Star Wars Bits: ‘Force Awakens’ Toy Rumors, BB-8, Drew Struzan, Star Wars Celebration, Comics
This latest Star Wars Bits might be the most jam-packed yet. Below, read about the following:
Header image: Fan art byLove Carmichaelon Deviant Art.
One of the things that makesStar Wars Star Warsis the merchandise. It’s the beating heart of the franchise so with 11 months to go untilStar Wars: The Force Awakenshits theaters, you knew we’d start to hear about the merchandise. Previous Star Wars Bits have had links to rumor prototype figures and lists and today there’s a bit more.JediNewsreports that the merchandise from the film will begin to hit shelves on September 4.Making Star Warsadds, and it’s a tidbit we’d heard as well, that the film’s main villain,Kylo Ren, would be on the packaging. This kind of makes sense if you think about Darth Maul appearing on some packaging and Darth Vader some other.
JediNewsalso has a list of a ton of as-yet-unannouncedStar Wars Legosets. Original trilogy packages have names, butForce Awakenspackages do not. Those just have set numbers and prices, ranging from £15 to £130. Hit the link for more.
This is awesome. Another event has been announced forStar Wars Celebrationin Anaheim. It’s calledStar Wars: Smuggler’s Bountyand tells a non-canonHan Solostory set during the original trilogy. Co-written and directed byFanboysdirectorKyle Newman, it’ll feature voice actors fromThe Clone Warsand more. You can read more about it, including a plot description, onStarWars.com.
ArtistSam’s Mythhas made these super cute,Force Awakensart pieces,available in his store here. There are only 15 of each 5 x 5 image of Finn, Rey and Poe as well as 15 sets of all three. Of those 15 sets, three will come with a mystery 4th character. Visit the link.
Drew Struzanhas been doing posters forStar Warsfor as long as the franchise existed. He also did the theatrical one sheets for the last six live action feature releases, the Special Editions and Prequel trilogy. So it’s been rumored for years (most recently,this past May) that he’d be back to doThe Force Awakens. Well, that rumor is popping up once again thanks toSchmoes Know. They say it’s a “done deal” but we probably won’t know for sure until the summer when the final poster is released.The Playlistpointed us to this below video, which is a look back at the locations used when filmingReturn of the Jedi. Kevin Pike is the subject and he was the “Location Special Effects” person on the film. Check it out.
SinceOscar Isaachas been talking about it non-stop,Collidertook the opportunity ofA Most Violent Yearto ask his co-star, Jessica Chastain, about theStar Wars: The Force Awakenstrailer. Watch it below and note that Isaac said this is still the only footage he’s seen from the movie, at all.
ThoughMarvelhas the currentStar Warscomic book license, it would be hard to forget the great workDark Horsedid over the years. As a nod to that,StarWars.comrevealed they’ll be releasing these two collections over the summer. Read much more at the link.
If you can’t wait for those,ComiXologyjust added a bunch (and I meant a BUNCH) of old Star Wars content.Visit the full selection here.
Previously, we’ve collected a ton of the variant covers coming forMarvel’s Star Wars #1. But it turns out maybe we weren’t even close to complete.Bleeding Coolreports there will be over 100 variant covers for the issue, which is a comic book record.
We’ve all seeDaisy Ridley’s character, Rey, on a speeder inThe Force Awakenstrailer. Were you curious how fast it was going?Wiredfigured it out and it’s a pretty fascinating look at math applied to art. I’m still scratching my head.
MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOWBB-8is the ball droid revealed inThe Force Awakenstrailer and, apparently, he’s got plenty of surprises.Making Star Warshastwo articlesbased on possible concept art of the droid. In them, they reveal that the orange circles on his body all open up into compartments that perform functions similar to R2-D2. There’s even a potential spoiler in one of the articles about what one compartment might fit. Head to those links to read them.
