Massassi Outpost

I was thinking about the worst job in the Rebel Alliance and I thought about this guy, the lonely tower guy in Massassi Outpost on Yavin 4 during the Rogue One/A New Hope time period.

The Yavin 4 base is the jungle one with the temples that was actually filmed in the ruins of Tikal, an ancient ruined city of the Mayans, in modern day Guatemala.

In the films the lonely rebel soldier stands in what looks like a crows nest with a spear or a ray guy as some sort of lookout and you have to wonder why.  Surely they would get radar conformation of an Imperial attack before they were in visual range and if they are worried about ground attack then he isn't going to see much through that jungle canopy.  As someone pointed out on Twitter it would also be a pain if you suddenly needed the toilet.

I do of course have lots of other Star Wars cartoons for you to peruse if you're interested.

R2D2 Rant

Usually it's all about the drawing but when I started this #ShapeChallenge about a ranting ageing R2D2 I almost couldn't fit everything on the one panel.  Indeed I cut entire sections in my head about how he took down two battle droids, and how Princess Leia entrusted him with the secret plans to the death star without which there wouldn't have been a Star Wars in the first place.

Error 53 Revenge of the Apple Store

Has Apple turned to the dark side with the latest upgrade bricking iPhone 6s with the mysterious error 53 if they have been serviced by non-Apple personnel?  Here I contrast Error 53 with Order 66.

Apple claim that it is a security risk if non-Apple personnel have tampered with the fingerprint sensor allowing them to gain unauthorised access.  However bricking the entire phone if it detects a non Apple home button is an extreme measure when they could just have prevented fingerprint access.

The other issue is that is not merely iPhones that have been serviced by non-Apple personnel but sometimes just if you home button has broken in a certain way and while you could continue this upgrade decides it needs to render your entire expensive iPhone useless instead.

The fix for Error 53 appears to be a new phone.

That's no Twitter Star

Earlier this week Twitter changed it's star favouriting to a heart so I drew this Star War themed cartoon.

Star Wars VII The Final Battle

As Star Wars VII (The Force Awakens) is readied to be released I imagine J J Abrams patrols the corridors trying to stop this sort of scenario where a rogue Jar Jar Binks may be added or other unnecessary CGI.  I do have hope for Star Wars VII but anyone who lived through the Phantom Menace has been scarred and is just holding back until we see it.

I have done other cartoons about Star Wars VII including the Spheros BB8 toy and the state of the corridors in the mucky Millenium Falcon.

Chewie we're home!

My first thought after watching the 2nd official trailer of Star Wars The Force Awakens (watch it on Youtube)  was the force was strong with this one.  My second thought was the corridor (presumably of the Millennium Falcon) looks very very grubby.

On the first trailer I complained about the sword hilt but I'm relaxed about that now.  My only other problem is this a trailer for a movie thats not out until Christmas so it feels wrong to be getting too excited just now.  If you need something to keep you going you can always check out my previous Star Wars cartoons.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer - unanswered question

Watched the new The Force Awakens trailer and the main thing that stuck was me was what was the point of the T-shaped lightsaber...

I tried googling Sword forms to see if this was a part of any ancient swords and while there are jaggy guards they still don't look like this and their purpose was to help protect hands.

Here is an interesting page on sword forms.

EDIT: I've had a couple of responses including in the comments here about how this is just a hilt or guard like a normal sword would have or saying all the answers can be found by googling crossguard lightsaber.  So after further internet research heres what I've learned:

• If this is a guard to protect hands (which may be useful given that Luke and Anakin both lost their hands in lightsaber duels) then that crosspiece should either be light too (see this Techcrunch article) or has to be made of some material that can't be chopped through (see this piece in the Washington post)
• This is a rare design and we haven't seen before or have we?  There is some talk about one  being wielded by a Jedi called Roblio Darte in some Clone War comics but from reading the Wookiepedia article that one seems a slightly different design with another blade coming off at a 45 degree angle.
• The blades coming out a 90 degree angle to the sword still seems a bad idea to me more of a nuisance to the wielder than one who is being attacked.  As a defensive measure maybe you need a hilt made of some impenetrable material, as an offensive weapon those extra blades should be angled forward.
• I wonder if anyone can come up with an analogous traditional sword with a long 90 degree hilt with blades at the end of the guard not just spikes where the guard is used in attack.

Star Wars Dad

Cartoon for this week's comp.  Been a while since I've done any Star Wars related gags.

Star Wars Mum

My mother's day cartoon for a special mum who has to deal with her Star Wars son every day.  It's not often I do a two page strip on the blog but lets just call it episode 1 and 2.

Finally the more biblical amoung you will recognise this is based on Proverbs 31:10-31 The Good Wife

Darth Vader's Life Day

Last minute Christmas shop you should now.  Youtube Life Day Christmas Special you should and laugh your head off at atrocious acting you should.

Advent 4 Grampa Wampa

Christmas is a time for thinking about Hoth and is a great excuse for drawing Wampas.  For more information on Wampas than you require check out Wookiepedia.

Jango Fett's Fathers Day

One of the hardest questions I've had to answer from my young son is the difference between Boba Fett, Jango Fett and the Clone troopers (they all have similar helmets in my Star Wars cards).  Basically Jango Fett was a Mandalorian bounty hunter who became the genetic father for the Clone Army of the Galatic Republic and "father" of Boba Fett an unaltered clone who unlike his 3 million brothers wasn't programmed with total obedience to the chain of command.  This made me think about the upcoming Fathers Day.

An interesting question is how many clones were made from Jango Fett and whether that was enough to make a Grand Army of the Republic to defend against a quadrillion separatist drones see http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarsglossaryandfaq/a/Star-Wars-Faq-How-Many-Clone-Troopers-Are-There.htm

Darth Vader Meditation 2: Ewok Tea Party

This is my second Darth Vader meditation cartoon for a CCGB competition (here was no.1).

Yodaphone

For this week's CCGB competition themed Phone.

This week I say Yoda talking about Vodaphone in a commercial and wondered how much lower the silly muppet could get.

Back to the Avengers series later

Originally I did this gray version but felt it lacked the punch of the colour one.

Death Star Builders

I've just had my birthday where it seems (according to my presents) that I'm a serious Star Wars fan but the truth is I haven't watched any of the movies for a while.  This week's CCGB caption entry puts me in mind of the first (ignoring the prequels) Star Wars movie and questions surrounding why the Evil Empire let their armoured Death Star get blown up for a lack of a simple thermal vent cover.

Millenium Falcon Bathroom

For this week's CCGB compedition themed 'HAIR' I thought I'd use one of the Rapunzel cartoons I drew earlier in the year but decided inside to rework one of the ideas with Han and Chewbacca.

Did the Millenium Falcon have a bathroom it certainly didn't on the replica model that was the best Christmas present I had as a child.  Also could Han and Solo use the same facilities given their different heights and if Yoda or an Ewok came onboard would they need a potty instead?

Angelina Stormtrooper

For this week's CCGB compedition perhaps the strangest cartoon I have ever drawn inspired by Angelina Ballerina and her wonderful illustrator Helen Craig.  We have original Angelina books at home that feature her work and they are still much better than the CGI generated Next Steps series.

Jedi Apprentice Final

I knew Tom was going to win the UK Apprentice Final 2011 - maybe it was the Force.  However I'd like to see Lord Alan Sugar trying to recruit his Jedi Apprentice.

Darth Meditation

For the 100th CCGB caption compedition (and my 99th blog post) I offer a variation on a joke that I'm sure has been done before.

For those unfamiliar with the film reference here is the YouTube clip and here is the Wookiepedia entry.

Why does Darth Vader have to meditate at all.  Is it to cleanse himself of all the good thoughts and stresses of running an Imperial empire?

Death Star and Kids Don't Mix

This is the cartoon entry for this week's caption compedition at the CCGB (Cartoon Club Great Britain) Forum.  After week one's elation I faced the difficult second album problem of trying to beat my debut which I predictably didn't manage gaining 4 points and coming roughly 8th out of 15.  The Forum is a mixture of pro and amateur cartoonists and you can tell the differences between my drawing and someone who does this for a living.  So back to the drawing board for next week.

However as far as cliched Star Wars jokes go it isn't my best idea but neither is it my worst.

Ps. This week's winner like Roger Kettle last week has some pedigree.  You'll have seen Richard Skipworth on Hallmark and other cards.