Star Wars Bits: The Final Ruling On Harrison Ford's On-Set Injury, New 'Aftermath' Details, And Some Jaw-Dropping Cosplay
In this edition of Star Wars Bits:
Let's get the serious news out of the way first: a U.K. court has ruled that the accident that injured Harrison Ford on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was an act of negligence and that the actor faced "risk of death." The Disney-owned company Foodles Production, who built the hydraulic door that injured Ford, has officially pled guilty to violating health and safety regulations. It was concluded that if an emergency safety switch had not been activated, Ford's injures could have been far worse.
Star Wars: Aftermath – Life Debt just hit shelves, but Lucasfilm has already begun teasing the third and final book in Chuck Wendig's series about the immediate aftermath of the Empire's defeat after the Battle of Endor. The back cover of Star Wars: Aftermath – Empire's End was revealed at the Star Wars Publishing panel at Comic-Con 2016, along with a slew of new details. Most notably: it's no coincidence that the destroyed AT-AT Walker seen above looks like the one Rey calls home in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Battle of Jakku will feature heavily in the novel, helping lay the groundwork for future events in the Star Wars canon. Books centered around Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron and the Rebel fighters of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story were also announced at the panel.
Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter celebrated Comic-Con 2016 with this very brief and very silly fake commercial, where they try to sell attendees on their "Dead Tauntaun B&B," which is...exactly what it sounds like. The main joke is obvious (who hasn't seen The Empire Strikes Back?), but it's the little details that make it sing, like the reference to Dengar's headgear.
When George Lucas made the original 1977 Star Wars, he studied old stock footage from World War II for inspiration on how to film the various space battles. Now, things have come full circle. Impale Design has a collection of very cool prints that take actual historical photos and blend Star Wars elements into them, resulting in imagery that is often surreal and entrancing. You can check out a full gallery (and buy some for yourself) at the link above.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens has unveiled its latest DLC pack, which introduce prequel characters into the game's giant sandbox. So if you want to play through the story of The Force Awakens as Darth Maul, Anakin Skywalker, Padme Amidala, Jango Fett, and more, this is your chance. Go shatter the Star Wars timeline!
The cosplay bar has officially been raised: this gentlemen spent one year and $2,000 so he could cosplay as a Rancor at Comic-Con. That deserves to be repeated: Cosplay. As. A. Rancor. The video above speaks for itself.
Toy Ark has posted a gallery of image from the Gentle Giant booth at Comic-Con 2016, where an assortment of Star Wars busts and figures were on display. As Jedi News points out, this gallery offers our first look at the new Maz Kanata mini bust, a must-own for anyone who wants a wizened old barkeep to sit on their shelf and not explain where a lightsaber came from. To see much, much more, follow the links above.
Speaking of toy reveals at Comic-Con 2016, Hasbro unveiled the latest line-up of "Black Series" 6-inch figures and it's an incredibly varied bunch. As you can see in the gallery above, you will soon be able to take home detailed plastic replicas of Lando Calrissian, Qui-Gon Jinn, Hera from Star Wars Rebels, Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Tusken Raider, and an Imperial Guard. Fans of the Star Wars Legends (a.k.a. the old canon) will be pleased to note the Jaina Solo won the Hasbro fan poll and will soon get her own Black Series figure, despite no longer existing in the current canon.
Walking Hasbro AT-ACT #starwars #SDCC
A video posted by The Star Wars Underworld (@theswu) on
While Black Series figures are cool and all, the biggest Star Wars toy reveal from Comic-Con 2016 has got to be this new AT-ACT Walker toy. Although it looks a lot like a standard AT-AT Walker, the AT-ACT is a larger version built to haul heavy materials and it will make its debut in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Anyway, this toy version can carry other figures and it can actually move on its own, allowing you to control its motions via a smartphone app.
If you have some cash to burn and have been thinking about diving into the world of Star Wars comics, this is your chance. Marvel has announced a new box set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series next year, collecting every comic book adaptation of the seven movies as well as various other series and miniseries. The set arrives on April 19, 2017 and it will set you back $500, but that is a lot of book for that buck. Here's the official description:
Celebrate Star Wars with a box set that you'll need to be Force strong to lift! Enjoy adaptations of every film in the series so far, plus a special prelude to Episode VII-The Force Awakens. Follow Luke Skywalker and the Rebels into all new adventures with the first collection of Marvel's best-selling new Star Wars series, and turn to the Dark Side with Darth Vader's own debut volume! Then savor a stunning gallery of Star Wars covers by Marvel's greatest artists. It's the ultimate celebration of cinema's greatest sci-fi epic in comic book form!
Here's the complete list of what this enormous box set includes:
STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE
hardcover (120 pages)
collecting Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace # 1 – 4
STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES
hardcover (152 pages)
collecting Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones # 1 – 4
STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH
hardcover (104 pages)
collecting Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith # 1 – 4
STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE
hardcover (128 pages)
collecting Star Wars (1977) # 1 – 6 (Remastered)
STAR WARS: EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
hardcover (144 pages)
collecting Star Wars (1980) # 39 – 44 (Remastered)
STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI
hardcover (112 pages)
collecting Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) # 1 – 4 (Remastered)
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS
hardcover (144 pages)
collecting Star Wars: The Force Awakens Adaptation # 1 – 6
STAR WARS: SHATTERED EMPIRE
hardcover (144 pages)
collecting Star Wars: Shattered Empire # 1 – 4 & Star Wars Special: C-3PO
STAR WARS VOL. 1
hardcover (296 pages)
collecting Star Wars # 1 – 12
STAR WARS: DARTH VADER VOL. 1
hardcover (296 pages)
collecting Star Wars: Darth Vader # 1 – 12
STAR WARS: HEROES FOR A NEW HOPE
hardcover (344 pages)
collecting Star Wars: Princess Leia # 1 – 5, Star Wars: Lando # 1 – 5 & Star Wars: Chewbacca # 1 – 5
STAR WARS: THE MARVEL COVERS VOL. 1
hardcover (224 pages)
collecting your favorite Star Wars covers and variants!
Speaking of Star Wars comics, last week's Star Wars #21 introduced the Special Commando Advanced Recon Stormtrooper group (otherwise known as SCAR) and these guys are as efficient and deadly as your typical Stormtrooper is not. io9 has published a full read on what these guys bring to the Star Wars universe and they seem like really bad news for the Rebels. After years of being cannon fodder, it's starting to look like the Empire's foot soldiers are going to get scary again.