Category Archives: Reviews

Review Of Hasbro’s Star Wars Clue

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Hasbro’s Star Wars Clue is the classic Clue game with a twist! In this version of clue, you are not trying to figure out who committed murder with what weapon and in which room. In Star Wars Clue, you need to figure out which planet Darth Vader plans to destroy next, which room the Death Star plans are hidden in, and which vehicle is the correct escape vehicle. As in the original Clue, the cards with the correct answers to these questions are placed in the “mission” folder before beginning the game. The first player to correctly guess all three wins the game!

Star Wars Clue is played on a 3D Death Star replica two level game board. The board is made of sturdy cardboard. The board needs to be assemblied each time you play. Once you figure out how to assembly the board and fit it together securely (this is not hard, you just need to follow the directions), the board is quite sturdy. You can play as one of the Star Wars characters: Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, R2-D2, or C-3PO. The game is basically played the same as the original Clue, with a few exceptions. In this version, if your character is stuck in the hallway during your turn, you must draw a card that will direct you what to do next or offer you a help within the game. The cards can send you to the Dentention Center where you will need to wait to be rescued, send you directly to a specific room or give you a free chance to question another player. These cards add a little more dimension to the game.

Star wars Clue comes with 6 Star Wars character pawns, 5-piece cardboard gameboard (bottom level, back wall, 2 supporting walls, top level), mission notepad, die, 6 vehicle tokens, 6 planet tokens, mission folder, 21 Clue cards (red deck), 19 corridor cards (black deck), and game guide. The game is for three to six players and recommended for ages 8 and up. It retails for around $25. You can buy it from Amazon at this link. We’ve been playing this every Friday Night game night and have been having a blast with it!  Have fun saving the Galaxy from destruction by the Empire!

Quick and Spoiler Free Review Of Lego Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures Season One

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Lego Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures Season One begins after the events of The Empire Strikes Back and before Return of the Jedi. It follows a family of scavengers that build and sell starships from debris they find throughout the galaxy. The family’s youngest discovers a connection with the Force and the family is thrown into a struggle against the Empire. They fight to bring peace and freedom to the galaxy.

This blu-ray has 13 action-packed episodes with a total running time of 299 minutes.  Our copy comes with 6 exclusive magnets.  This disc features:

Freemaker Salvage And Repair – Visit the shop with the finest salvage in the galaxy as Rowan, Kordi and Zander take you on a tour of the family business.

Meet The Freemaker Family – Get to know the members of your favorite family of celestial scavengers — and meet the actors who bring them to life — in this fun collection of clips, behind-the-scenes footage and cast interviews!

This series is clearly targeted to a young audience, but older Star Wars fans can enjoy it too! The episodes focus on the characters and action in a humorous way. The show features some great cameos from Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and more! It is a fun series that will make you laugh.

The entire show and characters are all made of Lego. The animation of the Legos is fantastic. It makes for some great action scenes!  This series is entertaining for the whole family. It does contain some minor or implied violence but it is very mild and no graphic violence or death is seen. The language is family friendly with some name calling. The episodes are mostly playful.

I recommend Lego Star Wars The Freemaker Adventures Season One. The series is fantastic, has a twist or two and just might have you laughing out loud!

We would like to thank Disney for providing us with this copy to review.  Click below to get your own copy now!

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Review: Hot Toys Toy Fair Exclusive FN-2187

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Today, we have a quick review of the Hot Toys Toy Fair Exclusive FN-2187 and this figure is amazing: it looks better in hand then in photos.

In the high resolution photos, you can see the beads of sweat Hot Toys added. Overall I gave this figure a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Box: 5

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Artwork: 5

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Head Sculpt: 5

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Armor build quality: 5

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Weathering: 3 (in the movie his armor was a lot dirtier)

Helmet Build: 5

Helmet Paint: 4  (not as accurate as the movie)

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Weapons: 5

Mobility: 3 (posing is quite difficult)

Sturdiness: 1 (could not stand without base stand)

Hot Toys Stand: 5

Regardless of the flaws, I absolutely love this figure. If you can find one I suggest getting one.

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You can still pick this up via ebay at this link.

Book Review: Star Wars Ahsoka

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Review via Yodasnews Contributor Jacob Burdis:

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(No Spoilers)

Star Wars fans everywhere are anxiously counting down the days until December 16th, 2016 for the premiere of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will tell the epic story of how the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans for the Death Star. To build anticipation, Disney has released the young adult novel Ahsoka, written by E. K. Johnston, to tell the story of no-longer jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano and her adventures between leaving the Jedi Order near the end of the Clone Wars and her involvement with the Rebel Alliance. The novel does a fantastic job both exploring the specific story of Ahsoka, while also providing subtle, yet insightful clues about life in the galaxy post Order 66.

Ahsoka Tano is arguably one of the most interesting characters in the Star Wars Universe. Before now, we have seen her incredible skill as the padawan of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars and then later as the mysterious Rebel operator known as “Fulcrum,” aiding Hera Syndulla and her Rebel cell in the “Rebels” animated series.

The story is set about 1 year after Order 66, though it occasionally jumps back to the events immediately preceding the execution order and how Ahsoka was able to escape with her life. Ahsoka, now going by the name “Ashla” to preserve her anonymity, is hiding in the Outer Rim to avoid Imperial attention and figure out what to do with her life. Believing Anakin, Obi-Wan, and all of her other Jedi friends to be dead, she is trying to become accustomed to an “ordinary” life as a wandering starship mechanic.

It doesn’t take long, however, for Ahsoka to recognize and confront her inner conflict between self-preservation and her jedi instincts to protect the innocent. She finds herself in the middle of a local uprising on the remote agricultural moon of Raada during an Imperial occupation to harvest the moon’s resources. Ahsoka struggles to decide whether she will stay in hiding, or risk exposing herself to the empire to protect her new friends.

The novel is very well written, with the right balance of action and introspection to give both excitement and perspective to the reader. We begin to understand how monumental Order 66 really was, and how it shook the galaxy to the core. After watching the films, we may take for granted our omniscience, not realizing that most of the galaxy didn’t know the simple facts that Emperor Palpatine is a Sith Lord, and that former Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker’s mangled face lies behind Darth Vader’s ominous mask.

Throughout the novel, we also are given delightful tidbits about the mysterious process a jedi must go through to obtain a kyber crystal to construct a new lightsaber, and how the process has changed now that the Empire is in possession of the planet Ilum. We learn a bit more about who and what the inquisitors are that hunt the remaining Jedi and force sensitive children. And we come to understand better the pivotal role Bail Organa played in assembling the dissidents that would become the Rebel Alliance we have come to love in the original trilogy.

I wholeheartedly recommend Ahsoka for all Star Wars fans, especially as a step in preparing for the Rogue One Anthology Film (read more about how I recommend preparing for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story).

Click Here or the image below to pick this up via digital, audio or physical form.  We would like to thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House for providing the review sample.

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Review: Kylo Ren Force FX Deluxe Lightsaber Prop Replica

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With Halloween, as well as the 1st Anniversary of The Force Awakens coming up in a few months, we wanted to take a look back and review some of our favorite items, that you may want to pick up before they are all gone.  The first item we are looking at is, Kylo Ren Force FX Deluxe Lightsaber Prop Replica from Hasbro.  We received ours from EntertainmentEarth.com,  where is it currently in stock for $199.99 with Free Shipping! The box is HUGH so the Free Shipping is a great savings, you can click here to secure one today.

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Let’s start off with the specs:

  • Measures 43-inches long
  • 14-inches wide
  • Requires 3 “AA” batteries, not included.
  • Ages 13 and up.

Now let’s take a look at the outer box, it’s beautiful on it’s own.  It has the same look and feel as the other Black Series items. If I had the room I would display the box with  the saber, I like it that much.

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It is packed very well and secure, the stand (which can be displayed in two ways) is under the front part of the saber blade.

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Here are the 2 possible ways to display it on the stand.  The first is to put the blade into the hole and then balance out the weight of the hilt to the blade to where it stays level.  It’s a very cool way to display but not if you have a lot of foot traffic near it, as it could knock over easily.

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The second way to display it is to flip the stand over and the hilt sits in the recessed area. To me, having both options was a great design by Hasbro, and of course many people will also choose to hang this on the wall, with multiple secondary market stands and holders available.

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The hilt is heavy and very detailed, the weathering in spots is good and the red wire down the side is actually a wire, which was a nice touch. Some of the orange and purple paint looks odd in the photos, but in person they blend in very nicely.  The sounds are crisp, clean and loud!

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It glows very bright and unlike some older versions of these where you could see breaks, this one is clean top to bottom. This is a beautiful piece to use as a prop replica, for fun or to complete your Kylo Ren Cosplay or Halloween costume.  Kylo will forever be embedded in the history of Star Wars and I think this FX saber will only go up in value as time goes on.

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It’s also, the perfect companion to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Kylo Ren Voice Changer Helmet The Black Series Prop Replica, sold separately. We will be reviewing the that helmet next week!

Be sure to check out EntertainmentEarth.com for this and other great collectibles and Halloween Costume ideas!

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Book Review: Star Wars Aftermath Life Debt

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Review via Yodasnews Contributor Jacob Burdis:

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2016 is a thrilling year for Star Wars fans! In the wake of The Force Awakens, we are left with dozens of unanswered questions about events occurring both before and after the epic film. Earlier this year, Claudia Gray’s “Bloodline” began to fit together select puzzle pieces while frustratingly avoiding many others. In “Aftermath: Life Debt” Chuck Wendig does a masterful job answering a few key questions while hinting at many, many others.

I was giddy when I saw the cover of the book—the Millenium Falcon, outnumbered and being pursued by Imperial TIE fighters. Immediately the interlude from Wendig’s first book in the series came to mind. You may recall that Han and Chewie received a tip from an old friend about a window of opportunity to free the enslaved home world of the Wookies. Could this interlude set the stage for the story of the liberation of Kashyyyk? The cherry on top was the name of the book, “Life Debt,” surely a nod to Chewie’s life debt owed to Han Solo for saving the Wookie’s life.

But when I started reading, what I got was a continuation of the rag-tag team thrown together in the first book of the series: Norra Wexley with her son Temmin, the bounty hunter Jas Imari, the ex-imperial Sinjir Rath Velus, the commando Jom Barell, and even Mr. Bones, Temmin’s maniacal custom-built battle droid.

The story is set shortly after the events on Akiva. The Empire is fractured and on the edge of ruin, ravaged by internal conflict and New Republic victories. Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, whom we have come to know well by now, struggles to maintain control without upsetting her secret advisor, Gallius Rax. The New Republic fights to fill the void left by the downfall of the empire, while staunchly pursuing galaxy-wide demilitarization. Norra Wexley’s team is tasked hunting high-value imperial targets and bringing them to justice, until Leia Organa requests them to fulfill a covert mission without New Republic approval.

My experience with the book was similar to watching the calving of a gigantic glacier. At first, I wondered what I was supposed to be looking for. The movement began ever so slowly, at different points, hinting at something much grander. But before I knew it I was experiencing violent crashes and surprising twists that had me turning pages faster than the Millenium Falcon on the Kessel Run. While I was initially let down by the apparent lack of my favorite Corellian smuggler and his Wookie co-pilot, I was enthralled by the turn of events in the end.

“Aftermath: Life Debt” does a great job intertwining both new and familiar characters. Its interludes interject the right amount of plot teasing, including bits like another cameo of Boba Fett’s discarded Mandalorian armor and the liberation of Ryloth. It has earned its place among the top of the new Star Wars Canon, and leaves me impatiently waiting for the final installment.

Click Here or the image below to pick this up via digital, audio or physical form.  We would like to thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House for providing the review sample.

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Book Review: Star Wars Bloodline

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Review via Yodasnews Contributor Jacob Burdis:

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Last year, Claudia Gray amazed Star Wars fans with her portion of the “Journey to the Force Awakens” series, Lost Stars. I personally read each canon novel in chronological order as part of a 6-month long marathon to prepare for the new film, and of the 16 novels I read, Gray’s was the most rewarding, most exciting, and most thought-provoking of them all.

You can imagine my excitement to learn that Gray’s novel Bloodline was the first novel post The Force Awakens to begin to explore the world into which we were so abruptly thrown last December.

The story is set 20 years after the fall of the Empire, roughly a decade before the events of The Force Awakens. When I first started reading, I was overwhelmed with anticipation that my many questions about the mysterious 3 decades between Episode VI and Episode VII were about to be answered. How did Ben Solo become Kylo Ren? Who is Supreme Leader Snoke? Who is Rey and who left her on Jakku? What happened between Leia and Han? Why did Leia need to organize the Resistance separate from the New Republic? When did the First Order first rear its ugly head? To both my consternation and my awe, Gray does a masterful job at answering only a few of these questions while leaving others a complete mystery. So if you are hoping this book will answer all of your questions, you will be disappointed.

But if you are looking to better understand how the New Republic could possibly come to a point where Leia, who has dedicated the entirety of her adult life to establish the New Republic in the aftermath of the Empire’s downfall, would leave a life of politics to lead the Resistance against the emerging threat known as The First Order, then this book is for you.

Senator Leia Organa is struggling to bring together a divided senate, knowing the dangers that face a fractured government. She decides to take matters into her own hands to investigate a crime syndicate, led by Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di, threatening to destabilize the region around Ryloth. To her dismay, she is accompanied by her political and ideological rival, Senator Ransolm Casterfo in an effort to keep the investigation “objective.” This investigation kicks off an epic adventure, which exposes a deeper, sinister plot aimed to destroy the New Republic by a dangerous threat thought only to be legend. Organa and Casterfo struggle to put political differences aside to unite against the greater threat, and in so doing realize how deep the divide in the New Republic really is.

Just as she did in Lost Stars, Gray masterfully exposes the most human elements of her characters as we witness Leia’s courage in persevering after losing both her biological and adopted parents in the same war that destroyed her home planet of Alderaan. We learn that the line between good and evil is especially blurry when it comes to political ideology, and how otherwise good people who are unwilling to understand another point of view are capable of collectively accomplishing great evil. This is a must read, building on the events in the Aftermath series and shedding light on how the great potential of Mon Mothma’s New Republic could be reduced to rubble just 30 years later.

Click Here or the image below to pick this up via digital, audio or physical form.  We would like to thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House for providing the review sample.

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Review: Han Cholo Jewelry Chewbacca Ring at EE

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Han Cholo Jewelry  has been making some great high quality Star Wars Jewelry and today, sponsored by Entertainment Earth, we offer you a first in hand look at the Chewbacca Ring which will be coming out very soon!

 

Based on Star Wars, this sensational Star Wars Chewbacca Ring is perfect for Wookiee fans galaxy-wide! It’s made of stainless steel, features excellent antique detailing, and is available in sizes 9, 10, and 11.  It comes boxed and fit for gifting, or to keep for yourself!

These are officially licensed and have a great weight and feel to them.  They are a fit for a man or  a woman, featured in the pictures below is a size 10. Check out the gallery of images below and pre-order one today for $79.99 at this link.

 

SMS Street by 50 Star Wars 2nd Edition Headphones (Tie Fighter) Review

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Today, we take a look at SMS Street by 50 Star Wars 2nd Edition Headphones Tie Fighter headphones.

We will start with the package they come in; while you would have to be a fool not to use these for the intended purpose, collectors can be unique, and some focus collectors may choose to keep these in the package. Good news for those collectors, as the package (once the cellophane is removed) is 100% collector friendly and you can unpack and re-pack it without any damage to the package.

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Included with this set, is a very cool black and gray embossed carry case with the Star Wars logo on each side, a removable cable with 3- click mic and soft touch cleaning cloth (both with Star Wars branding), a 5×7 Holographic Poster, Star Wars™ branded owner’s manual, and COA. I loved all the accessories it came with and the cable with mic and the built in functions to use when making a call on your smartphone are an added plus. The case is well constructed and fits the folded headsets perfectly.

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These are very lightweight but well made. They come professionally tuned to deliver amazing clarity and richness without distortion making them ready out of the box, and the sound is insane. If you have yet to try on a pair of high-end headphones, you will be blown away! Never have you heard your favorite songs or games as crisp and clear. The bass is deep but not overpowering and the vocals are crisp and clean. The headphones have a gray and black headband, black leather memory-foam cushions. They are very comfortable to wear and sound amazing!

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These headphones are well worth the money. When you think about how much most of us spend on static statues or busts, you get a cool collectible that is an amazing device at the same time. Right now you can get this set (or 3 others) via Amazon.com for just $118.88 with Free Shipping! Click here to grab them now before the price goes up, You won’t be disappointed!

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