September 25, 2020 – The 2020 Holiday Season is right around the corner, and what better way to celebrate it than with some Black Series Holiday Troopers decked out in festive gear.
Hasbro today announced five sets of Black Series six-inch scale Holiday figures:
MSRP is $24.99 each. Each trooper comes with a sidekick or creature similarly dressed or colored for the winter season. Pre-orders are now being accepted.
GameStop’s Clone Trooper is ready to hit the ice with his hockey stick and scarf-wearing porg. (GameStop, 1 October 2020)
The Santa-esque Range Trooper makes his merry rounds with a Rudolph-like D-O droid, complete with red-tipped nose. (Target, 1 November 2020)
The Sith Trooper (Elf), wearing a wintry scarf, sports a NERF gun. His sidekick is Babu Frick (BestBuy, Fall 2020)
Walmart’s Snowtrooper (Elf) also comes with a green-scarf-wearing porg. (Walmart, 1 December 2020)
Amazon’s green Stormtrooper (Elf) is equipped with a candy-cane-striped blade. His sidekick is a Snow Porg (Amazon, 1 December 2020)
August 14, 2020 – LEGO Star Wars fans are being fêted on November 17th with a 45-minute long “The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special” on Disney+.
A strange mash-up of LEGO Star Wars characters time-traveling through all nine Star Wars movies – and presented as a “Holiday Special”: Oh my, what could possibly go wrong?
According to StarWars.com, the stop-motion animation “will reunite Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, Rose and all your favorite droids, from R2-D2 to BB-8, for a joyous feast on Life Day, the holiday first introduced in 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special.”
While not considered canon, the short LEGO feature is set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. StarWars.com adds: “Rey leaves her friends to prepare for Life Day as she embarks on a new adventure with BB-8 to gain a deeper knowledge of the Force. At a mysterious Jedi temple, Rey finds herself hurled into a cross-timeline adventure through beloved moments in Star Wars cinematic history, coming into contact with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and other iconic heroes and villains from all nine Skywalker saga films.”
It’s not clear if the Sequel Trilogy actors (particularly John Boyega, who swore off any further Star Wars films) will be voicing their LEGO counterparts.
On a positive note, past LEGO movies have proven to be very entertaining with clever script-writing and some adult-oriented allusions and jokes (in good taste, of course). So LEGO’s collaboration with Star Wars could be worth a watch for both kids and adults alike.
On a less-positive note, the 45-minute story arc invokes the dreaded “Life Day” from the widely panned 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. In addition, the main LEGO characters will be from the sequel trilogy, which has antagonized a large number of fans. Throw in some odd time-traveling where Rey and her colleagues meet a young Luke Skywalker and other Original Trilogy stars, and your head may explode after 45 minutes.
LEGO First Order stormtroopers and LEGO Jedi armed with lightsabers: This could be worth a watch
But we will reserve judgement until November 17th, when the Holiday Special premieres on Disney+.
May 3, 2020 – To help celebrate Star Wars Day, Disney will be releasing limited edition “May the 4th” merchandise at 10:00 AM (ET)/7:00 AM (PT) on 4 May 2020.
Look for a Disney Store key, a Probe Droid figure, LEGO sets, a Spirit Jersey, and limited edition “May the 4th” pins at shopDisney.com. (All images credit: Walt Disney Co.)
Some items are expected to sell quickly or even sell out, so you will need to access the shopDisney.com site as soon as the merchandise is released.
In addition, in honor of the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the Disney store site will be releasing The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary Collection merchandise, including specialty figures, a Yoda plush, and Starbucks “You Are Here” mugs themed to the lands of Hoth, Bespin, and Dagobah.
For the first time, shopDisney.com will be introducing a virtual queue and processing orders on a first-come, first-served basis. Note that the queue will not be available on the Disney app. The actual opening time of the virtual queue is unknown, so you may wish to test the site well ahead of the merchandise release time [10:00 AM (ET) / 7:00 AM (PT) 4 May 2020].
The queue is designed to avoid glitches and server crashes caused by huge online traffic. In addition, automated bots in the past have snatched up limited edition items, so the virtual queue will give non-bots (that’s you) a fairer chance at placing an order.
April 30, 2020 – To help celebrate the annual “May the 4th Be With You” (4 May) and “Revenge of the 5th” (5 May), organizer ReedPop will be hosting a two-day online virtual convention across various social media platforms.
Virtual events will include live-tweeting during showings of Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars; Q&A discussions with writers and voice actors; trivia quizzes and prize giveaways.
According to HollywoodReporter.com: “Events will take place across social media accounts associated with multiple ReedPop properties, including New York Comic Con, C2E2, BookCon, Emerald City Comic Con and Florida SuperCon, on both Twitter and Facebook.”
As for Star Wars Celebration Anaheim, scheduled for August 27-30, organizer ReedPop has not yet announced a decision on whether the convention will be cancelled or postponed.
December 23, 2019 – The Rise of Skywalker has shown, like all its predecessors since 1977, that stormtroopers are mere window-dressing to all the action around them.
Despite their inability to shoot anything of consequence – and now as a running joke – we appreciate every last stormtrooper. They are the plain, unassuming “everyman” of the Star Wars universe.
October 28, 2019 – The arrival of cooler weather and the winter holidays are a great excuse to refresh your Star Wars winter wardrobe.
Merchoid.com, which offers a variety of geeky merchandise and is registered in England and Wales, is offering nine officially licensed Star Wars sweaters. Priced at $54.99 each, the knitted sweaters include free shipping to the UK, US and EU countries. Shipping time within the UK is about 2-5 working days. For non-UK countries, allow at least 10-15 working days and up to 30 days for any customs clearance.
The sweaters make great presents – even if you’re just gifting these to yourself!
December 25, 2017 – However you celebrate the Holidays and the turn of the calendar, “Happy Holidays & Christmas Greetings” to all.
The Yoda Santa pictured above was designed by the late Ralph McQuarrie (1929-2012), a concept artist who George Lucas turned to in the very early years of Star Wars to help sell and realize his grand vision.
Lucasfilm distributed the following holiday card in 1981, with McQuarrie’s Yoda Santa drawing on it, to the cast and crew of The Empire Strikes Back:
September 1, 2017 – Get ready for a possible new Halloween tradition, courtesy of Disney’s Droid Factory series: Disney has just released its all-new 3.75-inch droid, R3-B0017.
The font-type on the front and back of the card appears to read “R3-B0017” (zero-zero-one-seven). But it could just as easily be read and pronounced as “BOO17 (“Boo 17”), which sounds deliciously spooky. Under the naming conventions, the “17” probably refers to the current year, 2017.
Disney is not advertising this as a Halloween droid per se, so as to avoid any negative publicity and complaints from certain religious objectors. But the ghostly “Boo!” nomenclature and the timing of the release, along with all other manner of Halloween merchandise at Disney’s theme parks, suggest that something spooktacular is happening.
Reverse of the cardback for the R3-B0017 droid.
The narrative on the reverse of the cardback reads:
All different types of Astromech droids populate the Star Wars galaxy. Each droid is different and has their own unique personality and colors. This Astromech has been programmed to scavenge Dathomir and serve Darth Maul. Join R3-B0017 on his adventure throughout the galaxy.”
Visually, R3-B0017 is stunning. The other-worldly green tint will make this droid “pop” and stand out from the rest of your droid collection.
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The ghostly droid’s details include:
● A nearly transparent domed head which swivels 360°
● Paint is applied sparingly to preserve the ghostly appearance. The eye is colored black, a red dot for a “light” or LED appears below the eye, and four silver dots complete the domed head.
● It’s possible that lime-green paint was applied to highlight the rectangle which encases the black eye. If so, the painting was expertly done.
● The left and right legs are detachable and can swivel 360°.
● The left and right ankles rock slightly forward and back.
● A third or middle leg is detachable. The ankle does not rock forward or backward.
● The bottom of all three feet sport tiny wheels.
The bottom of the tiny feet come with even tinier wheels.
Like other head tops in Disney’s Droid Factory line, B0017’s domed head has a small, barely noticeable hole at the very top. The gap allows you to insert any number of droid hats (not included) from your other droids or from your spare parts.
But Does It Glow?
The ectoplasmic green tint does not, alas, glow in the dark. Alternatively, we wish Disney would have hidden an LED light or two inside the body to really bring R3-B0017 to life.
Internal illumination would be a perfect project for a customizer. Post a link in the comments below if you find any video or images of a glowing or pulsating B0017.
Where to Purchase R3-B0017
R3-B0017 retails for $12.99 at certain Disney theme parks as well as at Disney Springs (Orlando) and Downtown Disney (Anaheim). As of the posting date of this article, the Shop Disney Parks app does not yet offer this particular astromech droid.
R3-B0017 just hit Disney’s store shelves in late August, 2017.
The $12.99 price point is the same as last year’s Disney Halloween droid, which we wrote about HERE exactly one year ago. Last year’s R2-BOO was also showing off some major Halloween colors.
R3-B0017 (left) and R2-B00 (right), the possible start of a Disney droids Halloween tradition.
About Dathomir
The cardback narrative reads in part: “This Astromech has been programmed to scavenge Dathomir and serve Darth Maul.” You may remember Dathomir either from the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014), Star Wars Rebels (since 2014), or from the Expanded Universe/Star Wars Legends.
From StarWars.com: “A remote planet, Dathomir is drenched in blood-red light from its central star. The planet has continents overrun by twisted vegetation, with forests of bent trees burdened by large, cocoon-like fruit. Bordering dense swamplands is the massive stone fortresses of the Nightsisters, a witch clan. The Nightsisters kept to themselves, but had on occasion been known to offer their services to those who piqued their interests. Far from the Nightsisters lived the Nightbrothers — a tattooed clan of Zabrak warriors were subservient to their female counterparts.”
In the following excerpt, Ezra and Darth Maul visit Dathomir:
“Star Wars – Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir”, Vol. 1 (voice-dubbed animated comic):
May 4, 2017 – There are several possible responses if someone runs up to you and says “Happy May the Fourth Be with You” or, dreadfully, “Happy Star Wars Day”:
1. You could smile wanly and say “Thank You” or “May the Fourth be with you as well”;
2. Roll your eyes and take another swig from your beer bottle/wine glass;
FUTURE of STAR WARS 