Cosplay Monday: Visas Marr and Darth Nihilus

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Bria

Welcome back to another edition of Cosplay Monday where we try and brighten the start of your week with some of the awesome costumes we’ve seen around the internet! This week, we’re featuring another set of costumes from Knights of the Old Republic since today is it’s 10th Birthday. Check out these cool Visas Marr and Darth Nihilus costumes from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords by Sakara and her friend. Not only does the National Space Centre in Leicester make a pretty perfect setting for a KOTOR shoot but the costumes look great! Awesome job!

New Ahsoka, Expanded Universe merch debuting at SDCC

Posted on July 11, 2013 by admin

Ashoka and Expanded Universe fans are in for a treat courtesy of Her Universe. In an e-mail that went out earlier this morning, fans were notified that new shirts are incoming!

It’s July… so that means only one thing…San Diego Comic Con! Get ready for exclusives, new merchandise, and exciting conversations! Her Universe will be at Comic-Con in full force and we hope to see you there! We’ll have a booth in the Star Wars Pavilion (#2913-F) at SDCC, providing fans with a unique experience. We’ll have all new merchandise for Star Wars, Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. We’ll also be debuting new Star Wars designs every day. 500 Return of the Jedi necklaces will debut on Wednesday, 100 Dave Filoni designed “Ahsoka’s Choice” shirts on Thursday, 100 Jaina Solo shirts on Friday and 100 Mara Jade shirts on Saturday. Each Jaina Solo and Mara Jade shirt will come with a free book courtesy of Del Rey publishing! Lots going on, plus a Her Universe panel! Read about it here. For those NOT going to San Diego Comic Con, do not fear! You can celebrate SDCC from home…all of the merchandise (except the ROTJ necklace), plus more, will go on sale on our website on July 18th. There is Comic-Con love for all!

Best Wishes,

Ashley

And just what do these new shirts look like? Here you go.

That’s right. A Jaina shirt based on the Sword of the Jedi promotional art and a Mara Jade shirt using the Choices of One paperback art. Finally, a Mara shirt that doesn’t feature the catsuit!

These new items (except the RotJ necklace) are available on the Her Universe website starting July 18th.

Tosche Station Radio #62: Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on July 10, 2013 by admin

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On this episode of Tosche Station Radio, the hosts are joined by staff writer Bria for a discussion of diversity in Star Wars, a review of Crucible, and ask where the Expanded Universe should go from here.

Kicking off the show, the hosts highlight what’s New on the Blog. Bria addressed the lack of diversity in Star Wars. Crucible released, and there was lots of discussion. First there was our new non-spoiler Go/No-go feature, Brian’s review, and finally Bria’s review. Nanci reviewed Overdraft: The Orion Offensive by John Jackson Miller. Finally, the inevitable happened. We have a Tumblr! Sign up there for our usual brand of fandom inanity in convenient, bite-sized morsels.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci’s been busy reading Overdraft: The Orion Offensive and an ARC of Kenobi by John Jackson Miller. She’s also working on some original fiction and somewhere in there, found the time to sell a short story. Brian also finished Kenobi and started watching Arrested Development. Only a few years too late to save it. Bria rewatched Dollhouse and picked up a new show to throw on her fandom plate, Hannibal.

Deak’s Dirt starts with more Disney Parks rumors. Will it be the largest ever? The Orlando Business Journal says yes. Paul S. Kemp says his duology is “on standby”, cites Disney and the Sequel Trilogy being the cause. Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells gets a blurb. Nanci gives a dramatic reading. Bria might be a tad excited for this. Disney is planning a large Star Wars presence at D23 expo. Also, Comic Con (July 18-21) and CE2 (July 26-28) are coming up! Let’s home for some exciting news. In release news, out now is William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. Get thee to a bookstore!

On this week’s Camie’s Concerns, it’s a spoiler-filled review of the latest Expanded Universe release: Crucible by Troy Denning. How did the bookend for three of the most important characters in the Saga fare? From there, the hosts segue into discussing just where the EU needs to go from here and what the Sequel Trilogy means for it.

Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, please leave a review on the iTunes Music Store. 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 Audible.com.

Rumor: Star Wars actors to make appearance at D23 Expo

Posted on July 10, 2013 by admin

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Disney insiders, there may be some familiar faces making an appearance at the D23 Expo this year:

The bi-annual event, taking place Aug. 9-11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, will feature a strong Star Wars presence, with Disney planning events like Darth Vader: The Evolution of a Villain, showing the development of the villain, to Crash Course in the Fourse: Star Wars Saga 101.

Insiders say some Star Wars actors may be making appearances during the D23 Expo, confirming their participation in the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel trilogy — which is expected to hit theaters in 2015. (Filming is expected to begin in early 2014 in the U.K.)

Confirming their participation in the Sequel Trilogy? Possible, if it isn’t confirmed first at Celebration Europe.

Disney planning on large Star Wars presence for D23 Expo

Posted on July 9, 2013 by admin

Disney certainly isn’t waiting to integrate Star Wars within the Mouse House’s promotions and events. The company is planning for a major Star Wars presence at the popular D23 Expo.

For the first time at the D23 Expo, Star Wars fans can have access to experiences created for them by Lucasfilm and Disney. Darth Vader: The Evolution of a Villain, located in the DCP pavilion, showcases the development of the iconic villain from early concepts to striking realization. Crash Course in the Force: Star Wars Saga 101, presented by Lucasfilm’s resident authority Pablo Hidalgo in Stage 23, will give Star Wars newbies and experts alike a thorough grounding in all matters of the Force and the Star Wars legacy.

Disney, Star Wars, and notorious wit Pablo Hidalgo all at one event? Sounds like a good time to me.

Review: Crucible by Troy Denning

Posted on July 8, 2013 by admin

Crucible by Troy Denning is a bookend of sorts. It’s not the dramatic conclusion to the Expanded Universe that many fans hypothesized, but it is sort of an end-point for Luke, Han and Leia. As such, expectations for this book are high, and that’s only natural for a book of such importance for the Big Three. Because of the importance of this book, my review is going to run a bit longer than it normally would. As an additional note, we’re also going to roundtable discuss this book on the podcast this week, so we’ll be able to hash out some additional thoughts that Bria and I couldn’t quite fit into our written reviews.

There’s a lot of things I wanted to touch on here so without further ado, to the review. Be warned, spoilers loom below the cut.

Continue reading →

Review: Crucible

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Bria

I went into Crucible slightly hopeful and also without very high expectations, hoping that this book would surprise me. Unfortunately, it failed miserably. Instead of moving forward and away from some of the less liked bits of the last ten years of the Expanded Universe, Crucible latches on to those bits and runs with them. Readers who haven’t read Fate of the Jedi will be lost about a great many plot points, which makes it a failure as a standalone novel. The best way that I can describe this book is that it takes the worst plotlines from Fate of the Jedi, adds in lot of arrogant Jedi superiority, and then a final dash of Crystal Star at the end. Unfortunately, no Star Wars fan ever said “The Expanded Universe needs more plotlines like the Crystal Star!’ and for good reason. If this is really going to be the last big adventure for Luke, Leia, and Han, then I am oh so sorry for all three of them.

Mild Spoilers Beneath The Cut

Continue reading →

Go/No-Go: Crucible

Posted on July 8, 2013 by admin

Later tonight, we’ve got a pair of Crucible reviews that we’ll get posted. Until then, we want to try something new. Our reviews usually feature spoilers, and I’m certain a number of you wish to stay spoiler-free but also want to know if something we’re reviewing is something you should go out and buy right away. That’s why we’re introducing a new feature called Go/No-Go. What we’ll do is go around the horn Mission Control style and have the blog’s staff writers offer a brief, spoiler-free paragraph detailing whether or not they think a book, film, or other piece of entertainment is a Go or a No-Go to purchase.

First up on the launch pad: Crucible by Troy Denning

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Diversity In Star Wars

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Bria

Casting rumors have been flying around rampantly almost as long as we’ve known about the Sequel Trilogy and with the recently leaked Episode VII casting breakdown, it seemed like a good time to tackle an issue that’s been bothering me a lot lately: the lack of diversity in leading roles in the Star Wars galaxy when it comes to gender, race, and species.

The Star Wars galaxy is an incredibly diverse place. There is an innumerous amount of different species in the galaxy far far away all living on hundreds upon hundreds of different planets. So why is it the default in Star Wars films and literature to (almost) always make the protagonist a white male?

Think I’m exaggerating? I recently completed a reread of 130 Expanded Universe books. Out of those 130, only 15 of those books had a leading character who was not a straight white man, excluding books that you could potentially argue are led by Skywalker women. Five of those books are the Republic/Imperial Command novels and I’m even including books like The Cestus Deception and The Approaching Storm which were co-led by aliens and (you guessed it) a straight white male. 15 out of 130. That’s about 12%. In a galaxy where I couldn’t even name all of the alien species if I tried? I haven’t sat down and looked at every single main book in the Expanded Universe but I reckon that number wouldn’t rise much above 15%. That’s pretty bad and unfortunately, the films don’t do any better.

Star Wars is an epic universe that is ripe with opportunity for diversity. This is science fiction we’re talking about here. To quote writer Jane Espenson, “And if we can’t write diversity into sci-fi, then what’s the point? You don’t create new worlds to give them all the same limits of the old ones.” If the vast majority of the named cast is white and mostly male, then the creators are failing at truly embracing the core tenants of what science fiction should be about. What really makes all of this jarring is when you watch the films (especially the Prequel Trilogy) and see the wide variety of species and races in the background. It’s not that the writers and the character designers and the special effects artists are lacking in imagination because clearly those characters and those ideas are there. So why haven’t we been seeing more Star Wars stories with more diversity in the forefront?

Continue reading →

Kemp duology is “on standby”

Posted on July 1, 2013 by admin

Over on Reddit today, author Paul S. Kemp was in the middle of an Ask Me Anything when someone asked up about the status of the duology he was signed to write a few years back. Kemp say much, but what he can say isn’t encouraging for those looking forward to it:

I wish I could say something.

Here’s the thing: The Disney deal and announcement of the new movies is a big deal. I’m on standby at the moment. That’s about all I can say. :-/

As Club Jade points out, if this duology is on standby because of the Disney deal and upcoming new film installments, that could very well be bad news for Christie Golden’s Sword of the Jedi. Of course, keep in mind there’s been little said about this duology since it was initially announced that Kemp had received a contract to write them. There has been uncertainty about this project since before the Lucasfilm sale to Disney went through.