Ridiculous merchandise is secretly one of the best ways to promote a movie. Right now, it’s all about popcorn buckets, like the infamous Sandworm bucket for Dune: Part 2. I’m sure someone in the design team pointed out that it looked a bit questionable, but the marketing team probably stepped in and said it would make for great publicity. While it’s become a tongue-in-cheek norm now, these weird merch ideas were pretty genuine during the release of the Star Wars prequel trilogy in 1999. However, that hasn’t stopped them from becoming coveted collector’s items today.
The Jar Jar Binks tongue lollipop, the Tauntaun sleeping bag, and the C-3PO tape dispenser are all funny pieces of merch we can look back on and laugh at. However, things start getting weird when you incorporate the Dark Side into it. Darth Maul is arguably one of the most popular antagonists in the Star Wars franchise, bolstered by Sam Witwer’s brilliant portrayal of his descent into madness in the Clone Wars and Maul animated series. Given his character progression (or regression), it feels weird that there’s a piece of merch that lets you sit on his lap.
Much like any blow-up chair, it features a headrest, backrest, arm support, and of course, a seat. But the weird part is that almost all of Maul’s body is printed onto it, all the way down to his knees. Because of this, you’re pretty much sitting on his lap when you take a seat on this chair. To add to that, his face being directly behind yours makes it look like he’s constantly trying to seduce you into becoming his apprentice and we all know that never works out for anyone.
Among the features of the chair is the fact that it is “Portable, Durable, And Stable”, but I really have my doubts about that. We all know from what happens in The Phantom Menace that Maul is definitely not durable. In fact, people have complained about the backrest being flimsy, but they forgot that he was cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi. And, I think we can all gauge from his character development that he is anything but “Stable”. As for “Portable”, he did fall down that air reactor shaft pretty fast.
The hilarity of this chair is best witnessed when there’s someone sitting on it, and you can bet that plenty of fans have made memes out of it. In fact, it’s so popular right now, that some people are selling it for $120 on eBay. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be great for the backs and legs of older fans, but that’s one thing you’ll have in common with Maul.
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