Recommended music: Staind – It’s Been Awhile
It’s been a while, but for this #WhateverWednesday, I’m still going through photos from my California trip from last year. I’m now at part ten of this series, and I’m still loving all these pictures.
Over the weekend, I snapped about a thousand photos. Some of them feature my Star Wars Legacy Collection R3-A2, but for most of my time in Petaluma, R3 stayed in my pocket at Rancho Obi-Wan. Steve Sansweet started this nonprofit museum, and according to Guinness World Records, it’s the world’s largest Star Wars memorabilia collection. Altogether, the museum and its storage rooms have about half a million unique Star Wars items.
I can’t describe every detail in the photos because the whole night was a blur of Star Wars excitement. Honestly, I’ve already forgotten more Star Wars things than I can remember from that night.

I’m not sure who created these Ewok paper crafts, but they’re really fun.

These Darth Vader action figure cases were featured in The Vader Case Project at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in 2015. The middle case shows a Death Star II theme by Spencer Brinkerhoff, while the one on the right is called “Electro-Vader” by Chris Trevas.

Who wouldn’t want an original hand-painted oil painting of Admiral Ackbar? I think this one was done by J Terrones, a Tijuana velvet artist. The other piece comes from when Lucasfilm moved its corporate departments, ILM, and LucasArts to the Presidio of San Francisco in 2005. It was inspired by Ralph McQuarrie’s artwork for a card that announced a similar move to North Hollywood in 1979.

This button mosaic portrait of Princess Leia must have taken a lot of time and effort to put together.

If Emperor Palpatine had decided to settle down on a chicken farm in northern California, the galaxy far, far away would probably be a lot better off.

Just like the Stormtrooper display at the front of the room, this X-wing pilot table stands out, even when it is surrounded by impressive woodwork.

Admiral Ackbar cereal(!), a serious Star Wars fan, and a one-of-a-kind Aurra Sing figure.

A disco-inspired entry for the Vader Project and a Mike Wazowski Death Star, why not?

The costume might look friendly, but this Ewok is far from it.

One last look at the expansive final room.

Now these Ewoks are cute.

Here’s a fan-made painting of late-1970s George Lucas with the droids.

Here’s one last photo for today. This is part of the charcuterie spread from the fundraiser, where all proceeds supported The Saga Museum and Rancho Obi-Wan’s plan to join forces with other big Star Wars collections.
I meant to wrap up this series by the end of last year, but that’s just “the consequences that are rendered; I’ve stretched myself beyond my means”. I’ll have more Rancho coverage for you next week, so stay tuned… In the meantime, check out what they’re all about at https://ranchoobiwan.org/thesagamuseum/
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