Oh, J.J. Abrams. You big tease, you.
The "Star Wars: Episode VII" director took to Bad Robot's Twitter account to announce the winner of the Force for Change contest. His tweet included a photo of a handwritten note by Abrams, giving the winner's name. Most interesting to Star Wars fans is the mechanical hand that's holding Abrams' monogramed stationary.
#ForceForChange @starwars #EpisodeVII @omaze @UNICEF #uinnovate @UNICEFinnovate pic.twitter.com/pCAbhcjKxn
— Bad Robot (@bad_robot) August 11, 2014
Abrams is obviously teasing a prop from "Episode VII," but what is it? The most likely explanation is that the hand belongs to a droid that's featured in the film. The other possibility is that it could be the prosthesis worn by Luke Skywalker, sans its flesh-like wrapper. For what it's worth, Luke lost and had replaced his right hand in "The Empire Strikes Back"; the hand shown in Bad Robot's tweet is also a right hand. The technology used in Luke's hand was never shown in the films (aside from a spot of singed blast damage after the hand was hit by a blaster shot in "Return of the Jedi"), which would give the "Episode VII" crew the freedom to depict the "naked" hand however they like.
Force for Change reportedly raised $4.26 million dollars for the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF. Disney added another $1 million, bringing the total to over $5 million for the campaign. The money will go towards seven or eight new UNICEF Innovation Labs, which help provide nutrition, water, health and education to children in need around the world.
The contest winner announced is Denver resident D.C. Barns. He has won a trip for two to London, where he'll be treated to a set visit and appear as an extra in a scene from the film. Lucasfilm has posted a video showing the moment when Barns found out he was the Force for Change winner. As you can see in the video below, Barns was so taken aback by the the surprise of winning that he nearly fell backwards in his chair!
