Although Mara Jade herself has managed to spend the best part of the last decade not making the leap from Star Wars‘ former expanded universe and into current continuity, it’s not stopped her from being a prime opportunity for a fully armed and operational merchandizing platform like Disney. And the latest addition to that is quite the prize.
Revealed by Comicbook.com this morning, the latest addition to Disney’s “Legacy Lightsaber” line–the high-end series of collectible saber hilts sold online and throughout various areas the parks, but most notably within Dok-Ondar’s Emporium in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge–is none other than the hilt of the former Emperor’s Hand. As well as the lightsaber itself, the collectible comes in a case reflecting Mara’s side-swapping history, featuring half of the emblem of the Galactic Empire and half of the crest of the New Jedi Order, as well as a new variant cover release of the first issue of the 1998 comic miniseries Mara Jade – By the Emperor’s Hand, by Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, Carlos Ezquerra, Michael Taylor, and James Sinclair.
It marks the first significant entry in the legacy saber series to explicitly draw on an Expanded Universe character. Up to this point, Disney has drawn on hilts from the movies, TV shows, animated series, tie-in fiction like The High Republic and other canonical comics, and even video games like the Star Wars: Jedi series, but Mara Jade’s addition to the line makes for an interesting choice.
Since its opening in 2019, Galaxy’s Edge has somewhat softened much of its approach to its place within the broader Star Wars continuity–as much as a real world theme park can remain canonically in tandem with the wider Star Wars universe. Originally set within the timeframe between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, the park has loosened those limitations to draw in more characters from across multiple periods of Star Wars, and incorporate more elements from the prequel and original trilogies. Even if Mara’s addition here is purely in that most potent Star Wars form of all–an expensive toy you can buy–rather than anything like having the character walk around Batuu, it’s still a very intriguing one to consider, that potentially opens up more elements of the EU to make there way into the parks.
Before all that, you’ll have to act fast if you want your hands on Mara’s weapon of choice though. The release is limited to just 3,500 units, and will go on sale across both the Disneyland and Disney World versions of Galaxy’s Edge, as well as online at ShopDisney, from tomorrow, March 8, at 11am ET. It’ll set you back $325 for the pleasure, too, if you manage to snag on.
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