Oh, it can be worse. Far worse.

However, bonus cool points for using The Verge as a source link, Halc. =)

Here's the official press release: http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd

Disney is smart. They know how not to touch something good. They bought Marvel, left them alone and then BAM The Avengers. They bought Pixar. They are going to throw money at the Star Wars Saga and hopefully someone with an actual knowledge of good directing/script writing, (IE Not Lucas) takes it from there. Joss Whedon anyone?

The problem is that Disney has an even bigger cadre of Bounty Hunters (i.e. Lawyers) that go around looking for trademark and copyright infringements than Lucasfilm ever did. If Disney decides to pull out all the stops they will make the DB, EH, Rogue Squadron and all the other clubs pay for the license to operate in the SW universe and businesses like the custom saber shop could be sued and shut down.

Disney sued a daycare in Springfield, MO for having a custom painted Mickey and Minnie Mouse on their wall. They sought damages of over 7 million dollars and the daycare had to declare bankruptcy and shut down.

So this could be a good thing or a very bad thing, depending on how Disney decides to handle it.

My biggest worry would be about Dark Horse, since Disney now owns Marvel, meaning we may see people like John Ostrander and Jan Durseema (read: stories like Legacy) a thing of the past.

"Disney sued a daycare in Springfield, MO for having a custom painted Mickey and Minnie Mouse on their wall."

There was a similar thing in the newspaper in the UK just yesterday actually, with them forcing a small sweet shop to change it's name from Scoobee's Snacks.

I lost power because of the hurricane...i saw this on my computer all over everywhere...I am not sure if I should be happy...or mortified to be honest.

~Eether

I lost power because of the hurricane...i saw this on my computer all over everywhere...I am not sure if I should be happy...or mortified to be honest.

~Eether

Whatever the case I'm just gonna go fetal position and wait this out for a little while :/

In terms of Star Wars online clubs like the Dark Jedi Brotherhood being negatively affected by this buy, one thing to remember is that the DJB is a non-profit online organization. We are strictly a volunteer club that makes no money and even pays money to maintain our site. We don't take donations. We don't make investments or trades or exchanges. We don't sell illegal goods. We in a sense promote the Star Wars universe and support the official releases of games, films, and merchandise. In a way, our site may fall under the fair use category of copyright laws. So Disney would be really pushing it if its lawyers forced us to pay for the license when we're making no profit off of any of our work.

Then again, I'm not a lawyer, so maybe some more-suited experts around here can support or debunk my claims.

This is good news for this organization, as it will increase new registration down the road, regardless of how great the movie turns out to be.

We're unlikely to have any legal issue ourselves, no, but the sort of people who might well have problems, though, are guys like the artists who we've paid to make things like the vendetta comics. I've no idea though whether there are people making money out of Mickey Mouse commissions on DeviantArt or not?

Independent artists on bloated sites such as DA are highly unlikely to be confronted with lawsuits against them from major corporations such as Disney. This is because of the utilization of a large art site, the liberal interpretation of Star Wars trademarks and symbols (after all, my character in her pictures may have a lightsaber, but there are no specific Star Wars-designated images from the established merchandise), the use of private channels for selling, and the overall idea that one artist making custom art is normally not a threat especially when people buying the commissions are usually the ones also buying the official product. Again, the idea of promotion comes into play.

Now, if these artists were touting huge websites saying, "GET ALL YOUR STAR WARS ART HERE!" as well as pirating the already produced and copyrighted materials, then yes, that might be a problem. But as it stands, people following fair use through parody and individual interpretation aren't even a blip on Disney's radar. If anything, independent artists, by being creative with an established fictional universe, can encourage people to partake in a franchise more heavily. Sort of like how if and when I buy homemade Doctor Who stuff from awesome artists, I'm more inclined to watch the show and buy official stuff. Yay, capitalism!

I doubt Scoobee's Snacks was much more than a blip on Disney's radar either :P

A sweet shoppe using a misspelling of a character's name to spell goods is a lot more likely to get caught than an independent artist using a character's original name with a plasma sword. My two cents.

...sell goods. I've got spelling on my mind.

Yes but it was a sweat shop, so it could just be a matter of distancing themselves from such a thing. And fankly I think disney lawyers did the children a favour by removing them from there. Mickey is a terrifying creature :P

I agree with Legz, this could prove to be a definite boost for us. E3 did a number for us, not to mention to are also planning more gaming platforms which is a definite plus for us. I do agree I fear some crappy child version taking over or better yet, something like John Carter happening. But if they get their shit together it could be much better than the prequels. Ill still advocate the originals, but Im warming to the idea of this

Yes, this news is fantastic for this club. It will re-energize fans and bring in plenty of new ones, which will only help us in the long-run. I am cautiously optimistic about what Disney brings to the table. They were able to let Marvel continue the work they were doing with their movies, which have been fantastic. As long as they are able to bring in talented directors and writers to get things rolling then I think it will be in good hands. What I'm afraid of is what this means for the Expanded Universe. The original movies brought me in, but it's the EU that has kept me hooked all these years. I hope they're able to integrate the EU into the new movies, but that's probably wishful thinking.

As for the whole suing thing...eh. Every go to a convention and see how many people do sketches of licensed characters? These would very much include Marvel characters (owned by Disney). As long as we don't try selling this stuff ourselves we're fine. Back pre-Exodus days the Emperor's Hammer (the club we were a part of, for you new people :P) tried selling mugs and mouse pads with their logo on it. Of course the logo at the time was the Imperial logo with "Emperor's Hammer" in front of it. The Lucas-people told the club owner to stop selling that stuff using the Imperial logo. A new logo was created that didn't have anything to do with Star Wars and it was all good :P So yeah, moral of the story is to ensure we don't start selling things

On the bright side, we might get Star Wars characters in Kingdom Hearts 3 :P

George Lucas will remain as a creative consultant, so we'll see how much the EU is used.

I have no idea what to think yet. I will wait to see what happens. I hope it means more people for our site. that would be nice. more jedi. LOL

It'll definitively mean more people on our site. Star Wars has always been a moneymaker - hence why it's still a thing - and with Disney's budget, management, and ability to bring in capable people to run it, it'll obviously continue and grow. For better or worse, this'll bring in a rejuvenated fanbase.

Personally, I just want to see some next-gen Star Wars games with multiplayer mode come out of this.

My fear with the new movies is that they'll completely mess up the EU. Disney might be more tactful about it, whereas Lucas would have most likely tread all over it and stuck close to his original script ideas. If they don't do it right, it can totally throw off the entire EU storyline. Especially since there's already established, canon stories that take place directly after Episode VI.

However, if I see the Sun Crusher or any World Devastators, I think I'll just puke and give up on the whole franchise.

My main hope is the exact opposite of what Jason fears, namely that this opportunity is used to take a chainsaw and/or steamroller to the EE. The reborn Emperor, Boba Fett surviving and having hilarious adventures, Rogue Squadron, the Sun Crusher, the Yuuzhan Vong and the Mandos can all die in a fire. :P

Yes, even if that means also losing Thrawn. He's a military man. I'm sure he understands that sometimes sacrifices need to be made. :P

http://uk.eonline.com/news/358685/star-wars-7-plot-will-be-an-original-story-says-lucasfilm-source

Granted, anonymous source so not THAT certain. Still, it could mean that they'll just set their stuff in a period where it doesn't matter (like hundreds of years later or earlier or during the Imperial times or whatever). Or it means that Isard and the Coruscant story and Thrawn and whatever can take a flying leap off a bridge. Who knows? Anyway, exciting times. :D

(On the other hand, I admit I'm ambivalent about someone other than Lucas directing it. It kind of feels like a Beatles album that doesn't have Lennon and McCartney. Whether it's good or not is immaterial, but it still feels weird).

I feel like I was the only one that liked the Yuuzhan Vong....the rest of the stuff you mentioned I can agree with but I found them neat...horrible ending to the storyline though, is that whats people issue was?

Don't worry, Raiju, you aren't alone. Joss Whedon liked the Vong too:

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/35580_533896980360_738191375_n.jpg

And Lucas himself always said he liked Dark Empire... so reborn emperors aren't necessarily out either :P

I think as long as Disney lets the creative people do their thing and just provides the resources (not that Lucas needed it), we should be ok. The superhero movies have shown that there are a lot of people out there want to see their childhood favorites re-done, but in a decidedly good fashion.

The problem, I think, is that Disney (or even Lucas) basically has three distinct generations of fans to deal with: first generation (who saw the original theatrical release), second generation (like myself, did not see it in theaters, but grew up with only the original trilogy and the first EU novels), and third generation (saw Episodes 1-3 in the theaters, possibly before the original trilogy, and things like Clone Wars). There is no way to please all of these groups, though we all know we'll go pay the money to see these movies.

Lucas kind of comes off as the slightly senile grandparent, whose stories keep changing, though the core story remains the same. Disney, and whomever they recruit to work on the project, is an unknown.

As long as they don't get Michael Bay to direct the movies...

This image nicely sums everything up for me...

http://i.imgur.com/LusbV.jpg