Review: Star Wars #30

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It’s hardly a secret that this Yoda story arc hasn’t really been doing it for me but after finally reaching the end with this issue? I think it’s safe to call it. I did not like this story arc and find it to be very skippable. I did not care for it and honestly, it’s nice that it doesn’t really tie into the main story too much. If this sort of story was your cup of tea? That’s great and I’m very glad that you enjoyed this arc. I did not.

As I’ve said in a past issue review, the journal framing device felt clunky especially when you realize that Obi-Wan never identifies Yoda by name so we can just barely cling to Luke’s confused ‘Yoda?’ line when he’s freezing to death. I also didn’t care for how Larroca drew Luke in this issue. It felt off.

And so there you have it, folks. A Star Wars comic from Marvel’s new run that I just did not like. It was bound to happen eventually, I guess?

Star Wars #30: Jason Aaron/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Edgar Delgado/Colorist, Chris Eliopoulos/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Knights of the Old Replay: Unknown World and Star Forge

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Holy crap, I finally made it! We’ve saved the galaxy from the horrible Sith and especially from Darth Squiggleypants. (Side note: I’m sorry, JJM. I know his ridiculous last name was never supposed to stay canon but it’s funny and it’s Malak. I can’t help it.)

Now that we finally have all the map pieces, we can go to the Star Forge and figure out what the heck it is. Turns out that it’s a crazy efficient factory that’s been making all of the Sith ships and droids. (Hence why they’ve been able to be such a threat to the Republic.) Before we can make it to the Star Forge itself, a disruptor field knocks the Ebon Hawk down to the only planet in the system where there are a lot of other disabled ships and that really weird Rakata race who made the Star Forge ages ago. They are a weird looking species and I am terrible because watching them walk is kind of hilarious.

And now I get to kill a lot of rancors. Why? Because why not! It’s a great way to get some more XP as I have to fight my way through different parts of the beach and grasslands to go rescue a prisoner from the bad tribe so the good tribe will trust me because apparently Revan betrayed them last time and we really need to get into that temple. I also managed to stumble upon another new-to-me mini plot line! The not cool part of this is that the good Rakata tribe is looking into eugenics to try and solve their lack of Force sensitivity. The game lets you call them out but it’s still totally unnerving. Continue reading →

Review: Darth Maul #2

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As suspected, Darth Maul #2 is where the fun begins. Even though Maul is supposed to go nowhere near the Jedi, he heads off after the Xrexus Cartel who’ve captured a Jedi Padawan and are auctioning her off to the highest bidder. Since he has to be stealthy about it, he hires a team of bounty hunters (including Cad Bane and Aurra Sing) to assist him on his mission. What could possibly go wrong?

One thing that I really like about this book is how Maul feels more like the Maul we met in The Phantom Menace as opposed to the Maul we see in The Clone Wars. In other words… he doesn’t talk a whole lot. Internally monologue? Sure. Verbally chatter? Nah. The addition of the bounty hunters definitely helps the book out so we can get out of Maul’s head a little bit more. Heck, I’m actually even really enjoying Cad Bane in the book so far and I was never terribly fond of him during The Clone Wars.

It’s worth reiterating that Luke Ross and Nolan Woodward on art are a great combination for this book. I’m particularly fond of their larger crowd scenes since it looks like Ross had a ton of fun picking a plethora of aliens to include. It’s little things like that which help a book feel very Star Wars.

The verdict? Darth Maul’s not just a book for fans of the Sith Lord but definitely also a good book for fans of bounty hunters.

Darth Maul #2: Cullen Bunn/Writer, Luke Ross/Artist, Nolan Woodard/Colorist, Joe Caramagna/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Holonet Blast #7

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We know no news but Celebration news and that news is about more guests! No seriously: that’s just about all we’ve got this week. Over the last week, Star Wars Celebration announced some new autographing guests and, well, let’s just cover these from the least to the most surprising, shall we?

  1. Steve Blum
  2. Tiya Sircar
  3. Mark Hamill
  4. Temeura Morrison
  5. Denis Lawson
  6. Hayden Christensen

Do not adjust your monitors. You read those last two right. We’re Club Wedge around here but we also acknowledge that Denis Lawson is probably the only person less into the whole Star Wars thing than Harrison Ford hence our complete and utter states of shock. On the other hand, Hayden hasn’t been to a Celebration since 2002. (Hey Fandom: Please be nice and polite to him. He is a human being and does not deserve to be treated poorly.)

You can catch both Mark and Hayden on the 40th Anniversary Panel on Thursday morning and Mark will also be hosting a Tribute to Carrie Fisher panel on Friday and have his own panel on Sunday. The full panel schedule is also now available.

Speaking of available things, you can now get yourself a Tosche Station t-shirt! They are the hot new fashion choice for Celebration and you can trust me on that because I am also a geek fashion blogger.

And that’s it for this week. Celebration is almost here!

Tosche Station Book Club #9: Mageworlds Book Three: By Honor Betray’d by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald

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This month on the Tosche Station Book Club, Nanci is joined by Robin to discuss Mageworlds Book Three: By Honor Betray’d by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald

March’s book pick is Mageworlds Book Three: By Honor Betray’d

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!  If you like what you hear, you can subscribe to the Tosche Station Book Club on iTunes or you can subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Megafeed for all of our great Star Wars and geek culture content. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Knights of the Old Replay: Korriban

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Every time I’ve played this game, I’ve told myself that I’ll do the planets in a different order and every time, I always go to Korriban last because I just can’t help myself. When you do Korriban last, you get all these hilarious new dialogue options where you can tell people that you’re Revan and they just do not believe you. The other really fun part about Korriban depends on who you take with you. For maximum hilarity, I usually go with Canderous and Jolee because their commentary on everything is THE BEST. (Although I’m not sure now whether Jolee’s snarky remarks when you have to tell the Sith that your companions are slaves are cringe worthy or amusing.)

In a way, Korriban is kind of like a darker Telos. You briefly encounter people you’ll encounter again later as you make your way through the city and then—okay so I’m not entirely clearly as to why (aside from video game laws) we couldn’t just go around the Sith Academy but we don’t. Instead you have to get accepted as a student there. This couldn’t possibly go wrong. Once accepted, Master Uthar makes you and the other new students (yeah those people you met before) compete to be America’s Next Top Sith Apprentice and this, my friends, is where the funs begins. Continue reading →

Holonet Blast #6

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News! Since the last time the Holonet checked in, some exciting things have happened in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Here’s a rundown:

Adjust your spell-checkers accordingly, Mitth’raw’nuruodo is back in canon!

In a stunning, yet not-altogether-surprising reveal, last week we learned via exclusive excerpt that Grand Admiral Thrawn’s full name is officially part of the current canon. For those of you who need all the Thrawn you can get, the excerpt is here and don’t forget to tune into to Tosche Station’s Thrawncast for an in-depth (and occasionally ridiculous) look at the Grand Admiral’s advent in Legends.

Talking about Yoda, he is not…

…but the legendary puppeteer and the human behind our favorite little green man from outer space is one of the featured subjects of the documentary film “Muppet Guys Talking: Secrets Behind the Show the Whole World Watched” which premiered this week at the SXSW film festival. Although the documentary focuses on the Muppet Show exclusively, the insights in to the life of a puppeteer and into Frank Oz himself are second-to-none. Keep an eye out for the film when it comes to theatres or streaming. Continue reading →

Tosche Station Radio #164: The Rebellion Pivot

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, we recap the third season of Star Wars Rebels with Bria!

ALSO!  We have t-shirts now!

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store and Google Play. 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.

This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!

Star Wars Rebels: Zero Hour – Liveblog Review

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What happens when three Tosche Station staffers get together virtually to watch the Season 3 finale of Rebels? We do a live (written commentary), of course! Did we like it? Did we throw anything at the screen? Did we finally get another Space Married moment? Hit the break to find out!

THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND ONLY SPOILER WARNING.

Continue reading →

Knights of the Old Replay: Leviathan

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I’ve been looking forward to the Leviathan part of the game since the very start because it’s when everything changes and it hits me in the feels every damn time. This is the part of the game that completely blew my mind when I was 14 years old and I still love it to pieces over a decade later.

Everything starts when you leave whatever planet had the third Star Forge map piece and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Saul Karath’s ship, the Leviathan, yanks you out of hyperspace and everyone on the Ebon Hawk is about to be very screwed. We get about five minutes to come up with an escape plan aka: picking a teammate to come save our skins. I think that I usually use Canderous or HK-47 here but I made Twitter pick for me this time so Jolee got his marching orders. He wasn’t quite as easy to use for this as the tank that is Canderous but I just whirlawinded everyone who got in my way and ran away when there was too many of them and it worked out just fine. Continue reading →