The Force Awakens: Costumes, Pip Andersen and bōjutsu

tfa-teaser2-firstorderToday, Vanity Fair has an interview with The Force Awakens costume designer Michael Kaplan, which actually feels surprising revealing for this point in the process. Namely, the stormtrooper uniforms are sturdier and Empire and Rebels First Order and Resistance are more color-coded. On that note, a new photo of Oscar Isaac in his base jumpsuit has emerged.

Pip Andersen talked a little bit about his role.

A few more tidbits from the Japanese interviews: Kathleen Kennedy said Daisy Ridley was trained in the bōjutsu fighting style, which means she’ll actually be fighting with the staff we’ve seen the trailers.

→ Hasbro has announced a Star Wars panel for SDCC. Maybe they’ll finally show some stuff for The Force Awakens?

→ Rumor corner, take 1: There’s something floating around a third trailer for TFA may be on Pixar’s Inside Out, and that it’s already been shown at a “Disney blogging conference.” However, another attendee has denied it.

→ Rumor corner, take 2: A Youtube video that supposedly shows an effects scene being filmed has popped up.

SDCC: Marvel doing Princess Leia miniseries, Darth Vader and Star Wars ongoings

Marvel’s Cup O’ Joe panel tackled Star Wars first thing, but several sites were up just ahead: Newsarama and Coffee with Kenobi. There’s a new Star Wars ongoing, along with Darth Vader and Princess Leia showcases. StarWars.com has an article – with interviews and preview pages – up now as well.

Star Wars will be a ongoing monthly written by Jason Aaron with art from John Cassaday. It will begin two weeks after A New Hope, per the panel. Another monthly, Star Wars: Darth Vader will be from writer Kieron Gillen and artist Salvador Larroca, and sounds like it may be dealing with a chunk of underworld types as well, though Gillen says the “push and pull between Vader and the Emperor is at the heart of the book.” Both ongoings will begin in January.

Come March, Mark Waid is writing the Princess Leia mini-series, with art by Terry Dodson, also set after ANH – although it does sound like it might have flashbacks of her time on Alderaan, which is something we haven’t seen done before. Here’s some detail, which doesn’t support the flashback theory we had earlier, but IS something we haven’t really seen done in the Legends EU:

…Our story is about Leia not long after the end of Episode IV deciding, “Well, as the princess, there are still responsibilities that fall to me, like making contact with any stray Alderaanians out there who may not know what happened. It is my job as princess to deliver the bad news. It is my job to bring those who survived by being in other places, together. It is my job to help preserve some sort of cultural heritage of my people, so that everything my planet stood for and everything my people stood for doesn’t get forgotten.” So it’s a five-issue story [arc] that takes her across the galaxy in search of others of her kind to try and pull them together.

I totally don’t find that interesting because of my suspicions that some version of ‘New Alderaan’ is going to play into Episode VII. Not at all.

Jordan D. White is editing all three titles for Marvel. And yes kids, these will all be considered canon.

UPDATE: USA Today interviews Waid, Aaron, and Gillen. CBR also talks to all three writers.

Tweets below the cut, per usual.

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SDCC: Remembering Aaron Allston with #AlohaAaron

Del Rey crew at SDCC remembers Aaron

The Del Rey crew at San Diego Comic-Con is remembering Aaron Allston today with Hawaiian shirts and giveaways of Legacy of the Force: Betrayal. Share your own Aaron memories by using the hashtag #AlohaAaron.

Going back a tad, James posted his pictures from Friday, including a look at the hard-boiled egg shaper from Kotobukiya and the Del Rey panel.

For news purposes today, we have Marvel’s Cup O’ Joe panel this afternoon (2:45 PDT/5:45 EDT) and of course the big movie panels in Hall H.

Although there was apparently some kind of rumor going around the con that Star Wars would make a Hall H appearance today, that is all kinds of unlikely as there is no Lucasfilm or Disney movie panel outside of Marvel Studios. The only Star Wars news we are likely to get today will be about comic books, not films.