There's been a lot of Galaxy's Edge happenings this week but before I get into my opinions of the exclusive merchandise becoming widely available to the public temporariy and my thoughts on the new legacy lightsaber announcement, let's take a look at what's transpired and what's to come.
(Image via: Disneyland News Today)
Earlier this week, it was discovered that the WonderGround Gallery at Downtown Disney was replaced with a new pop-up shop called Star Wars Trading Post. The shop carries many items you would normally find at Galaxy's Edge including legacy lightsabers, robes, plushies and more. I personally feel saddened over the loss of the WonderGround Gallery where several artists, some of which are friends of mine, had their artwork sold in various forms there. The scheduled meet-and-greet events were always so fun too! It was one of my favorite shops to visit whenever I would go to Downtown Disney. I hope that after Disneyland re-opens, that the Wonderground Gallery will be back or that it will soon have a new home. The Star Wars Trading Post was announced to be temporary, which I expected since it has a very "pop-up shop" appearance, but there is no word as of yet if the WonderGround Gallery will return to its orginal space.
(Thanks to the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge Facebook Group for the photo)
This morning, it was announced on the Disney Parks Blog that Galaxy's Edge merchandise will also soon be available to shop at Disney Springs at Walt Disney World and on the ShopDisney website for a LIMITED TIME with LIMITED QUANTITIES. I was led to believe that because Disneyland is closed, that's why the Trading Post was imagined. However, Galaxy's Edge is open at Walt Disney World yet they are also going to have the Star Wars Trading Post open at Disney Springs. The shop is scheduled to open on September 22nd.
As for the ShopDisney website, the merchandise will launch on September 28th at 7am pst. There have been new ways of signing up to shop special collections releasing on their website in an effort to prevent website crashes and frustrated customers but so far, I have not seen any mention of that for this collection. I do hope they will be well prepared for this launch especially since there are limited quanitities. I do not know yet if the items will be available to ship internationally.
The Disney Parks Blog also shared that over the next few months, more products will be shipping from the planet Batuu on the ShopDisney website. Items from Toydarian Toymaker, the Creature Stall, First Order Cargo and the Droid Dept will be included.
And now to my favorite bit of news! Fans have been asked to vote on the next legacy lightsaber release on the Disney Parks Blog through October 1st. The winning hilt will be announced in October! The options include Anakin Skywalker (AOTC), Qui-Gon Jinn (TPM), Ezra Bridger (Rebels), Kanan Jarrus (Rebels), Cal Kestis (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order), and Lord Corvax (Vader Immortal). Be sure to vote here!
I was shaking over this announcement because I was astonished at the lightsaber hilt choices. Honestly, I wish the voting was for which lightsaber will be available first because I'd truly love to see all of these made. It was a really hard decision to make but I ended up choosing Cal Kestis. I love the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order game and I just never thought we would get the chance to own a lightsaber from a canon Star Wars video game, and oh-my-goodness is it cool looking! As it turns out, Cal's lightsaber is currently in the lead with 44.67% of the vote.
I wondered for a split second why Leia and Rey's lightsabers were not included in this list but then I realized that there are most likely already solid plans to have these made. If there aren't, that completely baffles me. We're coming up on the one year anniversary of The Rise of Skywalker soon and I can't understand how the main character's lightsaber is still not available to purchase anywhere. Not even in toy form at Target. It's very odd and I've thought about it often throughout the year. Not to mention, Leia. One of the most iconic characters in the Star Wars galaxy! The fact of the matter is, both of these lightsabers need to be represented officially and soon.
My opinion about the fact that Rey and Leia's lightsabers are outside of the timeline of Batuu? I don't think it matters. There are other lightsabers (Obi-Wan, for example) that don't show up in canon between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker (the timeline of Batuu). Plus, who remembers when the Baby Yoda plush from ShopDisney was being sold on Batuu? Not to mention the brand new Baby Yoda rag-doll-inspired plush recently released at Toydarian Toymaker and the Star Wars Trading Post. Merchandise matching up with the story that is being told on Batuu doesn't seem to be an issue and I truly don't believe that Disney will let any opportunity like selling highly sought after legacy lightsabers go by no matter how long it takes.
I'd also like to bring up Ahsoka Tano's The Clone Wars Season 7 lightsabers that were officially announced to be coming to Walt Disney World this Fall a couple of weeks ago. Now that the Star Wars Trading Post shop exists and since ShopDisney will also be making the legacy lightsabers available to purchse on their website, I do expect them to be available wherever legacy lightsabers are sold. I don't see any reason why they would wait until Disneyland is open to make them available since they now have new ways to offer them to a wider range of fans. I mean, it's Ahsoka Tano! They're going to sell extremely well. On a different note, in case you haven't heard, these will be the first color changing lightsabers in the legacy lightsaber line! AMAZING!
(Image via: Disneyland News Today)
So, how do I feel about merchandise from Galaxy's Edge being available to purchase in several places now? On one hand, my heart feels very happy that so many fans who aren't able to get to the parks finally have a chance at some of the most unique Star Wars merchandise that exists. I truly want that for you all especially after the countless conversations I've had with so many of you over my social media accounts since it opened. Honestly, I would want the same opportunity. But I also have to be honest with you and tell you that I think doing this takes away from the exclusivity and the very original feel and existence of Batuu. I've talked about it before and I'll say it again, when I'm at Galaxy's Edge, I don't feel like I'm at a theme park. It has a completely different vibe from the rest of the park and that was purposefully done by all those who were involved in making Galaxy's Edge come to life. The Imagineers did an outstanding job! There's no balloons, no Mickey Ears, no trendy foods, etc. So it sort of feels weird seeing the familiarities of Batuu being transported outside of Galaxy's Edge into these shops and on ShopDisney because it now feels like everything else, and I don't think it should feel that way. Exclusive too often doesn't mean exclusive these days. However, I do appreciate that it has been specifically stated that this is all temporary. I think it gives a fair chance to everyone else in the world to purchase something they've had their eye on and it also means that things will go back to the way they once were, the way Galaxy's Edge was intended to be. I also am definitely not saying that I won't use one of these new resources to pick something new up if necessary.
The Galaxy's Edge collection that recently launched at Target never bothered me because they are all new products that were created exclusively for that store speficially. I was actually super excited about this launch and I even filmed a haul video to share with you everything I picked up. There are some very Batuu-inspired pieces like the plushies and mugs but nothing you can find at Galaxy's Edge was available in this collecton which makes it different from actual items from Batuu being sold in the pop-up shops and on the ShopDisney website. Well, except for maybe some of the re-packaged Black Series figures that they sold separately at Target. But I'm not going to get nit-picky. I don't want any of my thoughts and feelings to come off that way at all. I just wanted to share with you what's being going on through my head with all of this recent Galaxy's Edge news. My love for both Batuu and Disney have not changed. I'll always be a massive fan!
What do you think of all of this? Which legacy lightsaber did you vote for? Let me know in a comment below or get in touch with me on Twitter or Instagram!
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