Author: HiddenPalm

The Darkside of Fairy Tales

Who doesn’t love Star Wars toys? I have loved them all my life, since as far back as I can remember. Even in my college years and post-college years; after eras of student/community organizing, after reporting in a war torn region, after starting my own business, after living with my lover, deep in the dark forest of adulthood, I still couldn’t resist going to the toy section of any department store chain, just to see what Star Wars was up to. And I wasn’t alone. We have all seen someone from generation X, standing there just to see the Star Wars toys with the occasional child also checking out the magic. In the mid 90’s and late 90’s I read disturbing accounts of Disney abusing overseas workers and even children to make their products. I never bought those products as presents for family members and friends in fear of supporting…

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1981 Prequel Meeting to the Prequels

Huffington post in honor of the coming 30th anniversary of Return of the Jedi on May 25th, published an excerpt from the soon to be released (October), “The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” by J.W. Rinzler. It was from a meeting held in the summer of 1981 which describes the prequels from the mind of George Lucas. It’s interesting to see how ideas changed and evolved between 1981 and 2005, in particular the birth and first two years of the twins including Yoda’s lightsaber skills. Also notice the keen eye on writer Lawrence Kasdan whose imagination helped Lucas evolve the vision right here in this meeting. He is also confirmed as a consultant for the upcoming 2015 Star Wars films. The preview of the book is direct from Huffington Post, the film images are added by me to coincide with the 1981 meeting. REVENGE OF THE JEDI…

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Star Wars Rebels, the animated series

Rebel Intel Officer by The First Angel, DeviantArt The animators of Star Wars: Clone Wars are back with a brand new project, Star Wars Rebels, to air Fall of 2014!!! Like most of us, I was pretty upset about the Disney cancellation of the final 6th season of Star Wars Clones Wars especially since I knew it was already in production wondering how many episodes were ready to be released but will never see the light of day. After all, it is the true ending of that story, which will now never be told. At the end of season 5, an anti-war element was being introduced into the story which excited me immensely being that I was a real life anti-war activist myself, not just a Star Wars fan and a fan of Joseph Campbell. From the moment Bush Jr dropped his first bombs, I was at the very first…

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SWTOR Cosplay Comicbook

It’s time for another feature of SWTOR Cosplay swagger! This one is a special treat that has been out there for a while but most of us never even knew about it. It’s short, so take your time appreciating all the work that went into it, from costume design, backdrop, photography, post-production effects, etc, etc. In my opinion this is total genius and something to learn from for all Cosplayers. With that being said … We present you Issue One of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Arandani Comic: First Encounter, by Arandani Studios. But before all that, we flashback to Captain Kadd Aradan doing a drop on Ord Mantell moments right before the ambush. That’s all for now. A very enticing introduction, with blasters, double bladed lightsabers , Cathers, Sith Inquisitors and Scoundrels. What more can you ask for? More issues? Hell yeah! I really hope they make more,…

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What are we fighting for?

Image by F0rmaldehyde Yes we here at SWTORStrategies know, Valentine’s Day is over. But that Hallmark/Nestle money making day has no ownership over love! Love exists throughout the entire year, at every hour, boundless, at the whim of our collective hearts. True lovers don’t need a special day to love. So too does this video which came out the day after Valentine’s. You’ll love it regardless of what day of the year it is. It’s a story of lovers, with in the empire, who dare ask the question: “What are we fighting for?” Thanks King Théoden, for your work. It was awesome.

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SWTOR Harlem Shake

You all knew it was coming, so here it is baby. The Harlem Shake has come to SWTOR!!! A few have tried, but this first video does it perfect! The second video comes real close. They just didn’t get the beginning done right. Which is supposed to show only one person dancing while every one is minding their own. But it’s still a superb job, and the beginning is still pretty cool. I’m sure many more are on their way, so keep an eye out for them! Con lo Terrori[s]ta! Don’t forget to set it at 1080p for best audio and video quality. If you have audio enhancers, set them for total chaos! Props and respect to Logan and DkSharktooth for doing a great job!

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Global SWTOR Cosplay Swag

What’s up everyone out in the Star Wars diaspora! We here at SWTORStrategies have previously brought to your attention some epic SWTOR Cosplay models bringing the vision of SWTOR to real life, with menacing smiles, banging blasters and deadly lightsabers! Legendary SWTOR journalist Lisa Mason, wrote these previous articles on two cosplay masters, who brought excellent renditions of Grand Master Satele Shan to planet Earth. Shanoa Abby Dark-Star But these aren’t the only two who did the work for costume design, photo shoots and even some post image production effects. Today, we’re going to share some of those masterpieces which come from numerous countries like Spain, France, New Zealand, the United States and the Netherlands. I’m going to have to look deeper into Japan’s Cosplay movement, because I know I missed some of their work. Though I don’t believe SWTOR was ever released in Japanese. If you find yourself impressed,…

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Top 10 Gaming Controversies of 2012!

OH NOOOoooo!!! What did SWTOR do now? WHY ALWAYS US?!?!?!!!!! Well, before you all start freaking out, SWTOR was not included in this all out critique of the 2012 gaming world. So why am I writing an article about it, if Angry Joe’s video has nothing do with SWTOR? Because SWTOR is FREAKING AWESOME!!! That’s why! And for a few other reasons. Remember words like TORTANIC? Yeah well the ship hasn’t sunk. In fact we’re all out on deck catching some rays, dirty dancing to reggaeton! I must admit there was that scary moment when after people speed played through the game before it was even finished (EA forced Bioware to release the game unfinished until the March 2012 update which fixed that) finding the lack of end game content, causing way too many subscribers to up and leave. After some time it was like playing SWG in mid 2011…

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DEATHMATCH II – Darth Malgus Versus Sora Bulq

Last week we introduced Star Wars Expanded Universe expert, Jensaarai1 and featured Episode 7 of his Versus Series, Darth Malgus Versus Count Dooku. Coincidentally and almost magically as if the Force itself was involved, Jensaari1 releases his first Versus episode for 2013, episode 11, that very night – 41 minutes of calculated lightsaber dueling Sith/Jedi analysis! He uses Darth Malgus once again. This time he pits Malgus against former Jedi Master turned Sith, Sora Bulq of the Clone Wars era! Both are power houses. Who will win? Only Jensaarai1, the Nerd-Rage Ranter knows! Feel free to share your opinion on this battle. Did you disagree or agree with his conclusion? Why or why not? If the force permits, I hope to see more of Jensaarai’s “Versus Series” featuring more legends from SWTOR and even its predecessor, KOTOR. When he does, you will be sure to find out about it, here…

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Darth Malgus Versus Count Dooku DEATHMATCH

by FrelsAreN, DeviantART   by lelmer77, DeviantART  Jensaarai1 aka the Nerd-Rage Ranter, a video blogger on YouTube, is probably one of the greatest experts on Star Wars I have seen in some time. He appears to be well versed in all the movies, both of the Clone Wars series and the comic book series (Dark Horse). I have not heard him mention the novels in his analyses, but I wouldn’t put it passed him. Rest assured he is an expert on the Expanded Universe of Star Wars, which pretty much trumps those who only know about the movies when it comes to general Star Wars knowledge. What really impresses me is his unique knowledge on everything that is the lightsaber, which is impeccable. He made a 10 episode series throughout 2012, called the “Versus Series” where he pits Jedi against Jedi, Sith against Sith and Jedi against Sith in “what…

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Cartel Market SNEAK PEAK!

We here at SWTOR Strategies thought it would be nice to bring you a sneak peak of the Cartel Market for those who will have Cartel Coins. Personally, I was pretty impressed. It’s still not available in game, but you can see it for yourself in the Public Test Server before the next update – where we will all probably be seeing the first F2P gamers joining us in this epic war across the Galaxy. First, I had to download 11gigs to enter the Public Test Server. Then I had to ease my security settings into trusting it. My rig hates changes. But after all that, I got to enter a world and make this guy. And then I got to see this. The Cartel Market! [Click on the images to see them in full detail] Welcome to the Cartel, they got fun ‘n’ games. They got everything you want….

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F2P vs Sub: The ‘Real’ Price Players Will Have To Pay

Deirdre Hollis, world renowned TORWARS pod-caster wrote an awesome article, that I wish I could of written myself. I’m so jealous! Deirdre basically predicts with the coming of SWTOR’s F2P (Free to Play) option this fall, a divide that is already surfacing between subscribers (the haves) and f2p gamers (the have nots), akin to class warfare in ancient Rome, will arise.  She puts it all together much more “diplomatically” than I would have. She kept the correlations of the US government to these politically divisive affairs as insinuations. She takes it a step further and predicts that EA will see the profits of SWTOR/F2P and eventually even make subscribers try to pay for extra features like the F2P gamers. She also reminds us how the Bioware we all remember and love is long gone, and that EA is more directly in charge of the path SWTOR will take in the…

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Playing Pazaak on your Android Mobile and one day in SWTOR

Pazaak is an ancient card game from the Star Wars Universe. It’s believed by many controversial Coruscant researchers and historians that this is the origin of Sabacc or Jhabacc, a notorious gambling game frequently played by scoundrels like Lando Calrissian, Mara Jade and Han Solo. Ancient Pazaak was played for the first time, by Star Wars gamers in Knights of the Old Republic I and II. And now, is extremely popular by the deep desire of Star Wars gamers wanting to see it as part of their Massive Multi-Player Online experience, in the game Star Wars the Old Republic – which takes place not too long after Knights of the Old Republic. If you do a search for “Pazaak” in the forums of SWTOR.com you will find 4 pages of threads all asking for Pazaak to be added to the game.  We’re talking about 92 unique threads all demanding Pazaak….

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