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The Rolling Stone conducted an interview with Kathleen Kennedy.
https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/lucasfilm-president-kathleen-kennedy-interview-rise-skywalker-future-star-wars-912393/

Personally I was upset (in unreasonable fan mode) about a couple things. At one point she complains about not having source material. And all I can do is scream in my head "BECUASE YOU THREW IT ALL IN THE TRASH!" But I realize that may have all been the Mouses's call and not hers.

And of course I still seriously dislike her for 'loving' what Rian Johnson did to Episode XIII.

What are your thoughts? And where the hell is my Bobba Fett movie?

It's on Disney+. And she is president of Lucasfilm and could always choose to bring back parts of that thrown away EU material instead of tarnishing the parts she left intact with the new fiction.

If her comment was in reference to Episodes 7, 8 and 9, then she's right. There is no established material to write from. They are not adaptations.

If she's talking SW as a whole, then she's nuts and has just proven beyond any doubt that she should not be running the creative side of Lucasfilm.

I've been saying for awhile they need to replace her with Filoni. Filoni's the guy behind clone wars, rebels, and the mandalorian.. generally SW he's involved in is SW at it's best because he tends to use the old material and build on it while not being restricted by it.

"Lack of source material"...? Okay, at first I was content to say I did not like the direction things were going under her, but now I am convinced she's just stupid.

That's like pissing your pants while camping in the forest because you couldn't find a bathroom.

Like all things Disney, this interview is so thoroughly sanitized that it tells us precisely nothing: “all is well, everything is wonderful.” Except it’s obviously not.

even a major media outlet is suggesting she might be done.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-uncertainty-extends-kathleen-kennedys-disney-future-1256357

the hollywood reporter isn't some right wing vlog with an axe to grind. it's a long running legit news paper, as I understand it. so yeah IMHO unless episode 9 does really well, and is widely praised as a worthy finalle to the saga, Kennndy's goose is cooked. Disney spent BILLIONS on the SW IP. they want to be able to capitalize on it.

the article is absolutely right that Kennedy isn't a visionary, and thats what SW needs. not some....... beurcrat

BrianDavion wrote:
the hollywood reporter isn't some right wing vlog with an axe to grind. it's a long running legit news paper, as I understand it. so yeah IMHO unless episode 9 does really well, and is widely praised as a worthy finalle to the saga, Kennndy's goose is cooked. Disney spent BILLIONS on the SW IP. they want to be able to capitalize on it.

A lot of those "right wing Vloggers" were spot on about a bunch of things, but the moment they started being critical- other publications and personalities immediately leapt at them with bogus accusations and poisoned the well. I'm one of the first to say "take the rage merchants with a grain of salt", but many of them were levying honest criticism and if you go and look at their material regarding Star Wars from about 2014-2015, they were extremely excited and thrilled about Star Wars and the new saga.

And the merch sales are terrible. According to my buddy that works at a collectables store, and who is a huge figure collector- the Star Wars stuff from the movies just isn't selling. And a lot of it is... really terribly executed. Seriously, why make action figures in 5 different scales? Sure, GI Joe did this... kinda. Rarely were they marketing all of the same line of characters at the same time in multiple scales (usually 2 at most, 12" collectables and the smaller guys). Transformers... well, they kinda get a pass because they were always different scales. Any idiot in touch with collectors and children could have told you that you find a scale and stick to it, because that's what kids play with and that's what collectors want.

Yo but I saw them Legos yesterday and I ain't gonna lie, I'm tempted.

BrianDavion wrote:
the article is absolutely right that Kennedy isn't a visionary, and thats what SW needs. not some....... beurcrat

I heard- and don't quote this as gospel, or something I truly 100% take to heart... but apparently the 'creative process' was less people getting together with an artistic vision and more people sitting down with data and graphs saying "this is what people want, based on internet stuff, here's some sales trends, let's make it do this" and.... that's not always effective, and it lacks soul. I don't know if this was true, or partially true... but the new movies seem to lack that creative spark and soul that was present even in the prequels.

Also, someone needs to tell me how to best go about painting X-Wing models.

I’ll say this, I appreciate that KK is calling me one of the “custodians of this story” rather than a “manbaby.”

But that’s probably because she’s lightyears’ more commercially saavy than poor Rian.

 Manchu wrote:
I’ll say this, I appreciate that KK is calling me one of the “custodians of this story” rather than a “manbaby.”

But that’s probably because she’s lightyears’ more commercially saavy than poor Rian.

I get that there's a toxic portion of literally any fanbase, ever. But at a certain point, you have to know how to ignore idiots.

When the creatives and professionals in entertainment get combative with the fanbase, normal people just avoid it. The way they make these things seem is that if you don't like it, you're the enemy of one group and if you do like it you're the enemy of the other. It's just a bunch of poop-slinging and most people would rather just avoid it all and go watch something else, rather than be caught in the middle of that childishness.

Also, the only person I've seen that acted like Rian was Uwe Boll, and I'm sure I'm not the only person that noticed. And I imagine some drew correlations there as well...

Has anyone seen Rian and Uwe at the same place and the same time?


*Puts on conspiracy theory hat*

It's interesting that having to make new material for a story is remarked upon as some sort of hardship and not business as usual. I mean, I know remakes are thr popular, safe thing in the committee room but to actually complain about not being able to copy/paste story elements when that's your job?

Cray cray

If she's not gak-canned shortly after December's release of the last film, she'll definitely be "reassigned" or moved, or the studio will adopt a new posture, or some business-speak for removing her.

The latest rumours are:

1) Everything Star Wars related is on hold and being reviewed for further consideration (according to the big man himself)
2) Rian has been back pedaling on his further involvement with Star Wars (and the rumours of his trilogy have evaporated)
3) D&D from Games of Thrones have been let go of their Star Wars commitments, though they hopped over to Netflix and are claiming it's simply a schedule clash...sure...
4) KK has been critiqued more and more about her personnel issues, which basically boil down to: "do we have the same politics and will you do everything I say?"
5) The rumours are that Star Wars is risky business for established actors/writers/directors right now - with endless people being fired/remove, etc. Apparently the House of Mouse is actually getting negative responses when seeking established and accomplished acting talent (though there is likely no shortage of young up and comers eager to prove themselves).

The list of actors, directors, writers who've been sacked mid-Star Wars project over the past five years is staggering. It's a literal blood bath.

Disney knows that the final saga film will still be a billion dollar product (or at the very least 850 million - 1.2 billion if I had to guess), but beyond that? The good will has been spent. It's fething gone. The nostalgic fans were lost after the last film, the remnants who are willing to just finish the saga films for closure will soon follow. Star Wars hasn't built a new fan base to replace them. It's still an easy meal ticket in my opinion, but the plans were probably for immense profit, and for the first time in a long time that's being called into question.

Perhaps TV series in the vein of Mandalorian are the safer bet. The budget, despite being massive for a TV show, is probably less than a major film - and being episodic it may be possible to steer a show mid-season, chasing audience response?

You know, when I grew up hunting in the woods... I learned that when you see a lot of animals moving away from an area... there's probably something really nasty there.

Star Wars is starting to look like that spot in the woods that gets quiet.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
the hollywood reporter isn't some right wing vlog with an axe to grind. it's a long running legit news paper, as I understand it. so yeah IMHO unless episode 9 does really well, and is widely praised as a worthy finalle to the saga, Kennndy's goose is cooked. Disney spent BILLIONS on the SW IP. they want to be able to capitalize on it.

And the merch sales are terrible. According to my buddy that works at a collectables store, and who is a huge figure collector- the Star Wars stuff from the movies just isn't selling. And a lot of it is... really terribly executed. Seriously, why make action figures in 5 different scales? Sure, GI Joe did this... kinda. Rarely were they marketing all of the same line of characters at the same time in multiple scales (usually 2 at most, 12" collectables and the smaller guys). Transformers... well, they kinda get a pass because they were always different scales. Any idiot in touch with collectors and children could have told you that you find a scale and stick to it, because that's what kids play with and that's what collectors want.

Yo but I saw them Legos yesterday and I ain't gonna lie, I'm tempted.

As far as the collectibles go I think the answer is obvious. A casual fan will buy a ticket and watch the movie. A hardcore fan watches the movie, buys all the merchandise, gets their kids stuff and all sorts of things including making a den of geekdom on said franchise. Disney screwed over their hardcore fans. The fact their merchandise isn't selling is that simple. Unfortunately you have to please a bit of both types of fans. Hardcore fans tend to be annoying and hate change but they are loyal and will buy your most over-priced garbage because they love the franchise. Casual fans have no loyalty and sorta float away at the whims of a breeze.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:
As far as the collectibles go I think the answer is obvious. A casual fan will buy a ticket and watch the movie. A hardcore fan watches the movie, buys all the merchandise, gets their kids stuff and all sorts of things including making a den of geekdom on said franchise. Disney screwed over their hardcore fans. The fact their merchandise isn't selling is that simple. Unfortunately you have to please a bit of both types of fans. Hardcore fans tend to be annoying and hate change but they are loyal and will buy your most over-priced garbage because they love the franchise. Casual fans have no loyalty and sorta float away at the whims of a breeze.

I've seen Star Wars fans hurl obscene amounts of money at collectables. Stuff that doesn't even make sense, sometimes. You burn them, and there goes your merch. I don't even think kids actually buy action figures any more. They're for grown dudes, they just put them in the toy department as a test- if we really want it, and we're sure about it- we will walk through Wal-Mart with an actual figure in the cart. That's how you know it's not an impulse buy, you gotta work for it and take those ego bruises.

I would think someone who grew up in the woods would have a more resilient ego then that!

I hide my action figures under boxes of tampons.

The Black Series The Mandalorian figure was pretty much impossible to find the moment it came out and was initially in toy aisles but collector/resellers scooped them up with a quickness and now to get it you generally have to be lucky or pay extra online. There was one in a different box at Target and goes for much much more and was also a toy aisle item; there are still adults stalking the toy aisles; fear them.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I hide my action figures under boxes of tampons.

Now there’s someone with a bruise-proof ego!

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I hide my action figures under boxes of tampons.

The tampons should go underneath to protect the cardstock from potential water damage.

 Ahtman wrote:
The Black Series The Mandalorian figure was pretty much impossible to find the moment it came out and was initially in toy aisles but collector/resellers scooped them up with a quickness and now to get it you generally have to be lucky or pay extra online. There was one in a different box at Target and goes for much much more and was also a toy aisle item; there are still adults stalking the toy aisles; fear them.

Spoiler:

I think that says something, rather then produce large eneugh amounts so kids can get them, often the msot desired toys are produced in artifcally low amounts. Disney seems to be not putting out the RIGHT Tiys... case in point, the complete LACK of Rey's when TFA came out.

 warboss wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I hide my action figures under boxes of tampons.

The tampons should go underneath to protect the cardstock from potential water damage.

Why? That card stock is going straight into the recycle bin.

 Ahtman wrote:
The Black Series The Mandalorian figure was pretty much impossible to find the moment it came out and was initially in toy aisles but collector/resellers scooped them up with a quickness and now to get it you generally have to be lucky or pay extra online. There was one in a different box at Target and goes for much much more and was also a toy aisle item; there are still adults stalking the toy aisles; fear them.

On the bright side, if you want a Rose Tico or a Supreme Leader Snoke toy, most stores still have boxes of them.

BrianDavion wrote:
... case in point, the complete LACK of Rey's when TFA came out.

The #Where'sRey thing was kind of a media beatup. The fact that you can still find Force Awaken's Rey's in stores is telling of this.

Afraid Hasbro need to carry the can somewhat.

TFA figures were rubbish. Same articulation as the originals, cack paint jobs, too few accessories. And all for the same price as previous, far nicer figures. Oh, but they also threw in some ‘construct a gun’ bits.

And figures with good articulation and details etc? Oh that’s not Black Series. That’ll be £5 extra, Mr Allan.

Was also a sod to find them in the U.K. unless you lived in a city.

 Adeptus Doritos wrote:
"Lack of source material"...? Okay, at first I was content to say I did not like the direction things were going under her, but now I am convinced she's just stupid.

What she means, as HBMC said, is that they didn't have ready made story which they could adapt, like Marvel did with Infinity Gauntlet storyline. They did have Lucas' own concept for third trilogy but apparently it wasn't too great. And I think few people would have been excited about adapting old post-RotJ Star Wars EU storylines for big screens.
Of course, cynic would point out that they then decided to use OT as a source material...

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Afraid Hasbro need to carry the can somewhat.

TFA figures were rubbish. Same articulation as the originals, cack paint jobs, too few accessories. And all for the same price as previous, far nicer figures. Oh, but they also threw in some ‘construct a gun’ bits.

And figures with good articulation and details etc? Oh that’s not Black Series. That’ll be £5 extra, Mr Allan.

Was also a sod to find them in the U.K. unless you lived in a city.

Yeah, this is a big part of it. The action figures are just crap next to the range that was out there in the RotS to Clone Wars years. Less detail, less articulation, and barely any resemblance to the actors. Sure, as someone who grew up on those toys there's probably a little bit of rose-tinting going on, and there were certainly some stinkers back then, but by and large they had it down to a fine art at the end. A vast range extending to things like Jedi or Clone commanders that had a single scene, tons of articulation and props, superb detail and build quality... I'd honestly love to have a few of the new characters to stick up on the shelf beside my old ones, but not at twice the price for half the quality. Much the same thing as the difference between the original and frankly amazing run of LotR figures and the later, worse, more expensive Hobbit ones.

If I had to guess at why, I think it's basically because they decided that kids who were actually going to, y'know, play with these toys and derive some joy from them as my generation did were not worth it as a market, to sell to them you're competing with far more (especially in the world of video games) than you were fifteen years ago. So instead they pitch to the collector's market, and that in turn means higher prices and lower quality; No point in props or joints when they're never going to come out of the packaging, and collectors will pay whatever price you put on it, either because their soul enjoyment of the toy is simply owning the product or because they'll double their money in a few years easily.

It's not just the action figures either. The Lego kits cost twice what they used to, the toy blasters and sabers are flimsy and cheaply made compared to the ones as had as a kid (which survived many a ham-fisted back garden showdown, bet the new ones wouldn't stand up nearly as well to that kind of thing and come with health and safety warnings against duelling younger brothers for hours at a time ).

Of course. it's not just that. The toy industry itself is in trouble, as the collapse of Toys'R'Us attests to, but I think this might be something of a vicious cycle. Kids are perceived to be less into toys, so toys are made worse, so kids like them less, repeat until the industry is in the state it's currently in. But I do think Hasbro have only got their own lack od effort to blame for SW toys failing as badly as they supposedly have. Of course, there's more to SW merch than toys, and more to the toy industry than SW, but I do think this is all linked.

The collapse of Toys'R'Us was due to predatory asset-stripping filthbags.

And the fact that collectors aren't buying the newer toys either suggests either they do care about the quality afterall, or else there really is a lack of enthusiasm for the new films among much of the "hardcore" fanbase.

Example?



Poe Dameron figure from the TFA selection. This is not a bootleg. This is not pre-production. This is the finished article. One they flogged for £12 a pop. Look at that solid yellow visor. The awkward stance. It's just a terrible figure.

Contrast and compare to say.....close approximation? Pilot Luke from 'Original Trilogy Collection'



Colossal difference in quality. And if memory serves, the latter was cheaper than the former.

Now, they did improve somewhat with TLJ. Here's my favourite from that line, Resistance Gunner Paige.



Same articulation as (Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La) Poe, which was disappointing. But, the detailing is far closer to Luke.

Separate helmet and rebreather are a really nice addition. I just wish they'd given her a holster for her blaster.

This one was £14, if memory serves. And one of the few TLJ I bought - mostly because I couldn't find them, and when I did, the price put me off.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

 warboss wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I hide my action figures under boxes of tampons.

The tampons should go underneath to protect the cardstock from potential water damage.

Why? That card stock is going straight into the recycle bin.

Unless you buy two of each and keep one NIB, you're dead to me.