It’s a good thing that characters from different movies starring the same actors don’t cross over (unless you’re talking about Aliens vs. Predator) because that could get confusing. Natalie Portman, who of course played Luke & Leia’s mommy in the alleged Star Wars prequels, will now play Jane Foster, first love to Thor, in Marvel’s movie by the same name. Thor is being played by Chris Hemsworth, who played Captain James Tiberius Kirk’s daddy in J.J. Abrams’ fantastic Star Trek. So just to keep things straight, Darth Vader’s bow-chicka-bow-bow and Luke Skywalker’s mom will be getting it on with Captain Kirk’s dad.

I suppose in some peoples’ twisted (and seriously bored) minds, this MAY in fact lead to answering the age-old question of which would do better in battle…the Enterprise or a Star Destroyer.

THR

If the thought of dressing up in your finest Mon Mothma outfit JUST to attend ComicCon with the rest of the plebs seems a little too…pedestrian…for your liking, take heart. Rose Byrne, speaking at a Knowing press event, mentioned that some of her friends are auditioning for parts in the live action Star Wars TV series that’s been rumored for years. Set to take place between Eps III and IV (that would be between Revenge of the Sith and the original Star Wars), the series will feature no Jedi…not surprising, since they’d been mostly killed off at the end of Ep. III and those remaining had to go into hiding on desert worlds or in icky swamps scavenging for mini hotdogs and LED flashlights. Now’s the time to brush up on your Huttese and call your agent…

io9

It may not be as big or as cool looking as those segmented towers sticking out of the Tunisian, er, Tatooinian desert, but Cleanworld’s RainCloud C-15 and C-21 water generators are very similar in concept to their Star Wars bretheren, in most respects.

In fact it looks like the secret love child of a Mr. Fusion, an iPod and a portable DHD, perhaps misplaced by Rodney McKay on a mission in which he was craving a Crunchie bar and couldn’t concentrate. In any event, these babies pull water out of the humidity in the air so that you can drink it. No water line needed.

Oh, and according to Cleanworld’s Milan Vicentijevic, it would take 1-3 hours to produce a liter of water, depending on temperature and humidity.

But they are very cool indeed. Created by artist Lauren Swingle, they are one-of-a-kind, $22, and sold out. Sorry, Han.

Etsy

On Mimobot’s website, they dare you to collect all of the new Star Wars Series 3 Mimobot USB drives. Which is a pretty good dare considering that an 8GB version will run you about $40 more than if you buy a plain ol’ one at Best Buy. Of course the Mimobots are way-cooler than your basic black Sandisk jobber, but that extra money is half a tank of gas! Ehh, what the heck…who needs gas when you have an army of USB Star Wars characters?! You can just shake down Shell for a few gallons!

New in this series are C-3PO, Darth Sidious (who looks an awful lot like both Senator Palpatine AND Emperor Palpatine!), the Emperor’s Royal Guard (who looks an awful lot like both Senator Palpatine’s Royal Guard AND Darth Sidious’ Royal Guard!) and Wickett. The Ewok.

Still no word on why Series 2 included a Nathan Lane version.

A long time ago, in this very galaxy, there were Star Wars toys. Lots of them. And they were good. They were very, very good. And then everybody wanted them. And then they were worth a fortune. It was the late ’70s / early ’80s and there was no eBay. Then in the mid-’90s we learned that George Lucas would (cough) produce the long-anticipated Star Wars prequels. And when Kenner (still Kenner at the time) came out with new Star Wars toys, we flocked in droves (or flocks) to every Wal-Mart, Target and Toys’R'Us store at opening time to get the new, hard-to find goodies. Well this Friday it’ll be time to empty your piggy bank yet again. At midnight, Friday night (so, you know, technically Saturday morning), 225 TRU stores will open wide and say cha-ching as people flock in droves (again) to every TRU for an exclusive first look and first buy at new Star Wars toys based on Clone Wars. There’s even a countdown timer on their website to let you know how soon they’ll be expecting you to part with your spacebucks.

The real question, though, is, will people in fact make the trek to TRU in those wee hours to buy this stuff, or are we all burned out thanks to a trilogy of lackluster prequels and, perhaps the capstone on George Lucas’ anti-rennaisance pyramid, a(nother) sucky Indiana Jones sequel?

What do you say? Will you go? Will you shell out the cash? Or will you just wait and see how the movie is before you decide if the toys are worth it?

Do you yearn for the good ol’ days in LEGOLAND? No, I don’t mean the amusement park in Denmark. I’m talking about the real deal. The Town sets that LEGO released between ’78 and about ’96 when everything started to get “juniorized”.

If you’ve fallen into your second Dark Ages because of a lack of interesting sets, do yourself a favor and check out LEGO again these days. Aside from a skiff-load of super-cool Star Wars-related sets and now Indiana Jones plasticky joy, LEGO’s traditional-style sets have gotten a lot better in the last 18-24 months or so.

More after the clicky thingie…

The Creator theme has some very, very nice sets these days, such as the Transport Ferry, Cool Convertible, Volkswagen Beetle and Cargo Copter. These sets aren’t a consistent scale and don’t include mini-figs. They’re just good, old fashioned, LEGO building fun.

Meanwhile, the Factory and LEGO Exclusives themes are also impressive these days, with sets like the Golden Anniversary set, Town Plan and Market Street. And I haven’t even talked about City, Castle, Agents, Mars Mission, Trains or Technic yet, all of which you can find more info and pictures for on LEGO’s web site.

So if these sets remind you of the days of Bill and Mary, you may want to check out this just-spotted 4999 Vestas Windmill limited-edition set. At over two feet tall and with motorized functions, this picture found on Brothers Brick shows a set that would look perfect in a modern, green-minded LEGOLAND setup. And it seems to include green BURPS! How cool is that?! I also love that it’s not JUST the windmill and the van, but that there’s the little “control building” with the fence and landscaping…great stuff from LEGO! No word yet on pricing or availability.

I’m still hoping to one day again see 6xxx sets in yellow boxes with a front flap and sets that feature hinged roof plates on all the vehicles, but I gotta give LEGO props for inching back, slowly but surely, to the kinds of sets that made so many of us fall in love with them in the first place.

The Brothers Brick

This September your dreams will finally come true, provided that your dreams entail re-enacting scenes from Star Wars and Return of the Jedi with a single, ginormous LEGO Death Star diorama.

Yes, LEGO has announced a spectacular, 3803-piece set (10188 Death Star) to be released on September 16th.

The set features a number of “movie-authentic Death Star environments” including the Superlaser control room and target monitor, Imperial conference chamber, TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack, Emperor’s throne room, droid maintenance room, detention block, trash compactor.

The LEGO Death Star also includes 25 (yes, that’s two dozen…plus one!) mini-figures including Stormtrooper Han, Stormtrooper Luke, the Assassination Droid, the Interrogation Droid, the Death Star Droid and two Death Star Troopers, none of which has been included in a LEGO set previously.

Unlike LEGO’s 10143 Death Star II, the new set doesn’t include the outer surface of the Death Star, which lets you see all of the action in the various environments, but has us worried about how Han, Luke and Leia will be able to breathe.

Ok, I have to say, this is one of the COOLEST sets LEGO has done. Not only is it Star Wars (!) not only is it the Death Star (!!) but they seem to have done a really nice job with the environments. Check out those turbolasers! And the chasm where Luke gets a “good luck kiss” from his sister (!!!) and swings across the chasm to safety! And the Imperial Conference Room! And notice how you can drop Luke, Leia and Han from the prisoner detention block (I believe it’s AA23) to the trash compactor! And…

Wait a second.

Why is the Emperor’s Throne Room in there?! Dude, the trash compactor was in Star Wars. The Emperor’s Throne Room wasn’t until ROTJ. Ehhhh, who cares…

Check out the pictures and start putting aside your change from Taco Bell…you’ve only got three months before this bad boy comes home!