Tag Archives: Star Wars

Looking Back on the Micro Machines Action Fleet

Posted on by

I miss these things.

Usual story. You box up a part of your childhood, go to college, and come back home for the summer to find out that your parents went through your belongings and threw out everything they thought you didn’t need anymore. In one fell swoop, I lost a classic Atari 2600, an NES, a box of classic PC games, and worst of all, the Micro Machines Action Fleet toys I had since I was seven.

But this isn’t the post to mourn the loss of those toys (that would be odd and somewhat creepy). It’s to look back at one of the coolest product tie-ins the Star Wars universe has ever seen.

To the jump!

Continue reading →

EU Interview Roundup

Posted on by

Over at Club Jade, James conducted a video interview with Essential Guide to Warfare author Jason C. Fry.

To celebrate the release of Scourge, Roqoo Depot and EUCantina have interviews with Jeff Grubb. He also made an appearance last week on Star Wars Books’ official Facebook page to answer questions from fans. TFN has a lovely recap here. If the interviews have you curious, you can read a 50-page excerpt from the book over at Suvudu. Scourge hits bookshelves today.

Big Shiny Robot talks to Tom Taylor about his latest project, Boba Fett is Dead.

‘The Old Republic’ May Already Be Losing Subscribers

Posted on by

The great Word of Warcraft killer? Perhaps not quite reports Ars Technica.

In an investor note released today, Cowen and Company analyst Doug Creutz said he suspects that subscription levels for The Old Republic may already be lower than the 1.7 million EA reported in February. Creutz’s primary piece of evidence for this belief is publicly available server population numbers assembled and reported by TORstatus.net. These figures have shown a roughly 10 percent decline over the last two months. That doesn’t necessarily mean the game has lost 10 percent of its subscribers in that time, of course, but it isn’t really a sign of strong player growth, either.

I’m, unfortunately, one of those subscribers who canceled their TOR subscription. For the first month or so, I was greatly enjoying the game playing through as a smuggler. The first three worlds were a delight but the problem came when I got to the fourth world I visited. It was pretty much a carbon copy of the third. By this point I was growing a little tired of the recycled dialog, battle mechanics, and fetch quests.

The Old Republic might be a neat Star Wars-skinned MMO, but it just can’t escape being a bit too much of a grind for me. Those hoping that Bioware somehow managed to squeeze a Knights of the Old Republic experience into the game didn’t get quite what they were looking for.

Ars Technica via Club Jade

Sports and Geek Fandom: The Bizarre Double Standard

Posted on by

Here at Tosche Station, we mean it when we say we’ll talk about anything and everything that has to do with geek culture.

I’m a sports fan. Gridiron football, soccer, basketball (though we’re not on speaking terms until the Sonics come back to Seattle). My first love, though, was baseball. I grew up watching the Seattle Mariners and listening to Dave Niehaus* weave together a daily narrative of America’s grand pass time. Even as my enjoyment of gridiron and basketball waned and my passion for soccer rose, baseball always stayed at the top of my list. But why? Why a game that’s admittedly slow-paced, is crammed full of breaks in the action, whose popularity always seems to be waning? A simple answer, really. Baseball lends itself beautifully to geek culture.

*And to give this a bit more of a science fiction feel, one of the greatest Niehaus calls ever occurred when outfielder Ichiro Suzuki threw a ball on a line from right field to third to gun down Terrance Long. In his words, “Ichiro threw something out of Star Wars.” 

Continue reading →

Buy a Cool Shirt, Support a Great Cause

Posted on by

Hey Twitter users and Expanded Universe fans, want to support a good cause and get a stylish new shirt for your wardrobe? EUCantina sultan and our Podfather Austin Blankenship is selling wardrobe with my favorite hashtag, #SWEU. Just the thing to take with you to conventions.

Profits will be donated to Reading is Fundamental, a nonprofit geared towards getting books in the hands of kids. A multitude of styles and colors are available, so head on over to Cafepress to get yours.

Check Out Nanci’s ‘Survivor’s Quest’ Retro Review at EUCantina

Posted on by

Our own Nanci has a new review over her other gig at EUCantina. This time around, she takes a look back at Timothy Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.

As a self-contained story, Survivor’s Quest doesn’t add much to the main storyline. As a standalone novel, it could easily be passed over if one is trying to catch up with the main storyline.

However, skipping the book entirely would be a grave disservice.

SQ is a must-read for fans of the Chiss, the Empire of the Hand, the Fels, and the 501st Legion. In fact, SQ is the novel that first canonized the 501st, named for the fan costuming organization. We meet two new prominent Chiss, Formbi and Drask, and learn more about Chiss culture and hierarchy. This novel first identified the Empire of the Hand, the government established by Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Unknown Regions.

Check out the rest of Nanci’s review at EUCantina.

‘Star Wars Insider’ Short Story Updates

Posted on by

Who wants updates? You guys do! Or at least some of you do. There are lots of you. With many different tastes. I’m clearly stalling at this point so let’s just get into it. Star Wars Books released a list of upcoming shorts you can look forward to in future issues of Star Wars Insider.

-Issue #132 (on sale now) features Jason Fry’s short story “The Guns of Kelrodo-Ai” and stars the “Rebel Destroyer” Shea Hublin (with some beautiful art by John VanFleet!).

-Issue #133 will include the tale of Parella the Hutt, hunter extraordinaire, from Star Wars: Scourge author Jeff Grubb.

-Issue #134 is your first taste of post Fate of the Jedi action as author Christie Golden brings you a story starring Jaina and Jag.

-Issue #135 sees Karen Miller return to the SWEU with an exciting story starring Myri Antilles.

I’m definitely looking forward to issue #135. Myri Antilles as the lead of her own short? Yes, please.

If there’s a short you’d like to see, leave a comment on the announcement post.

Children of the Jedi, Part 4 and Conclusion

Posted on by

There are a few things that I expect when I’m reading a published book from a major series from a major publisher.

One of those things is editing.

Another one of those things is that when I read it, I don’t feel like I need to be proofing this for my fourteen-year-old brother for a freshman English assignment. The writer submitted this, which is one problem. The second problem is that someone then approved it.

And I just want to make this clear: at this point, I am not talking about the things I talked about before—story elements that don’t make sense, characters not acting like they should, etc. I’m talking about literal technical writing ability.

My expectations were obviously too high.

Continue reading →