Meet the Team

Richard first saw Star Wars at the Priory Cinema in Royston which has now sadly been pulled down to make way for housing. This film inspired his imagination that all things were possible in in the galaxy far far away and as a result this has led to a love of all things in the expanded universe and the people who are inspired by but refuse to be restricted to the films.

A collector of the books, comics and comics he has even been known to dabble in a bit of fiction himself but this needs a lot of work.

His first Star Wars figure was Chewbacca which he had to share with his little brother and between them they managed to gather a large collection of the original figures and vehicles. A few years after Return of the Jedi came out they gave the whole collection to a neighbour’s nephew. If only they had known!

His Star Wars highlights include going to the UK premiere of A New Hope Special edition and being 10 feet away from George Lucas and also getting hold of a cinema display stand for the Special Edition trilogy.

Not a figure collector or autograph hunter Richard prefers to look for the more unusual collectables although his Star Wars toothpaste from the USA may now be a bit dodgy!

Beth has been a fan of Star Wars since she was very young, after watching the original trilogy countless times with her father growing up. She was not lucky enough to have been around when they first came out at the cinema, however as she was growing up she got to experience the prequels on the big screen, and that helped her Star Wars fandom grow exponentially. This lead to discovering the LucasArts video games based on the movies, such as Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II and the various prequel titles. Becoming a Jedi became her dream from that point.

Since then, her love for the Star Wars galaxy has expanded and continued to flourish, especially via her passion for their video game offshoots. This has included many, many (many) hours playing the LEGO Star Wars games, and more recently discovering the Knights of the Old Republic series (and in turn, the Old Republic MMORPG). She has an appreciation for the depth of the older titles, as well as an excitement for what is to come in the future.

Beth lives in England, and when she’s not playing games she is a photographer who enjoys astronomy and viewing the stars.

She is particularly fond of droids.

Becca Benjamin is a collaborator and contributor for many outlets within the Star Wars community. She has been an adoring Star Wars fan since the tender age of four and even had Darth Vader proudly displayed on her fourth birthday cake – trimmed in pink icing! The addition of the prequels only intensified her love for the ever-growing franchise and sprung her into the fandom community at full force, pun intended.

She began her blogging career back in 2006 with a paid subscription for the official StarWars.com website, and has dabbled in writing since her high school days, and even studied creative writing in college as a secondary major under her major in medical office. Currently, she holds a fulltime position as a medical receptionist for a Retina specialist/surgeon.

Becca is the Editor-in-Chief for the former The Cantina Cast website, Co-host on Tarkin’s Top Shelf, a literary Star Wars podcast, and a Host on Kanata’s Castle Podcast. She also prepares titles and captions for Lucasfilm artist Steve Anderson, contributes a monthly blog for Coffee with Kenobi, and has recently made her writing debut on MakingStarWars.net. Becca is currently working on a plethora of Star Wars projects and you can connect with her on Twitter @urangelb

A man with a Boba Fett-ish….

Adam D. Bram (a.k.a. The Nilbog) is an aspiring writer, actor, and director. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance, and wrote extensively for his college’s newspaper.

For many years, all Adam knew of Star Wars was the Jabba’s Palace sequence from Return of the Jedi, which was one of many omnipresent films on the Betamax his parents had when he was a toddler.

In 1997, at the tender age of 11, Adam used the release of the Special Edition to finally see what this Star Wars thing was that everyone was talking about, and his life was changed forever. He ate up every second, bought up every toy, even cast his fifth-grade class as characters from the then-trilogy (Protip: Never cast your crush as Sy Snootles. She will not understand).

Adam’s favorite film in the saga is unabashedly The Phantom Menace, the only Star Wars film he was lucky enough to see on opening day. While Yoda is his favorite character of the saga, he identifies most with Jar Jar Binks (his fourth favorite).

Adam lives with his wife in Providence, Rhode Island USA (a wife who was gracious enough to allow “Across the Stars” as their wedding processional). When not immersed in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, he works as a Job Coach for young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome (after being diagnosed with the disorder himself in late 2010), plays World of Warcraft, writes and manages the self-indulgent blog “Nilbog’s Storybook Land”, and attempts (often in vain) to complete his novel. He secretly hopes that the production of the new Star Wars films will lead to open auditions.

Brian has written for quite a number of Star Wars sites since 1998, including guest articles for TheForce.net and JediNet.com before forming his own Lost Spoilers website which ran for seven years, but he found his particular kind of hive of scum and villainy in April 2013 as part of Team Jedi News!

By day he literally counts sheep, cattle, and hens, well it beats being a bean counter…

In 2016, beans were added to his farms crop….

He does however deny having ever milked a moof, or herded a nerf.

Brian travelled to Skellig Michael in 2015, and is proud to say he was physically sea sick at the exact spot that Rey meets Luke. Before he knew that Rey meeting Luke there was a thing!

He was the host of the the Star Wars literature podcast, Take Cover for the Jedi News Network with Mark Newbold, and Matt Booker until August 2017.

His ancestor Dr Archibald Cameron was the last man to be hung, drawn and quartered in the UK and was the inspiration for the scene in Braveheart. He fears if he says anything more, he will be next…

He rarely smiles, but takes great joy in people not getting his humour, Planes, Trains and Automobiles (the movie, not necessarily the modes of transport) and of course Star Wars… but most of all he is impressed you read all this!

Brian is an obsessive collector of Star Wars books, comics, and magazines. With a collection extending into the tens of thousands, the more obscure a publication the better.

Brian stepped down from the site in August 2017 for personal reasons.

At the end of October 2017 he was part of the team that launched Fantha Tracks.

Husband. Father. Star Wars fan. Yep that’s about it.

Randall has loved Star Wars since his parents took him to see Return of the Jedi in theaters when he was 2. It is one of his first memories. Randall has been a comic collector since 1999 when he started having some disposable income. He gets SW comics, novels and Insider. He shares his love of Star Wars with his 4 kids who are all avid Star Wars fans themselves. He lives in Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Dan Curto is a veteran collecting reporter who worked for Rebelscum.com from 2002 to 2012. He also reported on the state of collecting for The ForceCast as the co-host (with James Burns) of The ForceCast: Collector’s Edition.

Graham’s introduction to the Star Wars trilogy came only through video tapes, but this interest turned into a full obsession with the release of the Special Editions in 1997 and the chance to experience the films on a cinema screen. This sparked him to begin collecting the modern 3 3/4 inch Hasbro figures, of which he buys one of each to open plus too many extra army builders.

Between then and the release of The Phantom Menace, Graham began to read and collect the novels and comics. During 1999, his wallet took a bigger long-term hit when he began to collect the new Lego line, never expecting that he would ever be tracking down packaging variations and promotional items nearly ten years later.

Graham spent time selling Star Wars merchandise from 2004 to early 2006, both online and at events, learning a lot about the ‘other side’ of Star Wars collecting and the frustrations of case mixes. On May 16th 2005 he had his finest Star Wars experience when he was fortunate enough to win tickets to the UK premiere of Revenge of the Sith, realising it really was worth going to see Return of the Jedi at about ten o’clock in the morning.

Since the onslaught of merchandise during the prequels, Graham’s collection has grown much beyond the initial figures and Lego to include many of Hasbro’s new lines, as well as items from almost all of the different licencees and many promotional display stands. He regularly attends events across the UK.

Jonathan Hicks was born in 1971 and by the time Star Wars appeared in the UK in late December 1977 was already a huge science fiction and fantasy fan. He began writing stories inspired by Star Wars in the early 1980s. This love of the written word progressed into all kinds of writing which includes short stories, novels, novellas, scripts, game design and magazine articles.

After co-creating the Setnin sector, a playground for his Star Wars creations, Jonathan fleshed it out with the West End Games Star Wars D6 roleplaying game. He had already been involved in the roleplaying hobby since 1983. His writing credits include an article in Arcane magazine, he has been published twice by the British Science Fiction Association’s writer’s magazine Focus, written reviews for RPG.net, edited and published the free online RPG magazine ODDS, designed the missions and wrote the dialogue for a video game of Universal’s re-imaging of Battlestar Galactica, published the short story collection Those Dark Places and the book The Book Of Roleplaying Hints, Tips and Ideas, written articles for various online websites and runs the small RPG company Farsight Games and its accompanying blog Farsight Blogger.

Jonathan is currently working on a major RPG property Stellar Adventures, an Adnavced Fighting Fantasy RPG, due for release in 2017.

Jonathan is the Roleplay and Gaming Editor of Jedi News and is also the founder of the GammaCon roleplay convention which held it’s first event in January 2012.

Jonathan lives in Lichfield, England with his wife Lisa and his son Bruce.

Richard Hutchinson was born in 1976 and cannot remember a time without Star Wars in his life. His highlights of visiting his relations in the early 80’s include taking action figures to have space battles with his cousins and watching endless reruns on Star Wars on pirate VCR.

As with most children in the North, he had to grow up fast and his toys were given away to younger relations. However, this led to an evolution of his Star Wars enjoyment and toys were replaced by the Expanded Universe books, comics and video games which are his pride and joy to this day. Of course there were also the prequels which he loved from first viewing and many hours were spent wasting time on the Internet in the mid 90’s chatting to fans online throughout the world getting involved in the growing online community.

It wasn’t until a brave eBay purchase around 2011 that he started vintage toy collecting again, telling anybody who would listen that he only wanted one of everything loose. Like most collectors, he was immediately hooked and now has a diverse collection of vintage and modern items together with a lack of space to display it properly.

Outside of Star Wars Richard is a school teacher who teaches Computer Science to pupils aged 11 to 19. He can also be found wandering the hills and moors with far too many groups of pupils in his role as a Duke of Edinburgh leader.

His love of the community side of Star Wars is infectious and he can often be found supporting toy shows, such as Farthest From, and Celebration. He is co-host of The Vintage Rebellion podcast which is a monthly vintage Star Wars collecting show.

Adam’s fascination with the galaxy, far, far, away, began in 1978 when his Dad took him to see Star Wars. Soon after his collection began when he bought his first action figure; whilst Princess Leia Organa was not his preferred choice, it was the only one left in Harry Packs and he was desperate to spend his hard-earned pocket money. However, such was his eagerness to start re-creating scenes from the film that he ripped her off the card and promptly lost her pistol somewhere between the toy shop and home.

Adam continued to collect action figures throughout the earlier 80s, stopping with the last 17, by which time he had reached an awkward age where toys were for kids and his reputation with the girls was not going to benefit from such behaviour.

His interest was rekindled with the launch of Heir to the Empire and fuelled by regular releases of the Lucasfilm magazine and Dark Empire. Once Kenner released their new range of action figures there was no turning back.

Adam focused on collecting the Hasbro line of 3 3/4″ figures on card and branched out into several other lines including the Master Replicas 0.45 scaled lightsabers and Kotobukiya figures.

Adam left Jedi News on the 21st March 2012, and soon after he joined Rebelscum.com as a media representative and reporter. In July 2013 he became content manager at Cool Toy Review. He lives in Vancouver, BC.

When Paul isn’t working on a ship in the North Sea he likes to travel to as many Star Wars (and LOST) events and locations as possible.

He’s often found roaming convention floors cosplaying as Bad Robot. His love for J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot started when he became addicted to the TV show LOST and when his two fandoms collided to make The Force Awakens he had to pinch himself. When he wore his Bad Robot costume at Star Wars Celebration Essen for the first time Kathy Kennedy stopped a Lucasfilm meeting to have a picture taken with him. Kathy then told Paul that she was going to email the pictures to J.J. Abrams. Paul may or may not have wet himself a just little bit.

The sight of Bib Fortuna still freaks him out the same as it did when he was 6 years old watching Return of the Jedi in the cinema. Only these days he doesn’t need to run out of the room and miss all of the first act.

His love for R2-D2 (the true hero of the Galaxy) and now BB-8 influences what clothes he puts on each day.

There’s nothing that makes him happier than enjoying a few drinks with friends he’s met through social media at conventions and events. If you see him at a bar tell him you read this and he’ll buy you a blue milk.

The Dark Lord. The courageous Jedi. The cocky scoundrel. The witty Princess. These are all characters that James has known and loved for his whole life. He is obsessed with all elements of Star Wars: comics, books, films, TV shows, figures, merchandise, videogames. James contributes literature reviews to Jedi News.

Mark’s Star Wars journey started at the Cannock ABC cinema back in early 1978 and through weekly Marvel UK Comics, Read-Along-Adventures, Palitoy figures and his imagination he’s continued on the Jedi Path for four decades. In 1982 he wrote his first Star Wars fiction, the short story Quest For Freedom. That spawned the creation alongside Jonathan Hicks of the Setnin sector through 17 audio stories recorded between 1985 and 1987, countless weekly D6 West End Games RPG sessions between 1987 and the present day and almost 200 short stories, novellas and novels.

In 1998, after four years online with a variety of sci-fi sites including The Q-Continuum and FantaWar, Mark and Louis Turfrey launched Wirezone, which changed its name and URL to become lightsabre.co.uk on 28th June 1999. During his decade running Lightsabre alongside Louis, Jonathan, Paul Squire and Jason Brown he conducted well over 140 interviews, oversaw the compilation and development of the fictional setting of the Setnin sector and co-hosted 17 episodes of the Setnin Radio podcast during 2005 and 2006.

On August 12th 2010 Lightsabre merged with Jedi News, and Mark became the daily content manager for Jedi News, and program director for the Jedi News Network. With the merger Mark brought the content of Lightsabre to Jedi News, with articles dating back to 1999.

On 27th May 2016 Mark once again began contributing to Lightsabre, relaunched by Louis as a general sci-fi site.

In 2006 Mark first contributed to the Star Wars Insider magazine in issue 90 and so far has had 132 articles published. His tenure has included overseeing both Red Five and My Star Wars! features and contributing to Launch Pad as well as providing numerous interviews and cover articles.

He has also written canonnical material for DeAgostini’s Build The Millennium Falcon partworks magazine. In November 2016 he began writing for Geeky Monkey magazine which sadly ended on issue 22, and in March 2017 had his first article published in issue #187 of Star Trek The Official Magazine. Mark also writes for the world’s longest running sci-fi magazine Starburst, as well as the UK’s biggest sci-fi magazine SFX.

Online articles have also appeared on FHM online, Sequart, Jedinet.com, The Bearded Trio and other sites as well as regular contributions to the online blog of the UK’s largest free newspaper The Metro with over 160 articles posted. He was first featured on the official Star Wars website in 2009 with a piece on the premiere of Star Wars: A Musical Journey and since 2013 has been a featured blogger on the official Star Wars site with over 70 articles published. He was one of the very first non-Lucasfilm writers to contribute.

Quotes from Marks interviews were also published in J.W. Rinzler’s 2009 release The Making Of Return Of The Jedi, and is mentioned in the bibliography.

In print, he has had articles and reviews published in Model and Collectors Mart, TV Film Memorabilia Magazine, TeeKay-421 magazine and has written film reviews for The Force Awakens and Rogue One in the Lichfield Mercury. He has been interviewed by The i, The Irish Times, The Express and Star, The Lichfield Mercury, The Shropshire Star, The Voice and Micromart.

On television he has appeared on BBC News 24, BBC Breakfast News, BBC Talking Movies, Big Centre TV‘s Brummywood Yammywood, Made In Birmingham’s The Lowdown and The Week and Channel 5’s How Star Wars Changed The World as well as the Sky One quiz show The Fanatics, winning the episode on his chosen subject the Star Wars saga. He also appeared on The Weakest Link on BBC 2 and Don’t Sit In The Front Row on Sky One.

He’s also appeared on over 30 different radio stations, many of them multiple times as an expert commentator on the subject of Star Wars.  In late 2016 he was a guest panellist on the pilot episode of Radio 4’s comedy film panel show Gaby’s Talking Pictures. His specialist subject – Star Wars.

BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 4*
BBC Radio 5Live*
BBC Radio Berkshire*
BBC Radio Coventry and Warwickshire*
BBC Radio Cumbria
BBC Radio Gloucestershire*
BBC Radio Guernsey
BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester*
BBC Radio Jersey
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Lancashire
BBC Radio Leeds
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC Radio London
BBC Radio Merseyside*
BBC Radio Newcastle
BBC Radio Northampton
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Scotland*
BBC Radio Stoke
BBC Radio Surrey
BBC Radio Sussex
BBC Radio Three Counties Radio*
BBC Radio Wales
BBC Radio WM*
BBC Radio York
BBC World Service*
BBC World Service Radio USA
BBC World Service Radio Worldwide*
BrumRadio
Free Radio
Virgin Radio Breakfast With Edith Bowman
Voice of Russia World Service

Mark was the co-host of RADIO 1138 and a panelist on Take Cover on the Jedi News Network. He is a regular guest in the Star Wars podcasting world having appeared on 65 different podcasts to date as either guest or host, many on multiple occasions*:

A Few Good Clones*
Assembly of Geeks
Ausfans*
Big Kev’s Geek Stuff
Bombad Radio
Boring Conversation Anyway
Brews And Blasters
Chicken and Beer
Coffee With Kenobi*
Coruscant Cast
Curto Burns Collectors Cast*
Dark Empire Radio*
Expanded Fandomverse
Fanboys Guide to the Galaxy*
Fandom Awakens Radio*
Fangirls Going Rogue
Far Far Away Radio*
Full of Sith*
Full of Sith: Trailer Council
Galactic Escape Pod*
Galactic Fashion
Galactic Holofeed
Get Your Geek On
Ion Cannon
JogCast*
My Star Wars Story
Nerd of Paradise
NOMCAST (Host)*
Now This Is Podcasting
Podcast 66
RADIO 1138 (host)*
Radio Free Endor
Radio Free Tatooine
RebelForce Radio*
RebelForce Radio’s Clone Wars: Declassified
Scavenger UK
Scum and Villainy
Setnin Radio (host)*
Skywalking Through Neverland*
Starships, Sabers, and Scoundrels
Star Wars Book Report*
Star Wars Bookworms*
Star Wars Collectors Cast*
Star Wars Forum UK podcast
Star Wars In Character
Star Wars Report*
Star Wars Tonight*
Star Wars Underworld
Steele Wars
Take Cover (host)*
Teach Me You Did
TechnoRetro Dads
Thank Book For
The Bald Solo podcast
The Bothan Report*
The Cantina Cast*
The ForceCast*
The Forcecast Clone Wars Roundtable
The Kessel Run
The Sarlacc Pit*
The Wolfpack podcast*
Tosche Station Radio
Toy Run
We Talk Clones*
Who Shot First

He has reported from numerous conventions in the UK, Europe and North America including:

Autographica (2009)
Binding the Galaxy (2013)
Birmingham Comics Festival (2017)
ClaudiaCon (2011)
Collectormania Birmingham (2017)
Collectormania Milton Keynes (2010, 2011)
Dinner With The Stars (2014, 2016)
Disney Store Force Friday Event (2015)
Elstree Empire Day (2013)
Empire Big Screen (2012)
Empire Day IV (1996)
Fan Days IV (2011)
Farthest From 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Fighting Fantasy Fest 2 (2017)
Force Friday (2015)
Force Friday II (2017)
Fordingbridge Film and TV Festival (2009, 2010)
GammaCon (2011)
LEGOLAND Windsor Star Wars Event (2012, 2013, 2015)
London Film and Comic Con (2010, 2012, 2016, 2017)
MCM London Expo (2015)
Medicinema Star Wars Charity Dinner and Quiz (2012)
Megacon Florida (2016)
Memorabilia / MCM Expo Birmingham (1994 to present)
MonCalCon (2014, 2015, 2016)
New York Comic Con (2015)
New York Toy Fair (2015, 2016, 2017)
One Man Star Wars Trilogy (2008, 2011)
Rancho Obi-Wan Annual Gala (Guinness World Record Night 2013, Annual Gala 2014, Galaween 2015, 5th Annual Gala 2016)
Rebel Legion UK 15th Anniversary Bash (2017)
Return of the Garrison at National Space Center (2009, 2013, 2017)
SFB Reunion 2, 3, 6, 7
SFBall 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 23
Star Wars Family Fun Day (2015)
Star Wars Fan Fun Day (2014, 2016, 2017)
StarFest (2007)
Starmania (2010)
Star Wars Celebration (London 2007, Orlando 2012, Essen 2013, Anaheim 2015, London 2016, Orlando 2017)
Toys ‘R’ Us Black Series launch (2013)
Toys ‘R’ Us Summer Madness (2010)
UK Comic Art Convention UKCAC (1991 – 1996)
UKG Annual Gala (2014, 2015, 2016)
UK Games Expo (2009, 2010, 2011, 2015)
UK Toy Fair (2016)
Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars Launch (2012)

He has also reported from a number of press conferences, film and television premieres including:

E.T 20th Anniversary Edition premier (2002)
Heroes Of The Empire Red Carpet Premier (at National Space Center) (2017)
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Press Screening (2008)
Raiders Of The Lost Ark IMAX Press Screening (2012)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Premiere (at Tate Modern) (2016)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story London Press Screening (2016)
Star Trek Premier (2009)
Star Trek Insurrection Premiere (1998)
Star Trek Into Darkness Premiere (2013)
Star Trek: First Contact Royal Premiere (1996)
StarHyke Premier (2009)
Star Wars Rebels Season Two Premiere (2015)
Star Wars Rebels Season Three Premiere (2016)
Star Wars Rebels Season Four Premiere (2017)
Star Wars Rebels, Exclusive UK screening of final 3 episodes of Season Three (Disney Hammersmith) (2015)
Star Wars Rebels Season Two Press Conference (2015)
Star Wars Rebels Season Three Press Conference (2016)
Star Wars Rebels Season Four Press Conference (2017)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Movie Press Screening (2008)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season Five Premiere (2012)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens London Press Screening (2015)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens London Premiere (2015)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens After Party (at Tate Britain) (2015)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens London Press Conference (2015)
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D Premiere (2012)
The Hulk Premiere (2003)

Mark is a Friend of the Elstree Base of the Rebel Legion and was inducted at Celebration Europe in Essen 27th July 2013. He was also recognised as a Friend of the Rebellion on 18th April 2015 at Celebration Anaheim and is an Honorary Member of the 501st UK Garrison, inducted at the UKG’s annual Ball on 22nd November 2014. On 17th July 2016 was made a Friend of the 501st Legion at Celebration Europe in London.

He is married to Ruth and lives in Burntwood, Staffordshire where his 30,000+ piece Star Wars and sci-fi collection — Echo Base — is housed.

Mark announced he was leaving Jedi News after seven years on 29th September 2017. On 31st October 2017 Mark launched his own Star Wars fan site called FanthaTracks.com, a name borrowed from longtime friend Paul Bateman.

Max is a regular reviewer for Jedi News. His earliest Star Wars memory is of seeing The Phantom Menace with his Dad and step-grandfather. He remembers thinking that the Gungan and droid armies assembling were visually amazing and also remembers asking his Dad if the movie contained ìbad guysî. Ah, the ignorance of youth!

Max has contributed to the site for 4 years and reviews both canon and non-canon comic books and also review the short stories in Star Wars Insider. He has interviewed such authors such as Kevin Hearne and Jason Fry. He is yet to attend Star Wars Celebration  but hopes this will change in 2017 with Celebration Orlando. Max one day hopes to write for StarWars.com and Star Wars Insider magazine.

It was my dad who initially introduced me to the saga as he was trying to educate me with as many classic films as possible. However my primary spark of fandom was really born in the summer of 2008 when my Uncle had come over to visit from Zurich, Switzerland, where he used to reside. I was on the summer holidays from junior school from at the time I was 9 years old. A new animated film called Star Wars The Clone Wars had hit the silver screen so it seemed a perfect excuse to go out. My uncle was already a bit of a Star Wars fan and I had only recently been introduced, so after deciding to invite my mum and brother along we set off. My memory from that age is a bit fussy so I can’t quite remember the details of the whole day. But what I can remember on that day is, how my life got changed. I walked out of that cinema feeing like Iíd just been reborn into another universe, another life.

And so it started. From that point on my love of life became Star Wars. My brother and mum always said that ìoh itís just a fadî and ìyouíll grow out of it one day. Grow out of it I asked? The only thing I intended on was growing into it…and thatís what I did.

I’d really try and collect anything I could get my hands on, whether it was the weekly Clone Wars comic releases or the odd find at my grandmaís charity shop. Fast forward through 5 years of dedicated fandom and I start writing for Jedi News which was April of 2013. It was at this point that my obsession turned into a passion and my love of Star Wars started to mature into another level of knowledge.

I started out mainly as a reviewer for the site, reviewing the Dark Horses weekly comic publications. Then I gained access to the Facebook page and started it growing into more Likes, and then over time I have become a general staff writer for the site, while still co-running the Facebook page. Over the past year I have also started taking the role of events photographer for the likes of the MCM comic con expos, Farthest From events and hopefully now future Celebrations and whatever I can make it to.

Currently I am studying A level Media, Film, English Combined and Btec Business with which I hope to go on to work my way into the film and media business. I have a growing knowledge in these fields through completing work experience at Double Negative visual effects, Sunday Express and Black Sun plc.

Every day I feel grateful for being a member of Team Jedi News (despite being the youngest on the team). It has opened up so many experiences and opportunities, where by I’ve met so many people and most important of all what I would consider my second family – Team Jedi News.

That’s what I really love about Star Wars, it’s not just a film, it’s a way of life.

Whilst contributing literature reviews to Jedi News, Steve is also the Social Media Manager for The Fly Casual Podcast, as well as a staff writer of news & reviews for The Bearded Trio website.

When not working on Star Wars websites, Steve is an active member of the 501st & Rebel Legion.

I’m an 80’s-VHS generation Star Wars fan who grew up on a repeat diet of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on the small screen. My earliest memory of Star Wars is seeing C-3PO and R2-D2 wandering around in the desert. While Star Wars was always a film franchise I enjoyed, it was the books that sucked me in deeper. First it was The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels which fascinated me with the names, details and histories of all the ships that appeared in the movies and some that didn’t. Then there was The Essential Guide to Characters that opened my eyes to the characters of the Expanded Universe. Years later, I read my first Star Wars novel, starting with all things Dark Force Rising.

Surprisingly enough, skipping Heir to the Empire didn’t hurt my enjoyment of the book, and I soon found myself reading every Star Wars novel I could find.

From there I discovered Star Wars forums and joined EUCantina, where I’m still a moderator and active poster to this day. That in turn led to Star Wars online roleplaying where I wound up creating several sites and wasting countless hours imagining characters in a galaxy far, far away. I even dabbled in fanfic which is still out there in a couple places.

Now I run the Star Wars website Roqoo Depot with my co-admin Geralyn. We cover Star Wars news, reviews, interviews and other sci-fi and fantasy material. I do the Databurst From the 501st covering all 501st events around the world each week, as well as the Podcasts in Review covering various Star Wars podcasts. And you can occasionally spot my Star Wars reviews right here on Jedi News.

Matt ‘Jammies’ Springer has been a lifelong Star Wars fan and a lover of all Star Wars prose. On the day of his birth, the lead story in his hometown newspaper was the start of the Star Wars Newspaper Comic Strips by Russ Manning—so he claims Star Wars as his astrological sign. The first movie he remembers seeing was The Empire Strikes Back, although he fell asleep after the Hoth scenes. A few years later (and despite his dyslexia), he taught himself to read using the Marvel Comic adaptation of Empire.

Jammies’s love of reading and love for “the Wars” collided one fateful summer while back to school shopping with his mom at a department store. In an attempt to avoid trying on slacks, he wondered off and checked out the bookshelves. One look at the red eyed Grand Admiral on the cover of Heir to the Empire, and he was hooked.  Soon came Dark Horse Comics and West End Games supplements to take what was left of his allowance.  Decades later, he still spends most of his allowance on Star Wars books and comics.  While he grew up with Legends, he is just as excited for the future of Star Wars canon.

He has been in fandom for decades; has received the Star Wars Insider since back when it was called Bantha Tracks, has been a member of several fan clubs, posts on theforce.net, chairs the Louisville Kentucky (USA) Star Wars Book Club, plans Star Wars Reads Day activities, builds star wars scale models, participates in sci- fi model clubs, and spreads the gospel of Waru to heretics and heathens alike.

Paul first saw Star Wars back in 1978, starting an affection for the galaxy far, far away that continues to this day. He wrote Frayed at the Edge, his first Star Wars story back in 1988. Already a lifelong friend of Mark, Paul then regularly role-played with Jonathan and Mark developing the Ryath Centaur character and integrating his creations into the fabric of Setnin. As well as playing a character, Paul was the groups second most prolific GM, running many campaigns in a style totally different to Jonathans and adding a hard, tough edge to Setnin that helped define the sector and the famed Setnin Way.

Along with more short stories, Paul continued to develop his own batch of characters which revolved around the ex-Imperial Centaur, and by 1999 and the launch of Lightsabre was a regular contributor to the fiction section, adding many flourishes to the Chronology with his great memory of roleplay games from days past.

As a collector Paul has focused on the Kotobukiya range, building an army of armour that is tough to beat.

Paul consults on story and character content and was a part of the Lightsabre Celebration Europe team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.

Paul lives in Heathcote, England with his wife Georgina.

Watto has never seen the original trilogy in the cinema, he first saw Star Wars on VHS and grew up watching the Ewok cartoons and playing with the ‘vintage’ toys. His favourite being the Millennium Falcon which he received as a Christmas present, unfortunately he rather foolishly sold off his toys – forever to be regretted.

During his secondary school and college years Star Wars became forgotten. His interest in Star Wars was rekindled when he was lent the 1997 Star Wars special edition VHS tapes to watch while he was ill.

Then came The Phantom Menace in 1999.

TPM has become one of Watto’s favourite films and launched his Star Wars collecting passion. His collection started with Hasbro’s TPM 3.75″ figures and now he concentrates on collecting Gentle Giant Statues, maquettes and mini busts. Watto also enjoys collecting Star Wars autographs and reading the books of the Expanded Universe.

Yamaro is part of the Original Trilogy ilk and collected some of the figures and toys when he was a lot younger. This collection dissipated as he grew older until his passion was rekindled in the early Noughties and he discovered Ebay. Yamaro started off amassing a collection of Star Wars Lego kits and since then has digressed into anything Star Wars. The main character that he likes to collect is Yoda and so he will tend to look for anything to do with him first, after this if it has the Star Wars (and/or Lucasfilm) logo then he is interested.

He has a passion for the Star Wars computer games and has spent many an hour playing the X-wing and TIE Fighter games, along with the first person shooters (namely Dark Forces) on the PC format and more recently the games released on the Playstation format.

In June 2007 Yamaro set up his own business and in September 2007 ‘Master Collectables’ exhibited at it’s first event. He now attends large and small events up and down the country and looks forward to meeting you in person at one near you soon.

Yamaro’s other interests in life (that he squeezes in around Star Wars) are raising his family, sport in general but mainly motorsport and martial arts (limited to watching).