R2D2
Look, there’s something about R2D2 that never gets old. Not just for the people who grew up on the original trilogy and had their minds blown when those first couple of beeps came through a movie theater speaker system. But for every generation since who has met him and immediately knows who he is. Brave, witty, and utterly unavoidable. No arms, no brain processed language we can understand, and somehow still the most animated character in the room. That isn’t nothing.
Figuring out what to get someone who loves him can be the easy part. The difficult part is finding something that you feel does him justice. If you’re shopping right now you’ll know there are thousands of R2D2 things. Mugs. Key rings. Bits of random plastic that are clearly made just to gather dust in the back of a drawer. We aren’t interested in stocking those. And we doubt you are reading this, are?
Instead we went searching for pieces that feel like they were made for the collection of someone who cares. Not collected by someone who just checked a box. Every piece we picked had to pass a simple test. If we were going to give this to a Star Wars fan would we be happy doing so knowing they know their stuff. Not someone who may have seen it once on TV. We are looking for gifts for people who know R2 exactly who saved Han and has strong feelings about it. That person was who we had in mind when deciding what made the cut.
Some of the stuff we picked you’ll actually use. Some of it you’ll probably hang on the wall. We’ve tried to find things that cover both bases. Because the best Star Wars fans we know like having both. The thing on their desk they grab every day as they start work, and the thing on the wall they can’t help but smile at as they walk by.
Keeping this list small was intentional. This isn’t us dumping every R2D2 themed thing we could find into a warehouse sale and calling it a day. These are things that we actually love and wanted to highlight because they are well made, designed with care, and feel like they’d be worthy of the absolute legend that is R2D2. Novelties aren’t worthy of him. Or the person you’re shopping for.