Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Fans can now buy super-accurate The Force Awakens prop replicas made from the original 3D data. They’re pricey, ranging from $3,500 for the melted Vader helmet to $1,250 for the lghtsaber hilts, but I have no doubt there’ll be plenty of buyers. They’re available for order now at collectibles.starwars.com.
Candice Payne bought a Wookiee mask, and her video is the funniest thing you’ll see all day, I hope. The mask is sold out on Kohls.com, but may still be available in stores, though given how viral this video has gone, there’s no guarantee…
UPDATE: Candice’s video now has more than 100 million views, and is the most popular Facebook Live post ever. She and her family also got a visit from Kohl’s.
Her Universe’s The Force Awakens collection went on sale last week, but for those of us looking for something a bit more casual, they have several new tees debuting today. Check them out: Chewie, We’re Home (plus,) vintage muscle tank, Rey strong, a new lightsaber logo (plus,) visit Jakku and Rey fearless (plus.)
We’ve got a new episode of Unboxing Star Wars! Yowie and I hit the road for the Star Wars Rebels finale screening at Walt Disney Studios and we review ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’. I also check out Star Wars Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded by Pablo Hidalgo and Simon Beecroft, from DK. Plus I give a quick review of the first issue of the Poe Dameron comic, while Baby Jawa plays with a new R2-D2 toy and we check out some of the new Star Wars stuff we’ve picked up. And at the end, some Baby Jawa fun time!
Quick reviews
→ Star Wars Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded – Great for everone! Have fun learning tidbits about more than 200 characters and creatures from all the Star Wars films! (and watch for my interview with author Pablo Hidalgo on starwars.com early next week)
→ ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’ – Big thumbs up! When Rebels has a season finale, they pull out all the stops and unload a whole boatload of awesome. (Also, if you haven’t seen it already, I have the entire Q&A from the screening available to watch.)
→ Poe Dameron #1 – A promising start! I think I’m more interested in who Lor San Tekka is than about Poe on his tail but we’ll see where it goes. Plus BB-8!
Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe or sign up to make a per-day pledge.
Note: DK provided a copy of Star Wars Character Encyclopedia Updated and Expanded for review.
We’ve got a new episode of Unboxing Star Wars! Yowie, Baby Jawa and I review the Star Wars Rebels episodes ‘The Forgotten Droid’ and ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’ and then I give my take on: The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I by Landry Q. Walker, from Disney-Lucasfilm Press. Meanwhile, Baby Jawa does baby things and we also look at some R2-D2 socks, a Millennium Falcon pocket watch from Japan, and the really nifty Vote Leia posters promoting the upcoming Claudia Gray novel, Bloodline.
Quick reviews
→ The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I (release date: April 5, 2016) – Thumbs up! Six short stories about some minor TFA characters give us a variety of genres, all from one author, and all very enjoyable! Fun stuff!
→ ‘The Forgotten Droid’ – Loved it! Chopper has his own adventure and does the impossible: makes a friend. Great work by Stephen Stanton as AP-5!
→ ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’ – Decent. We get some bug hunting action with the spiders, and some tension as the Ghost crew prepares to bid farewell to Kanan and Ezra.
Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe or sign up to make a per-day pledge.
Note: Disney-Lucasfilm Press provided a copy of The Force Awakens: Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens Volume I for review.
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.
Target is sponsoring a free event in Los Angeles this weekend, December 12 & 13. Dubbed the Star Wars Galactic Experience, it will include activities where you can use the Force, an exhibition from Rancho Obi-Wan, LEGO TIE Fighter building and origami making. It also has something called Galaxy Show: “Discover a galaxy of hidden Star Wars constellations.” Sounds intriguing. You’ll find it from 10 am to 10 pm at L.A. Live next to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit will include a complete collection of carded vintage Star Wars action figures from 1977 to 1985. The Star Wars Galactic Experience will also have exclusive Star Wars merchandise.
With the collaboration of Lucasfilm and Disney, Brooklyn’ Ample Hills Creamery has created two limited edition Star Wars ice cream (frozen custard?) flavors. Per Entertainment Weekly, the flavors are:
The Dark Side (ultra-dark chocolate ice cream with espresso fudge brownies, cocoa crispies, and white chocolate pearls) and The Light Side (bright marshmallow ice cream with homemade crispie clusters, as well as a smattering of handmade cocoa crispies).
They can be ordered online and come in four-packs with collectible containers.
Gwendoline Christie herself models the Giles Deacon dress inspired by Captain Phasma.
→ No one got too much out of J.J. Abrams today, but he showed up on Good Morning America, Howard Stern and shared some interesting tidbits about Adam Driver and General Leia on Sirius XM.
→ Steven Spielberg thinks The Force Awakens could be “the biggest movie ever.”
→ Retailers aren’t stocking enough Rey (or Phasma) merchandise. Imagine that.