SOLO A Star Wars Story (Non-Spoiler Review by For)

Hello Everybody, Well I have just completed the Kessell Run (in under 11.9 parsecs – I know that’s distance not time!). Actually I have just returned from the cinema after watching our favourite smuggler and his new film, Yes I’ve seen SOLO A Star Wars Story, and I have to say it made a lot more sense than The Last Jedi did. I was able to follow it and it flowed nicely. It began with it’s foot on the accelerator with a chase scene which led to Han leaving Corellia and getting his name. (And for fans of Lego Star Wars no his name isn’t Ian!) The next sequence shows how Han escapes Correllia and how he plans to get back (and why he needs to) then the fun really starts.

Now Han is supposed to be around 20yrs old when this film is set and so is portrayed by Alden Ehrenriech…who did amazingly well in the role. It was strange not seeing and hearing Harrison Ford and there was always a little niggling voice in my head saying “This isn’t Han”, but block that out and Alden becomes the young Solo. Just remember he is “becoming” the smuggler we know and love so will be a little different, but the self assured and confident Han begins to appear as the film goes on. And he will need this attitude and knows for the adventure he is going to have. I don’t want to give too much of the film away so for now in case you haven’t seen my saber design for Han Solo titled Bloodstripe then you can click HERE to see my post.

Now wherever Han Solo is then his famous co-pilot is not far away. And Han’s co-pilot and friend Chewbacca is equally amazing. He is let off the chain (eventually) and we get to see some evidence of why “you don’t want to upset a Wookie”! And here I have to say again the actor Joonas Suotamo did a fabulous job taking the role on full time from Peter Mayhew. He nailed the mannerisms, looks and shrugs to the point you could only tell the two apart from extreme close up shots. Han and Chewbacca meet at an Imperial Navy Outpost when Han gets into some trouble with his superiors and the meeting is quite amusing in a way as they don’t see eye to eye at first. This could be dangerous for Han as Wookies are fearsome and powerful warriors and again you guessed it I don’t want to spoil the film so instead may I invite you to take a look at my Wookie Warrior design for Chewie by clicking HERE

After establishing a working friendship and escaping their confinement on the Imperial Naval Base Han and Chewie need to get off the planet. To do this they manage to offer their services and hitch a lift with Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson)and his crew. Beckett is the leader of a bunch of scoundrel types who are planning a job to make big money. Han needs money so he can get back home and joins in on the escapade. This is an impressive action sequence. But as you can imagine things don’t go to plan, so a second scheme is devised but they need a ship…and this is where we meet up with Lando Calrissian.

Lando, the soon to be administrator of the gas mining planet Bespin, is portrayed by Donald Glover. And once more Donald did a great job playing the younger version of Lando. He had a style and charisma you would expect of the swindler but he didn’t overplay the role…he looked cool without trying to look cool…you know he was just…cool! There were some classic movie conventions used for the Sabacc card game, all the players round the gambling table, to be eliminated one by one till just Han and Lando remained to play for the spoils and Lando holding the winning hand. We then get to see the “new” Millennium Falcon and trust me it isn’t as bad as I (and others) feared. Just as well she is a great ship they need one for this adventure. So if Lando is going on this journey he’ll need a saber too, and guess what I have one for him. If you’d like to see it then please click HERE

I can’t tell you too much without giving away the whole film but there are also great supporting actors/actresses including Val (Thandie Newton), L3-37 (Phoebe Waller Bridge), Qi-ra (Emilia Clarke) and Paul Bettany is very good as Dryden Vos. The action is intense and there is humour dotted throughout but most importantly I can confirm a LIGHTSABER does appear in the film but I’m not saying more than that!

So if you like space action heist films with scoundrels, droids, Wookies, the good guys, the bad guys, laser blasts and explosions, famous ships then SOLO A Star Wars movie may be just the film for you. Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.  Well I feel this just about wraps up my little mini review of SOLO, I am no expert but thanks for reading this far and for your support of me and this site. I will be getting back to my normal scheduled postings after this but for now I will have to get to work on some new hilts and maybe some artwork!

If you go to see the film I hope you like it and let me know in the comments section below. Till next time.

SOLO A Star Wars Story is in cinemas from the 24th May

“SOLO A Star Wars Story”, Han Solo, Chewbacca and all other names, logos, images and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney Lucasfilm 2018.

For Tyeth’s Foray Into Art!

Hello Everybody, today I am starting a new venture! I have been struggling lately to come up with new designs. Not because I am short of inspiration but because some new parts that were announced by Saberforge still haven’t been added to the Adaptive Saber Parts (ASP) virtual builder. Mind you Saberforge have finally added a link to saberparts.com on their web store page so potential customers can find the builder to design their own sabers (I have had a link to saberparts.com in my sidebar ever since I started this blog!)

So as I was wondering what to design next I started looking online at the wonderful blogs on WordPress and those of my friends, Kiri at starwarsanon.com and Mei-Mei of jedibyknight.com and more recently Capili Jiron’s artistbybeauty.blog site. Here these three talented ladies produce some nice artwork in the form of Star Wars Mandala images from Kiri and Mei-Mei, and Capili produces hand drawn cartoon images presented in timelapse videos. That got me thinking, I needed a new forum signature image (used as a personal nameplate on forum message boards) so I attempted to use my skills with photo editing to create one and here it is…

I kept with my trademark green colour scheme, added a few lightsaber blades, some transparent smoke and crystal shapes in the background then pasted an old Jedi in the middle because he looks a bit like me! I also created an animated version where the Jedi’s saber flashes brighter like the title image above does. I was recently inspired by some very cool animated Star Wars “pantograph images” on Darkside Creative’s site, darksiderconfessions.blog. I needed an avatar image too, to add to my profile page and here is what I came up with….

This was a cut down version of my signature image and I added my name in green once more. I accented my name with an orange shadow, but didn’t realise how much it would make the image look like an old 70’s/80’s sci-fi novel book cover 😀 ! I felt these images were OK for a beginner, but I am a saber designer and wanted to do something with my saber designs. This is where Kiri and Mei-Mei’s inspiration came in. They both colour in Star Wars themed mandala images which are usually symmetrical pictures made up of various SW logos/outlines. Well, I thought, “What if I cut and pasted a few of my lightsaber hilts onto a background? How would that look?” I spent an hour or two cutting, pasting and painting and here are my results…

FT Tie Fighter Sabersg

FT Lando Sabers

FT BB-8 Sabers

 

Well they are different I guess! I do have to confess my grandfather was a “Master Artist and Craftsman” which meant he went to college/art school and achieved the highest art qualification available. He could paint, draw, sculpt and do woodworking and use Gold Leaf techniques – he worked at many fairgrounds, circuses and theme parks painting and repairing rides, posters and vehicles. So I think I may have a small bit of his talent in my Midichlorians after all.

So thank you to Capili, Kiri, Mei-Mei and Darkside Creative for the inspiration to try something different! Don’t worry I won’t be taking art up full time I’ll just do something now and then, but I do have two more images based on my Marvel Comics themed hilts I will showcase in my next post. I hope you will return to see those. But it is now time to close the “For Tyeth Art Gallery” but before I go, as always, I’d like to thank you, all my viewers and followers, new and regulars for your support! Now where are my pencils?……Till next time.

For Tyeth and FTSabersite, including all original images and material are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2018.

MechaBlade – Inspired by Overwatch and Allure Cosplay

Hello Everybody, after getting back from my short break to Bal’Demnic I got back to the real world and designing. I had time to think about other inspirations and after creating Anime Hunter Lightsaber for Artistbybeauty I thought “how about another manga/anime or computer game inspired hilt?” Well as I surfed the net I discovered another friend of mine, Allure Cosplay had finished work on her Overwatch themed cosplay costume….the character being MechaQueen Pharah. It was a difficult build for Allure and she didn’t have time to make a replica blaster so I figured, “That armoured suit needs….a SABER!” so here is my MechaQueen Pharah inspired hilt. I call it MechaBlade….

MechaBlade Hilt

MechaBlade Emitter

MechaBlade Emitter 2

MechaBlade Body

MechaBlade Switch

MechaBlade Pommel

MechaBlade Pommel 2

MechaBlade Vertical Up

MechaBlade Horizontal

The character of MechaQueen Pharah has many colour schemes or “skins” within the computer game (you can either pay to access these alternate colours straight away or unlock them by achieving set goals) but one particular skin is silver/white, orange and Cobalt Blue. This is helpful as they are colours available to me in my editor! The blade projects from an angular emitter that resembles the angled plating of her armour. The body and grip are silver and Cobalt blue respectively. The grip being forward of the switch so Pharah’s armoured gauntlets won’t accidently contact the activation button and extinguish the weapon. The Raptora MK VI suit is very powerful and so I felt the saber had to match and has an FTE crystal pommel to give the saber a power boost. If Pharah and Allure had one of these hilts and the blaster they would be formidable! MechaQueen Pharah is formidable already and here is a picture of her for you to see how well I did recreating her look….

I hope to get in touch with Allure Cosplay again and ask if I can post some images of her cosplay costume too, which includes wings! If you want to take a look at Allure Cosplay’s work sooner you can visit her Facebook and YouTube pages using the following links!

Allure Cosplay Facebook Page

Allure Cosplay YouTube Page

But sadly my gaming credits are running out and so is my time for this post. I will have to end soon but as usual I want to thank you all for visiting and supporting me and FTSabersite. Your comments, likes and follows mean a lot to me and keeps me motivated to design more. And I do have more designs for future posts and I hope you will return to see them! Till next time.

“Overwatch”, “MechaQueen Pharah” and all related names, logos and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Blizzard Entertainment. “MechaBlade” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2018.

Batmobile Lightsaber – Inspired by the Caped Crusader’s Car

Hello Everybody, and Happy Revenge of the Fifth Day! Now you didn’t think I would miss a post did you? I managed to find a reliable (if slow) connection to upload my data from the shores of a beach on Bal’Demnic! Revenge of the Fifth is the day after May the Fourth and celebrates the Dark Knights and villains of the Star Wars galaxy. But there is another “Dark Knight” and so I combined two franchises to come up with this new design. The other Dark Knight is of course BATMAN and this hilt is inspired by his awesome set of wheels in the movies, the 1989 Michael Keaton Batmobile to be precise. So here is BATMOBILE LIGHTSABER…..

Batmobile Hilt

Batmobile Emitter

Batmobile Emitter 2

Batmobile Emitter Lit

Batmobile Switch

Batmobile Body

Batmobile Body and Pommel

Batmobile Pommel

Batmobile Vertical Up

 

As you can see this hilt means business and shares some of the ruggedness of the real Batmobile. The blade is a bold yellow colour to fit in with the Caped Crusader’s classic colour scheme and projects from an emitter that from “certain points of view” either looks like the air intake of the car, or, the cowl of Batman himself. The emitter also sports a snazzy bat logo in matching colours. The switch section resembles the side pod sections of the vehicle with radiator grills that have the armour plating. This armour plating idea continues along the handgrip which draws us to the pommel. Now the pommel I think is very Batmobile-like with the fins and of course the sound vent which replicates the rocket exhaust jetpipe!

Air Intake?

Batmobile Air Intake!

Batmobile Pommel

Batmobile Fins and Jetpipe!

Batman’s cowl?

Batman? Er this is Silent Ghost Reaper!

Hopefully this second gallery helps highlight the design cues, and of course the Batman you can see is my friend, The Silent Ghost Reaper! (Click his name to see the pair of sabers I designed for him and learn about his online antics.)

So as always, even when I’m on a weekend break time has run out! I will have to end this post soon and go back to my hotel room but first I’d like to thank you all for visiting the site and supporting me. Whether you are a newcomer or a long time follower you are much appreciated. I have more designs to come so I hope you will return to see them in future posts. Thanks and, till next time!

“Batmobile Lightsaber” is a For Tyeth Edition design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2018. Batman was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger and first appeared in Detective Comics #27. “Batman”, “Batmobile” and all related names, logos and related material  are Trademark/©Copyright of DC Comics Entertainment.

Happy May The Fourth Be With You! From For Tyeth.

Hello Everybody and Happy May The Fourth Be With You day! Due to the recent events that I mentioned in my last post I haven’t been my usually “happy For Tyeth” and I was busy trying to ensure I got contact details from my friends I was about to lose touch with. As a result I didn’t really feel up to producing a post this weekend…to be honest it wasn’t even on my mind. I apologise. I think it is the first time I haven’t delivered but as today IS May the Fourth or STAR WARS day I had to post something to show I hadn’t lost my hope!

I hope you all go out and have a great time celebrating anything and everything Star Wars, get dressed up as your favourite X-Wing wonder pilot, conflicted Kylo or your favourite Jedi (no, not me! One out of the movies!) Have a party, whatever you like just enjoy the day and be nice to each other Sith or Jedi.

I am jetting off back to Bal’Demnic for a day or so to try and relax but if I can post a new design I will but it may be a little late in arriving – my R4 Unit doesn’t have the greatest modem!

So enjoy your day, my apologies once more and I may post a design shortly if I can get a reliable connection, thanks.

For Tyeth

p.s. Don’t worry I know I spelt Fourth “incorrectly”!

FTSabersite and all it’s contents are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2018. “Star Wars” and all related images, logos and material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/LucasFilm 2018.

BREAKING NEWS! – Saberforge Forum is no more (taken offline by SF owner)

Yes, Hello Everybody, I am with a sad heart having to bring this little bit of news to saber fans. As some viewers here know I have been a long time contributor to the “fan run” lightsaber forum called Saberforge Forum. Well as the title suggests this forum is no more. Members were greeted with an announcement on 25th April that the site would close on the 30th April. This news wasn’t welcomed warmly and many members showed their disappointment and posted “requests” for the owner Mr Isherwood to reconsider the decision as the forum was such a great resource for information and friendship between saber owners and newcomers to the saber hobby online.

But these pleas fell on deaf/ignorant/uninformed ears and as of the 2nd May the OWNER of the forum finally pulled the switch.

It was blamed on the “costs incurred” and “stretching of Saberforge resources” and “not enough usage” and the “there are much more up-to-date social media platforms we could use”. But we have been offered an “Alternative” as you can see in the screenshot……

Well this has in my honest opinion been a mistake. I am not on social media for personal reasons, and because of the current Facebook/Social Media data security issues a lot of other people will prefer not to join up to social media. Other members have already set up various chat rooms for “survivors” to meet up and carry on long established friendships and form new ones. I will in time seek out these groups and join up and hopefully be a helpful contributor to these communities instead.

I just need a break. This past week has been a test. I’d like to think I’m a polite and honest guy/Jedi and if I were to say anymore on this subject in my current frame of mind some of you may question that description of me! I will say that on the forum I had to “bite my lip” to keep to forum rules and tried not to create complications but believe me there were issues that I didn’t speak of and that I feel weren’t dealt with fairly or evenly. I will leave it at that, the people involved know who they are and what they did…whether they say otherwise or not.

I want to celebrate and thank ALL the great members I encountered and shared exchanges with during my time on the now deceased forum. It was a pleasure to be able to help some of you out and the conversations were informative and enjoyable. I will cherish those times and hope some of you will somehow find this place and we can chat again (I couldn’t mention this website on the forum in case I broke Rule Four which said I wasn’t allowed to “recruit” for another website, social media platform or online group/message board).

I now have a lot more time to post here but I will end this post now as I have “wounds” I need to attend to. I am taking as many positives as I can from this experience and will become stronger….as will all of you my friends and forum survivors. I don’t know how many people will see this but it is out there now….take care Forum Survivors and thank you.

(I do want to thank Saberforge for providing the forum in the first place but due to this decision, my praise cannot go any higher than issuing this acknowledgement.)

For Tyeth – former sf forum member.

FTSabersite and all it’s content are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2018. Guest Designs and posts are ©Copyright of the Guest Designer and used with permission.