Back in 2003, my friend Nathan Butler penned quite a few guest reviews for this site including a complete, episode by episode review of The Clone Wars mirco-series by Genndy Tartakovsky that aired on Cartoon Network. Lucasfilm had ventured into animation before with the likes of Ewoks and Droids, not to mention the Star Wars Holiday Special, but this series of shorts was different. Nathan’s reviews were posted as individual articles dated November 2003 to March 2005, but I’m going to compile them all here into one big retro-review. Here’s Nathan…
Tag: series
Star Wars Rebels – What would you like to see?
Star Wars is coming back to the small screen!
“Star Wars Rebels” is going to be asked to carry the torch until new movies come in 2015. “Star Wars The Clone Wars” ended it’s 5 year run with what many, including myself, consider to be its best season. Now, while we wait for more Star Wars, I think it’s a good time to look at this new show and speculate a little on what could be a major part of the saga.
You should already know that the show debuts this fall and that it will begin as a one-hour special on the Disney Channel, followed by a series on Disney XD. It takes place between Episodes III and IV, about 14 years after the events of the prequel trilogy in a time when the rebellion is forming and the jedi have all but been stomped out of existence. Read More
New Hasbro 6″ Black Series about to Hit… Are You Excited?
Star Wars action figures are 3 ¾ inches tall.
This has been the standard for 30+ years. Sure, there have been action figures produced in many different sizes over the years, but Star Wars set the 3 ¾ inch, or 1:18 scale, standard way back in 1977 when an American toy company named Kenner Products started producing action figures for what became the biggest merchandising franchise in history.
The term “action figure” was coined in 1964 by the Hasbro corporation with it’s 12 inch, or 1:6 scale, G.I. Joe line that was targeted at boys and sprang from how popular dolls like Barbie were for girls. G.I. Joe eventually ended up becoming much more popular after a move to the 3 ¾ inch scale. Many other companies and other movie, comic, cartoon, and video game properties have followed in this model, producing action figures in this scale.
Hasbro is about to place their newest line of Star Wars figures on the market. The new “Black Series” is the first realistic line that Star Wars has had in the 6 inch, or 1:10 scale. The 6 inch action figure has had some recent popularity with Marvel Legends, begun by the Toy Biz company, and continued by Hasbro, based on the Marvel Comics catalog of superheroes. Hasbro proceeded to follow this with a line of figures based on those same Marvel characters in… you guessed it… the 3 ¾ inch scale.
This news has been out there on the Internet for awhile now, so I’m sure I haven’t shocked anyone. The question is… are you excited, surprised, bummed, or indifferent to this news? The smaller figures are not going away. In fact, there will be two lines, similar to the way Marvel is represented, with characters in each of the 1:10 and 1:18 scales. There will also be Star Wars figures produced with the classic 5 points of articulation in the 1:18 scale aimed at kids for a lower price. Did I mention the larger figures will be selling for $20 each?
I believe that this puts people in one of 5 different categories:
- Old-school collectors that have everything in the small scale and don’t want the change to 6 inch figures.
- Collectors that collect everything they can and are excited about something new.
- New collectors that can’t wait to get a chance to collect the whole line… which is virtually impossible with all that has been produced in the smaller scale.
- Kids that will see the variety of figures, want the more expensive figures, and either have the money to get them or have to settle for the cheaper ones.
- And those who have stopped collecting anything except their particular niche due to either collector fatigue, the fact that you really can’t collect everything anymore, or the cost of plastic driving prices up.
I’ve heard a very vocal group placing themselves in the first or last category, stating they won’t be buying the new larger figures. It is difficult to predict if the higher cost will stop new collectors from entering the arena, but it appears that Hasbro is appealing to those new collectors and to kids in order to keep this incredible run of toys alive.
Hasbro vice president of boys marketing, Darryl DePriest said, “Our focus here is the adult collector, the dad. We know they have their own generation of youngsters they like to share the adventure with. It can be something for dad, and the 3¾ world can be something for the kids to share.”
I won’t say where I am on the issue, but I can say that the image at the top of this article has me pretty intrigued to see these in person. Pictures will be flowing in from San Diego Comic Con and it won’t be long before these are on the shelves. Will this marketing and new scale of figures be successful? Time will tell.
Tell me where you are in this debate. Will you be buying these new 6 inch figures?
~kknight – is a lifelong Star Wars fanatic that is incredibly excited to be working with T-bone. I’m a toy fanatic and have a pretty impressive collection of Star Wars “stuff”. Maybe one day I’ll be able to share it with everyone, but for now it is packed away. Will I add 6″ figures to my collection? … probably a few.
New Animated Series Announced: Star Wars Rebels
When George Lucas decided to retire and sell Lucasfilm, everyone expected a few changes. New President, Kathleen Kennedy, faced many challenges and had to make some hard decisions. Under the oppressively huge shadow of the multimedia juggernaut known as Disney, it appeared that some of those decisions might have instead fallen into the demand rather than decision category.
Being that Disney already had well-established multimedia divisions in place, the decision to dismantle certain entities such as LucasArts seemed to be aimed at avoiding competition with oneself. Disney’s interactive arm already develops games and software, among other things. Why have another internal company creating games? I know they’ve hired EA, but I’m sure they’ll develop some stuff internally. Something similar could be said for Lucasfilm’s animation division. The successful Clone Wars animated series was abruptly canceled which upset many fans and left some story arcs incomplete. Almost a whole season sits in limbo, waiting to find its way to fans. Will Disney buy and air the final episodes? Probably not. Will they go straight to DVD? Possibly. We’ll see. I never really watched the show but what I did see was pretty good.
The show aired on Cartoon Network, a direct competitor to Disney’s television stations, including Disney XD which is the home to many of Disney’s shows including Spider-Man and Avengers cartoons as well as other animated and live action programs.
So why cancel the show in the first place? No one really knows for sure but it probably revolved around money somehow. Perhaps Disney didn’t want to buy the show out or just didn’t want anything to do with something touched by the Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network.
In any case, we’re getting something else now: Star Wars Rebels.
Many a fan, including myself have wondered when Lucasfilm would venture into this nearly untouched period of time before Episode IV concerning the “Jedi Purge,” in fanboy speak. I didn’t think we’d get it in animated form but just because one medium is involved, doesn’t mean others won’t follow. Once new characters and scenarios are established, endless books, comics, and perhaps even films will be sure to follow.
Here’s an excerpt from the Starwars.com press release:
Production has begun on Star Wars Rebels, an exciting, all-new animated television series based on one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time. Scheduled to premiere in fall 2014 as a one-hour special telecast on Disney Channel, it will be followed by a series on Disney XD channels around the world.
The action-filled series is set between the events of Episode III and IV — an era spanning almost two decades never-before explored on-screen. Star Wars Rebels takes place in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape. Details about the show are a closely guarded secret at this point.
Source: Starwars.com