Today in The Force Awakens: Costume concepts, books and more

tfa-concept-poehelmetOver at IGN, an interview with costume designer Michael Kaplan, and how the looks evolved for characters both old and new.

→ Our own James interviews Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens author Landry Q. Walker at StarWars.com, while comic writer Charles Soule talks to ComicBook.com about Poe Dameron #1. Soule also did a guest post for StarWars.com.

→ We all heard about Force for Daniel, but Lucasfilm and J.J. Abrams showed the movie to dozens of terminally ill fans.

Vulture takes a look at who’ll buy physical copies of The Force Awakens. I’m guessing… A lot of people? They also look back at the box office.

→ A look at how Rey’s isolation is framed in the film.

→ StarWars.com also presents their list of the ten best The Force Awakens moments.

Luke Skywalker is 2016’s This Is Madness champion

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Apparently all it takes is some intense staring in a $2B movie to go from zero to hero in This is Madness, the StarWars.com character tournament.

After disappointing showings in previous years, Luke Skywalker not only made it to the finals, but won the whole thing, defeating previous champions Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi along the way. Newbies Rey and Kylo Ren also made quite a showing, facing off against Luke and Vader in the final four matchups.

This Is Madness: Hondo picks the Fate of Four

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I have returned, once again, to guide you with my wisdom. Yes, your fearless captain, Hondo Ohnaka, is back to tell you who to pick in the starwars.com ‘This Is Madness’ character tournament in the penulti… pe… second to last round. This round will decide which light side character and which dark side character will face off to see who the champion is.

Team Hondo 2016On both sides, we have a bunch of those laser-sword wielding Jedi and Sith. For the light side, it’s Luke Skywalker against Rey. And right now, Luke has the lead against Rey. Both grew up on the Outer Rim without their parents, only to be shown a larger galaxy by a mentor who was killed by a Sith in a mask, and then started to learn about their Jedi skills. Also, both are good pilots. But I think I will pick Rey, because she had a tougher lot – Luke had his uncle and aunt and got to live on a farm. Rey had no one and lived in a crashed walker. That can’t be good for your back. Plus she can fly the Falcon, which I hear is a pretty good ship. Not as good as one of my ships, but perhaps close. So Rey.

On the dark side, there’s Darth Vader and his grandson Kylo Ren. And Vader has a big lead right now. So I’m going to go with that. I think Kylo will probably get mad though, and smash up some stuff. Or punch his side to get him pumped up to smash some stuff. But Vader – I hear he just fought off his apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, and she is a serious Jedi. or serious former Jedi. And my friend. So I don’t like Vader at all, but I do respect him from a distance. Vader.

And for the finals. I’m going to assume that Darth Vader wins the dark side. If he goes against Luke Skywalker, I say vote Luke, because as you know, Luke beat his father at Endor, and that counts. If he goes against Rey, I say vote Rey, because I don’t want Vader to win. Yes, just vote for the light side, since they are more likely to not put me out of business.

Today in The Force Awakens: New pics, interviews

With The Force Awakens releasing on digital tonight, we got a couple of new things today, not least of all two new still, above. (via.)

USA Today has an interview with and new video clip featuring John Boyega. He talks about training for the lightsaber fight on Starkiller Base and the hardest secret to keep. (Bonus: Sleeveless Adam Driver.)

At Fandango, Matthew Wood on the effect they were going for with the voice modulation on Kylo Rens helmet.

Expect plenty more to come, as the Blu-ray is out Tuesday the 5th. The Star Wars Facebook page is planning a live Q&A with Daisy Ridley for Monday, and you can submit questions now.

Video: Unboxing Star Wars: TFA Visual Dictionary, Rey’s Story & Rebels ‘Shroud of Darkness’

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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.

Daisy Ridley: “Obviously I wasn’t” Han Solo’s daughter

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My apologies to those still clinging to the Rey Solo theories: I think Daisy Ridley just scuttled you, telling Entertainment Tonight that the parentage issue – or rather, the lack thereof – was the hardest secret to keep for The Force Awakens. Of course, knowing this fandom, the theories are just going to get even more elaborate… Here’s the video:


She also talked about the difference between J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson when it comes to secrecy, and yes, there’s stuff in this you can use, theorists. Have at it.


Rey Skywalker theorists, please be gracious. Your case may be pretty good, but nothing is set is stone just yet.