Pffffffft!
Wow. A lot has happened in the past two years. Disney has dominated the box office with the Marvel movies and they have definitely got me on board with high hopes for the future of Star Wars. The Force Awakens trailer has been shown and it feels good. Two spin-off movies, referred to as Anthology films, have been confirmed with one of them being a Boba Fett origin flick which is awesome. Disney has boldly discarded the Episode Numbers from the franchise titles with general acceptance from the fans and it seems like the right thing to do considering the number of movies they plan on rolling out.
The merchandise machine is gearing up with Midnight Madness events already planned for the mass retail release of new toys in September and it's about bloody time. Hasbro has crashed and burned like Porkins with their handling of the Star Wars line for the last three years. I've barely bought anything... and that's how bad it's been. If it wasn't for their Star Wars 6" Black Series figures (which have been few and far between) I would have been heavily into the plastic withdrawal symptoms by now. The biggest and most exciting merchandise news for me was that Hot Toys had obtained the license to produce 1/6th scale collectible Star Wars figures (or dolls as some would say). That is where my collection is now headed. Go big or go home. Or is it ,"Go big and go broke"? They are damn expensive but worth every nickel.
The Force Awakens is the perfect title for the first instalment of this new generation of movies. The excitement is truly building with every passing week and the almost forgotten love of the franchise I once had is beginning to stir again. It's out there. It's coming. I can feel it. The Force may very well be real and if I may borrow a quote from the latest trailer, "Chewie, we're home".
