Recommended music: Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor (Allegro Molto) [Yes, I know I used Shostakovich with the Death Star recently, but this one is totally different😄]
On this #StarWarsSaturday, we’re looking ahead to the 10th anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in December and checking out trading cards from Topps Star Wars Rogue One: Mission Briefing. Today, I’m sharing base card number 107 – The Evil Director Krennic!
Since my action figures are still packed away, waiting for a new display, the cards keep coming out to play.
Topps released the Rogue One: Mission Briefing trading card set in September 2016 to help build excitement for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The main set includes 100 cards covering stories from Episodes I to VI and the animated series from that era, including the creation and destruction of the Death Star. The set also includes 10 cards featuring characters and scenes from the Rogue One Teaser Trailer, released a few months earlier.
The new character, Director Orson Krennic, was prominent in the marketing for Rogue One. Ben Mendelsohn’s performance as the sharp, white-uniformed Imperial officer became a main focus of the campaign, moving attention away from Darth Vader (whose involvement in the story was not well-known before the film’s release) and highlighting a more bureaucratic, cold kind of villain.
While Director Krennic did appear on some of the film’s posters, he was never as prominent as the Death Star or the new Rebel characters. Clips of him questioning Jyn Erso or giving warnings, like “The power that we are dealing with here is immeasurable,” helped set the gritty, spy-thriller mood that Disney and Lucasfilm wanted when he delivered the line in trailer 2 and related videos, which came out ten years ago this week.
By putting Krennic next to Felicity Jones’s rebel hero, the marketing created a strong personal rivalry. This approach introduced a memorable, complex villain and helped build excitement for the first standalone Star Wars film.
#RogueOne10
#RogueOneAStarWarsStory
#ToyPhotography
