Sideshow is now taking pre-orders for their amazing life-sized Boba Fett. Created in collaboration with the talented prop replica specialists at Tom Spina Designs, this magnificent six-and-a-half foot tall replica is so realistic, you’ll swear he jumped right off the Slave I!

The Disney Store retail outlets are fortunate enough to have a parent company that seems to have a real lust for developing its newfound intellectual properties. Sure, there are toys to be had, and lunch boxes, and kid-size shirts, but now you can get mugs too. Excited? Well, it's a mug, what do you want from me?

Read on for more! Or don't.

Last week, Star Wars and Disney bloggers were at the House of Mouse to check out new toys including Disney's own 12 3/4-inch scale electronic Star Wars action figures. It's important to note that these are not 1:6 scale (12-inch figures) - Luke is taller at 12 3/4-inches, with other characters like Darth Vader and Chewbacca exceeding 14-inches.

Each figure has a lot of articulation plus electronic lights and sounds - a decent deal at $29.99, wouldn't you say? Read on for more!

Our friends at Super7 celebrate May the 4th (Star Wars Day) at their San Francisco store with guests including the 501st Legion, a Star Wars Photobooth and Mini Arcade, raffle prizes and more.

Here are the this week's latest pre-orders and new arrivals from our sponsors at BigBadToyStore.com! Pre-orders include Batman, Final Fantasy, and the latest import exclusives. Click through for the full listing!

StarWars.com officially announces the cast of Star Wars Episode VII. Most notably and not surprisingly, the original cast of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker are finally confirmed. The highlights of new cast members include veteran actor Max Von Sydow (Darth Ming?), Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings), and Adam Driver (Girls).

New in Q&A this week: Boba Fett Helmet toys! Did you miss it? Well, it's going to cost you now. And New Black Series Cases - where is Chewie? He's still coming. Also, let's have a tidy rant about the supposed "loss" of the Expanded Universe - we've been through this before, and those stories from the past still mean something because it just happened to work out that way! Read on!

Another costume licensor! C2E2 allowed Anovos to debut its Star Wars wares after it put out some top-notch gear from Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. Previously Windlass Studios put out some top-notch costumes for Padme, Anakin, and others. Anovos has shown Luke Skywalker's Bespin togs from The Empire Strikes Back, some high-end Revenge of the Sith Clone Trooper armor, Han Solo's holster from the original Star Wars, and the prototype for their first Darth Vader costume.

While the Expanded Universe - not even called such until 1998 - has long been a way to get fans to buy paper much like Hasbro has found a way to get us to buy plastic, it hasn't been all that unusual for a bit of slate-cleaning now and again.  Today, StarWars.com confirms it's basically wiping the slate as clean as can be.

Here's the latest announcement from our sponsors at BigBadToyStore.com. Be sure to shop their Spring Cleaning Sale and save on tons of items! Click through for the full listings of new pre-orders and latest arrivals!

Earlier in the week, a few Disney and Star Wars bloggers were whisked away by the House of Mouse to check out a number of upcoming toys in development for sale in The Disney Store retail outlets. An example of something taught in schools as "vertical integration," we now have a company absorbing numerous parts of a business - not only do they make the movie, own the rights, hire the actors, own the characters, and sell the product, but they're going to design and manufacture it in house, too. This article looks at the die-cast vehicle segment, which brings back metal in a meaty way with $10-$20 ships. Each of the 12 new vehicles has moving parts, is due later this year, and will likely remind the very older and infirmed of us of Kenner's lovely and memorable offerings from 1978-1981-ish.

Read on for more! Or don't.

The Clone Wars gets it second end with Sacrifice. Yoda's story continues as he journeys to the Sith world Moraband (nee Korriban) as spirits of evil tempt and attempt to frighten the Jedi master. Mark Hamill does a voice, the Priestesses are back, and if nothing else it's an impressive new installment of Star Wars lore. Read on!

I'm back from talking to some wonderful people, fellow fans, and Disney people to talk about how The Disney Store will be deploying Star Wars.  Some details are being held for tomorrow, but I do have some dirt to share with all you fine people right now, after the jump.  (Long post, lots of information, no pics yet.  Hey man, it's late, what do you expect?)