Author Archives: Thomas
Even though demand for The Bad Batch episode reviews is at a record low – as are probably the streaming ratings/ views – here is the review for the latest episode released yesterday! And it not only has some questionable low tech scifi again (one of Star Wars’ hallmarks) or shows to the audience once again how much Star Wars borrowed from Dune, it also has some good moments, whenever the Bad Batch are not running around shooting alien monsters that is, and focuses on its characters and this week it means Crosshair has a hard time returning to the fold and Hunter does not trust him at all. So click here or on the banner to read my spoiler review for The Return!
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SH Figuarts are still in the Star Wars game, even if the frequency of releases has greatly decreased. But SHF have revealed a brand new Star Wars figure! It’s Ahsoka as seen in her series. You do get proper soft good Jedi robes, as well as some accessories like the ancient map, lightsaber blades with motion blur and various alternate heads with different facial expressions. Pre-orders are open, you can buy the figure now. Tentative release date is July 2024. Price is ca. $78 or 70 euros.
Here is the Japanese language Tamashii website with all the photos!
My general feeling is that the Black Series version is “good enough” and I am not even sure SHF captured Rosario Dawson’s likeness all that well and I feel the TBS figure has the better likeness. In my opinion SHF should release figures that either do not exist in the Black Series or that they can greatly improve upon, Shin and Baylan come to mind when we talk about the Ahsoka show, whereas Ahsoka is certainly one of the better Black Series figures.
Will you get the SHF Ahsoka?
One of three different heads, Ahsoka also comes with a neutral and super angry bared teeth expression
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As you may remember EA very recently cancelled a first person shooter Mandalorian game which was in development by Respawn Games. It has since been revealed that a sizable chunk of the game was already pretty far ahead in development, yet EA decided to cancel the game nonetheless.
At the time this seemed like a typical EA thing, with some hints that EA wants to release fewer licensed games and focus on own IPs. YouTube Channel Star Wars Theory now reports that according to one of his sources, who is with EA or works for EA in some capacity, the real reason EA cancelled the Mandalorian game is that Disney suddenly decided to retroactively raise the licensing fees for all upcoming games and even games already in development: from already insane 22% to now ludicrous 33%. Click through for more!
Is Bob Iger behind the cancellation of the EA Mandalorian game?
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One thing that always interests me is how Star Wars compares to the competition. How popular is Star Wars, and here I mean the toys really, in 2024, when we compare it to Marvel, GI Joe or Transformers? All Hasbro brands. Hasbro has not released exact sales figures for Star Wars in years, they used to brag about Star Wars sales back in the prequel era, which was about the last time they openly talked about revenue for Star Wars. Back then they even openly talked about Star Wars royalty expenses. Now it’s all top secret. So what can we do to find out how popular Star Wars toys (and here specifically action figures!) are compared to the major competitors? I thought that Hasbro’s own Pulse YouTube channel may be a good source to gauge how popular the various brands are. In the past three years Hasbro had a number of livestreams for all four brands on their Pulse channel and I believe that the number of views for each stream may be a good proxy for actual toyline popularity. As a bonus I will also look back to how things were in the prequel era. But how are things now? Click through to find out!
Who is more popular?
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Only last week we learned through leaks that Respawn Entertainment, who belong to EA, are developing a first person shooter Mandalorian game (about some Mandalorian, not THE Mandalorian). Well, yesterday it was announced by EA that said game is now cancelled as part of a general “restructuring” and some layoffs – 5% of employees will be let go. Click through for some more background details!
EA manager (symbol photo)
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The fourth out of fifteen episodes for the final season of The Bad Batch was released earlier today. Omega and Crosshair crashland on a planet and they need to find a ship to get them off again. As it turns out Omega’s approach to things and her priorities are at odds with Crosshair’s who endlessly rolls his eyes at Omega’s way of doing things… Click here or on the banner to read my spoiler review of A Different Approach!
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Collider has learned that the tentative release date for The Acolyte is June 5th 2024. This would be about a month after the 3rd and final season of The Bad Batch concludes. We have yet to see an official trailer for the show, because the footage shown at Celebration in 2023 was never officially released to the public, only leaked videos with very bad quality exist. So I wonder when the marketing and promo work will begin if the series is really coming to Disney+ in just a little over three months from now. I would expect Lucasfilm and Disney trying to ramp up hype soon. Click through for more!
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The Bad Batch dropped the first three episodes of its third and final season today. And the big question is… is it any good and worth your time? If you ignored The Bad Batch thus far nothing will convince you otherwise, the third season will not change anything about that… and if you follow The Bad Batch the first three episodes are probably ok, but maybe not all that you hoped for. Click here or on the banner to read my spoiler review for the three parter and let’s discuss the season 3 premiere of The Bad Batch!
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Insider Gaming has learned from their sources that the studio behind Titanfall, Apex Legends, Jedi Fallen Order and Jedi Survivor, Respawn Entertainment, is currently developing a first person Mandalorian bounty hunter game. The game is set during the time of the Empire. It is unknown if the Mandalorian will be a brand new character or someone from the movies or shows. Not much else is known other than that the game will not be an open world experience and instead feature more linear levels on different planets (so probably similar to what you get in both Jedi games from the studio). You’ll also have a jetpack of course, so that means aerial combat will definitely be an option (think Mass Effect Andromeda). Respawn Entertainment is also developing a third (and possibly final) “Jedi” game featuring Cal Kestis, so the Mandalorian game doesn’t mean Respawn will no longer work on that. Release date is unknown, there also has been no official announcement yet, so take it with the usual grain of salt.
Would you be interested in a Mandalorian bounty hunter game? And would you want to play as Boba Fett, possibly even a young Din Djarin, or as a brand new generic bounty hunter you can customize yourself?
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I looked at Google Trends a couple of years ago. And I thought it might be fun to revisit them, especially with so much more Star Wars content that we got in the meantime. So how does The Mandalorian stack up against the competition? Star Wars or Marvel? Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader? What is trending more on Google? Click through to find out!
How much of an impression does she leave on Google?
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Earlier today Hasbro released their numbers for Q4/2023 and also for the full year. And as expected the results are pretty bad. Click through for the details!
No reason to smile
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Earlier today Disney reported their financial results for Q4/2023, which is their fiscal Q1/2024. And I will make it short: anyone who hopes Disney will go bankrupt will have to hold their breath a lot longer. Disney actually beat expectations by Wall Street Analysts. Disney reported net earnings attributable to the company of $1.91 billion, which is $630 million more than in Q4/2022 (their Q1/2023). Overall revenue was flat compared to the year prior, $23.55 billion.
On the streaming front Disney is actually on target on reaching profitability soon, they have drastically reduced their streaming losses, they still lost $138 million with Disney+/Hulu, but a year before it was an astounding $984 million. They attribute this to higher fees and cost cutting measures. Click through for more.
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File this under “headlines you never expected to read”… but Gina Carano is suing Disney and Lucasfilm with the financial backing of Elon Musk. Musk had offered to help anyone who got fired over voicing their opinions on X / Twitter previously and apparently he was serious about it. Click through for a discussion!
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Carl Weathers died peacefully in his sleep on Wednesday, February 1st, according to his family. The 76-year-old actor was primarily known for his role as Apollo Creed in Rocky, he played the character in the first four of the Rocky movies. In the 1980s Carl starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, one of his better known movies from the 1990s includes the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore and he would make yet another appearance in a more comedic role as a fictionalized version of himself on the tv show Arrested Development in the early 2000s. Carl rose to prominence again in recent years when he received his first ever Emmy nomination for his role as Greef Karga in The Mandalorian, the breakaway hit show on Disney+, in later seasons he would also direct a few episodes.
It remains to be seen what that means for The Mandalorian, after Gina Carano as Cara Dune, Carl’s Greef Karga is the second major recurring character who can no longer appear on the show or in the movie.
Starwars.com has a statement from Jon Favreau:
I am heartbroken by this devastating loss. He was a hero from my childhood who I was lucky enough to meet and then had the amazing good fortune to work with. He had the energy and curiosity of a young man paired with the wisdom that his rich life and career afforded him. My heart goes out to his family and countless admirers.
Let’s all remember Carl. May he rest in peace!
Carl Weathers as Greef Karga
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Toy photography is a hobby that enjoys growing popularity. A lot more effort however are animated shorts. Check out a very fun example of an animated action figure video created by DGDX Animation. In this short the Hasbro Indiana Jones action figure saves the Black Series Han Solo action figure from his captors. Watch it right after the jump!
Ford saving Ford
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Today’s Hasbro Star Wars livestream did not have all that many reveals, three new figures were announced:
- Phase 1 Clone Trooper using the all new clone body (spring 2024, fan channel)
- Droideka (summer 2024, fan channel)
- Thrawn from the Ahsoka series (spring 2025, fan channel)
All figures are available for pre-order on January 24th, 1 pm ET!
Click through for photos and the pipeline reveals!
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I would like to discuss something that has been on my mind for a while, in fact, some of the points I will bring up here were mentioned by me before when I spoke about HasLab previously, i.e. that HasLab is – among other things – primarily a profit margin protection scheme, guaranteeing that something will never ever be submitted to the free market mechanism of supply and demand and thus will never see any discounts or mark downs. But today’s article is based on something UK etailer Kapow Toys wrote on X (still a very silly name, what is Elon Musk thinking?) earlier this week. They complain bitterly about Hasbro in a lengthy post. Click through to learn what Kapow Toys has to say and for a discussion about Pulse!
Collectors among themselves
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Inspired by the recent Topps article by Chuck I thought it could be fun to talk about the one Star Wars toy, collectible or any other piece of Star Wars merchandise you regret losing the most. Either because you were a kid and did not know better and trashed something, or maybe because you lost interest and disposed of something as you grew older, or your parents threw away some of your stuff as you grew older… or maybe someone even stole it from you. What is the one thing you regret losing the most?
German 1978 Panini Star Wars Sticker Album
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Ok, you know the drill, get your salt out, take a few healthy doses… and let’s all sit down to listen to the latest Lucasfilm rumors: according to a scooper not usually known for Star Wars leaks and scoops the Rey movie is now delayed … indefinitely. This according to a report by “World of Reel”. Who, you may ask… according to Star Wars scooper Bespin Bulletin World of Reel, while not known for scoops about big Star Wars projects, usually covers news about smaller projects and is very often absolutely right. So there may be some veracity to the claims. But as usual, remember those are rumors and need to be treated as such. And reports that claim to debunk this rumor already exist.
However, it might explain Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s appearance on CNN two weeks ago, because even back then some people speculated this can only mean the project is in big trouble and Obaid-Chinoy wants to create pressure by pointing out that it’s high time a woman shapes the narrative in a galaxy far, far away. But at least according to the latest rumor it was all in vain! Click through for a few more details!
You are about the enter the Star Wars Rumor Zone!
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Even though Hollywood awards are mostly pointless exercises, it can still mean something if you are recognized for your efforts, especially if you are not in the spotlight most of the time. The big winner this year was the drama series “Succession” which beat Andor, which was also nominated in the “Outstanding Drama Series” category. Some joker at Lucasfilm also entered Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series” category, of course it did not win, a series titled “Beef” won instead.
But Star Wars did win two Emmys last night and one award went to someone who is definitely not in the spotlight most of the time! Click through for all the details!
Lateef Crowder now has an Emmy, pictured here on set with director Bryce Dallas Howard in a season 1 episode, Howard actually never worked even once with Pedro Pascal when she filmed that episode and Crowder and his colleague Brandon Wayne were the men in the armor.
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You have probably heard the story… years ago Zack Snyder approached Lucasfilm and pitched his idea for a Star Wars movie. But Kathleen Kennedy turned him down. So Snyder eventually transformed his Star Wars pitch into Rebel Moon on Netflix. To say the movie has been trashed by both critics and viewers is an understatement… but what would it have really been like if Zack Snyder had made a Star Wars movie? Well, YouTube channel Auralnauts just released a video the other day that answers this important question! They released Zack Snyder’s Star Wars – A New Hope. An 11 minute video reimagining the iconic 1977 movie into a Zack Snyder version. You have to see it to believe it. Click through for more!
Be prepared!
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You may wonder why I would want to talk about the upcoming (as of now) Rey movie “New Jedi Order” again, well, the reason for that is simple. For some inexplicable (or not) reason the director of the Rey movie, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, made a somewhat puzzling appearance on CNN on New Year’s Eve where she briefly talked about the Star Wars movie scheduled for release in 2026. CNN treated that almost as if it’s anything newsworthy, even though she was announced as the director back in April 2023, in fact, it is very strange and peculiar why Obaid-Chinoy made this appearance, doing PR work for a movie that still doesn’t have a finished script. So what is going on here? But what really irked quite a few Star Wars fans is what Obaid-Chinoy had to say about her directing job. Click through for the full story and a discussion!
Screenshot of two audience members watching New Jedi Order. Acquired from the future via wormhole time travel.
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2023 will soon be over, it’s that time of the year where many people look back, reflecting on the things that happened, but where people also look forward, to things they hope to achieve in the new year. So I thought it would be fun, on this very last weekend of the year, to think back to things that could have been. But never were.
Three years ago, on December 10th 2020, Kathleen Kennedy revealed her big plans for Star Wars and Lucasfilm as part of the Walt Disney Investor Day event. Kenobi! Andor! Ahsoka! Visions! Willow! Rangers Of The New Republic! Lando! A Droid Story! Children Of Blood And Bone! Indiana Jones 5! Whatever it is Taika Waititi is supposed to make! And most important of all: Rogue Squadron! You may have forgotten already, but the plan for Rogue Squadron was to be released in December 2023, just now. So in some alternate universe we would be talking about the latest Star Wars movie now, instead of discussing yet another movie that was announced a few months ago… Anyway, this is the perfect opportunity to look back… to what happened and did not happen… Click through for some delicious memberberries!
They even filmed a short teaser featuring the director Patty Jenkins and an X-Wing
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A few days ago Jeff Sneider, who has a pretty good track record when it comes to Star Wars scoops, reported that The Mandalorian season 4 would be turned into a theatrical movie instead. Following this report sources contacted both Bespin Bulletin and Making Star Wars, who are also scoopers with a really good track record, and told them that Sneider reported old news and that turning The Mandalorian into a movie was merely an option Lucasfilm considered, depending on how badly the Hollyood strike would affect things, but that The Mandalorian season 4 will ultimately NOT be turned into a movie. Instead, Bespin Bulletin reports that season 4 will begin filming early next year, most likely in February or late January and is still scheduled for a 2025 release, probably in the summer, if season 4 also spends about 12 months in post production like season 3. There are some more tidbits, including more info about Skeleton Crew, click through to read it all!
You are about the enter the Star Wars Rumor Zone!
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Hasbro revealed even more new toys today, this time they used io9 / Gizmodo as their outlet to announce an all new The Phantom Menace Retro Collection 6-pack to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the movie next year.
The Target exclusive set will be released in spring 2024 and will cost only $60. You will get Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Amidala (really now, Retro gets a Queen Amidala and NOT any of the other lines????), Darth Maul, Jar Jar Binks and Battle Droid. Gizmodo had no info on any pre-order dates.
Source: io9 / Gizmodo
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