Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 Official Art Show piece: “Pack Hunt” by Chris Dee

My Master, Emperor Palpatine

by Daz Tibbles

The 709th, The Red Fury

they just could've used the deathtroopers

40 minutes ago, Taiowaa said:

they just could've used the deathtroopers

Nah m8, gotta sell them toys

1 hour ago, Taiowaa said:

they just could've used the deathtroopers

They haven't used old versions of anything but the Millenium Falcon for the sequel movies, there's no reason they would start now.

1 hour ago, Jabby said:

Nah m8, gotta sell them toys

So the same Star Wars has ALWAYS been.

Fan concept art of The 709th, The Red Fury

On 3/4/2019 at 7:16 AM, That Blasted Samophlange said:

So the same Star Wars has ALWAYS been.

Sort of. They've always merchandised it heavily, and been criticized for it. But a lot of those criticisms were uniformed and/or unfair. However since about episode 2 or so, Star Wars has increasingly lived up to those previously inaccurate complaints. It used to be they would add new things that really told the story, and re-use plenty. They seem almost phobic of reusing anything now, precisely to avoid a lost opportunity to generate merchandise. Even old things get endlessly re-tooled now. There was one sculpt of Darth Vader or Chewie from 1978-1985. Now they'll resculpt a character like that at the drop of a hat.

For the record Star Wars didn't event this merch-o-rama either. They just refined it. That honor of inventing the scifi merchandise machine probably goes to Planet of the Apes. It produced a lot more sheer STUFF than Star Trek or other previously licensed IP's. Without the success of which, it's unlikely Lucas could have gotten the kind of merchandising deals he did for ANH. Everyone was turning him down, Kenner took them on specifically because of their Planet success. No giant merch deals probably means he can't afford to buy the rights back from Fox... the historical impact of Planet of the Apes on us SW fans is incalculable. And don't even get me started on Edgar Rice Burroughs... not only did Lucas read the Mars books for inspiration, Tarzan was the first fantasy/scifi fandom as we know it. In the early 1900's it had cons, a fake fan language akin to Klingon, and was merchandised into toys at least as early as the 1930's.

7 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

Sort of. They've always merchandised it heavily, and been criticized for it. But a lot of those criticisms were uniformed and/or unfair. However since about episode 2 or so, Star Wars has increasingly lived up to those previously inaccurate complaints. It used to be they would add new things that really told the story, and re-use plenty. They seem almost phobic of reusing anything now, precisely to avoid a lost opportunity to generate merchandise. Even old things get endlessly re-tooled now. There was one sculpt of Darth Vader or Chewie from 1978-1985. Now they'll resculpt a character like that at the drop of a hat.

For the record Star Wars didn't event this merch-o-rama either. They just refined it. That honor of inventing the scifi merchandise machine probably goes to Planet of the Apes. It produced a lot more sheer STUFF than Star Trek or other previously licensed IP's. Without the success of which, it's unlikely Lucas could have gotten the kind of merchandising deals he did for ANH. Everyone was turning him down, Kenner took them on specifically because of their Planet success. No giant merch deals probably means he can't afford to buy the rights back from Fox... the historical impact of Planet of the Apes on us SW fans is incalculable. And don't even get me started on Edgar Rice Burroughs... not only did Lucas read the Mars books for inspiration, Tarzan was the first fantasy/scifi fandom as we know it. In the early 1900's it had cons, a fake fan language akin to Klingon, and was merchandised into toys at least as early as the 1930's.

I believe one of the deals Lucas made, and how he made much of his money, was that Fox let him keep the merchandising rights. They, Fox, didn't forsee the longevity of Star Wars, let alone how kids would gobble up the toys, figuratively speaking.

Certainly other factors contributed to Lucas’ fortune, THX sound, ILM, etc.

What you say with toy construction is interesting, as previously companies would make toys that were never seen on screen and sell them, nowadays, this not as common, at least for star wars, likely due to dropping toy sales.

6 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I believe one of the deals Lucas made, and how he made much of his money, was that Fox let him keep the merchandising rights. They, Fox, didn't forsee the longevity of Star Wars, let alone how kids would gobble up the toys, figuratively speaking.

No one saw it coming, though Lucas had plans to heavily merchandise. Mark Hamill was into comics books and stuff so he put in his ANH contract that he got 1 of everything released in conjunction with Star Wars. He said he thought that meant "an original soundtrack, a movie poster, and maybe a T-shirt. Then the boxes started arriving...".

Peter Cushing and Alec Guiness, old screen veterans that they were, were among the only ones to accurately predict the success of the movie's ticket sales. Cushing was quoted as saying so and Guiness, much as he disliked the work itself, was iirc the only one to insist on a cut of the ticket sales in his contract, indicating he knew it would be worth a lot.

In case anyone can't tell by now, I've largely stopped following canon and taken up following the real-world history of the franchise.

27 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

What you say with toy construction is interesting, as previously companies would make toys that were never seen on screen and sell them, nowadays, this not as common, at least for star wars, likely due to dropping toy sales.

There was also so very little on-screen stuff to draw from. Kenner wanted to hit certain price points and there was just nothing in the films to fit the bill so they had to make stuff up.

Back in the day people also made some toys of things that were meant to be in the movie but didn't make the final cut, or appeared very briefly. Such was the disconnect in communication and the lead-times back then. Checkout the ESB Hoth play-doh playmat sometime. It has stuff that was technically in the movie, but never how it appeared: apparently drawn from early MacQuarrie concept art. One or more of the "mini-rigs" have similar beginnings but several were indeed cut from whole cloth just to have a 1) vehicle 2) for X dollars and 3) visually fit into Endor or wherever.

Then there's the weird ceramic of C-3PO manning a Hoth laser turret... can't recall who made that.

Now, with the cartoons and 10 films, plus comics, kid's books, and neglected aspects of the media history like the old ewoks movies.... there's an established item for every marketing need. Lego sets are always coming out that I think are original ideas but, they're always just from some corner of the franchise I haven't looked into.

It's not just about merch. New art teams with new ideas want to flex their creativity, new stories in new places need new characters, new cultural ideas of what is cool change over time... Yeah companies want to make a profit, and that is a good thing. That is how we get cool stuff. But not every new stormtrooper, alien and character is designed to sell a toy. That is extremely reductive of the process and insulting to the artists who poured their time and creativity into making something new.

9 hours ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

I'd buy that, but only if they made its companion piece, Kathleen Kennedy/Mickey Mouse and the tears of fans. A few billion translucent blue pieces should do it.

I honestly believe George Lucas would see that, nod and say: "Yeah."

52 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

I'd buy that, but only if they made its companion piece, Kathleen Kennedy/Mickey Mouse and the tears of fans. A few billion translucent blue pieces should do it.

Disney has been handling the franchise just fine compared to Lucas’ recent work, in my book. No tears here.

6 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

Disney has been handling the franchise just fine compared to Lucas’ recent work, in my book. No tears here.

Have you been on the internet? 😛

5 minutes ago, KalEl814 said:

Have you been on the internet? 😛

Yes and nowhere on it have I found Disney to be doing a worse job than the recent Lucas SW works.

9 hours ago, KalEl814 said:

Have you been on the internet? 😛

If there's one thing Star Wars fans LOVE to do it's complain about Star Wars

John Boyega’s exclusive Spider Trooper Helmet wrap of production gift from JJ Abrams

7 hours ago, KommanderKeldoth said:

If there's one thing Star Wars fans LOVE to do it's complain about Star Wars

Yeah and I get that, I have loads of problems with most of the Disney SW movies. Disney might not be handling the franchise perfectly, but I do think they're doing a better job on it that Lucas had been doing. For me, the sequel trilogy thus far (and Solo) is definitely problematic, but not nearly as problematic as the prequel trilogy. Whereas to me Rogue One is as good as the OT, probably a better movie than ROTJ honestly. So I am not shedding any tears over Disney taking over. They might not be where I'd want them to be, but from my perspective they are on an upward instead of downward trajectory with the franchise.

1 hour ago, TauntaunScout said:

Yeah and I get that, I have loads of problems with most of the Disney SW movies. Disney might not be handling the franchise perfectly, but I do think they're doing a better job on it that Lucas had been doing. For me, the sequel trilogy thus far (and Solo) is definitely problematic, but not nearly as problematic as the prequel trilogy. Whereas to me Rogue One is as good as the OT, probably a better movie than ROTJ honestly. So I am not shedding any tears over Disney taking over. They might not be where I'd want them to be, but from my perspective they are on an upward instead of downward trajectory with the franchise.

I don't agree with you very often, but on this I do. While I'm a fan of the sequel era, there was a lot of lackluster, and some downright horrible, materiel out there.

I find Disney is at least acknowledging the old, with a few easter eggs here and there, and taking parts the best and adequately updating them. Plus, so far no vong, or Luuuke

6 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I find Disney is at least acknowledging the old, with a few easter eggs here and there, and taking parts the best and adequately updating them. Plus, so far no vong, or Luuuke

Luuuuke is a large spoiler for Ep. IX

10 hours ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I don't agree with you very often, but on this I do. While I'm a fan of the sequel era, there was a lot of lackluster, and some downright horrible, materiel out there.

I find Disney is at least acknowledging the old, with a few easter eggs here and there, and taking parts the best and adequately updating them. Plus, so far no vong, or Luuuke

The Vong and Luuke would be a massive upgrade from Disney's work. I'll never understand why the Vong, let alone a clone of Luke, gets this level of scorn. The EU had its faults, as did the Prequel era (looking at you, Dark Nest trilogy and Yoda: Dark Rendevous), but other than Rogue One, Disney's era has been "meh" to terrible.