Ahsoka and Padme team up in ‘The Imposter Inside,’ our sixth Forces of Destiny tale.
Forces of Destiny begins airing July 3 on Youtube
Forces of Destiny will debut online July 3 – next Monday – on Disney’s Youtube channel. New shorts will then premiere on the channel every day at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT.)
Eight in total, the shorts will feature Rey, Jyn Erso, Leia Organa, Sabine Wren, Padme Amidala, Ahsoka Tano “and others.” (We get a glimpse of Luke, Yoda and… a tree in the preview video above. Is the tree female? Or is that supposed to be Anakin?)
Rebels’ Hera Syndulla will reportedly appear in an episode set during Return of the Jedi.
Their broadcast debut will be Sunday, July 9 on the Disney Channel. Merchandise drops in August – early looks at the toy packaging are floating around now.
Linkage: The Case for More Padmé Amidala
The Case for More Padmé Amidala. Sarah Dempster at Eleven-ThirtyEight on why Leia isn’t the only Skywalker who should have a political novel.
The first image of Padme and Anakin… From 1993?
Here’s a little oddity from the past: Brian Ashmore’s painting of Anakin Skywalker, his wife and baby Luke from 1993. Originally painted for Topps’ Star Wars Galaxy 2 card set, it may very well be the earliest depiction of the couple, for all it was pulled from the set by George Lucas himself. Here’s what Ashmore himself had to say about it back in 2008:
There are a couple things that I find interesting about the image. First, my depiction of Padme (I had no idea of her name at the time…this was 6 years before Episode 1) looks a bit like Natalie Portman. Second, Anakin’s shadow on the wall is in the shape of Darth Vader. I’ve always wondered if this image might have influenced Lucas even just a little tiny bit in his casting of Natalie Portman or even the decision to have little Anakin’s shadow be in the shape of Darth Vader in an early Episode 1 promo poster. Probably not, but I can dream. Can’t I?
I don’t know about the casting choice – Iain McCaig seems to be the culprit there – but the shadow? Stranger things have happened… In any case, the painting eventually saw the light as ‘The Skywalker Flame’ in the Star Wars Galaxy 5 set.
On that note, the Skywalker family is our current Tumblr theme – queued through Friday and including a reblog of the original post that reminded me of this.
Ashley teases a new Padme shirt from Her Universe
At a recent appearance at The Orlando Science Center, Ashley Eckstein debuted a new Padme shirt. Like the red Padme Nouveau shirt, one of Her Universe’s first, the new shirt features artwork by Tsuneo Sanda.
Ashley told our pal Nanci today that it will be coming out in May, along with Rogue Squadron dress/tank and the new Clone Wars shirt she was wearing today.
And while we’re on the topic, Orlando Weekly has a video interview with Ashley in which she talks Her Universe, The Clone Wars and more.
Happy Mother’s Day, featuring the Skywalker moms
I usually don’t do holidays, but after last week, maybe we need one? In any case: Happy Mother’s Day!
Why do we want more women highlighted in the Expanded Universe?
This is not the post I set out to write when I asked the other day which Star Wars ladies should be headlining novels. After all, Nanci already quite eloquently laid out why we need more women in the Expanded Universe. But on Friday, EUC posted a rebuttal to her post, titled Let’s Stop Thinking About Gender and it seems there’s still more work to do on the ground level. I know, I was shocked, too. Though I probably shouldn’t be.
Clearly we’ve forgotten that Star Wars is aimed at boys! And that by asking for something as minor as a female characters whose functions include something other than being Big Bad Lady Cthulu or Confused Teenage Girlfriend makes us the sexist ones! For shame, ladies. For shame. Because we’ve never heard anything like this before.
Continue reading “Why do we want more women highlighted in the Expanded Universe?”
EUbits: Considering Padme Amidala and Jaina Solo
The blogside. On Livejournal, Chameleon Irony takes a look at what implications the events of Darth Plagueis may have had on Padme throughout the films. (Contains Plagueis spoilers.) Meanwhile, at Rooqoo Depot, Lane considers fandom, Jaina Solo, and ‘strong female characters.’
Fate of the Jedi. The latest mini-excerpt from Apocalypse features Luke and a Sith.
Celebration VI. Two more authors have been confirmed to be attending: James Luceno and Jason Fry. Paul S. Kemp, not so much.
Art. Two more looks at the interior art of The Essential Gude to Warfare: An Imperial refueling and a fantastic Dave Seeley title page spread showing the Battle of Couscant from Revenge of the Sith. It’s better than the actual cover!
Reviews. Over at Big Shiny Robot, James considers Agent of the Empire #3, Crimson Empire III #4 and Knights of the Old Republic: War #2.
Her Universe: Ashley shows off new Phantom Menace-inspired t-shirt
Her Universe gave fans a sneak peek at the upcoming ‘Queen’ shirt on Facebook today. Get ready to look for it “really soon.”
Making the case for Padme Amidala
I’ve never been much of a Padme fan. But there’s no denying that she’s an important part of the prequel trilogy, and Anika (aka @magnetgirl) makes some convincing points as to why — including her death — in The Queen’s Sacrifice.