http://rebelspodcast.com/star-wars-rebels-new-york-comic-con-panel-recap/

After a great week of small Star Wars Rebels reveals such as the teaser, toy packaging, and propaganda art, today was the big event that they were all leading up to. The panel at the New York Comic, where a lot of cool new info about the series was revealed. Below is a recap of all the cool new info that was revealed about Star Wars Rebels, as well as quotes from Pablo Hidalgo from the panel:

-A video message from Greg Weisman was played, where he said he was “bummed we couldn’t be out there with you.” They’re “really in the thick of it.”

-Star Wars Rebels will take place 14 years after Revenge of the Sith.

-”When the Empire first formed, the stability was actually a welcome change from the constantly warring and declining Republic. One of the principals of the Empire is expansion, and they did that by pushing out into the Outer Rim territories that the Republic never really got into.”

-The planet Lothal, located in the outer rim will be a primary location in the show.

-”The Empire doesn’t have the resources to invade every planet they want to annex.” It becomes pretty apparent, though, that the Empire doesn’t have the best interests of Lothal in mind.”

-Stormtroopers will not be Clones in Rebels, but will be people who enlist in the Empire.

-George Lucas said Clones “showed too much individuality to be of use to the Empire.”

-Older Clones will serve as training sergeants to new recruits.

-The blasters Storm Troopers use will have the bump that was on the original Kenner action figures

-A new type of Imperial Walker was revealed, the AT-DP, designed by Joe Johnson

- A new type of pilot for the AT-DP was shown.

-An Imperial Troop transport was shown, based off of the old Kenner toy.

-TIE-Fighters will have a larger ball cockpit and smaller wings than that in the films. Based off Ralph McQuarrie’s original design.

-The new villain The Inquisitor was revealed.(You can see more info on him here )

-”If the Inquisitors are brought in, that means the Empire has reason to believe that Jedi are involved somehow. They are, but we are very cognizent of what happened with Order 66, and Luke’s importance as the last of the Jedi.”

-”George provided all these notes about what happened after the Clone Wars, and we’re designing the show with that in mind.”

-Someone asked if any characters from The Clone Wars will appear on Rebels, but Pablo Hidalgo couldn’t answer that.

-There will be a big focus on the Empire in the show alongside the heroes.

-The heroes ship is called the Ghost for a very specific reason.

-In a response to a question about if bounty hunters will be in Rebels, Pablo says “It’s not just black and white Rebels versus Empire.”

-”Our heroes will find out that when they are more successful, they’ll have to fight bigger bosses.”

-There will be deaths in the series, and the tone of the show will take a dark turn in the fourth episode.

George Lucas is not involved with story ideas for Rebels, and the show is being developed at faster pace than Clone Wars due to their experience working on that show.

Lots of great stuff was revealed about Rebels at this panel. Especially if you’re a huge fan of the Empire like myself! With a nice mix of new villains, vehicles, troopers, and classic vehicles and designs we know and love from the films, Star Wars Rebels is shaping up to not only be a great follow up to Clone Wars, but a great new chapter in the entire Star Wars saga. It’s gonna be a fun ride starting in 2014!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX1uCXVg9ug

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So help me Filoni, if Ahsoka shows up in this series...

That said, if they're serious about being "darker" and don't actually mean "ZOMG A DUDE DIED SO BLEAK" then I'll be giving this a shot. It'd be interesting if none of the main characters were Jedi and still had the Inquisitor after them for some reason (Maybe they found a holocron that's useless to them, but would spell disaster if it fell into his hands).

Hey now, I would have been cool with the idea of Rebels being "Dawn of Defiance: The TV Show", complete with an Inquisitor as the Nemesis!

So help me Filoni, if Ahsoka shows up in this series...

You know she is gonna, so come to terms with it now.

Anyway, she will be 14 years older (early thirties?) and, like, all tough and whatnot.

That said, if they're serious about being "darker"

Hell, in Droids they couldn't even have guns lest it influence the kiddies.

This is a golden age.

I actually liked Ahsoka. Especially since she grew as a character. I look forward to seeing her if she shows up.

I'm betting the ghost has a cloaking device.

I'm interested in the fact that the inquisiter seems to be from utapu judging by the lines on his face and teeth.

Excited about this.

I'm betting the ghost has a cloaking device.

No ship that small has a cloaking device!

I mean, yes, I think so too.

Season 5 Ashoka onward was cool, because she was more than a gobby-little Anakin clone (circa season 1). The name 'Skyguy' still makes me cringe...

Ahsoka was the only main protagonist I truly enjoyed on the Clone Wars... everybody else was pretty one-note. That said, I loved the show, and am looking forward to this one.

What? It's not all black and white? This can't be a Disney production. And a focus on the Empire too? This is actually shaping up to be something to check out.

My creds are on Ahsoka being a big mid season or finale reveal, and it'll be a semiconcealed leadup like the Firehawk in borderlands 2.

Hopefully she'll die and her force ghost will haunt the ship giving it its name.

I'd actually prefer that to the obvious cloaking device option...

Wait...this is going to be a cartoon? I like what im reading, but no more cartoons.

Hopefully she'll die and her force ghost will haunt the ship giving it its name.

Did you see any of Season 5, or just the movie? Just curious.

Just thought I'd post a couple of pictures of one of my favourite star wars ships (yes it is from the prequels) that the empire has decided to use - the Gozanti Cruiser.

Note the docking clamps for a single flight of TIE fighters.

Here's the one that showed up in the prequels:

One of my favourite ships gets even more awesome!

I believe the term is: SQUEEE!

Having seen the Inquisitor... he shoulda had Goldust's face paint from WWE Battleground 2013 instead. Seriously .

Although, you should see the comments about 'im over at io9 , a HOOT!

" I've always been under the impression that Vader was the one who tracked down the remaining Jedi. He seems somewhat less badass now that we know he just delegated the task to this other guy."

" How could he seem any less badass than after we learned he hated sand? "

He's this show's 'Assaj Ventress' - someone who can have his butt handed to him week after week without making the real villains look like buffoons.

He looks like the Son from that episode in TCW when Anakin was shown his future as Darth Vader... y'know, when he decided to rebel against falling to the dark side by falling to the dark side. ¬_¬

I. J. Thompson, see what those io9 comments said about Vader... Although as someone noted, he was already something of a pathetic figure in Episode IV if somehow Tarkin can order him around...

He's this show's 'Assaj Ventress' - someone who can have his butt handed to him week after week without making the real villains look like buffoons.

Plus you would have thought Mr. Vader would have more important thing to do than chase a bunch of teenagers every week.

Also, as roleplayers who like to invent our own characters, guys like this are very useful examples.

Agreed, its one of the reasons why I always thought using Darth Vader alone as the villain the PCs fight against was ridiculous.

I think I'll copy a link to this thread to a friend who knows it might make him interested enough to start running either age of rebellion or edge of the empire!

Admittedly the/an appropriate reason for "an Inquisitor" is because "vanilla rules" AoR starts the players as not being big shots enough for Vader to be bothered with, yet if you think about it, gameplay-wise he's "lightsaber-wielding Force wielder", which pretty much automatically means Nemesis/"boss"-level as far as NPCs go... and there's plenty of those in Imperial employ. Hell, Valin Draco was just that for WOTC's Dawn of Defiance campaign.

I just find " The Inquisitor" ridiculous, not least since there's a plethora of already named but barely mentioned Inquisitors in EU that could have been slotted into the role who aren't a Vader Expy (though the EU is sure uncreative about that... I'm looking at you, Darth Malgus), but it's a point of reference at least for "what is an Imperial Inquisitor and why is one our campaign boss?"