Tosche Station Book Club #7: Mageworlds Book One: The Price of the Stars by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald

Posted on February 7, 2017 by admin

This month on the Tosche Station Book Club, Nanci is joined by Dunc from Club Jade to discuss Mageworlds Book One: The Price of the Stars by Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald

February’s book pick is Mageworlds Book Two: Starpilot’s Grave.

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.

ThrawnCast 2.8: So Many Thrawns

Posted on February 7, 2017 by admin

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This week on the ThrawnCast, we recap Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising.

The ThrawnCast is a part of the Tosche Station Radio network. Be sure to subscribe to the ThrawnCast on iTunes or Google Play. You can also subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed in iTunes or Google Play for more great shows from our podcast network.

This podcast was brought to you by Her Universe and your support on Patreon.

Knights of the Old Replay: The Cosplay Interlude

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Bria

So listen. There was a plan. There was a great plan when I started this series that I was going to play the first game in January and casually work on my Visas Marr costume for Celebration at the same time. That? That went out the window around the time when I decided, “Hey what if I made the costume in time for Katsucon in February and got it 501^st approved by then too?”

We’ll just consider this an interlude. All the cool writing projects have them now, right?

I’ve loved Visas ever since I first played the second KOTOR game over a decade ago because 1) Rule of Cool and 2) I just really liked her character and backstory. I think I played favorites with her, Atton, Mandalore, and HK-47 once I got the latter two. Visas has been on cosplay wish list for at least five years now and when I discovered during Dragon Con that some of my friends were still as into the KOTOR games as me… honestly, it was meant to be. (If only you could have seen the aggressive high fives that kept occurring that weekend once we decided to do this group for Celebration and Dragon Con next year…)

One of the best things about making a costume with the intent of submitting it to the 501^st is that breakdown your research is done for you. You just have to look up the CRL, study the breakdown intensely, and then go from there. It’s just a matter of finding everything and making it. That’s the real struggle. Thankfully, I lucked out with finding my fabrics. For the leather, I already knew from a previous project that JoAnn’s carried one that would work and for the red, my magical fabric warehouse place came through and gave me what I needed for a good price. Continue reading →

Drowning in Moonlight: a Carrie Fisher Memorial Benefit Gala

Posted on February 6, 2017 by admin

Going to Celebration Orlando?

Enjoy food, drinks, cosplay, door prizes, and awesome items to bid on?

You’re in luck.

Drowning in Moonlight is a memorial benefit in honor of Carrie Fisher (1956-2016) and in the service of The Midnight Mission – a cause that was close to Ms. Fisher’s heart. The gala will be held on Thursday, the 13th of April, 2017 in Orlando, Florida in concert with Star Wars Celebration Orlando. The event will feature an ever-growing list of prominent Celebration personalities, sponsors, and fan sites including yours truly, Full of Sith, Jedi News, Star Wars Report, and more.

Drowning in Moonlight will be a “Dress-up or Dress Up” gala: Black tie optional, cosplay encouraged! The night’s activities will feature:

Music and dancing
Door Prizes
A guestbook for fans to express their condolences which will be forwarded to Carrie’s family after the gala
Event-specific merchandise (patches, stadium cups, etc.) available for purchase with proceeds benefiting the charity
Souvenir photos on an event-exclusive backdrop
Food and a Carrie-themed drink menu including both alcoholic and non-alcoholic offerings
A silent auction featuring nerdy and literary goodies from Star Wars and beyond

The Marquee event of the night will be a live-on-stage, multi-network, unified podcast in Carrie’s honor. Podcasters from all of the networks involved will be invited onto the stage to take part in this unprecedented collaborative recording party. The production, which will feature voices from around the Star Wars podcasting pantheon, will include questions from the audience and likely some measure of hijinks.

Drowning in Moonlight aims to celebrate Carrie in a way that honors her memory, does good in her name, and pays homage to her unrivaled sass.

Tickets on sale now!

Western Reaches #22

Posted on February 2, 2017 by admin

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This episode is all about books (and a little bit about games)! We talk some sci-fi, some literary fiction, Titanfall 2, Hyper Light Drifter, and round it all out with our main topic of the Sheri S. Tepper novel, Grass.

Games:

Titanfall 2
Hyper Light Drifter
Party Hard
Monaco

Books:

Ninefox Gambit – Yoon Ha Lee
Before the Feast – Saša Stanišić
Good Morning, Midnight – Lily Brooks-Dalton
Grass – Sheri S. Tepper

You can find Megan on Twitter with the handle @blogfullofwords and you can find Saf with @Wanderlustin. Be sure to subscribe to Western Reaches on iTunes/Google Play and subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Mega Feed for more great shows, discussion, and commentary. This podcast has been brought to you in part by Her Universe and your support on Patreon!

Review: Darth Maul #1

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Bria

Maul is one of those characters where it seems like most people either love him or can’t stand him anymore. I personally fall into the second category mostly because I don’t know why he keeps not dying. But hey! A pre-TPM story about him? Count me as intrigued.

Darth Maul #1 is a lot of character building and plot set up. There’s a lot of time spent in Maul’s head and uhhh… spoilers: he’s kinda violent. At times, it felt like a little bit too much especially given that we don’t even hear about this padawan from the solicits until the last few pages but bigger fans of the character will likely really dig it. Personally, I loved getting to see Maul take on a rathtar. It’s a nice blending of the eras and besides, it’s not like Maul doesn’t have a fine tradition of taking on aliens who originally hail from much further down the timeline. One of the places where the issue fell short for me was with Palpatine. That’s not really a mark against the book and Cullen Bunn though. It’s more that I don’t think we’ll see anyone else write as great of a Palpatine as Charles Soule in our comics any time soon.

On the art front, the combination of Luke Ross and Nolan Woodard is a good one for this book. Their combined style fits nicely with the vibe Bunn seems to be going for. I definitely prefer to this to Ross’s prior Star Wars work on The Force Awakens comic adaptation.

As a side note, Marvel has continued its tradition of giving us a little something extra to go with the first issues and honestly, I could read an entire graphic novel that’s nothing but cute little droids getting into trouble if Chris Eliopoulos and Jordie Bellaire write and draw it.

But back to the main Maul story… is it worth it? If you’re a fan of the character than definitely yes it is. While I liked the issue well enough, I’m inclined to hold off from telling those more of the fence to run off and buy it just yet. Ask me again after the next issue.

Darth Maul #1: Cullen Bunn/Writer, Luke Ross/Artist, Nolan Woodard/Colorist, Joe Caramagnas/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Review: Star Wars #28

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Bria

Don’t ask me to make sense of comic publishing schedules but apparently we get back-to-back issues of the main Star Wars book this month. Which is… fine? I guess?

It wasn’t as noticeable last issue since we basically just stayed with Yoda except for a panel or two but we’re literally getting a story within a story within a story with this arc. I don’t have a problem with using a Kenobi journal to tell other stories within this main book but man is it starting a feel a little clunky. Just tell the Yoda story that you want to tell and skip all the hoops.

Honestly, just like with the previous issue, there’s not much to say here. This Yoda book just is not my cup of tea. That said, there were definitely some moments within this issue where Jason Aaron completely nailed Yoda’s character. Several of his lines felt like they could have been right out of Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. (For those of you not as familiar with Legends, that’s a high compliment.) I am also interested to see how this story gets wrapped up given how the issue ends but… It’s just another shrug from me. I’m ready for the next story arc.

Star Wars #28: Jason Aaron/Writer, Salvador Larroca/Artist, Edgar Delgado/Colorist, Chris Eliopoulos/Letterer, Jordan White/Editor, Heather Antos/Assistant Editor

Tosche Station Radio #160: Drowning in Moonlight

Posted on January 28, 2017 by admin

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This week on Tosche Station Radio, Amanda joins us to discuss Drowning in Moonlight: A Carrie Fisher memorial charity gala that will be taking place during Celebration. Tune in for details of what’s going on, prizes you can win, items to bid on, and where to buy tickets to support one of Carrie’s favorite charities! Tickets are on sale 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!

Teacups & 1UPs: Symphony of the Machine

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Saf

Welcome once more to Teacups & 1UPs, a fortnightly-ish column in which I talk about games and pair them with tea. This post should be one about multiplayer games, but because I’m an idiot and managed to miss a game from my VR multipack last time, we’re getting a short mini special this week: Symphony of the Machine, developed by Stirfire Studios. Call this the PAX Aus multipack 2.5.

Yet another virtual reality game I picked up at PAX Australia, Symphony is a puzzle game about reviving a dead world. You find yourself before a tower in a lifeless desert, and upon entering the tower you discover that it has the power to control the weather. With only a little robot as a companion and guide, it’s up to you to restore balance to the world through weather manipulation.