Author Archives: Bria

Book Review: ‘The Mark of Athena’ by Rick Riordan

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In case you hadn’t already noticed, we at Tosche Station are big fans of young adult literature even if we’re hardly the target age demographic.  Everyone should be able to enjoy those books.  Sticking an age label on a book shouldn’t stop older readers from enjoying them too.  Today, I’d like to extend that argument and say that the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan are absolutely not just for kids because wow can anyone enjoy that story.

The basic premise of the series is simple: what if one of your parents was actually a Greek God?  Our hero, Percy Jackson, is the son of Poseidon and wow did that cause some problems for him in the first series.  Of course, you can’t have ancient gods and mythology without some prophecy so you can absolutely bet that our heroes are always going to have to try and save the world because of one.  (Spoiler Alert: Percy Jackson never gets a break from this sort of thing.)

Tuesday saw the release of the third book in the second series about Percy Jackson and company: Mark of Athena.  The previous two books in the Heroes of Olympus series saw our group of heroes divided between Camp Half Blood (the Greek demigods) and Camp Jupiter (the Roman demigods) and both camps happily existing without acknowledging the other.  But now, because of a prophecy and meddling of Hera, young heroes from both camps have to team up to save not only one of their friends but also the world.  And they have to do it fast.

Mark of Athena not only reunites our heroes but tells an awesome story.   I was originally worried that the book would struggle with having such a comparatively large cast (the previous books had three main heroes, this one had seven) but my fears were unfounded.  Riordan manages the larger cast well, sending different pairs or trios off to face each new obstacle or task.  This allows not only for the two groups of heroes to get to know each other but also for Riordan to explore the different dynamics between the heroes.

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Upcoming Her Universe Releases

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The wonderful Ashley Eckstein was a guest on this week’s episode of Tosche Station Radio and shared with us some pretty great new products that you can look forward to from Her Universe in the near future.

Starting this Monday, Her Universe will be releasing a new Halloween bag for 2012.  This year’s design, once again by Katie Cook, will feature Darth Vader in a unicorn costume.  (Yes, you read that correctly!)  He will have all of the candy and will be saying “I find your lack of candy disturbing” to several costumed yet candyless stormtroopers.   Also available this Monday will be the Ahsoka Tano costume top in adult sizes (Small through 3X) and a brand new Spock costume top.

The next upcoming product doesn’t yet have a release date yet but will be a Hot Topic exclusive so keep an eye out for a TARDIS dress!

Finally, Ashley let us in on a new product for the holidays that will be released for Cyber Monday.  You will now be able to purchase Her Universe pajamas!  These are another Katie Cook design and will be a pair of flannel pants with little Darth Vaders on them and a top that will picture Darth Vader with bunny slippers and a coffee mug and saying “I woke up on the dark side of the bed.”  The holiday pin will also make its return and this year’s design will feature Chewbacca.

“Scoundrels” Release Date Moved to January 1st

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Del Ray has moved the publication date for Star Wars: Scoundrels but not in the way we wanted.  According to Timothy Zahn’s Facebook page, Scoundrels will now be published a week later on January 1st, 2013.

A bit of news: The pub date for Star Wars: Scoundrels has been postponed a week until January 1, 2013. (The delay has apparently been applied to all of RH’s December 26 releases, so it’s not like Scoundrels has been singled out.) No reasons have been given, at least not to me.

While it’s still close enough to be a belated Christmas present, it’s a shame that the publishers didn’t choose to bump the release date ahead by a week instead of back.

Cosplay Monday: Ursula

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Cosplay Monday returns with this cool photograph by darkainmx of brethlessaire as Ursula from The Little Mermaid that I found via Tumblr!  Her costume isn’t just gorgeous but is also incredibly detailed and undoubtedly took a lot of work.  It’s also probably one of the most impressive looking versions of a “humanized” Disney villain/character that I’ve ever seen.

Cosplay Monday: Lin Bei Fong

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Here are Tosche Station, we are big fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra.  (Don’t worry: we’re working on converting Nanci!)  Therefore, it makes sense that this awesome Lin Bei Fong costume by Jeni Hellum would catch our eye!  Not only does she make a great Lin but the costume itself is incredibly impressive especially with the attention to detail.  The armor looks like it is real functional armor and she could totally be ready to take down criminals in Republic City at a moment’s notice.

 

Cosplay Monday: Dr. Strange and Clea

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After an extra special Cosplay Week, we’re back to our regularly scheduled Cosplay Monday and we have more costumes from Dragon*Con to help take your mind off that horrible case of the Mondays you might be coming down with.

Check out how fantastic Allen/loganallenwolf and Mary/twinklebat (both of the Superhero Costuming Forum) look as Dr. Strange and Clea.  Both of them could have stepped right off the page of a Marvel Comic and their costumes looked just as impressive in person.  Well done to both of them!

Cosplay Week: Hallis Saper

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We’re wrapping up Cosplay Week with another appropriate costume for Tosche Station.  Hopefully you’ve enjoyed seeing these fantastic costumes as much as we did and, as always, if you recognize any of these costumes, let us know so we can credit them!

One thing we don’t see enough of at conventions is Expanded Universe costumes outside side of a handful of big name characters.  While we always love seeing some great SWEU costumes, we especially love seeing characters who don’t get as much love.  Enter this fabulous Hallis cosplayer from Celebration VI.  We’ve never seen someone attempt this costume before and we’re pretty sure she nailed it.

Edit: You can find her website here!

Cosplay Week: Tropic Thunder

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Cosplay Week continues with Bria’s personal favorite costume from Dragon*Con and that’s saying something given how many awesome costumes were at the con.  Once again, I don’t know who the cosplayer was so if anyone recognizes him, please let us know so we can credit accordingly!

Everyone remembers Tropic Thunder, right?  It was a comedy from 2008 that riffed on action films and is responsible for a lot of gifs of Robert Downey Jr. in blackface on tumblr.  One of the funniest parts of the film were the fake film trailers at the start.  RDJ’s character starred in a fictious film called “Satan’s Alley”, Jack Black’s character was in a Nutty Professor, and Ben Stiller’s character is the ailing action star.  His trailer is for the latest in his franchise, Scorcher VI.  (Check it out on YouTube if you don’t remember.)  I positively love the film and when I saw this costume, I went running after the guy to snag a picture.  Props to this awesome costumer for rocking a minor yet hilarious costume like this one!

Cosplay Week: Captain Marvel

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We’re continuing with Cosplay Week here at Tosche Station and featuring some of the fabulous costumes we spotted at Celebration VI and Dragon*Con! Again, we don’t know who the cosplayers were for most of these so if you recognize the costumer, please let us know so we can give proper credit!

If you’re a regular reader of Tosche Station, it’s no secret that we’re big fans of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel around here and we were definitely hoping to see some cosplayers with her new costume.  Dragon*Con costumers didn’t fail us and amongst the sea of Lokis and Hawkeyes, we found her!  Not only did her costume look great but she had some serious Carol attitude!  (Please notice the bonus defeated Deadpool we got for recognizing and loving her costume.)

Cosplay Week: Darth Talon and Cade Skywalker

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We have more Star Wars costumes for today’s edition of Cosplay Week from Celebration VI!  Unlike yesterday, we actually don’t know who these costumers are and this particular picture was snagged from Jan Duursema’s Facebook so if you know who they are, shout out!

Edit: You can find Darth Talon’s Facebook page here and Cade’s here. Great costumes, guys!

Take a look at these two perfect Darth Talon and Cade Skywalker costumers who look like they could’ve stepped right off the pages from the Legacy comics.  The body pain on Talon is perfectly done and I’m incredibly impressed by the tattoos and the chest armor on Cade.