Star Wars Archives

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 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.

February 7, 2025February 7, 2025

The X-wing fighter Design Object at Imperial Archives

In museum design, there is a concept known as the Design Object. This is the largest object in your collection that cannot readily be broken down into smaller objects. Since you need to be able to move your Design Object into and through your building, its dimensions drive things like the width of dock roll-up doors, the capacity of freight elevators, hallway sizing (widths and turn radiuses) and gallery entrance dimensions. This 6-foot-long, 6-foot wide X-wing fighter—roughly one-sixth scale—is the Design Object at the Imperial Archives.

(It is not the Design Object for The Saga Museum—that’s a 15-foot by 8-foot painting at Rancho Obi-Wan. We’re also not counting the two large permanent installations at the Archives—the theater designed by Doug Chiang and the nearly full-size replica of the cantina from A New Hope that many of you saw while it was installed at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in 2015.)

This X-wing was formerly on display at FAO Schwarz in Orlando, Florida. (That location had an even larger model up for a while; if you remember a huge X-wing hanging upside down above you, that was the other one.)

We added this to our collection after FAO closed the Orlando store in 2004, and for the next 15 years, it waited patiently in a crate that took up an entire bay of our garage. In 2019, when we opened a 10,000-square-foot addition to the Imperial Archives, we were finally able to hang the X-wing in a place of honor, greeting visitors as they come through the door. It’s not a static model: the S-foils open and close, and the rear engines light up. (Sorry for the backlighting in the photo—it looks more dramatic in real life!)

Imperial Archives is the collection of Vic Wertz and Lisa Stevens, and is part of The Saga Museum Initiative

November 16, 2024November 16, 2024

The Props and Costumes from the Star Wars Holiday Special

As a kid whose life was profoundly changed by Star Wars in theaters in 1977, the anticipation for the Star Wars Holiday Special on television the following year was high. It’s hard to imagine there was a time when there was very little Star Wars content available to us, but no one anticipated the unprecedented success and impact of Star Wars, and we were starved for that content in the early years. We got some of that fix through the Marvel Comics series, but the three year wait for the next movie seemed like an eternity. So the announcement of a live action television program that continued the story and included all the main actors was something to look forward to. I was glued to the television for every second of the broadcast, and even some of the commercials were entertaining, such as the Kenner commercial with C-3PO and R2-D2.

Years later I continued to have fond memories of that broadcast, because I did not see the show again on video until the early 90s. When that happened, it was a bit shocking to say the least, because my nostalgic recollections had left a different impression that the show was high quality. But over the years, the fan community has come around to embrace the Holiday Special for its campy and kitsch value. Although the Holiday Special has never been officially rereleased since 1978, Lucasfilm and Disney have celebrated the Holiday Special with merchandise, content, and annual “Life Day” events.

“Life Day” is the Wookiee holiday depicted in the Holiday Special and the premise for the story as Chewbacca attempts to reunite with his family for the holiday. Fans celebrate Life Day on November 17, the date that the Star Wars Holiday Special aired in the United States, which was just under a week before Thanksgiving in 1978.

Early in the story, Lumpy watches a computer-generated performance of holographic circus performers including:

Ring Master, played by actor Yuichi Sugiyama, wearing a bright green costume with a long tail
Gymnast (aka The Great Zorbak) played by Stephanie Stromer, who performs on the uneven bars wearing a green costume
Jugglers (aka The Reeko Brothers), in bright orange costumes played by the Mum Brothers who perform juggling acts
Tumblers, five acrobatic dancers wearing bright pink costumes played by a family known as the Wazzan Troupe

All of these costumes for the holographic performers were specially designed and created for the Star Wars Holiday Special by renowned fashion designer Bob Mackie. Bob Mackie is a legend in costume design, creating the costumes for many entertainment icons over the decades including Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Farrah Fawcett, Lucille Ball, Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, and many others. His fashions dominated television in the 70s and 80s. He’s also won multiple Emmys, a Tony, and was nominated for three Oscars in costume design.

Fortunately, most of the original design sketches and screen-used costumes for the holographic performers still exist today including: Bob Mackie’s costume design drawing and finished costume for the Ring Master, the costume design sketch for the Gymnast, one of the original Juggler costumes, and the costume designs and several of the costumes for the Wazzan Troupe acrobatic Tumblers.

In the story, Malla attempts to prepare a meal as wookiees do, where she is following a recipe presented on a cooking show by the four-armed, alien cook, Gormaanda, played by Harvey Korman. Harvey Korman’s Gormaanda costume is also Bob Mackie original. Here is the Chef Gormaanda screen-used costume worn by Harvey Korman.

Malla, Chewbecca’s wife, contacts Saun Dann, a local trader played by Art Carney, who arrives later and brings Life Day gifts for the whole family. He tells Malla that Han and Chewie are on their way. Art Carney’s costume for Saun Dann was also designed and created by Bob Mackie as illustrated in this design sketch.

Perhaps the most bizarre segment of the Holiday Special occurs after Saun gives his Life Day gift to Itchy, Chewbacca’s father. Itchy receives a virtual reality fantasy program with Mermeia, played by actor and singer, Diahann Carroll. The entire fantasy sequence was scripted with suggestive dialogue that likely went over the heads of most young viewers at the time. Bob Mackie’s costume design sketch for Diahann Carroll’s Mermeia gown is shown below.

Shortly after Saun Dann arrives, two Stormtroopers and Imperial officers burst into the home and interrogate Malla and her family. The Imperials go to Lumpy’s bedroom and ransack it. Lumpy has 3 gray masks in his room that look like welding masks, and each one is unique based on the distinct patterns on the face, making them easy to screen match. These masks are among the items the Imperials throw around room. When people come over to our house and see this mask displayed in a case among other well-known Star Wars masks and helmets, I’m often asked what it is. I don’t think anyone has ever guessed correctly, because admittedly it is really obscure. But it is indeed one of the three masks from Lumpy’s bedroom.

Lumpy works to create a translation device to fool the Imperials to return to the base by emulating the commander’s voice. To figure out how get the translation device to work, Lumpy watches a video manual for the device that is presented by a malfunctioning robot called Dromboid played by Harvey Korman. Similar to the other costumes, Korman’s Dromboid costume was designed and created by Bob Mackie. Pictured here is the original costume design and jacket for Dromboid used in the Holiday Special.

The translation device used in the story is actually an electronics kit called the Mykit System 7. It never ceases to amaze me the detailed information that Star Wars fans are able to track down! Astute fans were able to correctly identify this specific electronics kit as the item used for Lumpy’s translator. The one pictured here is new in the box, but is not the original one used in the Holiday Special.

Later in the story, they cut a segment in the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine with a character Ackmena played by Bea Arthur. Ackmena is the nighttime bartender at the cantina and greets many of the familiar guests from the cantina sequence of Star Wars such as Greedo, Snaggletooth, Walrusman, Hammerhead, the Cantina Band, Gotal, Duros, and many others. Bea Arthur’s costume was of course also designed by Bob Mackie. The whereabouts of the original Ackmena costume are unknown, but Mackie’s design sketch is shown below.

The Mos Eisley Cantina sequence from the Holiday Special is the moment where fans of the movie get to truly geek out. Many of the original props and costumes from the film were reused for the shoot. These props, masks, and costumes were also previously used for a Richard Pryor comedy skit in 1977. Some of the original pieces from the Mos Eisley Cantina that were also used in the Star Wars Holiday Special include:

Cantina Band mask and hands
Duros hand
Greedo hand (named Bludlow who is a different Rodian in the Holiday Special)
Yam Nose (or Yamnoss) mask

All of the items featured in this blog entry are from my personal collection. We recently announced plans to launch the Saga Museum of Star Wars Memorabilia in collaboration with Steve Sansweet, Anne Neumann, Duncan Jenkins, Lisa Stevens, Vic Wertz, Rich Smolen, and Michael Wistock. This virtual gallery of original pieces from the Star Wars Holiday Special is glimpse of the type of exhibit we might someday offer at the Saga Museum that people will be able to see in person when we open the doors in a few years. Happy Life Day!

October 5, 2024October 5, 2024

New SAGA Museum to Celebrate Legacy of Star Wars Fandom 

New SAGA Museum to celebrate legacy of Star Wars fandom has been announced. This public museum will bring together four of the world’s largest Star Wars collections, including Rancho Obi-Wan.

5 October 2024 – Seattle, WA and Petaluma, CA: A new chapter in the Star Wars universe is being written, not in a galaxy far, far away, but right here on Earth. The Saga Museum® of Star Wars Memorabilia (https://RanchoObiWan.org/TheSagaMuseum/) aims to bring together four of the world’s largest Star Wars collections—comprising over 1.5 million objects—into one groundbreaking, immersive experience. This highly anticipated museum will offer fans a galactic range of exhibits, programs, and amenities designed to be both fun and inspirational, while celebrating the rich legacy of Star Wars. Plans for the new museum were announced Saturday night at a fundraising event at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).

“Since Princess Leia’s spaceship first sped across the big screen and our collective consciousness 47 years ago, Star Wars fandom has continued to grow and evolve,” said Steve Sansweet, founder of the nonprofit Rancho Obi-Wan, the world’s largest collection of Star Wars memorabilia as recognized by Guinness World Records. “This new museum is for everyone who has ever felt inspired by Star Wars and its continuing legacy. It will be a place where the creative minds of tomorrow can come and dream.”

The mission of the nonprofit is to share the fun and excitement of Star Wars and to deliver a robust suite of meaningful educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural exhibitions and programming for multiple generations.
“Our intention is that this combined Star Wars memorabilia collection will serve a higher purpose,” Sansweet said. “The legacy of Star Wars is coming full circle to help teach science, technology, robotics, engineering, art, and mathematics in this new museum.”

The founding collections at The Saga Museum are from some of the most renowned Star Wars collectors in the world:

Steve Sansweet—Rancho Obi-Wan: Executive Chairman and Founder of Rancho Obi-Wan, Steve’s collection is certified by Guinness World Records as the largest Star Wars memorabilia collection globally. Steve was Director of Content Management & Head of Fan Relations for Lucasfilm for 15 years and is the author of 17 official Star Wars books.

Gus Lopez—Bobacabana: Creator of the Star Wars Celebration Collecting Track and co-author of several Star Wars books and many articles. Gus’ collection includes rare and one-of-a-kind items like original art, toys, awards, and screen-used movie memorabilia.

Duncan Jenkins—The Sithsonian: Known for his international presentations at Star Wars conventions, Duncan’s collection is one of the most comprehensive in the world, with a focus on international and unique memorabilia. He has also coauthored four Star Wars collectibles books.

Lisa Stevens & Vic Wertz—Imperial Archives: Lisa, one-time president of the Official Star Wars Fan Club and Star Wars Brand Manager at Wizards of the Coast, and Vic, former associate editor of Star Wars Insider, have a collection rich in modern toys and high-end limited-edition collectibles.

“The Saga Museum is a natural extension of Rancho Obi-Wan,” said Anne Neumann, President of the nonprofit museum located in Petaluma, California north of San Francisco that opened to the public in 2011. “Rancho Obi-Wan has inspired thousands of visitors through the ‘Force’ of imagination. Our intention is that The Saga Museum will build on that mission and legacy.”

The founding team, with decades of experience in collecting, curating, and preserving Star Wars memorabilia, has been consulting with museum professionals and fundraising experts to help ensure the success of this new venture. The Saga Museum has launched a campaign to raise $2 million for a two-year planning phase, which will involve working with cities across the United States to identify a permanent, engaging world-class museum design firms, hiring an architectural firm to draft renderings, and executing a capital campaign to fund construction.

“We want The Saga Museum to be a place where everyone, from hardcore fans to casual visitors, can experience the magic of Star Wars in new ways,” said Neumann. “It’s an opportunity to explore how these stories have impacted not just pop culture but the world at large.”

media contact:
DP&A, Inc: David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

February 15, 2023March 7, 2023

Rancho Obi-Wan Partners with the Sharpsteen Museum for The Force of Fandom

Rancho Obi-Wan is thrilled to partner with the Sharpsteen Museum for “The Force of Fandom” exhibit celebrating creativity and inspiration in the Star Wars Universe.

Curated Star Wars memorabilia from our museum, the collections of Steve Sansweet and our incredible docents, Dwayne Smith and Marc Morita will be on display. Over 250 unique Star Wars pieces will be featured!

You’ll encounter some special guests from a galaxy far, far away during the grand opening launch party of The Force of Fandom exhibit at the Sharpsteen Museum on Fri. Mar. 10, 10:30am-Noon/PT

The Force of Fandom exhibit can be enjoyed February 24-May 5, 2005 at The Sharpsteen Museum in Calistoga, California.