News Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge - Historical Construction/Impressions

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

You're in a theme park. Some amount of hand waving must be done. You might show up in full SW costume, but then you'll deal with guests that have an Earthican band T-shirt. Whether or not a Visa sign is shown, you'll still have to pay with an Earthican card or cash. You may decide to join the rebellion, but you can't lure a CM in a stormtrooper costume into an alley and kill them. You may be with the rebellion, but you'll be tackled to the ground if you even try to touch the A-wing fighter. The pet porg you bought isn't a live animal, it runs on batteries. The creature you're eating isn't really the animal Jar Jar rode, but it's an Earth-pig. And even if they role-played you as one of the tiny few who are Force-sensitive and are chosen to train as a Jedi and are given a light saber, the light saber isn't going to cut anything in half!!

The dragon on top of Gringott's spits fire, but doesn't move. Your magic wand only works on certain windows. There are no Pandorans walking around Pandora. You can see spinning Tea Cups from Tomorrowland. You can see a European castle from Main Street. There are organic based food items in Cars Land.

Pushing verisimilitude to ridiculous extremes in one case, makes absolutely no sense unless you're willing to apply that same ridiculous extreme to every single thing in every theme park.

Point taken. I get it is a theme park but when comparing this to Harry Potter they aint selling Ron Weasley plush dolls or Harry Potter blu rays in Hogsmeade Village as part of their immersion. Disney has been advertising this as the next step in theme park immersion. Where the goal is to make you believe you are not in a theme park at all with cast members acting the part as if they were Daniel Day Lewis being in characther the whole time, no ride entrance signs or visa logos. So it makes no sense for their shops to sell what they will be selling per their own goal of the land. No some exec said "it's star wars land. Star Wars has lightsabers. We need to sell lightsabers. Universal sells wands. We have to sell lightsabers" without thinking about how detriment it is to the story of their own land and the experience they want guests to have.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

Remember how Rose knew Finn as a famous Resistance hero in Last Jedi? And how Jyn played with those toy Stormtroopers in Rogue One? There's precedent, there.

The First Order shop is a supply for First Order soldiers.

Savi, the owner of the lightsaber shop, is basically running a black market devoted to keeping this ancient knowledge alive.

And even in The Last Jedi that was stupid. That film takes place HOURS after Force Awakens there is no way Rose should have heard about Finn and he did nothing to be called "legendary." There is no point in having a black market for lightsabers to a ancient religon that has faded into legend. Hell in episode 4 the jedi are called a ancient religion by a Imperial officer when just like 15 years ago or so they had a building in the capital planet OF THE REPUBLIC where they practiced their magic for all to see. Even in Force Awakens Ham has to tell Rey and Finn the "legendary syory" of the original trilogy were true because those events have fallen into legend. No one would give a hoot about lightsabers or have the knowledge on how to build one in the modern star wars universe. Plus you need special training by a Jedi to use one(unless you are Mary Sue Rey) and if any joe shmoe tried to use one in a fight he would be shot dead by a blaster like Indy did the that swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, Disney wanted a way to sell lightsabers in their stat wars land and came up with a flimsy idea that does not make sense even to the immersion they are trying to create within their own land.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

Easy, Kylo Ren and the First Order found a bunch of lightsabers buried in the Tatooine desert from the Great Lightsaber Crash of ‘83 (83 BBY specifically). The market crashed as cheap and shoddy Lightsabers flooded the market, which is why the Lightsabers we buy in the land aren’t great weapons. Kylo Ren obviously did what any rational human being would do. Sell it on SithEBay! The prices for these lightsabers are so high, because the scalpers now control the lightsaber market, which is why these useless as weapon lightsabers are being sold at such high prices!

LMAO!!! You my good sir out more thought into than any one involved with the making of this land. You need an Imagineer internship STAT!

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

Probably the same reason why you can get merchandise from 2019 on Main Street even though the town itself is set 100 years in the past....because it's a theme park and not real life.

Very different. Main street is supposed to be a theme park version of main street from anytown USA. It was never planened to be a full immersion but rather a tribute hence why it's sight line includes a giant castle in the distance. No my friend, Disney has made it a point to set this land outside the berm and control all the sight lines so you can't see into the land or see the rest of Disneyland from inside the land. You wont even be able to see The Disneyland Railroad. They have made it so it litterally feels you are not in a theme park but on another planet hence no VISA SIGNS or RIDE ENTRANCE SIGNS. Yet the will be selling a watto plush doll, lightsabers and kylo ren toys. Which a planet on the outskirts would never do. In fact creatures from the universe would only go to such a planet to get away from the first order so they can live government free and do what they want. No one would have a shop selling exctint technology or clothes of the evil ruling government. There should be more than 1 bar on this planet.

 

[Coaster Lover]

Sounds like they'll announce opening day on Thursday.

So, we're pretty sure it will be June for the grand opening at Disneyland... I wonder if they make it June 13th just to stamp out the grand opening coverage of Hagrid's over at Universal Orlando (and for turnabout, I wonder if Universal Orlando would then formally announce their 4th gate on the same day as the Grand Opening of Galaxy's Edge in Orlando)...

 

[drod1985]

Yet the will be selling a watto plush doll, lightsabers and kylo ren toys. Which a planet on the outskirts would never do.

I think they've given plenty of justification for it.

First, a fellow Toydarian runs the toy shop. It's not necessarily Watto, it's just another Toydarian.

Second, the dolls and the replica lightsabers being sold are due to the legends of the characters we know from the film spreading throughout the galaxy. This is the Star Wars version of how you can buy a Michael Jordan basketball jersey or an Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Probably the same reason why you can get merchandise from 2019 on Main Street even though the town itself is set 100 years in the past....because it's a theme park and not real life.

Wait--WHAT???!!! I thought Main Street was the actual town Walt grew up in, painstakingly transported brick by brick and lovingly rebuilt (with the addition of forced perspective).

I believe there's only one Mickey Mouse. And the princesses all wear their own hair. And the pirate with all the hats stacked on his head will eventually make it into the boat. And...and...oh, fudge!

 

[Professortango1]

Hey, everyone. In the words of Jar Jar Binks, "messa back!" Here is what I do not understand. If this land is supposed to take place in the world of STAR WARS then why would the shops on some random planet deep on the out skirts of the universe be selling toys of STAR WARS characthers and why the heck would they sell Lightsabers???? Only Jedi's carried those things and the Jedi are looong extinct. Luke is gone. There is Rey and Kylo. That's it. only those two have lightsabers and Rey does not know how to build one as far as we know. there are no jedi out there. and lightsabers are from a more eliquent age and most creatures would use a blaster. so why would there be a lightsaber shop story wise within the land?? makes no sense. Disney wise they want to complete with the wand shop from Harry Potter but that makes sense land story wise because the shop exists in the movie and in the same town the land is set in and wizards need wands. no one in the current universe needs a lightsaber and no one alive except maybe kylo knows how to build one or would even want one. Disney did not think the story of the land through enough with some of the items they are selling like FIRST ORDER UNIFORMS. why the hell would someone want to dress up like a first order soldier on the outskirts of the universe and those uniforms would not even be sold there. those are military clothes the first order would never allow their outfits to be sold on some random planet and they probably only issue them to those in the military. I don't think star wars has first order surplus stores. plus we need to walk onto the physical falon they built instead of walking into a show building.

Lightsabers are more popular after episode VIII because the legend of Luke Skywalker has resonated around the galaxy. Street vendors, wanting to cash in on this latest craze with younglings have decided to offer a product which mimics the qualities of a lightsaber, but safe for younglings with no force powers to operate.

First Order Uniforms would not be available in any respectable town, but this is a distant outpost which sells all sorts of contraband and junk to those looking to buy. A First Order Uniform might be just what a smuggler needs to buy for a certain drop.

And we do walk onto the physical Falcon. We enter the showbuilding, find that they have lowered the Falcon into a maintenance bay, and walk onto the physical ship.

 

[Professortango1]

There are no Pandorans walking around Pandora.

The absence of the Navi is kind of creepy. We see pictures that they used to exist there, but it seems like they have all been cleared out/fled to the outskirts.

 

[Ismael Flores]

Hey, everyone. In the words of Jar Jar Binks, "messa back!" Here is what I do not understand. If this land is supposed to take place in the world of STAR WARS then why would the shops on some random planet deep on the out skirts of the universe be selling toys of STAR WARS characthers and why the heck would they sell Lightsabers????

In one of the background stories they released they mention that since Batuu is a trading post. It is a place filled with stories brought in by many of its travelers. The locals have created toys and items reflecting the people within those stories.

It is actually quite clever that they are using the history of puppetry/dolls to integrate the reasoning for the merchandise sell.
dolls and puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas, stories and needs of human societies dating back thousands of years.

 

[mickEblu]

The truth is we all do the mental gymnastics required and suspend disbelief when we like something enough. My point yesterday was that something like spending good money to not display visa logos doesn’t make sense when you see the liberties they re taking with some of the Merch. In fact it doesn’t even make sense when you consider we’ll be opening our wallets and pulling out our credit cards and earthly cash anyway.

Maybe that rumor isn’t true?

 

[PB Watermelon]

I remember when Avatar first came out, and there were reports of people visiting their therapists upset that they couldn't go live on Pandora. Hardcore Star Wars fans are going to have to accept Galaxy's Edge is an addition to a theme park, and as such, is a theme park, not an actual planet. As for the vaunted theming of Hogwarts, I don't remember a redressed "dueling dragons" roller coaster being in the book, or muggles walking around with video cameras, or wait time signs, or hand rails in switchback lines, or ride attraction warning signs, or benches with shoulder and body restraints...etc. It's not Hogwarts, which doesn't exist. It's a theme park area based on the various Harry Potter properties. As for merchandise...believe it or not, they sell plush toys, t-shirts, coffee mugs and whatnot there, too.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Maybe that rumor isn’t true?

Lo scandalo!

 

[chadwpalm]

Come on people! Quit knocking on Harry Potter Land! It's perfect immersion. I mean, you all don't remember the giant roller coaster in the background of Hogsmead in the movies??

 

[Touchdown]

(Psst, that coaster is gone)

 

[chadwpalm]

(Psst, that coaster is gone)

Really? lol I've never been there, just grabbed that from Google Street View. My bad! Doesn't negate my point though.

 

[Phroobar]

I remember when Avatar first came out, and there were reports of people visiting their therapists upset that they couldn't go live on Pandora.

Those two people where visiting their therapists long before going to Animal Kingdom's Pandora. It's probably the same two that help design GOTG:MB.

 

[HiJe]

With all the story immersion that is expected, does anyone have any ideas regarding Christmas decorations? Or does Santa not exist in space? Space Santa? Kylo Clause?

 

[MisterPenguin]

With all the story immersion that is expected, does anyone have any ideas regarding Christmas decorations? Or does Santa not exist in space? Space Santa? Kylo Clause?

Life Day!

 

[nokahoma]

It makes no sense for a shop on the outskirts of the universe to be selling a Watto plush doll. A plush doll of some random junk dealer from tatooine over 70 years ago or so

It's not Watto. It's a Toydarian, the same race as Watto. The owner of the shop is a Toydarian. It's basically a doll of her.