Category: fandom

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The Forcecast returns with the crew from Podcast 66

TheForce.Net has enlisted Ryan and Daniel of Podcast 66 to revive the classic ForceCast, which was shut down back in March 2016 after they jettisoned their established crew for a new one that didn’t exactly take to their new role with good grace. Ryan and Daniel have a lot more experience behind them – Podcast 66 has been around for a few years now – so things seem off to a good start.

Their first episode features author Claudia Gray to talk about her new book Leia: Princess Of Alderaan, as well as Johnamarie Macias from The Wookiee Gunner and the Lego Star Wars podcast Star Scavengers.

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Looking for Leia aims to document Star Wars’ female fans

The fan documentary Looking for Leia is looking for backers. With only 7 days left in their Kickstarter campaign, they still need more than $8,000 to meet their goal.

The documentary is covering fans of all ages and walks of life:

We’re featuring an intergenerational and culturally diverse group of female fans, as well as women who are film buffs and cultural scholars, cosplayers and gamers, artists and authors. We’re talking to women in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math); women who use Star Wars in the classroom; women whose career path was shaped by Star Wars; women whose love of Star Wars has helped them battle cancer and live with disability and mental illness; mothers, daughters, and sisters in Star Wars families; women who are rebels and royalty, imperials, bounty hunters, and jedi. Every generation has a Star Wars story, and we’re hearing about the original trilogy, prequels, animated series, comics, Extended Universe/Legends, video games, new trilogy, stand-alone films, and conventions.

Head on over to Kickstarter to donate.

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Steve Sansweet’s Rancho Obi-Wan is victim of prolonged theft, asks for fandom’s help

There’s some truly bizarre and heartbreaking news from the collecting side of fandom today. Steve Sansweet and Rancho Obi-Wan shared that they’ve been the victim of long-term theft – and that the culprit is well-known collector, Carl Cunningham of Georgia. The culprit was discovered with the help of another fandom-prominent victim, Philip Wise of Rebelscum fame, and toy dealer Zach Tann.

Cunningham has been charged with felony grand theft, but is currently free on bail and awaiting additional hearings.

There’s a lot of questions in this case, and most strikingly is how exactly did Cunningham expect to get away with this? The world of Star Wars high-end collecting is not very big, and most of the big players know each other fairly well. And stealing from Steve Sansweet and his non-profit, of all people…

Steve and Rancho are asking for fandom’s help, and any tips of any further thefts or sales would be appreciated.

UPDATE: Steve has shared a list of the items that are still missing.

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Wear Star Wars Every Day auctions: new batch is up!

Just in time for the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, it’s the new batch of #WearStarWarsEveryDay auctions. I’m turning apparel items that were donated for me to wear in my charity fundraising campaign for Collateral Repair Project into an additional way to raise funds for them to continue providing assistance to refugees.

SWCVI exclusive Blue Harvest mesh ball cap
SWCE 2016 Poe Dameron Badge Art tee
Rogue One Death Trooper tee
Funko Pop! Tees Limited Edition BB-8 Poster tee
SDCC 2004 exclusive Trivial Pursuit Star Wars DVD Edition tee
Retro Galaxy from BustedTees
That’s No Moon from Busted Tees
Hand-crocheted R2-D2 beanie with tasseled ear flaps

Here’s what we got this time:

In the first batch of auction items, the two Star Wars Celebration exclusive shirts sold, raising $81 for Collateral Repair Project. Don’t forget to check out the fundraising results & breakdown of what I wore in the main wear-a-thon of my Wear Star Wars Every Day fundraiser – we raised over $7,900 for Collateral Repair Project.

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Wear Star Wars Every Day final fundraising report

It’s almost the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, so while everyone has Star Wars on the brain, time to check in to see how the Wear Star Wars Every Day fundraising campaign did! In the last nine days of 2016, #WearStarWarsEveryDay raised over $2,800 for Collateral Repair Project from thirty-eight donors, which put the total amount raised at $7,935.50. Talk about a big finish! The month of December alone saw donations totaling over $3,800 or nearly half of the total of the project – it looks like everyone was waiting to see if I would make it to the end of the year with my goal of wearing a different Star Wars apparel item every day! We even had a donor chip in the equivalent of a dollar a day! I greatly appreciate everyone’s contributions and I know that Collateral Repair Project also greatly appreciates everyone’s generosity.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to CRP, or donated or lent apparel to me, or otherwise supported the project. Here’s the week 52+ video to recap what I wore in that final week (plus last two days of the year):

I’m amazed that we were able to not only cross the $5,000 threshold in week 51, but we just kept getting donations to push us over $7,500 total, and over $6,000 on the GoFundMe. Just to put it into perspective, $7,935.50 is enough to have Collateral Repair Project provide food for 100 families of four for a month plus purchase 100 sets of school supplies for kids plus purchase 75 mattresses for adults. Still want to make a contribution? You can still help us out by donating at the Wear Star Wars Every Day GoFundMe page, or purchasing Wear Star Wars Every Day apparel up for auction on ebay.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what I wore for Wear Star Wars Every Day. Every day I wore a different Star Wars apparel item, from shirts to hats to costumes to baby clothes – one new item each day, with a bonus item on one day for a total of 367 articles of clothing.

  • 111 items (30%) were owned by me (or Mrs Jawa or Baby Jawa)
  • 217 items (59%) were lent from Wear Star Wars Every Day supporters
  • 39 items (11%) were donated to Wear Star Wars Every Day

We had 3 aloha shirts, 1 bandanna, 3 baseball jerseys, 1 belt, 3 bowling/racing shirts, 2 button down shirts, 5 costume or costume pieces, 1 cover, 1 dress, 1 happi coat, 17 hats, 2 henleys, 1 hockey jersey, 2 long-sleeve shirts, 5 baby onesies, 1 pair of pajama pants, 2 polo shirts, 1 scarf, 1 set of shoelaces, 1 skirt, 2 soccer jerseys, 4 and a half pairs of socks, 1 pair of sweatpants, 9 sweatshirts/sweaters, 2 tank tops, 1 necktie, 2 work shirts, 2 wrist sweatbands, and 288 t-shirts.

Overall, I wore 3 items from Adidas, 5 from TeeFury, 6 from We Love Fine, 9 from Teepublic, 12 items from Her Universe, 13 from Disney (or runDisney), 21 items from Fifth Sun, 21 items from Mad Engine, and 36 official Star Wars Celebration items (covering all the Celebrations as far, except CII). Items came from Ireland, Mexico, Jordan, Germany, Malaysia, Japan and the UK. We had a small number of items from the 1970s and 1980s, a few more from the 1990s, but most from the 2000s and present. All kinds of stuff covered, from individual movies to books and video games and even the Ewoks cartoon, Star Wars In Concert, and the canceled Detours animated series. Items from fan groups included 6 items from Rebel Legion and 23 items from the 501st Legion as well as from about ten different podcasts and sites.

Some of our biggest lenders/donors of apparel are Ian Camaclang (5+ donated), Todd Felton (10 items lent), Margaret Mays (12 lent), Ryan Chung (12 lent), Tom Mascari (12 lent), Kristen Hidalgo (10 donated, 2 lent), Mediocre Jedi (13 lent), Brian Sims (13 lent, 1 donated), Danielle Janda (15 lent), James Sebree (18 lent), Paul Farquhar (25 lent).

Prizes!
For the final push in late December (12/21 to 12/31), I had offered some cool prizes in a random drawing of donors, and we had a lot of donors in this time frame – almost fifty!

  • A set of four Star Wars Topps trading card series books donated by Abrams ComicArts, including two signed by the series editor, Gary Gerani. Winner: Lillian N.
  • A set of four Star Wars Topps trading card series books donated by Abrams ComicArts, including two signed by the series editor, Gary Gerani Winner: Annalee H.
  • Star Wars: Ahsoka novel signed by both the author, E. K. Johnston, and the voice of Ahsoka Tano and audiobook narrator, Ashley Eckstein. Winner: Susan D.
  • LEGO Star Wars: Chronicles of the Force, signed by authors Cole Horton and Adam Bray. Winner: Amy F.
  • Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown Advance Uncorrected Proof by Joe Schreiber. Winner: John V.
  • Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt audiobook on CD, written by Chuck Wendig, read by Marc Thompson. Winner: Trina G.
  • Star Wars: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume One donated by Abrams ComicArts. Winner: Christine M.
  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume Two donated by Abrams ComicArts. Winner: Terry F.
  • Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: The Original Topps Trading Card Series, Volume Three donated by Abrams ComicArts. Winner: Michael W.
  • Star Wars Galaxy: The Original Topps Trading Card Series donated by Abrams ComicArts. Winner: Mediocre Jedi
  • Star Wars: Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel hardcover by James Luceno. Winner: MC Y.
  • Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy by Jason Fry. Winner: Nerf
  • Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi paperback by Kevin Hearne. Winner: Maia M.

Big thanks to everyone who donated in the Week 52+ timeframe (from Dec 24 on into 2017): John V., Jennifer Q., Kyle L., Jazz K. R., Shehryar S., Nerf, Mediocre Jedi, Amy F., Tara M., Nick D., Oei One, Lillian N., Anonymous, Yav, Gerard T., Anonymous, Lynn N., Anonymous, Gregory H., Tom H., Diane O., Cyndi G., Brian C., Tony B., Chickaphant, Eliz, Anonymous, Lillian N., Amy W. N., Trina G., Christine M.-K., Holly F., Patricia B., Caitlin S., Michael W., Maliha S., and Margaret M. Also thanks to Ian for donating a shirt worn in week 52, and Dani and Stuart for lending me apparel for week 52.

The final nine days of 2016 covered the holidays and some of my favorite Star Wars clothing items. We had a scarf, a Christmas-themed shirt, a shirt that was a Christmas present, and finished the year with my favorite Star Wars hat, a Captain Rex cap from The Clone Wars, and an Ewok aloha shirt. Every day I wore a new and different Star Wars apparel item, my daily pledge makers will chip in $4.65 to Collateral Repair Project! This review for Week 52 covers December 23 to December 31 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees. With many borrowed and donated items still unworn, I unofficially kept my streak continuing for another two weeks into January, which can be tracked on this album of the Wear Star Wars Every Day Facebook page and ended with a Baze Malbus running costume.

Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation via GoFundMe.

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Time for some Wear Star Wars Every Day auctions!

While I finished up the wear-a-thon part of my Wear Star Wars Every Day charity fundraising project after completing the entire year of 2016 by wearing a different Star Wars apparel item each day, the project is now moving onto a new phase with extra fundraising through the auction of donated clothing. Starting us off for Star Wars Day and the first week of May, we have five t-shirts and a hat up on eBay for folks to bid on. Or you can just donate directly to the Wear Star Wars Every Day site to benefit Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support for urban refugees in Amman, Jordan.

Here’s what we have in this first round of auctions, with 100% of the proceeds going to Collateral Repair Project:

BB-8 Thumbs Up
The Endless Celebration
Irish you were here!
Wok This Way
First Order Stormtrooper
Hand-crocheted R2-D2 beanie with tasseled ear flaps
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Happy 20th anniversary, TeeKay-421!

Congratulations to Belgian Star Wars fan club and site TeeKay-421 upon reaching their twentieth year! You’re now as old as the Star Wars special editions and the Galaxy of Fear books! As one of the longest-running Star Wars fan clubs still around, with their own website, print magazine, and podcast, TeeKay-421 has been a mainstay of great fan content for not only Belgian fans, but Star Wars fans around the world, with several TeeKay staff also being frequent contributors to Star Wars Insider magazine and StarWars.com. Hats off to our friends on their “Twintig Jaar” celebration, being held today in Antwerp. We’d say that in another year, your club will be old enough to drink, but that’s just in America, so bottoms up to Tim, Kevin, Sander and the rest of the gang! Proost!