Bryzgalov goalie mask gets the Special Edition treatment
Monday, March 4, 2013 at 9:26PM
USA Today Sports photos, before on the right, after on the left
SB Nation reports that Lucasfilm officials intervened to correct Ilyz Bryzgalov's Star-Wars-themed goalie mask. As previously noted, the Philadelphia Flyers' goalie was sporting a new mask last week featuring Yoda wielding a reddish lightsaber. (It turns out the lightsaber was orange, so as to match the Flyers' colours.)
Lucasfilm was not, it seems, happy about this bit of artistic licence, and intervened to request/demand that the mask receive the notorious Lucasfilm Special Edition treatment. From SB Nation:
According to a report by Enrico Campitelli of the 700 Level, Lucasfilm contacted the Flyers and informed them that they wanted the color of Yoda and the saber color to be changed. Franny Drummond, the artist who designed the mask, told Campitelli that Bryzgalov might not have been permitted to wear the mask if those changes had not been made, via the 700 Level:
"We didn't realize we'd be offending anyone," Drummond told me this morning. "Yoda's Lightsaber was actually an orange-ish color before we changed it. We were going for a hint of the Flyers' colors in Yoda as well. There were no bad intentions. It was just a matching thing."
Bryzgalov wore the mask as it was originally designed in one game before Drummond made the alterations to Yoda's illustration.
The photo above (from USA Today via The 700 Level) shows the Lucasfilm-imposed deprovement. Honestly Lucasfilm, if Yoda lived for 900 years, is there really no possibility that he ever once weilded an orange lightsaber?
