Happy Mother’s Day to Leia and Padmé and Shmi–y’all the real MVPs.

Not a ton of news this week, but Entertainment Weekly gave us a great first look at Vader Immortal. On the off chance you haven’t heard the buzz around it, Vader Immortal from ILMxLAB will be coming to the Oculus Quest virtual reality wireless headset that releases May 21. Vader Immortal will be the first of a trilogy of VR experiences and will set you back $9.99. (The Quest headset itself is a much steeper $399, but I’m impressed with the price point of the first episode, given the playing experience described here–mind you, the creators would not love me referring to the volume as even having a “playing” experience–click through for more on that.)

All that to say, you’re thrown into MUSTAFAR which sounds WILD. Creators said they posed the question “what does Vader do on his off hours?” (my paraphrase) and this first volume is an exploration of that. The author of the EW piece compares the experience to a haunted house–the journey is the point, in a way. Timeline wise, this first “episode” slots in before Rogue One. The other two volumes will drop later this year.

We are all very grabby hands about this. Is anyone getting an Oculus I can just take from them forever so I don’t have to justify spending $400 on what would be (for me) a Star Wars toy? K thanks!!!

Oh, and Lucasfilm publicist Chris Argyropoulos tweeted the following on May 7:

No big deal. Right? RIGHT?! *shrieks into the night*

Until next time!

As we start in with this week’s Holonet Blast, of course the biggest news out of Star Wars this week was the passing of Peter Mayhew, who portrayed the mighty Chewbacca in 5 films, at age 74. There are no words that can do justice to the life, joy, and wonder that Mr. Mayhew brought to the Star Wars universe, so all I will say is that all of our lives were better for him being in them, and, if it fits with your chosen belief system, he’s with Carrie Fisher again now.

Photo from StarWars.com

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There’s no possible way to segue gracefully, so: on to book news. As fans around the galaxy celebrated May the 4th, the big reveal this weekend was the full lineup for Lucasfilm Publishing’s Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker series of tie-ins to the final installment of the Skywalker saga. And a big reveal it was, including:

• Resistance Reborn, a novel by Rebecca Roanhorse (author of Trail of Lightning, a big hit among our Tosche Station writers) that will detail how Poe, Rey, Finn, Leia, and more rebuilt the Resistance after the events of The Last Jedi.
• Force Collector, a YA novel by Kevin Shinick exploring the life of a young Force sensitive teen just before The Force Awakens – might he be a future member of whatever future order Rey seems destined to start?
• Spark of the Resistance, a middle-grade book by Justina Ireland of Lando’s Luck and Project Luminous fame
• Comics, reference books, children’s books, art books, and much, much more!

And if that wasn’t enough books for you, we also got a first look at the beautiful cover of Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate, a YA novel by Zoraida Córdova coming in August.

https://twitter.com/zlikeinzorro/status/1123233694221627392?s=19

Finally, if you really just hate reading (which, interesting choice of activity for you to be doing right now, then), we got a treat for the ears this week, as well, with the release of the entire symphonic suite written by the maestro John Williams for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney Land and Walt Disney World.

That’s it folks – hope you had a wonderful May the 4th. Live your lives well enough to deserve a hug from Chewie.

This news post was definitely not written at the last minute, no sirree bob. It definitely wasn’t overlooked due to Avengers Endgame hangover and feeling sick all weekend. (I don’t even watch Game of Thrones so I have no excuse there.) ANYWAY. On with the show!

Speaking of Endgame, yes this is a Star Wars centric blog but it would be remiss not to mention Endgame‘s humongous box office take this weekend. $1.2 billion worldwide, to be specific. Aka the biggest worldwide opening weekend ever. The previous record? Infinity War, with $640 million. That’s a HUGE difference. Domestically, Endgame also broke records, taking in $350 million to Infinity War‘s $258 million. Something tells me that Disney is going to have a very good year at the box office.

Back to Star Wars, we have an excerpt for Dooku: Jedi Lost, by Cavan Scott. The audio original releases tomorrow, April 30, from Del Rey.

In news very relevant to my interests, reservations for Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland open on May 2. Yes, you will need a reservation to enter Galaxy’s Edge when the land first opens. Reservations will be handed out in four-hour chunks on a first-come, first-serve basis. Guests with Disneyland hotel reservations can already book their guaranteed time slots. Learn more about the reservation system at this link. (I am very glad this system will not be in place at Disney World. That we know of, at least.)

Finally, a big congrats to the Star Wars team for their five 2019 Webby awards! The Star Wars Show won both the Webby Award and the People’s Voice Award in Social: Television & Film as well as the Webby Award for Video: Variety. The Live From the Red Carpet of Solo: A Star Wars Story! coverage was voted the People’s Voice Winner in Video: Events & Live streams. Starwars.com won the award for People’s Voice Award for Website in the Movie & Film category (for the third year in a row) and was selected as an honoree in the category of Websites: Best User Experience.