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Ross is terrific.

These look really good.

The completist in me asks… was this ever done for the prequel trilogy? Dark Horse would have had the liscence then, wouldn’t they?

As somebody with ties in the toy market and Disney, this is a combination of two things:
1. Toys have to be designed, approved and manufactured so far in advance. Disney was super restrictive on what manufacturers could make. Look at the LEGO sets. A couple random ships that barely show up in the movie. Now that the movie is out, you will start to see more items focusing on movie plots.
2. Hasbro actually made more Rey figures and variants that any other character. Just a cursory glance of Amazon will show you this info: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hasbro+force+awakens+rey. I can confirm they aren’t short-packed, they are just the most popular figure, as it normally is when a female is released in an action-figure set.

It’s weird to pick on Hasbro as they are in the best in the field when it comes to female representation in action figures. Their flagship Marvel line has at least one female in every set – most times two: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel_Legends#Red_Onslaught_Series_.282016.29

Complaining on social media by people that haven’t bought any of the Rey figures Hasbro HAS manufactured is not going to change anything. There’s so many tariffs and trade laws that go into manufacturing toys that you need to speak with your dollars to make a difference.

TL;DR DISNEY didn’t communicate plot to licensors. HASBRO made lots of Rey toys. Rey toys are the most popular. Manufacturing toys is incredibly complicated and spans multiple countries and laws. Nobody cares about the opinion of people who complain about the one dirty speck on the floor and ignore 99.9% of the floor that’s clean.

Not that I care a fig about the ‘The Force Awakens’ edition of Monopoly, but this is a puzzler. It isn’t as though the simple inclusion of a Rey game piece was going to drop major spoilers for the movie. And is there anyone who would refuse to purchase this game solely on the basis that one of the pieces depicts a girl?

If spoilers were really their reason, all they had to do was make a piece with her holding her staff instead of a lightsaber. Done. The new movie’s main character gets included, and there’s no hint of a Jedi connection to risk spoiling anything.

They easily could have included a version of her with the staff, as seen in early marketing and other toys, and avoided spoilers. Their explanation sounds like reasoning after the fact. Hopefully they will course correct for episode 8.

“As we all know, little girls have no problem whatsoever playing with boys toys. They comprehend them and manipulate them just fine. The same can not be said for boys playing with girls toys. So if you want an all around capable gender, girls win this one hands down.”

Really?? Or it’s math. When you produce equal numbers of female characters in a figure line, they sit on the shelf. It happens all the time. You make them more limited? They sell out. It’s not a conspiracy against females, it’s a historical reality. I certainly hope it changes. I was recently at the Disney store in NYC, and they had shelves full of everyone except Rey.

“I admit, the idea of making the main character of a new Star Wars movie a young woman was a little risky, and would have been impossible before Hunger Games and Divergent.”

Or the Terminator, Fringe, Dark Angel, Futurama, Babylon 5, Orphan Black, Aliens, Battlestar Galactica, X-Files, Farscape, The Matrix, Star Trek, a thousand Anime series/movies….

Star Wars has long had a very strong female fan demographic. It wasn’t as risky a move as you think.

JCT we can have a battle of selective thinking, but let’s look at the list os properties you named:

Terminator — Movie is about Arnold, John Conner and Sarah Conner. Also, directed by James Cameron.

Fringe — multiple cast, no real main character.

Dark Angel — It’s a TV show, TV has always had many female lead characters.

Futurama – – uh the show is about Frye

Babylon 5 – ensemble cast no main character, also a TV show

Orphan Black — very recent also a TV show

Aliens – James Cameron

Battlestar Galactica — See Above

X-Files — TV show

Farscape – TV show

The Matrix — the main character is Neo, it’s his journey from the hero’s call to heroic sacrifie

Star Trek — Ensemble, TV show

A thousand Anime series/movies: these are not American.

Of course, Star Wars had a HUGE female demographic. And Han, Leia and Luke all had journeys and character arcs, but it was the story of Luke SKywalker, from farmboy to hero of the rebellion and father killer.

On your above media list you literally have TWO movies, both directed by James Cameron. (Ripley was created in the original of course, and originally written as a man.,)

I stand by my original statement. The huge popularity of YA lit like Hunger Games, Divergent and even Twilight made movie makers less averse to making films where there is an inarguable main character who is female. Movies cost a LOT to make and have to hit in many countries, hence the timidity where this is concerned.

LucasFilm / Disney mentioned in a few articles that the toys would come in waves and that the first wave would avoid all spoilers. Which is why there is no figure of old Luke Skywalker, Snoke or Maz Kanata (although she did end up on the poster). It’s also why Rey doesn’t come with a blue lightsaber in the initial wave. They could have put her in there with her staff, but some might have wondered why they didn’t use Finn. As LucasFilm were making it look like Finn was the new Luke Skywalker with their marketing campaign.

Rey should be in Star Wars Monopoly and hopefully she will in later additions or updates (there has been a lot of different Star Wars Monopoly sets over the years).

As for not including her in toy packs, that is just really strange. I had noticed the Rey figure almost sold out at the Disney store before Christmas and had hoped that it had been her popularity rather than anything like them not making enough.

Whatever the reason for Rey not being included, hopefully this will get toy companies not just Hasbro to take notice so that this doesn’t happen again in the future.

Star Wars toys in general are impossible to find. They blew it out with the Force Awakens Day, and then, nothing. Nothing has replaced the shelves since then, and that was when? October? Earlier? (I can’t remember.) Nothing available for Christmas. Just try finding a nice selection of 3.75″ figures in your stores. Nada. Usually Hasbro has us drowning in Stormtroopers and the like. I have yet to find one in the 3.75″ line. Target, Walmart, with the odd exception of remote controlled toys, or lightsabers, a ship here and there, the SW shelves are still bare months later. Blows my mind…

Except that this movie (TFA) is really well done. The actors are great, the story is good, the CGI is 21st century, there is no input from George ‘franchise killer’ Lucas and, wait for it…. Jar Jar is nowhere to be seen!!!

If you don’t know why the bad guys are on that planet in the beginning then you clearly weren’t paying attention to the movie

swing and a miss, or something

No, it’s a retread of the original Star Wars. A pretty shameless one, but it seems to be working.

“Except that this movie (TFA) is really well done.”

Except that wasn’t the focus of the article. Oops.

Was someone actually paid to write that?

Here a more interesting topic. What does it say about the future of movies and movie-making that the 3 biggest box office successes (not adjusted for inflation) are films where a high level of skill was applied to utterly formulaic melodramas?

Mike

What it says is that TV is the future of the medium. Because hollywood’s photocopiers must sooner or later run out of toner.

The point is, those that argue that TFA is lifted from the original star wars would be just as reasonable in saying that it was lifted from the Phantom Menace. This satirical article is highlighting the manipulation and cherry picking that needs to be made in satisfying the former argument by using it to equate phantom menace, which people do not complain about being too similar to the originals (they complain about other things) to the new movie.

Or you could look at it like this.

Random droid with important map installed in it, wonders a sandy planet.
Main character happens to find said droid
Main characters flee an attack in a “piece of junk/garbage” spaceship that just so happens to be the Millennium Falcon.
Bad guys have a Death Star, an Emperor/Supreme Leader and main bad guy who wears a back, helmet like mask. Which is totally fine cuz we already we already who his super favorite sith lord is in the trailer
Main characters meet up with rebel’s / resistance, and find out that said death star has a weak point and plan an attack with x-wings. at least Naboo fighters where new.
One of the main characters is killed by one of the main bad guys as the main character looks on and shout’s “Nooooooo”….. Oh wait Obi Wan did that when Qui-Gon got killed.. Nah Obi Wan was killed and Luke shouted Nooooo… or did Darth Vader say it in III? such confusion.
Death Star blows up Alderaan and a bunch of other planets cuz the new Death Star is a planet, that absorbs mass from stars so it can shoot cause something or whatever.
Death Star gets blown up.

I think rhyming was what Lucas called it when he made his prequels, they mirror a lot on the originals. Personally I just thought this film had more of a IV vibe going put that’s just me.

It all just boils down to a certain point of view, point of view? point of view.

“The point is, those that argue that TFA is lifted from the original star wars would be just as reasonable in saying that it was lifted from the Phantom Menace.”

That’s a stupid point because it’s NOT TRUE.

The similarities with the original Star Wars are clear and concrete, both plot-wise and in the emotional beats of the story. The comparisons made with Phantom Menace in the article are vague and obtuse to the point of being ridiculous. For example…

“They need to find a new ship or repair parts so they can get off this planet”
.
The reason why they go to Maz Kanata’s planet in TFA has nothing to do with they they go to Tatooine in the Phantom Menace. Literally. Nothing.

Again, did someone get paid to write that?

Mike

What a metaphor for the movie. Desperate to be all that the original Star Wars was, they make a movie just like it. It’s like finding out your kids look like you…

As someone who saw the first SW in 1977, this movie made me feel old. Seeing those characters as senior citizens made me aware of the passage of time. I remember when they were so young! (The last scene really choked me up.)

George,

I was telling some friends of mine that The Force Awakens is basically the Before Midnight of blockbusters, given how the original trilogy and this one have all basically aged in real time, more or less.

There is also the question of Rey’s background. Is she Luke’s daughter? And iif so, who is the mother? Is she Han and Leia’s daughter? None of the above?

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With the exception of the usual suspects, the cool thing about VII that also kind of saves Hollywood is that it resurrected the experience of going to the movies. Not only because of the cheering, dressing up, and general Hollywood feel it gave to Anytown, USA, but also because it seemed like the first time in forever that audiences, studios, and the media (!) were all together in preserving the experience for the theatergoer. Oh, the Internet tried weakly with its avatars and listicles, but it failed in the face of such monumental numbers, both critical and box office. The experience — which is what Star Wars is — delivered. because we recognized that it can only really work in a darkened movie theater.

:”Among the other films that are part of this bold strategy …”

I hope you were being sarcastic, Heidi, because it’s not a bold strategy. It’s the safest and most conservative strategy possible. Stick to proven formulas and give ’em old and familiar characters. Pander to nostalgia whenever possible. Yeah, that’s taking chances!

Before long, this Onion satire may become reality: “MPAA adds new rating to warn audiences of films not based on existing works:”

http://www.theonion.com/article/mpaa-adds-new-rating-warn-audiences-films-not-base-51651

Could it every be possible for someone like Abrams to be like -I am not going to spend almost a billion dollars on some sci fi movie, while kids are starving, and jobs are being out-sourced just because the labor is cheaper, as people obsess on how others are different and then how to be a bigot and act pretentious about being a ‘hater’., so Abrams then invests in new institutions, and places were people can regain hope that work ethic, education, and cooperation will again have ‘value’, and training, and assistance is available for everyone… -like that is an ‘impossibility, since no one know about anyone that can provide hope, yet we know all about a brands that use the word ‘hope’ in their movie scripts. Wow, I am an ‘American’.

Could it every be possible for someone like Abrams to be like -I am not going to spend almost a billion dollars on some sci fi movie, while kids are starving, and jobs are being out-sourced just because the labor is cheaper, as people obsess on how others are different and then how to be a bigot and act pretentious about being a ‘hater’. So Abrams then invests in new institutions, and places were people can regain hope that work ethic, education, and cooperation will again have ‘value’, and training, and assistance is available for everyone… -like that is an ‘impossibility, since no one knows about anyone that is real that can provide hope, yet we know all about brands that use the word ‘hope’ in their movie scripts. Wow, I am an ‘American’. This movie was OK… K-Ren-dawg lives of course… Harrison Ford is like “thank God, Im out of this, no more, fini, baby!” I agree. The merchandising, the merchandising, the off-shore banking, and the USA is the number one consumer of cocaine, Oxycontin, and heroin. Imagine if the funds from Star Wars went towards addiction treatments, and just training a new work force -USE THE ‘work’ FORCE, LUKE!

I haven’t read this, since I don’t want spoilers (I’m glad it had a warning in the headline), but why not just wait until the movie opens before posting ANY spoilers? What’s the rush to spoil about?

Hey Jim. if you read the intro it states: Please note: no portion of this review discusses anything that would qualify as an actual spoiler for the film, nor does any portion of the review detail anything more than you’d see in a typical movie review. But for some, less is more until you’ve see it.

Defining a “spoiler” for this movie is hard, since the studio has let out almost 0 details about plot, which makes everything new information. Is basic plot a spoiler? If so, minor spoilers if you follow in the final portion. Nothing that would be considered a spoiler in literally any other movie.

Thanks for the clarification, Hannah. I didn’t mean to single out your review. Over the years, I’ve had a few movies ruined by overly-descriptive reviews (I’m sure we all have), so I guess I’m a little gun-shy.

I actually LOVE your multi-tiered review system. I wish more media outlets would adopt it.

Among other outlets, spoiling movies has become so systemic that DVD packaging itself has become a spoiler (the DVDs for the original Planet of the Apes or Close Encounters of the Third Kind are perfect examples).

I read your “Level 1” review, and I’m glad to hear that you liked it. I look forward to reading the rest after I see the movie on Friday!

No worries! I’m glad it worked for you and hope you enjoy the movie too!

[…] The prize for most innovative goes to Hannah Lodge at The Beat, which is helpfully divided to let you choose your own spoiler level. (It’s still not all […]

So What if I want to be spoiled? I want to know what happens to Luke Skywalker. Where do I go?

JC, you go to see the film, obviously.

I like this column by Criticwire;s Sam Adams: “No, not everything about Star Wars is a spoiler.”

He writes: “Hollywood’s need to generate ever-greater levels of advance hype has led to even minor advance reveals being treated as world-beating exclusives: Get your first look at the new Batmobile! Black Panther’s costume, revealed! The first “official” photo of the new Ghostbusters, not to be confused with the on-set photo tweeted by the film’s director months ago!”

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/no-not-everything-is-a-star-wars-spoiler-20151217

Elsewhere, Adams has written: “Spiler-free reviews are the death of criticism.”

this is good a movie

How much longer, I wonder, before this Onion satire becomes reality?

http://www.theonion.com/article/mpaa-adds-new-rating-warn-audiences-films-not-base-51651

What’s the right eye theme for?

Probably just a visual theme to tie them together. Leia ends up being the odd one out because she’s the only one not face-forward.

The amount of funding consisted of in each repayment differs throughout the regard to the mortgage.

Luke is thee Sith Warrior.

That’s no moon…. that’s a planet. Starkiller Base.

Also, notice that some the stormtroopers have new helmets, with horizontal slits.
The alien next to Artoo is Teedo.
…and where’s Luke?

Luke is almost certainly the large figure in the hood and the mask in the background.

“Hmm…not many females in that catalog, not even the ass-kicking Phasma.”

In the toy catalogue that you posted, she is on page 52. However, that image doesn’t look nearly as nice (maybe it’s a prototype?) as some of the images of the figure in a box that has been seen online where the armor looks a lot more chrome-like.

Ah, thanks. I wasn’t sure if that was her, or a more generic stormtrooper. (Because of the coloration.)

However, that image doesn’t look nearly as nice (maybe it’s a prototype?) as some of the images of the figure in a box that has been seen online where the armor looks a lot more chrome-like.

…Soon to be emblazoned on a thousand pieces of tat in a nerd shop near you…

The thing seems impractical to me – make a wrong move and amputate your own hand at the wrist.
Now, speaking of big swords: this is the real sword of medieval Frisian folk hero Grutte Pier (Great Pier)
http://www.thetallestman.com/images/piergerlofsdonia/piergerlofsdonia%20(2).jpg

I’m already sick of this movie, 13 months before its release, thanks to the daily Internet hype. It’s only going to get worse (and more frantic and hysterical) as release date approaches.

The same thing is true of superhero movies. The problem isn’t too many superhero movies; we only get 4 or 5 a year. The problem is TOO MUCH HYPE, which drowns out everything else. Superhero movies would seem less oppressive if there weren’t 100,000 online articles about each one.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/are-there-too-many-superhero-movies-a-chart

I think getting concerned about the practicality of the fixed-length laser swords operated by space-wizards from the past-future tends to miss the point a bit.

Thad: As Heidi said, these are people with nothing better to do.

For what it’s worth, THIS is the best teaser trailer ever made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEew7zvpAWE