General News
“Twilight of the Apprentice” ended on a high note in terms of ratings, according to Variety, “The Star Wars Rebels season two finale ranked the No. 1 cable TV telecast in the hour among boys 6-14 (290,000/1.6 rating) and ranked a solid No. 2 in kids 6-11 and across target boy demographics.” Throughout the season, about 22 million watched at least 6 minutes, 3.2 million viewers used the Disney XD app, and there were 8.8 million VOD orders.
In partnership with Lucasfilm, Disney Floral & Gifts will have a new Star Wars Rebels role-playing experience available summer 2016 at the Disney Parks in Florida and California. Using augmented reality on your smart phone, fans participating will be guided by Ezra Bridger in an undercover mission. A successful mission will unlock a mysterious box that holds a medal of honor. The new adventure is slated for delivery to Disney resorts beginning in August 2016 with pre-order purchase scheduled to begin early summer 2016. Make sure to follow the Disney Parks blog for further updates.
UK subscribers of the streaming service DisneyLife now have access to season one of Star Wars Rebels as well as Marvel’s animated shows. This service caters to fans who prefer not to purchase digital downloads or DVD/Blu-rays. Read more about it here, and if you’re interested, visit DisneyLife to sign up today.
If you’re a collector of Star Wars autographs, make sure to check out Julie Dolan’s site, where she has signed Princess Leia photos. Dolan voiced Leia in the episode “A Princess on Lothal” earlier this year.
In celebration of May the Fourth, the Nerdist put together a reunion show featuring Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes. At the end, Linz Stanley appears in a cosplay of Hera. You can watch the video over at the Nerdist.
If you’re on Twitter, definitely make sure you’re following Star Wars Rebels writer Steven Meliching (@stevenmelching). He provides interesting tidbits about the series as well as Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Here are some of his most recent tweets regarding Star Wars Rebels:
An inspiration for the #StarWarsRebels episode "Wings of the Master" was the 1983 movie THE RIGHT STUFF. https://t.co/T28DXhMeJB
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Steven Melching (@stevenmelching) April 30, 2016
#StarWarsRebels deleted scene: In the script to “Relics of the Old Republic” Kallus used seismic sensors... (1/2) https://t.co/i8ZSzoF0bi
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Steven Melching (@stevenmelching) April 30, 2016
...to triangulate the AT-TE’s position based on its 6-legged footfalls. Rex thwarted him by having Gregor mimic a 4-legged walk. (2/2)
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Steven Melching (@stevenmelching) April 30, 2016
When scripting #StarWarsRebels we write dialogue for Chopper to "speak," in order to give him the proper attitude. https://t.co/MLbsBJ9iRZ
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Steven Melching (@stevenmelching) May 10, 2016
On Star Wars Day, supervising director and executive producer Dave Filoni shared two season three images on social media. The first featured a piece of armor with Jaig eyes and the second featured Captain Rex in his helmet. Though no other information was given, many suspect that the armor from the first image belongs to Kanan.
#MayThe4thBeWithYou! What is this? You can see it, if you are willing… https://t.co/eKpPXbpuIy
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Dave Filoni (@dave_filoni) May 04, 2016
May the 4th follow up: Rex in Season 3 looking like classic Clone Wars.
#MayThe4thBeWithYou https://t.co/R4XE6artEX
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Dave Filoni (@dave_filoni) May 05, 2016
To follow up on the latest Ahsoka Tano news, please visit Team-Ahsoka.com. Team Ahsoka is a fan site dedicated to all things related to Ahsoka Tano. It’s rather new, having been established on April 5, so make sure to follow the site on Twitter and Facebook.
Who do you think is the MVP of the Ghost crew? Make a choice over at StarWars.com.
James Arnold Taylor always gets asked whether Obi-Wan Kenobi will appear in season three of Star Wars Rebels, so he put together a vlog with his thoughts on the matter.
Articles
Judith Vogt wrote a guest post for The Wookiee Gunner regarding her thoughts of Star Wars Rebels from a geek parent’s perspective.
Geek Girl Diva writes a series of articles for StarWars.com, where she highlights ten significant moments of each episode. Check out the latest posts for “Fighter Flight“, “Rise of the Old Masters“, and “Breaking Ranks“.
Mike MacDonald (Coffee With Kenobi) took a closer look at Ahsoka Tano’s growth as a Force user as well as her interactions with Ezra, Kanan, and Darth Vader in Star Wars Rebels (part one and part two).
Bethany Blanton (The Star Wars Report) wrote about why Star Wars Rebels is a must-watch series for any Star Wars fan.
Looking to catch up with Rebels, but you only want to see the most important episodes? Megan Crouse has got you covered with her essential Star Wars Rebels episode guide over at Den of Geek. Megan also wrote about the five greatest moments of Rae Sloane over at StarWars.com.
Den of Geek‘s Ryan Britt wrote about how Ahsoka became one of the best characters in the Star Wars universe.
Mike Cooper (Eleven-ThirtyEight) took a closer look at the character of Ezra Bridger and his journey to come in “Let’s Hear It for the Boy – In Defense of Ezra”.
Chris Wermeskerch (Eleven-ThirtyEight) compared the visions experienced by Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus and how those visions shaped their futures.
Mike DeRose (Coffee With Kenobi) walked us through the growth of Kanan Jarrus.
Jen shared the five moments from the Star Wars Rebels season two finale that made her cry over at her site, Anakin and His Angel.
Evan Teske (The Cantina Cast) wrote about Sabine Wren and how her background established in season two will inform her character in season three (part one and part two).
Catrina Dennis over at StarWars.com wrote about five women who changed the Star Wars galaxy and the list includes Hera Syndulla.
Chopper made it to #3 on Amy Ratcliffe’s list of five underrated droids in Star Wars.
Bryan Young (StarWars.com) took a closer look at the 1968 film Hell in the Pacific and how it influenced the Star Wars Rebels episode “The Honorable Ones”.
Spencer Barrett put together what we know about season three of Star Wars Rebels over at TVSource Magazine.
Comics and Books
(Photo: Titan Comics)
If you haven’t done so already, I highly recommend subscribing to the Star Wars Rebels Magazine to read up on the side adventures of the Star Wars Rebels characters. If you subscribe today, you save up to 10% and you get two free Hot Wheels Star Wars cars!
Florian of Jedi-Bibliothek pointed the way to an upcoming Star Wars Rebels book, entitled Disney Star Wars Rebels Cinestory Comic: Vol. 1. The Cinestory Comic is a graphic novel style retelling of the first three episodes in season one. Published by Titan Comics, it’ll be 240 pages long and it’ll be released on July 15, 2016. Also coming out in the summer are Ultimate Sticker Collection: Star Wars Rebels: Deadly Battles (July 5, 2016) and DK Readers L2: Star Wars Rebels: Darth Vader, Rebel Hunter! (July 5, 2016).
In celebration of Free Comic Book Day, Panini Comics released an excerpt of Marvel’s Star Wars: Kanan and one of Martin Fisher’s comics from the Star Wars Rebels Magazine. If you can read German, you can download the issue from Jedi-Bibliothek.
Marvel’s Star Wars: Kanan Vol. 2: First Blood (which collects issues #7-12) will be coming out on May 31, 2016. The Star Wars: Kanan Omnibus (which collects all 12 issues) will be released on December 20, 2016 (via Coffee With Kenobi).
Eva Widermann updated her Tumblr recently with images of the latest Star Wars Rebels comic, “Another Star Wars Rebels comic is out and this time I had the honour to design a new character for the Star Wars universe – a girl cadet named Reann, created by the talented writer Martin Fisher. When I first read her name, I spontaneously thought of Snow White for some reason. So I did just stick with that.”
Toys and Games
A new Star Wars Rebels LEGO set, The Rebel Command Ship, will be coming soon, featuring Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, Chopper, Commander Sato, and Agent Kallus. It can be seen below.
Funko confirmed once again that they are currently working on an Ahsoka Tano figure. Whether it will be younger or older Ahsoka remains to be seen.
Many wanted to see Hera and Chopper be made into Disney Infinity figures, but with the news of the cancellation on May 10, we may never see that come to fruition. If you haven’t done so already, make sure to order your Star Wars Rebels Disney Infinity figures (including the Kanan Light FX figure) while supplies last.
Stephen Stanton tweeted that Star Wars Rebels autographed trading cards will be included in the Topps packs starting in May. The cards include the main characters as well as Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Maul, Tarkin, and Yoda.
The Inquisitor will be included in the Galactic Ambitions expansion for Star Wars: The Card Game. The Inquisitor will also have his own figure pack for Imperial Assault, as seen in the bottom right.
Fan Creations
Gerardo Yanes created mash-ups of Star Wars Rebels characters and Pokémon! You can find them on Twitter: Hera, Kanan, Sabine, Zeb, and Ezra.
Make sure to place a pre-order soon for the Star Wars Fanzine: The Fans Awaken. Read more about it in this TWG interview with the creators.
Annie Stoll, the illustrator of the Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook, created her own Sabine Fanzine. It debuted at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. If she has any extras, they may appear online soon. Make sure to follow Annie on Twitter for more updates.
Ian McDonald got one of the coolest tattoos ever. The tattoo shows Ahsoka Tano walking away in the final moments of the season two finale (as seen on the left).
Michael Moreci (Roche Limit, Burning Fields) and Tim Daniel (Enormous, Curse) are working on a fan-made Ahsoka Tano comic that will be coming out this December. You can read more about it over at Multiversity Comics and Team Ahsoka.
Matthew K. has fantastic photo galleries of the Black Series Ahsoka Tano and Kanan Jarrus figures in action.
TheBadMotivator made a custom cardback for the Hasbro Ahsoka Tano action figure inspired by the Droids & Ewoks line (as seen at the center).
TK6683 glammed up the Ghost and made it into a fashionable necklace for Vanessa Marshall (as seen on the right).
Interviews and Other Appearances
The Getting Felt Up podcast interviewed Julie Dolan about her voice acting experience as Princess Leia.
The Collider Jedi Council had guests Ashley Eckstein and James Arnold Taylor.
Eric Geller interviewed Vanessa Marshall over at The Daily Dot.
Vanessa Marshall also spoke with First Order Transmissions.
Endor Express spoke to Tiya Sircar about Rebels and her film Miss India America.
Star Wars Rebels writer Steven Melching was one of the panelists on the “Inside the Writers’ Room” panel at WonderCon. You can now find the audio for that panel over at The Writers Panel.
Freddie Prinze, Jr., regularly hosts Twitch gaming streams, and in one, he said, “There’s a point in Star Wars Rebels season 3 where we become Mando all the time. You’re going to get some Mando love.”