I've got tickets for a couple of pretty cool shows coming up within a couple of weeks.  First, Elvis Costello & The Imposters!  I've been wanting to see him live for years, and tickets to this show were a pretty amazing Christmas gift.

Later on that same week?  The Allman Brothers Band at NYC's Beacon Theater.  When word came out that the two guitarists for the ABB would be leaving the group at the end of this year I saw the writing on the wall that this could be the end of the Allmans.  So I was determined to get tickets to see the Allmans during their month-long residency at one of the best venues in New York.  Tickets went fast, but I was able to get them.  And sure enough, after we got tickets the news came out from Gregg Allman that the ABB would cease touring at the end of this year, which marks their 45th anniversary as a band. 

Nice to hear that Burns got word of a Ghost release for 2015.  If it's happening then, I'm thinking it would be a Spring '15/Q2 release.  Because the rest of the release calendar for 2015 would probably have Episode VII previews come Q3, and the Episode VII line would launch in Q4.  So perhaps April or May of next year, when REBELS is still airing episodes?

The casting does seem to fly in the face of the established brother & sister relationship of Johnny and Susan Storm.  Michael B Jordan's casting seems more like this was the actor that the filmmakers wanted than anything else.  So now they have to write around the established backstory of the FF in order to make it work.  In the case of Samuel L. Jackson being cast as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that situation was a bit more organically driven... at least for Marvel Studios.  When Marvel Comics killed off EVERYONE and launched the Ultimate Universe, Fury was reimagined to deliberately look like Sam Jackson.  And you have to think that SLJ was pretty flattered by that, because he's now appeared as Nick Fury in 5 of the Marvel Studios films.  Be that as it may, none of these actors really leaps out as a "WOW" bit of casting.  And I get the feeling that Kate Mara has already been in a better Marvel movie, with her very small part in Iron Man 2.

This casting announcement comes across as though Fox can't afford to get a solid core of actors for their Marvel comics partners, whereas Disney/Marvel studios has seen the value in some solid acting talent.  Robert Downey Jr. really has wowed people as Tony Stark/Iron Man.  We've been through three actors as Bruce Banner/Hulk, but Mark Ruffalo rose to the occasion in Avengers and stole the show.  Samuel L. Jackson has played the part of elder statesman/leader in his capacity as Nick Fury.  Chris Hemsworth managed to embody Thor well in three projects when his own credentials might have been considered questionable.  And Chris Evans totally upped his game as Steve Rogers in comparison to his work in the previous 2 FF films.

Inevitably the actors in this FF reboot are going to be compared with their Marvel studios contemporaries.  Do they have the capacity to step up their games for this project?  Jamie Bell seems to have some of the strongest credits, but he doesn't seem to have been cast to type.  The only thing that I can recall having seen Michael B. Jordan in was the HBO series 'The Wire', but he was nowhere near one of the standout actors on that show.  And Miles Teller?  I don't think I've seen him in anything.

There are definitely stronger actors that could have been cast.  But I get the sense that a lot of that talent would probably prefer to be involved in a Disney/Marvel studios production that's part of the larger Marvel cinematic universe.  This FF announcement comes across very much like the situation with the rights for Spiderman and the reboot of that franchise.  Get another movie out in an effort to hang onto the FF rights.

This whole "Darth Icky" nonsense reads as beyond ridiculous at face value.  And it really left me wondering about a couple of things. 

First, is the story legit?  Without knowing any of the sources involved it's tough to make that judgement.  If it's all true it has to leave you with some serious questions about just what GL was thinking.

And second?  Is it possible this happened but GL had ulterior motives in judging things?  Because the names alone sound preposterous.  To a degree that it comes across like some sort of put-on.  Is it possible that GL went into this meeting with a totally ridiculous proposal in an effort to judge his own people?  Had he grown in stature to the point that nobody within his companies was prepared to challenge him on his creative ideas?  To someone with a background like his own that would probably seem like he had finally become what he had railed against in his younger days:  a studio apparatus that was out of touch with the work of the people on the artistic front lines.  Lucas's work with Francis Coppolla and American Zoetrope tried to buck that Hollywood system in an effort to do something new and different in film.  And effectively the Star Wars films, with the exception of the first, wound up being independent films.  But Star Wars had grown into something SO BIG that it seems like George Lucas had become the very thing that he had fought against for so much of his career.  It must be an eye-opening thing to be in a position where nobody will speak truth to power, and YOU are the power.

So, witness the sale of Star Wars/Lucasfilm to Disney.  And the fact that GL is going to be putting the bulk of that money towards philanthropic pursuits.  That, combined with the fact that he's stated that he wants to work on small, independent films say to me that GL probably recognized that this thing had grown far beyond even his own imagination, and perhaps it was time to move on since he couldn't find people that would be partners with him in a creative collaboration.

More to look forward to with the Funko Game of Thrones line.  These new figures were on display at Toy Fair as seen in THIS FWOOSH POSTING:

-Robb Stark
-Khal Drogo
-Brienne of Tarth
-Danaerys Targaryen (blue dress)
-Jaime Lannister
-Arya Stark

There are definitely some things from the EU that I'd like to see get explored.  My focus tends to be from some of the Dark Horse comics and video games.  And it still seems like fairly fertile ground from a character standpoint.  But I get this shift in direction.  It's an attempt to keep the Star Wars line CURRENT and moving forward with a sense of anticipation towards the new trilogy.

And then there's the shift in the action figure business.  We've seen a pattern emerge where interest seems to be gravitating away from the 3.75" action figure to collector focused 6" figures and the video game sector.  There have also been some massive failures on some serious movie licensed toy lines.  That's led to action figure lines that are leaner, more cost-concious and more risk averse than they were say, 5 years ago.

For the continued health of the line?  I'm okay with this shift away from the EU.  I understand what's driving it.  It's a compromise that's being made in the interest of benefitting the broader Star Wars merchandise line.

Given what we've been seeing from The Official Site and other news sources regarding the Expanded Universe in general, I'm not surprised at all that there's a pullback on the Expanded Universe across multiple fronts.  I take issue with the article simply because I find Paul's work focuses far more on hyperbole and nerd rage than substance and thoughtful analysis.  I found that to be the case during my tenure on the staff at JTA and that shift in style was a major part of my reasoning for leaving that website.  But that's besides the point.

The EU pullback is actually very logical from a marketing standpoint.  Look at what's happening:
-Dark Horse's comic license is coming to an end.  That's been a major source of EU material over the past decade plus.
-Marvel taking over the comic license and re-launching the direction of Star Wars comics.
-The announcement of the creation of the Lucasfilm Star Wars story group which will be determining what is canon and what is not.  And notably this will have an impact on the post-ROTJ EU, which will likely have a tremendous impact on the story direction of Episode VII and beyond.
-Focusing Star Wars on the REBELS television series launch for fall 2014.

Getting the Star Wars toy line working along with the other arms of Disney/Lucasfilm to this common goal is something of a no-brainer in the modern world of brand management.  It does have the side effect of impacting some fans of a particular niche in Star Wars.  This is an unfortunate casualty of the new world view for Star Wars.  But it' seems clear that Lucasfilm Licensing is looking at the big picture and trying to steer things towards a greater goal.  That means working towards a successful launch for the REBELS animated series and a ramp up towards the release of Episode VII.  This move away from established EU figures et al really seems to have been inevitable given the overall change in direction for Star Wars.