New Episode VII Character? We May Have Found Some!

We've all been there. You know how it feels...You're sitting at home bored out of your mind with nothing to do, so you decide to browse the internet. Today was such a morning for me. Only I decided to just search the heck out of anything I could find about The Force Awakens.

That search is what brought me to a page called DisneyWiki, and upon searching for Star Wars Episode VII, I came across a gem of a database. It contains NO PLOT SPOILERS, but it does have an up to date character list, that has yet to be completed. Keep in mind, that while one is a confirmed character, the other two remain classified as rumored.

I would like to share with you 3 names in particular that I found on that list. Two of these names have been subject to a great many guesses as to who they are, and the third was recently revealed as an un-named character in one of our previous articles.

CHARACTER SPOILERS AHEAD!!

1.  Max Von Sydow

The most prevalent speculation has been that he would portray an aged Boba Fett, who survived the Sarlacc pit. The only image of him in character has been this production artwork, and a few other design sketches that suggested he may have cybernetic implants.

According to the wiki entry, his name is Vicar Montross. An elderly man who is a friend to Rey, and spends most of his day at Rey's repair shop/home.

2.  Domnhall Gleeson

He as only been known as "The General" thus far. A man who serves the First Order and reports to the Supreme Leader. No images exist of Domnhall in character as "The General" as of yet.

The wiki has him listed as GENERAL TARKIN! This may bring the adversarial rivalry between the Resistance and First Order to a whole new personal level! General Tarkin is the descendant of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. He will undoubtedly be out for blood to make them pay for the death of his father (or perhaps grandfather?). All I can say is old wounds do not always fully heal.

EDIT: At SDCC It was revealed that his name is actually General Hux of Starkiller Base. The wiki entry has been updated to reflect this new information.

While the above turned out to be a rumor, Hux is said to be a vicious adversary.

3.  Greg Grunberg

We recently revealed that Greg Grunberg will be playing an X-Wing Pilot in Episodes VII though IX.

Click HERE to see Greg's character and his name.

You can click HERE to see the full Disneywiki entry.

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Wanna Play Star Wars Battlefront WAY Early?

Hold on to your blasters folks! If you are a PC gamer, I have some FANTASTIC news for you!

EA has begun the process of sending out Closed Alpha invites for Battlefront! The Closed Alpha is for a small number of people. It appears those who apply are either accepted or rejected, based on their PC specs, so you might still have a chance before all the slots are full! Applications are being taken until June 30th or until all slots are filled, so HURRY!

All you have to do is go to starwars.ea.com and click log in. This will take you to the Origin site to either log in or create an account, because you need a valid Origin account just to TRY to gain Closed Alpha access.

Minimum system requirements for considerations:

64 Bit version of Windows 7 or 8
Quad Core CPU
6GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce GTX-680 (or better) or AMD Radeon HD 7970 (or better) with 2GB RAM

Don't forget to join our Facebook Group, like our Facebook Page, and subscribe to our ForceStrong Network weekly newsletter!

Source: starwars.ea.com, PC Gamer, Reddit

New Pages on the Forcestrong Network!

You may have noticed a few new pages appearing at the top of the page.  We now have:  Forcestrong Collectibles and Intergalactic Geek Alliance joining the Network!

Forcestrong Collectibles is an offshot of my Facebook group.  Buy and sell directly with other members on the FB group.  I'll be featuring my items and some other featured items on the network page here.

Intergalactic Geek Alliance is a diverse collection of Geeks, Nerds, Cosplayers, Poets, Artists and Adorkable People with a passion for Geek Culture.

It goes a little something like this >> A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, er 2010 somewhere near Seattle we decided it was about time to celebrate all things geeky for a week (ok more like 12 days) and Intergalactic Geek Week was born from the fiery bowels of Mount Doom (or maybe just the inebriated hive mind of some gamers). This has grown into a year round alliance of Jedi KNerds, Trekies, Whovians, Browncoats and Hobbits to promote all things Geeky, even and especially other great Geek Fan Pages. We are a diverse Alliance, our contributors come from almost any terrestrial background you can imagine, old, young, gay, straight, male, female, religious, atheist, black, white, brown and yellow, even Marvel and DC, but we're all geeks and that's all that truly matters, right? >:)

We'll be featuring some of our original content. Please click the pics to go to the original posting on FB. You can also like our page here. Thanks, please share with your friends :)

You can visit their page on the Forcestrong Network here.

Few originals from IGA:

Click the pic to see more originals from IGA

Click the pic to see more originals from IGA

Greg "Grunny" Grunberg's Role Revealed & 2 Classic Characters Return in Ep. VII!

Back in February, we did an article about Greg Grunberg aka "Grunny" and his connection to J.J.Abrams. 

*Click HERE to see the February article about Greg Grunberg & J.J. Abrams*

We talked about how they have been best friends since childhood, and that Grunny always jumps at the chance to work with J.J. We also talked about how he initially went it to shoot a cameo, but it ended up being a 6 week shoot. Many speculated his role had been expanded, and Grunny himself would not reveal any details.

That has all changed.

Thanks to set images obtained by StarWars7News.com, we now have proof that Grunny is part of the Rebel Alliance, known as the "Resistance" for this trilogy. I had predicted he would play a cantina owner, and I have never been happier to be wrong!

I give you...X-WING PILOT GRUNBERG! (Character name unknown as of yet)
UPDATE 06/29/2015: Character name identified as Gorwyn! Source: DisneyWiki

He's not just a garden variety background character either. He'll be in the thick of things, FOR ALL 3 MOVIES! SW7News is affectionately referring to him as the Wedge Antilles of the new trilogy, with his own action figure to be released!

In addition to Grunny's revelation, we are also treated to 2 familiar faces from the original trilogy that have survived and are still active in the Resistance.

NIEN NUNB & ADMIRAL ACKBAR!!!

All 3 images are from actual photo shoots!!

I don't know about you, but my excitement level just went up 3 notches!

You know what to do....Head over to our Facebook Group & express yourself!

Source: StarWars7News.com

Daisy Ridley Reveals Rey's Origin? ALSO: Who Is Supreme Leader Snoke?

ROUND 1: THE SPOILER

This first part isn't really much of a spoiler as it is a confirmation of sorts.

Daisy Ridley was in Japan last month along with Kathleen Kennedy to talk about Star Wars on a Japanese TV network when Ridley dropped a not so subtle hint about Rey after the host asked her about the family history of the character.

She answered with "I'm not sure how much I can say. I guess because I've said that I'm solitary, and that's how I begin, that is probably a big clue as to what it is". That seemed like a harmless answer at face value, except for a couple of small details.

1. Before answering, she looked over at Kathleen and immediately got nervous.
2. She pronounced the word "Solitary" as "Solotary".

Check out the video below and you be the judge.

ROUND 2: SPECULATION 

Ever since the images of Andy Serkis wearing MOCAP gear surfaced, the web has been abuzz with questions about who Supreme Leader Snoke may be.

The Supreme Leader is confirmed as the narrator in the first teaser, speaking the lines "There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The dark side, and the light"

If that's any indication, it is that the Supreme Leader is attuned to the Force. Furthermore, the fact that he leads the 1st Order, and has Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and "The General" (Domhnall Gleeson) reporting directly to him means he is definitely not a nice person.

While no images have surfaced as of yet, Snoke has been described as "Zombie-Like" (I'm guessing they don't mean gory un-dead looking, but more pale & dead looking) it could mean that he is an ancient being that has existed in the shadows for a long time, waiting to make his move.

There was an interview back in 1983 with ROTJ director Richard Marquand about the final trilogy (7-9) in which he stated:

Why is this relevant? It talks about a supreme intellect that created a man who was able to shape the destiny of an entire galaxy. Snoke may be that supreme intellect!

You must remember that George Lucas originally planned for a 9 episode saga. Although Disney has stated that they do not plan on using Lucas' original ideas, that doesn't mean they wont pick and choose certain plot points or characters from those ideas and mold them to their version of how the saga will continue.

There is some speculation that Snoke is a pseudonym and that the Supreme Leader may be Darth Plagueis returned or resurrected. Could this trilogy reveal that Darth Plagueis has been watching from the shadows the whole time, even unbeknownst to Palpatine, only to mark his return after the death of his traitorous former pupil? 

He looks pretty pale and zombie-like to me...

Imagine the implications. One being, so powerful with the dark side that he was able to fool his pupil into thinking the plotted murder worked, then managed to stay shrouded from everyone. The Republic, the Senate, the Jedi Order, Darth Sidious and all his apprentices leading up to Darth Vader. Whatever he had foreseen was important enough for him to remain patient for over 50 years before marking his return.

In this storyboard image for the new trilogy, the character does look a bit like he 
could be Plagueis. It's not Kylo since he's not wielding the cross-guard saber.

What are your thoughts? Do you think Snoke is Plageuis, or do you think it's just a coincidence?

Let us know on our Facebook Group!

Source: Mirror.co.uk, Metro.co.uk

ForceStrong Episode VII Spoilers! Outlandish and Timely...

Sheila now has her own show on E!

SPOILER ALERT!!...

I'm doing a new series here on the ForceStrong Network.  These will be outlandish, funny, and a play on all the noise around Ep. VII.  If they offend you, good!  

I'll be posting them on the FB page, FB group, and here on this site.  Share them around and visit us often for more!

Master T will also get a new show this fall on SPIKE!

Check back soon and like our page and join our group for more!

Rumors & Probabilities: Boba and Han In A Movie Together & Obi-Wan Kenobi Possibly Making A Comeback

Let's face it. Star Wars is the biggest event of 2015. New trilogy, new books, new comics, new games, new stand-alone films, new toys, new new new! You get the idea...

Let's add some more to the list. According to Schmoesknow.com, They have a source claiming as-of-yet unofficial but possibly true information about what else Disney has in store for us. Until the news becomes official, chalk the following up as very tasty and highly probable rumors for now.

ROUND 1:

The 2nd stand-alone movie following "Rogue One" will not only be about Boba Fett. It will also feature Han Solo. Just let that sink in for a moment.

It seems that our favorite bounty hunter will be crossing paths with our favorite scruffy looking Nerf herder. Up until now, all we've known of their relationship (according to the new canon thus far) was that Han Solo knew who Boba Fett was, and Boba Fett was after him for Jabba's bounty.

However for a bounty hunter to make a deal with the Empire, you know there had to be more than just a simple gangster's bounty at the root of the issue. The question is, what happened between them?

This film is said to focus on the conflict between both men that made Solo the elusive high value target and Fett the unrelenting bounty hunter.

ROUND 2:

Obi-Wan Kenobi might be making a comeback.

Sources claim that Disney is in talks with Ewan McGregor about a yet un-named project. The 2 obvious choices for these talks are (a) They want him to star in a Disney movie, or (b) They want him to reprise his role as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

My money is on option B.

If they are indeed in talks for a Kenobi film, Schmoes notes that it would open the doors for expanded roles for Owen & Beru Lars, an infant/young Luke and how he came to know "Ben" Kenobi, and of course the possibility of Darth Maul and Obi-Wan coming face to face a third time!

I don't know about you, but I would love to see this battle. Ray Parks has amazing abilities that would be showcased again, as well as giving him the chance at an extended dialogue. It could possibly be the final fate of Darth Maul, or perhaps a new beginning for him in the form of spin-offs and sequels!

You know what to do! Head over to our Facebook group and post your comments!

Lego To Release New Star Wars Sets!

Mark your calendars! Lego is launching a midnight release on September 4, 2015 of 7 NEW Star Wars sets based on "The Force Awakens"!

While no images are available yet, we do have a listing of the sets thanks to French site Hothbricks. The prices are listed in Euros, however it's currently unknown whether the US prices will be a direct conversion or a different price-set altogether.

UPDATE 06/11/15: Leaked image of set 75104 has been uncovered & posted below!

1. 75099 - Rey's Speeder - 193 pcs. €29.99 
2. 75100 - First Order Snowspeeder - 444 pcs. €54.99 
3. 75101 - First Order Special Forces TIE - 517 pcs. €76.99 
4. 75102 - Poe's X-Wing - 717 pcs. €99.99 
5. 75103 - First Order Transporter - 792 pcs. €114.99 
6. 75104 - Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle - 1,004 pcs. €129.99 (Leaked image below!)
7. 75105 - Millennium Falcom - 1,332 pcs. €164.99
   
   

Here is the leaked image of Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle!

These will undoubtedly sell FAST, so keep an eye out for them on Amazon!

Join us for discussions about this and much more on our Facebook group!

Incom T-70 X-Wing Takes Flight

Olivier C. has done it again!

After putting the finishing touches on his X-Wing, he mounted it onto his quad-copter frame and took to the skies. Olivier uploaded the video onto YouTube on June 1st.

Check out the final result below (including a low level fly-by reminiscent of the lake run in the  movie trailer) and be sure to comment on our Facebook group!

A Guide To Better Understanding The New Star Wars Canon

With the new canon replacing the old expanded universe, and all the new comics, novels, television series, and of course the movies themselves....it can get a bit tricky on figuring out into what order everything falls.

Fear not friends! The good folks over at Overmental have figured it out so you won't have to, plus they periodically update the listing as more material is introduced. I must admit, I'm a bit surprised that Plaguieus is not included in this list...but that might be due to Disney saying that the movies and Clone Wars were the core of the new canon, so they may not have included Plaguieus for this reason.

Anywho.....Ladies & gentlemen, I give you:

With this guide you'll have a better understanding as to where everything falls into place, which in turn will alleviate a lot of confusion between certain events in the Star Wars universe and how they impacted future events, as well as helping you understand references made to people, places, or events earlier in the timeline.

Alright everyone, Buckle up. Here we go!

1. Star Wars Ep. I - The Phantom Menace

Set 32 years before A New Hope, this is the earliest point of the new canon. (SWTOR is not canon, therefor it does not apply)

2. Star Wars Ep. II - Attack of the Clones

Set 10 years after the events of The Phantom Menace, this gives us the first glimpse of what will soon evolve into the Galactic Empire.

3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Movie & Series)

These events take place between Attack of the Clones & Ep. III - Revenge of the Sith and help fill in plot holes and elaborate on characterizations from the prequels....Plus we get Rex & Ahsoka!

WARNING: The Clone Wars has it's own chronological order, as the movie and episodes from seasons 1 through 3 were shown out of sequence. Click HERE for the correct order in which to watch.

4. Star Wars: Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir

With the source material being unused Clone Wars scripts, this comic book series follows the infamous Sith lord and his dealings that take place after the end of TCW.

5. Star War: Dark Disciple 

This novel was released on July 7, 2014 and is also based on unused scripts from TCW. The book centers on the partnership between Asajj Ventress and Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos in their efforts to take down Count Dooku.

6. Star Wars Ep. III - Revenge of the Sith

Here we witness the betrayal to-and fall of the Jedi Order, the end of the Clone Wars, the fall of Anakin Skywalker, and the Rise of Darth Vader.

(Side Note: The James Luceno novel titled Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader is not considered as part of the new canon and therefor not included in this list)

7. Star Wars: Kanan - The Last Padawan

This Comic book series centers around a young Kanan Jarrus, beginning with the story of his survival of Order 66.

8. Star Wars: Lords of the Sith

This novel is a singular story of when the Emperor and Darth Vader were stranded on Ryloth.

9. Star Wars: Tarkin

Written as a Character study of Tarkin, it also tells of how he was bestowed with the title of Grand Moff.

10. Star Wars: A New Dawn

In this novel, we catch up with a post-Order 66 adult Kanan Jarrus meeting Hera for the first time.

11. (OPTIONAL) Star Wars: Story Before The Force Awakens

This one is optional, simply because it's a web comic series written entirely in Korean, which centers around a young Luke's time on Tatooine. Check it out HERE.

12. Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy

This book is about Zare Leionis and how he came to enroll in the Imperial Academy. Zare was a recurring character in Season 1 of Star Wars Rebels. It is unknown if, however very likely that he will appear in future seasons.

13. Star Wars Rebels

An animated series set 14 years after Ep.III. This series introduces us to the now established crew of the Ghost, led by Kanan Jarrus. What starts off as a life of smuggling evolves into something greater. Season 1 finished strong with a highly anticipated season 2 on the way.

14. Rogue One

Currently in production. Rogue One is a movie set to release in 2016 detailing the events that lead to the theft of the Death Star plans.

15. Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope

The one that started it all. With the help of Obi Wan, Luke, Leia, Han & Chewie begin an epic adventure to fulfill a mission to deliver the newly acquired Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance. Along the way, Luke learns of his destiny.

16. Heir to the Jedi

Taking place between Ep. IV and V, this book follows Luke as he discovers more about his abilities while on a mission to rescue a captured cryptographer.

17. The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure

Set to release September 4, 2015. This book tells the story of Luke's very first lightsaber duel.

18. The comic book series Star Wars, Star Wars: Princess Leia, and Star Wars: Darth Vader

All three titles pick up after the destruction of the Death Star in Ep. IV.

Star Wars 

Tales of adventures and the developing friendships of Luke, Leia, Han & Chewie while battling the Empire.

SW: Princess Leia 

We find the Princess coming to terms with the destruction of Alderaan and her mission to seek out any scattered survivors that were off-world when the planet was destroyed.

SW: Darth Vader

This series begins with Darth Vader dealing with the fallout from the destruction of the Death Star. This series runs concurrent to Star Wars, with events and stories sometimes overlapping.

19. Star Wars Ep.V - The Empire Strikes Back

Here we see the Rebels on the run with the Empire in hot pursuit. Luke begins his Jedi training, and learns more about his destiny.

20. Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure

A novel about the Princess leading a team of Rebels on a mission against the Empire, set to release on September 4, 2015

21. Star Wars Ep. VI - Return of the Jedi

The final showdown between Luke, Darth Vader and the Emperor, marking the end of the original trilogy.

The next group of titles are part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens series, which bridge the gap between Episodes VI and the upcoming VII.

22. Lost Stars 

Taking place after ROTJ, it tells a story of two childhood friends on opposing sides of the conflict, and how it affects their duties and friendship. The book comes out September 4, 2015.

23. Star Wars: Aftermath 

Also taking place after ROTJ, this book centers around the still ensuing battles between Rebels and a fractured Empire. As the Rebels uncover evidence of an upcoming secret Imperial meeting, some worlds celebrate their new found freedom as others remain under Imperial control. The book is set to release on September 4, 2015.

24. Star Wars: Shattered Empire 

A 4-part comic book mini series that tells the continuing story of our heroes after the Battle of Endor and the Destruction of the 2nd Death Star.

25. Star Wars: Journey to the Force Awakens - C3P0

Not much is known about this comic series as of yet other than the release date being prior to, or on December 18, 2015.

....and finally

26. Star Wars Ep. VII - The Force Awakens

Set 30 years after ROTJ, we find a battle still raging between the Rebel Alliance (Now called The Resistance) and The First Order (formerly the Galactic Empire). Heroes new and old join forces as a new threat looms over the horizon.

What do you think of the new Chonological order? Comment about it on our Facebook group.


Source: Overmental.com