Ahsoka Ahsoka

Entertainment

What to watch before ‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’

Launches August 23, exclusively on Disney+

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There was quite the disturbance in the Force a few days ago, if your senses were keen enough. 

It was quite the surprise actually, and the unnerving feeling of the entirety of the fandom reverberating in excitement. We were all teased before, we were given hope. But to see it finally delivered still gives the chills.

After years, from being introduced as Anakin Skywalker’s equally brash and headstrong padawan in 3D animation, Ahsoka Tano finally graces us in all her glory. In the flesh, twin sabers included.

The appearance of the old squad that we grew up with and considered part of the fandom family like Hera, Sabine, and Chopper made it better and tantalizing to not miss this newest entry in the Star Wars universe.

But before we take a dive into Ahsoka, why don’t we brush up and strengthen our midi-chlorians with these shows to get a better understanding of the Rebels crew:

1. The Clone Wars

What better way to prepare for Ahsoka than to actually meet her the first time around? The Clone Wars is one of the CGI animation series that really got us hooked after the last of the prequel trilogy beamed on cinema screens. Here we see Anakin as a Jedi Master, equal to his greatest friend and rival, Obi Wan Kenobi. But more importantly, we meet Ahsoka, journeyed with her through eight seasons, seeing her grow from Padawan to Knight, and finally to discovering her master forsaking his own teachings to turn to the Dark Side.

Then there’s the ragtag squad with of the two Jedi legends, Captain Rex, Mace Windu, and even Padme Amidala joining the fun as they hunt and figure out the mysterious Darth Sidious who wants to raise the Galactic Empire.

2. Kenobi

Seeing a defeated hero a decade after his supposed fall and rise to the occasion will always be a feel-good series. Obi Wan Kenobi reflects on how he’s one of the last of the legendary Jedi Knights around since the Empire executed Order 66 and how his own apprentice, brother-in-arms, and greatest friend became the biggest, baddest Sith Lord the galaxy has ever seen.

Obi Wan tries to keep his ties to his former life loose as he wants to protect the last of the Skywalkers, watching over Luke, and going on a rescue hunt for a kidnapped Leia even as he’s endangered by the Empire’s Inquisitors who wanted to draw him out of hiding. This leads to one of his last showdowns with Darth Vader leading up to the events of Episode IV: A New Hope.

3. The Bad Batch

This series tells the story of Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch, elite clone troopers bred with genetic mutations to give them the added abilities to take on high risk missions in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. However, one thing stands out: the members of the Bad Batch can resist the influence of Order 66, preventing them from being ultra-obedient, and misfiring, troopers of Emperor Palpatine. They become fugitives in their current two-season run, which also saw Admiral Tarkin phasing out clones in the Imperial Military in favor of regular humans.

4. Star Wars: Visions

Now, this entry here is such a visual treat especially if you are a fan of Japanese and Korean animation studio houses. The animation anthology of Visions is just surprising and adds another layer of fantasy and mythos to an already rich lore. Some of my personal favorite episodes across two seasons that I highly recommend are: Ronin, The Twins, The Ninth Jedi, Sith, Journey to the Dark Head, and Aau’s Song. It’s a departure from classic Star Wars story-telling that you have to digest in 30-45 minutes, but it still leaves you breathless with the god-tier animation and distinct art styles that reflect their corresponding production teams.

5. Rebels

Four magical CGI-rendered seasons led to us demanding for a live-action Ahsoka. We held out hope that she will make her grand appearance in the new trilogy, but alas, we were held off. Rebels deals with the fall of the Republic and the Jedi Order, seeing Ahsoka continue her adventures with the crew of the Ghost with former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Zeb, Hera, Sabine, and Chopper.

It connected with young adult Star Wars fans in a way the franchise never imagined. And now that we have Ahsoka, Hera, Sabine, and Chopper back, we can’t wait for this official fifth season of our beloved elite rebel squad against their old, formidable rival, Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Star Wars: Ahsoka

Star Wars: Ahsoka follows the former Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy. The series stars Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ray Stevenson, Ivanna Sakhno, Diana Lee Inosanto, David Tennant, Lars Mikkelsen and Eman Esfandi.

Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: Ahsoka” launches on August 23, exclusively on Disney+.

Entertainment

1st teaser trailer, details for Death Stranding Isolations series unveiled

Animated series to debut on Hulu on Disney Plus

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A new teaser trailer for the upcoming Death Stranding Isolations series on Hulu on Disney+ has been revealed.

The upcoming animated series is set to debut in 2027. It is set in the world of Death Stranding immediately after the game’s protagonist Sam reconnects the continent of North America via the Chiral Network.

The series will tell a completely new story separate from that of the video games. The narrative will focus on a young man and woman as they set off on an adventure.

As America is reborn from the ashes, the renewed connections that bind it together bring about new and unforeseen consequences.

In this tumultuous new landscape, there are some who walk a different path to the one chosen by Sam and his Bridges comrades.

One is a wise old man who connects people through a method that defies all reckoning. There is also a female soldier ensnared in a cycle of war and destruction.

Moreover, there is a boy who seethes with rage at the absurdity of his life, and a girl who chose to sever all ties with the outside world. Fate has other plans for her, however, and chance encounters see her launched headfirst into a world she does not recognize.

Death Stranding Isolations is written by Tow Ubukata (Activator, Bone Ash, Project Darkness) and directed by Takayuki Sano (Jujutsu Kaisen 0 – The Movie, Attack on Titan The Final Season).

The series is animated by E&H production (NINJA KAMUI, BULLET/BULLET, the Magic Knight Rayearth Television series 2026) with original character design by Ilya Kuvshinov (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045, The Wonderland).

The series is executive produced by Hideo Kojima and produced by KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS.

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Entertainment

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 now streaming, Cyberpunk 2077 update coming

Edgerunners returns to Night City

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Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is now streaming on Netflix, with all 10 episodes available to watch. CD PROJEKT RED and animation studio TRIGGER have also announced a new update for Cyberpunk 2077, bringing content inspired by the anime to the game.

The Edgerunners 2 Update (Update 2.5) launches on October 22, 2026, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch 2 release will follow shortly.

Edgerunners returns with a new cast

Set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 tells a standalone story through an entirely new cast of characters. The series follows a veteran edgerunner, a young cinephile, a chrome-obsessed delinquent, and a Snake Nation netrunner as their stories explore vengeance and redemption in Night City.

Director Kai Ikarashi leads the new installment, with Kanno Ichigo serving as lead character designer. Masahiko Otsuka returns as a collaborator, while Bartosz Sztybor serves as showrunner, story writer, and producer.

Both Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 are available exclusively on Netflix.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new update

CD PROJEKT RED announced the Edgerunners 2 Update alongside the anime’s premiere on October 20. The free update will introduce new items and features to Cyberpunk 2077, including content inspired by the new series.

The update launches on October 22 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. CD PROJEKT RED has yet to announce the Nintendo Switch 2 release date beyond confirming that it will follow shortly.

The studio will reveal more details during a special episode of REDstreams on October 21. The broadcast will air on Twitch, YouTube, and Steam, with official patch notes scheduled for release on the same day.

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Entertainment

Now Playing: Clayface

Finally, a supervillain story worth watching.

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The thing about supervillain movies is that they rarely let their villain be a villain. From Venom to Kraven the Hunter, they’re contrarian dreck that reframe a mass murderer as a “misunderstood anti-hero” who’s overshadowed by a corny do-gooder. Boo hoo. Thankfully, Clayface got the memo to not do that, even if it came pretty close.

Clayface reimagines how rising actor Matt Hagen becomes one of Batman’s most (literally) monstrous enemies. Here, Matt is horribly disfigured by gangsters then abandoned by his friends. He finds hope in Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s genetic experiments, but loses his body, mind and soul as her miracle cure enables his worst impulses.

Basically, Clayface is everything Joker failed to be. It’s a sympathetic origin story for a twisted Batman villain, but it doesn’t make excuses for them. If Joker scapegoats Arthur Fleck’s madness and anarchy on the nebulous enemy that is Society the way an aimlessly rebellious teenager would, Clayface throws all the blame and consequences on Matt — and Matt alone.

I like how Matt’s story is a tragedy of his own making. He wasn’t always evil, and he really was wronged by scum. Worse, his identity is cracking, which is a bit of psychological torment that I wish the movie dwelled on more. And yet, he always had a way out. He just keeps choosing the cruelest and greediest options instead.

This is the kind of agency most supervillain movies — or any movie about a juvenile anti-hero fighting The System, really — lack, but Clayface has an abundance of. There was a moment I thought that the movie would still side with Matt despite everything he’s done, only for him to cross a line. In the end, he can only blame himself when he loses everything and everyone.

However, I was let down by Clayface’s violence. There’s blood and guts, alright, but they’re too inconsistent. For every morbidly satisfying disemboweling or close-up of a nasty scarring, there’s a moment where the movie cuts away from these too early. I lost count of how many times Clayface jumped to the next scene before really letting blades sink into flesh, or how many of Matt’s kills were done offscreen. 

Minus the pivotal deaths, the kills are also not as diverse as I’d hope from a killer powered by Play-Doh and imagination. It’s just variations of stabbing and bludgeoning. My issue isn’t a lack of brutality, but that this reluctance to push it further or just show it gives the well-built tension a lackluster payoff. A movie about superpowered revenge in one of fiction’s vilest hellholes should be more depraved and creative.

To be fair, this is more the fault of the movie’s constraints, not a lack of skill or thought. Effects cost time and money that Clayface clearly didn’t have a lot of. This would also explain why Matt is limited to identity theft not by molding himself, but via clever camera work. For what it’s worth, I see and respect the smart workarounds the movie found to deliver the dread. 

Still, I like Clayface. It’s the rare supervillain movie that’s self-aware and honest about its darkness. It humanizes its villain, but commits to their monstrosity while rejecting forced redemption. It’s also a grisly thriller that works on its own merits, yet complements DC Comics’ latest growing cinematic world. That said, Batman can’t arrive sooner to beat Matt’s melted face in.

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