Before anyone reads that title and gets worried I just want to say there are no spoilers in this post! When I say "reveal some secrets" I'm talking about how the characters, specifically the legacy characters, will look in The Force Awakens.
At this point Star Wars: The Force Awakens is only 6 months away (and I get excited just typing that!). The second teaser trailer at Celebration gave us our first look at Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) as well as extended looks at our new heroes Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and new villains Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie). And let's not forget everyone's favourite new droid BB-8! Last month's Vanity Fair gave us an even better look at those characters along with a behind the scenes look at Lupita Nyong'o in the motion capture suit that she's using to help bring the pirate Maz Kanata to life. And then StarWars.com revealed one final photo - Andy Serkis, in motion capture gear like Lupita, and named him as Supreme Leader Snoke, presumably the leader of The First Order.
Looked at like that it's been an incredibly busy few months with more than enough reveals made to see us through to next month's San Diego Comic Con. Especially with Rebels returning this month, Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars Edition being fully revealed and this week's E3 bringing more news on the highly anticipated Battlefront and a new expansion for The Old Republic!
Sadly that was not the case. Hasbro's 6 inch First Order Stormtrooper hit E-Bbay ahead of the official announcement that the first The Force Awakens action figure would be available at SDCC. Then the real leaks started. First a travel mug was found in Mexico that reportedly showed C-3PO's new look for the film. Then, just yesterday, a first look at Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia leaked as well.
Hasbro's Stormtrooper hitting E-Bay probably isn't too surprising when you consider that the toys take roughly a year from concept to store and an image of prototypes for Rey, Finn, BB-8, Kylo Ren and Chewbacca already appeared online at the end of last year. But the travel mug find and especially yesterday's leaked first look at Leia really got me thinking. How much longer can Disney keep things secret?
Now, I'm not referring to plot details, those should be kept secret until the film's release and I applaud Lucasfilm and Del Rey's decision to limit the novel adaptation's release to digital until early next year. In fact, I'd be more than happy for them not to release any type of synopsis before the film opens. But the looks of major characters? I think it's time for those to be revealed, especially legacy characters such as Luke, Leia and C-3PO who will be all over merchandise in just a few short months. As long as revealing them doesn't reveal any spoilers for the plot then I can't see any reason to keep them hidden any longer. I mean, sure Disney/Lucasfilm probably have a well planned publicity schedule for the film, but with leaks coming more frequently now maybe it's time for them to try and get ahead and do some big reveals of their own.
It's already been announced that The Force Awakens is going to SDCC next month with a special panel in Hall H on Friday 10th July and Hasbro set to make "a special product reveal" at their panel that same day. With Ant-Man in cinemas later that month and Entertainment Weekly confirming that Hasbro will debut the first wave of toys at SDCC it seems extremely likely that Comic Con will be the place where we get the first full trailer for The Force Awakens and with it our first official look at Luke Skywalker and the remaining legacy characters. At least I hope it is. I would hate for The Force Awakens panel not to show Luke and Leia and then for Hasbro to reveal their action figures. Or for both panels to avoid officially revealing them only for them to leak again.
The truth is, I can't see them waiting any longer than Comic Con either. The merchandising onslaught of #ForceFriday will be less than 2 months away by the time Comic Con hits and you can bet things will start appearing on E-Bay in August or maybe even earlier. Comic Con really is their last big, high profile, chance to debut the remaining legacy characters before the merchandise reaches stores.
Whenever Disney/Lucasfilm choose to make the reveal I just hope it's sooner rather than later. Personally, I've avoided the leaked images of C-3PO and Princess Leia but I can completely understand why fans want to see them. I feel like I've waited this long, I can wait a bit longer. I really don't want my first look at these characters to be a grainy screen shot. But the closer we get to the film the more likely these leaks are and the less impact the official reveal will have. I hope we get another moment as memorable as "Chewie, we're home." from SDCC. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
No comments:
Post a Comment