The Community of Fans: One Big, Happy, Dysfunctional Family

Posted on November 4, 2015by The Holocron

nycc drinksSo this year, I didn’t get a formal press badge for NYCC. However, I spent my Sunday hanging around at the Del Rey booth, surrounded by my Star Wars friends, and it certainly got me thinking about the community that fandom has really become. Star Wars fandom has been greatly fractured over the last few years, but it still plays such a vital role in so many of our lives. We’ve all met amazing friends through fandom, and some of us have even met romantic partners that way. It’s such an important part of our lives, even if our perspectives and place in fandom change over the years. It’s more important than I expected, for one.

One of the biggest changes in my relationship to fandom has been becoming a blogger. When your hobby also becomes something of a part-time job, it really changes how you think about it, and that’s likely true for anyone who ends up prominent in any fandom. A lot of us are probably old enough to remember the days of LiveJournal fandom, in which famous fanfic writers did end up with quite a following and substantial name recognition. We all probably remember a time when someone prominent in a fandom notices us; I definitely spent a few minutes slightly incredulous when I was first asked to write for this site. And here I still am, spending my spare time writing analysis about a fictional universe.

Fandom brings people together. We all have friends we’ve met because of fandom, and for those of us who are frequent con-goers, we have our groups of con friends who we always plan to see at the annual conventions. We all have stories of people meeting their best friends and significant others through fandom, and that’s no longer considered unusual. That kind of bringing people together is one of the many reasons I’ve stayed in fandom for as long as I have. Read More

Twilight Company: The Return of the Rebel Alliance

Posted on November 2, 2015by Six on the Wild Die

THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SOME MINOR SPOILERS. ABANDON YE WHO ENTER HERE ALL HOPE.

twilightpatchStar Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company is not your typical videogame tie-in. Even though it borrows part of its title from a soon to be released FPS game (that promises to be quite spectacular), Twilight Company works on its own without the need of the Battlefront crutch. The novel is pure military sci-fi. It’s less glamorous than the Rogue Squadron novels and more gritty than the Republic Commando series. Our main characters are not starfighter pilots or special forces commandos: they are the infantry, the people fighting the Galactic Civil War in the frontlines. Most importantly, Twilight Company gives us a hard look at what being a soldier in the Rebel Alliance during a period of open conflict is like and boy, is it engaging.

Let me preface this column by saying that I still find hard to believe that Twilight Company is Alexander Freed’s first novel. Freeds displays a firm grasp of what makes Star Wars loved by millions around the world and introduces us to a new cast of multi-layered characters in a gritty-yet-epic story about war, choices, and why it´s important to fight for a cause. Twilight Company is military sci-fi at its best, so good that even those that usually don’t enjoy the “military” part of it (like this author) will enjoy it. This column is going to focus on something particular: on how this book managed to give us an unprecedented look at how the Rebel Alliance works through the eyes of its foot soldiers, those who might not be galactic heroes but still fight and die for freedom. Read More

Rebels Revisited: Empire of Ambition

Posted on October 30, 2015by and Feature Articles

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The theory behind any social Darwinist system is that not only do the fittest survive, but society is purportedly better off when competition encourages innovation and achievement. “Always Two There Are” demonstrates how rivalry and competition not only serve as the basis for advancement within the Inquisitorius, but as the fundamental organizing principle of the Galactic Empire. Already in this episode, the audience sees that this competition might sow the seeds for future conflict within the Imperial ranks: conflict that might not actually bring about the results that ambition demands.

In this episode, we learn that the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother are Inquisitors seeking the same quarry. They’re competing for the same prize in a few ways, as Dave Filoni explained in Rebels Recon: the Inquisitors are not only chasing after Ahsoka and her Jedi entourage but they’re also all competing for the now-vacant position of Grand Inquisitor. Pablo Hidalgo added another detail: even the very numbers in their names might signify some sort of status, or at least another basis of competition. Even without these behind-the-scenes details, we see that the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister are surprised to see each other and that they’re refusing to share credit or information with each other. I don’t blame the Seventh Sister, as she’s much cooler than the Fifth Brother so far (SMG’s voice acting and the character animation and design knocked it out of the park — she’s described as a thinking man’s villain, and I’m looking forward to seeing what that entails) but she’s clearly willing to pretend she has knowledge that she doesn’t, just to make a play at withholding information from the Fifth Brother. That’s not very productive. Read More

License to Kill: How Does Del Rey Fit Into The Disney Era?

Posted on October 28, 2015by , , , and Not A Committee

anewdawnNow that we’ve all had well over a month to digest the Force Friday releases, some big-picture reactions are taking shape. Recently Jay elaborated on how the Servants of the Empire series tells us a great deal about the canon Empire and why it falls; maybe even more than it set out to. Before that, Sarah discussed how my early fears may have been unfounded, and that the earliest rounds of The Force Awakens merchandise appear to be far more progressive and gender-inclusive than similar items from that other Disney wunderkind, Marvel.

Another thing that’s been bouncing around my head has proven to be a little harder to talk about; but the truth of it remains: it seems to me that Disney-Lucasfilm Press—the in-house publishing division that has released numerous middle-grade books like the Servants series and the “young adult” Lost Stars—is officially running circles around Del Rey. Some might say that producing books for younger readers (even dozens of them) is an easier job than producing “adult” novels Del Rey-style. I don’t particularly think that’s true, but even setting aside all the short stuff, Lost Stars is the equal of any adult novel in both length and maturity, and for many is simply the best novel—no qualifiers needed–of the new canon. Lost Stars is proof that Disney and Lucasfilm are capable of producing a full-length novel that deserves to stand alongside anything ever published by Del Rey, or Bantam before them; and they’re capable of doing it in-house.

Compared to a lot of other fans I know (including some who write for me), I’m a relative pushover when it comes to Star Wars books. It’s very rare that I emphatically dislike anything; when I was reviewing for TheForce.Net I almost never rated a book less than 3 / 4, because the GFFA is such a fun setting that I can usually enjoy even a disappointing book on some level. So none of this is to say that I think Del Rey’s output has sucked over the last year; not everything has been my cup of tea but I’d only describe Tarkin and Heir to the Jedi as remotely disappointing; Aftermath, and Chuck Wendig himself, was a rollicking breath of fresh air for Star Wars publishing, and John Jackson Miller is quite simply one of my favorite Star Wars writers ever and can do no wrong in my eyes. Read More

To Spoil or Not to Spoil? How Do You Define a Spoiler?

Posted on October 26, 2015by

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The use of spoiler tags in internet discussion arose from the best of intentions – and therein lies the rub, for where does the road of good intent often lead? In this case to a hell of spoiler tags! Like so many other things, the problem is not tags but how they are used and understood. This in turn raises the question of what a spoiler is understood to be, past and present. It should be emphasized here that there are no The Force Awakens spoilers, of any kind, in this article.

The key point is it used to be that a “spoiler” piece of information was deemed to be that of a major story revelation. No one is ever going to have any mercy or understanding for the guy who tells someone who has just started The Empire Strikes Back, having never seen it before or heard of its plot bombshell – yes, it’s possible – that they will never believe Vader is Luke’s dad. It will always come under the category of a douche move. Over time, however, the understanding and definition has widened greatly, to the current point whereby any information about a story in advance of its release is deemed to be a spoiler. Can this really be correct and worthwhile for anyone? I am highly skeptical, especially as marketing relies upon giving the consumer information snippets to engage their interest.

On some Legends books there would be a Dramatis Personae list of the main characters in it. Often this would be one of the preview items ahead of the book’s release, as it teases plenty but gives little of the actual plot context. For TFA, I’ve used a very successful strategy of having no interest in the numerous clickbait rumours and miscellaneous crap that’s been spewed across the internet in the manner of a permanently incontinent pigeon. It’s worked. While I have watched long-time net friends work themselves into great distress over the latest stream of bullshit, I’ve been fine. Due to the lack of exposure, the little pieces of official info I’ve come across lack much in the way of plot context. I may have a couple of pieces of a, say, 500-piece puzzle, but I don’t have the overall picture, so I am well insulated against any spoilers. So, unless you have some actual knowledge of the plot of a story, a Dramatis Personae list, on its own, tells you bugger all about it, save that it has this or that character. Read More