Say what?  Vintage Yakface is on the way!

Check out this news:

Disney to Buy 21st Century Fox Assets for $52.4 Billion in Historic Hollywood Merger.

So what does this mean?  Well, 21st Century Fox owns the rights to some significant Marvel properties like the X-Men and that extended universe, as well as the Fantastic Four.  With Disney acquiring 21st Century Fox, they're now positioned to incorporate the X-Men and FF into the Disney/Marvel studios developed Marvel Cinematic Universe.  And I would definitely like to see how Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige will work towards incorporating those characters into the MCU at long last!

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy sat down for an interview on THE STAR WARS SHOW to discuss current projects and the future of the franchise. 

When asked about Star Wars Rebels Kennedy hinted that "people are moving on to new things", which may line up with rumors that series EP Dave Filoni has been working on developing a new animated Star Wars tv series.

Kennedy also revealed that Lucasfilm "is looking at the next 10 years of Star Wars stories" and where the sequel trilogy characters like Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 might be beyond the events of Episode IX.  The interview covered a number of different story telling platforms, from virtual reality, to Star Wars in Disney theme parks and video games, and how the Star Wars story group is working to present it all in a cohesive fashion.

Very cool report from Yakface about a TLJ playset.

The very first lightsaber duel that we saw in film in 1977 was between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi.  At the time it was something we had simply never seen before, and it stunned audiences.  As the Star Wars saga has progressed, so too have the lightsaber duels.  Each has had a dynamic of it's own.  In TESB we saw a Jedi trainee taking on Darth Vader.  Vader toyed with Luke, and the duel built emotionally as Luke came to grasp how out of his depth he truly was.  In ROTJ we saw more of a duel of equals.  Luke is more mature and has different intentions, and is trying to appeal to the good that's still within Vader.  Neither is an exceptionally gifted duelist, but the emotional stakes seem to have been raised.

In TPM we finally saw the Jedi in their prime against a Sith with amazing physical capabilities.  That continued on into AOTC with a duel between masters of The Force.  And that continued through ROTS as we saw the duel that was the climax of the fall of the Jedi, and the rise of Darth Vader.

So why was the lightsaber duel of ANH the way it was?  There are plenty of practical reasons why.  And now this Uproxx article discusses some possible story driven reasons (based on material released AFTER Episode IV, mind you) why the A NEW HOPE duel may have transpired as it did.

Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:  The essential, comprehensive guide to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story™.
This exciting reference format accompanies the eagerly anticipated, first-ever standalone Star Wars™ movie: Rogue One. This beautifully detailed title features in-depth character profiles, plus 5 newly commissioned and fully annotated cross-sections of vehicles and mapped-out locations. With clear and authoritative text, this book is packed with essential information—and presented alongside stunning stills from the movie.











My copy was waiting for me at home last night.  I pre-ordered it from Amazon, and they delivered on the release date, true to their word!

This book is interesting because it's a little bit of a departure from previous DK reference books.  They seem to have folded multiple reference books into one single volume.  Whereas we used to get a Visual Dictionary plus an Incredible Cross-Sections book, and perhaps a locations book, this is a single book that appears to cover most of those bases.

I think this book provided some excellent background material on the organization of the Rebel Alliance.  That in itself made this a great read.

KOTAKU FILES THIS POST about a number of upcoming Hasbro Star Wars exclusives, including this one at Walgreens stores:

THE BLACK SERIES 6" FIGURES - C-3PO (A NEW HOPE)