| Unlicensed Ceramic and Plaster Yoda Items | |
| The prequels may have turned Yoda into a dour, authoritarian frowny pants, but back in the day he was impish and even sort of hilarious. So of course there are a significant number of vintage ceramic items that focus on the character. Up top we have a statue depicting Yoda chilling on a rotty old stump. Quite a few vintage products showed Yoda in such a pose, even one of the unproduced Micro Collection figures.
Here we have one of the more impressive ceramic Yoda items. It's large, probably over 12 inches in height, and it has a cool Arts-and-Crafts look to it. Judging by the pose I'd guess the sculptor based his work on Kenner's vinyl Yoda puppet. As you can tell from the second photo, in which you can see the plastic stopper, it functions as a bank. Also note the price tag: I was pretty surprised to see this priced at $300. I was even more surprised to discover that someone tried to pass it off as meat.
I love the lamp you see on the left. It's about 16 or 17 inches tall, not including the light bulb fixture, and its beatific face is highlighted by eyes filled solid with glitter. The item on its right is substantially cruder. It's made of painted plaster, and whoever decorated it went through the trouble of gluing white fuzz to its head and hands. You can see another example of this form here.
This example never fails to crack me up. Check out that expression. Have you ever seen a more jerky-faced Yoda? He's smiling slightly, but the second you get close enough, ol' Yoda's gonna wallop you with his Jedi whacking stick. And then won't you be sorry you ever landed on Dagobah? I have no idea what the artist intended here. What is Yoda clutching? Wait a second . . . it almost looks like . . . if it were painted green and was perhaps just a little more detailed. Now even the expression makes sense! My my, Mastur Yoda, Topps C-3PO has nothing on you!
These two are seen on eBay from time to time. They represent two of the more sensitive bootleg representations of Yoda. The one on the right has a serene, almost Buddha-like quality, which is given a nice assist by the delicate glaze it's been treated with.
Here's the same piece made into a pair of bookends. It's a reminder that these unlicensed ceramics can be found in all sorts of weird formats.
Here's a nice Yoda mug. Clearly, the best part is the snake that seems to be on the verge of devouring the benevolent master's head.
Finally we have . . . this. I acquired it from someone in Romania. I think it's a sort of mug or bowl or perhaps the world's smallest spittoon. Obviously, it has some kind of connection to Yoda -- though we can debate the nature of that connection all day long and we'd probably still feel uncomfortable about it. My theory: Yoda has an inbred, bucktoothed cousin, and this is his chalice. Check out our special feature on unlicensed ceramics here. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Ron Salvatore |
| From the collection of: | Ron Salvatore |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Unlicensed |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Ceramics / Miscellaneous |
