So, you may have the same love/hate relationship with spoilers that I do, but today when it was announced that some new details emerged on the new Star Wars film Rogue One, the “no spoilers” angel sitting on my shoulder was promptly flicked into a recycling bin. The images were originally published as a 10-page preview of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story: The Official Visual Story Guide ($24.99) for the Edelweiss catalog as part of a preview of Macmillan Publishing’s Winter 2016 products. And of course, the internet found out.

*spoilers, presumably, follow*

In the preview, we see a an expanded look at the characters, ships, droids and gear of Rogue One.  What was particularly interesting to me was the air of familiarity between these ships and characters and many things we have seen both in and out of Star Wars.  At each turn I find myself asking, “what does this remind me of?”  I wonder just how much of it is deliberate.

First off there is a new poster depicting a number of Rogue One’s characters.  Right to left, we have: Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso , and Diego Luna as Captain Cassian Andor – rebel warriors presumably on a mission to steal the Death Star plans, or as my Star Wars Expanded Universe fans would call them: NOT Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn.  (I’m not an EU guy, but man… if I was… I would be so maaaaaad!).  Next is the tall droid near the middle: K-250, an Imperial Enforcer droid who evidently will turn to the rebellion (reportedly played by Alan Tudyk) who, in my opinion, looks a little like … the last robot played by Alan Tudyk.  It will be pretty great to spend some time with a Star Wars droid that is more than just resourceful-and-cute or wonky-and-protocol…y.  I genuinely hope we get a little bit of macabre humor out of this character, a la everyone’s favorite Assassin droid from Knights of the Old Republic.

Next is Donnie Yen as Chirrut, (is that a repurposed Stormtrooper belt he’s rocking?)  who the text calls “a spiritual warrior.”  Look, maybe it’s because of all the time I invested in playing the Star wars Galaxies MMO back in the day, but is anyone else out there, based on the staff-based whooping he puts on some troopers, hoping that he is just as good at hand-to-hand combat, like some upper level Teras Kasi character?  I mean, it must have taken him months of grinding to get to that level. Filling out the characters, we have Baze, a freelance assassin played by Jiang Wen (I like the idea of a gritty, grizzled character, and every party needs that “walking arsenal” guy.) Last appears to be Riz Ahmed as Bodhi, “a rebel soldier.” OK, not the best descriptor, but if, someday I end up on a Star Wars movie poster, they could call me galactic nose-picking champion and I’d be all good. In another image we also see Pao and Bistan, alien characters who are both simply called “fierce warriors.”

Starring as not-blue Thrawn in the hard-to-keep clean, off-white Imperial uniform, we have Ben Mendelsohn.  He is playing Director Krennic, who is presumably more concerned with keeping those Death Star plans safe than collecting the artwork of conquered peoples. He is flanked by Death Troopers in the all black, which makes me now realize that it wasn’t a black pilot outfit that Jan Jyn is wearing at the end of the Rogue One trailer.  Uh-ohhhhhh!

I like that the Y-wings seem to play a prominent role in this film.  One of the slight disappointments I had with The Force Awakens is the lack of any new or different ships, or even something other than a re-tooled X-wing and a re-painted TIE fighter.  And we also get a new ship, known vaguely right now as a U-wing (can I pronounce it like Ewing? Or Uhhhhhh … wing!?)  More than a few people have already pointed out that it looks more than a little bit like the Thunderfighter in the 80s TV show Buck Rogers – and as an 80s kid, I frankly have no problem with that.

Also old/new is the TIE striker.  While it’s somewhat reminiscent of the Sith fighters from the Old Republic games and stories, the cockpit and wings are all Movie Universe.  They appear smaller, but likely more nimble that the classic TIE and make a nice precursor/prototype to the TIE Interceptor.  As a player who has sunk way more money in to Fantasy Flight’s tabletop X-Wing game, I can look forward to inevitably purchasing $30 worth of both the U-Wing and TIE gnat Striker. They own my soul at this point.

Additional images of the classic AT-ATs more or less confirm what the trailer already hinted at – walkers on more than just snow.  Also, it will fulfil my wife’s hope that she will get to see the Empire blasting some unsuspecting beach-goers.   Take that, Frankie and Annette!

I was honestly excited before; these images only increase that.  But let us know what you think!