You can't have a Star Wars movie without new toys, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story shouldn't be any different. Merchandising goes hand in hand with content over at LucasFilm (thank you, Papa Lucas), though some crazed Star Wars super fans were given an amazing opportunity to educate casual fans on the plot of Rogue One, while also putting the movie's various toys to good use. The result is a stop-motion piece of pop art called Star Wars: Go Rogue -- Chapter 1, and you can watch it right now:
Using a style that is reminiscent of both Robot Chicken and The LEGO Movie, Star Wars: Go Rogue fills in the backstory that you'll need to understand the importance of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The plans to the Death Star have been ... misplaced. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and Captain Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) lead a band of Resistance fighters on a mission to retrieve those plans, so that the Rebellion will better know how to stop the Empire and take down their newest weapon.
But like those other programs and movies, this short film can be comedic in nature, explaining the timeframe of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story while also putting the movie's newest toys on display. According to a press release, the video -- available on the official Star Wars YouTube Channel -- was created in conjunction with official toy manufacturers like LEGO, Mattell, Funko and Disney Store. This chapter is the first of four, and the others will come out through September, leading up to the moment when you can start purchasing all of the toys seen in the videos. Fans can pre-order a handful of select items seen in the Rogue Stories beginning September 2 at mass retailers, Disney Store locations and disneystore.com. The full range of new Rogue One and Star Wars products will be available globally starting on September 30.
But the video, in addition to being a toy commercial, explains details about Gareth Edwards' Rogue One, using real locations like the planet of Jedha:
And possibly revealing how Jyn Erso will go about obtaining the Top Secret plans for the Death Star. Though, this interaction is a little more Looney Tunes than it is LucasFilm.
Star Wars fans are encouraged to tell their own Go Rogue story. The global contest, which kicks off September 30, invites fans to enter the Go Rogue contest on StarWars.com/GoRogue. In addition to the global contest on starwars.com, in the U.S. and parts of Canada, kids 8-12 can participate on Disney.com/MyRogueStory. Winners will be invited to Lucasfilm in San Francisco to attend a screening of Rogue One, and see their short story on the big screen. Awesome.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in theaters in December 16.
