![Star Wars Jedi 1](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-05/Star%20Wars%20Jedi.jpg?itok=jwSvQje7)
No, this is not a deliberate mistake. This may look in every way like the card we featured yesterday, from the first set of Star Wars cards to be issued by Topps, in June 1977. But it is not. The clue, if you are a Star Wars Fan, is that this character, Rey, was not in the original film. Keen card collectors will also spot that the spaceship on the reverse of this card is different to that on the original set. I will try to get a copy of that uploaded, but the rest of this week, and the newsletter, may - hopefully - be done amidst extreme chaos.
This card was issued in 2017, as almost a teaser for the film "Star Wars : Episode VIII - The Last Jedi". Whilst not part of the original trilogy, it did star two of the original cast, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia Organa). There is also a very sad reason why this film is so special to the Star Wars family, because in 2016 Carrie Fisher had died. It was not the last film that she was in though, because some previously unused footage of her was used to allow her to appear in Star Wars : Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019.
Rey, showing on our card, first appears in the Star Wars universe in Episode VII, released in 2015. She started her life as a scavenger, as she is shown here, finding useful things for her family to sell on. This turned out to be a similar story to that of Luke Skywalker, because she had actually been placed with them to hide her and keep her safe. In fact she was the daughter of Emperor Palpatine, the master of deadly Darth Vader - who was Luke Skywalker`s father. However when the New Republic faced its end she joined the rebels, and found that she felt The Force within her. That was how she connected with Luke Skywalker, now a Jedi Master. She also found herself dangerously attracted to the warrior Kylo Ren, who was also Han Solo`s son with Princess Leia. Eventually, once Luke Skywalker had sacrificed of himself to save the Resistance, Rey steps up and becomes the Last Jedi, apprenticing herself to General Leia Organa.