Here at Pixelated Geek, we take holidays very seriously. The geekier the holiday the more enthusiastically we celebrate it, and so it comes as no surprise the May the Fourth is one of our absolute favorites. Some of us marathon the films, some of us re-install classics from our childhood; I personally took the time to break out Fantasy Flight Games’ excellent X-Wing miniatures games and slogged it out among the asteroids inconveniently clustered round about my dining room table. Later on, I broke out the 2nd edition West End Games Star Wars Role-Playing Game and leafed through old friends and enemies.
Like all holidays, May the Fourth is always just a little too short, and it always feels like it rolls around a little too rarely. We’re not ready to let go of it quite yet, so we’re rolling together some of the latest news, fondest favorites and coolest content from around the internet for one last Star Wars hurrah.
First and foremost, we were treated to a handful of new information about the villains of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in a Vanity Fair spread. Everyone’s new favorite bad guy is definitely a bad girl – Game of Throne’s Gwendolyn Christie has been confirmed as the actor sporting that super-slick chrome Stormtrooper armor, and we couldn’t be happier about it.
Personally, I’m a little less enthused about this first unmasked photo of Adam Driver as Kylo Ren. There’s something a bit awkward, stilted, vulnerable, and young about the look that just doesn’t lend the menace that I feel like I should expect from this character. But it’s early days yet, and I’m willing to be swayed by an atypical villain, and perhaps the performance itself will make the choice clear over time.
Rounding out the Vanity Fair news, Lupita Nyong’o was confirmed as the pirate Maz Kanata. Kanata has been described as a CGI-character that will utilize facial capture to translate Nyong’o’s performance, and is apparently something of a power on the desert planet of Jakku.
Science fiction is a wonderfully progressive genre in any medium, and many real world inventions were inspired by our popular science fiction. This year, astronauts aboard the International Space Station celebrated the cultural impact of Star Wars by watching Star Wars … in space.
Hint: What does Anakin say when he finds out his wife is dead?
Moving from the celluloid Star Wars galaxy to the digital, DICE, developer of the sure-to-be-a-blockbuster Star Wars: Battlefront, has announced that the title will ship with at least 12 maps across at least 3 confirmed planets – Endor, Hoth, and Sullust. This count doesn’t include the free-with-purchase Jakku expansion, and gives us a good idea of the amount of content to expect. 12 doesn’t seem like a lot, but as a frame of reference, DICE’s Battlefield 4 launched with 10, and the more recent – and admittedly less of an analogue – Hardline with 9. Given the dollars backing the title – that of EA and Disney/Lucasfilm, there will doubtless be many-an-expansion for this fall’s biggest game.
But my two favorite finds from this year’s May the Fourth both cut to the heart of what Star Wars is really about: a massive cultural up-swell surrounding a magical universe we all wish we could live in, and the destruction of gigantic ships.
Below is a link to the original Making of Star Wars documentary, and it’s an awesome look at the history of our favorite franchise.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/FSuDjjlIPak[/youtube]
Last, but definitely not least, the folks over at Wired grabbed the massive and massively awesome $800 Super Star Destroyer Lego Kit. And smashed it into $800 worth of pieces in front of a 1000 Frame-Per-Second camera. Yes, Wired. You’ve proven your point. You understand what’s at the heart of this Star Wars fan.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/PN_AMSlNocE[/youtube]
Another May the Fourth has come and gone, and I’ve decided to console myself by plotting an awful demise for my player group in the Star Wars RPG. We hope you had a wonderful May the Fourth. Are you excited about Captain Phasma? Did you spend your May the Fourth in an incredibly awesome way? We’d love to hear all about it, let us know in the comments below.