The Star Wars Thread

[Ronnie]

9 minutes ago, Julius said:

I think it must've been Bloodlines rather than the Aftermath Trilogy then, but the galactic capital actually rotates between member worlds (we don't know exactly how long for, but I feel like it's fair to assume that there have been a few rotations by the time TFA comes around). At this point I think Chandrila is the galactic capital (which I'm sure we'll see at some point?), but I feel Coruscant still holds a lot of weight just in terms of the number of politicians who would surely still there, things like the Tribunal, the number of Imperials and facilities located there, etc. 

Good call, I'd forgotten that it moves around. And yeah it makes sense That Coruscant is important, I guess I just wanted a bit of sequel stuff that's all. I did like the little mention of the Alliance fleet being decommissioned. A Mon Monthma order I believe.

11 minutes ago, Julius said:

But yeah, agree, though I think what the shows have more space to do than the films ever will is just show the grey areas, and that no one side is ever going to be right or perfect. Better than the Nazi-like Empire? Yeah, probably. But there are monsters and malicious motives on every side of a conflict, and it's always nice to see that explored more! 

The Last Jedi dabbled in the grey areas with the arms dealer supplying the First Order and the Resistance, but yeah, tv series will have a lot more time to get into that grey area. The scene at the end with the mind flayer was incredibly unsettling. Nice guy Mon Cala telling Pershing not to worry etc while cheery music plays . Really great stuff. Pershing did a brilliant job, for someone who could have just been a background extra in a couple of S1 scenes. Looking forward to seeing Paul Sun-Hyung Lee's character at some point too.

16 minutes ago, Julius said:

Also just because Thrawn doesn't really have a reason to go after Bo in such a personal manner as destroying her home (also would seem a bit out of character for him), whereas I feel the Remnant kind of owe her some payback after everything that happened with Gideon.

That's very true actually, it seemed a very personal attack, in the same way that Elia going after Pershing felt personal too. Bit of Gideon payback from behind a jail cell?

Only reason I thought of Thrawn was because there was a line about that many TIES seems a bigger deal than just some local warlord.

17 minutes ago, Julius said:

Would love to be wrong and have it be Thrawn though, and even if this wasn't him, I wouldn't be surprised if we see him by the end of the season. More than any other show in recent memory Mando reeeeeeeeally stresses a plot point and then gets right to it within the space of an episode or two, leaving us twiddling our thumbs over what the rest of the season might be about, so I don't think it's a crazy idea to have things escalate to the point of his return by the end of this season at all! 

Should know a lot more by Celebration, with a few more episodes and also an Ahsoka trailer. Be interesting to see if this crossover event thing that Kathleen Kennedy announced a few years ago is still happening. Gotta imagine it is with how inter-connected they're making the Mandoverse.

21 minutes ago, Julius said:

Similar to what I'd like to see with Rogue One and Tarkin, though, I do kind of wish they'd be open to cleaning things up after the fact

Yeah that would be great, I think it'll happen and they'll redo that Luke scene at the end of S2 for instance. It didn't look bad, just not as good as the deep fake in Boba Fett.

I watched yesterday's ep on my laptop and the CG looked much better. Streaming can definitely struggle at times when there's a lot of data to get across.

And most importantly out of the whole episode... i've a serious craving for those yellow biscuits now.

[Ronnie]

Heads up @Julius

I'm sure you've applied for the Celebration lottery for the four big panels by now, but it seems they've quietly added a fifth. The 'look back at Kenobi' one, just in case you want to apply for that. Might help with under the counter panel ticket trading if you get into Kenobi but would prefer another one?

PS: Bad Batch 2x13, another quality (beautiful looking) ep  I adore this show.

Edited Friday at 11:35 PM by Ronnie

[Julius]

On 3/17/2023 at 11:34 PM, Ronnie said:

Heads up @Julius

I'm sure you've applied for the Celebration lottery for the four big panels by now, but it seems they've quietly added a fifth. The 'look back at Kenobi' one, just in case you want to apply for that. Might help with under the counter panel ticket trading if you get into Kenobi but would prefer another one?

Thanks for the heads-up! Spotted it the other day when trying to figure out if I'd applied for everything (I had, but the email confirmation for the lottery for some took a while to come through), got to imagine that's the lottery panel with best odds to get into because I think its addition will have flown under the radar for some. I'm surprised it wasn't put down as a lottery panel originally, to be honest, so I'm glad it has been – I'm kind of shocked Andor hasn't got the same treatment too, to be honest. Out of the lottery panels I think Kenobi is slap bang in the middle for me in terms of priority (behind Lucasfilm and Ashoka, ahead of Bad Batch and Sequel Villains), so I'm curious to see how it all plays out! 

Now just nervously waiting for the passes to arrive (any day now hopefully, I've seen others start to get theirs over the last week!), starting to plan what I need to take, and waiting for the Store/Funko Pop reservations drop and hopefully getting some luck with those (I'm not a Funko guy but my sister's boyfriend is, so hopefully I can nab him one of the exclusives?). 

Going to be a manic couple of weeks – excited but very nervous! 

[Ronnie]

4 hours ago, Julius said:

Thanks for the heads-up! Spotted it the other day when trying to figure out if I'd applied for everything (I had, but the email confirmation for the lottery for some took a while to come through), got to imagine that's the lottery panel with best odds to get into because I think its addition will have flown under the radar for some. I'm surprised it wasn't put down as a lottery panel originally, to be honest, so I'm glad it has been – I'm kind of shocked Andor hasn't got the same treatment too, to be honest. Out of the lottery panels I think Kenobi is slap bang in the middle for me in terms of priority (behind Lucasfilm and Ashoka, ahead of Bad Batch and Sequel Villains), so I'm curious to see how it all plays out! 

Now just nervously waiting for the passes to arrive (any day now hopefully, I've seen others start to get theirs over the last week!), starting to plan what I need to take, and waiting for the Store/Funko Pop reservations drop and hopefully getting some luck with those (I'm not a Funko guy but my sister's boyfriend is, so hopefully I can nab him one of the exclusives?). 

Going to be a manic couple of weeks – excited but very nervous! 

The badge art is lovely this year. Last year was a bit meh, especially the 4 Day Adult one, I've no idea what they were thinking when they picked that design! Not got mine yet, not even shipped yet.

I would go in with lower expectations with the lottery, I know a ton of people who had no success in Anaheim and the rooms had far more seats than the Excel, so we'll see. You're right though Kenobi should hopefully be a bit better odds since it was quietly added. 

The Celebration store was a funny one last year, everyone kept saying it was a nightmare to get into but they must have meant early in the day cause I just wandered in around 4 or 5pm a couple days in after about 2 minutes of queueing. Sure the daily pins I wanted were sold out by then but 95% of the store was still in stock.

Portable power bank for your phone would be very useful if your phone battery is getting on. Some kind of poster tube/protectors too if they give any out at panels, though they sold those right next to where you pick them up. Comfortable shoes. If you want any autographs they have a bunch of prints and you pick which one you want signed, or bring your own. If they do the daily panel reservations, as many phones as you have like we talked about. Make sure to stop off at the droid room too. Snacks and drinks for the queuing. They revealed the Celebration live stage guest times, or at least a chunk of them, so have a look and maybe see who you'd like to listen to. They didn't do that last year and I randomly walked up to the stage seconds before Doug Chiang was brought out. Result!

[Julius]

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

The badge art is lovely this year. Last year was a bit meh, especially the 4 Day Adult one, I've no idea what they were thinking when they picked that design! Not got mine yet, not even shipped yet.

They've really gone with some great designs this year, love the little speeder bike for the 40th anniversary of ROTJ too, neat little touch! 

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I would go in with lower expectations with the lottery, I know a ton of people who had no success in Anaheim and the rooms had far more seats than the Excel, so we'll see. You're right though Kenobi should hopefully be a bit better odds since it was quietly added. 

Yeah, like I've said before, my expectations aren't particularly high when it comes to the lottery (such a shame that it comes down to a lotto system in the first place, even if it's functional for the logistics of an event of this size). I'll keep an eye out for alternative ways to get in, or line up, but I'd like to get into one of them through the lottery. 

Never tell me the odds, but yeah, they ain't going to be great! And that's alright, if I can find *some* way into just one of my top three priority lotto panels I'll see it as a success, but I'm probably collectively more excited for the Live Stage, some of the BTS panels, checking out the Store and just being surrounded by Star Wars fans for a change (and checking out a bunch of restaurants otherwise ).

I just hope that things turn out better than they did last year in terms of getting trailers outside of the Stages (and I just mean being shown elsewhere for people attending, not even necessarily released online), but either way, I'm super excited 

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

The Celebration store was a funny one last year, everyone kept saying it was a nightmare to get into but they must have meant early in the day cause I just wandered in around 4 or 5pm a couple days in after about 2 minutes of queueing. Sure the daily pins I wanted were sold out by then but 95% of the store was still in stock.

Yeah, worst case I'm hoping things die down later afternoon and I can sneak in to pick up a few things. No idea what I'm looking out for at the Store and I'll try to not go *too* crazy, but as someone not too interested in the pins, hopefully if I can't get in with the reservation lotto I get a good chance to look around anyways. 

Can imagine the Funko stuff being in crazy demand though so definitely hoping the Force is with me on that front 

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Portable power bank for your phone would be very useful if your phone battery is getting on. Some kind of poster tube/protectors too if they give any out at panels, though they sold those right next to where you pick them up. Comfortable shoes. If you want any autographs they have a bunch of prints and you pick which one you want signed, or bring your own. If they do the daily panel reservations, as many phones as you have like we talked about. Make sure to stop off at the droid room too. Snacks and drinks for the queuing. They revealed the Celebration live stage guest times, or at least a chunk of them, so have a look and maybe see who you'd like to listen to. They didn't do that last year and I randomly walked up to the stage seconds before Doug Chiang was brought out. Result!

Some excellent tips – appreciate them! I'll add them to my notes 

(totally not freaking out about how unprepared I am or anything!)

[Ronnie]

13 minutes ago, Julius said:

if I can find *some* way into just one of my top three priority lotto panels I'll see it as a success

There should be a standby queue so worst case scenario you'll just have to get there super early and wait in line.

Not expecting any of them to be live-streamed though, not even to convention-goers which is such a massive shame. 

They should probably be announcing the store products any day now. I'd suggest you'll definitely find better uses for your money on the show floor itself tbh, but the main store is still good for some SWC branded stuff and a few other bits.

In terms of what we actually see, I'm getting hyped for that opening Showcase. I definitely think it's time for film news. Even if it's still 2+ years out, a teaser logo, a timeframe, a director and a lead would be great.

Ahsoka panel, gotta imagine they'll bring out live action Ezra on stage. Sabine I get the impression they've nailed, but Ezra is such a big character I'm a little scared. Now I know what all the Ahsoka fans felt like before Rosario Dawson was announced ha.

Last week's ep of Bad Batch centred on something that hinted at an endgame for the series/characters. It has me a little terrified S2 might be the last. Probably not, but still... I guess we'll find out soon.

Edited 3 hours ago by Ronnie