Many of us ought to be in Anaheim, California right now. Instead of reading about Star Wars online, we should be experiencing it first-hand. Alas, thanks to COVID-19, here we are when we would otherwise be at Star Wars Celebration 2020. At least those that purchased tickets to the biennial event now have early access to Celebration merchandise! And the exclusives are… Well, we have to be honest here. They’re remarkable in that, by and large, they are rather unremarkable. In fact, they’re a bit dissapointing.

Celebration Merchandise; Mandalorian
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Celebration this year was setting up to a monumental event. The Mandalorian Season 2 is set to arrive in just over a month’s time. On that basis the new season would have likely featured heavily. Fans were hoping to see scenes of Ahsoka Tano, Rex, and yes, even Boba Fett. Remember vacation souvenir T-shirts that said “my parents went to [insert touristy location here] and all I got was this lousy T-shirt?” Well, in this case, The Mandalorian T-Shirt combo is probably one of the better Celebration merchandise items available. It features Mando, Cara Dune and IG-11, and comes with a matching pin set of the three characters as well.

Star Wars Celebration Merchandise a bit underwhelming

Celebration Merchandise; THe Empire Strikes Back
This could very well be the Celebration merchandise highlight. (Image: Lucasfilm Ltd)

The big focus for the Celebration merchandise is, of course, the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back. It’s safe to say that the majority of the merchandise centers on the 1980 classic Star Wars film. The tin lunchbox commemorating the film is, again, nice, but nothing to write home about. The same applies to the rather bland 40th Anniversary logo T-shirts as well.

Where the Celebration merchandise is really, decidedly lacking, however, is with the collectibles. Want a convention-exclusive Black Series? Look elsewhere. The aforementioned lunchbox is literally the highlight. I mean, seriously, Lucasfilm. Is a suction cup Mynock really the best you can do?

Star Wars Celebration
Seriously? (Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.)

Alas, like pretty much everything else in 2020, the Star Wars Celebration merchandise is mostly disappointing. Still, with a few desirable items, it’s perhaps not a total loss. You can check everything out at the Celebration website HERE. Ticket holders have early purchase access until Monday, August 31st.