Celebration Anaheim Cosplay Roundup

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Nanci

Conventions are the best places to see amazing cosplay, and Celebration Anaheim was no exception! You could see cosplay everywhere you went, from outside the convention center to the exhibit halls to walking down the street. And since (most of) the cosplay was Star Wars oriented, I actually knew most of the costumes! It was great seeing obscure EU characters right alongside dozens of stormtroopers.

Shoshana spotted Barriss and Luminara.

There were mash-ups galore, including muppet stormtroopers.

Steampunk Lady Boba Fett.

Sharp-dressed stormtroopers.

Evil Queen Sith.

And World War II era Luke Skywalker.

We saw people dressed as planets, like this duo as a landspeeder flying alongside the twin suns of Tatooine.

Kay from Fangirl Blog put together a secret Rey costume.

The Tosche Station crew got in on the fun, too. Bria dressed as Revan.

And friend of the show/House Organa co-founder Nic joined our Punk Legends photo shoot.

Rebels characters were everywhere, and the children were especially adorable.

We saw one of my favorite villains from the Legends universe, Ysanne Isard.

And finally, this older Han and Leia shows that cosplay is for everyone!

You can see more of my cosplay photos below!

Go/No-Go: Lords of the Sith

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Bria

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: Star Wars: Lords of the Sith. It’s a book that features not just a happy road trip by two Sith Lords but also the first LGBT character in the new canon. But is the book worth your hard earned money? To mission control for the verdict!

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Review: Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp

Posted on April 27, 2015 by admin

Growing rebellion on Ryloth prompts Palpatine and Vader to personally travel to the planet to deal with matters. Immediately upon arrival, their Star Destroyer is attacked by Cham Syndulla’s forces. Vader and Palpatine are forced to evacuate and crash land on Ryloth. Seeing this opportunity, Cham engages in a dangerous game to hunt down and kill the two heads of the Empire and finally free his people from Imperial oppression.

Thus is the setup for Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp.

Head below the cut for the spoiler-filled review!

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What Celebration Taught Us About Rebels

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Nanci

Brian and I weren’t able to attend the Rebels panels at Celebration, but Bria was there covering for White Hot Room and a bunch of other Twitter/blogger/podcaster friends were also in attendance.

Not only did Celebration give us a taste of what’s to come in Season 2 in the form of a fabulous trailer, but some lucky folks also got to see the season premiere. No spoilers for the episode here, but we’ll do our best to recap the trailer and speculate about what we might see in Season 2.

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Tosche Station Radio #111: Teaserology

Posted on April 26, 2015 by admin

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Joining the hosts today are Jonathan Baker from The Force Cult and Jay from Eleven-ThirtyEight. On the docket? Nothing but teaser trailer breakdown!

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 Audible.com.

Tosche Station Goes to Disneyland

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Nanci

Sleeping Beauty castle might have been tiny, but it was all blinged out for the big 60th anniversary celebration.

It’s no secret that Brian and I love going to Disney World. We live about 10 minutes from the resort, have annual passes, and usually visit at least once per month — usually more. When Celebration Anaheim was announced, I knew we’d have to stay in town an extra day so I could visit Disneyland for the first time in forever. Yes, you heard that right. My Disney-loving self had never set foot in Disneyland; in fact, prior to Celebration I had never even set foot in California!

I was eager to see all the differences between the Land and the World, and did a lot of research so I could make the most out of my one-day visit. I learned which rides were different, which rides were the same, and what food to eat. I went in with the intention to compare and contrast the parks, but deep down I knew Land wouldn’t truly be able to compare to my beloved Disney World. I’m very, very biased, and I know it. Plus, Land’s castle is way too tiny.

The first thing I saw when we walked into DCA. I knew it was going to be a good day.

That said, I truly enjoyed my time at Land and am so glad I had the chance to visit after Celebration Anaheim. It was a blast running into fellow con goers, and I have to give a big shout out to Amy Ratcliffe for returning the favor from when she visited Food and Wine Festival and being our tour guide and helping make the most of my trip. It’s always fun to do Disney with people who understand the magic.

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Celebration Anaheim: Interview with Jason Fry

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Nanci

During the first day of Celebration Anaheim, Brian and I were fortunate enough to run into author Jason Fry and he graciously allowed us to shove a microphone in his face. Unfortunately the recording quality was too poor to upload as its own podcast, but you can read a transcription of the interview under the cut. We chatted about Servants of the Empire and writing in the Star Wars universe, his original Jupiter Pirates series, and, of course, the new The Force Awakens teaser.

Note: This interview contains spoilers for the Servants of the Empire series.

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Tosche Station Radio #110: A Celebration of You

Posted on April 23, 2015 by admin

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From Celebration, it’s our live podcast featuring Brian, Nanci, Bria, Sho, and YOU!

It’s all of the usual segments with all of the usual fun. Camie’s Concerns, however, turns the microphone over to the audience as we ask for their stories and experiences. In this special episode of Tosche Station Radio, it’s a Celebration of You!

What Celebration Taught Us About The Force Awakens

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Nanci

Photo from the OC Register

This post contains officially released information about The Force Awakens. If you want no spoilers whatsover, click away now.

This past weekend at Celebration Anaheim, J.J. Abrams opened his mystery box ever so slightly and gave us a literal teaser of what we have to look forward to in The Force Awakens. Other than a few Force for Change videos, an 88-second teaser released in November, and eight trading cards, there’s been little officially announced information about the probable most anticipated movie of all time. Leading up to Celebration, everyone was speculating about what — if anything — Abrams would reveal and whether or not it would live up to the hype.

He didn’t reveal a lot.

But it was enough.

And it completely exceeded my expectations.

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Review: Star Wars #4

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Bria

Didn’t get enough Star Wars last weekend? Good news: Star Wars #4 by Jason Aaron and John Cassaday is out today! Our heroes were successful (albeit just barely) in their mission to destroy the weapons factory on Cymoon 1 but what now for both the Rebels and the Empire?

I usually discuss the art after the plot but Cassaday drew such a gorgeous panel of Luke in his pilot helmet towards the end of the issue that I have to mention it right away! I actually paused for a minute just to take in every detail. A lot of gorgeous work went into that one panel between Cassaday’s lines and Laura Martin’s colors. There are also some other very nice pages for Luke fans but wow did that other panel just blow me away. John Cassaday will certainly be missed when he leaves the book.

On the story front, this main Star Wars book and the Darth Vader book definitely seem to be intertwined. It would be interesting to see a more detailed timeline of where each issue falls in relation to the others as this is now the second time we the readers have seen Vader dealing with Jabba. As far as plot goes, this is definitely a transitional set-up issue. Aaron is moving his characters into position for the next arc but it all feels very organic and not like a place holder issue where everyone’s treading water.

Speaking of characters! You can attribute it to either great characterization or wonderful coordination by the story group or both but the Leia featured in Aaron’s book is definitely on the same page as the Leia who is in the pages of Mark Waid’s book. In both, she’s very proactive and trying to do more than the Rebellion will let her. It’s great in terms of both continuity and who Leia Organa is as a person.

Oh yeah. And there’s a character return that’ll definitely have some fans fist pumping the air.

(As a side note, please tell me that someone else out there read the last few lines of the opening scroll and immediately heard Katara’s voice from the Avatar opening…)

Star Wars #4 gets another solid recommendation from me but you’re already reading this book, right?