We're still more than half a year away from the launch of Star Wars Rebels, the animated TV show that deals with the rise of the Galactic Empire between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope. But the hardcore Star Wars fan community is already abuzz about the details, characters and images that are leaking out of Lucasfilm at a steady clip.

Case in point: The company is mailing a set of six Imperial propaganda postcards to 2,500 fans around the world on Wednesday. Below we humbly submit, exclusive to Mashable, the image we think is the coolest:

Image: Lucasfilm

Lothal is the name of the planet on which Rebels is set. Little is known about the plot so far, except that it will revolve around the Imperial takeover of Lothal and the ragtag band that unites to fight them off. Lucasfilm offered an image of Lothal when it launched its official Tumblr last December.

Last October, Lucasfilm revealed the show's Jedi-hunting villain, the Inquisitor. Last week, it offered the first original character to join the rebel side: a grumpy and willful astromech droid in the style of R2-D2 named Chopper. "If Artoo is the family dog," said Dave Filoni, Rebels executive producer, "Chopper is the cat."

The World War II-style postcards are original illustrations from Amy Beth Christenson, a member of the Lucasfilm Animation art department working on the series. Pay attention, entertainment brands: this is how whipping your fans into a frenzy is done.

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