Star Wars Rebels (All Star Wars Spoilers)

[PetyrPunkinhead]

22 hours ago, Rhom said:

The Phantom and the Ghost have been discontinued in Lego as of earlier this year... The prices are not appealing online.

Dang. That sucks. I got the Ghost, Phantom, and Inquisitor Tie-Fighter this time last year for just under $150 total. I gotta figure they'll bring back the Ghost and Phantom though. I did see an A-Wing/Tie Bomber set with Sabine on shelves recently. Not sure of the cost though. I think Lego is pushing it's focus for this quarter to the Freemaker Adventure ships and sets. I still need to check that show out.

9 hours ago, Maia said:

I should probably mention that this was mostly an ex post facto rant. I have already gifted my niece with some 3.75 action figures, which she loved, so I am looking to get the missing characters in this format.  In particular I gave her:

Kanan,  Zeb in dual pack with a stormtrooper (Rebels wave), Ezra (TFA wave), Chewie (TFA, was on sale), PM Padme in a duster (ditto and because I wanted her to have _some_ female figures if I couldn't get Hera and Sabine), Black Series Jedi Master Luminara (ditto and because these figures can bend knees and elbows which makes them more fun);

and on the evil side Darth Vader with a cloth cape, the Grand Inquisitor (both Rebels wave), his TIE fighter (used), an elite black biker scout with his bike from TFA (sale), a Black Series biker scout sans vehicle (ditto).

Missing "must have" figures are Hera, Sabine (both supposedly coming this autumn) and Chopper. . .

Major uncle/aunt (?) points for managing to get your niece such a great assortment. Kudos! And 16E per 3.75" figure? Damn! I thought $10 American per figure was a rip-off. Actually, I think those 3.75" Black Series might be around $14 a piece though. Crazy.

But to solve your Hera problem, there will be a 3.75" Hera released with a scaled down A-Wing this year. Not sure of the cost, but I know they did something similar with Kannan and a Y-Wing before, so I'd imagine it'd be a similar price point.

 

[felice]

9 hours ago, Maia said:

she really wasn't that taken with Ahsoka, compared to the regular crew women.

You need to introduce her to the Clone Wars!

[Calibandar]

New Thrawn clip here, showing some nice weaponry as well.

 

 

[karaddin]

Ok so 3 weeks until the start of season mini movie thing. Excitement!

[Jen'ari]

On 13 August 2016 at 0:36 PM, Maia said:

Season 3 trailers and clips combined here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy8PmYZZ-N0

The trailer above ends at about 3.20 and some of the following footage was new to me at least and quite exciting.

I have to say that I am kinda bummed that Ahsoka wasn't the one to introduce and elucidate the "middle" path. It seems that she was  only been introduced for that final confrontation with her former master and no real thought had been given to how her approach to the Force and life is different enough from Jedi for her not counting as one, while also not leading her to the Dark Side. Oh, well. I liked her appearances while they lasted, but in retrospective they feel somewhat tacked on. They should have been bold enough to charter new territory and made _her_ Ezra's teacher to begin with, IMHO. Much as I like Kanan and all, his background roughly mirrors her trajectory at the end of the Clone Wars and it is high time we saw a female mentoring a male  in Star wars.

I also ran into a wholly (and naively?) unexpected snag re: trying to acquire action figures for the series. I  introduced my 5-year-old niece to the cartoon this winter and she loves it, so, I decided to gift her some figures, to help while away the hiatus. Given how I have been hearing that both Lucas Arts and Disney are merchandise kings since forever and vaguely noticing lots of figures in stores -  thinking that I would have been all over them as a kid,  the frustration and difficulties of trying to get the Rebels crew were a rude awakening. First of all, it looks like the era of small 3.75 figures with bending knees and elbows - the most fun to play with, particularly outside the narrow franchise limits, quietly ended while I haven't been paying attention.

Also, it seems that even for an on-going series, there aren't any packs with the whole protagonist crew available - 6 figures aren't the end of the world, surely? - or maybe 2 3-er packs to get a kid started. With the pack containing less attractive characters according to corporate thinking (girl cooties!) being rarer. Instead, it seems that one has to pay attention to something called "waves" - when certain figures and only them get (re)released. And there is basically zero information concerning when/if these waves are going to hit  continental Europe. To add to the confusion, even the retail shops don't know in advance what figures they are going to get, but receive "mystery boxes" with random assorted stuff instead. WTF?! Naturally, the female figures were only contained in the very first wave that appeared when/before the series first started airing and I had no idea about it's existence, only as 2-packs with stormtroopers and in very low numbers. To add insult to injury, Sabine had a non-removable face-concealing helmet, so a complete no-go for us.

Whereas the 2 human guys were endlessly re-released as single figures, parts of 2-er, 3-er, 6-er packs (with villains), pack-in figures for vehicles, etc. I can't imagine anybody wanting them not having them at this point and it makes vehicles less attractive, because how many slight variations of a character do you need, if you are buying to play and not as a collector? Zeb and Chopper were re-released once at least... but as a 2-pack with each other, so if you already have one from a previous release, you'll be saddled with an identical figure that you don't need. Etc. I grabbed Luminara and Padme, which were on clearance to provide some female figures, but the little girl is understandably less excited about the characters she doesn't know.  

Now, there is supposedly a new wave coming on 30th September "Force Friday" with figures we want - a proper Sabine with a face, Hera pack-in with an A-Wing (and why couldn't they have provided just a single figure of her after all this time, or maybe a dual pack with Sabine and/or Chopper?), etc. But is Force Friday even a thing in Europe? When should I start looking? Does anybody here have  experience with this? Retail personnel doesn't seem to have a clue and apparently not everything even appears on amazon.de? Because I am kinda afraid of this stuff being underproduced (again!) and suspect that I'd need to grab it ASAP or miss it. 

Also, why, oh why does the vast majority of vehicles seat just one figure, when cartoon clearly shows 2 or more characters fitting in? From what I have heard, even Phantom model only seats 2, 1 in cockpit and 1 in cargo hold, though maybe you can somehow wrangle Chopper in too. The whole fun is loading a group of characters in and going somewhere, surely? I have bought my niece the Inquisitor's TIE Fighter (which comfortably sits 2 in cartoon, but not in a model, alas), but for that very reason she mostly uses a shoe box and it's lid as her "starships". I'd have gotten her the Phantom as the best of the bad lot, but I'd only be able to obtain Hera together with the A-Wing... sigh.  .    

 

You think that's tough, try getting figures of me :(.

I feel unloved.....

[Maia]

On 14.8.2016 at 11:43 PM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Major uncle/aunt (?) points for managing to get your niece such a great assortment. Kudos! And 16E per 3.75" figure? Damn! I thought $10 American per figure was a rip-off.

Aunt. Well, all taxes are included in the price here, but still, ouch. Black series 3.75 used to cost 14 euros here a couple of years ago, judging by those discounted figures I got, back when it was available at all. Now only specialized comic-book shops seem to have the current ones (TFA) for truly exorbitant sums of money (like 30 - 40 a pop). As a matter of fact I was lucky and got all figures I listed previously but one effectively for 50 - 70% discounts. I certainly wouldn't have bought that many for full price!

But I won't have a choice with Sabine and Hera, of course, not if I want to be sure to get them. Also, it seems that Maul/Seventh Sister dual-card is expected as well, and I'll have to try to get that one too, cause female villains are even rarer and fully clothed ones to boot rarer still and are to be cherished ;). 

 

On 14.8.2016 at 11:43 PM, PetyrPunkinhead said:

But to solve your Hera problem, there will be a 3.75" Hera released with a scaled down A-Wing this year. Not sure of the cost, but I know they did something similar with Kannan and a Y-Wing before, so I'd imagine it'd be a similar price point.

 

35 euros minimum in such a case, sigh. And I really don't like her unremovable face-shield, transparent as it is:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017VV3JNA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3PHY6UEJAXICC&coliid=IRR5Z01L9H459

Well, I'll keep trawling local equivalent of Craig's list and there are a couple of large flea market dates coming, maybe I'll get lucky  and find the old figure privately/used.

 

On 15.8.2016 at 0:05 AM, felice said:

You need to introduce her to the Clone Wars!

I didn't want to do it quite yet, both to avoid confusion and because IMHO the best arcs of TCW are a bit too dark for a sheltered 5-year-old. But given that the 3rd season of Rebels apparently will only begin airing in German in late November/December, I might have to. I did give her the first season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender", but she currently only wants to re-watch Rebels and get more of the same ;).  She only gets to watch stuff about an hour a week max, so it is working out so far, but we'll see.

 

1 hour ago, Lord Sidious said:

You think that's tough, try getting figures of me :(.

I feel unloved.....

Heh. I actually could have gotten a dual pack of the Emperor and Yoda from the "Missions" wave for just 8 euros from a private vendor, but stupidly passed on the chance (also to get C3POand R2D2 ditto),  because they didn't appear in the cartoon or only appeared briefly, I didn't understand the screwed-up wave and availability mechanic and didn't yet know whether my niece would like the action figures to begin with. I feel such an idiot. So you, my man are being currently represented by a Spiderman figure. So sorry ;).

[Rhom]

3 hours ago, Lord Sidious said:

You think that's tough, try getting figures of me :(.

I feel unloved.....

I have a nice Lego set featuring the final confrontation from RotJ.    Although, I'm sure that may not be your favorite memory...

[Jen'ari]

3 hours ago, Maia said:

Aunt. Well, all taxes are included in the price here, but still, ouch. Black series 3.75 used to cost 14 euros here a couple of years ago, judging by those discounted figures I got, back when it was available at all. Now only specialized comic-book shops seem to have the current ones (TFA) for truly exorbitant sums of money (like 30 - 40 a pop). As a matter of fact I was lucky and got all figures I listed previously but one effectively for 50 - 70% discounts. I certainly wouldn't have bought that many for full price!

But I won't have a choice with Sabine and Hera, of course, not if I want to be sure to get them. Also, it seems that Maul/Seventh Sister dual-card is expected as well, and I'll have to try to get that one too, cause female villains are even rarer and fully clothed ones to boot rarer still and are to be cherished ;). 

 

 

35 euros minimum in such a case, sigh. And I really don't like her unremovable face-shield, transparent as it is:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017VV3JNA/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3PHY6UEJAXICC&coliid=IRR5Z01L9H459

Well, I'll keep trawling local equivalent of Craig's list and there are a couple of large flea market dates coming, maybe I'll get lucky  and find the old figure privately/used.

 

I didn't want to do it quite yet, both to avoid confusion and because IMHO the best arcs of TCW are a bit too dark for a sheltered 5-year-old. But given that the 3rd season of Rebels apparently will only begin airing in German in late November/December, I might have to. I did give her the first season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender", but she currently only wants to re-watch Rebels and get more of the same ;).  She only gets to watch stuff about an hour a week max, so it is working out so far, but we'll see.

 

Heh. I actually could have gotten a dual pack of the Emperor and Yoda from the "Missions" wave for just 8 euros from a private vendor, but stupidly passed on the chance (also to get C3POand R2D2 ditto),  because they didn't appear in the cartoon or only appeared briefly, I didn't understand the screwed-up wave and availability mechanic and didn't yet know whether my niece would like the action figures to begin with. I feel such an idiot. So you, my man are being currently represented by a Spiderman figure. So sorry ;).

Spiderman!?, well at least you tried, that counts  :P.

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

I have a nice Lego set featuring the final confrontation from RotJ.    Although, I'm sure that may not be your favorite memory...

No that's definately not top 10, or 100 for that matter.

[Maia]

So, to continue my adventures in Star wars action-figure hunt, I visited a flea market in my neighborhood this week-end and got  5 figures there, all  from "The Clone Wars", I guess, except for a 5 PoA Jango Fett. He can be used as a random Mandalorian/bounty hunter in Rebels-themed play, while Yoda and Hondo (who looked really grim back then, huh) appear in the Rebels too, so there is cross-over appeal. And Obi & Anakin for when I start my niece on TCW. 

Worked out to 1.5 euros a pop, which is nice, but of course, most of them are lacking weapons. Looking around, it seems like there used to be SW weapon packs for 3.75  inch figures sold separately, but not anymore, of course. They also used to sell new figures with extra weapons. Ditto. Sigh. But Lego SW weapon packs are plentiful. So, did anybody here try using Lego weapons with 3.75 figures? Might it work for blasters and such? Not for lightsabers, of course, the Lego ones are clearly too short.

Also, did anybody have any experiences with something like this:

http://www.partydeko.de/tortendeko-star-wars-lichtschwerter-12er-pack.html

as replacement lightsabers? I can't accurately judge if they would fit or not from the pictures and didn't see any iRL yet.

Also, I have noticed that while  TCW figures are more detailed and have more joints, which makes them look superior at first blush, many of them can't be made to sit properly(or at all) because of stiff plastic clothing parts below the waist, etc. So, 5 PoA are actually superior in some ways, after all.

I have also read Zahn's Thrawn trilogy during the summer, due to his impending appearance in Rebels and because lots of people claimed that it was great, and while he is an entertaining character, I don't entirely get his massive popularity. Ditto the trilogy itself. It was pretty good for franchise fiction,  but no more than that. Certainly not on par with good original SF/ space opera, despite many claims to that effect. I guess the timing of it's publication and the fact that, unusually for franchise fiction in my limited experience, it does manage to successfully juggle a large and diverse cast of characters, were the basis for it's (IMHO overblown) reputation?

[Myrddin]

Those cupcake lightsabers are too big for the figures. You'll break thumbs trying to make them fit.

I have one right here at my office compuer from an office birthday cup cake a few years ago.

[Maia]

23 hours ago, Myrddin said:

Those cupcake lightsabers are too big for the figures. You'll break thumbs trying to make them fit.

I have one right here at my office compuer from an office birthday cup cake a few years ago.

That's a pity. Why can nothing be simple? Hm... but how is the blade? If it is long enough and not too thick, maybe the hilt can be filed down to a manageable circumference? Otherwise, I am pretty sure that I have seen some stuff made of transparent plastic that could be re-purposed instead, somewhere, but I can't remember where or what it was. Maybe cocktail sticks? More hunting, I guess.

OTOH, it looks like I'll be able to score some SW blasters in 3.75 inch size , which should solve all my problems re: non-Jedi figures. This hunt is gatting pretty entertaining and addictive - but not in the ways that artificial scacity was intended by the manufacturers, heh.

Anyway, the next season of "Rebels" can't come soon enough ;).

 

[Maia]

OK, I have seen  the cupcake lightsaber. If only the blade had been half as thick as it is! Would have been perfect...

 

Anyway, quite a crop of series-related  news:

a new and rather spoilerific clip from the upcoming season premiere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kipQR6NcbEc

The first 6 episode titles, ditto:

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/09/star-wars-rebels-season-3-titles-for-episodes-1-6/

And another TCW character is going to appear in "Rebels" - moar spoilers! :

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/09/a-popular-star-wars-the-clone-wars-character-is-returning-in-star-wars-rebels/

[ab aeterno]

36 minutes ago, Maia said:

OK, I have seen  the cupcake lightsaber. If only the blade had been half as thick as it is! Would have been perfect...

 

Anyway, quite a crop of series-related  news:

a new and rather spoilerific clip from the upcoming season premiere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kipQR6NcbEc

The first 6 episode titles, ditto:

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/09/star-wars-rebels-season-3-titles-for-episodes-1-6/

And another TCW character is going to appear in "Rebels" - moar spoilers! :

http://makingstarwars.net/2016/09/a-popular-star-wars-the-clone-wars-character-is-returning-in-star-wars-rebels/

They showed the first couple of episodes at SWC, and they were brilliant. Other than the end of S2, probably the best episodes so far, IMO.

[Maia]

Yet another clip from from the season 3 premiere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mup7aH5LK_Y

And in my action figure-hunting news, I have gotten Sabine! Likeness isn't great - they reduced her "Asian"-ish features significantly, but it is a good-looking figure. After telling me that they usually receive SW figures months after the US release, a smaller local toystore chain is already selling wave 1 of Rogue One single-card figures - 10 days before the official "Rogue Friday". Sabine is short-packed (of course), so if anybody is interested in acquiring her it is better to act promptly.

No sign of Hera and her A-wing yet.

 

[PetyrPunkinhead]

15 hours ago, Maia said:

Yet another clip from from the season 3 premiere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mup7aH5LK_Y

And in my action figure-hunting news, I have gotten Sabine! Likeness isn't great - they reduced her "Asian"-ish features significantly, but it is a good-looking figure. After telling me that they usually receive SW figures months after the US release, a smaller local toystore chain is already selling wave 1 of Rogue One single-card figures - 10 days before the official "Rogue Friday". Sabine is short-packed (of course), so if anybody is interested in acquiring her it is better to act promptly.

No sign of Hera and her A-wing yet.

 

Not watching any more clips since the premiere is so close, but congrats on scoring a Sabine action fig!!!

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Aw, man. No one has posted about the S3 premire yet? *sigh* I guess I'll have to double post to gush about how good it was.

I'll start with saying how I really dig the tone of this show and how it's steadily gotten darker, but still manages to include those lighthearted moments. It is one of those animated shows that really manages to expertly walk the tight rope between adult and kid entertainment.

Outside of Sithra Bridger tearing it up, Bendu scenes were probably my favorite for this episode. I'm pretty sure Kannan leaving the Sith holocron with the Bendu will come back in a major way this season. It has to, right? 

[Corvinus85]

2 minutes ago, PetyrPunkinhead said:

Aw, man. No one has posted about the S3 premire yet? *sigh* I guess I'll have to double post to gush about how good it was.

I'll start with saying how I really dig the tone of this show and how it's steadily gotten darker, but still manages to include those lighthearted moments. It is one of those animated shows that really manages to expertly walk the tight rope between adult and kid entertainment.

Outside of Sithra Bridger tearing it up, Bendu scenes were probably my favorite for this episode. I'm pretty sure Kannan leaving the Sith holocron with the Bendu will come back in a major way this season. It has to, right? 

You just beat me to it. I watched it now on Amazon, since I don't have Disney XD. I agree with you on the quality of the episode and the developing feel of the show. But that name Sithra Bridger, no, just no. 

The holocron thing definitely has to come back, on account of some stuff that was shown in the trailer + no way that Ezra fooled around with the dark side for a bit, and now he's fine. I did find it a bit too convenient that of all the planets on which the rebels established a base, they chose one where there is a powerful Force creature. I was kinda hoping that Kanan's meeting with the Bendu would happen at the end of some quest somewhere else.

I also like that we got Thrawn involved quickly, and he has already shown his genius. Also glad that they are now establishing the connection between this group of rebels and the larger rebellion. 

[PetyrPunkinhead]

#SithraBridger

Get it trending people!

[Jaxom 1974]

What's amazing about a show on Disney XD is that there is si.ply this casual aspect of the heroes actually killing...a couple moments in and Ezra was dispatching storm troopers without so much as a by your leave...

It was a great opening.  I'm really looking forward to more.

[Maia]

A very good season opening, IMHO. Hopefully, Governer Price will become a recurring villain and that they'll finally add a "generic female Imperial" to their roster of generics. Also, they'll need to be very careful with Thrawn. They can't afford to let the rebels win over him too much, and yet the abundance of military hardware and fighters the rebels will clearly have  in RO will need to be accounted for as well, so Thrawn can't succeed too completely. A very delicate balance, there. I guess, that he'll have to be re-assigned to the Unknown Regions after this season, to explain the Rebellion's continued survival? Because if they kill him on SWR, the fan indignation is going to be massive. Though if Maul is the one who does it? Maybe?

And, yea, they are obviously preparing an escape trap-door for Ezra with the Third Way. Kanan, I am not sure of, given the growing edginess of the series.

I am also of 2 minds re: killing on-screen. I typically hate the ridiculous contortions that kid cartoon series go to to pretend that the heroes are too pure to kill, despite the  focus on fighting.

For instance, I was flabbergasted when The Last Airbender suddenly claimed that Aang had never killed anybody, after all the instances where he threw people down mountains, triggered avalanches, caused massively destructive storms, brought down air baloons and zeppelins over solid ground, etc., and also given that some of his attacks would have clearly been lethal if they had landed on the opposition.

And yet, I liked the impression from the early Rebels that armor actually _does_ provide some protection against blasters et al. and isn't just a fashion choice. It was also congruent with TCW, where armor was very protective indeed, since it was being worn by the protagonists ;).