Australian Toy Fair

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Here are pics, with more to be added later. You can see carded shots of the Clone Wars figures, Padmé set, V-19, and a Comic Pack with Vader and that weird face mask guy. I must say I like the way the package looks with the figures in it, but some of the whiteness makes the backs look plain.

Oh, and now we know for sure that Rotta the Huttlet is Jabba's son. Deal with it.

[El Chuxter]

Sweet God almighty, someone lock George Lucas in a room where he cannot hurt himself or Star Wars any further. Zorba is too young to be a grandfather.

If Lucas had any huevos at all, he would've expanded on one of the greatest non-film lines in a novelization, when Jabba said to Luke that he killed many Jedi "back when it meant something to be a Jedi." However, like every other cool non-film line from a novelization, he appears to now be totally invalidating it.

At least we'll always have Jar Jar and the thirty minutes of his stupid antics in TPM that were never redeemed by any character growth in AOTC or ROTS.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

At least we'll always have Jar Jar and the thirty minutes of his stupid antics in TPM that were never redeemed by any character growth in AOTC or ROTS.

I thought that offering his species' army (while the other Gungans didn't like him, he still liked them and cared about them) and later giving a motion for Palpatine to have emergency powers was at least some sort of growth.

And also, I really don't think Lucas gives a s*** about the novels or read them since they were published (if at all).

[El Chuxter]

I don't think he does, either. In fact, he's said he doesn't.

But why create something that's so universally loved (at least half of it), be certain to retain all rights regarding the expansion of the property, allow others to "play in the sandbox" as long as they adhere to certain rules, and then not go along with it? Especially when his surrogates continually tell us everything is canon, and he himself keeps saying it isn't?

It seems that everything EU is like the case with Tartakovsky: "You can tell any SW stories you want, so long as they're not as good as mine. If they're better, I reserve the right to undo them."

It's childish. Stan Lee never said to Peter David, "Excelsior! Your Hulk stories are better than mine! Face front, true believer, because I'm now writing a new Hulk story that undoes everything you did. 'Nuff said!"

It would be better for the overall property if Lucasfilm exerted the same level of control that the estates of Lewis or Tolkien hold over Narnia and Middle Earth. I'm sure every writer out there would give up his right gonad to write new stories set in those worlds. But they're not allowed. Period. Tough break for anyone wanting new adventures (at least not those sitting unfinished in JRR's bottom drawer), but it means there's nothing that needs to be "fixed" later on.

Regarding Jar Jar, the immature silliness of him needed a real payoff in growth down the road. He gets a bit at the end of TPM when he brings Padme into contact with Boss Nass, but it's almost immediately undone by his antics on the battlefield. Addressing his "dellow felegates" isn't enough. By ROTS, he should have been a hero or a martyr. Given Lucas' love for Campbell, he was clearly set up to be, but this was axed when the character didn't go over well with fans. His redemption should've come in a showdown with Vader, likely with him bravely giving his life to save Padme or protect the twins; he also should've been well enough developed by that point that every onetime hater got misty eyed watching his sacrifice.

But instead, he's still a walking fart joke in ROTS.

[bigbarada]

I'm liking that Legacy Collection card design less and less. Talk about bland. Ah well, I guess it's just back to the POTF2 and POTJ days of ripping the figure off of the card as quickly as possible.

[JediTricks]

This packaging is very bland, but what really shocks me is how weathered the V-19 looks on the packaging, that is going to be one incredibly disappointing box-open!

[Luke01]

The packaging reminds me of the Kaminoan facility.