Though the wait until December 18, 2015 is technically getting shorter with each passing day, it still feels like an interminable amount of time to have to go without seeing Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. I’m half considering entering into a Jedi-style hibernation trance to pass the time between now and then. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grow a rat-tail, so my Padawan training was put on hold. Fortunately, Empire Magazine has released two massive new fold-out covers featuring The First Order and the Resistance in all of their glossy glory.
Though the issues featuring the new covers will hit newsstands next week, Empire released the images online on Friday in order to build advance buzz. The First Order image features Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and General Hux (Domnhall Gleeson) striding menacingly towards the viewer, flanked by a battalion of Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters in what may be Starkiller Base.
The Resistance cover shows the renegade stormtrooper-turned-lightsaber wielder Finn (John Boyega), badass desert scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), and the best damn pilot in the galaxy (according to him) Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), accompanied by the totally-not-a-soccer-ball droid BB-8 and the Millennium Falcon on the desert planet of Jakku. Sure there are TIE Fighters screaming through the skies behind them, but I’m sure that’s nothing to worry about. Right? Right?!
Unlike the recent Entertainment Weekly feature, however, these are not photos taken from the actual film; rather, these are Photoshopped composite covers, but they still look pretty rad. The fold-out feature is a nice touch as well–although I kind of wish it was like one of those MAD Magazine fold-outs where it makes a new third image if you fold it in on itself.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to my Force-induced fugue state until the next piece of Star Wars-related awesomeness comes along.
Or, in the meantime, you could watch this delightfully silly music video featuring Team Unicorn:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18.
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HT: Empire
Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of 100 Things Avengers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).
