New Her Universe Gear Coming on Cyber Monday

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Need to do some holiday shopping for the women in your life, or just looking to buff up your  own geeky wardrobe? Luckily for you, Her Universe is here to save the day! Yesterday the company previewed their new holiday items, which include two Doctor Who tees, a Star Wars v-neck shirt (the same style shirt as the Mara Jade exclusive from Celebration, which fits so very well), a Star Trek tee, a Battlestar Galactica sweatshirt, and last but not least, Darth Vader pajamas designed by Katie Cook!

How cute are they?? Katie did an awesome job.

You can purchase all of these items starting Cyber Monday (November 26). Even better, there are two exclusives for orders placed on that day only: every order will receive a free Chewbacca holiday pin, and all orders within the United States are eligible for free ground shipping.

And in news very relevant to readers of this blog, Ashley Eckstein teased on Twitter that Her Universe is in the process of designing a Rogue Squadron dress and tank top! No word yet on when we might see those released, but you can be sure I’ll be first in line to get them.

You can see all of Her Universe’s new holiday items here.

EU Retrospective: The Really Old Republic

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It’s taken slightly longer than anticipated thanks to some difficulties with the library but I’ve finally finished the first leg of my Expanded Universe reread.  The short version?  There were certainly some ups and downs and WOW am I glad to be getting out of these eras and away from these old school Sith.  (Sith Fatigue is a real and dangerous disease, folks.  It claims hundreds of readers every year.)

The Old Republic: Revan:

I’ll freely admit to being a HUGE KOTOR fangirl back in the day.  Somewhere, buried on a harddrive, is probably a lot of half-written fanfic about the characters.  I was obsessed with Revan and had slightly ridiculous crushes on both Carth Onasi and Atton Rand.  (That was totally my right as a 14 year old girl.)  If you’ve never played either of the Knights of the Old Republic games, the one thing you should know is that your character (Revan in the first game and the Exile in the second) is essentially a blank slate.  You decide their gender, their looks, and their personality.  Therefore, I spent most of the first half of the book trying to reconcile the Revan in my head (a very snarky lady) with the canon Revan who is decidedly not her and is, in fact, a man.  (Curse you, canon!)  Also, I insist that Natalya Donn is totally a better name for the Exile than Meetra Surik.  I mean…. Meetra?  Really?

As a whole, the book left me feeling mostly underwhelmed.  The basic premise?  Great.  I’ve always been intrigued about what made Revan originally turn to the dark side and where he disappeared to in the time between games.  I wasn’t as thrilled with the execution.  For starters, the book falls just short of 300 pages; something that makes me glad I didn’t purchase this book as a hardcover.  I also felt that the many of the action sequences fell victim to video game syndrome where paragraphs often felt like they were queues of action commands.  Additionally, I found myself missing the presence of characters like HK-47 and Jolee although I can understand why they were left out of the book.

My biggest issue was with the pacing.  Obviously Karpyshyn was aiming to answer some of the questions players had about the gap between games which, as one of those players, I appreciated.  However, the ending felt rushed, weirdly open ended and I still don’t really know what happened.  (I’m also a bit miffed about the Exile’s unceremonious exit but that’s another rant entirely.)  Two-thirds of the book occurs in the gap between games and the last third post-KOTOR2.  It certainly could have benefited from a more even split and more pages.  Actually, upon further reflection, I’m comfortable with saying that I hated the ending.

This all isn’t to say that the book is horrible but it won’t be making my ‘Essential EU Reads’ list any time soon.  It’s certainly worth the read if you were a KOTOR player and if your Revan was male, you’ll probably have a much easier time getting into the book than I did.  I did enjoy the parts with Canderous (even wished there had been more of them) and I especially appreciated the nods to the Mando language.

At the end of the day, it’s not a replacement for KOTOR3 (honestly, nothing really could be) but at the very least, it’ll help fill the KOTOR shaped void in your life for a little bit.

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Brad Bird Not in Episode VII Running

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When Michael Arndt signed on for Episode VII, speculation immediately shifted towards Lucasfilm bringing Brad Bird on as the film’s director. It would have made a lot of sense. Bird has been in Disney’s good graces for a while, helming films such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Unfortunately for those hoping for Bird, E!Online reports that he won’t be handling the film.

Spielberg’s out, Abrams is out, and now Bird is out. I’m starting to think the director will be someone that most of us don’t recognize.

Cosplay Monday: Marty McFly

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This week, we’re headed back to the future to find a costume worthy of Cosplay Monday.  Check out this awesome Marty McFly costumer from New York Comic Con!  Not only does his costume look great but he definitely put some work into perfecting his poses.  Great work!

Should we be looking out of frame for Doc and the DeLorean…?

Photo by gluetree on Flickr

Tosche Station Radio #36: Authenticity

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The hosts are back and there’s more Episode VII news to discuss in this week’s Tosche Station Radio!

Kicking off the show, Nanci highlights what’s new on the blog. Brian wrote a pair of columns looking into the Big Frakking Sale with a look at what it could mean for the Expanded Universe and the future of Star Wars in general. Bria reviewed the first Captain Marvel arc. Nanci re-read the Jedi Prince books. Meanwhile, Bria’s re-reading her collection of Expanded Universe novels. Emily reviewed Billy Dee Williams’ appearance on NCIS. Nanci introduced a new feature called Bake It So and the first recipe featured was “Come to the dark side, we have chocolate cake.” Bria reviewed The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn. The hosts talked about Cosplay Appreciation Day and the awful double-standards applied to female fans.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been keeping herself busy by going on cross-country trips and writing a novel for Nanowrimo. She also appeared on the Wrong Opinions About Movies podcast to discuss the big Lucasfilm sale. Nanci’s week was made when she was officially accepted into the Rebel Legion! Meanwhile, Brian has been reading a book and not making appearances on other people’s podcasts.

Deak’s Dirt and Camie’s Concerns are combined this week as the hosts tackle more Star Wars news and discussion. We now know who the screenwriter for Episode VII will be. What does all of this mean for the Expanded Universe? Will the Big Three return? Just what is Lucasfilm up to?

Wrapping up the show, the hosts answer questions in their Ask Us Anything segment.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of the Solo Sound network. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store or the Zune Marketplace. We can also be found on Facebook, Google+, 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.

Report: Kennedy Says Lucasfilm Ramping Up for 2-3 Films Per Year?

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“2-3 Films per year? Seems aggressive.”

Dunc over at Club Jade spotted an interesting (and surprising) quote in the Star Wars edition issue of Entertainment Weekly. According to them, Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy wants to make 2-3 films a year?

Lucasfilm’s co-chairman and soon-to-be president, Kathleen Kennedy, has told employees she wants the company to produce two or three films a year (it’s averaged fewer than four per decade), and first up is Star Wars: Episode VII for 2015, which will pick up sometime after Darth Vader gave his life to overthrow (figuratively and literally) the Emperor and save Luke in 1983’s Episode VI— Return of the Jedi. Yes, the plan is to return to the characters in the first trilogy (1977–83). Whether the original actors will have significant roles or merely be on hand to pass the baton to a new generation of actors—something Lucasfilm tried with mixed success with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Disney with TRON: Legacy—is unclear.

Now, let’s be clear. Based on this quote, it doesn’t mean that this would equate to 2-3 Star Wars films per year. It could be 2-3 films with any existing or potentially new Lucasfilm intellectual property. I’d hope it’s the latter, because 2-3 Star Wars films per year screams market over-saturation to me.

If it’s 2-3 Lucasfilm projects that aren’t necessarily Star Wars, that actually makes a lot of sense. With the capital resources Disney can now provide, the studio can probably afford to expand the scope of their work dramatically.

Or option the third, Entertainment Weekly misquoted Kennedy or misunderstood what she was talking about. I expect multiple news outlets are reaching out to Lucasfilm and Disney for clarification right now.

Cosplay Appreciation Day

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That rumble you just felt was the Internet collectively smacking comic writer/artist Tony Harris upside the head. If you’re connected with the world of fandom, you may have seen a lot of tweets and posts about something called Cosplay Appreciation Day, a spur of the moment event championed by comic book writer and all-around awesome human being Gail Simone.

But what does Tony Harris getting smacked upside the head have to do with something cool like an impromptu Cosplay Appreciation Day? Well. He did this. For the readers of this blog, I like to think that I don’t have to go into detail about why what he said isn’t okay. The whole “fake geek girl” and “fake cosplayer” memes need to go away forever. As John Scalzi points out, anyone who wants to be a geek gets to be a geek. But enough about a misogynist, and let’s get into the spirit of what’s suddenly making this a pretty neat Tuesday!

As it is now Cosplay Appreciation Day, I figured it would be appropriate to throw some appreciation at Tosche Station’s resident awesome cosplayer. Staff writer Bria is a long-time cosplayer and runs White Hot Room, a geek fashion and costuming blog that’s pretty shiny.

One of my favorite things that Bria has put together over the years is her Sailor Hawkeye costume, mashing up the Avengers and Sailor Moon.

Cosplayers like Bria are an important and wonderful component of fandom. The sheer amount of dedication it takes to piece something like this together and the courage to wear a costume in front of others to show off just how much you love fandom is worthy of appreciation and respect.

So how about you readers? Do you know a cosplayer deserving of appreciation for their dedication?

Trope Tuesday: Epileptic Trees

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It’s been a busy few weeks (Episode VII? What!?) and I’ve let this feature fall by the wayside. But it’s back! Trope Tuesday is our regular feature that dives into Tropes, literary themes, devices, and elements that make our favorite pieces of entertainment chug along. This week, we’re looking at one called Epileptic Trees.

A term for wild, off-the-wall theories. Named after a leading tinfoil-hat theory explaining the mysterious shaking, rustling trees on Lost during the first season of that program. The theory? The trees are having epileptic fits. Can be traced back to H. P. Lovecraft‘s story “The Colour out of Space”.

Not only common, but expected for Mind Screw series. A major species of Tree is Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory. An ongoing series which uses Chekhovs Guns to the point of becoming a Chekhov’s Armoury encourages Trees because all newly introduced objects/people/skills/etc will be suspected of being a Chekhov’s Gun. Horrible epileptic trees are known as Poison Oak Epileptic Trees.

See Stock Epileptic Trees for other common examples.

Epileptic Trees suggested by characters are a sign of Scully Syndrome. When an Epileptic Tree is rendered null and void by the official Canon, it’s said to be Jossed. When an Epileptic Tree becomesCanon, you’re allowed to say, “I Knew It!” – unless it became Canon because it was an Epileptic Tree, in which case it’s Ascended Fanon. See also Inferred Survival, Urban Legend of Zelda and Schrödinger’s Butterfly.

Boy howdy, is the Star Wars fandom getting swamped in this lately. There’s all sorts of conjecture and theories as to what Episode VII might be. We’ve got everything from the Expanded Universe being overwritten (because George Lucas hates Mara Jade*) to Darth Vader’s coming back from the dead (because why not). Fans are busy trying to find any sort of clue or hint from the films, books, and television that they might be able to use to divine the future of the franchise.

Brace yourselves. It’s going to be a long three years.

*No proof of this claim