Brace yourself!!! Star Wars: Episode VIII is now filming

Great news peeps!

Star Wars: Episode VIII is filming since two days, and the cast is confirmed.

Can´t wait for further developments on new cast members, but so far, here´s what you can expect:

Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is written and directed by Rian Johnson and continues the storylines introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, welcomes back cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis.  New cast members will include Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, Academy Award nominee Laura Dern, and talented newcomer Kelly Marie Tran.

Read everything at StarWars.com

PIC(K) OF THE WEEK #1

As I do in my comics blog for a long, long time, I´ll bring to the Academy the topic "Pick of The Week". Usually I don´t write about it, just post a cool pic with the artist´s credits, but as its the 1st POTW I´ll make an exception.

Today will be with a touch of vintage, from the Master Ralph McQuarrie.

He made tons of early sketches before the characters and concepts were "finished", so a lot of his depictions seem Star Wars but from another era.

I will post more of McQuarrie in the future, but 1 pic is 1 pic. Enjoy!

Ralph McQuarrie: Tie fighter pilot with Millennium Falcon and Death Star

"Star Wars: Force Collection" or "The most addictive Star Wars mobile game ever"

It´s now 1 year and and a half that I play Star Wars: Force Collection. And as weird as it may sound, no, it´s not just a card trading game.

Before I talk about it, I would love to hear from the fans. How many of you that visit the blog play it? And for how long? What do you like more about it and what would you definitely change? (and some major changes have been taking place lately, since the new movie arrived)

The game is deep, full of events and new stuff happening every week. Back in the old days, there was about two dozen 5* cards available only with the classical characters. Now, almost every two weeks, two new 5* cards are released (and with a skill), making everything more interesting but at the same time complicated and sometimes hard to keep the pace.

Being a card trading game, the range goes from 1* to 5* cards. The 1* and 2* cards are usually disregarded, there are a few decent 3* cards with powerful skills and then plenty of 4*s and 5*s. The higher the star, the better. But much depends on the skill, with some 4*s being traded 1:1 for 5*!

Taking this in consideration, you build your deck, your formation of 18 cards (3 horizontal lines of 6 cards each). The maximum skills you can have popping in your form is 3, so chose wisely! You can define your support deck with 7 cards, to help with the type of formation of your choice. You can go LS (Light Side) or DS (Dark Side), or even mix a bit of both. You can place vehicles in your form, like the Millennium Falcon, the X-Wing or a panoply of Tie Fighters, creativity is a must and you should explore it.

You will need training remotes to skill up your cards that come with a skill, so you can have major boosts of attack, defense, accuracy, evasion and ton of other stuff you can imagine.

Then there is LAW (Legions at War)!!! This is what hardcore players expect approximately every 2 (or 3 weeks). Veteran players take this very seriously. When you are part of a legion, you help your fellow legionnaires to improve their forms, you provide tips, share precious info and if things get bigger, you will probably be part of a fleet. My fleet is S.O.B. (Smugglers of Bespin) and I´m part of the "S.O.B. Outlaws" ship, and since we joined S.O.B. due to the hard work of our Captain PhiltyForce, everyone has had the chance to grow their L.A.W. experience.

I could make a gigantic post about this game, because it really has a ton of features and options to explore and improve. It´s not the usual mobile game, it´s an addiction that makes you log in everyday so be aware of the time it can consume in your life.

Hope you´re playing and enjoying Star Wars: Force Collection (SWFC).

Oh! and by the way, my profile in the game is Beximus.

May the Force be with you!

P.S. - all the pics are screen shots when I´m playing.

Star Wars goes "Calvin & Hobbes"

Artist Brian Kesinger has recently posted several "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" works on his Instagram.
One of the most interesting revamps is the Calvin & Hobbes approach, with amazing results.

Here are some of them, please visit Kesinger´s Instagram to check his amazing contribution to the Star Wars universe.

May the Force be with you, Brian!