Posts Tagged ‘Hasbro’



We’ll Miss You, Ackmena

Bonnie Burton | April 25, 2009

When I first started working at Lucasfilm 6 years ago, one of my responsibilities was to admin the Starwars.com forums. Because I was an admin, I could choose any Star Wars character (including obscure EU folks) I wanted as my avatar. I didn’t have to think about it long. I instantly chose Ackmena — the night-time bartender of the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine played by none other than Bea Arthur in The Star Wars Holiday Special.

I had always a nostaglic love for that Thanksgiving television special which aired in 1978. It wasn’t because of the Boba Fett cartoon, or the discovery that Chewbacca was married and had a kid named Lumpy. Nope. It was all because of Bea. She was strong, smart, witty, and didn’t take any guff from anyone, including the Empire.

Every character Bea Arthur played — whether it be the sassy bartender Ackmena, Maude Findlay (on Maude), or Dorothy Zbornak (on Golden Girls) — had this inner strength and sarcasm that made her cynical yet lovable. She was liberal without being self-righteous. She was a feminist before I ever knew what that meant. Best of all, she danced with Greedo and sang to that wretched hive of scum and villainy as she threw them out of the cantina.

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WonderCon 2009: R2-D2 Builders

StarWars.com Team | March 5, 2009

R2-D2 goes where the action is, so it shouldn’t be surprised that he and his droid pals invaded this year’s WonderCon as usual. Fans ran up and hugged, kissed, patted and posed with everyone’s favorite astromech droid. Those lucky attendees who wanted the ins and outs of droid building got a special treat with the “R2-D2 Droid Building Basics” panel on Saturday.

R2-D2 builders Chris James, Ryan Goff, Steve Simmons, and David Calkins shared their experiences and demonstrated working droids. They chatted about materials, tools needed, basic electronics, and radio control information to make your own Artoo beep, move and save the day.

Special guest Don Bies, former ILM model maker and Star Wars Episodes II and III droid wrangler also showed up to encourage fans to channel their inner Anakin (the good one, not the baddie).

Starwars.com chatted with R2-D2 builder Chris James about what it feels like to be daddy to his own R2-D2.

Can you describe what the R2-D2 Builders group is all about?

We’re a loosely organized international group of fans who love to build droids and share them with the world. Founded in 1999, the club has continually striven to develop resources to allow others to accurately reproduce their own astromech droids. We know have almost 8,000 members, but I would say there’s closer to 500 active builders at any one time. We make all sort of astromechs, not just R2-D2, but that’s were our roots are. Some of you may have also seen R2-KT (R2KT.com); she was build by members of the club.

What tips did you give would-be builders at your WonderCon panel?

It’s hard to cover much in an hour, but we try and give an overview of what can be done, demo our droids, and cover the tools, different materials and skills needed to get started.

The four top tips are always — planning, patients, do lots of research, and know your limitations. Without following these basic tips you can quickly make some expensive mistakes. Oh! And the fifth tip — Don’t try stuffing the electronics from a Hasbro Interactive Droid in a life-size Artoo. You don’t want a 200 lb droid running you over.

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Toy Fair 2009: Hasbro Showroom Composite Image

StarWars.com Team | February 17, 2009

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We composited several photos to try and give fans an idea of the scope of Hasbro’s Toy Fair showroom presence this year. Since the showroom was accessible by invitation only, few at Toy Fair may be aware of the great new Star Wars offerings coming out in 2009. Go here to download a high-resolution version of the composite image above (click “original” at top).

To check out individual items, make sure to see the other Hasbro sets in our photo series here!

Toy Fair 2009: New Star Wars Galactic Heroes

StarWars.com Team | February 15, 2009

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You didn’t think we could pass up Hasbro’s booth without mentioning these irresistible little guys, did you?

Hasbro again delivers on the line that just aims to please with at least seven new 2-packs on deck, including some Clone Wars entries (the Clone Wars look translates very well to these little guys!). Head on over to our Flickr series to check these out!

Don’t miss our continuing photo coverage of all the Star Wars goodness appearing at New York’s Toy Fair this year!

Toy Fair 2009: Hasbro Vehicles, Role Play and Games

StarWars.com Team | February 15, 2009

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While vehicles usually top the list of wants for Star Wars toy fans and collectors (did you see our previous post for the new Turbo Tank — wow!!), the item that really impressed us this turn from Hasbro was actually a new role play toy — the Clone Commander Blaster. Hasbro took the idea of “Build Your Own Lightsaber” and translated it into a pretty nifty (and sizeable at 2.5 feet long!) blaster rifle that can come apart, be reconfigured, and includes light and sound effects when your re-attach the parts! Some pretty cool features that are new to the Star Wars toy galaxy that should please a lot of younger fans (and older — we couldn’t get enough of it!)

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Also pretty nifty was a remote-controlled Clone Wars Artoo that sports many of the same features as the small Japanese version released a few years ago but now much bigger — more on the scale of the 12-inch figure line, actually (although this is a Clone Wars deco’d version of the fiesty astromech). Finally, a new lightsaber, called “Duel Action”, actually might as well be called “Dual Action” — a second saber is hidden in the hilt and can be pulled out and attached to the end for a double-bladed saber. Pretty sneaky sis!

There are also two new additions to the Star Wars Transformers line (actually, these are Clone Wars entries), as well as a bunch of new games and 3D puzzles. Be sure to check these out, as well as Hasbro’s new vehicles plus all the rest of our photo coverage of the 2009 Toy Fair!

Toy Fair 2009: Hasbro’s Clone Wars Turbo Tank

StarWars.com Team | February 15, 2009

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We just got an eyeful of the new Turbo Tank from Hasbro, and man, this thing easily rivals the recent AT-TE in terms of sheer size and play value. There are lights, sounds, removeable parts, and even a speeder bike that fires out the front! Make sure check out our photo coverage of the new Turbo Tank, one of the first Star Wars vehicles with wheels!

For our full photo coverage of this year’s Toy Fair, click here!

Toy Fair 2009: Hasbro Action Figures

Pete Vilmur | February 15, 2009

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We start our Toy Fair coverage today with a peek inside Hasbro’s showroom at New York’s Toy Fair, currently underway beneath brilliant blue skies and near freezing temperatures!!

We’ll start by sharing the new Star Wars action figures they’ve got lined up for this year, which include several characters new and old from both the filmed saga and The Clone Wars. Some great additions here, especially from The Clone Wars line — Jabba the Hutt, Padme, Jar Jar, and Goldie the notorious astromech droid, to name a few. As for the classic, we were happy to see a little Ugnaught love coming from the Hasbro galaxy this year!

For Expanded Universe fans, check out the fantastic Lumiya complete with changeable head and lightwhip! A lot to look forward to from Hasbro this year, especially with new episodes of the Clone Wars adding fantastic new characters and vehicles to the line with each episode. Speaking of new vehicles, stay tuned for Hasbro’s big BIG release for this year with one of the few Star Wars vehicles that actually uses, yes, wheels (gasp!!).

Click here for our full photo coverage of the 2009 New York Toy Fair!

Force-Cast Holiday Special

StarWars.com Team | December 19, 2008

Just in time for the holidays, the awesome folks at Force-Cast have a treat for fans!

The Star Wars Encyclopedia is a big gift item this year and joining Force-Cast hosts Jason and Jimmy are its authors — Steve Sansweet, Pablo Hidalgo, Josh Kushins, and Mary Franklin (Hey Mary…Who spiked the egg nog?!?!?!?) And who is that poking around the tree? Why its OUR Santa, Derryl Depriest from Hasbro Lucasfilm brands to tell us what we can expect to find in our stockings this year. Plus listener birthdays and more as we celebrate the season with The Force-Cast Holiday Special!

LISTEN HERE: The Force-Cast Holiday Special (via TheForce.net)

Found on Ebay: Ultimate Ultimate Hasbro Falcon

Pete Vilmur | December 2, 2008

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Think Hasbro’s new Millennium Falcon toy was a huge cut above the original 1970’s version? Well, it looks like one enthusiast has upped the stakes and served up a professionally detailed, screen-accurate version of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy by enhancing the toy with some model-weathering know-how.

From the auction description:

This craft has been totally repainted by a professional and is now screen accurate! Lots of time and detail went it to authenticating the Falcon right down to is grill vents. References come from many sources to include Magic of Myth and productions stills. The cockpit is repainted to match up with the screen version and looks awesome! Pictures just don’t do this auction justice! The entrance ramp was repainted to look more like the movie version! Med bay was painted to look more realistic and most of the Falcon was weathered to give it that rustic feel that the ship truly had!

The auction closed without any bidders, but we’ll admit, we were pretty tempted to pick this up for the Online office! Check out the original auction here.

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“Heroes” Producer Reviews Millennium Falcon

StarWars.com Team | August 5, 2008

Get a full tour and review of the 2.5-foot Star Wars Legacy Collection Millennium Falcon from Hasbro, but none other than producer/writer Jesse Alexander. He’s worked on such geektastic shows as “Heroes,” “Alias” and “Lost” — and has the Emmy on his desk to prove it.

This is one of the best ways to check out Hasbro’s massively detailed Millennium Falcon. Jesse shows us what’s inside, what the buttons do when you push them, and gives us a preview of all the glorious sound files. He not only has this great video, but also writes out a few of his initial impressions about the Falcon here on Gizmodo:

This Falcon’s paint job is slick. And so detailed I’m guessing it must’ve been done by next-gen droids, or Jawa slave children with very small hands. All the tech in this Falcon is state of the art. She’s got sound effects up the gundark. Triggered via multiple buttons strategically placed around her sturdy Corellian hull. The orange light at the rear of the cockpit is cool. As is the sweet blue band of engine light that accompanies the jump to hyperspace. But my fave feature has to be the twin LED’s that illuminate when the boarding ramp slowly lowers at the touch of a button. Perfect for lighting up the squishy floor of any odd looking asteroid cave.

One can only hope this magnificent spice smuggler heralds an approaching renaissance from the boffins at Hasbro. The build quality, attention to detail, and sheer number of features on the Legacy Collection Falcon will raise the expectations of Star Wars Fans the republic over. Owning your own freighter ain’t cheap. You may need to sell your mint in-box landspeeder from ’77 to cover the cost. But she’s worth it. See you on the Kessel run! I think 11 parsecs is doable!

Watch the VIDEO review here:
Guest Review: Millennium Falcon Legacy Edition by ‘Heroes’ Producer Jesse Alexander (Gizmodo)