You know the drill. APRIL FOOLS!
Has Del Rey even done a prank before? I don’t even remember. But this year, they whipped up a doozy. Beginning with ‘An Apology,’ and then the reveal of the post-Fate of the Jedi series, The Clone Wars 2, by Timothy Zahn. “A series with no end, as long as clones are available there are stories to tell.” (And yes, Zahn actually wrote the excerpt!)
Other Star Wars pranks: StarWars.com introduced the TIE Swatter; Wookieepedia is merging with the Fanon Wiki with the blessing of Dave Filoni, who unmasks himself as SuperShadow; Tom Taylor announces Zombie Fett; Mimobot introduced a limited-edition Jar Jar model; Roqoo Depot begins a ‘Grand Ewok Escapade;’ Jedi News on the sequel trilogy, and the 501st was hacked by the Rebel Legion.
The April Fools Day MVPs at Thinkgeek did it again. Their Star Wars offering is the Admiral Ackbar Singing Bass. The rest are pretty good, too. Some highlights: Keurig 5-Star Meals, Star Trek Inflatable Captain’s Chair, the Technomancer Digital Wizard Hoodie, Game of Thrones Fire and Blood perfume and a Barbie™ Digital Fashion Styling Head for iPad.
Another winner is Spielburgers, a theme restaurant based on the films of Steven Speilberg. Menu offerings include the The Bruce burger, Catch Me If You Cannelloni, Jurassic Pork Pulled Sandwich, and Raiders of the Lost Artichoke.
On the book side, Tor.com has a few gems. The biggest is a manga adaption of last year’s prank, John Scalzi’s Shadow War of the Night Dragon. (All in good fun, Scott Lynch took some expection to the news. They also found a massive Game of Thrones leak and a surprising Robert E. Howard collaboration.
We weren’t the only ones to pull in My Little Pony; MC Chris wrote a song and WeLoveFine is offering hoof-hands and, for fans of another 80’s classic, Jem and the Holographs Projecting Earrings. Synergy!
Pablo announced that he’s going to the Brony Side with the My Little Pony Vault.
Of course, there are plenty of other pranks out there! Some of the most popular are AdBlock’s Catblock, Youtube on DVD, Charlize Theron’s phone hacked, Reddit Timeline and, of course. Google Maps 8 bit (for NES!) Adfreak collects some of the best brand pranks, while April Fools on the Web collects… Well, everything.
The Del Rey one was too good to be true, but it’s interesting that there seem to be some guys over there who are just as unhappy with the road the post Endor EU has been taking in recent years as I am. Good to know. ;-)
Your one was really great, the singing Ackbar I’d buy, Spielburgers is legendary, Ewoks are always nice, and the Zombie Fett had be laughing out loud.
All in all: Another great April 1st.
I LOVE Del Rey’s prank! Way to go!
I’m a big fan of the note on the 501st page being signed “Wedge.”
Singing Ackbar- did anybody else visualize “We all live on a Calamari Ship” coming out of that?!
Del Rey’s was brilliant and very, very satisfying.