Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Writer Charles Soule and artist Will Sliney are discussing The Rise of Kylo Ren comic at StarWars.com. Plenty of interesting things here – and since #1 will be out next week, we can probably expect a preview to drop on Wednesday. In the meantime, Soule dropped one of Sliney’s early sketches.
Continue reading “Kylo prequel comic hints and more Rise of Skywalker news”
Lucasfilm and Disney will have some big names to help them market The Force Awakens: Subway, General Mills, Verizon, FCA, CoverGirl and Max Factor among them.
CoverGirl we’ve known about since some product packaging was leaked a few months ago; Max Factor is a surprise, though. The two brands are working together, with Max Factor selling the products internationally. Allure has our first official look at the collection, which will be on the shelves in mid-September.
My foray into nail polish aside, I’ve never been much for makeup, but I do have to say I’m rather disappointed in the products on offer. The nail polishes are bland – even for a mainstream collection – and it seems odd that there’s more variety in the lipstick. Not that the lipstick colors would be revolutionary polishes, but no one expects ‘revolutionary’ from a brand like CoverGirl. Still, that’s it? No eyeshadows? Eye liners? Will there be a second wave?
Still, the campaign looks – droid and stormtrooper – are certainly striking, and I can’t hate on something that gets Star Wars makeup in stores across the country.
As for the other licensees – Subway we’ve been expecting, and HP is already in the mix. But I’m most intrigued by FCA’s involvement. (Don’t follow auto news? That’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.) Will we be seeing Star Wars-themed car commercials? Special edition cars? But this is Woodward Dream Cruise weekend here in the D, so I’m not shocked that FCA themselves are mum.
There is one side to the Disney deal that I haven’t seem much bandied about: It means there probably won’t be any more Star Wars Happy Meals. In 2006, Disney stopped their partnership with McDonalds, and they have in recent years done tie-ins with healthier options like Subway, which they have teamed up with for Brave and Frankenweenie. Head into a Subway today and you’ll see promos for Wreck-it Ralph. (Hat tip to CJer Rach for noticing!)
McDonalds has done Star Wars Happy Meal promotions based around The Clone Wars in 2008, 2010 and earlier this year. In 2005, Revenge of the Sith toys appeared at Burger King; Taco Bell had toys for the Special Editions and teamed up with corporate siblings Pizza Hut and KFC for The Phantom Menace promotions. (Attack of the Clones sat the fast food market out.) And the GenXers among us will remember Burger King’s Return of the Jedi glasses from 1983.
A new occasional feature here will be sharing those things that money (technically) can’t buy (at least not until it is on the secondary market). Some examples: the podracer 3D glasses (though you can buy them if you’re not near a giveaway theater.) Orange Death Star hand fans, Pins, LEGO mini-figs, ghost Obi-Wan figures, and Special Edition Luke figures.
It will not be an exhaustive listing, but when we come across various tie-ins, we’ll do our best to share them with you as well as revisit some from the past from time to time. Why? Because who doesn’t appreciate the free finer things in life?
First up — the McDonalds Star Wars Happy Meal toys for The Phantom Menace 3D rerelease.
McDonalds has had a few waves of Star Wars toys included in their happy meals in the prequel era. The last couple of series were tied to The Clone Wars and were amusing. The 2008 set focused on a cross between characters and ships – best of both worlds for most kids I know.
Threepio Happy Meal toy from 2011The 2011 set featured lightsabers, a Jedi Mind trick, a C3PO bobble (with R2-KT sticker!) – I still have some of those around and they were great for boys and girls. Who wouldn’t want 3PO hanging around all day?
Starting this Friday (per contacts in my local market, YMMV), you’ll start seeing a new round of Happy Meal toys. I was excited when I first heard about the promotion, looking forward to seeing what McDonalds would come up with to celebrate the movie. McDonald toys have been pretty cool lately with either multiple pieces, built in electronic lights and/or sounds, or just something above and beyond a hunk of plastic. I was thinking maybe Jar-Jar with a long tongue (it’s been approved before), or prequel lightsabers like the 2011 promotion, or ships, or figures with voice chips. Something strongly tied in to TPM at least.
The toys are previewed on HappyMeal.com. (See the screenshot above.) And they appear to be of the Beyblade / LEGO Ninjago (minus the mini-fig) style of tops to compete with and collect.
The holders are light saber hilts, 2 pod racers, and R2. The tops feature pictures of various standouts from the movie associated with the holder model. The one standout is in the shape of R2-D2, with a matching top. R2 fans will enjoy adding it to their collection and if you’re crafty you could modify it to match another of your favorite R2-series droids.
Recently Happy Meals have changed to include apple slices as well as fries as part of the meal to encourage healthier eating. I can’t help but wonder if this decision has affected the budget for the toys. Healthy living is important and as a mom I appreciate the apples being there and not just a choice, but cheapening the toy further is messing with tradition. I’d rather not see the Happy Meal toy go the way of Crackerjack prizes in terms of quality.
Kids are still going to be happy with finding one of these toys in their Happy Meal but there is something far more discouraging . The Star Wars toys have been deemed “boy toys” and have been paired up with Build A Bear as the “girl toy” offering. Why oh why do we continue to have this designation and only for certain partners? The Chipmunks were not divided, Happy Feet 2, Avatar – all these toys were offered to both boys and girls equally.
You’d think after 30+ years of girls vocally loving Star Wars, they’d offer an expanded collection for both girls and boys to play with and share. At least Burger King offered Iron Man jewelry for girls during their promotion rather than assume girls did not want to celebrate Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 even had at least two strong female characters in Pepper Potts and Black Widow. The Phantom Menace has a queen, her bodyguard handmaidens, a mother, and numerous female characters who appear throughout the movie. What a disappointment to not include any of these characters in the Happy Meal toys at all.
Shame on you, Ronald. What a wasted opportunity.
A Belgian fast food chain, Quick, will be offering several Star Wars themed burgers to tie into The Phantom Menace rerelease. They do not look all that appetizing, but if you happen to be in France or Belgium for the month of February, you can go ahead and give them a try. Or not.
Go to McDonalds, don’t go to McDonald’s. Whatever: Please don’t argue in front of the kids! (I don’t see how these are worth it to adults, but to each their own.) To open a whole new can of worms, there are separate toys for girls this time and they’re even lamer. (A lip gloss phone?)
With the franchise really pushing the kid market lately (Thanks, Clone Wars!) it’s only natural that the Star Wars Happy Meals are coming back. The look here isn’t all that far off from the last round, but at least there are far less of them this time.
Our first official (or at least unblurred) look at the new McDonalds tie-ins is here – I assume they start next week? And they actually are bobbleheads. Oh, McDonalds. (via)
Disembodied heads stuck on vehicles? Okay! And they’re actually giving us more than The Clone Wars: Wicket, Vader, Chewie, Leia, Luke and Han are among the strange bobbleheadesque figures in a promotional sheet found by Rebelscum. And like the ROTS Burger King figures, there are a lot of them… Not as many as BK, but more than your usual Happy Meal assortment. Still, creepy.
Oh well. The kids will probably love it.
Internet rockstar Derek Powazek photographs some old-school collectibles. (Is 1983 actually old enough to be considered ‘vintage’ yet?) He also links the original commercial.