XKCD, one of the internet's most creative and intelligent web comics, uses simple art and only a few panels - plus mouseover text - to say what it has to say, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, thanks to creator Randall Munroe. The comic has set its sights on Star Wars before, but today's is pretty clever. Or maybe you'll find it obvious, but I'd still argue the execution is note-perfect. Anyway, today's xkcd comic courtesy of, unspririsingly, ...

During the grand opening of Legoland California's Star Wars Miniland, part of the fun was tracking down all the fun little touches and animated bits. These animations and features add a lot of personality to the miniland dioramas. Some are operated by button presses, while others are on a timer. For you guys who could not make it to the event, I took videos of every animated element, though I did not capture the audio-only elements since there were a large number. The videos are presented in movie chronological order, the Miniland layout itself is a clockwise circle starting from the west, with the massive Christophsis battle diorama in the middle.

(a few video files were corrupted and thus unusable, these aren't edited for length, and the camera I shot with is a still camera with a mediocre microphone so much of the audio is not great.)

Episode I: Naboo




Episode II: Geonosis


(A second button and speaker was there for the Arena display, but that was the lone element not working.)

Star Wars - The Clone Wars: Christophsis



(There was actually more smoke from the other end of the battlefield, but the timing was unclear and the wind was making it difficult to capture on camera.)

Episode III: Kashyyyk & Mustafar



(This battle actually goes on for a lot longer, the video length on that is prohibitively large and doesn't really say anything beyond what you see there, so I didn't use it.)

Episode IV: Tatooine



(This one is nearly all audio, I shot the whole bit not knowing where the Falcon's lights come on - it's around 28 seconds in. The audio is much more audible in the park, obviously.)

Episode V: Hoth
(The Wampa cave and the Bacta ...

In the pulse-pounding, hour-long season finale, Ahsoka Tano is taken captive and stranded on a planetary game preserve, where she finds herself on the run from merciless and sadistic Trandoshan hunting parties. With the odds stacked against her and no rescue in sight, hope for survival begins to dwindle – that is, until her escape efforts receive an unexpected boost from a friendly – and furry! – fellow captive. The chase begins with “Padawan Lost” and continues into “Wookiee Hunt” – it’s a must-see, double dose of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, airing at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, April 1 on Cartoon Network.
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Hasbro Toy Shop says today is everybody's lucky day with free standard shipping on new orders placed on St. Patrick's Day until 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. The offer doesn't include HasbroToyShop exclusives, and can't be combined with other offers or coupons.

source: HasbroToyShop.com ...

After their ship is destroyed, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi must find a new means of escape from the Citadel. They lead the freed prisoners – including the Republic’s Captain Tarkin – across the planet’s perilous landscape as Plo Koon commands a Jedi armada through Separatist defenses in a daring rescue attempt. It’s the thrilling conclusion to a three-part Clone Wars storyline in “Citadel Rescue” – airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 11 on Cartoon Network.
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Having freed the prisoners, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker search for a way out of the impenetrable Citadel prison. The brutal warden has more traps, perils and pitfalls in store for them, however, and the heroes must overcome their own differences in order to escape. After surviving their own daring break-in, it’s time for a “Counterattack” – the second chapter of a thrilling three-part storyline, airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 4 on Cartoon Network.

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A galaxy far far away is getting a lot closer as more LEGO models arrive for Star Wars Miniland at LEGOLAND California. Stormtroopers, a snowtrooper and a biker scout were all on deck today at LEGOLAND California helping unload more than one thousand LEGO models for the new Star Wars Miniland opening March 31 at the family theme park in Carlsbad. Master Model Builders unloaded crates containing several models including the Crystal Building, Clone Turbo ...

Led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, an elite rescue team attempts to free a captive Jedi general from an impenetrable Separatist prison. Deep within enemy territory, The Citadel is surrounded by droids and run by a sadistic warden determined to prevent anyone from breaking out – or in. Our heroes stage an action-packed forced entry to “The Citadel,” the first chapter in an explosive three-part storyline – airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 18 on Cartoon Network.
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This just in from Hasbro's Star Wars Toy Fair presentation...

- The Vintage Collection will run through 2012.

- Big Republic Attack Ship confirmed, to be released in August. Shuttle converts to a playset, has an "interactive mode."

- There will be 35 Vintage figures in 2011.

- Vintage will include Expanded Universe, and Deleted Scenes from the upcoming Blu-Ray set.

- Fi-Ek Sirch, the Nikto Jedi, is a confirmed Vintage figure.

- Bom Vimdin, Captain Fordo, Logray, Kithaba the skiff guard.

- Nom Anor, Bastilla Shan from the EU.

- Ponda Baba will have ...

The Jedi remain stranded on Mortis, with Anakin Skywalker caught in an epic struggle between the light side and the dark side of the Force. As the Jedi prepare for a decisive confrontation, Anakin must face some shocking visions of his own future in “Ghosts of Mortis” – the climactic chapter in an epic, three-part Clone Wars storyline, airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 11 on Cartoon Network.
...

Before the Jedi can leave Mortis, Ahsoka Tano is taken captive in an attempt to entice Anakin Skywalker to join the dark side. Meanwhile, the mysterious Father tries to prevent a disastrous showdown between his children which would upset the increasingly precarious balance of the Force. Two potential destinies become clear in “Altar of Mortis,” the second chapter of a three-part Clone Wars storyline – airing at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 4 on Cartoon Network.
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The second of SSG's 2 Comic-Con interviews with Hasbro Star Wars brand manager Derryl DePriest is a sit-down question & answer session.

JediTricks: First off, you know that Toys R Us has been shelving your product and selling your product before the upcoming street date -
Derryl DePriest: Yeah, I can't comment on that.
JT: You can't comment on that, okay.
DD: Ha ha!
JT: Good to know!
DD: We do know that some products are out there early.
JT: Alright.

JT: Last month on the 9th, the Hasbro Star Wars Q&A program hit its 4-year mark, June 9th, 2006 -
DD: YEAH!
JT: And congratulations are certainly in order!
DD: YES! Thank you!
JT: This program has been likely the most successful official toy brand Q&A of all time.
DD: Wow!
JT: And I really do believe that, by the way.
DD: Thank you.
JT: In my job of Q&A editor, I've had to archive all the questions Hasbro has answered in a file on my computer - one long page -
DD: I think you missed some from the 2006, you should go back.
JT: No no, I have every question from then. That's not fair, I have every question I found.
DD: Ha! That's what I meant! So you're a collector yourself, right?
JT: Oh yeah!
DD: Are you a completist?
JT: I used to be a collecting completist, I stopped around the Saga line and I decided to concentrate on stuff that I liked or that tickled my fancy, and it's really been a big advantage to the way I perceive the brand.
DD: Interesting. ...

The first of SSG's 2 Comic-Con interviews with Hasbro Star Wars brand manager Derryl DePriest is a walk-through of the Star Wars section of Hasbro's booth.

JediTricks: Let's start with the top. Wooof - some of our readers have been going crazy for Wooof-
Derryl DePriest: Ok, in a good way, or not a good way?
JT: Oh no, they've been pushing so hard for so many years-
DD: Yes they have!
JT: What made now the time for that figure?
DD: Actually, the answer for Wooof is that he should have been in the line last year, because he was on the list until the very last moment, and I believe that when we actually... it *was* going to be Wooof and we went to make a figure selection, we actually picked a different guy than Wooof and we were told that actually it's not Wooof, it's a different guy but we were already down the path so what we did is we bumped Wooof out to this year, which is even better because he looks, he's going to be awesome on a Vintage card, so it's even better. But Wooof came to our attention because of the fan demand, that's really why Wooof is in the line. I mean, you could point to fan influence in many many many of the figures. You know, some of the figures were our own choice, like Gamorrean and Ackbar where we really wanted to update that, but when you look at characters like Wooof or the skiff commander, those are figures that the fans help ...

During Comic-Con, Hasbro had both of their new wave 1 Force FX removable-blade Lightsabers available at their booth, and I got to check them out hands-on.

First off, let me say that I have been a huge fan of the Force FX Lightsaber line since its inception, and for years, I've watched the collecting community ask for removable blades, so to finally have them in my hand at Comic-Con was truly exciting. Hasbro had both of the new sabers from removable-blade wave 1, Anakin Episode III and Vader Episode IV.

Initially, these look and feel the same as their non-removable-blade Force FX counterparts. The hilts ...

During the SDCC Hasbro Star Wars panel, we referred to the Hoth Battles assortment incorrectly and are issuing this correction.

Last Friday during our live coverage of the Hasbro Star Wars panel, we referred to the exclusive "Attack on Hoth" and "Defense of Hoth" sets as a single Ultimate Battle Pack when we said "Attack on Hoth Target Ultimate Battle Pack, super articulated AT-ST driver finally, Hoth AT-ST, paint on turret is special quality, and the radar cannon is all new, can be manually ...

Seth MacFarlane says no chance to Family Guy SW prequel episodes.

During the Family Guy panel at SDCC just a few moments ago, not only were 9 minutes of the Family Guy ROTJ special - now titled "It's A Trap" - shown, but show runner MacFarlane was asked about the possibility of Family Guy prequel specials. MacFarlane responded "virtually no chance", citing both the exhausting schedules writing the ESB and ROTJ episodes, as well as the likelihood ...

All the details, and I do mean ALL the details, that were said in Hasbro's SDCC panel, far beyond just what was shown in the slideshow images.

Make sure to check out the panel's slideshow images first to accquaint yourself with the visual goodies, but don't for a moment think that's the end of what was said, not even close...

San Diego Comic-Con 2009, room 7AB, July 24th, 9:51am. The line for the Hasbro Star Wars panel had been seated for over an hour, and was filled to capacity. Although the panel wasn't scheduled to start until 10am (and that usually means several minutes late at SDCC), Hasbro decides to start the program early, there's no way to fit anybody else in the room and they usually never have enough time anyway.

On the panel is Derryl DePriest, head of Hasbro's Star Wars Global brand team; Chris Gollaher of Lucas Licensing Product Development; Brian Parrish, Hasbro Star Wars design; Mark Boudreaux, Hasbro Star Wars design; Vickie Strathford, Hasbro Star Wars design; Brian Merten, Hasbro Star Wars exclusives design; Chad Donvito, Hasbro marketing; and Sarah Brown, Hasbro exclusives marketing.

Hasbro starts off the panel with many thanks to the fans for being there, rocking Hasbro's world, keeping them employed, and letting ...

New "Infinities" Storyline Downloadable Content Takes Star Wars Saga in Unimagined New Directions and New Special Retail Edition Coming this Fall!

LucasArts today announced that their hit videogame Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will see further expansion this Fall through a new downloadable level for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system. In addition, the company also announced Star Wars The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition, a special new version of the game for ...

Despite the madness of this year's SDCC and the continued popularity that Hasbro's Star Wars display garnered, Hasbro was gracious enough to give us a little Q&A time.

At the busiest Comic-Con ever, there wasn't a whole lot of time for anybody. Team Hasbro Star Wars was always in demand in and around their booth, there wasn't a moment when the exhibit hall was open that one didn't catch a glimpse of the gang in their Star Wars 08 gray baseball jerseys (they brought up at their panel on Friday that the jersey is ironic, they don't actually have a softball team) or even the Indiana Jones shirts. Friday was their big panel, which we already covered here. Saturday, Tycho and I got together with Hasbro's Derryl DePriest (Star Wars brand manager), Brian Parrish and Mark Boudreaux (Star Wars designers), and Brian Wilk (Star Wars exclusives designer) - pretty much everybody making choices and doing design on the line - to discuss SSG's most recent figure poll results (extensively put together by fellow forumite Mad Slanted Powers).

While most of the Hasbro team had to catch the red-eye back to Rhode Island on Saturday night, Derryl and Mark stayed behind to finish up the last day of Comic-Con. So on Sunday, after tons of scheduling conflicts and just missing each other issues, I finally caught up with Derryl and got to represent our readers with a little on-the-spot Q&A session. Derryl was kind enough to give up a little of his off-the-clock time for some Q&A so I made it as quick as I could. While he and I talked at one corner of the Hasbro booth, Star Wars fans kept coming up to Mark Boudreaux and getting his autograph on their big Millennium Falcons (Mark being the designer of this amazing ship) -- it was quite an exciting and almost surreal Star Wars collector experience....

SSG: With the recently shown "Assault on the Shield Generator", why are there only 4 figures with this set instead of the slideshow image's 5? Will this be the first of many battle packs with less than 5 figures and no vehicle or large accessory to make up for less? If so, why is that? Do you think the line can handle the change?
Hasbro: People should get used to 4 figures in Battle Packs, and that's not the case of us gouging, it's the case of... because we could have put the price up on Battle Packs, but $20 is an important strategic pricepoint. And because a lot of our Battle Packs aren't collector-targeted, they're generally kid-targeted, so doing neat things like the Shield Generator [Battle Pack] is kind of a new approach, and that's because we want to get some collector-focused ones in there, but the focus will still be on the kids' stuff. So, our choice was either put them up to $25 still with "5 figures worth", or start to take it out, and we made a decision that "keep it at $20", and that meant that we started to have to compromise. Even with what we showed you, that was a recent decision, the only way to afford that set.
SSG: That's across the board, right, not just this wave?
Hasbro: That's going to be the direction we're going across the board.
SSG: Are you going to work a little harder for new figures in these packs then?
Hasbro: In Battle Packs? In Battle Packs we're going to have the same kind of approach we've had, so you'll see, you know, the Arrest of Palpatine, you know, that may come down to a 4-figure set, but ideas like that are still critical, which is it has a high hero content, we'll still all those kid-targeted sets where nothing changes, they're all existing figures mixed in with, you know, new figures or new sets that meet the collectors' mentality. It's still gonna be a kid-first focus, but we want to get some cool collectors focus in there too. Do we think the line can handle the change? Obviously, you know what, unfortunately, that's kinda what we're faced with...
SSG: So it's a reality either way.
Hasbro: Yeah, it's a reality either way, and we chose this decision to keep it at $20 rather than [go to] $25.


SSG: It's been ...