| Unlicensed Ceramic R2-D2 Items | |
| There's just something about the shape of R2-D2, isn't there? Not only is it one of the most recognizable silhouettes in all of pop fiction, it's supremely adaptable to licensed paraphernalia like . . . well, you name it. What kind of product hasn't R2-D2 been made into?
Star Wars bootleggers were hip to R2's adaptability too: the little droid turned up on more unlicensed ceramic products than any other Trilogy character. At the top of this page is one such product. It's a clock, made in the form of a moon, on which R2 appears in the upper left area. The two vehicles depicted alongside him aren't particularly Star Wars-y, but then maybe R2-D2 is all the Star Wars you need.
Next up is a chalkware figure, presumably intended as a gift item. It features pretty cool styling. I particularly love the chest plate detail, which looks a bit like a cardiogram. Based on the markings on the base and sign, the item was produced and copyrighted in 1977 by Mylo Creations. Some quick Googling reveals that Mylo Creations produced a bunch of oddball ceramic items in the late '70s. You have to wonder what ol' Mylo was thinking when he tried to copyright R2-D2.
The item you see at the above left is probably a one-of-a-kind creation. It looks to be made out of fired clay. To its right is a plaster R2 form that is hollow inside. I'm guessing it's intended as a nightlight cover. Like the Mylo Creations R2, it's copyrighted. It bears a date of 1978.
These two smaller items (they're about four inches in height) seem meant as pie birds. A pie bird is a ceramic device intended to be buried in a baking pie as a vent for escaping gas. You can see an unfinished example of the figure on the left here.
If the large figural item you see here looks familiar that's because it's a straight copy of the R2-D2 cookie jar produced by Roman Ceramics. There are a lot of these bootlegs around. This one has been adapted into a lamp. To its right is another lamp: it's a somewhat incongruous combination of flying saucer and astromech droid. I've often wondered if this same lamp was available with an E.T. figure in place of the R2, but if it was I've never seen an example. The R2 figure sometimes turns up divorced from the lamp; it was crafted as a separate element and then affixed to the moon-like base.
The silvery R2 seen above is an odd item. I've never seen another ceramic piece with this form. I think it's supposed to function as a lamp. The geometric detailing makes it look like some strange classroom project. Beside it is a ceramic light switch cover, the bootleg cousin of Kenner's Switcheroo.
I might be stretching the focus of this entry by including this last item, which has only a tenuous connection to R2-D2. Yet who but R2-D2 could be the owner of that fine cyclopean dome? Looking at it makes me wonder how R2 must have felt being trapped inside that metal cylinder, his rusty innards tortured by the knowledge that he had no arms with which to grasp, to embrace . . . to love. So maybe this represents R2 in his idealized form -- a form more consistent with his deepest robot desires. Or maybe it's just R2-D2 in his deluxe attack suit. Check out our special feature on unlicensed ceramics here. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Pete Vilmur, Ron Salvatore |
| From the collection of: | Pete Vilmur, Ron Salvatore |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Unlicensed |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Category: | Ceramics / Miscellaneous |
