Tosche Station Radio #131: NYCC 2015 Recap

Posted on October 14, 2015 by admin

Brian’s out sick but Bria joins the show this week to break down the happenings at NYCC 2015!

Kicking off the show the hosts highlight What’s New on the Blog. Matthew wrote about the 2016 Lego sets. We had an interview with Anthony Breznican from Entertainment Weekly. There was a Go/No-Go for Servants of the Empire. Coming soon: new staff writer Saf.

Fixer’s Flash covers the latest geek things Nanci and Bria have been up to.

From there we discuss the latest news in Deak’s Dirt. NYCC gave us an announcement of new novels and short stories! We’ll be talking about them later. Who is voicing the Fifth Brother? It’s Philip Anthony-Rodriguez! Next up is Biggs’ Bull$@!* to discuss the latest rumors and film news.

This week on Camie’s Concerns, we take a look back at New York Comic Con 2015 and break down the latest Rebels and Star Wars literature news to come from the convention!

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!

Go/No-Go – Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire book series

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Shoshana

Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: the Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire book series by Jason C. Fry. This four-book tie-in to Star Wars Rebels is made up of Edge of the Galaxy, Rebel in the Ranks, Imperial Justice, and The Secret Academy, each of which Nanci has discussed individually. But now that the last book is out, how do we feel about the series as a whole? To mission control for the verdict! Continue reading →

2016 Lego sets: sneak peek

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Matthew

Over the weekend, the good folks over at The Brick Fan posted some images of forthcoming Lego sets found on Lego’s servers. Close to a hundred images were posted, but of course we’re only interested in the eight Star Wars-related ones. Let’s have a look and get speculating, shall we?

Right away I’m not sure what to think. We’ve got a fairly detailed and intricate build of a speeder bike, the coloring of which suggests it’s meant to represent the bikes seen on Endor in Return of the Jedi. However, this one has a stud shooter on the back, along with what looks like room for a gunner to sit.

Continue reading →

New Star Wars Novels and Short Stories Announced at NYCC

Posted on October 10, 2015 by admin

It’s New York Comic Con, which means it’s time for Star Wars literature announcements! At the big Star Wars stories panel at NYCC, the following stories were announced

New Republic: Bloodline by Claudia Gray. This novel will take place six years before The Force Awakens
Aftermath: Life Debt and Aftermath: Empire’s End by Chuck Wendig
A short story about the aliens in Maz Kanata’s castle will be penned by Alan Dean Foster and appear in Star Wars Inisder
The Perfect Weapon by Delilah Dawson will be an electronic short story
Tales From a Galaxy Far Far Away by Landry Walker will contain a series of short stories.

For dates and more information, be sure to visit the link above!

Tosche Station Radio #130: Trailer Time with Anthony Breznican

Posted on October 9, 2015 by admin

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We ditch the usual format today for a grab-bag Star Wars discussion with Entertainment Weekly writer Anthony Breznican (who you may remember from such awesome things as moderating the big Force Awakens panel at Celebration this year). Sit back and enjoy!

You can find Anthony online on Twitter and at AnthonyBreznican.com. Be sure to check out his new novel Brutal Youth!

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!

Tosche Station Radio #129: Trope City

Posted on October 9, 2015 by admin

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, we’re joined by Saf to break down the middle grade and young adult novels in the Journey to The Force Awakens!

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria reviewed Star Wars #10, Lando #5, Darth Vader #10. Bria also attended Baltimore Comic Con a few weekends ago and had the chance to interview Mark Waid and Charles Soule. We did a Go/No-Go for Rise of the Empire, Nanci, a Luke fan, reviewed Smuggler’s Run by Greg Rucka (the Han book). New mom Emily wrote about Walmart’s new Star Wars commercials challenging antiquated gender norms. Bria regaled us of the happenings in Star Wars Uprising. Nanci reviewed Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy.

From there it’s the geeky things we’ve been up to in Fixer’s Flash followed by a whole bunch of Rebels news in Deak’s Dirt. There’s the usual TFA mass speculation in Biggs’ Bull$&!@

This week on Camie’s Concerns, we take a look at the middle grade and YA books that were a part of the Journey to The Force Awakens. What did we enjoy? Are they worth your time? What links to the upcoming film are in these books? Tune in to find out!

You can find Saf here on Twitter and be sure to check out a new podcast she’s a part of, Rogue Podron: the book club revisiting the wonderful X-Wing novels.

Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!

Review – Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Nanci

I don’t want it to end.

That’s the thought that kept running through my mind while finishing the last few chapters of The Secret Academy, Jason Fry’s awesome conclusion to the Servants of the Empire series. I’ve talked enough about how great the series is, and how Fry is absolutely incredible at portraying serious concepts like rebellion and totalitarianism for young readers without dumbing them down. After his stellar entries to the Journey to the Force Awakens line, I knew Fry wouldn’t disappoint with the finale to the series. But I still wasn’t happy to see Zare and Merei go.

Continue reading →

Review: Darth Vader #10

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Bria

Following up on last issue’s mic drop, Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca show no signs of slowing down or lessening the quality of this great book with the release of Darth Vader #10 today.

Darth Vader #10 is the issue that really lets Dr. Aphra shine. Readers have certainly gotten to know her for the last six or so issues but this is the one where it really made sense to me why she is the way she is. Or, in other words, why she continues to work for Vader. We’ve known that her character was grounded in the idea of a darker version of Indiana Jones but never has it been more evident than here. Not only do we get some of her backstory but we get a little more clarity into how she views the galaxy. Her conversation with Than is absolutely fascinating. My only question is how Commodex Than knows everything that he knows. (It’ll make more sense when you read the issue.)

Larroca clearly had a ton of fun with getting to design a Naboo house and it makes me wish we could see more of the planet more often. My only artistic complaint is that there’s one really weird panel with Aphra’s butt that just looks… odd and unnecessary? Oh. And I’m pretty sure that taking selfies is canon in Star Wars now unless I interpreted a panel completely wrong. So that’s cool. (Not a complaint, just a comment!)

The issue isn’t all Aphra though. Inspector Thanoth is going to be a problem and that in turn is going to be a problem for him. Just wait… I can feel it.

Gillen and Larroca continue to knock it out of the park and #10 gets a very strong recommendation from me this week.

Review: Lando #5

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Bria

When I talked to Charles Soule last week, he said that he didn’t think everyone was going to be happy with the end of Lando #5 but that he was. That should be, like, a giant neon warning sign when a writer says that. A warning sign that you’re probably going to have a lot of feelings. Lando #5 by Soule and Alex Maleev is out today and boy howdy do I have some thoughts on it that can’t be fully expressed without diving into lots of spoilers. Continue reading →

Review: Star Wars #10

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Bria

The best way to describe Star Wars #10 is that it’s fun. To be fair, ‘fun’ has been a great way to describe this entire run on this book thus far but there was something about this particular issue that just felt really really fun. Star Wars #10 by Jason Aaron and Stuart Immonen is out today and definitely takes readers for a ride.

It’s hard to say what’s more fun: Leia dealing with both of the Solos or Chewbacca and Threepio on their adventure on Nar Shaddaa. While we still don’t really have tons in terms of answers of who Sana is and whether or not she and Han are actually married, it’s entertaining to watch Leia be 100% done with their crap within mere minutes and be far more focused on getting herself out of there alive and in one piece. Chewie and Threepio, on the other hand, was the team up that I didn’t know that I’ve always wanted. There’s something humorous about pairing the character who talks to much with the one who we can’t understand and prefers to cut right to the chase.

Stuart Immonen is amazing on this book. While I was content with John Cassaday’s work, Immonen is taking things to a whole new level. There’s nothing about his work that I don’t love and I think that the Luke lovers out there will have a particular appreciation for some of his panels. It’s the little things that really take this work to the new level from the facial expressions to his design work on Grakkus the Hutt with the lightsaber necklace and the spider-leg walking… things.

Oh. And those last few pages? While they’re probably just the creative team broadening the galaxy, I’m choosing to interpret them as Aaron trolling everyone.

Star Wars #10 gets a strong Hell Yeah! from me this week for being such a fun read.