3 Things I Want to See Happen in The Rise of Skywalker

In a few short months I will be an emotional wreck. If you don't believe me, just watch my reaction video to The Rise of Skywalker teaser trailer. The Skywalker story will be concluded on December 20th which is going to be here before we know it! Isn't it mindblowing that we've almost gone through an entire Star Wars trilogy plus two movies since Disney acquired Lucasfilm? I figured now would be a good time for me to share three things I would really love to see in the film.

THE KNIGHTS OF REN IN ACTION


(Photo from Vanity Fair Magazine)

When the Knights of Ren were first introduced in The Force Awakens I was extremely intrigued. Quite honestly, I instantly loved them! I thought for sure that we would see them again and learn more about who they are in The Last Jedi. As we all know, they were not even mentioned. I was fearful they wouldn't be back until it was announced that JJ Abrams would be returning to finish off the sequel trilogy! Although we aren't in full marketing season yet for the film, Triple Force Friday isn't until October 4th, we have already seen a few photos of the Knights of Ren and I could not be more stoked! I sincerely hope that they have a decent amount of screen time and that we get to delve a little bit into their personalities and unique abilities.

(Screencaps and edit by me)

My highest hopes for the Knights of Ren is to seem them in an intense battle involving some of the best choreography we've seen in Star Wars. At this point I don't know whether to expect them to be fighting alongside Kylo Ren or against him but I'll honestly take either scenario. Kylo Ren is a hot-headed machine and his combat skills are nothing short of extraordinary so I'm curious to see how the Ren boys, and hopefully girls, compare to him in battle. I expect a lot from them! I would really love to see an entire scene with the same energy that we saw Kylo give in THAT ONE SHOT from the teaser trailer. Obviously I'm a girl who loves some action!

(Photo from The Rise of Kylo Ren, a four-issue miniseries by Charles Soule)

Lucky for us, it seems we will learn more about the Knights of Ren before The Rise of Skywalker is released in this upcoming miniseries that was announced at San Diego Comic Con earlier this year. The four-issue comic by Charles Soule has a release date of early December. I am hoping this will be an exciting set-up for theses characters in TROS!

FORCE GHOSTS


(Screencap via StarWarsScreencaps.com)

I've wondered for a long time how this film will conclude the sequel trilogy and the Skywalker story overall, especially the very last shot of the film. I'm a huge fan of JJ Abrams and I'm extremely stoked that he came back after directing The Force Awakens (one of my top three favorite Star Wars films). I have faith that he has another wonderful story to tell us! We know from an interview with Kevin Smith that Kevin got to visit the set of TROS. JJ told Kevin he should wait to see the last scene of the movie in the theater. A crew member also explained to Kevin that it would "melt his mind".

I've hoped that the last scene of The Rise of Skywalker would be this very emotionally heartwarming moment that would involve the presence of several characters who are Force Ghosts. If this were to happen I would love to see Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin and Luke together with possibly Kylo Ren or Rey. I honestly can't come to a solid theory in my mind concerning Kylo and Rey and which paths they will take. If you're wondering, I didn't mention Princess Leia because although I think it would be amazing to see her there, I don't think we know if she was taught that power.

Daisy Ridley mentioned recently that TROS will reference all of the Star Wars films and I think it would be a beautiful visual to honor the Jedi who had a vital part in the Skywalker story, and who have the ability to return as a Force Ghost, to appear in the film. If anyone is going to be there it HAS to be Anakin Skywalker.

Even if we see these familiar faces as Force Ghosts prior to the last scene, I will be very happy. It might save us from all the fans who might complain that the film ended just like Return of the Jedi too. I think knowing that JJ told Kevin the last scene was so great that he shouldn't look at the set means that it is extremely symbolic or something that every Star Wars fan knows about like a familiar planet that we haven't visited in a long time and honestly, that all sounds great to me. Plus, Force Ghost-ing happens during post-production so you never know!

MUSTAFAR


(Concept art created by Doug Chiang for Rogue One)

The home planet of Darth Vader has been referenced recently in the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic and even in the Vader Immortal series on the Oculus Quest. Part of me has wondered if this has all been some sort of build-up in familiarizing us with Mustafar and Darth Vader's castle in preparation for The Rise of Skywalker. I realize that the average Star Wars fan doesn't delve into much of the reading material that is provided and with the Oculus Quest being on the pricier side, the amount of fans that have played it, I would assume, is not very high. But I think it is advertised well enough in the world of Star Wars that fans are fully aware that the content exists.

Show me again the power of the darkness, and I'll let nothing stand in our way. - Kylo Ren

In The Force Awakens we see that Kylo Ren's grandfather has a big influence on him. Curiously, Kylo has the remains of Vader's mask in his possession and speaks to it, asking for guidance. My personal theory is that Kylo doesn't know the full story of Anakin Skywalker's journey. I don't think he is aware that he turned from his ways as Darth Vader in the end. I think that either Snoke or the Emperor may have deceived him with a different story. The Emperor could have a presence in his life that he is unaware of. What if Kylo Ren speaks to the mask regularly where a spirit of the Emperor resides?

Knowing of Darth Vader's influence on Kylo Ren, I think it would make complete sense for Kylo to visit Mustafar, especially as Supreme Leader. I imagine his lust for power will be even greater now that he has that title. His mission on Mustufar would be to dig deeper into the Dark Side of the Force and to discover more about Vader which could result in finding ancient artifacts. I think it's a great setting that we've only really seen the surface of in the films. It's a very dark and mysterious place with a lot of history that I'm anxious to see more of.

There's a lot more that I hope to see in The Rise of Skywalker, some of which I am not sure would be possible, like an in-person scene between Leia and Kylo. I've had this idea in my head of what that interaction would look like since seeing The Force Awakens! So, what do you think of my list and what do you hope to see? Leave a comment below or get in touch with me on Twitter or Instagram.

D23 Expo: Rebel Mouse Sticker

Back in May I finally did something I had always wanted to do... I made my very first enamel pin of a design I created using the Rebel Alliance symbol and the iconic silhouette of Mickey Mouse's head. It is called Rebel Mouse and I debuted it on the opening day of Galaxy's Edge! Although I'm out of them now, I would love to create another version someday perhaps in a different color. I have also been interested in creating somewhat of a line of products using this design and obviously I had to make a sticker!

(Pardon the Batuu dust on the sticker!)

I decided to do a test run and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! They are vinyl stickers and feature a special laminate that protects them from exposure to wind, rain and sunlight. I don't have many but I will be bringing them with me to the D23 Expo on Saturday, August 24th to hand out to anyone who sees me and says "Hi". I do plan to put in a larger order of these at some point, so if I run out of them or if you're not attending the convention, don't worry! There will be other chances to get them.

What do you think? Let me know in a comment below or get in touch with me on Instagram or Twitter!

Star Wars: Roll Out - Review

Star Wars: Roll Out is a new series of animated shorts created by Hideo Itoyanagi and Lucasfilm. The first episode debuted today on Star Wars Kids and the Star Wars Kids YouTube Channel. The adorableness is real with characters from The Force Awakens featured as BB units. Could there be anything more cute? Watch it below!

I wanted to come up with something never [before] seen in Star Wars animation,” Itoyanagi says. “I wanted to give everything a totally different look. Given that the characters are caricatured, I decided to make the backgrounds simple, with paper-cutout silhouettes put on top of each other like something you might see in a picture book. The camera motion is quite flat and might remind you of old video games. I wanted to take a different route from 3D animation and recent video games.

Just the conceit of presenting all the characters in the form of BB units opens the door for unique visual opportunities. Characters don’t just roll, they bounce. Backgrounds can tilt, impacting the action. “Spinning” can also mean digging their way out of a problem. In other words, the animation style affords its own rules, which are often bent to very fun results.

The simplified video game-inspired look of the series, as Itoyanagi described above, makes the cartoon all the more kid-friendly. I also think that incorporating elemental actions make it extra fun! Imagine if these cartoons open the gateway for both younglings and sithlings to become Star Wars fans? I always love to hear about how other fans were introduced to Star Wars and that's what I immediately thought of when Roll Out was announced.

Hideo quite liked the idea that all of these shorts would be anchored by a theme — by a lesson — that would be subtly expressed, even with all the wackiness of the episode and fun stylization,” Waugh notes. Since the look and actions and of the characters are cute, I made sure the stories are heartwarming,” Itoyanagi says. “While problems do occur, I made sure the characters do not try to solve them with anger or hatred.

In the first episode, BB-8 and the Jungle Adventure, our round friend BB-8 sets out to help his friends on the Resistance Base, which we get a quick glimpse of (I'd suggest pausing it to get a good look at the characters featured here). He ends up finding himself lost in a jungle but happens to be amongst other droid friends including a GONK droid! They all seem to be hard at work but not too busy to help BB-8 when he needs it. The episode runs just over two minutes long and although it was cute I didn't find it to be particularly exciting though I know I as a thirty-three year old woman, I am not the target audience. However, I will continue to watch the series as I love the simplistic look, the overall chubness of the characters and I'm really excited to see more of my favorite characters in this new BB unit form!

What did you think? Did the children in your life like it? How did they respond? Let me know in a comment below!