Category Archives: Star Wars

Holonet Blast #1

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Welcome to the first edition of something new we’re trying here at Tosche Station: the Holonet Blast. Over the last year or so, we’ve gotten away from being primarily a news blog but we don’t want to completely ignore it so we’ve found a solution with this once weekly round up of all the Star Wars news that hits the internet! As a note, we’ll be dealing with confirmed news only and not rumors because if we did rumors, we’d be here all year. But hey! We did learn things this week so strap yourselves in and let’s blast off!

Celebration is less than two months away and we’re finally getting some news about guests! If you’re an autograph collector, start saving now because Felicity Jones, Ian McDiarmid, and Jeremy Bulloch will all be at Celebration Orlando! Hopefully more guest announcements will be made soon so people can try and budget accordingly.

The Marvel comics will be kicking off their next crossover in May! Titled ‘The Screaming Citadel,’ the story start with a one-shot by Kieron Gillen and then go back and forth between the main Star Wars book by Jason Aaron and the new Doctor Aphra book by Gillen. Per the official site, “Luke reluctantly team[s] with the shady-but-cool archaeologist to investigate the Screaming Citadel, an infamous castle located on the edge of space.” Given how well Vader Down went, Screaming Citadel is definitely something that fans are going to want to pick up. You should also give the interview with Aaron and Gillen a read because holy crap am I excited for this story!

In news much further in the future, Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced on a call that the Star Wars Lands in Disneyworld and Disneyland will open in 2019. From what everyone’s saying, that’s a fairly aggressive build schedule. As a note, Iger didn’t say when in 2019 they’ll open. Some folks are speculating that it’ll be in time for Celebration (so hypothetically April 2019) but it could also easily be later in the year. And let’s be honest… they’re going to get our money either way. Personally, I’m guessing it’ll be later in the year because why not (hypothetically) get our money from park visits around Celebration and them again when the new attractions open? Again, that’s just speculation and we don’t know anything for sure except that we’re getting it in 2019. (For now.)

The New York Times ran a nice profile piece on some of the women help create the Star Wars universe, specifically those at Industrial Light & Magic. It’s definitely an interesting read if you have a few minutes especially since most of these mainstream “Women of Star Wars” pieces tend to focus on either the characters or Kathleen Kennedy.

And as always, the Star Wars Show is a delight! This week, they chatted with Laura Jane Grace, Pablo took us to the Rogue One creature shop, and Andi went skateboarding?

But most importantly… February 6th marked the first birthday of Millicent Hux. For those of you who somehow aren’t aware, Millicent is Hux’s ginger cat imagined by Pablo Hidalgo and she uses Kylo’s vat of ashes for her litter box. Needless to say, fandom (including myself) took the concept and ran with it and basically she’s canon now. All hail Millicent!

Review: Doctor Aphra #4

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My favorite new comic continues today and uhhh yeah. It’s not looking great for Team Aphra. (It’ll be fine! It’s only issue #4 of an ongoing series, after all.)

Surprisingly, while Aphra continues to be awesome, she wasn’t my favorite part of this issue. That honor goes instead to our antagonist. Despite debuting so recently, Captain Tolvan is already turning out to be a lovely surprise and seems to be a character who’ll be sticking around for a little while. She’s good but she’s not perfect and, were this her story, she’d be working through a personal redemption arc. On a related note, it seems that Marvel’s previous references to events in Rogue One weren’t throwaway lines and I sincerely hope we get more of this.

I mentioned this during the last review but I sincerely love that this is first and foremost the story of a rogue archaeologist that just happens to be set in the Star Wars universe. It gives the book such a distinct feel from any other Star Wars stories we’ve gotten in recent memory. There are familiar locations and characters of course but it all just feels so fresh. I’m almost as invested in finding the Ordu Aspectu as Papa Aphra is. (Side Note: Does anyone else think of Wesley the Rogue Demon Hunter from Buffy the Vampire Slayer every time they read the opening scroll? No? Just Me? Okay never mind.)

Actually, I take back what I said earlier. My favorite part of the issue is a panel of the murderbots a few pages in because it made me laugh so damn hard. I won’t spoil it for you but I promise you’ll know it when you see it.

Doctor Aphra continues to get a “hell yeah!” from me and I would really like Issue #5 in my hands already, please and thank you.

Doctor Aphra #4: Kieron Gillen/Writer, Kev Walker/Pencils, Marc Deering/Inks Antonio Fabela/Colors, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan D. White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Knights of the Old Replay: The Cosplay Interlude

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So listen. There was a plan. There was a great plan when I started this series that I was going to play the first game in January and casually work on my Visas Marr costume for Celebration at the same time. That? That went out the window around the time when I decided, “Hey what if I made the costume in time for Katsucon in February and got it 501st approved by then too?”

We’ll just consider this an interlude. All the cool writing projects have them now, right?

I’ve loved Visas ever since I first played the second KOTOR game over a decade ago because 1) Rule of Cool and 2) I just really liked her character and backstory. I think I played favorites with her, Atton, Mandalore, and HK-47 once I got the latter two. Visas has been on cosplay wish list for at least five years now and when I discovered during Dragon Con that some of my friends were still as into the KOTOR games as me… honestly, it was meant to be. (If only you could have seen the aggressive high fives that kept occurring that weekend once we decided to do this group for Celebration and Dragon Con next year…)

One of the best things about making a costume with the intent of submitting it to the 501st is that breakdown your research is done for you. You just have to look up the CRL, study the breakdown intensely, and then go from there. It’s just a matter of finding everything and making it. That’s the real struggle. Thankfully, I lucked out with finding my fabrics. For the leather, I already knew from a previous project that JoAnn’s carried one that would work and for the red, my magical fabric warehouse place came through and gave me what I needed for a good price. Continue reading →

Review: Darth Maul #1

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Maul is one of those characters where it seems like most people either love him or can’t stand him anymore. I personally fall into the second category mostly because I don’t know why he keeps not dying. But hey! A pre-TPM story about him? Count me as intrigued.

Darth Maul #1 is a lot of character building and plot set up. There’s a lot of time spent in Maul’s head and uhhh… spoilers: he’s kinda violent. At times, it felt like a little bit too much especially given that we don’t even hear about this padawan from the solicits until the last few pages but bigger fans of the character will likely really dig it. Personally, I loved getting to see Maul take on a rathtar. It’s a nice blending of the eras and besides, it’s not like Maul doesn’t have a fine tradition of taking on aliens who originally hail from much further down the timeline. One of the places where the issue fell short for me was with Palpatine. That’s not really a mark against the book and Cullen Bunn though. It’s more that I don’t think we’ll see anyone else write as great of a Palpatine as Charles Soule in our comics any time soon.

On the art front, the combination of Luke Ross and Nolan Woodard is a good one for this book. Their combined style fits nicely with the vibe Bunn seems to be going for. I definitely prefer to this to Ross’s prior Star Wars work on The Force Awakens comic adaptation.

As a side note, Marvel has continued its tradition of giving us a little something extra to go with the first issues and honestly, I could read an entire graphic novel that’s nothing but cute little droids getting into trouble if Chris Eliopoulos and Jordie Bellaire write and draw it.

But back to the main Maul story… is it worth it? If you’re a fan of the character than definitely yes it is. While I liked the issue well enough, I’m inclined to hold off from telling those more of the fence to run off and buy it just yet. Ask me again after the next issue.

Darth Maul #1: Cullen Bunn/Writer, Luke Ross/Artist, Nolan Woodard/Colorist, Joe Caramagnas/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Review: Star Wars #28

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Don’t ask me to make sense of comic publishing schedules but apparently we get back-to-back issues of the main Star Wars book this month.  Which is… fine?  I guess?

It wasn’t as noticeable last issue since we basically just stayed with Yoda except for a panel or two but we’re literally getting a story within a story within a story with this arc. I don’t have a problem with using a Kenobi journal to tell other stories within this main book but man is it starting a feel a little clunky. Just tell the Yoda story that you want to tell and skip all the hoops.

Honestly, just like with the previous issue, there’s not much to say here. This Yoda book just is not my cup of tea. That said, there were definitely some moments within this issue where Jason Aaron completely nailed Yoda’s character. Several of his lines felt like they could have been right out of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. (For those of you not as familiar with Legends, that’s a high compliment.) I am also interested to see how this story gets wrapped up given how the issue ends but… It’s just another shrug from me. I’m ready for the next story arc.

Star Wars #28: Jason Aaron/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Edgar Delgado/Colorist, Chris Eliopoulos/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Review: Star Wars #27

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The adventures of Master Yoda on the planet full of children continue and… well… honestly, it’s not my thing. While Star Wars #27 doesn’t have the little bits with Threepio and Luke that distracted from the main story in the previous issue, they were actually missed here. I could have used a little bit of Threepio levity in this issue.

It’s not that the issue is bad. It’s just not my cup of tea. Yoda has really only been a character who caught my attention once in the past although interestingly enough, that story also heavily featured children. Getting more Larroca/Delgado art is always delightful and they’ve definitely put a lot of care into getting Yoda right especially for the larger panels. The story just has yet to draw me in and I honestly don’t have much else to say about the issue.

So the verdict? Go for it if you’re a Yoda fan or a big fan of the Jedi. Pick it up if you’re a completionist but maybe skip if you’re not. That said, the arc’s not done yet. Who knows where this might go?

Star Wars #27: Jason Aaron/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Edgar Delgado/Colorist, Chris Eliopoulos/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Review: Doctor Aphra #3

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Usually, I prefer to start these off a little differently but I’ve got such crazy news that I think you all deserve to know right away. Are you sitting? You might want to sit down for this. Okay. Ready? Star Wars has now given us TWO ranking female Imperial officers within the same month. T W O. Captain Tolvan, let me be the first to say that it is very nice to meet you and that I hope you don’t end this book blown up, shot, or otherwise dead.

You know what I love about Star Wars almost as much as I love this book? That sweet, sweet brand synergy. I adore the shout out to the events of Rogue One and I especially love that it’s tied in because a character was literally too obsessed with his own project to notice that a city and entire planet got blown up. Never change, Papa Aphra. (Except no wait, your daughter would probably prefer that you did.) (Also, you need a name.)

Doctor Aphra #3 has the distinction of being very funny without being filled to the brim with jokes. BeeTee and Triple Zero have their entertaining exchanges as usual but there’s just something hilarious about watching Black Krrsantan go up against the Empire even if it doesn’t do the scout troopers’ reputation any favors. A lot of the credit for this goes to the art by Kev Walker so kudos on that front.

It delights me (though hardly surprises me) that this book is following up on the promise of its first issue. It feels both very Star Wars-y and very distinctly Aphra. We’re getting that archaeological story so many of us have hoped for that’s showing us other parts of the galaxy. It’s just so neat and so fun and… okay seriously, why are people not reading this book? All Star Wars fans should be.

Doctor Aphra #3: Kieron Gillen/Writer, Kev Walker/Artist, Antonio Fabela/Colors, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan D. White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Review: Poe Dameron #10

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Another month, another issue of the ever delightful Poe Dameron book by Charles Soule and Phil Noto! This is the arc of the droids and the backstory and we keep getting more each time so let’s get right to it.

It’s been said before on Tosche Station (probably by me multiple times) but having the Story Group around is going a long way towards Star Wars stealing the “it’s all connected!” tagline from the MCU. (It’s cool. They’re all in the Disney family.) Getting to see the Carrion Spike in this book and having its backstory from Tarkin acknowledged in this issue is just really cool and feels like a neat little reward for fans who read everything. At the same time, fans who only read the comics won’t be left feeling lost.

This issue is, per Charles Soule’s Twiter, the last of the Terex backstory and I have to say that I’ve been enjoying every minute of it. We’ve not only been getting insight to Terex’s earlier days but also the First Order. It makes me curious as to how many other people like Terex (ie: those who are not Imperials who didn’t go into immediate exile together) are a part of the First Order.

Finally, we arrive at the droid part of the plot. (You know… the one that also includes Poe… who this book is about.) Nunzix the droid is hilarious if you’re a fan of droids with sass. I still don’t know how to feel about Threepio the Spymaster because it seems like a spymaster should be better at being subtle but hey! As long as the Resistance gets the information, right?

On the art front, I’d like to publicly thank Phil Noto for drawing that First Order lieutenant with his code cylinders further to the side and upright like back in the days of the Empire instead of in the middle and diagonal like they were in the film. This is much less offensive to the eyes.

Can we have issue #11 yet? I NEED TO KNOW WHO’S THE SPY.

Poe Dameron #10: Charles Soule/Writer, Phil Noto/Artist, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Rebels Review: Ghosts of Geonosis Parts 1 and 2

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Rebels returned from its mid-season hiatus this week and didn’t waste any time in making connections to Rogue One. Even before seeing the film, we all wondered what (if any) references to Rebels would be in Rogue One, or if any Rogue One characters would make an appearance on the show. After Rogue One’s release, many fans wondered if Rebels would feature the formation of the Rebel Alliance proper or Saw Gerrera’s break with the Alliance leadership.

The answer to both those questions, as evidenced by the mid-season trailer and this week’s episode, the two part Ghosts of Geonosis, is yes. While I didn’t love these episodes, I really appreciate the way Rebels and Rogue One seem to be trying in together to create a unified storyline leading up to the events of A New Hope that we all know by heart.

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