UK Fan Experience: UK Smelly Rubbers and Pencil Toppers
Back in the heady days of the original trilogy, while young kids at school looked out of the window and wished they were in the cantina, or blasting at AT-AT’s in a snowspeeder, there was always a peach-smelling Star Wars eraser to remind us that the galaxy far, far away wasn’t actually that far away at all.
Kicking off in 1977, the first Star Wars erasers were released by the now near legendary company Helix. Launching the range with a series of 8 flat erasers, the set comprised of C-3PO, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke in his X-Wing outfit, Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin. Fast-forward to the modern era and via the design and concept skills of three prominent Star Wars fans Grant Criddle, Craig Spivey and artist Mark Daniels, these sets are making a comeback with the full force of Helix behind them. Keep your eyes out for some amazing looking sets which will both revisit and expand those classic sets of the 70’s and 80’s.
Helix also released a series of much-loved pencil top erasers, adding a Star Wars spin to the tops of chewed pencils everywhere. R2, Chewbacca, Vader, Stormtrooper, every side of the war was catered for and only added to what was an ever-swelling wave of product arriving for this ground-breaking movie. In years to come other characters would appear as pencil top erasers and pencil toppers including Luke X-wing pilot, Master Yoda and a plethora of characters from Return of the Jedi. Run through to the modern era and a number of pencil top erasers have just been released for Rogue One. These sets are going nowhere anytime soon, and any collector hoping to nab every set available is in for a busy time of it, as there are LOADS out there.
