had never heard of Rancho Obi-Wan, so it was a great opportunity to introduce them to our museum. We also had visits from faithful fans who stopped by to say hello!

Friday evening the Lucasfilm Celebration Live Film crew stopped by and interviewed our volunteer lead (and wife of Duncan Jenkins!) Anne Jenkins was interviewed about our booth and what we had to offer. It was another opportunity to highlight the beautiful sketch cards that had already been done at our booth and promote our plans for The SAGA Museum!

On Saturday of Celebration Japan, ROW board members and The Saga Museum founding collectors Gus Lopez and Duncan Jenkins gave a presentation at the Fan Stage titled “Inspiring and Serving the Community Through Star Wars Memorabilia.” The panel allowed Gus and Duncan to reach a new audience regarding our plans to create a permanent public museum, The Saga Museum of Star Wars Memorabilia, and our desire to bring inspiration to all who visit it. The quickest way to impart our vision was to show the short video about the genesis of our project. Duncan and Gus could tell the audience was excited about the possibilities when they eagerly applauded at its conclusion. They then proceeded to share our goals, progress, and hopes of inspiring and serving the community with the combination of our collections. Having our memorabilia serve a higher purpose is the core of this endeavor. At the conclusion, there were many thoughtful questions and it was obvious our project had gained many new supporters who were eager to see the museum and its programs come to fruition. It was exciting to see that even half a world away, the universal appeal of the galaxy far, far away and its collectibles was strong indeed!

Special Thanks to Duncan and Anne Jenkins for providing photos and recap!

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025

Interpretation: The Art and Science of Communicating Information about Objects in Your Collections

Each of the collector’s that are part of The Saga Museum Initiative have done a great deal of research on the items in our Star Wars collections. We have all also spent a lot of time on interpretation of these items. Interpretation is the art and science of communicating information about the objects in our collections and their meaning.

Interpretation includes plenty of written information, but some of the most powerful tools we have are visual. And perhaps the most effective visual tool we have is providing context by displaying related items together in a way that each enlightens the other.

Each of the collector's that are part of The Saga Museum Initiative have done a great deal of research on the items in our Star Wars collections. We have all also spent a lot of time on interpretation of these items. Interpretation is the art and science of communicating information about the objects in our collections and their meaning.

For example, the item shown here is one of the first props that Lisa and I ever acquired. While Star Wars fans are likely to recognize the nose of an X-wing fighter, it may not be as obvious to a more casual observer, and even though there’s an explanatory plaque, we all know that a lot of viewers don’t read much of the text provided. In a museum setting, each object generally has a fraction of a second to catch someone’s attention, and “non-obviousness” is a prime reason for someone’s eyes to keep moving on.

A few years after we purchased the X-wing, we had the opportunity to pick up this original storyboard art, which is now displayed directly above the model. This provides an additional opportunity to catch the viewer’s eye, and the shared context also increases the recognizability of the model; odds are now good that even a casual viewer will have an immediate understanding of what these objects are, and they might even take a second now to read the plaque.

Once we’ve captured a viewer’s attention, we gain the ability to share more information, and this is where written information can enter the picture. In a museum setting, this pair of items would be accompanied by text that explains what you’re looking at, and why you’re looking at it. The basic information that would always be present—what is it, who made it, and when—is called a tombstone, and it would look something like this:

Star Wars Original Storyboard Art, Lucasfilm, around 1976

Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter Pyrotechnics Model Fragments, Lucasfilm, around 1976

Below that, we’d provide brief additional text that would attempt to answer obvious questions–for example, if you’ve read the plaque, you may be wondering who Joe Viskocil was, so we’d want to explain that he was a pyrotechnics specialist who worked on more than 80 films including Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, and he won an Academy award for his work on Independence Day.

We would also provide brief information, likely just a couple of sentences, specific to the overall theme of whatever exhibit the items are part of. For example, if they’re displayed in an exhibition about modelmaking, we might focus on the construction of the X-wing prop; in an exhibit about moviemaking, we might focus on how modelmakers work from concept art; or in an exhibit about special effects, we might focus on how the model was blown up.

Finally, a good interpretation would encourage you to think beyond the simple facts. For example, in an exhibition about special effects, if we’d already introduced the concept of computer graphics, we might ask you to consider the pros and cons of practical effects compared to CGI. In an exhibit about moviemaking, we might ask you to consider how you would make an X-wing explode in a YouTube short.

April 9, 2025April 9, 2025

Visit Rancho Obi-Wan Booth and See Saga Museum Member Panels at Star Wars Celebration Japan!

If you’re attending Star Wars Celebration, be sure to visit the Rancho Obi-Wan booth and see Saga Museum member panels at Star Wars Celebration Japan!

Visit the Rancho Obi-Wan booth to draw your own Star Wars Sketch Card and see select items from our collection, and collections of The Saga Museum collector’s Duncan Jenkins and Gus Lopez.

Gus Lopez will be a presenter for the Star Wars Coins and Medallions Panel Friday, April 18th, 12:30pm–1:30pm on the Collector’s Stage.

Duncan Jenkins will be part of the The Colorful World of Vintage Keshigomu (Rubber Erasers) Panel Saturday, April 19th, 12:30pm–1:30pm on the Collector’s Stage. *See Keshigomu sneak peek now!

Visit Rancho Obi-Wan booth and see Saga Museum member panels at Star Wars Celebration Japan!

Duncan Jenkins and Gus Lopez will be presenting the Inspiring and Serving the Community Through Star Wars Memorabilia Panel Saturday, April 19th, 2:30pm–3:30pm on the Fan Stage. This panel is about The Saga Museum of Star Wars Memorabilia Initiative of Rancho Obi-Wan and will cover the history and background on the five extraordinary collections that will be part of the Saga Museum, and feature a glimpse of the incredible Star Wars items and stories that will be unveiled to the public.

Duncan Jenkins will be a presenter for the Star Wars Around the House Panel on Sunday, April 20th 1:00pm–2:00pm on the Collector’s Stage. This fun panel will cover household and kitchen products from a galaxy far, far away!

Bonus! Gus Lopez will be hosting all the panels at the Collector’s Stage at Star Wars Celebration Japan!

We hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating Star Wars together at Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025!

April 3, 2025April 3, 2025

The Colorful World of Keshigomu Star Wars Characters and Vehicles

Let’s take a look at the colorful world of Keshigomu Star Wars Characters and Vehicles first released from Japan in 1978!

Keshigomu means “rubber eraser” and they have been a very popular area of collecting in Japan since the 1970s. There are countless lines from almost every imaginable franchise. So, it’s no wonder that there were multiple series keshi (as the word is usually shortened colloquially) of Star Wars characters and vehicles when the film was first released in Japan in 1978.

We will only discuss one series now, but later installments will deal with the others. If you can’t wait that long, there is still time to book a flight an attend Star Wars Celebration Japan in Tokyo where I will be on a panel entitled “The Colorful World of Keshigomu” on April 19 from 12:30 to 1pm. Also, the Rancho Obi-Wan booth at Celebration Japan will showcase some of these interesting and fun collectibles so stop by to see them.

People (especially kids) love loopholes in the rules and that, I have been told, is the impetuous for the rise in popularity of Keshigomu. An obvious rule is you can’t bring toys to school. But what if you were only bringing an eraser to class? No problem. What if that eraser just happened to look like your favorite cartoon character or a starship? Now you’ve managed to fight the system and have a fun way to escape the tedium of preparing for the rest of your life. Don’t be fooled that any actual erasing took place with these toys [err..] legitimate school supplies.

Keshi are inexpensive and can be purchased in many ways from capsule machines (what we would call gumball machines) to kiosks and even premiums in food promotions. The first line we will discuss is from a company called Maruka Toy Company. These small size erasers (not toys) were sold in 50-piece bags. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I have used up 50 erasers in my entire life. These bags were filled with random Star Wars vehicles and characters roughly an inch and a half tall in a rainbow of colors. Each color was available in opaque and translucent. So, you can see that completing a full set can be quite a challenge. And we all know collectors like a challenge. The small Maruka series consists of the Millennium Falcon, Landspeeder, X-Wing, Y-Wing, TIE Fighter, the Escape Pod (looking more like a Soyuz Capsule), and the intrepid droid duo C-3PO & R2-D2 providing the only actual characters in the bags.

If a 50-piece bag wasn’t in a young kid’s budget or they were a budding gambler, they could instead choose to purchase the keshi in sealed paper bags that each contained five random erasers (not toys) from the line. Interestingly, it seems that a Star Destroyer was available only in these blind bags. In addition to the five colorful vehicles or droids, there was a piece of paper letting the buyer know if they were a winner or loser. If they were a loser, all the young student could do was hang their head in shame and exit the store. But if they were a winner they were treated to a free exclusive keshi of either Darth Vader or R2-D2 (slightly different than the plain Artoo found in regular packs). Four different images can be found on the paper blind bags: Darth Vader or the Droids (shown here) plus the Space Battle photo and the Japanese version of the Hildebrandt art.

You might think surely that is enough keshi for one movie, but, as they say in Japan “Au contraire mon frère.” This is just the beginning. But you will have to wait patiently for the next installment.

As a postscript, when Gus Lopez and I wrote our eponymous price guide “Gus and Duncan’s Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles”, we listed the 50-piece bag of the small Maruka keshi in the Toy chapter. But don’t tell any Japanese teachers or the jig will be up and the loophole will be closed.

March 26, 2025March 26, 2025

This is not just an Average Star Wars Poster!

This is not just an average Star Wars poster now hanging in the expansion at Rancho Obi-Wan. This is a 1977 Factors Hildebrandt Star Wars poster that was recently rediscovered amongst other framed art pieces here in storage!

And it’s not just a 1977 Factors Hildebrandt Star Wars poster… it’s a printer proof sheet copy! (note the color bar on the left hand side). Printer proof sheets are rare, but what makes this piece really unique is that it’s a proof sheet on mylar that has been permanently mounted to a backer board. Normal proofs would be on regular white poster paper. When a photo of this poster was shown to Star Wars poster collectors group, they agreed that none of them has seen one like it before.

Rancho Obi-Wan Board member and Senior Writer at Lucasfilm, Pete Vilmer said, though none like this one have surfaced before, he has Lucasfilm documentation dated June 1977 requesting a mylar poster be made . So this poster proves at the very least an attempt was made to fulfill that request. Why it was never mass produced is still a mystery. Pete suggested the mounting of this poster may have be done as presentation piece to Lucasfilm or within the Factors company, but there’s no confirmation of that.

Perhaps more information will come to light on this piece, and if it does we will update this post. For now, We are just excited to be able to now share this special Star Wars poster in the museum for all to enjoy!

Special Thanks to our docent, Dwayne Smith, for looking into the history of this Star Wars poster.