What does UAR stand for? Even the guide linked by oojason never actually tells me what it means… I mean, I get what it IS, but not what the “U” stands for…?
Has anyone read the X-Wing novel series by Stackpole? I had the first one (Rogue Squadron) in middle school and remember loving it. With Rogue One sparking my nostalgia for quality 90’s EU I’ve been seriously thinking about snagging the whole series. I’d have already re-read the first novel if it weren’t for the fact that I loaned it to a friend back then and he lost it 😦
Omg, oojason, those three landscape OT posters are magnificent! I especially like the trench run. Like… I want to buy those and frame them!
Saw the preview up on the big screen before Black Panther and they also had the poster on the wall outside my auditorium so I got nice detailed looks at each…
I am TOTALLY onboard with this movie. Can’t wait!
Is there somewhere I can read what “Gary Kurtz’s version of ROTJ” is supposed to be like? I’ve heard people mention it before, and how amazing it’s supposed to be. But I’ve never actually seen or read anything that really details what’s different about it.
Are you saying everyone misjudged the Falcon and got angry based on a few images in a trailer??? No…
Hey now! I posted an article with pictures and descriptions of those exact play features and even admitted my dislike may have been for naught. Don’t go casting stones at repentant souls!
Nah, the barge is supposed to be about 4 feet long. The USS Flagg was 7.5 feet long!
https://nerdist.com/star-wars-jabba-sail-barge-toy-hasbro/
Somebody was asleep at the wheel claiming the Imperial Shuttle was impractical to make into a toy back in the 80’s, as Kenner did make one. 😛
As were the skiffs… Looks like the nerdist needs a more educated Star Wars toy expert…
I’ve been watching this since it was announced at toy fair. Will be interesting to see if it gets enough backers. I certainly won’t be one. It’s too expensive, WAY too big, and I’ve not been collecting much 3 3/4 inch figures in the last few years (though some of the reveals at toy fair may pull me back in…)
But still, it is really cool and I kinda hope it gets made just to see peoples’ pictures of it.
I loved X-Wing Alliance the most of that flight sim series (though they were all great). And that was an example of controls done right. You had full three dimensional authority, but they also tweaked it slightly so it didn’t just feel like airplane controls. What would normal be the yaw (rudder) input actually controlled roll. And what would normally have been roll was mostly yaw, but with a subtle coordinated rolling action incorporated. It was genius because it felt otherworldly and “spaceship-y” while still retaining all the traditional directional control inputs.
Plus you could actually move freely in three dimensions.
It’s been years since I played it, but I remember really liking the flight controls in the original PS2 Batlefront II because they were very similar to the X-wing series controls.
I’ve not played the new BF2, but I have the first PS4 Battlefront and it’s flight controls are somewhere between the X-wing style and the Rogue Squadron controls. They’re not perfect, but they lean enough towards the X-wing style that I’ve enjoyed playing it.
The Rogue Squadron games were always really cool with great environments and neat storylines. But I HATED their control scheme. Having the yaw and roll combined into one control where you effectively made flat turns and could get further away from or closer to the ground but without having true three dimensional freedom always drove me nuts. Especially in the space levels where there is no ground reference! Let me loop, roll, immelman, and split-s 'til my heart’s content dang-it!
That is too cool. I’m more and more excited for this film…
I think having NO expectations and little interest when it was first announced have played to this film’s benefit for me, as each new thing I see they’re doing with it makes it seem neater and more interesting. I feel like this film may wind up with a similar aesthetic and feel of R1 (in that it feels like the better 90’s EU come to life) which is actually getting me pretty hyped… I LOVE that aspect of Rogue One, so here’s hoping they succeed with this one too!
Hmm, if the play features of the toy is any indication, it appears as though my annoyance at the new pointy nose of the Falcon may be alleviated…
http://ew.com/movies/solo-a-star-wars-story-hasbro-toys/kessel-run-millennium-falcon
Also, that’s possibly a cool nod to an unproduced vintage Kenner idea…
Also also, I only recently picked up on how the flat-mounted radar dish is a nod to some of McQuarrie’s concept paintings…
But Luke did totally own Kylo Ren in a duel before dying…
And it was a most ingenious and satisfying victory for Luke. I don’t love everything about the movie, but I did love how this was handled.
I get that it may not have been the traditional sword fight you were looking for, but consider this. I once had a Kendo sensei teach me that you do not win a swordfight with the cut or strike. You beat your opponent in mind and spirit before you even begin the stroke. The striking of a winning blow is merely the confirmation of your victory.*
In this sense, I think Luke’s victory over kylo is actually the most poignant and intense victory he could have achieved and I found that immensely satisfying.
*it’s worth noting that I continued training regularly for many years after this lesson and found, through personal experience, it is absolutely true.
Ah, very cool. I had some sort of starter box set of that game from when it first came out. I don’t recall if I ever actually played it though. No one in my family would’ve been nerdy enough to sit down and learn an rpg style card game with me…
Eh, they looked pretty plasticy and, well, not dangerous to me. I was also not a huge fan of the shiny chrome pistols in TPM for the same reason. Too toylike, not very weaponlike.
I’m guessing you’re not much of a gun person in real life? Plastic (and composite) is the name of the game in military/police weapons. Just imagine all those green bits (that match his green uniform) were white, to match white armor…
Also…
And chrome (or a similar look) has been around a VERY long time…
I’m building a Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper. It’s a spectacular kit. I’ve still got some very small weathering to do (im going for the “polished from a distance; but hand-made, roughed up, chipped, and scuffed upon close inspection” look from ANH), but otherwise I finished the helmet tonight. Very happy with how he’s turned out.
In front of a couple full size helmets (the model helmet is maybe an inch tall. Maybe.)
With the guys he’ll accompany on the shelf once the rest of his body is done.
The crumpled face is the standard rank and file snowtrooper. The smooth face with nostrils is the snowtrooper commander. There are many other differences between the costumes too.
You know, that’s a good point with the personally owned freight trucks… I’m looking at the interior from the point of view of large transportation companies with fleets of (nearly) identical utilitarian vehicles. The Falcon is a privately owned and operated cargo vessel. Alright, fine. I’ll concede. The interior is fine and does indeed make sense.
But I still don’t like what they did to the mandibles, gosh darn it!! 😛
Never mind that the first ship interior we ever saw in Star Wars was pretty antiseptic looking. 😉
 regularly. Even brand new cargo vehicles have a very utilitarian aesthetic. That ship looks downright posh.
Again, I don’t HATE it and I’m willing to accept it. But it’s definately not how I would’ve done it and it feels a bit fake which seems slightly disingenuous when the OT (especially Star Wars itself) looked and felt so REAL.
Hey, that EW cover image actually looks pretty snazzy.
But does Chewbacca seem a little short…?
Apologies if this is somewhere in the previous pages; It looks like we’ll be seeing the Falcon before Han made a lot of special modifications himself.
The image has been out for a bit (and you can see the ship clearly in the trailer), but I don’t think we’ve discussed it much.
I don’t mind the Falcon being new and looking a bit different than what we’re used to, but I’m not crazy about the design choices we’ve seen so far. I agree that the interior looks a bit TOO antiseptic but I can live with it.
What really bugs me is the enclosed front mandibles. The Falcon is supposed to be a freighter, but the shape/design really doesn’t make any sense for loading cargo… and I always remember the front appendages being referred to as “docking mandibles” back in the 90’s. Which made sense to me. I always envisioned it doing exactly what the concept art below (from TFA I believe?) shows. THAT’s how it hauls cargo (in my mind). So closing that gap up is the one redesign that I’m really not a fan of at all. I’ll reserve final judgement until I actually see the film, but right now I really don’t like this particular design choice.
As for the film itself, I’m not yet convinced this actor will be able to pull off the character of Han for me, but I’ll give him a chance. Everything else in the trailer looks pretty awesome.
And now this… hope they’re good, but once again I feel NO anticipation. It’s weird to feel this way about new Star Wars movies…
Genuine question, do you in general get excited about new movies? I myself have felt my anticipation levels for major franchise movies (and maybe just new movies in general) drop significantly as I’ve gotten older. I just wonder if I’m the only one.
Yes I do still get excited for movies (and many other things in life). I may be in my mid thirties, but I never really grew up in spirit. That’s not to say I’m a mindless obnoxious person on the internet going “ZOMG EVERY NEW THING IS THE BESTEST THING IVE EVER SEEN!!!” I have a brain with logic and critical thinking and reasonable judgement.
I’m sure that my excitement is oftimes more muted, level headed, or cautiously optimistic as an adult than it might’ve been as a kid, but it’s still there. And there are some things that I like so much that I still get downright giddy about as they come near. Kong: Skull Island and Justice League were two recent films that I was very excited to see. Kong was perfect, I love that movie. Justice League wasn’t perfect, but I liked it a lot more than most seemed to have.
Heck, I was genuinely excited for TLJ. I thought TFA set up a very cool premise with good characters and was eager to see where it went. While I didn’t hate TLJ, I’m far from loving it and initially felt a bit disaapointed. But disappointments like that don’t squash my enthusiasm for future films that I’m excited to see.
But I don’t get excited about everything that comes my way. I feel no excitement for these new unnamed Star Wars films. Maybe as more info comes out or a trailer drops, that will change.
In the end, I’m happy I can still feel the type of genuine excitement I felt as a kid sometimes. The world is too hard and life is too short to get jaded about everything (not accusing anyone here, just thinking outloud). It’s fun to still get excited about a movie that looks cool or sounds like it’s right up my alley (whether other people like it or not, like Justice League).
It’s impossible to kill my love for the OT, R1, and some of the classic EU that was a huge part of my childhood and adolescence.
But I’m starting to feel the fatigue creeping in with al the new stuff. I liked but didn’t love TLJ. Heck, I only saw it twice and don’t have the desire to see it again in the theater (something Star Wars hasn’t done to me since AOTC, which I’ve hated from my first viewing!)
I liked that (like R1) the imagery in the new Solo trailer reminded me of some of the best 70’s-90’s EU, but otherwise I felt little actual excitement.
I’m totally indifferent about RJ’s announced trilogy.
And now this… hope they’re good, but once again I feel NO anticipation. It’s weird to feel this way about new Star Wars movies…
On the one hand, maybe it drains remote suns just like how it destroys remote planets. But in that case, why does it drain its own sun? On the other hand, maybe it does move around to new suns, but in that case why doesn’t it completely drain the first sun it orbits like it does the second (Hux’s speech is in daylight)? To me it doesn’t matter much either way.
I honestly never thought it was two different stars. I just figured the star that they drained to destroy the Hosnian system was large enough that they were able to get two charges out of it.
But Finn claims that the weapon draws power from the sun until it disappears, implying that once the draining starts, it will not stop until the star is destroyed. Poe repeats this during their attack.
Stop and think for a moment. Using up two stars does not mean it had to move. It is possible that they found the ideal system with multiple stars to use with this weapons. They probably destroyed the smallest star first and from a larger one they might get several charges out of it. There is a big difference between Sol and Sirius. A star that might give one charge could be the companion of a star that can give sixty. And I never got the impression that the first star was destroyed as Starkiller base never went dark which it would if the sun was sucked dry. Sometimes science can be the friend of wild SF storytelling.
You keep mentioning how the sky never went dark, but… I thought we only saw it charge once? It was charged at some point off screen (same system or a different one? The film doesn’t answer this question and it’s really irrelevant. It could’ve been charged before the movie even started for all we know). It expends this charge when it fires on the Hosnian system. Then it begins draining the star that it currently orbits in order to fire on the resistance.
So, of course the sky never went dark. We only actually SAW it charging once, after it had fired.
Are you suggesting that it only somewhat drains the sun, and after a bit the sun builds back its energy so that it’s not dark anymore?
What? No. I have no idea what’s going on with this discussion anymore.
My point was this:
SKB charges up off screen by sucking up some other star. This probably happened before we ever saw SKB and it had already moved to another star while holding on to its charge. It fires on the Hosnian system. It then begins draining the star it’s currently orbiting in order to fire on the resistance. We only see the sky go dark during the final battle because that is the only charging cycle we actually see on screen.
I don’t remember if there’s any dialogue or something else in the film that might contradict this scenario. But this certainly seems like the most likely sequence of events to me.
