The Birth of a Trooper - Boots

Last week, TK Boots went back into production with their incredibly awesome line of screen-accurate (and 501st Legion approved) replica Stormtrooper boots. My own pair arrived in the mail today.

The quality of these boots is superb, and they'll hopefully see many troops in the near future!

General Mills Cereal Star Wars Pens (Mace Windu)

I picked up another box of General Mills cereal this morning to take advantage of their Star Wars pen pack-in promotion. This time around I got Mace Windu.

Kasdan and Abrams Assume Screenwriting Duties for Episode VII

The official Star Wars site has today posted an interesting announcement that Lawrence Kasdan and J.J. Abrams have officially "assumed screenwriting duties for Episode VII. The language of the release makes it difficult to tell if this is an expected transfer (with Michael Arndt having fulfilled his role in producing the basic screenplay), or whether something else is going on behind the scenes.

What this'll mean for the final product is yet to be seen, but it's certainly good news to hear that Kasdan (with writing credits for both Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI - Return of the Jedi) is on board. The release also contains an official announcement of other crew that will be working on the film, including Star Wars veterans Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood.

Do you think this change is good news or bad news? Be sure to send your thoughts to me at relicsoftheforce@gmail.com, or tweet them to @Archon_Revuge!

General Mills Cereal Star Wars Pens (Chewbacca)

A couple of days ago Rebelscum.com reported on a new Star Wars pack-in to be found in selected boxes of General Mills cereal. The boxes each contain one of eight Star Wars character pens (Anakin Skywalker, Chewbacca, Clone Trooper [Phase 1], Darth Vader, Jango Fett, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda). I hit up my local Kroger supermarket this morning and managed to find a few of the boxes in-store.

While the advertising on the front of the box is minimal, the entire back side is dedicated to Star Wars-related puzzles and games.

According to the box, there are three different designs which - when placed side-by-side - form a diorama "cockpit". I was curious to see what the pens were like, so picked up one box today. Fortunately, I lucked out, and got what is possibly the coolest character in the set: Chewbacca.

It's a great little collectible - well detailed and fairly solid. It's especially good value when the box of cereal itself is currently on special for only $2.99. I've got a feeling I'll be picking up a few more of these!

Imperial Stormtrooper Shopper Tote

This morning I did my usual tour of toy stores in Houston. While there wasn't much new stock, I did happen to find this Imperial Stormtrooper Shopper Tote in the $1 bin at Target.

Come to think of it, this'd be perfect for a little trick-or-treating in my Stormtrooper armour...

NYCC Updates on Star Wars Rebels

Today's Star Wars Rebels panel at NYCC has given fans a lot of new information on the upcoming series, including our first glimpse of its main villain - the Imperial Inquisitor.

(Image courtesy of www.starwars.com)

We've heard of Imperial Inquisitors before, but mostly by allusion in the EU. This particular character appears to be a member of the Pau'an species first seen in Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Another point of interest included confirmation that the series will be set fourteen years after the events of Episode III - or approximately five years before Episode IV - A New Hope.

The official Star Wars site has the full details of the panel, including a behind-the-scenes video from Dave Filoni.

The Clone Wars - It's Not Over Yet

This evening, Dave Filoni confirmed via Twitter and Facebook that we'll be getting one final dose of The Clone Wars before the curtain finally falls.

Filoni posted the following:

Star Wars fans - I have some exciting news! We have wrapped production on all of the remaining Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes, and while that might be sad news in one way, it's good news in another. It means you will finally get to see them. When, exactly, is a detail I cannot yet share. I can confirm that in early 2014 you will be watching the final episodes of The Clone Wars, including one of Master Yoda's most challenging missions. So, get ready. We've got Clone Wars and Rebels coming at you in 2014. Animated Star Wars is alive and well. Trust in the Force my friends.

It's unclear whether this means we'll be seeing a handful of new episodes (perhaps containing the two story arcs we've previously heard rumours about?) or another feature-length episode to bookend the series. As I've mentioned before, my hope is that these episodes will bring the series to neatly tie in with the events of the Clone Wars micro-series and the opening moments of Episode III.

As always, stay tuned for further updates!

Star Wars Rebels Teaser Video

A couple of hours ago Disney XD aired a sixteen-second long teaser video for the highly anticipated Star Wars Rebels television series. You can see the preview below:

As promised, it doesn't contain any actual footage from the series - though the CGI Star Destroyer gives us our clearest idea yet of the aesthetic the series will be following.

Other than that, I'm unsure what to make of the video. I'm not a big fan of the voice-over, and the suggestion that "the Jedi will rise" is intriguing. The series is, after all, set at a time when the Jedi are meant to be all but extinct. A proliferation of Jedi during this era would certainly water down the significance of Obi-Wan and Yoda being in hiding for the better part of two decades. Did they really just languish in exile while other Jedi took the fight to the Empire?