Galaxy’s Edge merch: ‘Resistance MRE’

Continuing our look at merchandise available at Disney Galaxy’s Edge, up next is the ‘Resistance MRE’. This sells at GE for $25, and is the one item I’ve actually been able to check out in person (shout-out to Seth for picking one up for me–thanks, pal!)
If this seems unfamiliar, it’s probably because it has nothing to do with the Sequel Trilogy ‘Resistance’–that’s just another attempt by Disney to impose ‘their’ setting as the dominant one. This should more accurately be called a Rebel Alliance ration kit!, and is based on the one Luke Skywalker brings with him when he first travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda.

Physical accuracy:
After staring for far too long at the screencaps of the scene, I had convinced myself that the pattern on the lid was hexagonal, but the Disney lid has a more woven appearance which will take some getting used to. The hinges have also been a little simplified (only four sections instead of six–see below). However, the box does appear to be the right size! (9.75 x 5.5” x 1.5″ for those of you keeping track)
From what I’ve scrutinized, the onscreen box’s lid does not seem to be translucent as the GE version is; when seen from the top it is opaque:and the inside surface reflects the food within:With this in mind, I quickly spraypainted the inside of my box’s lid silver–to get the same look without paint flaking off from the outside. (I may look into adhesive silver film down the line…would be handy to have an integrated mirror in my kit (for shaving or signaling!).

As for the interior of the case, it’s a roughly-accurate approximation of the onscreen ration kit…if you look closely, you’ll see that Luke’s food is actually held in a second (clear) tray. If we’re going to nitpick, it seems the top-row partitions should not be equally sized (the center should be larger), and the middle row might need to be divided.

Overall, it’s as close as you’re going to get without paying out the wazoo for custom-built. Maybe somewhere down the line someone will find the exact late-’70s tacklebox with tray that was used for the prop…but I doubt it.

Contents:
Here is what the Disney kit comes stocked with:

The contents, like the box itself, are close enough. The Cheezits have replaced the larger graham-cracker looking thing, the peanut butter pretzels have replaced what look like honey-mustard pretzel chunks, there are 2x orange jellybeans instead of orange TicTacs, and French peanuts instead of what look like white chocolate-covered raisins? No idea what the yellow squares were.

I polished off most of the snacks in an afternoon, and since I’m not about hoarding things in mint condition, this box will have a few possible uses in the future. Like my G3 box, I may use it to keep small items organized in my pack or workshop.
If I use it as a prop in a survival presentation, I will probably be refilling it with film-lookalike snacks (luckily, everything is readily available in bulk at the store). In some cool serendipity, the middle row actually fits two of my go-to ‘New Millennium’ 400-calorie energy sugar bars perfectly…four if I don’t mind bulging the lid a bit:

By the way, if you’re wondering about the nutrition of the stocked box, the total nutrition of the snacks inside comes out to a measly 1,100 kCal. I wonder what kinds of more-nutritious survival rations I can come up with that will fit inside? (Leave a comment below, or join the conversation at the SWLH facebook group!)

Verdict:
For the price, this isn’t a bad purchase – it’s definitely cheaper than trying to commission or custom-build a perfectly-screen-accurate one. Obviously you’re not buying this for the $5 of snacks inside, but for the box itself.
The ‘reviews’ I saw on Youtube all said pretty much the same thing: “Who’s gonna buy that?! What a weird thing for them to sell!”… I would say it’s a great in-universe way to organize your desk-clutter or craft supplies, or take snacks to work. If you’re interested in reenacting as a member of the Rebel Alliance and you want something authentic to put in your backpack, this is the thing for you!

Researching, photographing, and writing this site takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading or have learned something from this post, please consider supporting my work with a small donation below! Thank you!