AICN got a denial out of Lucasfilm on the very day the rumor ‘broke,’ but Movie Geek Feed got a statement out of Steve Sansweet himself at Fan Days III. It’s at the tail end (2:58) of the video above. But first, he talks about 1000 Collectibles. (via)
Wacky merchandise: Lightsaber laser pointers
TFN spotted this amusing novelty product at – where else? – Thinkgeek. Taunt your pets and coworkers with them for a mere $14.99.
In less wacky and far more pricey lightsaber news, a Master Replicas saber signed by George Lucas, Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Nick Gillard is being auctioned on eBay to raise money for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.
Out this week: Imperial Commando, Legacy
Look for Karen Traviss’ Imperial Commando: 501st in bookstores today, while Wednesday brings Legacy #41.
Pictures from this year’s Lucasfilm Halloween party
The Lucasfilm/ILM Halloween party always scares up some good photo oppurtunies, and this year looks to be no different. Bonnie shared a bunch of pics via Twitter last night, and now they’re up on the blog and her Flickr for further perusal.
Book Review: Steve Sansweet’s 1,000 Collectibles
Admit it. You’ve always wanted to see Steve Sansweet’s collection. I mean he has the World’s Largest Star Wars Collection. (I’m sure that has to be trademarked, by now. But it’s true.)
We’ve gotten to enjoy a video tour in the past, but that doesn’t allow you to really look at all the cool stuff close up. The new book “1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away” lets you do that without trying to win a charity auction or do something really drastic.
The book is divided into sections based on the type of collectibles. Sections like “Wear It” and “Eat It” are particularly amusing.
The photography by his curator and co-author, Anne Neumann, really allows you to see the detail in each of the selected pieces. This is particularly useful for some of the more insane collectibles that just have to be seen to be believed.
For me, though, the best part of the book are the stories. You can find out how he started. He tries to answer all the usual questions he gets when he’s giving a tour. But the captions for each of the items are the most entertaining. They’re often a large paragraph long and include fun stories about how they were created and the odd ways in which some of them came into his collection.
This is like getting to take a tour of Rancho Obi-Wan without having to go there. And even though you don’t get to be washed over with the full show, the sheer volume of the book will help make up for it.
If you’re looking to add this to your holiday wish list, tell your loved ones that they can find it in the collectibles section of the bookstore.
The fandom minute: Do tauntaun guts taste like candy?
The internet’s favorite Star Wars cake – this week. As impressive as this Tauntaun grooms cake is, I’m not sure I’d want to eat it. Still, props to the folks at Cake Nouveau for really capturing the moment. And by moment I meant slimy tauntaun guts. (Their dazed-out Luke is amazingly good, too.)
Artoo found in Transformers 2. Are there enough oil baths in the world to get the poor droid clean after this?
Seriously? Someone is taking their dedication to authentic costuming a little too far.
Quack Vader. This unauthorized ’70’s Vader light looks like something Robot Chicken would come up with. Maybe Seth Green had one, too?
And finally… Sideshow has a site up for the customized stormtrooper figures they showed off at SDCC.
Street date shuffle: Fate of the Jedi, Clone Wars
Sue Rostoni said Saturday that Aaron hasn’t finished Backlash yet, so it may need to be pushed back a month to April.
In other 2010 release date changes, the Random House online catalog is now listing Karen Miller’s Clone Wars Gambit: Siege for June 22 instead of May 25. But the good news is that Gambit: Stealth is now set for February 23 – and Miller finished up the rough draft of Stealth earlier this month, so things should be on track.
I’ve added a few new dates – no real surprises, just specifics – to our release schedule, but will wait on for additional details on Backlash.
Wacky merchandise du jour: Princess Leia Headband
I am very sad that I can’t find this Princess Leia headband on Archie McPhee’s site yet. But if it’s on their Flickr, it can’t be that long in coming, right? RIGHT?
Celebration not-news out of Fan Days
Unless you’ve been living in a hole or don’t read TFN (or Twitter,) this weekend brings Official Pix’s Fan Days III to Texas, and our latest update on the state of Celebration 5. To sum it up: They say Steve Sansweet said that a partner contract hasn’t been signed, but should be in the next six to eight weeks. Extend your betting pools into December!
EUbits: Mocking the mockable, Vader delayed, Stackpole on ‘Sues,’ Ostrander on Legacy, comic previews
Embrace the pain. Inspired by the latest in transparent rumor-mongering, Cracked puts their well-worn Wookieepedia bookmark to use to come up with five reasons the Star Wars sequels would be worse than the prequels. As an EU fan, I say… Well, yeah. It’s easy to be hard on the prequels, but we can’t deny that the post-ROTJ EU is at least equally screwed up. (I for one have no problem admitting the EU is probably worse. One word, kids: Volume. Also, [insert your least favorite author/book here.])
Not that I would expect George to actually use the existing EU for much besides a few spare parts if he ever did decide to make a sequel trilogy. But various statements he’s made over the last few years show he really doesn’t see much in the sequel era – Han Solo and the Backyard Barbecue much?
Postponed. The Complete Vader will be getting a new release date due to printing issues. It was supposed to be out on Tuesday, but better a nice, carefully reconstructed book than a complete crispy mess completely encased in plastic, right?
The blogside. Mike Stackpole on assumption that authors are their characters.
From the horse’s mouth. A speculative TFN thread prompts John Ostrander to make a preemptive strike and announce that Legacy will not be following in the footsteps of Knights of the Old Republic and ending with issue #50.
Also in comics: Previews for Legacy #41, Invasion #5, The Clone Wars #10 and the one-shot Purge: Seconds to Die.