Star Wars - or 'the franchise' as it's known among the aficionado - is one heck of a machine, even for those of us who think we know a thing or two about tie-ins, merchandising and gadgetry. It's a full thirty years since the childhood-defining movie went into hyperspace (you may count the years if you wish, but I wouldn't recommend it) and, let me tell you, we're still amazed by the ingenuity and quality of the industry that's grown up alongside it. Take these Chubbies, for instance. No. Nothing to do with Teletubbies. One can forget that straight away.

They're a half-Russian-Doll-half-Star-Wars-Doll hybrid made from robust PVC, in which one doll sits inside another in the usual fashion. What makes these unique, not to mention highly collectible, is that as you travel inside the doll, it reveals the character in an earlier stage of development. It's as though we are seeing it travelling back in time to its very origins. Clever. In the case of our beloved Threepio, we see him in his early skeletal form, with a few bugs still to be resolved. In the middle stage, he does have some of his trademark coverings. But it's in his final and most celebrated phase that he's finally adorned with his gleaming fascia, appearing as we now recognise him in Episodes 4, 5 and 6.

Clever and funny. And collectible. Did we say that?