What happens when a Korean cell phone company needs to advertise their new WARP feature? They use Darth Vader, of course! And a perfect allegory for data flowing through the intertubes is… Stormtroopers waiting in line for the restroom. Ok, we’ll go with it. Sure, maybe Vader should have his own personal restroom, but then we wouldn’t get to see his little “I need to use the bathroom” dance. Which is, frankly, the only reason you’re watching this anyway, am I right?

Seen via Topless Robot

It’s been nearly two years since I first wrote about Star Wars Uncut, the full-length feature consisting entirely of 15 second homemade clips in an attempt to recreate Episode IV: A New Hope as it was meant to be told, complete with campy acting and low-budget special effects. Personally I found the film to be equally hilarious, and painful to watch, but the very concept remains brilliant.  Recently, director Casey Pugh made a special directors cut available to stream online in its entirety. Funny, you’d think a film touting itself as being “uncut,” would, by definition, be the directors cut — I wonder how that works.  You can watch it here, but for more information on the project, check out their official site here.

[via movieviral]

Volkswagon uploaded a teaser for their 2012 Game Day commercial entitled “The Bark Side.” The short features a group of adorable pups barking out John Williams’ “Imperial March,” with complete with some ATAT-cosplay at the end. The whole commercial is beyond adorable, and while I’m not sure what it has to do with selling cars, there’s no denying how awesome it is. In the span of a few short hours, the clip has attracted 50,000 views.  To learn more, check out Volkswagon’s official game day invite page here.

Released only for the Japanese Sharp X68000 computer in 1991 from MNM Software, here’s a unique adaptation of the classic Star Wars arcade game rendered in vector graphics:

You may remember me mentioning an awesome Skeletor/Darth Vader mask a while back. It was part of HalloweenCostumes.com’s Vader Helmet Art Contest, and guess what? Now you have a chance to own it, or one of many other fantastic Vader helmets that are going up for auction. 24 artists were selected to create a custom Darth Vader helmet, and on February 7th, they’ll go up for auction on HalloweenCostume’s site. All proceeds will be going to the Midwest Art Catalyst and The Miracle League of North Mankato. Click through for a gallery of some of the helmets!

Some of you may be excited for the upcoming February re-release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D. I don’t really fall into that camp, but I’m still interested in the process behind it and the fan reaction to it. I like observing pop culture and fanbases. I also enjoy a solid poster, and with movie releases come movie posters. So what have we got to promote Episode I 3D? 2 cool posters and 3 over-Photoshopped posters.

There’s a very heavy Darth Maul presence in these posters. Perhaps they’re making up for the lack of him in the actual film? The close-up poster of Maul with overlaid text is pretty nice and reminds me a bit of the memorable Social Network poster. The podrace poster is also very eye-catching and does of a good job reminding you of one of the best parts of the film. The rest are the typical lightsaber-infused, floating-face laden posters I would usually expect. Since this is the second time around, why not let the designers go a little more crazy – maybe try something a little more unique, in line with the podrace or Maul posters? Maybe next time!

Ever wonder if droids felt things too? In the touchy-feely way? Paperbeatscissors, aka Chris Gerringer, wondered that too and recently made a series of 8 prints featuring iconic Star Wars droids and some thoughtful type. These are pretty unique, and I love the solid bright, saturated colors. Looking for something a little more introspective to hang on your wall? These might be the ticket.

You can purchase these prints on Chris’ Society6 page. His official site is here.

Photographer Dale May is currently having an excellent exhibition at the Samuel Owen Gallery in Connecticut (it runs until Jan 19th), called LEGO WARS. Tons of fantastic pieces are on display and for sale, but the one that caught my eye was the X-Ray Trooper. It’s a really neat setup, it’s even displayed on a lightbox for full authenticity! It makes me strangely happy to know that there is a LEGO Star Wars gallery on display in this world.

You can purchase this piece on its own at 48″ x 24″ for $2600, or 72″ x 36″ for $5800. Pocket change, right? Well, want to go bigger? Buy the 30″ x 40″ lightbox version for $7200. Check out the rest of his work for the gallery on the Samuel Owen Gallery site, or check it out in person!

The French fast food chain Quick is about to introduce a line of Star Wars themed burgers in the first quarter of 2012. For one month three different burgers will be offered: The Dark Burger (red), the Jedi Burger (green) and my favorite the Darth Vader Burger which features a black bun.

Found via mintinbox.net.

Here’s bit of sad news to start out the new year. Bob Anderson, Hollywood Sword Master and former Sith Lord passed away on Monday. The 89 year-old Olympian choreographed some of Hollywood’s most memorable fights, but is best known for his role as Darth Vader, having donned the mask for many of his iconic duels.

The number of awesome films he’s contributed to over the years is truly staggering. Films like Highlander, Die Another Day, and From Russia with Love, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Princess Bride — the list goes on. In addition to having competed in the 1952 Olympics, Anderson served as a member of Britain’s elite Royal Marines during World War II, suffice to say he lived quite the life. The man was incredibly talented and he’ll truly be missed.

Looking for another quirky t-shirt for your already large collection? 6amCrisis brings us an excellent Star Wars shirt with a great coat of arms design featuring the most important members of the Skywalker family. Some might ask where Padme is – to them I respond: who? Ok, joking aside, this is a pretty great shirt, and a nice plus is you can choose which color you prefer. You can also get it as an iPhone case or baby’s clothing (huh?). Check his redbubble profile for more awesome work!

It’s funny I always remember my sense of disappointment as a kid when looking at the amazing realistic cover art on videogames of that era and seeing what I perceived as the terrible lack of quality as to the 8-bit images that I’d see on the screen: So it’s a bit of a joy to reverse that in my later years and embrace the ugly pixels of days past. This 8-bit t-shirt collection does a nice job of taking Star Wars characters and converting them down from 70mm to good old fashioned 8-bit:

8-Bit Bounty Hunters

Vader Strangle Pixels

8-Bit Sand People

8-Bit Falcon

8-Bit Droid Probe

Star Wars: The Old Republic hit the ground running this week and despite some crowded servers, its reception so far is seemingly positive. At a distance, the game may resemble World of Warcraft more ways than one. Visually, both titles might appeal to the lowest common denominator, in that they’re designed function with the average PC, yet feature beautifully crafted opening sequences. Being that they’re MMORPGs, both titles feature an ability-based interface and similar gameplay mechanics. However, one area in which The Old Republic really shines is its ability to tell a story. World of Warcraft has some incredibly deep lore, and the while the story is well-told, Bioware really excels. Here’s a documentary to explain why.

This falls into that category of “too cool not to post.” Ever want to see a bunch of Jedi ninjas battle to the death? Well, thanks to directors James Mark, Justin Lovell, you’ll get to. Featuring the martial arts performance squad Team 2X, this awesome short aims to recreate some of the stylized lightsaber combat featured in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. It’s very reminiscent of those over-the-top lightsaber battles from the latest trilogy, but you have to admit those lightsaber duels were probably the best part of the films. Be sure to watch the clip all the way through, as there’s a pretty funny reveal around two minutes and twenty seconds in.

I love finding beautiful or cool art prints online. There’s always something new and exciting popping up, you just have to keep your eyes open. And I’m glad my eyes caught this poster by Victor Vercesi! He recently created a great custom Star Wars print featuring everyone’s favorite green bounty hunter, Boba Fett. I’m particularly fond of the integrated logo – solid work all around. It’s available on his Society6 page for purchase.

Check out this neat little recreation of the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back by youtube user TheToma69. It was crafted using Xbox Live! Arcade’s FortressCraft. I’m sure some of you probably wondering what that is, and the answer is yes, it’s just another MineCraft clone, but it also happens to be the highest grossing indie title on Xbox Live, and I’d say this was pretty good for something built on a home console.

Everything seems to be included, such as AT-ATs, a Rebel snowspeeder, and even some of the interior sets from the Hoth base itself. Again, not as robust as some of the stuff I’ve seen from MineCraft users, but not bad for a console clone.

I don’t know exactly how many motorcycle-riders are die-hard Star Wars fans, but there must be more than I expected, because UD Replicas is releasing an incredibly authentic-looking Stormtrooper motorcycle suit. Crafted from grade-A cowhide and featuring a huge amount form molded details, at first I thought I was looking at one of the usual plastic costumes you see online. But no, it’s all leather. And if white isn’t your color, a Shadow Trooper variant is also available. Only downside? The helmet is only a prop. Sorry, no Star Wars motorcycle helmets yet!

The suits will be out in the 2nd quarter of 2012 (aka somewhere in the ‘April to June’ timeframe), it’s limited to a run of 500, and you need to put a preorder in for one by January 31st. How much is the whole suit going to cost you? $1165 CDN, or about $1145 USD! Better start saving if you want to ride on the Dark Side.

When Halloweencostumes.com picked Ryan Renders as one of 25 artists to create custom Darth Vader helmets for charity, he leapt into action. What resulted is one of the coolest custom busts I’ve seen (and there have been a lot of custom Vader helmets floating around). Taking the original iconic Darth Vader helmet and giving it a colorful spin like this is great – especially since it’s for charity. It looks like a professional piece, and there are a lot of little touches that you might want to take notice of, such as the Imperial symbol in the chestpiece and Vader’s lightsaber handle serving as the sword’s grip. This is definitely something I could see sitting on my mantle!

Seen on Tiefighters.com

These wonderfully whimsical Star Wars applique stitchery pieces are the handy work of Chelsea Bloxsom who goes by the stitching tag name loveandasandwich (her Etsy shop is here):

Found via craftzine.com and feelingstitchy.com.

Have you ever wanted some art to spiff up your geek abode? Finding excellent art prints of your favorite movie or book isn’t hard these days, but every once in a while you catch a glimpse of something truly special. Case in point: Steve Bialik’s delightful Samurai Star Wars prints. These six 11″ x 27″ prints feature several popular Star Wars characters reinterpreted in the style of traditional Japanese art. It’s quite an interesting circle, given the inspiration Star Wars took from Japanese history (something that was probably the basis for these prints). One thing I must note is the fantastic use of color in these – I particularly like the “Emperor” and “Jabba the Hutt” prints, they’re really eye-catching. These would make great pieces for any fan’s home, so if you’re interested in any of these, be sure to check out Steve’s site where he has them available for purchase.

Found via Kelly Cheatle

Oh sure anybody can make a plain old gingerbread house for the holidays! However fangurl supreme Rachel Klemek created this yummy AT-AT which can feed several hungry rebels. Rachel is based out of Irvine, California and you can find her cool website here.

The year is 1980 and what you don’t quite understand as young fanboy is that your parents are dealing with a recession — so while you dream of giant Kenner playlets for your Land of the Jawas playset action figures instead you settle for using your imagination! Or at least that’s what your cash strapped parents told you to do, so alas the sandbox became Tatooine and when you were lucky to get a snow storm it was time to play on planet Hoth. Well through some magic we’ve come across three amazing vintage Kenner playsets from 1979 and 1980 — a magical time when the hype and merchandise machine for The Empire Strikes back was going into high gear:

The Kenner Star Wars Death Star Space Station (1979)

I’m really glad that Kenner mentioned that the Death Star was in fact a space station so your poor parents wouldn’t be confused when they were looking for something the size of a small planet. What I love about this cover is that we have it all: A Stormtrooper fires an impressive looking gun out of a window, underneath him we’ve got Luke and the Princess cheering on Darth and Obi Wan doing their lightsaber thing and then below we’ve got Han hanging out with Chewie and the trash while our two droids exit the elevator shaft. And to drive home just how cool this all is — two kids can play with the same toy and be 100% oblivious to each other.

And the back of the box features a groovy traced inked illustration of the front of the box. But what’s on the inside? Well here are a few of the surviving bits of the “space station”:

That’s right kids: Put that painted cardboard together and recreate your own Death Star! By the way I really feel sorry for the poor parents who didn’t read the fine print and didn’t realize that poor Timmy would need to have his own action figures in his existing collection. And here’s a vintage commercial showing the playset in action:

The Kenner Star Wars Land of the Jawas Action Playset (1979)

Our box cover features a solo child looking at an action packed droid flea-market! And as into emphasize the scale of the scene a giant Sandcrawler sits in the background. Notice how you get the idea that there must be something really cool on the inside of the Sandcrawler — after all there seem to be nothing but Jawas and droids coming out of it.

Now I’ve got to be honest: The desert in the foreground doesn’t look half bad when we get the box open — but that Sandcrawler seems a little bit shabby. So let’s take a closer look inside our Sandcrawler:

Man I knew those Jawas were able to drive a hard bargain — but I had no idea that their impressive vehicle was just a mere prop! But to be fair the “parts list” is well done enough to do double duty as a poster for any young fanboy who likes to do some coloring on the side:

And here’s a video tour of our playset:

The Kenner Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Playset (1980)

Clearly by 1980 the marketing department at Kenner was getting smarter at their package design: If you crop the picture of the kid out your audience can imagine themselves playing with the toy while you save the expense of a model release form. What I love about this shot is that there’s no mixing of non-snowgear clad action figures wandering on to the adventure set as they would in the real world world no doubt. And of course there is no mere “playset” but an ADVENTURE SET. And clearly you can see a dogfight going on above our AT-AT Walker. But now on to the reality inside the box:

I have to say that while this is cheap looking, it’s better in two ways: Unlike our Sandcrawler the AT-AT Walker had some dimension to it and there’s a nice background painting to set the mood if you need a Winter scene in the dead of Summer. It’s important to note that the one thing that Lucas did well was to make sure that he got the toy rights to Star Wars. And while these toys look cheap by the standards of today in fact they were high quality for their day. And I suspect the quality and sheer variety of the toys are part of what made Star Wars beloved to a generation that could feel that they owned the series through their playtime.

And lastly here’s a vintage commercial showing off the Hoth Ice Planet:

My research sources:

The Kenner Star Wars Death Star Space Station (1979)

The Kenner Star Wars Land of the Jawas Action Playset (1979)

The Kenner Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Playset (1980)

Found via fredr096.tumblr.com.

I’m not sure why I would want a Luke Skywalker with a scarred up face and missing hand, but if I did,  Hot Toys would have me covered. Recently they unveiled the latest addition to their DX series of collectible figures, the 1/6th scale Luke Skywalk in Bespin outfit two-pack. Like all Hot Toys products, it’s sure to cost you a hand, or a leg (see what I did there,) but at least you’ll be able to faithfully recreate the greatest moment of Empire Strikes Back, and no, I don’t mean the scene where Han gets dropped into a vat of Carbonite after completely blowing Leia off.

The figures comes with pretty much everything you could ask for in terms of accessories — Two bodies, one battle damaged, the other not, interchangeable hands, a pair of blasters, a removable jacket and undershirt, lightsaber, and more. A special limited edition figure is also being produced, which includes that weird Vader helmet with Luke’s face on it from the cave scene on Dagobah. Again, not sure why anyone would ever  want to recreate that, but there you have it. The standard edition can be pre-ordered through sites like BigBadToyStore.com and retails for $299, while the limited edition is a Sideshow Toys exclusive and retails for same price. Fortunately, Sideshow offers a nifty flex-pay option — just don’t go spending money you don’t have. You’ll probably regret it.

Just like Darth Vader’s cameo in a series cell phone ads, Yoda recently starred in a Japanese commercial for Nissin’s Cup Noodles — speaking English, no less. Of course, they had to subtitle him, but it would seem the Jedi master wants Japan to recover from its recent tragedies as much as anyone else; the commercial ends with him wishing the force be with the entire nation, kind of a sweet little gesture on Lucas’ part. I wasn’t aware you could use the force to boil water, though. Also, the line “Boil Japan.” looks a bit strange out of context. Oh well, it’s still kind of cool.