Mandalorian Xbox Controllers Verify Boba Fett Chain Code
Two controllers appear in a single special Star Wars box. Both controllers per Xbox Principal Designer Elliott Hsu, the custom controllers "feature sketches of the now iconic Child wielding the Force and the steely Mandalorian's Beskar armored profile." These controllers are not going to be available for sale to the public – or at least they don't appear to be planning on selling them individually yet.
The Child appears on a controller with the color "Tatooine tangerine," while our hero Mandalorian appears on a controller in "Tython turquoise." The two live in a box surrounded by bumper protection and a black-on-black printing of the words THIS IS THE WAY. Above the controllers is a transparent case cover with the STAR WARS logo and the logo for The Mandalorian laser-etched therein.
The case is crowned with a black band with Mandalorian script that says, over and over again: "THIS IS THE WAY." Given the number of characters in each of the four words and the pairing of the "THIS IS THE WAY" text in the case, the translation is simple.
Of course, if you're a fan of Star Wars to the point where you recognize languages and text characters from alien script, you'll know these are letters from a Mandalorian alphabet, as (originally) created by Philip Metschan, visual effects conceptual artist for ILM during Star Wars Episode II: The Clone Wars. Metschan created the written language look of Mandalorian, the Geonosian alphabet, and did work on the original "Star Wars '76" font created by Joe Johnston. Johnston's Star Wars '76 was the first use of what we now call the Aurebesh alphabet.
There are differences between what we've seen in past iterations of this script and what's being used here in the year 2020 in official Star Wars canon – take for instance the letter H.
The letter H is different from traditional Mandalorian script used in sources like Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Before this modern age, the letter h looked like a capital "H" with three triangles above it. Now the letter is closer to a lower-case "h" in the most modern Star Wars canon.
Of interest to those of you that've been watching The Mandalorian, this text verifies the Boba Fett chain code translation deciphered after the corresponding episode of the show. This might well be the first officially sanctioned use of the newest font for the Mandalorian alphabet since that episode was released.
*UPDATE: More clues point to a slightly earlier origin of the newest iteration of Mandalorian – very likely re-worked for The Mandalorian, but appearing slightly more recently (somewhere inside the year 2020). Take a peek at Aurek Fonts on Github to see a whole BUNCH of free fonts developed using all the different iterations of Star Wars script used throughout the Star Wars universe – awesome!
The controllers are being posted on Twitter by Microsoft to promote the Star Wars Minecraft DLC right this minute. They maintain that the controllers will be a limited-edition affair, never really offered for sale to the public. But you never know – maybe they'll change their minds if they're asked politely by hundreds of ravenous fans.