The Force Awakens Bits: Darth Vader's Post-Funeral Helmet, Samurai, Impressive Vines
Welcome back to The Force Awakens Bits, your ongoing source of assorted Star Wars: The Force Awakens news items. In today's edition:
As you already know, Kylo Ren has somehow managed to acquire the melted and twisted remains of Darth Vader's helmet, rescued from Anakin Skywalker's funeral pyre on Endor. What he doesn't know is that he has the wrong helmet. We now know this because David Prowse, the actor who actually wore the Darth Vader suit in all three films of the original trilogy, has the burnt remains of the costume from the original Return of the Jedi shoot and he shared picture of them on Facebook. Not quite as cinematic as the movie version, huh? Instead of looking like a broken monument, it looks more like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
If you want to gaze upon a helmet that isn't totally disgusting, there's always Anovos' new Captain Phasma helmet replica, which is officially available for pre-order. The $799 price tag may be nothing short of obscene, but man, it sure is gorgeous. Here's what this thing includes:
A new StarWars.com article has revealed that more than a few familiar voices play small roles in The Force Awakens. You may have already known that Kevin Smith cameos as the voice of a Stormtrooper, but did you catch Sam Witwer and James Arnold Taylor, who voice Emperor Palpatine and Obi Wan Kenobi on Star Wars: The Clone Wars as Stormtroopers during the attack on the Jakku village? And there's Matt Lanter, best known as Anakan Skywalker on The Clone Wars, voicing a Stormtrooper during the action at Maz Kanta's castle. As for the Stormtrooper who won our hearts by engaging Finn in hand-to-hand combat? That's Lucasfilm sound designer David Acord. And, perhaps most importantly, the short-lived X-Wing pilot Ello Asty is voiced by Matthew Wood, better known as the voice of General Grievous from the prequel trilogy.
You can find the complete list of voice cameos at the link above.
Look, we know you've probably tossed and turned in bed some nights, wondering what would happen if Wall-E somehow managed to end up in the Star Wars universe. You probably didn't see that coming. thanks, Berds and Nerds.
Look, if you say "Hey, come check out these Star Wars Vines!", I'll be perfectly honest and admit that my first reaction would be to run as fast as possible in the other direction. But we'll hand it to Viner Wahyu Ichwandari (AKA, Pinot) – this is some seriously impressive work.
io9 has assembled a fun list of 24 theories pertaining the parentage of Daisy Ridley's Rey. The range from the totally reasonable (she's the daughter of Luke Skywalker) to the implausible (she's the spawn of Obi-Wan Kenobi) to the completely insane (she's the daughter of Mara Jade, an old expanded universe character who has been erased from the Star Wars continuity). Our personal favorites are the two theories that suggest she is either a clone/reincarnation of Anakin Skywalker or Emperor Palpatine, because those are just too bonkers to ignore.
Although it's no secret that The Force Awakens has been struggling in China, it's been a gigantic hit in other corners of the Asian market, where the Star Wars series is better known and beloved. Take Japan, where the sequel has grossed $81.4 million so far. However, all reigns must come to an end and The Hollywood Reporter says that it has finally been dethroned after over a month at the top of the box office by Nobunaga Concerto, a time-traveling Samurai drama.
LEGO has released a short video following a LEGO Poe Dameron as he flies his LEGO X-Wing in a battle against some LEGO Stormtroopers and their LEGO First Order Snow Speeder. Do you want to buy some LEGOs now? Maybe some Star Wars LEGOs? You know you do. They have you now.
Every fandom under the sun eventually has artists reimagine its characters as coming from a different time or place, but there's something so right about Star Wars characters being redesigned as being from Feudal Japan. After all, George Lucas drew a great deal of inspiration for the original film from the work of director Akira Kurosawa. Artist Nikolas A. Draper-Ivey has shared some of his very cool work on his Tumblr, which finds Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Captain Phasma transformed into Samurai. Oh, and there's a Rebel Shiba, too. Because this is the internet.