Star Wars
The road to EPISODE #200 BEGINS HERE!!!
In this episode AJ is joined by NeeHigh100, Alfred, Andrew, and James.
First up comes discussion of the Fox/Disney merger.
Next, AJ and crew give their top lists for 2017.
And finally, the guys review Star Wars The Last Jedi. All of this on the final episode of the year!!
I’ve been asked, more than a few times over the last decade; “why Star Wars?” from people who just don’t get it. They either never saw the films at all, or did see them, under duress, and continued to hate them out of spite and a sense of superior bitterness.
This week, “Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi” opened in theaters. A new chapter in a 40 year old tale has been laid down as cannon and, as always, many “outsiders” are taking the opportunity to vocalize their distain for the franchise as a whole. As it does every time someone’s fandom becomes popular, the haters take over social media. They are hard at work belittling the joy and excitement of fans with nasty comments and boisterous claims about how “adult” they are because they don’t like Star Wars, have never seen Star Wars and how, somehow, that makes them super cool, more mature, etc.. These are the folks who say, “Why? Why be into a series of movies about characters who have a made up religion with light up swords?” …as they go about their very “adult” business of watching chick flicks and binge watching Sons of Anarchy with a sense of superiority.
For all that bitterness, it does bring us to an important question. Why does *this* story create the feelings, the power it does within us? I thought as a former Star Wars hater turned super fan, I’d take a moment to chat about this. Why Star Wars?
In this episode AJ is joined by James and Alfred as they cover all the latest news.
*This post is full of Star Wars spoilers for everything from Episode 1 thru The Force Awakens.
The time comes in every child’s life when they are officially initiated into the world of Star Wars. For some it’s as early as birth but for others, like in our family.. you must be ready to receive and ask for it of your own free will. Until then, the truth is shrouded in secrecy.
If you know anything about me, you know I am a fierce protector of storyline when it comes to any film or book series. Maintaining that secrecy for those who have not seen/read them yet is important to me, especially when it comes to my children and Star Wars. It becomes a secret much like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy – something you keep safe until the time is right.
Some of you may remember the decision we made to hold off on allowing our children to see any of the Star Wars stories/cartoons or short films that gave away those secrets out of context. You may also remember last January when we unknowingly walked into a 20 minute show that gave away every secret of the entire series and I was LIIIIVVVVIIID because there was zero signage to warn people. You can read about that here if you want.
Well, we’ve moved forward and now is the time.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, West End Games produced the original Star Wars RPG. First published in 1987, fresh on the heels of the award winning Ghostbusters RPG, West End Games (WEG) created one of the most entertaining and simple RPGs ever.
The Star Wars RPG perfectly immerses the player into the well known and well loved universe of Star Wars. Complete with images from the movie and full color fake advertisements from the Imperial Navy and Galaxy Tours’ Four Week Grand Galactic Tour. This hard cover book contains everything you need to join the Rebel Alliance against the forces of darkness and defeat the Empire. Everything except a few 6 sided dice that is. An elegant system, for a more civilized age, the conflict resolution system is entirely D6 based so you can simply pilfer the Yahtzee set and you’re ready to go. The resistance based system sets difficulty points for various tasks and the dice pool stats and skills determine the characters abilities. The system is smooth and painless for even the greenest game master with only the slightest of prep time. It would later evolve into the WEG core D6 system released as a stand alone universal RPG a decade later. Continue reading
We got them dressed.
We didn’t tell them where we were going.
Or what we would find when we got there… Continue reading
Join the entire Forbidden Panel crew and they once again wander the halls of the Anaheim Convention Center. This time, however, they are there for Star Wars Celebration!!!