See the Star Wars Movies LEGOized on Disney XD

Cartoon Network and Disney's cable network equivalent, Disney XD, have featured over the years LEGO themed television specials called the YODA CHRONICLES that are a fun spoof of the Star Wars space opera.  These humorous adventures are a show that my kids and I equally enjoy and it is always nice to be able to watch a show together that everyone in the family likes (yes we even find my wife who claims to not really like Star Wars sitting on the couch with us whenever these shows come on chuckling at the jokes and slapstick humor in them).  So we were all really excited to hear that based upon the popularity of the YODA CHRONICLES and the new animated hit series STAR WARS: REBELS that Disney XD to help promote the upcoming feature film STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS will be retelling the original six movies in half hour LEGOized tv specials.

LEGO / STAR WARS: DROID TALES which will air on Disney XD later this year will consist of five 22-minute episodes that will re-tell the Star Wars saga in chronological order from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace through Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.  Taking place in a LEGO universe, Droid Tales will start with R2D2 and C3PO beginning to tell the Star Wars story from their perspective during the victory celebration at the Ewok village on Endor that took place at the conclusion of Return of the Jedi.  An accidental kidnapping occurs while the droids are reminiscing and viewers are taken on a new adventure that leads to encounters with familiar faces and places that prompt the retelling of the entire saga.

Through a press release, Jill Wilfert, vice president of licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group, provides some insight into this new LEGO/STAR WARS collaboration:

Since we introduced our first LEGO Star Wars set in 1999, we have seen and heard from countless Star Wars fans who have used LEGO bricks to tell their own version of this timeless story, re-enacting favorite scenes and imagining new story lines.  LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales gives us an opportunity to share highlights of the Star Wars story with a sense of humor and excitement that can only be conveyed through the LEGO brick, and will be a fun resource for families as they gear up for the next movie.

Keep your eyes peeled for more information about when LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales will be airing on Disney XD as the countdown for The Force Awakens December premiere begins.

Aspiring Athletic Wear Designer Creates Stellar Star Wars Themed Soccer Uniforms

The indoor soccer team I play on thought we were sporting some great jerseys when we selected the stormtrooper themed shirt pictured above to wear during games for our most recent season.  We were put to shame though by an aspiring clothing designer named Nerea Palacios who has showcased a line of Star Wars themed soccer kits (what serious players and fans call uniforms) on her website that are pretty fantastic.  Hoping to garner the attention of Nike or another sporting attire brand to hire her to professionally design soccer kits, Palacios created a number of outfits tied to specific Star Wars characters to demonstrate her talents and gain some attention.

The soccer kit themes include Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-wan Kenobi, R2-D2, C-3P0, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and Stormtrooper.  All of them are impressive, most impressive ... though my favorites out of the bunch are the the droids R2-D2 and C-3P0.

To check out the full gallery of her Star Wars soccer kits visit www.behance.net/nereapalcacios.  Good luck with your job hunt and fashion designing career Nerea - May the Force be with You!

New STAR WARS Pinball Tables coming from Zen Studios

I've appreciated playing a good game of pinball on a "real machine" since my college days where I diverted a lot of quarters from my laundry money to the Star Wars pinball machine in my college dorm's student lounge.  Unfortunately, it can be cost or space prohibitive to own one in your own home, and you don't see pin ball machines featured at restaurants, movie theaters and other public establishments to play when you are out and about as much as you used to.  In fact there are only 2 manufacturers left of traditional pinball machines, long time manufacturer STERN (whose current table models include Avengers, Star Trek, Transformers, and the Ford Mustang themes) and a new start up company called Jersey Jack Pinball that has the licenses to create Wizard of OZ and Hobbit branded ones.  If you can't play the real thing you may want to check out the video game versions.

One of the leaders in producing digital pinball games is ZEN STUDIOS.  Zen Studios has the license for Marvel Comics and has made some great themed boards for Captain America, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman & Wolverine).  They also have the license for STAR WARS which I wrote about in an earlier post.  I've downloaded their Star Wars pinball tables on my iPhone and iPad (one complaint is that you can't download compatible tables for each ios format and have to buy the same table twice if you want to be able to play it on both devices) and have found them a fun way to pass some time.  They've had two releases of games so far with each generation of the game being enhanced with new features to make it more fun to play than the previous ones.  The first round of games featured one of my favorite Star Wars characters (Boba Fett),  my least favorite part of Star Wars (The Clones Wars) and the best Star Wars movie (Empire Strikes Back) themed pinball boards.  The second round featured some really impressive boards that included Darth Vader, Xwings versus Tie Fighters, and Return of the Jedi.  Now a third and final round of games is scheduled to come out for Spring 2014 that look to be the most impressive yet.

The new round of pin ball tables by Zen Studios will be titled "STAR WARS PINBALL: HEROES WITHIN" will feature FOUR brand new games with Han Solo, Droids: The Adventures of R2D2 & C3PO, Masters of the Force and Episode IV: A New Hope themes.  From the teasers I've seen they are going to feature more 3D character interactions than past games and a new in-table mini game feature that look really impressive.  The STAR WARS PINBALL: HEROES WITHIN games will be available for Playstation 4, Playstation 3, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Steam, IOS, Google Play, Amazon, and the Mac App Store.  The actual release date and information on some of the pinball tables has yet to be announced yet so keep an eye out for game teasers and the date when they will go on sale.

Some images and video of the HAN SOLO game have been made public and it looks to be a blast to play. The game leads off with the famous movie line by the character, "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side", so you know you're in for some classic Star Wars fun.  Include the games theme music as the Cantina Band from the original Star Wars movie and scenes of Chewbacca jumping across the table interacting with your game and this pinball action looks to be a wild ride!

The Episode IV game looks to be geared towards die-hard Star Wars fans too with lots of 3D elements taken from the movie and a great mini-game featuring the trash compactor scene from the Death Star. Check out these screen captures:

This screen capture from Droids also has a classic Star Wars vibe to it:

* Screen captures courtesy of Zen Studios and LucasArts for game promotional purposes.

If you enjoy pinball and appreciate the classic Star Wars movies and characters you'll absolutely want to check out these new Zen Studios games coming out soon. Check out this video trailer from AOL for the new Episode IV: A New Hope pinball game and for more information, visit:  www.starwarspinball.com