Star Wars is a merchandising behemoth, with a steady flow of action figures, beach towels, and Christmas ornaments from the very beginning. Anything as culturally massive as Star Wars eventually gets weird, with the brand being applied to any and everything— including an empty box, literally.

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There is a certain kind of charm in the zaniest Star Wars merchandise, but the oddest of the odd nevertheless begs some questions, mainly What were they thinking? But, for the most part, these strange items are all part of the fun, unique world of Star Wars collecting.

10 Early Bird Kit

Star Wars Early Bird Kit

Kenner Star Wars action figures are among the best toys of the '70s and '80s. There would eventually be millions of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the hands of kids everywhere, but in the beginning, there were none at all. Kenner was caught flat-footed by the runaway success of the movie in 1977 and had no toys on the shelves when it launched.

The best they could do is the Early Bird Kit, an empty box with a coupon to send for the first four figures— Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and Chewbacca— when they eventually showed up in 1978. It was a weird gimmick that nevertheless worked. The kit is now one of the most expensive Star Wars toys of all time.

9 Yoda Magic 8-Ball

Star Wars Yoda Magic 8 Ball

Kenner stayed pretty faithful to the source material with the original trilogy of Star Wars films, but they took some liberties here and there. One of the weirdest examples is the Yoda Magic 8-Ball.

Nothing was more popular than Yoda in 1980 and the little green guy become the focus of most The Empire Strikes Back merchandise. That led to him being co-opted into another big '80s craze, the Magic 8-Ball. Kids could shake Yoda, turn him upside down, and find out the answers to their most pressing questions about the future.

8 Angry Birds Costume

Star Wars Angry Birds Costume

Star Wars doesn't typically chase fads, but in the early 2010s, it got caught up in one of the biggest. The Angry Birds mobile game was a huge success and Star Wars crossed over into the merchandise with toys and, strangely, Halloween costumes.

Kids and adults both could wear giant costumes of Star Wars characters in the Angry Birds style, like Princess Leia. It was a strange marriage to begin with, and the giant bird head kids wore probably generated more questions than candy.

7 Jar Jar Binks (In Carbonite)

Sometimes a joke just isn't funny. In 2011, Hasbro made an exclusive The Vintage Collection 3.75" Jar Jar Binks action figure frozen in carbonite. This never happened in the movies and was more aimed at the perception of Jar Jar's infamy within some segments of fandom. It was very unlike Hasbro or any licensee to make fun of any Star Wars characters.

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There are a lot of bad modern Star Wars action figures and this would rank among them. The general attitude toward Jar Jar has softened in recent years and he's now an outstanding and faithful Black Series six-inch scale action figure.

6 Jawa Garden Gnome

The Jawa is one of the most unique aliens in Star Wars, but he probably doesn't get a lot of gardening in living in the desert wastes of Tatooine. That made this resin cast garden gnome version of the character pretty strange when it was offered about ten years ago.

Yoda might have made more sense, living in the green swamp of Dagobah. The Jawa is frequently the subject of strange and very rare products, including the Regal plush Jawa available only in Canada in the late 1970s.

5 Jar Jar Binks Lollipop

Star Wars Jar Jar Lollypop

Another bizarre product associated with Jar Jar Binks is this lollipop from The Phantom Menace. It's truly one of the strangest Star Wars products out there given its design. The motorized pop has Jar Jar open his mouth when kids pressed the button, and extend his tongue, which in this case was the actual candy.

The entire process of consuming the lollipop was as misguided as the product itself and didn't help Jar Jar's case with the public at large either in the summer of 1999. The prequels did some things better than the sequels, but weird merch wasn't one of them.

4 C-3PO Tape Dispenser

Jar Jar Binks really has nothing on this C-3PO tape dispenser, which counts among the most notorious licensed products of all time. It's a traditional tape dispenser, with the idea being people pulled a strand of tape from the roll and then cut it on the blade. The problem was the roll was seated in C-3PO's lap.

He sat in a chair, prone, with an unusual look on his face. The tape dispenser was eventually pulled from the shelves and discontinued once it became a laughing stock for its unintentionally suggestive design. C-3PO is one of the best droids in the franchise, but this wasn't one of his best moments.

3 Darth Vader Toaster

Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster

Darth Vader smokes a lot of people in the Star Wars saga, but this toaster is taking things too far. Darth Vader has one of the most unique designs in film history and it's been applied to just about everything. He has been a lot of cookie jars, but never a toaster before this product, released in 2014.

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Two metal slots branded the Star Wars logo on each slice of bread, along with the Darth Vader helmet. Darth Vader was the best Sith in Star Wars, but he probably didn't eat a lot of toast while in his bulky breathing mask.

2 Wampa Rug

Star Wars Wampa Rug

Years ago it was fashionable for people to have bearskin rugs for their homes. Not so much anymore, which is why this Wampa-skin rug is all the more strange. The Wampa is one of the most unique non-sentient creatures in Star Wars, and one of the least friendly.

Still, his mauling of Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back is no cause to imagine skinning him and throwing him on the floor of the living room. The rug featured a plush pillow head and vinyl plastic claws.

1 Death Star Waffle Maker

Star Wars Death Star Waffle Maker

Along with the Darth Vader toaster, this Death Star waffle maker is one of the more curious Star Wars food-related products. The idea of a Death Star-shaped waffle isn't that odd. There were certainly Death Star cakes and pizzas back in the day. But a dedicated waffle maker pressing out weapons of mass destruction probably gets old fast.

This ThinkGeek product produced a 7-inch diameter perfectly round Imperial Death Star waffle in just minutes, or about as long as it took the Death Star laser to warm up.

NEXT: 5 Reasons That Darth Vader Is Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Greatest Enemy (And 5 That It’s Darth Maul)