The awesome LEGO Star Wars Boost Droid Commander set lets you build and program Star Wars droids.
A big hit over the holiday season was this LEGO droid building kit. Having started with LEGO Mindstorms decades ago, I am thrilled with how LEGO's learn to code using our toys program has come along.
This kit comes with 3 build-able droids and whole lot of coding challenges to help you and your children learn to manage R2D2.
Do not be afraid to take a chance on peace, to teach peace, to live peace…Peace will be the last word of history. --Pope John Paul II
This may be the ONLY reason I've heard to consider buying Star Wars Battlefront II.
The excellent mod by xD0IT turns Kylo Ren into a buffed out Pope John Paul II who is one with the Force... or Jesus, I'm not really sure how that stuff expresses in a religion not my own.
During his time as pontiff, JPII was clearly a man of peace and love. As a Jedi decked out with a cruciform lightsaber? Try he will not.
Alternatively, Star Wars: Fallen Order is a great game. Read the rest
My daughter and I finally made it to Disneyland's Galaxy's Edge. It was wonderful. Read the rest
Disney's The Mandalorian is the contemporary Star Wars production people actually like and has already wriggled deep into the folds of pop culture. Much of the meme-orializing centers on "Baby Yoda", of course, but the show pays tribute to westerns in depth and that's what's honored in this handsome edit by Kingkida.
Read the restNow that the amazing first season of The Mandalorian is complete, I decided to go back and update my Sergio Leone inspired trailer. Thanks for all the feedback on the last one. I incorporated a lot of your suggestions, but I'm sure I butchered more Italian in this pass as well!
On Black Magic Craft, Jeremy usually builds scenery for tabletop fantasy and sci-fi gaming. But, inspired by his new 3D resin printer, he decided to create something just for fun.
Given the Nerdisphere's current obsession with The Mandalorian, he settled on a Mandalorian and baby Yoda diorama. The results are impressive, one of the coolest things I've ever seen Jeremy build.
The video contains lots of great build tips that can be applied to tabletop gaming terrain, dioramas, or any type of hobby modeling. Good stuff. Read the rest
Never tell me the odds of avoiding a DMCA takedown. Read the rest
Nearly ten grand. That's what it will cost to get the STAR WARS Millennium Falcon Hyperspace Jump Experience bouncy house into your life. Magic Jump, the company behind this 1,100 pound officially-licensed monstrosity, also offers financing for $237.38/month. Or you can find an entertainment company with one in their inflatable jumper repertoire to bring you this:
Passengers will encounter a Chewbacca inflatable as they enter and an R2D2 inflatable replica and C-3PO graphic as they jump their way around the ship. Passengers will feel the rush as they imagine piloting the Millennium Falcon like Han Solo and Chewbacca as they explore the cockpit area; pretend to operate the cockpit's master control panel with its gears, switches, and buttons; and eject themselves down a small slide. In the main cabin, they'll come across inflatable pop-up obstacles such as a bunk, storage container, and holo-map where they can see a holographic-like rendering of the Death Star. Passengers can step up to the laser cannon turret where they can pretend to defend against Imperial forces, and they can also pretend to play dejarik at the hologame table. The pièce de ré·sis·tance is the climber/slide in the center of the ship with ceiling hatch graphic showing explosive battle with a Star Destroyer and TIE fighters.
images via Magic Jump Read the rest
Jason Satterlund directed this short film, "Kenobi." Not canon.
Writing for the Washington Post, Gene Park argues that Star Wars has been at its best in recent years the closer the product has been to a video game. He praises the narrative in the game Fallen Order, and the game-like structure in the show The Mandalorian. Rise of Skywalker fails, he says, partly because it mostly takes the bad aspects of video games:
The Macguffin chasing/fetch quests aren’t the only problem associated with bad gaming practices. There are also the “microtransactions” and DLC-like elements required to fully appreciate the main property. The modern day Star Wars moviegoer is now required to read the comic books and watch the old “Clone Wars” cartoon (now available on Disney+!) to fully appreciate the import of items and characters making sudden appearances in this universe.
...
Sure, the experience of investing this much time and money can be satisfying and sometimes pays off. But it isn’t enough to have seen all eight movies before seeing this one. “The Rise of Skywalker” is overstuffed with references to the past, and also to future potential franchises and brand opportunities. It’s glaringly more obvious that these new films are not meant to be definitive, tell-all works, but rather a jumping-off point for other properties.
You can read his entire review here.
On the same topic, the opening crawl itself refers to something that happened in last weekend's Fortnite/Star Wars tie-in:
Disney is an investor in Epic Games. Read the rest
Ahh, Kef Bir and Exogol, sure to become cherished locations in Star Wars lore, are now the featured destinations in Star Tours. Disney says Star Tours now offers more than 100 storytelling combinations, but "for the next few months we’ll exclusively feature the destinations inspired by Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker."
If you'd like only a glimpse of the new destinations, enjoy this promotional video:
And if you'd like the full experience, find someone to shake your chair, and enjoy:
Speaking of Star Tours, here's a lengthy editorial arguing that Star Tours is a better attraction than Galaxy's Edge's Millennium Falcon:
The themes of Star Tours include things like “the bad guys just hijacked my vacation,” being a tourist in the galaxy, and how one person can make a difference in the grand scheme of things (even if they didn’t realize it). Comparatively, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run’s themes are much more shallow, including “I flew the Millennium Falcon,” smuggling to enrich yourself, and targeting guests for ridicule.
(Via Polygon.) Read the rest
I must have this Baby Yoda!
I want to see what happens when an incredibly powerful force user is raised by a person who disintegrates car thieves.
Star Wars The Black Series The Child Toy 1.1-Inch The Mandalorian Collectible Action Figure, Toys for Kids Ages 4 and Up via Amazon Read the rest
Although you won't find any official toys of "the Child" from Disney's The Mandalorian in stores yet, you can decorate your tree with this authorized papercraft version of Baby Yoda in his floating bassinet. All you need is scissors, glue, and a healthy amount of some patience to get all the fiddly bits stuck together. Read the rest
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth and concluding episode of the Star Wars saga, opens this week. Critics are mauling it, by and large, leaving it with the worst average rating of the series: 54, according to review tracking-site Metacritic. Even Solo got a better reception.
Good news at Rotten Tomatoes, though. Star Wars: Phantom Menace beats it to the not-so-coveted worst spot.
In the spirit of avoiding spoilers, I'll just leave you with the BBC's conclusion: "The main feeling it instils in the viewer is a renewed respect for the imagination of Lucas" Read the rest
There's a scene in the fourth episode of The Mandalorian where the unnamed child (aka Baby Yoda) is literally pushing Mando's buttons, well, the buttons on his ship anyway. Since it aired, the internet has been doing its thing — imagining Baby Yoda is playing with the ship's radio.
The meme started a couple of weeks ago, so there a TON of them out there. I picked out a few of my favs:
And, OF COURSE...
Truth be told, I'm not the biggest Star Wars nerd on my home world. I've seen all of the films and played the Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures game. That's it. So, I don't know much of deeper lore, like what the hell a Mandalorian is. The origins of Beskar? Forget about it.
I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube videos in search of answers. Most of them only left me confused and with more questions than answers. Once again, the Templin Institute offered up my favorite summary.
[Image: Screen capture from the video] Read the rest
If you're going to be in Singapore in December you can participate in "the Galactic Hunt" for Coca-Cola bottles with built-in light-up lightsabers:
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On designated dates, riddles will be posted online. Solve the riddle to figure out the secret location. Head to the location, find the gatekeeper and request a special pass, and then exchange that pass at a 7-Eleven for one of the special Kylo-Ren or Rey-themed bottles:
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(Via Gizmodo.) Read the rest
