Club Jade

Jawajames has been out and about in his Bounty Hunt duties, and caught George Lucas walking the con floor before it opened Friday morning. With the Big Event nearly upon us (reports are that it’s already “insane,”) we all have early call times so I’m trying to make this quick.

(Volunteering and blogging is not a good combo. Though if you stop by the StarWars.com booth and talk to one of the orange shirts there this weekend, there’s a good chance it’ll be Eliz or I, and we have bracelets. Or just come to Fandom in 140 on Sunday, hint hint.)

• StarWars.com has some day one stuff, including the 2010 Fan Movie Challenge Winners, Dark Horse (guess I need to believe the Crimson Empire 3 thing now,) Hasbro and the ever-popular video highlights. Their blog has some costume shots, with more coming in on Flickr.

• EU Cantina was at today’s Clone Wars and Old Republic panel, not to mention their own on the Atlas.
• Seth Green is Team Jacob. Thanks for that.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow! And remember: Twitter is the place to be for on-the-moment news!

Sales haven’t been good for one of the few sources for Expanded Universe action figures, so the line won’t continue in regular stores through the Spring. Here’s what Hasbro said in a Q&A last month:

We can confirm that the Comic Packs will be discontinued after Spring 2010 (meaning no packs for Fall 2010). The Wal-Mart exclusive Comic Pack program has been cancelled after the last ones ship this Fall. Wave 3, including the pack with Tholme and T’ra Saa, will now be on shelf approximately March in the U.S. along with the rest of the Fall Comic Packs shown at Comic Con. This schedule should hold unless there are further delays. The Spring 2010 Wave 1 packs shown at Comic Con, including the Darth Nihl & Deliah Blue pack, may not make it out at all based on the current rate of sale, but we remain hopeful. The Camie/Fixer pack will be a convention exclusive next year.

This doesn’t bode well for EU figures, though it doesn’t effect the Jacen and Jaina figures (they’re part of Legacy Collection, an entirely different line.)

Bitchin’ Endor. You’re sure to get a kick out of today’s most famous Star Wars eBay listing, i hate this stupid ewok. On that note, this is apparently the 25th anniversary of the debut of the first Ewok movie, Caravan of Courage. I’m sure everyone was all waiting breathlessly for that one back in the day.

Celeb fans. Bonnie talks Star Wars (and The Guild and Dr. Horrible and such) with geek of note Felicia Day.

Contests. Hasbro has picked the winner of their diorama contest.

Charity. The Seattle Area Lucasfilm Artifact Collectors Club, aka SARLACC, are selling a collectible lapel pin to raise money for cancer research.

What. Device to subdue rampaging elephants inspired by Empire Strikes Back? Sure, why not.

Really, Hasbro? No one objected to this? Yes, we know where the ultimate blame falls, but still. Really?

In less wince-worthy toy stuff, get up close and personal with the repackaged Comic Packs, as well as the news ones such as Darth Krayt & Sigel Dare, Lumiya & Luke, Beefy the Vong & Kyle Katarn and the news-to-me Emperor’s Hand Imperial Shuttle.

Fine, I cave: I’ll be updating this throughout the afternoon/evening, at least until the Spectacular… Unless something huge breaks!

The sun says hello. Afternoon for me, anyway: All this was morning for California, and you can tell because StarWars.com has snapshots from the Fan Club Breakfast, and more from TFN. (5:20e)

All the wonderful toys. They also have Hasbro’s presentation. The Comic Packs are mostly things we’ve already seen, but I think the Exar Kun and Ulic Qel Droma are new. Walmart is getting an exclusive Corran Horn/Whistler and Rouge Squadron #1 two-pack (Dllr Nep and Plourr Ilo?) while Target will have a Wedge with X-Wing.

But the biggest news in here for us is that they’re adding Jacen and Jaina Solo to the Droid Factory line in 2010! Meanwhile, future Comic Packs will include Legacy’s Delia Blue/Darth Nihl and KOTOR’s Jarael/Rohlan Dyre. (5:20e)

Something something in 3-D. EU Cantina was tweeting live from The Clone Wars panel. Tidbits include S2 tone, comments on rogue Jedi and the unlikliness of a second movie. (5:20e)

Our own JawaJames, a San Diego native, is posting Comic-Con pics on his Flickr. Above, the Lucasfilm pavilion!

Of course, Mary, Bonnie, Pablo and crew are also in town, taking and posting a ton of floor photos from the con. You guys feast on them (Preview night and set up, so far,) watch the StarWars.com blog and keep an eye on the usual fansites, and I’ll be back later today to gather more links.

Insight is a collection of action figure photographs by Hasbro’s Gianni Lopergolo, who is living with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Hasbro is selling the collection – which features mainly photographs of their Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Marvel lines, to help raises funds for his family and others suffering from the disease.

You know things are tough when… A gift for the geek that has everything – a battle-scarred Hasbro Millennium Falcon – amazingly got no bids on eBay. Well, maybe not that amazingly, but $300 doesn’t seem that bad a price considering it’ll run you only about half that brand new. (via)

• TV: Jon Stewart is very excited about a Threepio bobblehead on Monday’s The Daily Show. I don’t have the heart to tell him that bobbleheads are kind of lame.

• Fanmade: Finally, a Han in Carbonite USB drive! Alas, it was already sold out last week.
• Lists: I think the green skin might have less to do with their popularity than the trend of not wearing very many clothes.

Yeah, Cribs mocking is a little old in the tooth, but this is still pretty amusing. (via)

Peter Clute adds to the the geek cool factor of Hasbro’s new Falcon with detailing, a motion sensor, and additional lighting.

Also at the Giz: Heroes’ writer Jesse Alexander guest-reviews the (unpimped) Falcon.