Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
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Today, we’re sitting down with Shane and Bria to talk the geeky non-Star Wars entertainment of 2012. We’ve got our own list of things we’ve enjoyed this year, but what about you, dear listeners? If you’ve got something you’ve enjoyed, leave us a comment here or join us in the chat at 5PM Pacific to take a look back at 2012 in geeky fun!
Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm was approved today which means one thing: there will only be more Disney-Star Wars mash ups in the future. We may outwardly roll our eyes but inside, I think we can all agree that if we don’t see Jedi Princess Jasmine or Disney Princess Leia or some combination of Aurora and Amidala in one costume around conventions next year that we shall all be disappointed. Endless possibilities, folks, endless possibilities.
I’m going to go ahead and publicly blame Brian for this post. I’m a bit obsessed with messing around with doll makers and he decided that I should share these designs with you. So the short version is that while I did make these, it’s not my fault.
And with that, I shall simply present my answer to the question “What would the ladies of the Star Wars universe look like if they were part of an animated Disney film?”
Princess Leia Organa Solo
Via Yahoo! today: The AP reports today that Federal anti-trust regulators have given the all-clear for Disney to buy out Lucasfilm. Disney’s stock prices closed up .02% on the news.
What is of other interest in Disney news is that Netflix has grabbed the subscription rights to Disney films, starting in 2016, also according to the AP, and The Wall Street Cheat Sheet notes that this includes movies from Pixar and Marvel. However, with Disney’s newest acquisition, a question might be whether or not movies from Lucasfilm will show up on Netflix as well.
Undeterred by the announcement of Episode VII, Dark Horse Comics has announced today that Legacy will be returning in 2013. CBR has the exclusive:
Next year, fans of the “Star Wars” franchise will still be reading comic stories set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but the latest round of stories from Dark Horse will be set a little less of a long time ago.
The publisher today revealed exclusively to CBR News that “Star Wars: Legacy” will return in the new year. Set over 100 years after the events of the original “Star Wars” trilogy, the newest iteration of the book will be written by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, best known for their well-received run on BOOM! Studios’ “Planet of the Apes” comics.
Here’s the relevant bit that will get comic fans excited:
Detail are scarce on how this new series will follow up on that previous, popular “Legacy” series, which lasted 50 issues with an additional mini series wrapping in early 2011, but one solid piece of info provided by Dark Horse is that this comic will carry the Skywalker bloodline in a new way. Namely, the series lead will be a young woman who is the great-granddaughter of original movie characters Han Solo and Leia Organa! While the pair have born twins in the previous expanded universe tales, the status and the outlook of this new face remain unknown.
In addition, Dark Horse also revealed the Dave Wilkins cover for the first issue.
No, I’m not Bria. I might have begged Bria to let me have today’s Cosplay Monday post, because this was just too good not to share. I might be a newbie at cosplaying (I just bought my first pair of cosplay boots over Thanksgiving), but I can certainly appreciate a good cosplay when I see it.
But why should we limit cosplaying to humans? After all, dogs can cosplay too!
Presented by YouTube user StarWarsChick01: The Dread Wampug!
Look at this! Perfect fur, perfect horns, and putting this costume on a pug was a great choice–after all, that squished wrinkly face looks a lot like a wampa, and anyone who’s ever heard a pug snore can certainly hear the resemblance between their pup and Hoth’s snow terror. Apparently, she’s also made a bantha costume for Chubbs the pug.
My first thought was “I wonder if I could get Bria could make one of those for Truffles.” Because really, my brother’s pug needs a wampa costume. Don’t you agree?
Since the news of the Lucasfilm sale and new Star Wars films broke a month ago, fans have speculated just how much George Lucas would be involved. Despite selling off the company and story treatments, I’d gotten the impression that the fandom seems to think Lucas will remain heavily involved in the development of the new films. What does the man himself have to say about all this? Access Hollywood asked:
“[If the filmmakers ask],‘Who’s this guy?’ I can tell them,” he told Access at the event in Los Angeles. “I mean, they have a hundred encyclopedias and things, but I actually know a lot. I can say, ‘This is this and this is that.’”
But answering questions about the more remote characters of his beloved galaxy may be where George’s involvement ends.
“Basically I’m not — I don’t really have much to do,” he said.
Of course, the risk in reading too much into this particular quote is the same risk you have when reading into any quote from George Lucas. The man is notoriously snarky and sarcastic. Take him at his word and he apparently isn’t all that involved with Episode VII. If you read that as snark, who knows?
It’s going to be a long three years, folks.
(via)
Art by Paul Bateman.
Okay, so I realize that “Smuggler’s Gambit” was written and performed by professionals (I was there!), but I still wanted to present it for Fanwork Friday. Why? Well, the radio drama was written by Star Wars fans—Kyle Newman and F.J. DeSanto—and it was performed live, in front of an audience of about 2,000 Star Wars fans at Celebration VI, without any rehearsals. It’s not an officially sanctioned work, just fans (with a lot of skill and resources) having fun at a convention. Also, it’s awesome. David Collins does an absolutely fantastic Han Solo, second only to Harrison Ford. He’s joined by many other voice actors from The Clone Wars, including Dee Bradley Baker and Ashley Eckstein.
You can download the full audio and see a video clip in Newman’s blog post at the official site.
I took a few days off for Thanksgiving (and so I won’t completely kill Brian with my fast reading speed) but we’re back with more Prequel Era books! This time, half of the books were obvious tie-ins to books from much further down the timeline and two of them were, well, Attack of the Clones based. This one’s a bit more of a mixed bag than before.
Rogue Planet
Okay so you know how some people hate Boba Fett and get annoyed by how fans adore him and he gets all these appearances etc etc? Yeah, that’s me except with Tarkin and the building of the Death Star. Honestly, what is this obsession that EU authors have with him and the Death Star? I mean, I know it was a cool looking space station that blew planets up but can we not credit everyone and their mother with its construction?
Overall, the book’s okay but it’s so obviously there for the New Jedi Order that it feels far too much like an extended short story sometimes. Character-wise, it’s good. I actually really enjoyed getting some insight into the early years of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s Master/Padawan relationship. I also rather enjoy Thracia Cho Leem because anyone who can out sass Mace Windu and have his respect deserves your respect. It’s too bad that she leaves the Jedi Order because wow is he going to need her in about a decade when Shatterpoint happens…. The only thing I’m really not fond of is getting beaten over the head with “Oooo Anakin’s going to fall to the Dark Side one day!”. I get what Greg Bear was doing but at times, it felt like a bit too much. Also, I will be forever sad that Anakin didn’t get to keep his ship. Poor baby.
Enjoyed the Star Wars-themed Angry Birds? Good news, if you purchased the game, you can upgrade to unlock the Hoth episode!
Excited for Timothy Zahn’s upcoming Scoundrels? You’ll be able to whet your appetite with an all-new ebook novella on December 10:
Star Wars: Winner Lose All-A Lando Calrissian Tale” by Timothy Zahn is a special eBook original novella. The tale is a prequel of sorts to Zahn’s upcoming novel STAR WARS: SCOUNDRELS (available in hardcover, eBook, and Audio on Jan 1) and will be available for all eBook devices on December 10 for only $1.99. Pre-order now for this fun adventure and don’t forget to begin 2013 with some scoundrels!
That certainly sounds like some great fodder for your e-reader.