New Hobbit trailer! In fact, it’s the first full theatrical trailer for the upcoming Peter Jackson film. Or as staff writer Maggie would put it, LOOK AT THE PRETTY SCENERY PORN.
Ashley Eckstein’s Celebration VI Video Diaries
Missing Celebration VI a bit? Ashley Eckstein’s got your back. just released is her complete video diaries from CVI. All-around awesome people Bryan Young and Amy Ratcliffe are featured. At the 27-minute mark you can see Ashley and artist Cat Staggs talk about the CVI-exclusive Mara Jade shirt.
Reminder: Star Wars Reads Day is Approaching
Don’t forget, Star Wars Reads Day will be taking place soon at a library or bookstore near you! Some of you will be able to see authors as well as volunteers from the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion. You’ll also get the chance to support a good cause thanks to a partnership with the Today Show.
FANS AND VOLUNTEERS GEAR UP FOR STAR WARS READS DAYOver 1200 Bookstore and Library events throughout the US to be held October 6, 2012NEW YORK, NY., September 18, 2012 – On Saturday, October 6, 2012, over 1200 bookstores and libraries across the United States will host events in celebration of a national Star Wars Reads Day. Star Wars Reads Day is an initiative of Lucasfilm and its publishing partners to celebrate reading and Star Wars. Participating publishers include Abrams, Chronicle Books, Dark Horse Comics, Del Rey, DK, Klutz, Random House Audio, Scholastic, Titan Magazines, and Workman.At Star Wars Reads Day events, officially participating bookstores and libraries will offer a range of activities such as raffle prizes; promotional giveaways; trivia; and more. Sponsors for various raffle prizes include Thermos, Kotobukiya, Uncle Milton, Mimoco, and Comic Images. Select events will feature appearances by the more than 30 Star Wars authors and artists located throughout the United States. Participating authors include Chris Alexander, Aaron Allston, Tom Angleberger, Jeremy Barlow, Haden Blackman, Charles Boyd, Jeffrey Brown, Troy Denning, Dave Dorman, Ashley Eckstein, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Henry Gilroy, Christie Golden, Jeff Grubb, Paul Gulacy, Pablo Hidalgo, Hall Hood, Drew Karpyshyn, Rick Leonardi, Steven Melching, John Jackson Miller, John Ostrander, Chris Reiff, Matthew Reinhart, Mike Richardson, Ian Ryan, Chris Scalf, Lara Starr, Randy Stradley, Marc Thompson, Chris Trevas, Daniel Wallace, and Ryder Windham.Nearly 1,000 volunteers from the international fan-based costuming organizations, the 501st Legion, the Rebel Legion, the Mandalorian Mercs, and the R2 Builders Club will also participate at select Star Wars Reads events around the country.To help extend the celebration to readers everywhere, NBC’s The Today Show Charitable Foundation has signed on as the official charitable partner for Star Wars Reads Day. Each participating publisher will donate Star Wars books from their respective libraries, and The Today Show Charitable Foundation will distribute the books to their affiliate organizations nationwide.“Star Wars Reads Day is the perfect way to celebrate with our Star Wars fans” says Carol Roeder, Director of Publishing at Lucasfilm. “Our publishing program has always been an essential component of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, as there are so many more stories to tell than what we experience in the films, TV series, and games. We at Lucasfilm are proud to be a part of initiatives like Star Wars Reads Day and hope that it will encourage more young people to read.”There are currently over 120 million Star Wars books in print and more than 110 Star Wars titles have been New York Times bestsellers.For a list of Star Wars Reads Day events visit the following link: http://www.starwars.com/reads/
Trope Tuesday: Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism
It’s Tuesday! You’ve survived another Monday, so treat yourself to our weekly look into the literary themes and devices that helps our favorite bits of entertainment chug along. This week’s trope: The Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
Which best solves problems? The Power of Friendship, or a bullet between the eyes?
The answer depends on where the series falls in the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
A story can be idealistic or cynical towards any idea. In general, if the story values or is hopeful for a particular ideal, then it is idealistic. If the story criticizes, assaults, and accentuates the negative about that expectation, then it is cynical.
For a simple, archetypal example, let’s assume that the idea to believe in is Humans Are Good/Rousseau Was Right. In idealistic series, those who believed it got lots of friends and a Happy Ending (therefore, Right Makes Might), while cynical series are Crapsack Worlds where those who believed itgot ruthlessly bullied by everyone else (therefore, Might Makes Right). Of course, the definitions of “Right” and “Crapsack” in the above can technically mean whatever one wants them to mean.
Star Wars, the Expanded Universe in particular, has been at both extremes over the last twenty or so years. In the earlier Bantam days, it could be argued that the books erred heavily towards idealism. These days, the EU has shifted to the cynical side of the spectrum.
This is perhaps best demonstrated with Luke Skywalker’s character over the years. The man who could find the good in Darth Vader and countless villains in the early Expanded Universe has been replaced of late with someone much quicker to judgement. Take a look at his treatment of Vestara Khai in the latest megaseries.
Established IPs that sprint to either end of the Sliding Scale have to be careful. Too far in one direction and it’s possible to lose track of the tonal themes and qualities of the source materials. In this case, it’s the films. The movies (original trilogy in particular) are far more hopeful feeling than the bulk of the post Return of the Jedi novels over the last seven or so years. When the books in this universe go too far into the cynical side of the scale, fans may have a tough time swallowing that these books are part of the same franchise.
Stover Returning to Finish Imperial Commando?
Andrew Liptak spotted an interesting Expanded Universe tidbit on, of all things, a Kickstarter involving Shadows of Mindor author Matthew Stover. The relevant bit:
In other news Matt is replacing Karen Traviss as the author of the 501st novels for Star Wars.
You all should not only drop him a line congratulating him but you should also tell a friend or three about the great news.
Well that’s certainly something. Of course as Dunc over at Club Jade points out, you should take this with a massive grain of salt because this has not been confirmed or so much as spoken about by anyone in any official capacity with Lucasfilm or Del Rey. Keep in mind, however, that Shelly Shapiro alluded that there might be reason to be hopeful for something Imperial Commando related during Celebration VI.
Here’s my take, as unpopular as it might be. If this is true, I’m glad that Matthew Stover is back and I hope it sets precedence for additional novels from him. That said, I do wish it was anything other than Imperial Commando. This is somewhat of a poisoned well. Those who haven’t read the prior novels, or simply have no desire to, will have a hard time picking up a Stover book to wrap up that particular series. Those who have may not like the dramatic shift in author styles going from Traviss to Stover, and it’s a stark difference.
So, hold on to your butts and let’s see how this plays out.
Cosplay Monday: Dr. Strange and Clea
After an extra special Cosplay Week, we’re back to our regularly scheduled Cosplay Monday and we have more costumes from Dragon*Con to help take your mind off that horrible case of the Mondays you might be coming down with.
Check out how fantastic Allen/loganallenwolf and Mary/twinklebat (both of the Superhero Costuming Forum) look as Dr. Strange and Clea. Both of them could have stepped right off the page of a Marvel Comic and their costumes looked just as impressive in person. Well done to both of them!
The Empire Strikes Out
There’s a new LEGO Star Wars special coming to Cartoon Network! Called The Empire Strikes Out, it will debut on Wednesday, September 26 at 8 p.m. EST. Writer Michael Price clarified on Twitter that it is not a sequel to The Padawan Menace, but its own Original Trilogy special. Voice talent includes Anthony Daniels and Sam Witwer.
I loved the original The Padawan Menace and can’t wait for the follow-up. What a great way to get us in the mood for Detours!
Cosplay Week: Hallis Saper
We’re wrapping up Cosplay Week with another appropriate costume for Tosche Station. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed seeing these fantastic costumes as much as we did and, as always, if you recognize any of these costumes, let us know so we can credit them!
One thing we don’t see enough of at conventions is Expanded Universe costumes outside side of a handful of big name characters. While we always love seeing some great SWEU costumes, we especially love seeing characters who don’t get as much love. Enter this fabulous Hallis cosplayer from Celebration VI. We’ve never seen someone attempt this costume before and we’re pretty sure she nailed it.
Edit: You can find her website here!
Cosplay Week: Tropic Thunder
Cosplay Week continues with Bria’s personal favorite costume from Dragon*Con and that’s saying something given how many awesome costumes were at the con. Once again, I don’t know who the cosplayer was so if anyone recognizes him, please let us know so we can credit accordingly!
Everyone remembers Tropic Thunder, right? It was a comedy from 2008 that riffed on action films and is responsible for a lot of gifs of Robert Downey Jr. in blackface on tumblr. One of the funniest parts of the film were the fake film trailers at the start. RDJ’s character starred in a fictious film called “Satan’s Alley”, Jack Black’s character was in a Nutty Professor, and Ben Stiller’s character is the ailing action star. His trailer is for the latest in his franchise, Scorcher VI. (Check it out on YouTube if you don’t remember.) I positively love the film and when I saw this costume, I went running after the guy to snag a picture. Props to this awesome costumer for rocking a minor yet hilarious costume like this one!
Tosche Station Radio #30: The Next Generation
Tosche-Station.net writers Emily and Bria join the hosts this week for an in-depth roundtable discussion of X-Wing: Mercy Kill!
We kick off the show with some housekeeping. Wormie’s Works will be moving off the podcast and onto the blog as a regular Friday feature. Meanwhile on the blog itself, we’re having Cosplay Week by Bria. She’s highlighting some of the best costumes spotted at Dragon*Con and Celebration VI. So far we’ve seen Mary Poppins, the Hapan Queens, Darth Talon and Cade Skywalker, as well as the all-new Captain Marvel. We also introduced the gender-swapped Wraith Squadron with a bonus appearance by Aaron Allston.
In Fixer’s Flash this week, Nanci’s been busy watching Captain America: The First Avenger and getting into Avatar: The Last Airbender (FINALLY). Brian finished up Marvel’s Siege comic arc and is reading through War of the Seasons by all-around awesome human being Janine Spendlove. Emily is up to her eyeballs in her dissertation, but has found time to watch the brilliant Slings and Arrows television series. Bria’s found time between costuming to get into a decent vampire novel.
Deak’s Dirt starts with news of a survey sent out to Celebration VI attendees that asks where you’d like to see a future Celebration held at. Brian and Nanci are still in favor of Orlando. Emily is very excited about the title of the new Star Trek film. The hosts implore readers to pre-order Pablo Hidalgo’s Essential Reader’s Companion for a mere $20. Meanwhile, Bria’s thrilled that Joss Whedon is coming back to television with a S.H.I.E.L.D series.
This week’s Camie’s Concerns looks into X-Wing: Mercy Kill by Aaron Allston, the first entry in that series in thirteen years. This spoiler-filled roundtable discussion dives into the plot and setting before spending the bulk of the time discussing the returning characters and new additions to the franchise.
Wrapping up the show, the hosts field questions in our 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 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.