Enjoy Star Wars all summer long with SwimWays pool toys

**A Geek Daddy received the featured products for free**

We received a great May the Fourth treat from the nice folks at SwimWays who sent us some samples of their pool toys to help celebrate Star Wars Day.  Unfortunately, May in Michigan is still a bit too cold for swimming but SwimWays gesture still helped make our May the Fourth a "water-full" day!  My kids can't wait for summer weather to arrive so we can go swimming and enjoy these wonderful Star Wars themed pool toys and floats that this leisure and recreational water products manufacturer sent our family to try out.

A Geek Daddy's box of goodies from SwimWays included noodle lightsabers, dive ships, pool floats and a light up Death Star beach ball:

STAR WARS MILLENNIUM FALCON RIDE-ON

Blast through the pool just like Millennium Falcon co-pilots Han Solo and Chewbacca on the Star Wars Millennium Falcon Ride-On. This durable vinyl ride-on features 2 heavy-duty grab handles.  Inflatable float is over 5 feet long! Actual inflated dimensions are 61 in. X 46 in. X 13 in. 

STAR WARS DIVE SHIPS

Star Wars Dive Ships from SwimWays are a collection of 3-D molded dive sticks featuring popular ships from the Star Wars movies! Great water toys for swim practice to encourage new swimmers or to play with out of the pool on a rainy day. This set of dive toys comes in the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode 7) packaging, making it a great gift for the Star Wars collector, too! Three ships in every pack, one each of Tie Fighter, Millennium Falcon and X-Wing Fighter.

STAR WARS SPRING FLOAT KIDS’ BOAT

The Star Wars Spring Float Kid's Boat from SwimWays is a float designed for the way kids really like to play! This durable pool float for kids has fabric-covered inflation, Star Wars graphics kids love on the comfortable mesh seat, and side handles that are easy to grip. They can ride the float on their belly, sit up in the float, or lay back and relax. The patented inner spring sewn into the outer edge of the float adds comfort and stability in the water, and makes folding and unfolding the float a snap. Folds flat and compact into the included carry tote, making this a great choice for travel, too! One float per pack.  

STAR WARS LIGHT-UP BEACH BALL

There's no escape from the Galactic Empire when the Star Wars Death Star Light-Up Beach Ball from SwimWays invades your pool! This inflatable beach ball looks like the infamous spacecraft from the Star Wars films. Impact-activated LED lights inside create a cool nighttime effect and show off the details of the Death Star graphics. Grab a few for your next Star Wars themed party - your guests will love it! Also makes a fun gift for the Star Wars collector. Includes (non-replaceable) button cell batteries. Sold individually. 

STAR WARS NOODLE LIGHTSABER

Wage an epic battle between good and evil with the SwimWays Star Wars Noodle Lightsaber! These pool noodle toys have lightsaber grips at the bottom and a foam noodle on top, so you can display your fighting skills in the water or on dry land. Choose from blue (Luke Skywalker), green (Yoda) or red (Darth Vader). Sold individually. 

CLICK HERE to check out all the Star Wars products available from SwimWays and for more information regarding pricing and availability of these really fun pool toys and floats. 

#MayTheFourthBeWithYou #StarWarsDay

Chewbacca comic book mini-series answers nearly 40 year old question about original Star Wars movie

Marvel wrapped up the first year of its new run of original Star Wars comics by answering a question that has been on fans' minds ever since the original movie debuted in 1977.  In the closing sequence of the film why didn't Chewbacca get a medal along with his buddies Luke Skywalker and Han Solo?

Come on even George Lucas got a medal!

Well in the concluding edition of a recent five issue Chewbacca themed comic book mini-series story arc from Marvel that hit store shelves on December 30, 2015 that nagging question has finally been answered. This story by writer Gerry Duggan and artist Phil Noto involves Chewie heading back to his home world of Kashyyyk shortly after the events that transpired in A New Hope, but his transportation has some technical difficulties in route that leads to him crash landing on an Imperial occupied planet Andelm IV.  He then becomes embroiled in an adventure to help a teenage girl named Zarro save her friends and family from being enslaved in a gangster's mining racket that provides military supplies to the Empire.  In CHEWBACCA #5 this duo ultimately saves the day and as Zarro remarks in her goodbye to the Wookiee as he prepares to head home that she wished she had some acknowledgment or recognition for her heroic actions that saved the planet's inhabitants from a life of slavery.  In his Wookiee howls, growls and barks, Chewbacca communicates that displaying medals goes against the warrior nature of his species. He then hands Zarro a gift he pulls from his spaceship just before he departs for Kashyyyk...his medal, like the one seen worn by Luke and Han at the end of Star Wars, that he also was given following the ceremony celebrating the destruction of the Death Star.

So there you have it!  A new bit of Star Wars canon was just added to the saga acknowledging that Chewbacca was respected for his contributions in rescuing Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star but because Wookiees have a cultural aversion to being presented with medals he was provided with his privately at the conclusion of the ceremony.  So for all those fans who were distressed that the Wookiee had been dissed by his human counterparts don't be dismayed because it appears according to Chewbacca that medals are for sissies not real warriors so he really didn't want one in the first place.  So in a touching conclusion to Marvel's Chewbacca comic book mini-series a courageous teenage girl gets to enjoy and cherish a Medal of Bravery that will always remind her of a very special Wookiee who befriended her. 

Star Wars Fan Creates Impressive Web Comic Honoring a Favorite Scene From the Movie "Return of the Jedi"

Chicago-based free lance artist and illustrator Daniel Warren Johnson took some time away from his popular sci-fi webcomic SPACE-MULLET to pay tribute to a favorite scene of his from Return of the Jedi by sketching out an impressive story that gives some life to the pilot that crashed his A-Wing fighter into the bridge of a Star Destroyer during the Battle of Endor.  "For some reason, this A wing pilot MOVED me," noted Johnson. "Everything about this part of Return of the Jedi made me want to DRAW and CREATE. This is a fan fiction comic I made ...  because I love this scene and I love comics."  His work GREEN LEADER provides an excellent portrayal of the human element of a character who had only a brief few seconds of screen time in the movie but obviously made a memorable impact on the artist.

Enjoy a few panels from GREEN LEADER:

CLICK HERE to view the GREEN LEADER comic in its entirety on Daniel Warren Johnson's SPACE-MULLET website.  If you enjoy Johnson's work, check out Space-Mullet which  is an episodic style online digital comic about a washed up, Ex-Space Marine trucker named Jonah, and his alien co-pilot, Alphius. Together they do their best (and usually fail) to do good throughout the galaxy. The Space-Mullet web comic is updated on Mondays and Thursdays each week.

Star Wars Battle Pod Video Game Flies Into Arcades January 2015

With the proliferation of home video game consoles and the fact that most phones probably have at least one game loaded on them (I happen to have Angry Birds: Star Wars and Star Wars Pinball on my iPhone) you wouldn't consider there to be much of a market for manufacturers to be creating new video arcade games.   Bandai Namco Games Inc. is betting that arcades aren't dead just yet though and has invested in a brand new video game titled Star Wars: Battle Pod.  It allows players to take command of vehicles from the original trilogy of films such as X-wings, the Millennium Falcon, snowspeeders, and speederbikes and race through digitally reproduced scenes from the movies in arcade-exclusive game play beginning in January 2015 within the United States and a global release will follow later in the year.   The Battle Pod features a unique dome screen enveloping a player's entire area of sight that leaving him or her with a sense of actually piloting and taking part in scenes from the film.

"The Star Wars universe is a vast galaxy of memorable experiences and epic storylines and we intend to put that level of fun and control in the hands of fans with Star Wars: Battle Pod," said Satoshi Oshita, president and CEO of Namdai Namco Game Inc., in the announcement release promoting this new video game. "Players can jump right in to true-to-film battles on Endor, Hoth, Death Star II, Yavin, and more."

Today's arcades are different than the ones I went to as a kid.  They are much more focused on providing "experiences" rather than actual game play because it is too easy to play games at home or on the go now.  But you currently can't replicate racing on a mechanical jetski or motorcycle (which seem to be some of the more popular games when my kids and I go to the arcade) in your living room or on a phone.  So in that same light this new Star Wars video game provides a visual experience with its multi-dimensional screen that can't currently be replicated outside of the arcade.  From the video previews it appears this game really lets players become immersed in the Star Wars scenario they select and live out a scene from the movies rather than trying to "win" a game or beat levels.  It appears for a set amount of money you are guaranteed to complete your selected mission in  one take versus having to spends lots of hours and tons of quarters trying to get from one level to the next.

In an interview about Star Wars Battle Pods with John McKenzie, president of Bandai Namco Amusement America and Europe by Polygon.com it was noted by the gaming company executive that there would be five levels to the game that each are designed to be accomplished in one sitting so players can enjoy it within a set amount of time for a set amount of money.  "When you go into an arcade you need something that delivers an experience you can't get at home," McKenzie said. "That typically means these much bigger, experiential titles. Games that feel almost like a theater experience or augmented reality, rather than simply something you play for fun. The added benefit of a game like Battle Pod is that it delivers a set experience, typically three to four minutes long, for a set price."



The Battle Pod game will feature five separate scenes to select from key moments in the original trilogy of Star Wars movies and each featuring a different memorable vehicle relevant to that scenario.  In Endor, players race through the forest moon on speeder bikes.  There is a Death Star II scene where you race around and through the space station in the Millennium Falcon.  You try to repel the Imperial attack of the Rebel base on Hoth in a snow speeder.  You can also pick from either Darth Vader's TIE fighter or Luke Skywalker's X-wing to reenact the famous Deathstar space battle from the original Star Wars movie.

So keep an eye out at places like Dave & Busters or Chuck E Cheese for this new video game. It looks pretty darn cool!  I know for sure my kids and I will be on the look out for it.