star wars toys

Black Friday is less than a week away, and if you're stumped for gift ideas for a boy anywhere in the family, you could do worse than going with Star Wars: The Clone Wars merchandise.

The show remains one of the highest rated programs for males aged 12-25. That's no surprise since boys have always been the cash cow of George Lucas' $3 billion empire (no pun intended).

Hasbro is the emperor of Star Wars toys (at least those for kids), and the company has a couple of new, higher end items for the 2009 holidays.

The Clone Wars Remote Control R2-D2 is pretty much as advertised. For about $30, you get a replica of a Death Star comm-link that controls the droid's movements, sounds and lights. A kid will have fun driving him around the house. But, the toy is more fun for adults if you imagine that every beep he makes is really a rude, digitized curse word.

If there aren't already enough Star Wars video games for your liking, you can make your own with Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars Game Creator.

With the animated action show continuing to draw big numbers on Friday nights, its home network is serving up a chance for fans to build their own Clone Wars game and share it with other gamers.

According to the network, these game creators aren't a stunt to generate TV show buzz. The Ben 10: Alien Force Game Creator posted more than 630 million game plays since it went live a year ago, with more than 4.6 million games created by online visitors.

Once fans open their game creator, they choose their character (Anakin Skywalker, Captain Rex or Cad Bane) and their vehicle (AT-TE, AT-RT or Speeder), allowing nine different combinations of character abilities and vehicle powers.