Area 51 Spy Plane or Naboo Royal Starship?

June 7, 2011

National Geographic posted a photo of a titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype that was found during a flood of files and photos that were recently declassified about the mysterious Area 51.

National Geographic reports:

Suspended upside down, a titanium A-12 spy-plane prototype is prepped for radar testing at Area 51 in the late 1950s. After a rash of declassifications, details of Cold War workings at the Nevada base, which to this day does not officially exist, are coming to light – including never before released images of an A-12 crash and its cover-up.

Looking closer at the spy plane it’s easy to see more than a few similarities to none other than the Naboo Royal Queen’s Starship from The Phantom Menace.

The Naboo Royal Starship boasts a strikingly beautiful design that embodies the craftsmanship that prevailed in the peaceful years of the Republic. The polished, streamlined J-type 327 Nubian vessel lacks any offensive weaponry, but does feature strong shields and a competent hyperdrive.

What do you think?

Read more about the Area 51 spy plane and more here:
Exclusive Area 51 Pictures: Secret Plane Crash Revealed

Glee Chris Colfer Hangs with Chewbacca

June 7, 2011

Even Gleeks like to geek out and show off their Star Wars gear once in awhile. Recently Glee star Chris Colfer tweeted about his new BFF — his Chewbacca backpack!

Be sure to follow Chris Colfer on Twitter!

May the Star Wars Wedding Be With You

June 7, 2011


Photography by Wedding Dream Services

Star Wars brings all kinds of fans together to celebrate a galaxy far, far away. Sometimes fans even fall in love, while wearing Jedi robes. Star Wars weddings are getting more and more elaborate, and craftier.

Star Wars fans Nadia and Dale from Queensland, Australia tied the knot in with Jedi, stormtroopers, droids and Jawas in attendance. There’s even a Jabba the Hutt cake!


We had a full Star Wars-themed wedding. The 501st legion acted as a guard of honor and raised $1000 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation. I bought an R2-D2 projector that acted as ring bearer, we had a Jabba the Hutt wedding cake, I painted planets from the Star Wars Galaxy for all the tables, and all the guests dressed up in Star Wars attire.

Every entrance was matched to John Williams’ score. The stormtroopers entered to Darth Vader’s theme, along with Dale’s dad as celebrant, then Dale entered to the Throne Room score at the end of Episode IV. The Princess Leia flower girls and my handmaiden of honor entered to the pretty “Across the Stars” love theme while I entered the chapel with my dad in a Jedi costume (and the beard he grew for the wedding) at the musical climax of the love theme. It was all timed really well and just tons of fun.

Check out more photos here:
Nadia & Dale’s Wookiee boogie Star Wars wedding
(via OffbeatBride.com)


X-Wing Soapbox Derby Car

May 24, 2011

For fans who want to ride in an X-wing Fighter without a pilot’s license, this might be the extreme craft for you! A talented fan made this awesomely-detailed soapbox derby car that looks like an X-wing complete with a beeping R2-D2 as the co-pilot!

There were a lot of details in the X-wing car and almost all were done on the cheap. The entire car cost under about $75. There were 7 pieces to the car that were assembled at the race site: 4 turrets, 2 wings, and one car body.

R2-D69: The spinning droid was constructed of Styrofoam and painted to look like R2-D2. I used one of my daughter’s old toys to create the motion. The toy had a gear on it that spun when a button was pushed. I cut the toy in half (it was too big) and mounted the toy to the underside of the body and glued the droid head onto the gear.

To control the spinning I used an old NES controller. I re-routed the toy’s switch through the NES controller so when the A or B buttons were pushed the droid would spin for about 15 seconds.

For audio, I downloaded some R2-D2 sound effects from a website and used Pinnacle movie studio software to string them all together into a 50 second babbling droid Mp3. I loaded this onto an iPod and connected it to a small portable speaker system that I hid inside the body of the car. This way, each time I started down the hill, I could push the NES controller button and the iPod play button to commence the droid freak-out.

The wings were another tricky part. I made two sets of brackets that would hold the wings in the correct X shape and could be mounted to the sides of the car. Some drainage piping was used for the “engine” things.

Read more about this craft here:
X-Wing Fighter Soapbox Derby Car (via Instructables)

Star Wars Craft Workshop at Maker Faire

May 23, 2011

Words/photos: Bonnie Burton

Every year I do a Star Wars Craft Workshop for kids at one of the coolest and geekiest science and craft conventions in the San Francisco Bay Area — Maker Faire.

Craftsters, robot wranglers, science geeks, rocket builders, artists, steampunks and more gather together once a year to make cool stuff, share their crafting secrets with the public, give tutorials and have a lot of fun.

Past Star Wars craft workshops included how to make marble magnets, Yoda dolls, Cantina puppets, Admiral Ackbar bag puppets, Ewok sock puppets, and Yoda Finger Puppets. This year, the craft was the Bith Band Spoon Puppets and Yoda Finger Puppets.

At the Star Wars Puppet Craft Workshop, kids and their parents made Yoda stick puppets, Bith spoon puppets, Princess Leia puppets and there was even a Clone Wars Chicken Puppet!

The San Francisco Cantina Band stopped by to entertain the crafty crowd too!

WATCH VIDEO: SF Cantina Band at Maker Faire

Here’s some of our favorite photos from the Star Wars Craft Workshop at Maker Faire:

Check out all the photos here:
Maker Faire 2011 (all photos)

Meet Star Wars Vlogger Jennifer Landa

May 23, 2011

words: Bonnie Burton

Star Wars fan and vlogger Jennifer Landa entertains the Youtube masses with her witty, adorkable videos showing off her collectibles, interviewing young geek girls, and more. StarWars.com chats with Jennifer Landa about why she loves to make videos about why she’s proud to be a Star Wars fan!

Why did you decide to vlog about Star Wars?

Star Wars has inspired me ever since I was a kid and first watched A New Hope. I always dreamed of living in a world where I could have a Wookiee as my best friend and a lightsaber on my belt. To this day, every time I hear the Star Wars main theme song, I get chills. The original trilogy has had the biggest impact on me but I love all the new things that are happening in the Expanded Universe!

I first realized that I wanted to start vlogging when I went to the Savage Opress screening in LA last year. I left the theater feeling ecstatic about the new storyline and I really wanted to share my experience with other fans that weren’t able to attend. Unfortunately, I forgot my video camera!

After that, I realized that maybe I should give vlogging a try since it’s logistically easier to shoot and can be done after an event has already happened. Once I decided to start vlogging, the only things I wanted to talk about were always related to Star Wars.

I have to say, it’s been incredibly fun to connect with other fans and share my Star Wars adventures with them! For years people used to laugh at my obsession with Tauntauns and the Battle of Hoth. Now at least people are laughing with me!

Read the rest of this entry »

Ugly Drum Smoker R2-BQ

May 13, 2011

Can Artoo cook, or can he?

Rebelscum.com and TheForce.net webmaster Philip Wise is drumming up excitement for summer barbeques this year with his newest Star Wars-inspired creation, R2-BQ.

Called an “ugly drum smoker”, this barrel-style barbeque is all the rage in the bbq smoking world. Need proof? Check out the 500-plus-page forum currently thriving on the subject over at bbq-brethren.com.

Check out more pix of R2-BQ here.

A Mew Hope: Princess Leia Kitty!

May 11, 2011

This may be one of the coolest cats in the galaxy.

Crafty Star Wars fan Jennifer Kumpf tweeted to us: “Hey @starwars, Check out my Leia hat I knitted for my friend’s cat!”

We can’t wait to see more! Who knows… ever since artist Katie Cook tweeted: “I’m going to start a Kickstarter project to help me fund re-filming Star Wars scene by scene… With an all kitten cast,” we can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the perfect match for Princess Leia.

Meow the Furs Be With You!

Star Wars Fail Whale

May 10, 2011

When Twitter goes down for maintenance or unexpected outages, many a social media addict frantically tries to refresh their screen to see something other than the dreaded Fail Whale.

But artist and Star Wars fan Le Kemp did a different take on the Fail Whale which makes the whole wait more tolerable. Nothing beats TIE fighters on Twitter! tweet tweet!

Be sure to follow Star Wars on Twitter.

Litsabbur Instructions!

May 9, 2011

Building IKEA furniture is a cinch thanks to easy-to-follow instructions. But what if those same crafty hieroglyphics were used to show you how to make a lightsaber… er we mean Litsabbur?

Check out this funny IKEA parody showing us how to assemble a lightsaber, TARDIS, dinosaur and more here:
Sci-Fi Ikea Manuals (via CollegeHumor.com)