Sorry, Luke — but it looks like both your lightsaber and R2-D2 have new owners.
In an auction that I’d like to pretend took place in front of a Sandcrawler in the middle of a desert, someone reportedly just dropped over $2 million dollars on R2-D2.
“But wait — is it the R2? Like, the one used in the original trilogy?”
Alas, as far as anyone knows, the answer to that question can never really be “yes”. There were multiple R2s built for different situations across the original films — a few for when Kenny Baker was inside, a few for action scenes, etc. Meanwhile, most of them were gutted and re-purposed as necessary as the series continued.
This unit, then, is one that’s pieced together from bits and bobs across the many models across the films, with a final product thats said to be the most collectively “film used” known to exist. It’s made up of things like:
- The top dome and articulating eye lens as controlled by Kenny Baker in A New Hope
- Two legs used in Empire, and one created for Episode 1
- Accent/detail pieces on the body from A New Hope
Presumably not included: a hologram of a princess declaring you her only hope.
One could go all Ship of Theseus here and ask how many parts of an object can be swapped/replaced before something is no longer that object — but given that “that object” arguably never existed in a single permanent form, it’s all a bit moot. And in cases like this, beauty is in the eye of the person dropping the fat stack of cash.
While the online auction page (and the image up top) suggest a final bid of $2.3 million dollars, the auction house reports on its Facebook page that the final price came in at even heftier $2.75 million (the latter number probably coming after auction fees and whatnot.)
Meanwhile, Luke’s lightsaber as used in both A New Hope and Empire — the one that once belonged to Anakin and that he’d later replace with one he built himself — went for $375,000. That’s a good bit above the $150-250k the auction house was originally hoping to get for it, despite a piece or two having gone missing in the decades since filming. But, I mean, it’s Luke friggin’ Skywalker’s lightsaber.
No word yet on who the buyer of either lot is, but it’s probably safe to say that they didn’t immediately take R2 home and give him the customary oil bath. Whoever you are, just know: I’m jealous.
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