Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Vivienne Westwood has released a sketch and construction images for the making of Thandie Newton’s gown for the Cannes premiere of Solo.
The design, which highlights the franchise’s previous black characters, was made with “Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified organic ‘peau de soie’ silk” and embellished with Swarovski “upcycled” crystals.
Over at Entertainment Weekly, Solo‘s Jon Kasdan and Alden Ehrenreich discuss the movie’s Millennium Falcon and how it evolves with each owner, from Lando’s “party vessel” to the grimy version we meet in A New Hope. Also at EW, a look at the movie’s Hasbro toy line.
It must be merch reveal day, because we also have io9 with the 6″ figures of Han, Lando and Qi’ra, while The Hollywood Reporter has the LEGOs.
There’s a Snoke action figure, and hilarity has ensued. I’m sorry, but not really. (Thanks, Heath!)
→ StarWars.com has added/updated some databank entries for The Last Jedi. They’re pretty vague!
→ A nice lengthy Mark Hamill interview is short on The Last Jedi details, but still pretty fun. At much less length, Domhnall Gleeson.
→ Behind the scenes footage of The Last Jedi will be among the Disney movies featured in one of those before-the-showing reels.
Force Friday officially begins in only a few hours, and today was a sheer flurry of announcements about the toys and other products that are coming out as we head towards the release of The Last Jedi.
Continue reading “Force Friday is here, and so are the toy announcements”
The Last Jedi toy leaks have begun! We have our first look at Kylo Ren’s starfighter, a new TIE variation. There are also various signs of what toys we’ll be getting in the early waves, including what seems to be two versions of Snoke.
We only see half of it at the link, but John Burns did a painting based on MSW’s previous report of the fighter; Check it out under the cut.
Continue reading “First look at Kylo Ren’s starfighter in The Last Jedi”
Despite early leads by Darth Talon and Starkiller, Jaina Solo won Hasbro’s 2016 fan choice figure poll. (Here’s the percentages just before the poll closed.)
Jaina, the oldest child and only daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo in decanonized Legends timeline, has had at least one figure from Hasbro in the past, plus a Bishoujo-style statue from Kotobukiya. The new figure will take some time: The fruits of last year’s poll – Darth Revan and Sabine Wren – aren’t expected to hit the shelves until late this year.
Hasbro announced several new figures at SDCC, including a 6′ Hera Syndulla and an Imperial Royal Guard inspired in part by the (also Legends) comic Crimson Empire.
And getting a 3.75 figure, the newly canonized Grand Admiral Thrawn, who will appear in the upcoming third season of Rebels. (His rank will be correct on the final figure.)
This week was a great deal quieter than the last, likely because we’re barreling towards Celebration Europe, which begins on the 15th. We got two panel announcements for the con, the ‘Future Filmmakers’ with directors Rian Johnson, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, and ‘Ahsoka’s Untold Tales’ with Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein. (Pablo is moderating both, of course. Because Pablo.)
→ #PutDrewinStarWars is gaining steam! Nearly 8000 signatures as of Friday evening!
→ Of course Star Wars’ biggest secret keeper, aka Mark Hamill, isn’t running around spoiling Episode VIII.
→ Unboxing Star Wars is now Star Wars Story Talk!
→ Our themes on Tumblr were The Force Awakens, behind the scenes, and the Skywalkers.
What we didn’t get to
→ Samuel L. Jackson thinks Mace Windu survived Revenge of the Sith, and George Lucas is okay with it, apparently.
→ DK’s Star Wars Year By Year and Star Wars: Complete Locations are getting updated versions this fall.
→ Hasbro reveals two new 6-inch convention figures at Entertainment Weekly: A helmetless Kylo Ren (with melted Vader helmet) for Celebratiopn Europe, and A New Hope Obi-Wan Kenobi (with hologram Leia) for San Diego Comic-Con.
Entertainment Weekly has revealed Hasbro’s Maz Kanata action figure, which will debut at Toy Fair this weekend.
Sadly, for the established collectors, Maz won’t be available on her own. She’ll be released this spring as part of a “Takodana Encounter” playset along with Rey, BB-8 and Finn, for $19.99. Two female characters in one pack? Hasbro, you’re trying!
Here’s some good news for fans hungry for more ladies in the toy aisle – There’ll be a Princess Leia figure based on her Rebels appearance from Hasbro. The 3¾ figure will be in stores this fall.
In less happy toy news, there’s a new report that lays the cause of the lack of Rey toys at the feet of Lucasfilm themselves. A purported insider described a January 2015 vendor meeting with the company to the blog Sweatpants and Coffee:
The insider, who was at those meetings, described how initial versions of many of the products presented to Lucasfilm featured Rey prominently. At first, discussions were positive, but as the meetings wore on, one or more individuals raised concerns about the presence of female characters in the Star Wars products. Eventually, the product vendors were specifically directed to exclude the Rey character from all Star Wars-related merchandise, said the insider.
“We know what sells,” the industry insider was told. “No boy wants to be given a product with a female character on it.”
Hasbro is releasing more toys with Rey and other female characters, like Leia, aren’t being left out entirely. (And note that while there are certainly far less Rey items, she wasn’t totally excluded from the first wave of products.) But the report does show there’s a lot of work to be done at every level.
We’ll be seeing the first The Force Awakens reviews on Wednesday, December 16th at 12:01am PST. Plan accordingly. In Hollywood, things are shaping up for the Monday premiere, which will have “Academy Award levels” of security and crowd control.
→ The Force Awakens will be featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday, and in the preview video we get to hear some of John Williams’ new score.
→ Today’s best bet: Samuel L. Jackson and Gwendoline Christie chat for Interview magazine.
→ J.J. Abrams has more praise for coffee enthusiast Pablo Hidalgo from in the Toronto Sun. Elsewhere, he talks about The Raid stars with /Film.
→ Costume designer Michael Kaplan on Kylo Ren’s helmet for Time.
→ Vice News did a half-hour piece on Adam Driver’s Arts in the Armed Forces organization. (Guess what made the headlines?)
→ Also: Phasma and Rey action figures flying off the shelves, Lupita Nyong’o was on GMA this morning, and Anthony Breznican on Bobbajo.