Who is Supreme Leader Snoke?

If you haven't seen The Force Awakens yet, then, shame on you! Regardless I will point out this random babbling could contain spoilers so you should quit reading now if you want everything kept under wraps.

Last chance.

So it appears Kylo Ren is just an emo punk Sith full of daddy issues and unresolved angst. The real puppet master is some bad guy named Snoke who likes to make himself look larger than life via holographic imaging. Man, I hope this doesn't turn out to be some Wizard of Oz thing and it's actually a disgruntled Ewok behind a curtain. First of all Snoke doesn't really sound all that menacing of a name for an evil overlord in the Star Wars universe. Adding "Supreme Leader" doesn't do much to make it more evil sounding but I'm guessing Darth Snoke was too cliché. Love it or hate it you still need to wonder, who the hell is this guy? He looks human enough although the face needs a lot of work. Anakin looked like a beauty queen by comparison even after the Mustafar barbecue scene. Well, we have a few years to hypothesize before we get closer to a real answer.

I have my suspicions. There are a couple of possible origins of SLS and two of them could be of clone origin. A clone of Anakin or a clone of Palpatine. Hell, you could say a clone of Luke Skywalker if you really wanted to go wild But none of those are my first choice. 

Galen Marek wins it for me. I mean, technically it would be a clone of Galen Marek because the original died in The Force Unleashed story line but the age would be about right (I think), knowledge of the force is there, potential for Sith traits is there and if you are going to go through the trouble of building a big-ass planet destroying weapon you may presume there is enough ego present to name the thing after yourself; The Starkiller base. It may be a long shot but I'm sticking to my theory for now. Sometimes I'm right about these things. 

They're home!

A while back I mentioned that my collecting had shifted focus on to the higher-end collectibles offered by a Hong Kong based company called Hot Toys Limited. The first of the Original Trilogy cast has finally arrived and I am not disappointed. The Han Solo and Chewbacca set is gorgeous. I am always in awe of the incredible detail this company can put into their 1/6th scale figures. The fur on Chewbacca is very well done. I was a little wary of what to expect, because real fur is often poorly done, but they delivered a perfect wookie in my books. Han Solo's face sculpt is bang-on too. It's the first time I've ever seen a Star Wars collectible that captures Harrison Ford's true likeness and his notable chin scar is like the icing on a cake.

Quick on the heels of Han and Chewie's arrival was the old wizard himself, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sir Alec Guinness would have been pleased with the final product Hot Toys created... or perhaps balked at the commercialization of his likeness from a silly space movie. Either way I'm very glad to own this figure. Again, the detail is superb in every way right from his wise, all-knowing stare to his multi-layered, Tatooine weathered Jedi robes. I cannot wait for Vader to arrive. There is an epic duel begging to happen on my shelves.

Star Wars Is Not For Girls

That's right. Star Wars isn't for girls. Well, at least that's the message I get when I try to buy female Star Wars characters for Disney Infinity 3.0.
I know... you will argue that there are a few and, to be completely honest, it is true. The problem is that unless you are willing to purchase the Starter Pack with Ahsoka, or the Rise Against the Empire Play Set with Leia or the Force Awakens Play Set with Rey the only choice you have left is Sabine Wren (who is very cool according to my daughter) as a single figure.
And guess what? Even when you hand over $39.99 (plus tax) for a Play Set you are stuck with having to use a male character during play which really sucks if you have two daughters who want to play together. Seriously... nobody likes to play as Fin... at least not in my house.
Hey, Disney? Can we gat an all-female Play Set? Or at least put the limited number of female characters out as singles for father's like me who are finally rejoicing that their daughters are showing an interest in Star Wars. #DisneyInfinity #StarWars #StarWarsIsNotForGirls

Spoiler Free!

It was hard but somehow I managed to stay spoiler free for The Force Awakens until I finally got to see it 4 days after its premier. My daughter fell victim to some douche-bag's attention seeking on the Minecraft servers two days earlier but I threatened to leave her at home if she even hinted at what the spoiler was.
The movie was great! J.J. and Disney delivered everything the cast has been promising and even my wife, the tolerant spouse of a Star Wars fan, gave it a "two-thumbs-up" rating. My youngest daughter wants BB-8 for Christmas (finally, real toys!) and both are arguing over who gets Rey for Disney Infinity 3.0. Better late than never for this old man!
So, without spoiling anything or divulging any particulars, I'm only going to mention that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the new cast is as energizing as the original cast was. While I appreciate having the gang back for the seventh film I honestly believe Rey's tale would have been strong enough to deliver the same great movie even if none of the original cast had signed on. It's that good and I'm definitely looking forward to the next instalment.