Spoilers for Star Wars Rebels in this article! You’ve been warned!

Star Wars: Rebels is nearly over, with its final episodes airing next week. But before it comes to an end, the series had one big bombshell to drop on Star Wars fans. In the most recent episode, “A World Between Worlds,” young Jedi Ezra Bridger discovered something that changed the way we see the Star Wars universe forever. On his home planet Lothal, Bridger was able to gain access to an other dimensional nexus point of the universe, one which had many portals…portals which allowed for a form of time travel. Time travel which he used to save fan favorite character Ahsoka Tano from her former master, Darth Vader. And while in that nexus of space, many familiar audio clips were heard.



Thanks to Comic Book, we’ve learned that the Star Wars Explained YouTube account has now added the visual components to all those audio clips used in this sequence, just in case you weren’t 100% sure where each moment came from. We heard moments from not only the original trilogy films, but also the prequels, The Clone Wars, older episodes of Rebels, and even Rogue One, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. This clip not only shows how the animated shows are connected to the live-action films, but how the Star Wars saga is really one grand connected story across several mediums.

While the Star Wars saga has elements of almost every major sci-fi trope, from robots to spaceships to aliens, this is the first time that time travel has been introduced into the canon. The portals in “A World Between Worlds” are very similar to one from another famous franchise, the Guardian of Forever from Star Trek. And in this ultimate Easter egg, almost every part of the saga is celebrated, a true treat for longtime fans.

What do you think of this new element added to the Star Wars mythology? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: Lucasfilm

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After ten years of unprecedented franchise filmmaking, the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems poised to put its plethora of kick-ass ladies in the limelight. Between Captain Marvel coming in 2019, a Black Widow solo movie in development, and the cultural thunderclap created by fan favorite characters like Thor: Ragnarok‘s Valkyrie and Black Panther‘s Shuri, Okoye, and the Dora Milaje, it’s easy to see that the future of the MCU is decidedly female. So isn’t it about time that we got a female-fronted team-up movie? We’re not the only ones who think so. In fact, we sat down with the woman who kicked talk of a Lady Liberators/A-Force movie into overdrive in the first place: Tessa Thompson.

“I think [in] Phase IV the female characters really rule supreme,” Thompson told our reporter, Markeia McCarty, at a recent press day for Thor: Ragnarok‘s home video release. “What was so exciting for me about Wakanda and seeing Black Panther was how incredible the women were in it.”

Although Thompson played coy about when we’d next see Valkyrie on the big screen, she did reveal who would be the members of her personal Lady Liberators team, and it’s definitely not who you would expect (or anyone who is canon to Marvel Comics for that matter). Thompson also revealed some of her choices to step behind the camera and helm a film like this, but with an important caveat.

“As much as I would like to see women directors really get big studio movies like this, women should also be able to direct things where women aren’t at the center of it,” said Thompson. “We should be able to make all sorts of content.”

Thor: Ragnarok is available digitally in HD and 4K Ultra HD and Movies Anywhere now, and 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on March 6

Who would you want to see in a Lady Liberators/A-Force movie? Let us know in the comments below.

Images: Marvel Studios

The biggest MCU news happening right now

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Check out this piece featuring the importance of fashion and influence from nineties sitcoms.

When you boot up Into the Breach (currently only available on PC), a lone bipedal mecha stands looking off into the ruins of civilization. As soon as you click New Game you find yourself in a hanger with three mechas and a pilot. This is the start of the current timeline, your chance to stop the Vek, insectoid-like kaiju, from destroying humanity. The corporations that find the weaponry occupy four islands, and it is to you to minimize causalities and survive the onslaught.

Into the Breach is the follow up to the roguelike-like, FTL: Faster Than Light. FTL was enormously difficult, as you were constantly facing the cruelty of the random number generator as piloted your spacecraft through eight increasingly dangerous sectors. Into the Breach is also a very difficult game, but has the decency to show mercy.

While the plot sounds like a mix between Pacific Rim and Edge of Tomorrow (or more accurately, Live. Die. Repeat.), the gameplay is a cross between Advanced Wars, XCOM, and chess. Like most tactical role-playing games, you playing field is a grid and you have units with distinct abilities that you can move around the map. Unlike its siblings in the genre, Into the Breach distinguishes itself in three distinct ways:

1) The maps you fight on are small, only 8×8 tiles.
2) The victory condition for each mission is simply “Survive X Turns,” with optional objectives.
3) The enemy’s AI actions are entirely deterministic, and you know exactly what they are going to do and how badly it’s going to hurt.

That last bullet is the game changer. At the start of each turn, the enemy will move into position and telegraph its attack. Then, it is up to you to position and execute your actions against the Vek to mitigate damages to your cities and by association “The Grid,” the only thing keeping humanity running and Intro the Breach version of life points. Different mechas offer different techniques, with various damage numbers, knockback effects and other utility abilities. And while your instinct is to destroy the Vek, you’ll quickly realize that while the Vek are playing Rampage, you’re playing a careful game of traffic control and while keeping a large insect seems like it would always be the right call, often times, preventing the Vek from damaging one of your cities will pretty much always be the priority. To aid with decision making, you’re also given the opportunity once per a battle to reset your turn if you figure out a different battle strategy, and all movement can be undone until you take your action.

You start the game with a single time traveler pilot and the Rift Walkers mecha series.

As you live, die, and repeat, you’ll complete achievements that give you coin that get you different mecha series and find time-pods on the map that will occasionally unlock different pilots. The racially diverse cast have unique traits that range from gaining experience faster to unlock other skills to providing armor to your mechas or giving extra move actions.

The game has four unique islands. One will be available at the start, and you’ll unlock the rest through gameplay. Each island has a different biome, which results in different tactics. One island is prone to flooding, whereas another has an A.C.I.D. problem. You’ll find that certain mechas have different specialties and through trial and error, you’ll fumble through battles. If at any point, the Grid goes down, you’ll have the opportunity to send one of your pilots back to the past to attempt to curb the Vek invasion once again.

As I kept struggling on normal, I ended switching to Easy to quickly unlock different mechas and the rest of the islands. And you know what? Even with the reduced spawn, the game was still challenging. It was still on me to make the correct decision and to make sure I wasn’t forgetting some environmental effect or end my turn with unearned bravado without checking the damages numbers of an enemy attack, or the exact turn order. But with each timeline, I learned something. And each timeline, I ventured with slightly more confidence before a misclick after a reset resulting in a wipe humbled me.

The mecha and kaiju design are incredible. The gameplay is addictive. It’s easy to learn and challenges, almost taunts, you to master it. For only $14.99 on Steam, Into the Breach is more than worth its price tag and a fantastic way to lose a couple hours in front of a computer screen. After two solid four hour marathons, I’ve only just scratched the surface and I can’t wait to dig deeper.

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