Been There – Naboo

Starbucks Been There – Naboo is the third mug from the 2022 batch of the Star Wars themed releases. In the Star Wars universe, Naboo was a beautiful planet from the Mid Rim Territories. Originally, it was populated by the amphibian Gungans. One of their representative, Jar Jar Binks, is depicted on the lower front part of the mug. Later in time a group of human colonists from Grizmallt landed on the planet and named it and themselves Naboo. Unfortunately, their arrival led to a series of conflicts with Gungans over territory and resources. In the end, the two species were able to resolve disagreements and learned to live apart and ignore each other. It was not all peaceful since. Both Naboo (humans) and Gungans later went through a series of civil wars among themselves. After years of conflicts, Boss Gallo and King Jafan united Gungans and Naboo respectively and founded two new capitals: Otoh Gunga (a bubble-like building from it can be seen on the back of the mug), and Theed (to the left of “Naboo” title of the mug).
For many, Naboo is probably mostly known as the birthplace of Padmé Amidala who became the Monarch of Naboo at the age of fourteen. She played a major role in the whole Star Wars saga, but here are some milestones from her reign of Naboo:
Queen Amidala lead Naboo through the blockade and the invasion of the planet by the Trade Federation. She was captured by invaders, but soon rescued by two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. These two followed Padme in her attempts to defeat the invasion. The Queen sealed a new friendship with the Gungans and together they rescued the planet from the Trade Federation. You can see some scenes from the liberation campaign on the sides of the mug:
– Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi fighting with Darth Maul on the front of the mug. You can also see a bigger depiction of Maul just below the city of Theed
– Young Anakin Skywalker destroying the Federation’s Droid Control Ship (blue, circle-shaped) using his starship (green) with R2-D2 droid on board.
And the last, but not least is of course Darth Sidious and his other identity Sheev Palpatine. Using politics and the dark side of the Force he was responsible for the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order and then the establishment of the reign of the Empire over the Galaxy. Darth Sidious is depicted on the back of the mug in his monk-like, hooded robe.

I should also mention that the box of the mug has the name of the planet on the top of the cover, hence it’s mug-specific.