The Return of the Jedi Speeder Bike is badass. If any part in the movie sold toys in the entire Star Wars saga, it's the Speeder Bike scenes. Part of me wishes they got their own movie. The part that likes badass things. Of course Kenner was quick to introduce the toy as obviously every kid would want one. The toy was a pretty well done replica of the vehicle as seen on the movie.
Even with the limitations the classic 5 points of articulation imposed on it's design, the toy still looked the part. Newer toys of course have been more accurate, but I'm talking about the original. The spring loaded explosion was a great way to have a dramatic death of your own creation. Not even going to lie, I had Luke crash one into the Emperor. Much more satisfying than throwing him down a randomly placed hole in the Death Star... why was that there? Nobody thought to put a fence over it or anything?
It's Christmas time, I'm sure you've noticed. Another thing you may have noticed is all The Mandalorian merchandise available while you've been Christmas shopping. Star Wars has been synonymous with Christmas my entire life, which is probably why I was so welcome to the Disney movies (aside from Solo) being a Christmas season thing. It just seemed natural for new Stormtroopers to raid Walmart just in time for seasonal shopping.
The Mandalorian now has two seasons under it's belt, both of which dropped just in time for all those cool toys to be on wish lists. After all these years of my wife tolerating my love for Star Wars, now she's enjoying it quite a bit herself. So I can't help but to indulge her with every Baby Yoda thing we can get.
I think one thing about the show I definitely love is the redemption of Boba Fett. Trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible here, but he's on the show. He's on the show and he's a badass. I won't go into too many story details or anything, because a few of you may not know more than seeing folks talk about him on social media. But he's alive and he's the Boba Fett we all wanted him to be in the original movies.
Like others my age, Boba Fett was always the biggest bad ass in the galaxy. This was 100% due to him looking cool and having the best action figure. In the movies he was awesome, but didn't live up to the fanfare dorks like me produced. The prequels built on that a bit with the introduction of his father, Jango.
The various cartoons did as well with other Mandalorians. Then The Mandalorian comes along with a hero in that familiar armor and he's the bad ass my old Kenner action figure was. Though the actual Boba didn't get to shine as much as we wanted. Until now, anyway. Now he's the character we all said he was thankfully.
There's always a contingent of self righteous nerds who'll crap on Boba and anything else that has the nerve to be popular. They'll still have a problem with him... and The Mandalorian. Magically, go figure. But for us who love the guy, we're happy to see him get his moment. Also the show, it's a good show that does the legacy proud.
After what felt like an eternity after our purchasing the tickets in October, I saw the newest Star Wars movie last night. I went in completely excited and left completely happy. I won't go into anything that could be considered spoiler related but do plan to give my thoughts here. Star Wars transcends movies to me, it is something that I love and is very dear to me. It's the exact starting point for all of my interests and has always been something of a friend to me my entire life. I think of it as a family member and hold it in a special place.
The Last Jedi is a excellent movie that follows the warning that Luke gives in the trailer in that this is not going to be what you think. TLJ doesn't bow to fan speculation and outright dares to be what it intended to be. Something that I believe is the source of anger some feel towards the movie. I've noticed this time and time again and notice it again. When fans swear one thing and it end up being something else, they more than often don't handle it well. Myself, I was pleased. Not everything has to be more than it is. Sometimes a character can be who they are without the relation of another to lean on.
TLJ is a story about loss and redemption. It's a story about making mistakes and learning from them. It's a more story based movie that leans on characters learning their place in things. The story carries the characters into their respective individual arcs that's full of twists and as the trailer told us from the beginning, doesn't go as you think it will. That's the hook of the movie and where it's beauty resides.
Visually the movie is striking, with stark colors and mixing the themes of ugliness underneath/hidden beauty. It delivers a mix of warmth and love with dark cold violence. If I have any complaints is that a few bits of cgi looked like they could have been done better. Nothing major, to me anyway. Because once again, as the story tells us, it's what's below the surface that counts.
In all, I love the movie and am 5 million percent happy with what I saw. I love Star Wars and my happiness with a new movie each year cannot be beaten. Thank you Disney for giving me this world where I get this magical experience once a year.
