A very happy ‘Star Wars Day’, one and all! ‘May the Fourth’ be with you!
Some of you may know I had a thing for dressing up my beloved pooch Kyra up as Star Wars characters every year, as it was her birthday on May the 4th!
Kyra sadly passed away last June, not long after her final Star Wars humiliation – I mean ‘performance’ – as the ‘Dog Star’.
What a star she was too. 13 years an absolute darling, an ambassador to the staffy breed and I still miss her, a year on.
This is where it started for ‘Darth Kyra’ back in 2011, strong with the force, not long after we ‘rescued’ her (though she might not have thought it was a rescue after these shoots…)
Over the years we attempted a host of Jedi, Chewbacca, Leia, an X-wing pilot. About 10 major characters later I started running thin on ideas and even attempted Han Solo in Carbonite and a Tuscan Raider!
Well, last week we picked up a 10 week old Border Terrier puppy ‘Connie’ (short for ‘Constance’) and I thought this might be as good a time as any to introduce her, in her first Star Wars outfit as…
And ‘Chewy’ she most certainly is…
Nippy, zippy and real pretty… and now I know why people call them Border Terriorists!
I thought it might also be fun to go back through Kyra’s punny hits… Including ‘Kyra-2D2’!
This official Lucasfilm licensed outfit looks like a victorian frilly blouse and b) comes with a skullcap she WAS NOT 100% IMPRESSED WITH!
But as ever, she put up with my silly ways in exchange for sliced ham and biscuits!
My boy Len helped with treat distribution and I only realised afterwards that I’d massively missed a trick not dressing him up as C3PO to complete the pairing!
Being born at the end of Feb 2020, Lenny also suffered at the hands of my Star Wars nerdery, and sat in a bin to play ‘The Child’ AKA ‘Baby Yoda’!
But back to Kyra…
Finding my snowboarding goggles in the drawer inspired me to do an X-Wing Pilot one year!
And as I strain at puns on her name ‘Kyra’, she joins Gold Leader, Blue Leader and Red Leader, as ‘Kyred Leader’!
This was an official outfit too. Lucasfilm are nothing if smart at covering all merch bases!
Anyone starting to see how impressed she is about all this?!
While she’s technically a Bantha, the rider is a Tuskan Raider and that makes an easier ‘Kyra/dog’ pun!
‘Kyrace Windu’! Samuel Jackson’s purple lightsaber weilding badass.
‘Kyrey’!
And she looks just as pleased about being dressed up in this ‘Rey’ toddler fancy dress costume and hanging out in a local golf course bunker as one might expect!
Kyra’s attempt at ‘Chewbarka’, in our local bluebell woods, made out of a hacked up a Chewbacca Rucksack!
The Force Awaken’s ‘Kyra Ren’ – from Han & Leia’s very naughty boy Kylo.
‘Kyran Solo’ was a labour of Blue Peter-style cardboard-and-PVA-glue love, to create a Han Solo in Carbonite box Kyra could climb into!
‘Princess Kyra’… cause she’s a little short to be a Storm Trooper!
One year she played an Ewok (aka ‘Kyrawok’) made out of an old charity shop skirt & a large teddy bear!
Jub jub
‘Kyrobi Wan Kenobi’ … Do those eyes also say to you ‘These aren’t the photoshoots I’m looking for’
And here are a few out-takes, cause eventually, even food bribes don’t make up for the shame…
I can’t see what her problem is; dressing up as Star Wars characters is great fun!
Thanks for reading guys, and I hope you enjoyed meeting ‘Chewie’ and reminiscing over Kyra’s greatest hits!
Barnaby
ps. If you’re also in the market for a wedding photographer, I also do that too 😉