Today has been quite an exciting day for Star Wars Rebels. The new and upcoming series is set to debut Fall 2013 with an hour special premiering on the Disney Channel. The series will then continue on Disney XD. Besides that, official details have been scarce with a few exciting videos here and there from the Rebels crew. Earlier this January, two LEGO Star Wars Rebels sets from Kiddiwinks revealed characters cadet Ezra Bridger and Zeb. Ezra was included in the Phantom set, while Zeb was included in the Ghost set with a holocron.
As January now comes to an end, more details concerning the new animated series have surfaced. Twitter user @12MG12 (MG) pointed the way to the following LEGO set images, which originated from LEGO Preliminaries.
First up is the Phantom. The original description provided by Kiddiwinks, which has been removed from their website, included young Rebel hero and cadet Ezra Bridger in the cockpit of the attack shuttle. Although the captioned names for each LEGO figure pictured above are indecipherable, I’d like to assume that Ezra is the red-haired character pictured in the pilot’s seat. However, as MG pointed out on Twitter, these sets are preliminary sets and the visuals may not be completely accurate. As stated by Jason Ward of MakingStarWars.net, “They’re [the LEGO gods] clearly finding the closest substitution.” That said, we do get an idea and a representation of what we may get in the future.
The Phantom set also includes a droid that resembles R2-D2 with the blue dome and white body. Although that’s what we see on the box and it may be a substitute, this droid may in fact be the newly announced character, Chopper. We’ll talk more about him and his feisty personality later!
Next up is The Ghost. According to Kiddiwinks, the starship included Zeb and a holocron. On the box for the LEGO set, we have four characters. According to a Eurobricks forum user who saw a catalog, the characters are “Ezra Bridger, Kannan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, and a Stormtrooper.” Jedi News also provided additional background for the following names:
But, didn’t we just see what appeared to be Ezra Bridger in the Phantom set? Again, this is all speculation and different sources are claiming various bits of information. Personally, by zooming in as best I could on Photoshop, I believe the characters pictured from left to right are Kanan (spelling it with one “n” because of this screencap), Hera Syndulla, Zeb, and an unidentified stormtrooper. Earlier, I also proposed the idea of Kanan being a stormtrooper. Whether he is or not, the idea of a stormtrooper leaving the ranks to join the rebellion could be an interesting story line.
Cham Syndulla and his daughter in season one, episode 21, “Liberty on Ryloth” from Star Wars: The Clone Wars
What really caught my eye in The Ghost set was the female Twi’lek known as Hera Syndulla. If this information is correct and Hera Syndulla is in fact the daughter of revolutionary leader and freedom fighter Cham Syndulla, then I completely understand Dan Curto’s Facebook status from Friday, January 24, “Wait, so WHO’s daughter is in REBELS? Holy cow…!! Mind blown.” That is, if that’s who he was talking about in the first place! Still, we know for a fact that two females will be starring in the series, so why not the daughter of a rebel leader? Although the Twi’lek pictured on the box is green, I’m going to cite Jason again and state that it’s just a visual substitute. Also, what’s really neat is that I wrote an article about Cham Syndulla and Star Wars Rebels back in September 2013. At the time, I was analyzing Cham’s dialogue with Mace Windu, extracting the message, and projecting it onto the premise of Star Wars Rebels.
Looking back at the LEGO set, Hera isn’t the only non-human figure. A few friends and I got the feeling that Zeb wasn’t human and we came up with Nautolan, Wookiee, and droid. Giving the image a closer look, it appears (kind of, sort of, maybe) that Zeb is a Mon Calamari male. The image is not as clear as we’d all like it to be, but a non-human Zeb definitely adds to the growing diversity of the group.
In other toy news, it looks like R2-D2 and C-3PO will make an appearance on Star Wars Rebels, according to a leaked list of Hasbro figures.
When asked about Darth Vader and Darth Sidious returning on Rebels, executive producer Simon Kinberg stated in an Entertainment Weekly interview, “I don’t think I’m allowed to answer that. I can say that wherever possible we would want to use the original talent.” Given the Darth Vader mask that appeared under the “Rebels Mask Asst” category in another leaked list of Hasbro figures, we can safely assume that Vader will show up from time to time.
Another mysterious name that popped up in the wave of Rebels news today was Kallus. Rebels Report first uncovered the name back in October 2013, and it appeared again in the leaked list. In the expanded universe, Darth Kallus was also Jacen Solo’s placeholder Sith name in the “Darth Who Contest.”
Finally, we make our way back to the newly announced character, Chopper. German site Movie Pilot revealed the astromech droid in an official interview and Star Wars Rebels featurrette. According to executive producer Dave Filoni, “The easiest way to sum up Chopper…if R2 is your favorite dog, then Chopper’s the cat.” I love that description because it captures Chopper perfectly: he does things his way, he’s grumpy, and he doesn’t like to be told what to do.
That’s it for Rebels news. Our ragtag team will be causing mayhem for the Empire soon and Darth Sidious will have one word for them:
“I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.”
Obsessed with social media and Star Wars. Writer and owner of The Wookiee Gunner, a Vernal-class freighter bringing you the best of Star Wars!
This awesome community is perfect for bloggers, writers and fans of all things sci-fi, fantasy, comics, gaming, and more. Join us now and dominate all dimensions!
Signup Login More Details
