Twilight of the Apprentice : My Take on the Fate of Ashoka Tano.

I know, I know...this a GI Joe blog (more or less), but I love Star Wars as well, and since there's been a lot that's been happening the last several years with Star Wars I thought I'd throw a few things out there for everyone's consumption.

from: http://www.starwars.com/databank/ahsoka-tano-biography-gallery

I am a big fan of Ashoka Tano.  While she started out as a sort of annoying, token child-sidekick in the Clone Wars animated film from several years ago, she progressed into a very interesting character throughout the Clone Wars animated series as Skywalker's apprentice. I truly appreciate the fact that she was a great compliment to Anakin Skywalker in a way that allowed him be explored beyond the whiny, insipid portrayal given by Hayden Christensen in the prequel films.   She also provided an efficient plot vehicle to illustrate some of the deep flaws within the Jedi Order, flaws that towards the end of the series lead to her abandoning it for reasons I found justifiable.


Most recently in the second season of Star Wars Rebels, she showed up as an agent of the nascent Rebel Alliance and assisted the main cast on a number of occasions.  This is one of her more amazing appearances as she squares off against two of the Emperor's inquisitors:

I may post more about my thoughts on the Inquisitors at another time, but its clear they are no match for her.  From diminutive, cocky and awkward child padawan to graceful and powerful "Grey" Jedi, Ashoka struck out on her own path after leaving the Order behind.   I have no doubt her path was one that followed the Light, albeit one that was free from the strictures of the Jedi Order.  

The last place we see Ashoka is in the Season 2 Finale of Star Wars Rebels where she has a confrontation with Darth Vader:

We don't see the final outcome so her fate is rather nebulous.  The final footage we see of Tano is when she appears to be passing through an entryway at the base of the Sith Temple and there has been quite a bit of speculation as to what this means.

Show Runner, Dave Filoni has stated that “It’s likely that you might not have seen the last of Ahsoka Tano.”

What does this mean? I present the following three possibilities:

1) Tano is alive and left the scene.

She has had her faith shaken by the now complete and incontrovertible truth that her old Master is now the murderous scourge of the galaxy.  Her escape would of course be made possible by the huge explosion upsetting her mortal combat with Vader, wounding him enough that he could not continue the fight, so she uses the opportunity to flee.  After the events she distances herself from the rebellion for a time and will show up again at some later date.

This presents a difficulty towards the Star Wars canon.  Watching the original trilogy as a child, it was my distinct impression that one of the great burdens Luke bore was the fact that after Yoda's passing he was very much alone in the Universe.  He was now the sole remaining member of the Order and it simply won't do to have a bunch of vestigial Jedi lurking about the galaxy in various states of indifference.  George Lucas recently opined that perhaps Mace Windu survived his dismemberment, severe electrocution, and fall from the heights of Coruscant.  If so, with him, Yoda, Kenobi, Voss, Kanan and Ezra, and who knows who else still in the picture why the heck did the order completely dissolve?  Oh right...."prophecy", or something.

Source: Wikipedia

Regardless, if Ashoka Tano survived this encounter, at some point it still probably has to end and we are back to a similar encounter.  Vader's primary mission as the Emperor's apprentice and principal strongman is to destroy any remnant of the Jedi Order that he finds. She's too significant of a loose end to allow to live into the era of A New Hope and beyond, and I just do not see her character as the type that will once again fade into the background from disillusionment.  She's done that once and in a classic case of survivor's syndrome holds herself at fault for everything.

2) Tano enters the Temple as Vader's new apprentice.

In her encounter with Vader towards the end, she promises that she will not leave Anakin this time, putting blame on herself for his fall into darkness.  We are told that regret and grief can lead one to the dark side of the force, and it is possible that this is what happens to Ashoka after the scene cuts before the explosion, in which case Vader accepts her as his acolyte.  The final scene of her entering the Sith temple then makes sense as she invariable would have been assigned some task by the Dark Lord to either prove herself or accomplish some mission.

Dark Ashoka from the Clone Wars Series

From here, it would be obvious that she would then be something of a New Inquisitor and provide a new, far more formidable foil to the main characters of the Ghost into the final seasons of the series.  She would hunt, harass, and seek to destroy the cause and people she had so recently championed and risked her life to defend all because she thought she should have saved Anakin from falling into the same trap.

I honestly hope this is not where the show takes her.  In fact, the idea disgusts me.  It reeks of cheap, predictable storytelling that completely dishonors the character.  Invariably I see this leading to an equally predictable end where she saves the crew of the Ghost by realizing her errors and sacrificing herself just like Vader did for Luke in Return of the Jedi.  This would be absolute garbage.  It would  make falling to the dark side more like onto catching a cold rather than being trapped by your own moral choices and it would provide the sort of repetition this franchise should fastidiously abandon.   

I felt the writing behind Anakin's own fall was weak enough, but a dark-side Tano would ruin a character that had a lot of very painstaking planning going into her all the way back into the Clone Wars series; furthermore, one of the strengths of Ashoka's character was the realization of the deep flaws within the order and the splendid plot developments surrounding her exit.  In her final story arch in the Clone Wars series, she was framed for sedition and summarily banished from the Order before the kangaroo trail even started.  When she was exonerated the order offered her re-entry into the order citing that the whole affair would constitute her 'trial'.  In other words, the Jedi order wanted to legitimize their own failure to do a thorough investigation by dubbing the affair a post-hoc initiation into knighthood.  It would be more accurate at that point to call it a sordid hazing ritual where failure would have ended in a plebe's execution.  This hollowness of this asinine attempt at restitution a was of course lost on a Jedi order too arrogant and unrepentant to admit it's own faults.  

3) She's Dead, Jim

At the conclusion of Season 2 we see Tano's pale, phantasmic figure entering the temple base.  It could be that this is her spirit entering whatever is the afterlife.  In this case, either the explosion or the blade of Darth Vader finished her, but she has now passed on.  This would anger a lot of her fans who acknowledge her as one of the finest characters ever developed in the Star Wars universe, but hey, as I've argued above, it has to happen sometime.

It doesn't, however, mean it has to be the end of her story.  In fact, the reason I prefer this result above all others is because it could provide some very interesting scenarios.  Have you ever wondered exactly what Obiwan Kenobi meant when he told Vader, "If you strike me down...I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine"?....of course you have, and Ashoka's death would give us a great avenue into seeing just what Old Ben meant through the eyes of one of Star Wars' most compelling characters.  Imagine seeing Ashoka's death interceded in some way by Qui Gonn who teaches her how to maintain her identity within the Force, or perhaps she already knows and we can see a flashback of Qui Gon Jinn reaching out to her while still alive to teach her how to reach out to the living as a 'force ghost' as he did Yoda.  I'm not talking just about simple cameos as a force spirit, but of entire story arcs in the nether of the Force with Tano working in conjunction with other dead Jedi.  Invariably, appearances to the crew of the Ghost as well as Yoda and ObiWan could occur.  Also, in keeping with her final promise, she could choose to haunt Vader thereby setting the stage for the re-emergence of his humanity in Episode 6.  Either way, it opens up massive possibilities of story telling that reach beyond Rebels rather claustrophobic perspective because as a ghost, she can show up anywhere.

Well there it is, my first foray into the Star Wars universe.  As far as Ashoka's fate is concerned, "revealed my opinion is".

Feel free to comment.

 

Bi-yearly update! and news on GI JOE 3

I'm just ringing in to say that this blog may have been dead these last months, but it's certainly not going to be dead forever...please stay tuned for more reviews coming up as well as some new features.

In other news, apparently GI Joe 3 is being delayed due to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's crowded schedule.

http://www.slashfilm.com/g-i-joe-3-delayed/

GI Joe fans are of course no strangers to tardy film releases ranging back to the ten month delay of GI Joe Retaliation from it's original release date.  I remember that time being quite painful in it's own way given that we had high expectations of the film.  Rumors swirled that it was being reworked because it tested very poorly and the studio was trying to work Channing Tatum back in.  I had hoped the delay would have made for a better movie, and maybe it did but the film still stank anyway and the Toy Line wasn't quite what everyone was hoping for either.

With this latest delay I can only hope that Hasbro has learned it's lesson from the second film and isn't going to scrap any other plans they had for GI Joe just because of what is sure to be another lousy take on the franchise.  The Rock's inclusion in the third film I think is a mistake anyway as the whole thing demands to be blown up with a complete reboot.  I like the Rock, but he wasn't that good in his role in the film. His character, Roadblock, being cast as the movie's main protagonist is a change from tradition that I believe was done for all the wrong reasons and too much of the formula was to throw action-star power at the audience hoping they ignored all the other flaws.

Power Team Elite: Aerial Rocket Helicopter

I wanted to get this review out before Christmas and here it is, the beginning of March.  My appologies for that.  Things happen and I find myself balancing a large number of hobbies and interests and GI Joe is just one of them.  As I posted last year here, I had intended to post a series of reviews to this site and got through only a few.  The good news is that I won't want for material to post about and will just work my existing list from 2015.


My first review of 2016 will be the Power Team Elite Aerial Rocket Helicopter.  Here are images of two versions of the toy that I have acquired; the top most is the more complete version recently available on shelves of your local BigLots, the other a more stripped down and plain set that I acquired awhile back on Ebay as part of another lot:

As you can see, the current offering above includes a lot more accessories.  It also has much more detailed packaging and product layout with everything meticulously tied or wired into position.  As I've discussed before, this makes PTE toys a real PITA to unpack.  Make sure you have wire cutters handy!

Power Team Elite's "Aerial Rocket Helicopter" is based on the Chinese Harbin Z-9, which was a license-built version of the Eurocopter AS356 "Dauphin" (so you could plausibly identify it as either, but being a Chinese company, PTE likely had the Harbin in mind as the model).  This is essentially a multi-purpose aircraft that can fill a variety of roles ranging from: attack, light transport, reconnaissance, and medical evacuation.

Getting the chopper out of the box was as usual, a bit of a small ordeal just as with every other PTE vehicle I've opened.  With so many bands and wires holding the package contents into place, it took me a good half hour to unwind it all since I had misplaced my wire cutters.  Overall, the Harbin Z-9 pretty sleek looking with a very unique tail rotor profile and lots of windows.  The rotors were a bit bent from their position inside the package, but it is correctable as the plastic bends easily.  Of course, they naturally sag over time due to their own weight and the softness of the material.  The toy itself is a tremendous representation of the real aircraft.  Like many other PTE vehicles, this one shares the same camouflage pattern often seen used by the Chinese Armed forces.

There are two versions of this toy that I am fortunate enough to have: one with the armament rack (which is currently in stores) and one without.  Since this rack is not removable, having both gives me to chance to show the benefits of each.  The rack itself is a bit of an awkward looking piece that breaks up the smooth lines of the aircraft, however it does seem to resemble an actual weapons rack used on the Harbin.

Above you can see the current model with it's two weapon mounts on a rack that wraps around the bottom of the body and attaches to it in a permanent arrangement of fused plastic.  The lower picture shows the older model without the armament rack. 

Looking at the bottom of the vehicle so we can see how it attaches to the body:

This appears to be intended as a permanent attachment, which limits it's configurability.  Being able to remove the entire assembly easily would have allowed it the flexibility to assume the form of the less 'militarized' form lacking the weapons mounts.  I'm guessing that there is some adhesive in there holding it in, and I didn't really want to test this too much for fear of breaking.  The long arms of this rack have no other attachment to the body, so too much down pressure on the ends of it would likely cause a break.

[EDIT and UPDATE] Hisstank commentator "Zap Rowsdower" shared the following info about his Rocket Helicopter

"Hey, I just happened to read the review you linked to for the PTE Aerial Rocket Helicopter and I figured I would let you know that the weapon racks ARE removable. They are not fused in any way to the body and each side of the rack is independent as well. If you want to remove the racks you just have to take out most of the screws from the helicopter body and then gently pry the shell apart at the base, next to the weapon rack attachment point. They are basically just held in by a set of tabs. Once you have the shell far enough apart, the tabs aren't "holding" anything and you can pop the racks right out.

The older version of this toy (the one without the weapons racks) had a plastic blank with tabs of its own made to fit the hole, which can likewise be removed if you ever decide you want to switch up which chopper has the weapons racks (if, for example, you have done customizing or paint on one). I also had one of each version until I sold the "old" version. Problem was, I had already applied stickers to the old version before the new one ever came out. When I saw the new one I figured I would upgrade but I didn't want to buy more stickers and re-apply stuff so I just popped the weapon racks off of the new one and swapped the helicopters out.

Anyway, it's clearly not a "play feature" or anything. But just so you know, you can "disarm" the bird if you so choose."

Thanks for the input, Zap! [end UPDATE]

Each side of the rack can hold one weapon using the usual PTE weapons pylon, so in theory it can equip any ordinance of the PTE line.  As I may have pointed out before, this doesn't always work in practice given the tolerances involved expecting a slot to slide over a rail with enough friction to hold the accessory on, but without too much friction which makes it difficult to remove.  PTE missiles, rockets and etc are often too hard to easily slip on place on the pylons or so loose that they easily fall off.  In my opinion, the HASBRO method of mounting weapons is superior because you just push the thing on until it's a suitably tight fit, and with the notable exception of the 30th Anniversary Sky Striker, it typically stays on.

Moving onto the accessories:

Much here is just more of the usual: two infantry figures and a pilot, a gas can, a barrel, cones, and four pieces of a barrier.  Certainly more of the same is nice stuff to have for building scenes and dioramas with.  though, I guess at some point I find myself bored with these common accessories. There are however a few new pieces we haven't come across yet shown below.

These three accessories fit into the slots under the aforementioned weapons rack.  While there are only two pylons to fit the weapons, World Peace Keepers was kind enough to provide a choice of three to place on them.  From left to right they appear to be two types of rocket launchers and a quad of HJ-8 anti-tank missiles.

Most interesting of the three are the anti-tank missiles because it consists of five elements: the four missiles and the ejector rack.  It assembles by mounting each missile to a peg on the side of the rack.  The rack then slips onto a normal PTE styled pylon fitted to the  though in practice there is little to no friction to hold the missiles in place and missiles will fall off with very little provocation.   

To match the photos above, let's review the accessories included with either set.  The more spartan set is easy, it comes only with a pilot and one other figure not unlike the infantry figures that normally come with PTE sets.  The more Deluxe Aerial Rocket Helicopter possesses the following accesories:

• Pilot figure
• Infantry figures (x2)
• Fuel Barrel
• Interlocking metal barrier (x4)
• Rack mounted Rocket Launchers (x2)
• Traffic Cones
• Fuel Canister.

In addition to the removable weaponry, the toy has a number of other play features.  Here is a list of some of them:

• Foldable main rotors
• Four working doors that open and snap shut
• Rolling wheels
• Working tail rotor

It easily fits four 3.75 or 4" modern GI Joe figures in four seats, which is always a concern as that there are a number of older PTE molds that apparently were more intended and sized for vintage figures, not the larger more modern scale.

Four Average sided modern scaled GI Joe figures fit just fine once seated.  The doorways are a little tight, but with a little care it isn't too difficult to seat them in natural seating positions.  The cabin seats a total of four, a pilot and co-pilot in front, with room for two in back.  The real Z-9 has room for up to ten passengers.

I was able to pull the doors off their protruding plastic hinges without too much difficulty for the purpose of taking the above shots.  I think you could remove them and replace them a number of times before wearing the points down to where the doors wouldn't attach properly.  It's a simple yet well done feature that makes sure that doors pop off before breaking in case the toy is dropped or meets rough handling.  One difficulty is that the rear doors do not open well.  You often have to open the front doors and reach in to push the rear ones open.  On the flip-side, the doors do stay shut when closed so that figures do not easily fall out.

One issue I had was that I dropped one of the choppers and a window popped out.  The clear plastic windows are attached by only a few points with what appears to be superglue.  However, this may not be a bad thing as this may promote the windows from breaking out rather than cracking in case of impact.  In any event, it is easy enough to put the windows back if punched out.

Quality/Appearance: B-

A very good likeness of it's model, which is typical of PTE toys.  Fairly rigid construction.  Should handle some rough play. 

Play Value/Accessories: B

Seats four modern figures comfortably.  Some new accessories that compliment the helicopter well along with more of the usual fare.  It does suffer, I think, from the lack of being able to remove that cumbersome looking weapons rack.  PTE stuff is rarely that sophisticated, though...

Final Grade: B

This represents yet another solid entry under the PTE brand.  It's a fair balance of quality and play value.  It competes with the much harder to find PTE Blackhawk, albeit I see the Rocket Helicopter relating more to the Cobra side, but you may feel differently.  While in this late winter/early spring it may be hard to find at retail, the secondary market is flush with these now and they aren't that bad cost-wise.  If you missed out on the Eaglehawk or just need a light Cobra troop transport chopper/attack platform, I think you could do a lot worse than this.

GI Joe's future in doubt.

As Toyfair New York 2016 approaches, once again GI Joe fandom goes through the usual motions predicting what will be seen from Toyfair this year.  Two years ago headed into 2014, while many feared we would see nothing at retail coming off yet another disappointing feature film, the consensus feeling was that the then new 50th Anniversary line of 3.75" figures and vehicles released met or exceeded the general expectations the fandom had.  Anyone who's ever spent a little time on the fan forums would know this was no mean feat given the sky-high expectations and endless "wishlist" threads of a fandom clinging on to a flagging brand that over the last few years has lost virtually all it's appeal to retailers.  I think many at that point had the reasonable expectation that GI Joe would go on 'hiatus' status.  It also didn't help that not long before this GI Joe was publicly downgraded from being one of Hasbro's most strategically important brands in an investor's meeting.

Going into 2015, Hasbro stated that it would not make any new GI Joe announcements or show product at ToyFair and instead stated that it planned to show displays and reveal new GI Joe merchandise at JoeCon.  When revealed, once again the general feeling was that Hasbro met expectations with it's product assortment which I've covered here. However, going into 2016, there has as of now been no official hints given by Hasbro as to what we are to expect.  Once again the forums are replete with calls for the fandom to air their laundry-list of wishful ideas on what Hasbro should produce and what they should do to guarantee the future output of the brand.  The general feeling is that while the 50th Anniversary has been good to us, there should be more coming than the mostly repaints of the last few years.

In other news, the GI Joe Collector's Club, which has for several years now been involved in managing the GI Joe convention as well as creating licensed figures featuring figures that appeal specifically to collectors posted an ominous message to it's website on it's membership renewal page :

Please note that at this time we are only accepting memberships and renewals for the 2016 calendar year.  All memberships will end with the December 2016 issue.  For example:  if your  membership renewal has a February start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring along with 10 monthly issues.   If your membership renewal has a March start date, you will receive the FREE membership figure in the late spring and 10 monthly issues.

As is usual for the Collector's Club, there has been no official word as to what this means.  It however, may have something to do with details that have been released by Hasbro about the property going forward:

HOLLYWOOD--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, Inc. announced a groundbreaking deal today to collaborate on feature films for five of Hasbro's iconic properties. Under the agreement, Paramount and Allspark Pictures, Hasbro's film label, will establish a cross-property interconnected onscreen universe, featuring the deep stories and great characters from Hasbro brands G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and ROM.
"Paramount and Hasbro have had a longstanding relationship and we're proud of the success we've enjoyed on the 'TRANSFORMERS' and 'G.I. JOE,' franchises," said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. "We're excited to grow our agreement and make even more movies based upon these popular and powerful Hasbro characters and their worlds."
Allspark Pictures, Hasbro's film label, will produce the films and Brian Goldner (Chairman, President and CEO, Hasbro), Stephen Davis (Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, Hasbro), and Josh Feldman (Head of Film Development, Hasbro) have worked closely with Paramount in shaping the interconnected universe for the properties. To develop the creative roadmap for G.I. Joe, Micronauts, Visionaries, M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) and ROM, Hasbro and Paramount will assemble a writer's room which will include some of the most notable creative talent in Hollywood
"Hasbro and Allspark Pictures put storytelling at the center of everything that we do. These brands are filled with memorable stories and vivid characters, and this Universe creates a framework for how they will become interconnected," said Brian Goldner, Chairman, President and CEO of Hasbro. "Extending our partnership with Paramount allows us to continue our long-term strategy and overall vision to build dynamic worlds for all of our brands, and we are thrilled to collaborate with them as we develop these properties."

http://investor.hasbro.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=947088


Okay....I suppose this could be taken as GI Joe being part of a giant new rebirth for it and several other brands owned by GI Joe's parent company.  Hoping to build off the successes of the 25th Anniversary of the A Real American Hero (ARAH) line that modernized and revolutionized the property several years ago, the brand eventually fell flat.  While both Rise of Cobra and Retaliation were commercially successful films, they failed to capture the public's embrace in a way that would sustain GI Joe culturally.  Now Hasbro apparently looks to another relaunch by combining GI Joe with several other properties.  While I am fascinated to see what they come up with here by mixing it with far more obscure and untouched lines like Visionaries, Micronauts, and ROM there is I think a lot more reason to have a dimmer view of all this.  By mixing it with a bunch of untried vintage concepts, GI Joe has essentially been demoted.  Not only that, but GI Joe now becomes an accessory brand of some larger initiative.  As such, Joe could lose it's identity and more importantly, its sovereignty as a line. 

As for GI Joe's ongoing identity, the case has been made that regardless, there needs to be a major shakeup of to attract a new generation of younger fans.  A Real American Hero is an icon of fans where the median age is pushing over forty years old and everything since 1983 has been done in effort to hold that Reagan-era demographic.   The 50th Line celebrates the creation of GI Joe as a brand, yet had zero merchandise to appeal to it's original fans of the twelve-inch line of toys.  That line is officially dead at retail and no one besides the Collectors Club caters to those fans with product any longer (Hasbro last produced 12" Joes back in 2009 and even Hot Toys dropped their premium twelve-inch GI Joe product for lack of interest).  If the Club shuts its doors, the original GI Joe 12" format would be dead. 


What I call the brand's 'sovereignty' is a much more significant issue.  In short, if Joe is part of an interconnected 'universe' there is no guarantee that the needs of that universe's merchandising would include three-and three-quarter inch figures, accessories, and vehicles which are the primary want of legacy fans and the center of the brand's merchandising for the past thirty years plus.  The hope has long been that a new direction could perpetuate the GI Joe action figure line even if the story was entirely different.  While I personally didn't care that much for the prematurely cancelled Renegades cartoon of several years back, it was popular and did well enough.  It gave the brand the opportunity to reach new audiences in adolescent age groups in attempt to grow another generation of fans.  It was killed after just one season, despite doing quite well on a small network called The Hub. Renegades severely altered GI Joe's identity from being an anti-terrorism unit into being more of a Scooby Gang of misfits out to shed light on a corrupt corporation.  For the short time it was around it generated toys to accompany the 30th Anniversary product, including such notable contributions such as the Renegades Storm Shadow, Scarlet, Black Dragon VTOL, and the 30th Anniversary Law & Order (which was inspired by his Renegades appearance).  Even if I wasn't that keen on the Renegades concept, I could still integrate it's toys into my collection as I saw fit.

It's failure to perpetuate a successful identity is exactly why GI Joe is presently where it is.  now it's going to be floating around with a number of other unproven properties.  The difference is, GI Joe is moved downwards in relevance.  Visionaries and Micronauts might be the next successfully revitalized 80s property, which may leave GI Joe on the wayside.  So I cannot say that I welcome this new development.  It could be the final nail in GI Joe's coffin for the next generation.