In a swirling vortex of spoilers, the Rebels Season 3 trailer was released. Look, just watch it and join me below the fold for untold amounts of glee.
Tag: Star Wars Rebels
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USA Today Posts Rebels’ Season Finale Teaser
USA Today is doing something right since they seem to get a lot of scoops and today is no different with them getting a teaser for the Rebels Season 2 finale. I really should watch the show because that trailer even had me thinking it looked pretty good. I have every episode taking up space on my DVR and now that the season finale is upon us, I guess it’s as good of a time as any to binge out on Rebels. Ahsoka’s all grow’d up!
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Rebels Season 2 kicks off tonight (kind of) with The Siege of Lothal
Sometimes, when you mess with the bull, you get the horns. It’s advice our plucky little Rebels should probably have taken to heart in order to avoid bringing some Sith Lord down on their head. At the end of last season, we saw half of our bad guys end up dead, our good guys introduced to the Rebel Alliance proper, and a couple of big bombshells dropped in the for of AhsokaTano being fulcrum, the secret source for Hera and the Lothal cell…
… and the replacement for The Inquisitor, who felt that death was the better of the two options when compared with something, everyone’s favorite Sith Lord, Darth Vader. There is a whole lot going right as Season 2 kicks off tonight at 9 PM EST on Disney XD, not the least of which is that Darth Vader in the cartoon will be voiced by James Earl Jones. He’s been featured in a couple of the early teasers, featured below.
Unfortunately, this is mostly like an appetizer that’s not going to last until the main course of more episodes is served up in the fall. If you haven’t watched the cartoon, you should, it’s pretty good. Disney is obviously playing the long game leading up to Episode VII this fall. I’m especially curious if they’re going to work in some of the stuff we’ve seen in the comics (which are treated equally with shows and movies in the new canon)… cause that can have some interesting implications with Vader.
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Review: 75082 TIE Advanced Prototype
After a pretty weak start, the Rebels sets may have picked up a bit with Ezra’s Speeder Bike and the AT-DP. They’re not really spectacular, but they’re not awful either, and both added characters like Kallus and the far-future, soccer mom version of Sabine from that time-travel episode where she married Tim Allen and they tried to skip Christmas and go on a cruise.
Of course, I just reviewed 75095 UCS TIE Fighter, so you’d think I’d be a little TIE-d out… course, I’m not sure that even exists. I love some TIE fighters, so reviewing 75082 TIE Advanced Prototype wasn’t that hard of a choice. The TIE Advanced Prototype is an interesting ship, since it’s far more OT designed than the PT-to-OT that a lot of Rebels stuff is. In the new canon, this is the precursor to what Darth Vader gets stuck in for a few weeks while he’s looking for a cell signal to call the Emperor and tell him the Death Star was destroyed by some farm kid that had never flown a spaceship and is now responsible for the sudden death of 342,953 people (pretty sure that the Jedi felt that one too).
The ship appeared in the show, briefly, towards the last episodes, but it wasn’t notable enough to really remember as it’s own ship. I don’t think that it was featured in the episode with the TIE factory (I’ll admit that I’m not certain about that, and that I’m too lazy to go look). The first problem with this set is the same as most of the other Star Wars sets… when you look at the final build, you don’t really see a 355 piece $39.99 set. It feels like many other sets we’ve gotten in that $30-35 range. Even on display in the stores, it doesn’t really feel like you’d be getting your money’s worth buying it at full price. Sometimes, looks can be deceiving, so maybe that’s the case here.
Oh, and there may be a few Rebels spoilers, so if you don’t want to be spoilered, skip the minifig stuff.
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Review: 75083 AT-DP
In all of the years I’ve been writing for FBTB, a few things about me have been well established. My humor is sarcastic, occasionally witty, and often outdated. I probably use more words in my posts over the course of a year than the rest of the staff combined; I’m not afraid to express my opinions even when I know they’re going to be controversial; I wish that I owned a pair of Unikitty pajamas; and I often put completely random things into my lists. And when it comes to reviews, the two things I always sign up for are Jedi Starfighters and Walkers.
I love my walkers. Reviewing 75083 AT-DP was a given, the first really “transitional” set from Star Wars Rebels based on concept art from the original trilogy. Interestingly, this isn’t based on concept art by McQuarrie, it was done by Joe Johnston. If that name sounds slightly familiar, it’s because he was the director of Captain America: the First Avenger. Apparently, he was also responsible for Boba Fett’s general look in Empire and was a concept artist at Lucasfilm for the original trilogy. I’m sure I should probably know that, so let’s just add it to the long list of things I should know but didn’t (please see Ken if you’d like a copy of the list).
Since my last review of a Rebel’s set, I’ve finally gotten around to watching all of the episodes (if I could go change my review on that Ezra’s bike set, it’d be to be even more harsh about LEGO’s representation of Sabine). The AT-DP walker is one of four Imperial ships/vehicles that figure prominently in the cartoon (the others being the Troop Transport, TIE Fighters, and the Inquisitor’s Advanced TIE). At $50, this isn’t a cheap set, but who knows, maybe it’s hiding some secrets in there that justify the price.
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Review: 75078 Imperial Troop Transport
My admiration for Battle Packs is pretty well documented, given that I’ve reviewed them for the past few years. I missed a couple in there (that or they are really hiding from me on the search page), but I own all of the battle packs back to the original Clones and Droids, typically multiples of each, even the ones I don’t like.
When the leaks showed up with just names, Imperial Troop Transport was a bit scary. They’ve tried to attack this particular angle before, and the results have been mixed at best. The Imperial Dropship battle pack was one of the best (and for me, most expensive) releases, but the Imperial Landing Craft is one of the worst sets that LEGO has made in the Star Wars line. Once pictures showed up, however, it became clear that we were dealing with a new battle pack that focused on Storm Troopers. At last, my dream of building the Emperor’s Arrival on the Death Star II was alive and well (that is doing it without spending a bajillion dollars)… even if said scene is some of the most mind-bending use of a matte painting ever.
We haven’t had a Storm Trooper-themed Battle Pack since 2008, and the last time we got a Stormtrooper in a battle pack was the Endor Trooper Battle pack. Storm Troopers show up as the extra figure in a lot of sets, but typically aren’t cost effecti1ve to purchase in bulk. This particular set does have a downside, in that it’s the new “Rebels” version of the stormies, which means a lot more details and different designs. Yet at $13 and carrying four basic troopers, it’s going to be hard to say no to this guy…
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Star Wars Rebels Premiere To Air On ABC With Special Cameo
If you missed the movie premiere of the Star Wars Rebels series titled Spark of Rebellion, you’ll have another chance on Sunday, October 26 (7:00 p.m. ET/PT) on ABC. This time you can watch it with 100% more James Earl Jones and that’s something a lot of shows could use. Dave Filoni told Star Wars.com, “We wanted to do something special for the ABC broadcast. We’ve added a scene which gives audiences insight into the Inquisitor and includes a cameo by Darth Vader voiced by the distinguished actor James Earl Jones.â€
I’m always up for more Vader and maybe that’s what Space Aladdin needs to kick it up a notch. It certainly has a lot of room to grow and more potential then anything they’ve done on television before. Vader popping in to force choke someone from time to time is a good start on tying this into the larger story. They certainly aren’t wasting time bringing in the high profile guest stars, are they?
Ta Da!
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Rebel’s Kanan gets his Hair Dyed
Eagle-eyed Flickr user Mike Ryffranck posted this a couple of days back, highlighting that apparently LEGO made the hair for generic hero guy #3 in Star Wars Rebels (or, Kanan) black instead of brown. The change goes beyond the hair, as well, as the goatee and eyebrows have also changed color on the face.
I guess they’ve either noticed the oversight, or more likely a few people complained about it and they’re working to fix it. Your mileage may vary, but if you’re concerned about the hair, you can try to contact them, but per Mike, they are currently backordered. I’d expect them to be fixed in the next production run of The Ghost (if it hasn’t been done already, since the replacement parts are out there and can be purchased on eBay).
To be honest, I don’t care about the color (and hadn’t noticed), but I’m not one to turn down getting the right parts from LEGO. Guess it’s time to go fill out some customer service forms…
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Fan Expo Canada Offering Exclusive Ghost Set
Huw over at Brickset let it drop that Fan Expo Canada, what I can only assume is like SDCC only smelling more like maple syrup and ham (I promise that’s the only Canada joke for at least the duration of this sentence), is offering an exclusive LEGO set this year, a microfighter / chibi version of The Ghost.
Yeah, my first impression is the same as what I had for the SDCC version: isn’t this Hera’s ship? Why isn’t she included in the thing? Also, that I’m less than impressed. No details yet on numbers or pricing, but as we find out, we’ll let you know. As a bonus, though, for the many of us that don’t live anywhere near this, or aren’t allowed in Canada for reasons that are best left unsaid… they are offering a Twitter giveaway contest to win one of them!
One note… read the rules. You have to follow them AND retweet the message.
Full details from the blurb from the Expo:
“For LEGO, the event is about the fans – it’s an opportunity to engage with builders of all ages and offer a fun interactive experience that is unlike any other in Canada. Because YOU are some of the most loyal fans of LEGO, we are offering an advance sneak peak of the FIRST EVER LEGO FAN EXPO Canada Exclusive. This limited edition LEGO STAR WARS Rebels set features The Ghost Starship with Kanan Jarrus Minifigure from the upcoming STAR WARS Rebels TV series.
“The set is ONLY available at the LEGO Booth #748 between Thursday, August 28 to Sunday, August 31, 2014, while quantities last. Tickets will be distributed at the booth on a first come, first serve basis when the show floor opens to the public. Quantities will be limited per day and only one LEGO FAN EXPO Canada Exclusive per customer per day. A valid ticket will be required for purchase.
“For a chance to win one before the show, please check out the contest page for more details!”
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Star Wars Rebels 7 Minute Preview On Disney XD Tonight
You can catch an exclusive sneak peek at the first seven-minutes of the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels tonight on Disney XD, immediately following the Disney XD premiere of Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars (7:30pm-8:30pm ET/PT). However, if you don’t have any interest in watching P&F on a Star Wars themed adventure (and I really can’t see why you wouldn’t), you can watch the preview on Youtube at this link. It will be live shortly after 9pm ET tonight, at which point we’ll most likely update this post.
I seems this may only be on the US DXD channel though, as I’ve checked my listings in Canada and the Phineas & Ferb special doesn’t appear to be on tonight here.
Update: This block of Star Warsian fun will be on the Canadian DXD August 17th, starting at 5:30 ET with a brand new chapter of the New Yoda Chronicles.
