Uncle Kal’s Words of Wisdom

Hello everyone, it’s your old Uncle Kal making a quick blog entry tonight about San Diego Comic-Con 2008.

Now I can hear you all ask “But Uncle Kal, why make this part 1, why not just fill us in on all the fun, cool, sexy (yes there where Booth Babes - Can you say Wonder Woman! ) and exciting stuff that happened in San Diego this year esp. when it came to Star Wars?”

Well the truth is folks, I’ve been up since 5:30 am here on the West Coast, drove about 2 hours to San Diego, found a close place to park and literally after walking into the convention center and getting my ID badge - walked right into a can of sardines. I then walked (with my friend, his son and my daughter) inside this can for about 5 almost 6 hours then drove about 2 and 1/2 to almost 3 hours back to my humble abode, I’m dog tired :-(. It’s late, too much stuff lying around from the con but a couple of cool memories. One didn’t even happen at the con, it happened close to my house on the way home but should have happened in San Diego (trust me, it makes sense when you hear the story).

I going to sign off now because my head just hit my computer desk I’m so tired, Ouch!!!

This is your Uncle Kal signing off. Until tomorrow - Good Night!

…. or in other words, how much money will I NOT spend on Star Wars stuff this year??? Remember folks - I really do squeak when I walk, esp. this year :-p

Hi Again, it’s your Uncle Kal and I’m making a quick blog entry.

Wednesday night of this week, one of the biggest conventions in all of the lane of comics kicks off, the San Diego Comic-Con. Now, why am I writing about this now??? Well, I will be going to this bastion of noise and stuff on Sunday with a camera.  I will try, to the best of my ability, to report on what I see down there concerning Star Wars. Please understand, I go for only one day, Sunday. I leave my house around 7 am and drive the 2 hours to get there by 9 and I normally leave around 2/3pm when you really can’t move anymore.

I will hit the Star Wars booths first, Hasbro - Lucas Arts - Gentle Giant and the like. But, this will be my daughters first trip down so I will try to cover the show to the best of my ability. Hopefully, I will have some great stories this year like I have had from years past.

Wish me luck that I survive again in one piece.

This is you Uncle Kal signing off …….. Good Day eh

Hummm, is it just me or does the cover look like it should be silk screened on a t-shirt? Or how about on a coffee mug or something like that?

Okay, I can hear you all now; ‘Uncle Kal, what gives you the right to comment on the cover of a book. Dude, what’s your background??”

Well, since I left college all those many years ago when you had to walk up hill both ways in the snow … oh, here’s the short of it. I’ve spent 11 years in the animation industry followed by a brief stint (thankfully) at a web start-up.  Then 8 years working in the world of publishing under a really big corporate symbol. As you can see, I’ve seen my share of art and yes I do not have Art Degree, it happens to be in RTFV. I believe that I have seen and was privalaged to hang around with some of the best artist in the world for all those years - hands down. Well, except for the web start-up, that place was ……. you don’t want to know.

Now to my comments about the cover:

It looks like something you’d see on the paperback, not a novel. There is nothing about it that sticks out or makes it look like a classic. Look at the previous three novels or any Star Wars novel that has come before. You can tell that there was a “feel” to all of them that carried throughout the book. Even the preview cover for Order 66, that I was hoping to be the real cover, kept that same feel and look to it. This one looks like someone grabbed a Style Guide (think of a style guide as a book with a lot of off the shelf pre-made art for a property and font styles that someone can grab off the shelf) and just composited this cover in Photoshop. The “painting” feel like the previous covers had is not there. The ominous “look” from the previous Republic Commando covers is missing, esp. if you look at what should have been the cover for this book.

Yes that first cover may have just been a “place holder” but it had a foreboding look to it that made that cover stick in some one’s mind. It stuck out from the rest but still had that Republic Commando feel to it.

To me. this new one looks like someone had not read the previous books and had their own idea of what was inside and ran with it. This cover looks flat, without soul and missed the point of the book. It looks like someone saw a t-shirt with a design that looked similar to this and thought “Hey, that would make a great cover for a Star Wars book, yeah, let’s do that.”

Sorry for being harsh but it’s my opinion. Comments are always welcomed good or bad - I can take it.

This is your Uncle Kal signing off - Good Night

If there is one thing I am, I’m a sucker for something that I think is really cool. About a year ago I stumbled upon the Wizards of the Coast booth at the Los Angeles Comic Con. In that booth my daughter and I where introduced to the 3D Pocket Model Game ‘Pirates.”  We spent a good amount of time playing the game there. It was fun and at the time straight forward; well, what made it straight forward was the booth rep standing next to us explaining the game play as we went along. When we got home, we modified the game play just a little to make it easier to start sinking each others ships.

Now, you have to be asking yourself: “Kal, what does this have to do with Star Wars???”

Well, Wizards of the Coast happens that have a 3D Pocket Model Game based on Star Wars (https://secure.wizkidsgames.com/StarWars/). The game started with a Base Set that included ships from all six Star Wars movies. You could have the Falcon,  Jedi Starfighters, New Republic Star Destroyers and ARC-170’s in one fleet. The other fleet could have TIE fighters, X-Wings, Y-Wings, Imperial Star Destroyers, Blockade runners and; oh you get the idea. The set has a lot of space ships in it.

The follow-on series covers a Ground Assault within the Star Wars Universe. This set has AT-AT’s, TIE tanks, AT-ST’s, Speeder Bikes, Jedi Tanks, Droid Drop Ships and, well you get the same idea here. It covers anything that has to with a ground assault with some space ship thrown in.

From appearances, the game must be a hit because they have added two new sets after the Ground Assault launch with a third on the way and two more in the wings. The new sets that are out now are Order 66 (March ‘08) and Scum and Villainy (May ‘08). Another set scheduled for release in July centers around the Clone Wars. The two sets in the wings come from a post on the website Star Wars Pocket Model TCG Community (http://www.swpocketmodels.com) are listed as Secret Weapons and Galaxy at War.

What I hope to with this review is two fold; not loose you along the way (number one) and give you an honest take on the game (number two). I’m not going to get completely involved with the game play or give strategy tips. That is covered in a link I provide below that leads to a flash based movie that explains everything better then I can.

When you purchase your first pack of pocket models, it contains everything you need to start playing. A pack contains 4 to 8 SW Pocket Models, 6 game cards, 2 micro dice and complete rules. What I really like about this game is the pocket models themselves. These tiny “models” come on what could be considered a large credit card with punch out ship pieces. You could say that the pieces are about as thick as a CD or DVD and are laid out so all the pieces you need for that game piece are on the card. Be warned, some pieces can be pretty small so it does make it hard for someone with big fingers to put some ships together. BTW, no glue of any kind is needed. Each ship has slots and notches that are used to put the pieces together, think of this as an old “Snap Tight” model kit but on a very small scale. 

The “models” are really cool once built. The pieces appear to be photo realistic and have some great detail on each model. But, you can tell that to make the different squadrons or attack forces, Photoshop was used for color changes and the like.

I have to confess here and now, I have way too many of these ships. You could say that I have a main fleet (which are built) and a reserve fleet (which are not built). Once you get hooked, it can lead to way too many. Think of them as “rabbits,” they just keep propagating and it’s hard to stop.

The one problem I have is the game play, specifically on how to move the pieces. Okay, if you play the game please bare with me because I am not bashing the game. WizKids has a great website that covers the game play in a flash movie. The movie makes it easy to follow along and is designed to get someone who’s never played before up and running in no time. To see how the game is played, follow the link below and click on the nav buttons to the left and follow along. I’ll wait until you get back……

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/StarWars/howtoplay/

You’re back, great. Now wasn’t that a great explanation of the game play? My problem with the game however is how to move the ships/pieces in a reasonable way. When my daughter and I played the Pirates game at LA Con, the side of each ships card had a red line for the distance a cannon can fire and a white line for how far a ship can move. To move your pirate ship, you lined up the nose of your game piece to the white line and slid the piece along that line until you reached the end. It was easy to understand how far a ship can move. And, when you wanted to attack an opponent, the red firing line showed if you where close enough to be effective.

The Star Wars ship cards do not have this feature. Sure when it comes to firing a laser, you pretty much know it’s going to travel a great distance before it “burns out.” It’s the movement of a game piece to me that’s confusing. I understand the rule of five but the “virtual” game board you set up only has “Home Zones” but nothing with squires to place/move your ship on. The game appears to be designed so you can play this on a carpet, table top, or floor. That’s great and all but there is nothing that shows you the distance a particular ship can move before it needs to stop. With the Pirates game, when your ship reached the end of the white line your move was over. In this case, even the movie showed the Star Destroyer just move out if it’s home zone and stop. Then it shows five ships at various distances just move then stop.

The game is fun to play and the ships are great collectables to have and display. What I would love to see (even thought I can do this myself) is something added to the cards to show at least how far a ship can move before they need to stop.

I hope you enjoyed this review. Any comments, good or bad are always welcomed. I can take it

This is you Uncle Kal signing off.

Lego’s, specifically Star Wars Lego’s. Has anyone out there received the new Lego Club magazine that shows what’s coming from the Clone Wars?? Do these sets look cool or what? I can’t wait to see them at Comic Con up close and personal. When I go to Comic Con I’ll try to get pictures and post them here for you all to see. The hardest thing is trying not to buy all of them :-(.

What do you all think?

This is your Uncle Kal signing (not singing ) off.

Hello All,

Just saw the new Unleashed trailer and all I have to say is, OMG!! Was that who I thought I saw with the apprentice???? Does Bail Organa look just like Jimmy Smiths and Leia look just like Carrie Fisher??? And does who I thought I saw (this is a spoiler folks so I’m not giving it away) look exactly like who I thought I saw all scary and stuff, maybe even more so :-).  This game had better live up to the hype or there will be a lot of disappointed Star Wars fans out there who may want their money back.

I’ll came back later and comment more on this - gotta go walk the dog. (Ruff Ruff)

This is your Uncle Kal signing off for now.

Hi all,

Well, well, well, it looks as if I have finally found out how to blog. Hummm, now the question is, what could I write about that would keep an audience spellbound. Comics, books, TOYS,:-) (I have a lot of SW stuff), movies or collectables.

I guess I could right now post a question that might be considered one that could keep you up at night. I was watching Return of the Jedi last night on Spike TV and came up with the following question to ponder:

If Stormtroopers are so well trained and pretty much covered in armor, how can an Ewok beat one up so easily?

Hummmm. Well, enjoy your day!

This is your Uncle Kal signing off