The rumors that Collider published might be premature according to this ABC News piece. And given ABC’s access to Disney and Lucasfilm it’s undoubtedly been more thoroughly vetted.  The ABC piece states that the previously announced series of movies to be helmed by Rian Johnson as well as GoT showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are still a go.  And there are also additional movies in development that have yet to be formally announced.

MSW did some additional reporting that might have uncovered some details that led to the initial Collider report.  Notably, regarding Lucasfilm having stages on hold at Pinewood Studios in England, and that Lucasfilm released some of their reservations on that studio time & space at Pinewood.  But MSW also goes on to say that the project that may be on hold was loosely titled "Mos Eisley Spaceport", and that the long rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett projects are still in some stage of development.

I think there's the distinct possibility that Disney wants to get a sense of what's going on at Lucasfilm.  Granted, the movies that have been released during the Disney era have grossed some $4.78 billion.  Those grosses are close to paying back what Disney paid George Lucas for the franchise.  But I think that Disney is very conscious of maintaining the integrity of the Star Wars brand.  One movie not doing as well as the previous three at the box office is one thing.  But when Disney starts looking at the bigger picture?  They might start to question things.  For Disney to let Lucasfilm move forward and have a second movie that underperform?  That could be far more damaging to the Star Wars franchise, and I think they simply don't want to let that happen.

Granted, there are some significant factors to consider.  The whole release calendar has been a major point of concern for me.  Everyone here knew the previous Lucas era model for movie releases:  one movie every three years, and a broad-based marketing campaign that would begin a few months before the movie release.  It was the original big summer movie, with May releases.  And a whole trilogy would take some 9 years to produce.  The toy lines had time to develop, and they got increasingly interesting over time because of the depth and breadth of characters, etc.

There's also the BIG elephant in the room.  You don't have that ONE GUY who is writing everything and has the grand vision for EVERYTHING.  You don't have George.  Now, Lucasfilm tried to figure that out with the Star Wars Story Group.  But they seem more like custodians and trail guides rather than an entity that will provide a unified artistic vision for the entire Star Wars universe.  So you have individual directors and screenwriters coming up with the majority of things in a new film project rather than the previous unified vision.  Should Lucasfilm employ some sort of Chief Creative Officer to guide the franchise from a story perspective?  It's a question worth asking.

There's also the state of fandom to consider.  It's scary right now.  Social media has gotten much more ugly, especially following the polarized reactions to THE LAST JEDI.  And perhaps by making Star Wars SO available, SO OFTEN?  It may not seem quite as special to the fans.  But then you also have fans who essentially ran off George (including with a documentary), bashed a young kid like Jake Lloyd, led Hayden Christensen to quit acting, and trolled Kelly Marie Tran until she deleted her social media accounts.  And some people are actually PROUD of having done this.  To say that none of this helps the franchise is a massive understatement. 

I am not going to go on a tear over Kathleen Kennedy.  She's one of the most successful producers in the history of Hollywood.  And George personally selected her to lead the company following him stepping away.  She got people like JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson involved.  And I think they managed to breathe some life into the franchise while also respecting some of the legacy.  But there have also been some hiring missteps with writers and directors.  I think that Disney probably wants some time and room for the franchise to breathe and focus on Episode 9.  As for future projects?  I think they want to be REALLY sure about the people who are writing and directing new projects.  As much as seeking out new talent is in the independent spirit from which Star Wars was born, having a relatively new director manage a movie with a budget of around $200 million may not be the right fit.

Great photos, Jayson!  I wasn't sure what to expect from Hasbro with this particular vehicle, but it looks like Hasbro delivered.  Especially on the leg articulation!

I've been checking out this docu-series on Showtime called The 4th Estate.  It's about the New York Times and their coverage of the first year of the Trump administration.  And it's a remarkable look at how top tier newspapers are functioning in the country today.

Quote from: Darby on June  7, 2018, 06:37 PM

I like the idea of Rey's parents being no one, at least thematically (I'd still have made them Han/Leia myself) but I agree, Kylo is almost certainly lying. He's deliberately manipulating her worst fear, and tearing down her defenses, simply to capitalize on their very tenuous relationship. I don't know what the out would be for Rey, in terms of parentage; Luke is off the table. At least I think that would be too much last minute revisionism (I suppose I bought Luke/Leia being siblings just fine...). Han and Leia make the most sense, but while Kylo may be lying, we would have to again do enormous heavy lifting now to retcon this. Bringing it back to the Solo movie - Qi'ra - maybe, but this will be a Darth Maul level HUH? for the general audience in IX. So not sure.

I also get the concept of Rey's parents not being connected to the whole Skywalker lineage.  The running theme from Lucasfilm has been about making the universe BIGGER, rather than trying to draw things together neatly.  But I keep going back to those scenes between Rey and Han in TFA, and the exchange between Maz and Han in her castle.  It seemed like such a clear case of foreshadowing.  But the one question mark in that theory is when Maz said to Rey "Whoever it is you were waiting for, they're not coming back".

I just realized one significant additional detail:  TFA and SOLO shared a screenwriter - Lawrence Kasdan. 

I like it!  Granted, you couldn't see these walkers too well in SOLO given the frenetic pace of the action in the scenes on Mimban.  And you were just barely able to see how the AT Haulers were air-dropping these onto the battlefield.

But from a design standpoint this walker seems like an interim step between the Republic AV-7 Mobile Cannon and the OT AT-ST.  That kind of connective tissue between eras is cool to see.

I'm also happy to see this being offered in the Class B vehicle line, rather than the more expensive Class C line.  I'm not crazy about this vehicle assortment selling for $29.99.  It seemed like vehicles in this range sold for $20 for a long time!  But it's definitely better than it selling for $39.99.

Quote from: Jesse James on June 14, 2018, 11:30 PM

Probots I bought scads of for $5 and plan to do some varying decos with most of them.  They were used on the battlefield in EU so I'm sorta figuring they maybe came in various camo flavors if that's the case.

I have a couple extras from the TLJ blowout too and I'm tempted to try to turn one into a Solo Viper Droid from the Conveyex heist...

I would personally hold off on the customizing.  Simply because the SOLO version of the Viper droid screams "Shut up and take my money!"  They were one of the coolest droid designs we've seen since K-2SO in Rogue One.

Her character listing on IMDB gives it away to a degree, too.