The Star Wars franchise is no stranger to Japanese culture. The Jedi and lightsaber battles were obviously inspired by samurai. Wipe transitions have their roots in old Akira Kurosawa films. Even the symbols representing the Rebels and the Empire were inspired by the emblems used by powerful Japanese families. Japanese culture runs deep in the…
Reproductions of the classic Darth Vader helmet can be found all over the web. I’ve seen them in construction paper and EVA foam. But when it comes to Darth Vader constructed in metal, the Gold Point Props (GPP) build is as epic as the voice behind the mask! Finding this video afforded a welcomed moment to reminisce of…
If you’ve watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, you can never forget the iconic scene where the rebels use their ships’ harpoons to trip up a couple of giant AT-AT walkers by flying through and around the machines’ legs. While it would take years to recreate such a large scale battle with real death…
The weapons of the titular Star Wars Jedi, lightsabers are nothing short of freaking cool. Fictionally powered by kyber crystals, these glowing portable beams have unique colors, handles, and best of all, can cut through pretty much anything. Countless replicas have been made since the original movie’s 1977 release, but seeing as kyber crystals aren’t…
If you haven’t seen it yet (and you definitely should), the new live-action series The Mandalorian (available via Disney+) is pretty much all any Star Wars fan talks about these days. It’s dirtier, grittier, and has way more personality and lore than the recent films of the past decade. It’s no surprise then that Brick…
The high-speed space battles, lightsaber fights, and unique stories that make up the Star Wars galaxy far, far, away has transcended space and time to give us one of the most unique fictional worlds ever made. That said, the Jim Henson-like puppeteering techniques used to bring the original trilogy space opera to life are pretty…
The first Star Wars movie came out in 1977 and cemented itself as one of cinema’s most popular franchises. To bring this story set in a galaxy far, far away to life, director George Lucas used brilliant set design, vehicle design, costumes, special effects, and some of the best sound design of the time. Case…
Even in a world full of change, there are many constants in the universe: taxes, Disney’s ever-present plan to own everything your childhood holds dear, and LEGO Star Wars kits. LOTS of LEGO Star Wars kits. While it can’t house the gigantic 7,541-piece Millenium Falcon, this 2,812-piece LEGO recreation of The Empire Strikes Back’s Cloud…
The LighterSaber, as its name implies, is a lighter which looks like those wonderful laser swords from that one movie, whatsit? Ah yes…. Star Wars. Instead of spending years in Jedi training, running around Dagoba with small greet creature attached to your back, Iqbal Ameer and Singapore-based Expedio Design are bringing you the next best thing in…
The force has always been strong when it comes to interest in Star Wars prop replicas, but Disney and Lucasfilm have always relied on licensing official designs and schematics to third-party companies. While the resulting products may hold up well when it comes to sales numbers, they’ve been a far cry from what would be…
While some dusted off their lightsabers or danced around the house in Darth Vader socks this past unofficial Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you), Frank Howarth of the YouTube channel Frank Makes celebrated exactly how you would expect him to: by turning wood on a lathe. Unlike his usual lathe projects, however,…
We all know you can’t first become a Jedi Master until you get all whiny about droid maintenance and zapped in the ass a few thousand times by a remote training droid. And yeah, we all know good ol’ uncle Ben gets his chuckles from seeing young Padawans zapped repeatedly by a floating, laser-shooting orb…
In total, there were enough to overtake us blindfolded with all of their whip-arms tied behind their backs. But we had a tub of things they would never suspect. A toothbrush used by Neil, A hollow can enchanted with cat tears by a welder named Larry, two tufts of hair pulled from the back of…
Star Wars fever is real and running more rampant than ever. Seething, even. Before you ready your wardrobe for the movie this Friday, you’ll want to prime your 3D printer. The official BB-8 Builder’s Club just released open-source plans on how to print your very own BB-8 replica just in time for Star Wars: The…
Like most kids of the Betamax generation, Google’s VP of Product Management, Clay Bavor, never ceased to be amazed by the Star Wars universe – even after dozens of viewings of the original trilogy. Perhaps it comes with little surprise, then, that Bavor has helped lead a Google tribute to the Star Wars franchise in…
With the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 18th, it’s safe to say that we’re gearing up for Star Wars marketing overload – and if you’ve ever had plans to launch a Star Wars-related Kickstarter project, now would be a great time to do it. Among other Star Wars-related items that…
With the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, arriving in theaters on December 18th, we’re already starting to feel the early ripples of yet another tidal wave of Star Wars mania. While some marketing teams have been busy developing strategies for jumping on the Star Wars hype train the…
Four pinstripes and a melon. That’s all the payment we could gather. Down among the shantie with tattered cloth and mud holding make-shift walls to the ground, droids would peek from the blinds, unsure if they would be extracted or provided parts. Why we were able to get a melon in these parts, we’ll never…
For London-based kirigami paper artist and designer director Marc Hagan-Guirey (AKA Paper Dandy), a turning point came in March of 2012 when – after picking up the kirigami craft – he decided to leave his job as Head of Design at a Soho-based advertising agency to concentrate on paper engineering full-time, starting with his first…
If you were one of the lucky few who was a kid back when the original Star Wars films were released (sadly, I wasn’t), chances are the official ‘Star Wars’ toys were a huge part of your childhood. While the original toys are primarily in the hands of eccentric collectors these days (and selling for…
For those who remember the pre-CG days (primarily before the release of Jurassic Park), appreciating special effects also meant appreciating a certain level of model making skill that has sadly been replaced by the latest in CG technology. While a well-executed CG job can do wonders for a film, it’s oftentimes the models that really…
Few things go better together than true love and a bag of Quikrete. Well, perhaps we can sit on that one for awhile but in the meantime, this Death Star Vase made from a Star Wars-themed silicone mold is quite possibility one of the better-balanced DIY projects we’ve seen in awhile: not too polished, functional…
Among one of the most iconic costumes in the history of Hollywood, the Star Wars Imperial Stormtrooper costume has also been a significant inspiration for a variety of CMF directions. But how did the original and memorable design come to be? After being hired by George Lucas to help visualize the world of Star Wars…
In 1983, the idea of traveling at unsafe speeds through the forest on a rocket, equipped with anti-gravity and a belly gun, became permanently ingrained, sealed and preserved in my young mind. Growing up in a forest didn’t help deter that dream and neither does this video. Aerofex, from Manhattan Beach, California, has been testing…