OPP looking for driver of suspicious vehicle seen approaching girlA long time ago in a decade far, far away, the "Star Wars" spoof "Spaceballs" mocked the ridiculous products that comprise the franchise's merchandising.Today, "Star Wars" merchandise is approaching the level of parody as "The Force Awakens" inches toward its long-awaited opening.Social media users are slowly growing frustrated with the marketing efforts for the sci-fi picture, if recent Reddit posts are any indication.They are openly mocking products such as "Star Wars" fruit, "Star Wars" makeup, even "Star Wars" the high heels.Below you'll find a list of products that go a little too far when it comes to marketing this franchise. Try to imagine their names being read out in Mel Brooks' voice.Here are 16 times that "Star Wars" marketing went too far: So my local grocery store is selling #StarWars apples. Who knew Darth Vader liked pie? "//pRtiLurkNm— Madison Willard (@willard_madison) September 17, 2015Skywalker Lightsaber Lace Up Heels"Star Wars" the Nestle Coffee-mate"Star Wars" the Cover Girl lipstick"Star Wars" the Niagara bottled water"Star Wars" the TooGood potato chips"Star Wars" the U.S. mailboxThe "Star Wars" Death Star spatula Like Us On Facebook Follow Us On Twitter
The amount of hype is comparable to that of Barbershop: The Next Cut. We’re taking about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and if you’re a fan of the franchise, you’re eagerly anticipating joining Han, Chewbacca, Leia, R2-D2 and C-3PO for another adventure in a galaxy far, far away. But for now, we’re taking a look at a few pieces of Star Wars memorabilia that are completely unnecessary or overkill for the average Star Wars fan looking forward to The Force Awakens. 10. Jar Jar Binks Figure ($9.97 at Walmart) Awesome may be a little bit of a stretch when describing Jar Jar Binks given his near universal disdain, but he’s become quite the talking point recently due to the surprisingly plausible fan theory that the Gungan goofball is actually a Sith lord. 9. The Star Wars Holiday Special (Free on YouTube) Coming off the success of the original Star Wars, a made-for-TV Star Wars Holiday Special aired in 1978 during primetime. It was so awful that George Lucas has tried (unsuccessfully) to buy every master copy to ensure it never aired again.
Carrie Fisher has also been quoted as saying she plays it when she wants guests to leave. You really shouldn’t watch it unless you’re a Star Wars diehard or want to immediately lose your friends. This shirt makes for a cheap yet effective troll for fans of either franchise and would draw the ire of many if you decide to wear it to see the new movie. 7. Tauntaun Sleeping Bag ($149.99 USD at Thinkgeek) Re-create the iconic Hoth scene from The Empire Strikes Back without the unpleasant smell by owning your very own Tauntaun “carcass,” complete with printed intestines on the inside and the best feature -- a lightsaber zipper pull! 6. The Prequel Trilogy ($47.99 at Best Buy) Some like the prequel trilogy. Most of us tolerate it. Nonetheless, many kids and young adults were likely introduced to the franchise via the prequel trilogy and while it's likely that there will be little that directly influences the new trilogy, it’s nice (though unnecessary) to know the complete background of events heading into The Force Awakens.
5. Jedi Robe ($59.99 USD at Thinkgeek) If you think about it, Jedi robes are terribly cumbersome -- they’re bulky, get dirty easily and you have to drop them every time you engage in a battle. In fact, robes probably ate a large chunk of the Jedi council's operating budget. On the other hand, they make you look really cool (or like a complete dork, depending on who you ask). 4. Darth Vader Helmet, Bust and Cloak ($2167.13 at Amazon.ca) "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." Ditch your office slacks and tie for this incredible helmet and cloak set to strike fear in your workplace and among your colleagues. Pants aren’t included, but that won’t matter because you're a Dark Lord of the Sith and you do what you please. Every Star Wars fan has at one point wielded a paper towel tube and swung it around as if were their very own lightsaber, mimicking the whooshes in harmony with their swings. Unlike store-bought plastic toys, these replicas can be custom-designed and crafted from aluminum, so you’ll never be in a hurry to use up your rolls of paper towel ever again.
2. R2-D2 Droid ($4123.72 at Amazon.ca) The good news -- this collectible is currently 25% off with free shipping! The bad news -- the regular price is $5520.95. There’s only one left in stock (sold directly by Amazon), but given the choice between rent and this droid, the obvious choice is this awesome collectible. 1. LEGO Death Star ($599.99 at Toys R Us $499.99 at The LEGO ShopThanks commenters, you're the real MVP) You may have noticed the latter part of our list has shifted from silly gag items to products that we would love to have, and this is no exception. Everyone loves LEGO, but at $600.00, this set is a tough pill to swallow, even if it includes awesome features like a control room, hangar bay with TIE starfighter, Emperor's throne room and more. In fact, this set is so coveted that it’s even spawned threads in our forum whenever it drops in price. Keep your eyes open for Part Two of this series after the movie releases -- "10 Extremely Awesome, Completely Essential Star Wars Products," with more fan (and wallet) friendly options that every Star Wars fan should have.
In the meantime, take a look at some of the Star Wars deals available at retailers across Canada or read our gift guide for the geek in your life! Be sure to share this with any Star Wars fans and comment below to tell us your expectations for The Force Awakens! And as always, may the Force be with you.Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens Platform: Xbox One (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Release: June 28, 2016 Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens is roughly the gazillionth licensed Lego game to be released in the last decade. But even though TT Games dumps at least two or three titles on players each year, it still seems kids can’t get enough of them. As has become our habit/tradition/addiction with these games, my daughter and I worked through most of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens playing in co-op mode (the Lego games remain among the best ways for parents to enjoy some social gaming with their kids, regardless of age).
Then we sat down and had a little chat about it. The transcript of that discussion is below, and shall serve as Post Arcade’s review. So, you’ve played the earlier Lego Star Wars games, the Lego Batman and Lego Avengers games, the Lego Indiana Jones games, the Lego Harry Potter games, the Lego Lord of the Rings and Lego The Hobbit games…um, the Lego Movie Videogame…oh, and Lego Dimensions, of course. Am I missing any? You’re missing Lego Jurassic World. And Lego Rock Band. And the two Lego City games.What I’m getting at is that you’ve played, what, almost 20 Lego games at this point? And since you only just turned 11, you’ve played most of them over the last four or five years. So, first question: Do you still get excited when you hear about a new one? So when you see a new trailer for a Lego game you don’t think: Jeez, they made another one of these things. When will enough be enough?But why do you still get excited? Is it because you’re thinking of all the puzzles you’re going to solve?
The stuff you’re going to smash and build? Or is it because you like the movies and books they’re based on? How they parody stories you know? Well, all of that. I like being a character in a story that I know. And Lego games tell stories with a lot of girl characters. And they usually give you one to play as right away. But I like playing as all of the characters, including the boys, and using their special abilities. Sometimes when we’re playing we switch characters because I know how to solve a puzzle using your character’s ability and you don’t. For me, Lego games are all about the humour. TT Games is great at parody. And they did a really good job poking fun of Star Wars in their earlier games. I was pretty excited to play Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I knew you’d be excited about this game, seeing as how you were so excited to watch the movie that you took me out of school to see it. Did you tell the front office why you were taking me out of school, or did you lie?
I said it was a serious family matter. The first Star Wars movie in a decade is clearly some serious business. And we saw it as a family. Besides, it was the day before school let out for Christmas break. You weren’t going to learn anything anyway. Now, getting back to the game, do you think the developers did a good job capturing the The Force Awakens‘ vibe? I think they did an amazing job. They had excellent voice actors… They actually sampled dialogue from the movie, and got some of the actors to add additional bits here and there for the game. Well, like I said, they were excellent. It was very true to the movie. Except because it’s a game they had to make it longer than the movie, and they added stuff that didn’t really feel like it fit in to me. Like when Rey was exploring the basement in Maz’s castle with BB-8. There were too many puzzles that didn’t seem to fit.I thought they fit okay. Though the one with the gears [in which one character must control the movement of a machine while the other climbs over its moving parts] had us stuck for quite a while.
I thought they did a great job with the humour, too. Like Kylo Ren tickling Poe Dameron with a feather during his torture scene. That’s exactly the sort of thing I want in a Lego game. Yeah, that was super funny. And when Luke takes Darth Vader’s mask off on the Death Star and it’s actually young Anakin’s face instead of the wrinkled old Anakin. He has to shake the helmet to get the right head, then he puts it on Darth Vader’s body. There’s lots of stuff like that. You bring up a good point, that this game actually starts with the Battle of Endor, which I thought was a nice way to tie it back to the previous games. And in that very first mission you get to try all of the game’s new systems. What do you mean by systems? The way you play, the things you can do. Like the cover-based shooting system. That’s never been in a Lego game before. I thought it made combat a bit more cinematic whenever it popped up. And then there was the option to build several different things out of the same pile of bricks rather than just one thing.
Yeah, I like being able to build lots of things out of the same set of bricks, too. Because that’s what Lego is, you know? Using the same bricks in different ways to create different stuff. It also makes puzzles take longer, but it also makes them more interesting. And sometimes you can just build funny stuff and get a bunch of Lego studs. You can fly ships, too. Like the Millennium Falcon. They did a good job capturing the movie’s famous flight through the crashed Star Destroyer on Jakku – including Rey’s amazing upside down flip. But you generally don’t enjoy flying in games. Did you like the flying missions here?The controls just don’t make sense to me. I don’t feel in control. And If you’re playing by yourself it’s too hard to do two things at once, shooting and flying. The guided missions where the game keeps you moving forward are a bit better than the ones where you just fly around freely and need to shoot down like 10 ships. But I still don’t like them much.
And who wants to fly the Millennium Falcon, anyway? I don’t know what that means. I know you don’t. That’s why it’s funny.We also see few bits that weren’t in the film. Like Poe receiving his assignment to head to Jakku at the outet. Do you feel like this game added any important pieces to the film’s story?I think the whole story is there. The extra parts don’t really stand out to me. They add a bit, I guess, but not really by giving us more of the story. And some of the puzzles – like the ones in Maz’s Castle – didn’t really fit at all. Still disagree with you on that one. The puzzles were fine. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this to you yet, but TT Games is planning on lots of downloadable content for this one. New characters and three new levels: Poe’s Quest for Survival, the First Order Siege of Takodana, and Escape from Starkiller Base. Any of these interest you? I think I only know what two of those will be, the last two. Their names make it pretty clear.
At least if you’ve seen the movie. I suppose I can guess what Poe’s Quest for Survival will be, too. Probably Poe’s story after the TIE fighter crash on Jakku. In the movie he just disappears for a while. That’s a good guess. And it means we might get more details that weren’t in the film. That makes me happy. He’s one of my favourite new characters from the film. Out of all the new main characters he was my least favourite. I was mad that Disney made a Disney Infinity character out of him. They could have made so many other great Disney Infinity Star Wars characters, like Captain Phasma. I mean seriously, there’s no BB-8. He’s the best part of the whole movie.But now we’re getting off topic. Let’s wrap things up. Ready to render judgment? Well, compared to the other Lego games I’ve played, this one is really good. It doesn’t really stand out from the rest, but it was still fun. And – drum roll [patting her lap] – I rate this one seven and a half.