I'm a little surprised they would try to connect this film with a pre-OT cartoon especially when the majority of casual movie goers probably won't even watch the show. If the flashback is true, I wonder who they got to play a young Leia? Or would it be a CGI Leia?

I have a feeling none of this true and that the robot hand we saw a few days ago is actually Luke's hand or simply Abram's showing us more practical effects as he's done with all the other sneak peeks. He obviously wants fans to know that he is using a lot of practical effects.