EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE
Used by: Mos Espa locals

 

This odd blaster was built as a Tatooine background gun. The name "Battle Mauser" comes from the multiple toy incarnations of the prop made by Hasbro through it's Larami division. It's funny because this prop was made from a Hasbro toy in the first place, a dressed up 1996 red plastic Electronic Heavy Blaster. Someone at the toy company decided to name this new blaster after the antique gun that the original prop, from which the old blaster toy and now the new red versions, was designed after.  Did you follow that? Mauser is of course the name of the gun used to build Han  Solo's blasters for the original trilogy. Now the German name is a part of Star Wars universe.

As a background gun on location it seems the prop was passed around to at least a couple extras walking the streets of Mos Espa. It can be seen on the belts of two men, one wearing a red "court jester"-like hat and another walking past after Jar Jar's confrontation with Sebulba.

Two men with the same taste in sidearms.

There are actually two different versions of the red plastic blaster made by Hasbro (which still used the Kenner name on Star Wars product in 1996). The correct version for this prop has all the screws (except the battery compartment one) on the left side of the gun. It also has a small step underneath the front grill that the other does not. The toy not used to make this prop has all the screws on the right side and a 45 degree angle instead of the step under the grill.

Both sides of the correct Electronic Heavy Blaster - 1996 Hasbro/Kenner

This modern toy is a red version of the original 1978 black plastic Kenner Han Solo laser pistol. The other variation not used for this prop differs from the old toy, we don't know why there are two versions.

On the right side of the prop, seen in the photo above, is what appears to be a knob from a household appliance. We believe it it may have come from a washing machine since Episode I's production designer, Gavin Bocquet, has mentioned they used washing machine parts. That type of knob is also commonly seen on stoves, which is another possibility.