Fortnite will finally let Darth Vader kill Anakin Skywalker
Honestly? Good for him!
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Honestly? Good for him!
Fandom latched onto Vader back when he was just ‘Darth’
Darth Vader’s had his run of solo comic books over the years from a variety of creators. Some of them have been pretty good, some of them have been strange, but they’ve all gone a ways into showing what makes the drama queen formerly known as Anakin Skywalker utterly compelling after his fall. Vader’s cut a mean,…
From the cringe-inducing Jar Jar Binks to unconvincing virtual Leia and Luke, Disney’s history with CG characters is, shall we say, mixed. But that’s not stopping them from replacing one of the most recognizable voices in cinema history, Darth Vader, with an AI-powered voice replica based on James Earl Jones. The retirement of Jones, now […]
AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch
After 45 years of voicing one of the most iconic characters in cinema history, James Earl Jones has said goodbye to Darth Vader. At 91, the legendary actor recently told Disney he was “looking into winding down this particular character.” That forced the company to ask itself how do you even replace Jones? The answer Disney eventually settled on, with the actor’s consent, involved an AI program.
If you’ve seen any of the recent Star Wars shows, you’ve heard the work of Respeecher. It’s a Ukrainian startup that uses archival recordings and a “proprietary AI algorithm” to create new dialogue featuring the voices of “performers from long ago.” In the case of Jones, the company worked with Lucasfilm to recreate his voice as it had sounded when film audiences first heard Darth Vader in 1977.
According to Vanity Fair, Jones had signed off on Disney using recordings of his voice and Respeecher’s software to “keep Vader alive.” Lucasfilm veteran Matthew Wood told the outlet that James guided the Sith Lord’s performance in Obi-Wan Kenobi, acting as “a benevolent godfather,” but it was ultimately the AI that gave Vader his voice in many of the scenes.
While there’s something to be said about preserving Vader’s voice, Disney’s decision to use an AI to do so is likely to add fuel to disagreements over how such technology should be used in creative fields. For instance, Getty Images recently banned AI-generated art over copyright concerns. With Jones, there’s the possibility we could hear him voice Vader long after he passes away.
James Earl Jones has been the iconic voice of Darth Vader since the beginning of Star Wars, but at 91 years old, it seems he’s ready to have the work done for him. According to a report from Vanity Fair (via Deadline), Jones signed over the rights to his archival voice work, allowing the Ukrainian startup Respeecher to leverage AI technology and recreate the sound of his voice in Disney Plus’ Obi-Wan Kenobi.
To do this, Respeecher uses sound bites to “clone” an actor’s voice, allowing a studio to record new lines without having the actor present. Matthew Wood, Skywalker Sound’s supervising sound editor, told Vanity Fair that he presented Jones with the option once he “mentioned he was looking into winding down” the role of Darth Vader….
Hot Toys has unveiled not one, but five new replica figures from across the Marvel, Star Wars, and Old Detroit universes. Like typical Hot Toys figure releases, each one of these collectibles comes with plenty of extra parts and an attention to detail that makes them stand out from the usual toys based on these film properties.
The first of these sixth-scale figures that’s incredibly eye-catching is the Robocop 3 replica, which includes a wide selection of accessories. While you can change Robocop’s facial expressions with swap-out face-plates, pull out his trademark pistol from a functioning leg compartment, and equip him with a multipurpose cannon that has a missile and blast effect, the real draw here is the screen-accurate jetpack.
The figure itself has diecast metal parts and a special iridescent painting to give Robocop’s OCP armor a purple and blue hue.
The next figure is of Jane Foster, the Mighty Thor. Fresh from her appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder, this toy features a helmeted head sculpt, a newly developed head sculpt of Natalie Portman, a newly designed body with seamless arms, and a damaged Mjolnir with LED light-up function. The tailored body armor comes equipped with a fabric cape, and select markets will get a version of this figure that includes a battle-damaged helmet.
Over in a toy galaxy far (far) away, fans of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series can get their hands on a new incarnation of Darth Vader. Unlike previous figures though, this Sith Lord comes with a battle-damaged helmet and armor and a rolling eyeball function so that you can position Vader’s line of sight. For accessories, the boxset packs in LED light-up belt boxes, Vader’s signature lightsaber with an interchangeable lightsaber blade emulating the weapon in motion, and a pair of Third Sister’s lightsabers.
Lastly, you can add a Spider-Man from a different dimension to your growing diorama of multiversal web-slingers. Hot Toys unveiled a Spider-Man based on Andrew Garfield’s wallcrawler from Spider-Man: No Way Home, and to complete the trio, Tobey Maguire’s webhead is swinging into action as well. This version of Spider-Man features a familiar costume with distinctive raised webbing, plenty of hands, Maguire’s sixth-scale likeness, and assorted web-shooting parts.
The deluxe version adds a themed Sandman base, which will fit in with the previously revealed Lizard, Electro, Green Goblin, and Doctor Octopus figures.
Hot Toys has slowly been rebuilding its Iron Man line of sixth-scale figures with updated versions that feature more diecast metal parts, and for the next entry in the Movie Masterpiece line, they’ve gone back to the first film and the Mark III armor. The new figure is larger than the original Mark III, it has inner mechanical details with LED light-up functions, and a wider range of movements. If you’re looking to apply some wear and tear, you can swap out several of the armor parts for battle-damaged versions.