Catch Nanci and Brian at Celebration VI

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As you may have noticed, both Nanci and I are going to be at Celebration VI this year. We’re always up to meeting people from around the fandom and putting faces to online handles. If you’re going to be at CVI, feel free to stop us and say hi! We’ll even have some Tosche Station swag to hand out.

Here’s our tentative schedule!

Thursday:

  • 11am-12 – StarWars.com and Beyond with Leland Chee, Katie Cook, Steve Sansweet, and Ashley Eckstein (Collecting Stage/W303 ABC)
  • 1:30-2:30 – Dark Horse Comics Looks Ahead: 2013 (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
  • 2:30-3:30 – It’s a Trap Puppetmasters Rose & Quinn (Digital Stage/W415 A)
  • 5-6 – Ian McDiarmid (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
  • 6-7 – Timothy Zahn Retrospective (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)

Friday:

  • 10:30-11:30 – What’s Coming from Del Rey (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
  • 12-1 – Super Secret Star Wars Panel with Todd, Seth, and Matt (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
  • 2:30-3:30 – Laying Down Tracks – Writing Workshop with Aaron Allston (Star Wars University/W300)
  • 3:30-4:30 – Star Wars Obscure Character Faceoff (Fan Stage/W311 ABCD)
  • 4-5 – Planning Your Star Wars Wedding* (Star Wars University/W300)
  • 7:30-8:30 – Mark Hamill** (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
*Provided Nanci is feeling girly
**Prepare to queue early

Saturday:

  • 11-12 – The Clone Wars with Dave Filoni and Joel Aron (Digital Stage/W415 A)
  • 12-12:45 – Future of Star Wars in 3D (Digital Stage/W415 A)
  • 2-3 – Fakin’ It – Writing Workshop with Timothy Zahn (Star Wars University/W300)
  • 4:30-5:30 – Behind the Scenes of the Cantina (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
  • 6-9 – Talking to Myself and Date with a Princess (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)

Sunday:

  • 10:30-11:30 – Why We Love the Prequels (Behind the Scenes Stage/W414 ABCD)
  • 11:30-12:30 – Warwick Davis (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
  • 1-2 -Star Wars in 60 Minutes (Celebration Stage/Chapin Theatre)
  • 2:30-3:30 – Closing Ceremonies (Digital Stage/W415 A)

Cosplay Monday: Jedi Mind Tricks

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It’s Monday, which means it’s back to the grind for many of you. Here at Tosche Station, we aim to alleviate the tedium with a feature we call Cosplay Monday. Each week we highlight an intrepid costumer that goes above and beyond to celebrate fandom. This week, we’ve got Savanna from the PLC Blog and her Old Republic era Jedi costume:

Great costume, Savanna!

Replace the Catsuit: Art Entry from Fiona

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With five days left to submit entries for our Replace Mara’s Catsuit contest, reader Fiona has sent in another great art piece for consideration. Fiona says that she wanted to see some color on Mara. Something other than shiny, black leather. We couldn’t agree more, and we love what you’ve sent in.

What I’m really enjoying about all of the entries so far is that they’re emphasizing functionality over the sexy factor. Mara Jade was the Emperor’s Hand, a trained espionage specialist. She would be wearing outfits in public that wouldn’t draw attention to herself. On the battlefield and while at work she would be wearing things that better allow her to do her job. You know. Things with sleeves to hide holdout blasters. Pockets for battery packs and comlinks. Clothing that promotes mobility.

The leather catsuit? Yeah. It provides exactly zero of these things.

Thanks for submitting Fiona! Remember everyone, you’ve got until August 15th to submit your entry to win one of our prizes.

While we’re on the topic of Mara’s wardrobe, be sure to head over to Club Jade to check out some fantastic Mara art that will be featured in the upcoming Reader’s Companion. No catsuit!

Celebration VI Floor Plan Now Available

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The Orange County Convention center is big. Gigantic. Thankfully, the floor layouts are fairly straightforward and not an unholy maze of despair and agony like some other conventions *cough*Dragon Con*cough*. That said, you’ll probably still need some help getting around, and Reed is glad to help out.

Now available is the Star Wars Celebration VI floor plan, helping you find your way from panel to panel and from exhibitor to exhibitor. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the layout before the convention. The last thing you want to do is race towards something with time running out and having no idea where you’re going.

Details of Joss Whedon’s New Marvel Deal

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Earlier this week, news broke that Joss Whedon would continue his role as writer/director of the Avengers 2 as well as contributing to a brand-new Marvel film-universe television series on ABC. Further details have come out since and by the looks of it, Marvel and Disney have handed Joss the keys to the city.

io9 reports that Whedon has signed an exclusive three-year contract with Marvel, locking him into their works during that duration. That’s mildly interesting, but there’s one key portion to the agreement that’s worth noting:

The three year contract, according to Marvel, means that Whedon will “contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.” You can assume that means Whedon will be involved, at some level, in the scriptwriting of the movies between now and Avengers 2 — especially the second Captain America film and Guardians of the Galaxy.

io9 goes on further to break down why Whedon’s involvement in all of the films moving forward is critical:

The main takeaway from Marvel’s announcement, though, is the notion that Whedon is joining a very small group of people who make the big decisions about the direction of the shared universe that includes Marvel’s movies and this new TV show. This comes at a crucial phase, when most of Marvel’s films are going to be sequels rather than origin stories, and at least half those films (Thor 2 and Guardians) are likely to be insanely “cosmic,” with the obvious risk of falling into the Green Lantern trap of excessive CG and flat characters.

So most of all, Marvel’s on-screen universe is going to have to stay grounded, something that Whedon excels at because he understands that the best stories are “about us.”

For long-time Whedon fans, this is all great news. Finally there’s a studio that’s going to stand behind Joss, his fans, and his process. For fans of the Avengers films, this is going to likely mean much tighter narrative control and cohesion from film to film.

Celebration VI Exhibitor Directory

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The Celebration VI Exhibitor Directory has been posted on the official Star Wars Celebration website. Take a peek to find out where all your favorite exhibitors, fan groups, etc. will be stationed at the con.

Knowing where certain exhibitors are located can make the rush for con exclusives much easier, not to mention knowing where to go for an author signing or just to get your picture taken with some scoundrels.

In news very relevant to my interests, Club Jade has already noted that the Del Rey and Her Universe booths are located near each other. My wallet weeps.

The panel schedule is already live on the mobile app, but it will become available on the regular site later today.

Edit: The Celebration store items have been posted on the official site. Start making your shopping lists now!

Contest: Replace The Catsuit

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Somebody give that poor woman some sleeves

We love Mara Jade. She’s smart, she’s snarky, she’s a BAMF to the highest degree.

There’s one thing about Mara we don’t like, however. Nanci and I have talked about this during the podcast before: we hate the wardrobe she’s constantly portrayed in. Specifically, the catsuit. By the Gods of Kobol, we hate the catsuit. It’s objectifying, it’s demeaning. Mara’s a character whose innate personality makes her engaging. She doesn’t need to wear a skintight outfit that’s woefully ill-suited to combat to get fans to like her.

Unfortunately, no one listens to us (which is probably a good thing). Mara will continue to wear that awful outfit in every piece of art and every action figure until the end of time. Unless, perhaps, you speak up.

That’s why Tosche Station is holding a contest to raise awareness for poor Mara Jade’s lousy wardrobe. All you have to do is replace the catsuit!

Here’s what we’re looking for: 

We want to see you, our reading and listening audience, portray Mara in something more appropriate. Bring on the Jedi robes! Bring on the flightsuits! Bring on the flight jackets and trousers! Bring on some kind of outfit that might actually make sense for Mara Jade to wear!

We’re looking to take everything from fanart to costumes and cosplay. If it shows Mara wearing something that isn’t the catsuit, send it our way.

Have fun with this, and remember, we want to see something that doesn’t objectify her like the catsuit does.

The Prize

Like we said, this is a contest! Which means there’s going to be a winner, a runner up, and some fabulous prizes given to the best costume and art submitted.

  • First Prize: A copy of Allegiance and Choices of One by Timothy Zahn
  • Runner-up: A paperback copy of Allegiance

Submit a picture of your costume or your fanart by August 15th via Twitter, Facebook, or the e-mail address on the sidebar. For the costumers in the crowd, consider this a tuneup for convention season this summer. Everyone who does submit something will have their work featured in their own post on the blog. 

Hop to it, Mara fans!

Entries:

Mercy Kill Review Roundup From Around the Blogosphere

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The reviews are in, and it looks like Mercy Kill is faring very well with readers around the blogosphere. We’ve gathered up some of the reviews and impressions from various Expanded Universe fansites and personalities. As always, venture into the reviews at your own risk if you haven’t read the book yet! If you’ve got a review you’d like us to add to this list, feel free to leave a comment in this post.

So. Have you picked up your copy of Mercy Kill yet?

What Celebration VI Events are you Looking Forward to?

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After the whirldwind that was fandom news yesterday, today has been a little more … dry. As is usually the case when there’s nothing else to talk about, we here at Tosche Station crowdsource the content to you! This week, we want your input on Celebration VI. Just what are you looking forward to? Leave a comment or reply to the tweet below and we’ll add your response to the list.

 

To the jump!

Continue reading →

Replace Mara’s Catsuit: Art Entry from Louis

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Time’s ticking down until the end of our Replace Mara’s Catsuit contest! Reader Louis sends in another art entry for consideration. His description:

Hey there, just sending along my entry for the Catsuit competition. You’ll find attached to this the entry image, with it I was going for something grounded in the real world to some extent. The main inspiration was the Mongol culture, whose renowned military history for a combination of abominable acts of destruction combined with tactical genius and efficiency seemed to be the same kind of ideals the Empire would instil in it’s top agents most of all. Not to mention that Mara Jade’s green eyes and red hair are a relative genetic regularity in the Steppe tribes, making the match seem even more perfect. With the costume then I looked at common modes of dress and armour from that culture’s history and interpreted that through Star Wars, giving Mara shoulder and leg armour plates and shoes she’s grabbed from Stormtrooper’s gear complimented with a Corellian-style jump suit and a nice cape, because you can’t be a Jedi or Sith without something long and flowing to catch the wind.

Thanks for submitting, Louis! Remember, you’ve got until the 15th to enter.

While we’re on the topic of Mara and the catsuit, be sure to check out Club Jade’s newest column that brilliantly articulates just why we have a problem with it.