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Watch Steve Sansweet unveil an exciting new addition to his collection : A near-exact static prop replica of the Wampa head puppet used for closeup shots in The Empire Strikes Back, made by licensee Regal Robot.
Hear why and how the ILM FX team made the Wampa puppet and how it was created. This amazing piece will become available February 20, 2024 from Regal Robot!
Rancho Obi-Wan tour tickets for 2023 are now available!
We are now offering tour tickets through Eventbrite to make seeing tour schedule and buying tickets more easy for everyone!
Through Eventbrite you will be able to:
– Buy tour tickets, add Memberships, and make donations
– Reschedule tour tickets or get a refund if needed
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– Members will receive a discount on tour tickets
– You do not need an Eventbrite account to buy
Each of the four founding collections of The Saga Museum includes many prototypes of unproduced toys. Here’s a unique one from the Imperial Archives—a little-known handheld Return of the Jedi video game from 1983.
At the start of the 1980s, Parker Brothers was a major player in the young handheld video game market. Their Merlin game, launched in 1978, sold 2.2 million units in 1980, making it the single best selling toy or game in the United States that year. Two years later, Parker’s Atari 2600 console adaptation of Konami’s arcade hit Frogger outsold even Merlin, but they were shut out of the handheld market for that title when those rights were licensed to competitor Coleco instead. Their adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back was also limited to consoles.
For 1983, Parker Brothers intended to capture both parts of the electronic revenue stream with two new games planned to have both console and handheld versions: Q*Bert and Return of the Jedi: The Ewok Adventure. While they successfully released Q*Bert as a handheld game and for multiple computer systems and consoles (including ColecoVision), The Ewok Adventure never made to market. Apparently, Parker Brothers and the game’s designer couldn’t agree on the controller scheme for the Atari 2600 version of the game, so the whole project was cancelled. A prototype cartridge of the Atari game was awarded “Rarest Star Wars Video game” in 2015 by Guinness World Records.
This handheld prototype is equally rare. In this context, the word “handheld” is deeply misleading, as this fully functional prototype stands 43 inches high, 29 inches wide, and 40 inches deep. (The video below will give you an idea of the scale.) I’m told it was on display at Parker Brothers’ 1983 Toy Fair trade exhibition, where it was used to encourage toy distributors to order the finished product.
Gameplay is unusual (and, without instructions, took me a while to figure out). You move the Ewok left and right across a tree branch at the top of the screen while, at the bottom, two AT-STs patrol back and forth. One of the walkers is an enemy shooting up at you; the other is manned by Chewbacca (appearing as a yellow shape at the top of the AT-ST). Chewie throws rocks up to you, which you catch and toss back down at the enemy walker. Once you’ve hit the required number of enemies in each level, you coast down to the ground on an Ewok glider, still trying to avoid fire from the enemy AT-ST, and also trying to avoid the edges of the playfield. Whenever you do something wrong—such as getting shot, hitting Chewbacca, or when your glider hits an edge—a scout trooper advances up the tree trunk at the right side of the screen; when he reaches the top, your game is over.. As you advance through levels, the game gets faster, and the number of AT-STs you have to defeat is increased.
Game sounds are simple beeps and tones consistent with similar products of that era, and gameplay is on par with the average handheld of the time. (I think it’s moderately fun, but it lacks the diversity of Merlin or the addictive gameplay of Mattel Electronics’ classic 1977 Football.)
Vintage food collectors will often comment on the extreme scarcity of Star Wars food packaging that they’re able to find years later. While many saved highly-publicized Star Wars food premiums that were advertised with purchase of food items, few thought to save the actual packaging. As a result, there are still to this day many rare, one-of-a-kind, and unknown-to-still-exist Star Wars food items. As collectors, one way we are able to learn what was made is through these ads in magazines, newspapers, and comics from the period.
KP Outer Spacers was a corned-based snack food which the British call “crisps” and Americans correctly call “chips”. These snacks were shaped like spaceships, so it was well suited as a Star Wars promotion. This started in early 1978 shortly after the release of Star Wars in the United Kingdom and offered a mail away Star Wars “Fighter Kite”, made by the British toy company, Palitoy. The offer required kids to send in 3 wrappers and 95p to receive a kite, reducing the number of intact bags saved to this day. The promotion appeared on three different flavors of KP Outer Spacers: beef burger, chutney, and pickled onion.
The KP Outer Spacers promotion was advertised in various Star Wars comics such as the March 4, 1989 issue of 2000AD (a British science fiction comic) and in the Marvel Star Wars Weekly comic from February 29, 1978. Marvel’s Star Wars comic, which was monthly series in the United States, was published in a weekly series in Britain.
KP Outer Spacers bags are next to impossible to find, but here’s an example of a bag of chutney flavoured [sic] chips with the Star Wars Fighter Kite offer details. This is also a rare example of a food promotion where even the premium is super difficult to come by!
Nabisco launched the first cereal promotion in Britain on boxes of Shreddies cereal. In this case, the premium is the packaging, as each box contained a small sheet of Letraset stickers of Star Wars characters that could be affixed onto the back of 4 different Star Wars scenes on the box backs.
The Shreddies offer was promoted in various UK comics such as the June 17, 1978 issue of Tiger and the May 24, 1978 issue of Star Wars Weekly.
The Shreddies offer appeared on 10 ounce and 15 ounce boxes of Shreddies cereal, so with 4 different scenes on the box backs, there are 8 different Shreddies Star Wars boxes to collect!
Coca Cola ran a massive campaign in Japan for the release of the first Star Wars film. Jonathan McElwain wrote an extensive blog article on the Star Wars Coca Cola promotion in Japan that I’d highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about this fascinating Coca Cola promotion. One of the places where this was advertised was in the July 2, 1978 issue of Weekly Shōnen, a weekly manga comic that is popular in Japan.
Each Coca Cola product brand (Coca Cola, Fanta Orange, Fanta Grape, Fanta Apple, Sprite, Fanta Club Soda, and Fanta Golden Grape) had 50 different bottle caps. Bottles were also sold in six packs with two different six pack trays: one with C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, and Ben Kenobi, and another with the Escape pod.
Some American Star Wars collectors might be surprised to learn that there was a Nestlé’s Quik Star Wars food tie-in. Well, not exactly. Nestlé, which offered Star Wars jewelry mail away premiums on wrappers of their candy bars, also did a newspaper campaign for Kenner toys, which included the Star Wars large size action figures and the X-Wing and TIE Fighter vehicles. Unlike other Quik food promotions, as far as I know, this promotion never reached the actual Quik cans, but here is an image of a similar Quik can for a toy promotion from 13 years earlier for a British boy band using a can label design that has remained largely unchanged over those years.
Kraft brought Letraset stickers back for The Empire Strikes Back in a Dairylea cheese promotion in the United Kingdom. There were four different Dairylea cheese spread boxes, each containing a different black and white Star Wars scene on the back of the container. Kids could find a small sheet of Letraset stickers inside the box that could be used to add characters and objects to the scene. This was advertised in the Marvel adaptation for The Empire Strikes Back in the Star Wars Weekly issue for May 29, 1980. Kids could also mail away for an Empire Strikes Back “bumper transfer pack” that contained additional Letraset stickers. This Marvel issue also included a small Letraset sheet for this Kraft Dairylea series.
Kraft would later go on to do another Dairylea cheese promotion for the Droids and Ewoks cartoons in the mid 1980s with different characters appearing on cheese wedges.
For Return of the Jedi, Amora offered Star Wars glasses in jars of Dijon mustard in France. This promotion was advertised in the Franco-Belgian comic, Spirou.
There were four different Star Wars glasses to collect: Chewbacca and Ewok, “Dark Vador” and Troopers, “Luc” and Dark Vader, and Luc and Yoda.
The Hi-C promotion for Return of the Jedi included a mail away offer for Return of the Jedi t-shirts and caps. This was advertised in newspapers and directly on drink labels. Kids could send 3 quality seal labels from any Hi-C drink plus $3.99 or $3.25 for the t-shirt or hat, respectively.
Labels and intact Hi-C cans are surprisingly difficult to track down. Even though the small rectangular quality seal was the only portion of the label that needed to mailed in, even partial labels were not often saved. This Return of the Jedi promotion appeared on 11 different flavors of Hi-C drinks. Looking at the three labels above, only the orange and grape drinks state “All Natural Flavors”, which tells you everything you need to know about Fruit Punch.
Possibly the most obscure food promotion from the vintage years was conducted by Doriana in Argentina. Over many years, Doriana has created collectible margarine containers for popular comic characters, superheroes, Disney characters, sports figures, and more. The concept is illustrated in this ad where kids are encouraged to cut out the character on the container lid along with a small plastic strip underneath it to make a stand. Needless to say, this tended to cause many of the container lids to be destroyed.
Here are two examples of fully intact Doriana margarine lids for “Wicket the Ewok” and “Imperial Scout”. The Imperial Scout (or Biker Scout) also includes the original Doriana margarine container.
One of the last Return of the Jedi food promotions occurred in Finland from 1984-1985 for Star Wars themed licorice and fruit candy, as indicated by the dates of these comic book covers. The back covers of these comics had full color ads where kids could mail away for 1 of 5 different flavors of these Star Wars candy boxes.
Here’s an example of one of the Halva licorice boxes. All the candy boxes featured Darth Vader on the front with 9 different images of Star Wars characters and spaceship card art on the back.
One of the most elusive food promos occurred in Sweden in 1984 for Hemglass ice cream. Hemglass “Star Mint” and “Big Star” popsicles could be bought from local ice cream vendors driving around the neighborhood in Hemglass trucks as depicted in the lower right hand corner of this ad in an issue of “The Phantom” comic. To date, I have never found nor have seen any packaging related to this food promotion, so it’s fair to call it a Phantom menace.
A little known cereal tie-in in 1985 appeared on covers of the Marvel’s Return of the Jedi weekly comic in the UK. As was standard in the day, toy premiums would occasionally get attached to the covers of these comics, literally taped onto the front. Two of the promotions were for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, one in March 1985 for dinosaur 3D cards, and another in August 1985 for plastic plane models. Obviously, these premiums had nothing to do with Star Wars, but their placement on the Return of the Jedi made them canon!
Welcome to the fourth, and final, installment of a colorful look at Star Wars Japanese Erasers, Keshigomu (Keshi for short). When last we met, we learned about the Takara line of characters and vehicles. But there were actually more Takara keshi. An entire other line that are some of the rarest, biggest, and most unique!
This “Jumbo” line consists of an interesting mix of larger versions of some of the previously discussed characters and vehicles, different sculpts of other characters, and even characters that are not available in any other eraser form. As stated before, the term Jumbo is relative. These erasers are about twenty-five percent taller than their counterparts in the regular line, with most being up to 2.25 inches tall. It is most likely that these were released in larger versions of the capsule machines. I am sure many Japanese collectors have first-hand knowledge of how they were distributed but I have not confirmed my hypothesis yet. Regardless, they are among the rarest Japanese items from Star Wars and seldom come up for sale. Compound this with the array of colors (opaque and translucent) each came in, and you have a nearly impossible chance of completing this set. If you only focus on one character or vehicle, you have a decent chance but still challenging.
There are thirteen jumbo characters and vehicles from Takara. Over half of them are nearly identical to the smaller versions. They are C-3PO, Jawa, Millennium Falcon, R2-D2, Stormtrooper, Tusken Raider, and X-Wing. The ones that have noticeably different sculpts are Chewbacca, Darth Vader, and Landspeeder. And, finally, the ones that are not available in other keshi lines are Bantha with Tusken Raider rider, Dewback with Sandtrooper rider, and R5-D4. It’s interesting to note that since Japan did not have the Kenner Dewback or R5-D4 action figure and there was not a Bantha for the original toy line, these three jumbo erasers represent the only dimensional versions of those characters available in Japan during the release of the first film.
The last major area of Star Wars keshi are the unlicensed ones. Collectors often refer to them as “bootlegs” but that is a misnomer since they are not fake versions of existing items but rather merchandise created without a license to do so. Just like other unlicensed items, these erasers run the gamut from clear rip-off identical representations to similar/vaguely looking characters but with plausible deniability that they are not meant to be Star Wars items. Often they are promoted as “Space Warriors” or some other safe-from-copyright-infringement name. Among Star Wars collectors, there is no consensus as to which of these “inspired by” creations get included in collections and which are too removed in appearance to be considered a Star Wars collectible. For example, some will collect all domed-robots as R2 units and others will say that once you add facial features or appendages such as hands or bipedal legs it no longer is similar enough to R2-D2 to count. Hence, there can never be a definitive list of these unlicensed keshi; everyone draws the line at different spots. So, I will just include a photo of some of the ones I have collected. As usual, these are found in a rainbow of colors.
Now that we are at an end of our rather lengthy treatise on Japanese erasers (probably much longer than you would have guessed even possible), you might have noticed an interesting fact. Every eraser discussed has been from the original release of the first Star Wars film in 1978! That’s right, as prolific as it was then, by Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, there was no one making keshi for either of those two movies. Fast forward to the reawakening of Star Wars saga merchandise in the 1990s, there was still no keshi. During the tsunami of Episode 1 products where seemingly everything under the sun had a Star Wars label slapped on it, keshi were noticeably absent. Throughout the rest of the prequels and even the animated runs of The Clone Wars and Rebels, you guessed it…still no keshi. It was not until 2015, with the release of The Force Awakens, that keshigomu were once again part of the Star Wars portfolio in Japan. A company names Sun Star Stationery created two lines sold in blind boxes. One line for Episode VII and one spanning the first six films. Since then, there have been some others including an interesting set of keshi sold in mini-metal lunch boxes for The Mandalorian. Hopefully this trend will continue so future generations of Japanese school children will have the benefit of going to school ready to play (I mean correct written mistakes) with erasers that are definitely not toys.
Usually, when I write about items from the Imperial Archives, I’ll focus on items that you will hopefully one day be able to see at The Saga Museum of Star Wars Memorabilia, but this time, I’m going to include a couple of important items that probably won’t ever go on public display there. I am including these items, because of the significance of Stuart Freeborn’s Yoda Archive.
I first learned about Stuart Freeborn when I was in elementary school, reading about the making of each Star Wars movie. His credits on Star Wars and Return of the Jedi—“makeup supervisor” and “makeup designer,” respectively—are fairly unassuming; only his title on The Empire Strikes Back—“makeup and special creature designer,” really offers a clue of the major role that he really played. Stuart was responsible for bringing to life truly fantastic characters including Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, the Ewoks, and most notably, Yoda.
Many years ago, as Stuart was nearing the end of his life, he wanted to make sure that key materials from his production archive would be saved for posterity, so he made arrangements to find people who would appreciate and preserve these items. Lisa and I were honored to become the home for Stuart’s Yoda archive.
This consisted of everything Stuart could find that related to the creation of Yoda, from piles of tiny screws used in the mechanisms inside the puppet’s head to random bits of plaster; from design sketches to screen-used pieces. Here are some of the highlights:
These are excerpts from a spiral bound notebook Stuart dedicated mostly to the creation of the Yoda puppet (though there are also a couple of notes on Chewbacca). The sketches show how the puppet head was designed in layers surrounding a space for the puppeteer’s hand.
These are plaster components that correspond to the layers shown in the sketch, as well as a fiberglass mold for the “plunger,” the main inner structure.
These are molds and pieces related to Yoda’s hands, nails, lips, and ears.
This is a set of Polaroids showing a mechanism for controlling Yoda’s eyes, accompanied by a variety of eyes and potential mechanisms for moving them.
These are parts of a “Yoda Stand-In,” a static figure that could be used to set up lighting and arrange camera shots without requiring a puppeteer to hold up the puppet. (The figure on the right is displayed in the original prop backpack that Luke uses to carry Yoda in during The Empire Strikes Back, which we acquired separately.)
In the first photo, the head on the far left is a preproduction prototype; the heads on the right are the only two Yoda puppet heads that appear on screen in The Empire Strikes Back. The heads were made from foam latex, which desiccates, shrinks, and eventually disintegrates over time; new heads were made for Return of the Jedi. The photo on the right shows a harder “biscuit foam” head, which may be the best surviving original three-dimensional representation of what Yoda actually looked like in 1980.
The bad news is that the condition of the original heads makes them unsuitable for museum display. The good news is that, between the molds and the biscuit-foam head, we have the most significant components from the Yoda Archive needed to construct the most realistic possible replica of the original Yoda puppet.
Propstore’s Brandon Allinger connected with Stuart Freeborn’s assistant Nick Maley, who molded the original latex parts for Yoda for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, to create this replica, which we do hope will one day be on display at The Saga Museum. (Museums regularly display replicas of fragile items in order to conserve the originals for posterity.)
This is a working puppet, complete with mechanisms to open and close the eyes and to move the eyes and ears, the same way they were done in the original films. The first time I saw the finished puppet, Nick was operating it, and it genuinely felt like Yoda was really alive, right there in front of me. As soon as he took his arm out of the puppet, the life was gone; it’s something you’d have to see to believe.
And I hope that one day you will.
If you’d like to learn more about Nick Maley, please visit http://nickmaley.com/.
This post is the fifth 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.
Ryan Singer, Diné
Rich: We’ve got a few more pieces here, so let’s talk about these other Ryan Singer pieces. Ryan’s work also appears in Part 2.
Sam: Yeah, that piece is in the collection of Tony Thibodeau. It was featured in the first Return of the Force exhibition in Durango, Colorado, and at the museum in Flagstaff. We typically don’t add pieces after an exhibit is already upland running, but the exhibit coincided with the launch of The Mandalorian, and after people saw the character of Grogu, who was unnamed at that point, they really fell in love with the character so this piece was added to the previous exhibition.
Keith W. Smith, Jr., Diné
Duane: This piece here is by Keith Smith, Navajo / Diné, one of my favorite painters and a huge Star Wars fan. If you could see all his Star Wars paintings; I mean this guy is just amazing.I love the Navajo women in their shawls and jewelry – so cool!
Mavasta Honyouti, Hopi
Rich: And then we’ve got these wood carvings by Mavasta Honyouti.
Duane: A master carver, Mavasta is a Hopi artist who is also a big Star Wars fan, and we’re very fortunate to be able to include his work in the exhibit. We are showing two pieces that he carved in cottonwood root. On the left is a small wooden plaque featuring a view of the two suns on Tatooine, and on the right, we have a bow guard with a carving of a Mandalorian, similar to the pieces we saw previously from Pat Pruitt. These pieces are also from the Charles King collection.
Rich: Who created this silver work?
Sam: Jonah Hill is a Hopi-Quechan silversmith who typically utilizes the tufa cast style, which creates the texture we see on these pieces here. He features The Child again, wrapped in a blanket of stars, as well as a Mandalorian helmet highlighted with native symbols.You can also see how he would traditionally set a piece of jewelry like a bolo tie, with the braided leather and the end pieces. If you look closely at the lightsabers on the end pieces, you can see Jonah’s ability to capture really fine details in his work.
Rich: It looks like the next three pieces are part of a series by Dwayne Manuel.
Duane: Dwayne’s work provides insight into his perspective and some elements from his O’odham culture, but what’s really fascinating are the subjects that he’s chosen to feature. Generally, a lot of artists place an emphasis on characters like the Jedi and Grogu, but Dwayne really took it to the next level by featuring Darth Maul and the evil characters that are part of the dark side.
As a Phoenix-based educator and advocate for his people, Dwayne tries to create awareness of the continued struggle his people experience as they have to fight for resources, their traditional homelands, and the kinds of things that go along with that. He highlights that in a lot of his art but you can also see the use of traditional native symbolism, including feathers and the devil’s claw plant. The way he blends art and advocacy is very interesting. He’s into metal music too, so you can see that in his work as well.
According to the description at the exhibition, Darby describes her interest in Star Wars. “As a child, the Star Wars films captivated my imagination and inspired me to draw. There were aliens and monsters, robots and spaceships, heroes and villains and powers beyond this world. There was also something familiar in the landscapes and places.
Today, I’m interested in parallels between the Star Wars storyline and the American Indian Experience. From a Native perspective, it’s easy to see the evil empire mirroring the colonizing forces of North America. Characters like Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Kylo Ren interest me because of their personal battles with anger, hate and suffering [that] become the source of evil perpetuated through the galaxy. Through overcoming these inner demons, balance and order can be restored.”
This concludes our series on The Return of the Force exhibition, but as the title of Part 5 suggests, endings are often just beginnings….
Catch up with Return of the Force Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4
The Return of the Force part 4 features canvases that take many forms! This is the fourth 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.
Rich: Now this piece I find really interesting.
Duane: This is a unique style as well. Jason Garcia is a traditional potter. He comes from Santa Clara Pueblo. He’s a Tewa artist who loves Star Wars. His favorite character is Jar Jar Binks, so in this exhibit he featured a piece that shows a child holding a Jar Jar cup. I would say as an artist, like many of these artists, he is very successful and has definitely created a name for himself and his style. This piece belongs to Charles King of King Galleries in Scottsdale, AZ and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mr. King is a big fan of Jason Garcia.
Rich:: Wow, this next section wasn’t open during my previous visit. I think the curtain was drawn the last time we met, so this is my first time seeing it, and I love it!
Sam: Yes, they were working on this installation for quite some time when we were putting the exhibition together. It’s actually a collaboration between Tempe Center for the Arts and Randy Kemp’s son, who sourced a bunch of different materials, did some artwork on the different pieces, and put them together to kind of make it look like a workshop, or a junkyard or something like that. The sound elements as well as the different textures and 3D pieces really add a lot to the exhibition.
Kim Lohnes, Diné
Rich: Here we have another female artist featured and this piece is incredible.
Sam: Kim Lohnes is a Navajo/Diné artist. You can see that she took a piece of linen and was able to do this immense amount of bead work on this piece featuring BB-8 that is on loan from Tony Thibodeau, director of research and collections at the Museum of Northern Arizona. At one point when Tony was curating the first exhibit back in 2020, he was talking with Randall Wilson, one of the artists that was featured. Randall told Tony, “Hey, my cousin actually did this really cool piece.” So this ended up being added to the first exhibition as well as this one. You can see how Kim uses color and a more abstract look in this design.
At first, you don’t immediately recognize it as BB-8. You just see it as a beautiful piece of bead work and then when you get into it, the character pops out and you can really appreciate her take on BB-8.
Rich: I see we’ve got a few more of your pieces here.
Duane: This one is owned by Dorren Thibodeau, Tony’s son. I made this piece actually at my old job at the Flagstaff Medical Center. I used to work with kids in the behavioral health unit and I would paint stuff periodically. I did this watercolor there and I kept it. I had it on display at an art show in Flagstaff and Doran’s son really admired it. He had asked me how much it was and I asked him how much he had, and he said, “I got like $20”. and then I said “Yes I’m going to remember that.” I let it go for him, but his dad was like, “How much?” I was like, “No, that’s cool.” He really liked it.
The little minis were also 3D-printed by Joe Mastroianni. He got a 3D printer, so we started printing these and just started having some fun decorating them with Hopi pottery designs. The other helmets, including Hopi Trooper and Hopi Mando are a little larger, closer 6 inches tall.
Rich: Of course I’m going to pause right here at Hopi Trooper because this is probably one of my favorite pieces of yours.
Duane: Yeah that one’s owned by Sam’s youngest. He really liked it and would always look at it in my house and then I finally just said “You know what? You can have it.” So he owns that piece now.
Yancey Katoney, Diné
The team at TCA quotes Yancey’s inspiration for The Side of Castle Butte. “I was inspired to use the Castle Butte because it is familiar in my collective memory. The shapes have always been very curious to me. The imagination like our home land could very well be thought of as synonymous. … My mother kept a running theme in my mind of the possibility of what those rocks could be, a movie set, a playground, Godzilla or Mothra coming up out of the earth. Here it is ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…’. These were always running scenarios as we would pass by these monolithic landmarks against the night sky coming from church revivals as a child.
According to Duane, “Yancey’s Mandalorian, Flint Rock, is about my late friend Adrian Nez who had encouraged me to change some old habits. A true “Naabaahii”, we knew him as Flint Rock.
Michael Toya, Jemez Pueblo
Duane: These are by Mike Toya, a Jemez Pueblo artist and huge Star Wars fan. He has been making Star Wars art for a long time too. In the two examples we have here, Village Protector and Chief Grogu, Mike used acrylic on canvas. I love his take on the character of Grogu, wise beyond his years.
Stay tuned for more examples of Native art in Return of The Force Part 5.
Catch up on The Return of The Force Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!
Rich: Alright, here we have a magnificent doll, created by another female artist.
Sam: The doll, yeah, that’s by Christal Ratt. In her Mandalorian doll, she utilizes different materials. There’s fabric, but also works a lot with birch bark, and you can kind of see that in the helmet. She features elements like flowers and natural materials. It has been really cool to see her find her comfort level with displaying different perspectives in her artwork and we’re excited to include her because she is outside of the Colorado Plateau. Her cultural affiliation is the Anishnabek (Algonquins) of Barriere Lake in Canada.
She also created these two skirts. You can see some of the fashion design choices that she’s made too, combining traditional ribbon and flowers in the skirts with Grogu and the Mandalorian, really highlighting how these characters have been embraced by indigenous cultures.
Rich: I recognize the licensed fabric that she’s using here, but the ribbon and the Mandalorian are amazing. How did she make that Mandalorian?
Sam: Yes. They’re wearable pieces like the ones that people would wear to highlight their involvement in the community. You can see some of the things that she’s added too, like the flowers and the green leaves to the left and right. She has since created a fashion line that’s outside of Star Wars.
Rich: Let’s move on to your skateboard deck that features another Ewok. Please tell us about it.
Duane: Well this piece actually belongs to Sam here. I think some of her favorite characters are Ewoks. I had a deck in the previous show and it ended up selling, so I wanted to create one with an Ewok. Of course, this is Wicket, but I changed up his cape to put more of a Hopi-style cape on him. And the fact that they’re kind of like hunters and warriors is the reason why he’s carrying a rabbit stick. In Hopi, that’s what we call a “mojo” so it brings together the culture and hunter-like nature of the Hopi.
Rich: That’s awesome. Now, what about these shoes?
Duane: Yeah, my cousin asked me to do them for my nephew. Shoes have been a big part of my art career, kind of what really got my name out there was doing a lot of shoes. He is a Star Wars fan so I went at it. He wanted Darth Vader in there and I wanted to include both shoes, so I added the Death Star in there and some of the TIE fighters, which are my favorites. I’m a big fan of TIE fighters. Maybe I will make a new pair for the next exhibit.
I also included a couple of my collabs with NTVS Clothing in this exhibition. NTVS Clothing is a Native-owned business that creates limited edition clothing drops with designs by Native designers for everyone that supports indigenous culture. Their mission is to teach Native kids about the importance of culture and history. My Fett Windbreaker features a Hopi-styled Boba Fett design, and Vader Windbreaker includes his lightsaber on the sleeves and an illustration of a Hopi-pottery styled Vader helmet and Death Star on the back.
Shaun Beyale, Diné
Rich: Alright, that brings us to Shaun Beyale.
Sam: Sean grew up loving comic books and you can see he is both a fan of Star Wars and the comic style. He’s passionate about sharing the strength of Navajo women, especially Navajo women who are considered fierce warriors.
One of the main characters that he features is Isa. He has a daughter and he said he wants to be able to share that idea of strength. He ties in different elements of Navajo history and Navajo culture into a lot of his artwork, like the style of dress, the landscape, as well as some traditional themes, like characters from different oral traditions. He’s done work with Marvel and does appearances to speak to school groups and children about following their passion, especially if it involves the arts. He’s very encouraging of people – that’s part of what unites us across these two different cultural influences is Star Wars and art and creativity.
Steven Paul Judd, Kiowa/Choctaw x NTVS Clothing
Rich: Let’s move to these cool collabs from NTVS Clothing. I love these t-shirts.
Duane: Oh yeah, the t-shirts are additional collaborations with NTVS, featuring graphic design work by Steven Paul Judd. He creates a lot of art relating to popular culture and again, brings a different perspective outside of the Colorado Plateau that wasn’t necessarily featured in the first exhibition several years ago. He’s Kiowa and Chakawa, and he blends some cool takes on historical photos with the inclusion of Star Wars themes and characters.
According to NTVS, they have been creating these limited fashion drops that fuse Star Wars and Native Culture for the past seven years. “Every ‘May the 4th’ celebration becomes a thrilling rendezvous of pop culture and ancestral heritage, as our limited edition designs transport you to galaxies far, far away while connecting with the spirit of Indigenous communities.
Rich: I’m going to move to these leather and steel pieces here. Who created these?
Duane: These are by Pat Pruitt, a very well respected artist who utilizes a lot of more contemporary takes on traditional Pueblo culture. He is Laguna Pueblo, Chiricahua Apache, and Anglo. He has a strong following who love his stainless steel work. He designs everything from dog tags to beautiful bracelets, knives, and a variety of other pieces. He also utilizes a laser to do some of his etching and also some of his cutting, so he blends the use of technology with traditional elements and different symbols of strength from the Star Wars universe.
The examples we have in this exhibit are these four bow guards that would have traditionally been worn on the left hand or arm for bow and arrow use to protect the wrist. He is usually very busy with his work and traveling for shows, so I was really excited when he said we would contribute something to this exhibit.
Stay tuned for Part 4: Canvases Take Many Forms
It is time for part 3 of the colorful world of keshigomu (keshi) Star Wars! Keshi, as you hopefully remember, are the small rubber erasers that have been popular in Japan over the past half century. Of course, we are focusing on Star Wars. In 1978, when Star Wars was first released in theaters across Japan, myriad licensees put their own spin on the now-classic characters and events from that Galaxy far away. None were more prolific than Takara toy company. Most collectors recognize Takara as the sub-licensee of Kenner responsible for distributing the original action figures in Japan, but their contributions go well beyond that. There were dozens of different Star Wars keshi made by Takara and sold in capsule machines (remember think gumball machines). Due to the small size of the capsules, it is not uncommon to find heavily stooped or bent keshi. They are not suffering some spinal injury, just years of confinement in a plastic prison that didn’t allow them to stand tall, so to speak.
Three different “series” were available concurrently. Collectors have separated them into different series based on their attributes rather than release dates. So, as we discuss these, remember if you were a child in Japan in 1978 putting your hard-earned yen into the capsule machine, you could get a keshi from any one of these three “series.” In fact, here’s a display card that would have been inside the capsule machine to give prospective customers a glimpse of what they might receive.
The first series has been dubbed the “12-back” series by collectors. Many vintage action figure collectors will recognize that term as applied to the first twelve Kenner Star Wars action figures because the back of the original blister cards showed twelve figures. They consisted of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2, Stormtrooper, Death Squad Commander, Sand People, and the Jawa. The 12 keshi match exactly those original 12 action figures. Clearly a deliberate decision on the part of Takara. These 12 characters are slightly larger than the other Takara keshi. Most are about two inches high with R2-D2 and the Jawa being smaller. Like all good keshi, they came in a full spectrum of colors including two different yellows. Possible versions are Black, White, Lemon Yellow, Desert Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, and Orange. I am always surprised by the omission of red from these early lines.
The second “series” (remember they are concurrent with the 12-backs) have been called the “base series.” In many lines, a base series connotes the standard, non-special versions such as the regular cards in a trading card set. However, in this instance “base” is actually derived from the fact that the characters each stand on a base. This Keshi set is more action posed and slightly smaller than the static 12-backs. Also, there are far fewer characters depicted but, since some have multiple poses, there are actually more in this series than 12-backs. Thirteen to be precise. Two poses for C-3PO, Stormtrooper, and Chewbacca; one pose each for Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, and R2-D2; while Darth Vader has the most with three different poses. The other characters are not represented at all. Again, the same color palette was available for these erasers. Due to their smaller nature, facial likenesses, especially with the humans, is not very accurate and the sculptor clearly took some liberties designing the weaponry. But a very fun line nonetheless. Sticklers for detail will note that the R2-D2 in the base series does not, in fact, have a base. The base of his legs are thicker than the 12-back version. So, what I have told you is true…from a certain point of view. Another quick way to distinguish the 12-back R2-D2 from the base version is the pronounced indentation under the dome of the 12-back version.
The third concurrent Takara series were all vehicles and roughly the same size as the base series, slightly smaller than the 12-backs. The vehicles were also available in the same colors as the other two series. This vehicle series consists of the Landspeeder, Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Darth Vader’s bent-winged TIE Fighter, and a Star Destroyer that is much flatter and wider than depicted in the films. It is closer to an equilateral triangle. If you are keeping track at home that’s almost 250 variations on these three Takara series if you want all combinations. And, let’s face it, who doesn’t want all combinations!
Eagle-eyed readers have probably noted the metal R2-D2 in the center of the capsule machine display card. Even stretching the bounds of credibility, it’s not possible to call that an eraser. In fact, it was the top-prize in the capsules: the R2-D2 100-yen coin holder. Few lucky enthusiasts received this instead of a rubber keshi. It has a spring in the body of the droid that held coins and allowed you to remove them like a pez dispenser, presumably so you could buy more keshi.
This seems like a good place to stop this month’s Keshi installment but, don’t fret, our story is not at the end. Just like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy had a fourth book “So long and thanks for all the fish,” our Keshigomu magnum opus trilogy will also have a fourth part “of Jumbos and Bootlegs.”
We are still catching our breath after returning from San Diego, but wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who showed enthusiasm and support for The Sage Museum Initiative of Rancho Obi-Wan at San Diego Comic-Con 2025!
Whether you attended our panel on The Saga Museum, bid on items in the Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies: TCM ECHOES from the GALAXY auction or took the time to come up on the convention floor to say hello, we truly appreciated and felt your support. Thank you!
Stay tuned for an official recap of all things from San Diego coming soon.
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.
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.
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.
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