We saw some familiar concepts come to life in Rebels’ ‘The Mystery of Chopper Base’ tonight, and there’s just one more (hour-length) episode to go in season 2.
Rebels Recon: ‘The Forgotten Droid’
Chopper took the spotlight in tonight’s “The Forgotten Droid,” and in Recon as well. Things get weird, and then Pablo answers a question about Malachor.
Bloodline posters, Propaganda pages give us hints of The Force Awakens background
IGN has debuted four new posters for the upcoming Leia Organa-centric novel Bloodline that will be given out at C2E2 and “other upcoming conventions.”
The posters also give us some hints at the book’s plot. Leia is a candidate for First Senator, a position I’ll allow the more politically motivated to debate. What I find far more intriguing is the graffiti: Are we finally getting a book that actually explores the political ramifications of Leia’s parentage? It’s a ball the old Expanded Universe material dropped – Luke and Leia being twins and Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker’s kids became public knowledge somewhere along the line, but it was rarely treated as big deal, at least for Leia. (And she was Chief of State – aka Chancellor – for several books. Maybe we’ll even find out what she’s Senator of this time! Ahh, ’90s EU. I love you, but you had issues.)
We know, thanks to Before the Awakening, that the twin issue is already public – Leia refers to ‘my brother’ when Poe Dameron meets her for the first time, and he knows she means Luke – but nothing about the Vader connection until now.
Bloodline, by Lost Stars author Claudia Gray, is our first look at the galaxy at a midpoint between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Given where we end up in The Force Awakens, this is a pretty intriguing thread to pull…
Speaking of the New Republic and potential problems, some sample pages for Pablo Hidalgo’s Star Wars Propaganda have been spotted (via Jedi Bibliothek) on Edelweiss. It’s not the easiest thing to read at the size provided, but if you can manage the spread on the First Order is the clearest account thus far of how the underlying situation in The Force Awakens came to be.
Bloodline is due out in hardcover and eBook on May 3; Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy is currently scheduled for October 25.
Video: Unboxing Star Wars: TFA Visual Dictionary, Rey’s Story & Rebels ‘Shroud of Darkness’
Time for another episode of Unboxing Star Wars with Baby Jawa, Yowie, and me! Yowie and I discuss the Star Wars Rebels episode ‘Shroud of Darkness’ and then review two recent books: The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story by Elizabeth Schaefer, from Disney-Lucasfilm Press, and Pablo Hidalgo’s The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, from DK Publishing. Meanwhile, Baby Jawa does baby things.
Quick reviews
→ The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary – An enjoyable must-have guide for all Star Wars fans!
→ The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story – A great retelling of TFA from Rey’s point of view. Intended for young readers, but can be enjoyed by any fan. Love that artwork by Brian Rood!
→ ‘Shroud of Darkness’ – Thumbs-up! Force visions reveal some interesting secrets for our characters, and provide for some cool scenes and the return of several legendary SW voices.
Get more info on Wear Star Wars Every Day or make a donation at GoFundMe. Check out my article on the best quotes from Hondo Ohnaka on StarWars.com, and Hondo’s take on this year’s ‘This is Madness’ brackets.
Note: Disney-Lucasfilm Press provided a copy of The Force Awakens: Rey’s Story for review.
Podcast: Pablo Hidalgo on Tosche Station
Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo is on the latest Tosche Station, talking about The Force Awakens, his Visual Dictionary, and how Rogue One is going to change how people look at different eras of the franchise.
Rebels Recon: ‘Shroud of Darkness’
Rebels did another go-around with the Force visions in tonight’s ‘Shroud of Darkness.’
Go behind the curtain of (some of) the early Expanded Universe with WEG’s 1994 style guide
Pablo Hidalgo dig out a real gem to share with Twitter this afternoon – a 1994 style guide for writers submiting to the West End Games Star Wars line. Head below the cut for his tweets. Continue reading “Go behind the curtain of (some of) the early Expanded Universe with WEG’s 1994 style guide”
Rebels Recon: Homecoming (and Lords of the Sith)
Rebels headed to Ryloth in ‘Homecoming.’ Andi talks to Dave Filoni, Pablo Hidalgo, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Cat Taber.
Also, some interesting insight on how the Story Group has changed things behind the scenes from Pablo:
The weird time warp we work in: the #StarWarsRebels episode you're watching tonight affected a book that came out in Apr 2015.
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) February 18, 2016
First Lords of the Sith novel outline I've got:February 23, 2014. First 216 discussion notes I have: March 28, 2014.
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) February 18, 2016
Back in the old days, that novel would have gone to print before someone pointed out, "hey, we're doing a Cham episode."
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) February 18, 2016
Well, not true. That's probably an exaggeration. But it would have been ugly.
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) February 18, 2016
Rebels Recon: The Call
It’s space whale time on Rebels with ‘The Call.’ Also, Pablo talks science! Sort of.
Pablo made a funny and now General Hux has a cat named Millicent (at least on Tumblr)
Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo jokes on Twitter about General Hux having a cat, Millicent. Tumblr runs with it.
Is it actually canon? Well, no. (Not yet.) But it’s pretty funny, and isn’t that what matters in the end? Under the cut, the adventures of Millicent the cat, as told by Tumblr.