Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Yakface has been experimenting with swapping out the head on Hasbro’s Black Series Mara Jade with two from various Black Widow figures. One fits perfectly and one requires a bit of work, but they both show a marked improvement over the original… Even if the hair is way too dark.
Yakface has posted a look at the new Black Series Mara Jade figure in their Toyguide. I’m afraid the 80’s hair isn’t much better in these pics.
There’s a hefty gallery that gives you a good look at the figure… We’ve already gone over our disappointment over the catsuit, but how does the new figure compare to the previous ones, in your eyes? They provided a picture to compare and everything:
The previous figure are from 1998, left, and 2007, center. Thanks to Yakface for permission to run a few of the pictures – head over to their gallery for many, many more.
UPDATE: Yakface has an easy fix for the, ahh, head issue.
Celebration Europe doesn’t officially begin until Friday (which, for those of us in the states, means really early Friday) so the big event of the day in Germany today was the press conference. But StarWars.com did drop a nice video featuring Ashley Eckstein talking about fan groups.
From the fans, we have some pictures from the floor. Bleeding Cool has a couple pages of pics and no clue about Her Universe, while Jedi News gave us our first look at Hasbro’s Darth Plagueis figure.
And speaking of, we’ve been sadly neglectful of Caravan of the Force, in which several fans have been documentimng their travel from London to Essen.
Oh, and here’s a preview from James, even as he warns us that the wifi situation is lacking:
.@HerUniverse hints that a second run of the #SWEU shirts (like Jaina and Mara) might happen… then moving onto new images!
— James Floyd (@jamesjawa) July 25, 2013
Now let’s hope the 501st don’t get him too drunk:
Attended the @501stLegion meet & greet in Essen. Drank a Jabba. Met troopers from all over Germany & some from Norway, Switzerland, & Socal.
— James Floyd (@jamesjawa) July 25, 2013
Newswatch! Can we expect any major news out of the con for Friday? The big-ticket panels are Attack of the Clones 3D at 12:30 p.m. CEST (6:00 a.m. EDT,) Ben Burtt at 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 a.m. EDT,) Doug Chiang and Iain McCaig at 2:00 CEST (8:00 a.m. EDT) and Secrets of The Clone Wars at 3:00 p.m. CEST (9:00 a.m. EDT.) Anthony Daniels is on at 4:00 p.m. CEST (10 a.m. EDT,) The Clone Wars screening at 5:00 p.m. CEST (11 a.m. EDT) and Ian McDiarmid is on at 6:00 p.m. CEST (noon EDT.) The night’s capper is an outdoor Return of the Jedi screening at 7:30 p.m. CEST (1:30 p.m. EDT.)
We have reports that a The Clone Wars DVD/Blu-Ray announcement is coming tomorrow, and everyone hope really hard that Chiang and McCaig show something, anything, that they’ve been working on for Episode VII. I wouldn’t expect any casting news until Kathleen Kennedy on Saturday, but stranger things have happened!
(Confused by the timezones? So am I. All praise World Time Buddy.)
Their booth isn’t the only thing that got a new look for SDCC! The Her Universe website also unveiled a redesign today. And the limited-availability Jaina Solo and Mara Jade shirts are now online.
And while we’re on the topic, here are James’ shots from Preview Night!
Before we get any deeper into the SDCC madness…
Press. LucasBooks and the Expanded Universe was highlighted in an article that appeared on the front page of Friday’s Wall Street Journal. (That’s the print version above.) It’s situated behind a paywall online, but there are ways around that. Writer Alexandra Alter appeared on NPR to talk further about it on Tuesday.
The Star Wars. J.W. Rinzler talks about the upcoming comic with CBR, while artist Mike Mayhew chats with Bleeding Cool.
Crucible. There’s another Troy Denning interview at Lightsaber Rattling. Shockingly enough, not everyone agrees with what he had to say about Jaina Solo. And here’s a video that features Denning talking last week in Minnesota.
Namesake corner. Mara again? Here’s a new piece of art from the new card game, by Anthony Foti. She also made the cover of the latest expansion, and you can see she’s on at least one more card there, too.
The pictures from the second wave of Hasbro’s Black Series are out, and thus, another look at their latest Mara Jade figure. Thanks to Yodanews for the pics!
This Mara figure – Hasbro’s third – started as the 2011 Fan’s Choice – as Mara Jade Skywalker, actually. (Curious, but not particularly so.) The sculpt was revealed at Celebration VI and moved to the Black Series earlier this year. It should be available… Well, I’ve heard the fall, but who knows. I’ll keep an eye out.
Sure, she’s in the catsuit, because of course she is, but it’s still pretty neat. This sketch, by Shunya Yamashita, was posted on the Kotobukiya Facebook today. (Thanks to @ASMzine for bringing it to our attention!)
Kotobukiya will be part of the Star Wars: Collectibles Update panel Friday at SDCC. Mara will be their second EU figure – Jaina Solo was the first.
UPDATE 7/19: According to reports from SDCC, the Mara statue will be out February 2014, and the Jaina one will be re-released.
Ashley Eckstein’s Her Universe is bringing the expanded universe to SDCC! They’ll be debuting a new Mara Jade tee using Daryl Mandryk’s art from the Choices of One paperback cover, and a Jaina Solo tee using John VanFleet’s art from the Sword of the Jedi teaser image. Only 100 of each will be offered at the con, however, and they’ll only be online “for a limited time only.” They’ll be online during SDCC.
It also sounds like they’ve revamped their booth, which is promising.
There are a few other debuts, including their new Walking Dead line, but you know we’re biased.
UPDATE: Here’s the chat link, and huge thanks to Ashley for the kind words!
Fan art. Lucasfilm may not have revealed what (most) of the Rebels character design will look like yet, ENGELHA5T on DeviantArt has created several OT-era characters in the style of The Clone Wars. Of particular interest to us would be Mara Jade, but there’s also Han and Chewie, Thrawn and Pellaeon, a teen Leia and even a Luke, may of them with cardbacks as well. You can check out his full gallery, but be warned it does contain some more adult works, though they do seem to be hidden if you’re not logged in to DA.
Del Rey. We actually heard about it way back at Celebration, but now Del Rey has officially announced their Star Wars Action Team. It’s not quite up and running yet, but the general gist is that you “spread the word” and get points. Please don’t break down any doors. On that note, here’s some of the swag they’ll have at SDCC.
Comics. Newsarama has a first look at the next arc of Dark Times, A Spark Remains.
The blogside. At the official blog, Dan Brooks praises Matthew Stover’s Revenge of the Sith adaptation, while Jennifer Heddle talks about why Leia is awesome.
Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James reads Darth Vader and the Ninth Assassin #3,The Clone Wars: The Smuggler’s Code and Legacy #4, where Ania Solo learns sometimes shooting first isn’t the best solution.
Our Tumblr passed 300 followers not too long ago, and while posting has slowed at times, there’s still plenty of stuff that doesn’t make it all the way here. So if you’re on Tumblr, follow us!
Fan art. Comic book artist Phil Noto did an awesome Jedi Master Luke Skywalker portrait. Bow down. Also, from Burton Durand, Star Wars characters in hats. (Shouldn’t Ackbar be a Mets fan?)
In brief. This is the greatest beginner’s guide to the Expanded Universe ever. I am not kidding. You’ll laugh, then you’ll cry from laughing. Oh, and a pretty cool Skywalker-Solo family tree.
On that note… What is my favorite official Mara Jade art? It’s not a big surprise because it’s been chilling in the masthead fora while now, but here’s the full scan.
Crafts. A Star Wars felt crib mobile that will automatically make your child 20% cooler. And let’s not forget the shoes: The Sith ones have spikes – the Artoo ones have Artoo, and I’m way more chill with them now that I see that the action figure isn’t actually standing in for the heel.
Fact you can use. What’s the problem with boob-shaped armor? Enter a new realm of fantasy nit-picking.
Photoshoppery. This may be self-serving, but I posted all the sequel/spinoff graphics I’ve done so far. ALIENS.
Just cool. A Darth Vader Meditation Chamber fireplace. I want one.
Your moment of zen. Baby in an X-wing uniform.