Star Wars Bits: Funko Pop! Retro, VR Pinball, War Of The Bounty Hunters, The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary, And More!

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

Based on classic '70s Star Wars comic art, a new Star Wars Retro Series brings Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper, and C-3PO back to Funko's Pop! line in a dazzling, vibrant way. Available exclusively at Target.

Star Wars Pinball VR is available for Oculus Quest 2, Oculus Quest, Steam VR, and PlayStation VR, and comes with nine tables, including the newly-added Han Solo table. The game also features a fully customizable "fan cave," which houses your pinball table as well as many Star Wars helmets, blasters, lightsabers, and other items earned through play. A great gift for Father's Day, Star Wars Pinball VR is available from Zen Studios.

From Titan Magazines, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary Special gives readers an in-depth look at how George Lucas expanded the saga with new environments such as Hoth and Cloud City, and new characters like Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett, and Yoda. It also includes comments from the cast and crew involved in the making of the film, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. StarWars.com has an exclusive excerpt from the 144-page special publication. Here's a snippet:

As he did for A New Hope, George Lucas made a list of planets in his notes when he started imagining the sequel. Among them, he named: the Wookiee planet—on which production illustrator Ralph McQuarrie started working since he signed his contract in October 1977, but that would not appear in the film; a gas planet called Hoth—which would later become Bespin where Lando's Cloud City floats; and a generic "Ice Planet". It was only in the second draft of the script in 1978 that the name was assigned to the actual ice planet where the rebels would set up their new outpost. From the Ice Kingdom of Mongo featured in Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon comics series (March 12, 1939 to April 7, 1940) to Howard Hawks's The Thing from Another World (1951), several influences shaped Hoth's concept and development. This is how Lucas himself described the planet in 1977: "We could start on the Ice Planet, which would be striking. We've never been there before, an underground installation in a giant snow bank. Very hostile, with wind blowing around and the cold."

According to The Ronin, French production designer Aline Bonetto (Amélie, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman 1984) will be reuniting with director Patty Jenkins for Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. Scheduled for theatrical release on December 22, 2023, the film "will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride."

The Ronin further speculates that Wonder Woman cinematographer Matthew Jensen could potentially join Rogue Squadron after lensing several episodes of season 2 of The Mandalorian, including "The Believer," "The Siege," and "The Heiress."

Jenkins has stated Rogue Squadron will be an original story that draws on elements from various stories from Star Wars Legends (formerly known as the Expanded Universe), with Lucasfilm indicating the movie will be set in a "future era" after the events of the Sequel Trilogy.

In "Rampage," the Bad Batch travels to Ord Mantell and connects with Cid, a Trandoshan informant who can identify the bounty hunter hot on their trail. In exchange for the intel, the Bad Batch agrees to rescue a captive from a slave trader. Of course, Cid forgot to mention that the captive is a juvenile Rancor – like Jabba's pet beast seen in 1983's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Here are five highlights from the episode, courtesy of StarWars.com.

Marvel's War of the Bounty Hunters centers around Boba Fett's journey to bring Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt following the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. In StarWars.com's exclusive preview of War of the Bounty Hunters #13, C-3PO and Chewbacca follow the trail to the smuggler's moon Nar Shaddaa. The issue, from writer Ethan Sacks and artist Paolo Villanelli, with a cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli, arrives June 9.

Speaking of Marvel's comic crossover event, another major character from 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story just made an appearance in War of the Bounty Hunters. Check out the video below from Star Wars Explained for all the details.

Let's keep the Solo love going with Live Action Star Wars, a new podcast from James Hewlett and Ralph Apel. In their very first episode, James and Ralph go in-depth on Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, discussing their favorite aspects of the film, the music, the locations, and their mutual love for this underrated Star Wars film!

A Russian Star Wars fan built a life-size replica of the Razor Crest, the gunship piloted by Din Djarin on The Mandalorian. Construction took over a year to complete, due to financial and logistical difficulties – the builder's friend even sold his car to help with fund the project. The finished replica is approximately 46 feet long, 33 feet wide, 13 feet tall, and weighs over a ton. Check out a time-lapse video of the build below!

WATCH: A fan of the "Star Wars" TV series "The Mandalorian" built a replica of the Razor Crest gunship in Russia. pic.twitter.com/tdGtlPl9rq

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 11, 2021

And that's it for this edition of Star Wars Bits! If you have something cool from the Star Wars universe that should be included in this column, reach out on Twitter!