"How I Helped Destroy Star Wars Galaxies"

Patrick Desjardins describes how he made "almost a six-figure salary" playing Star Wars Galaxies. His downfall was appropriately cinematic:

After almost two years, I could see that this would not last. Player counts were dropping; the game was being mishandled more and more. When they did away with the holo-grinding, it wrecked a large part of my business model. And again, when the Jedi-village went live, it was the final nail. No one needed to spend vast amounts on anything any more. You could just become a Jedi from a quest chain.

I started shutting down my enterprise. I had bought and sold dozens and dozens of accounts, billions of credits; for the remaining players on my servers, my accounts were fixtures. They were how they functioned, they were how they survived. Most had no clue it was one person pulling all these strings, and in the end, I liked it that way. I stopped “playing” the day I was killed in Theed starport by a fresh new Jedi who didn’t understand how to even play the game.

I couldn’t even bring myself to fight back. I just stood there. I was one of the few true Dark Jedi Masters, and I let him kill me.

Via.

So Darth Maul is the Scorpion King now?

Darth Maul returns on the Clone Wars as a crazy robot scorpion king. I'd love to know what sort of toy marketing discussions were had in relation to designing his new look. (If we turn him into a sort of vehicle, we can double his toy cost!!) Via.

Link roundup

New Lone Ranger photo, featuring Johnny Depp as Tonto.



Poster for Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom. Via.



Sometimes in Bioware games you choose a seemingly innocent responses, only to find out you've decided to be very evil. Via.

Luke and Leia go splat (in Lego)

Alternate Star Wars Lego contest entry by Shannon Sproule.

Illustration roundup

Russell Walks posted several illustrations created for the Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, which is 40% off at Amazon.




Romney and Santorum (as Romney's dog) by Bob Staake for The New Yorker. Via.




Japanese poster for Brave. Via.




Kitty and Lockeed by Elliot Fernandez.

*Buy Brave posters at eBay.

Illustration roundup

Assassin's Creed III magazine covers for Game Informer and box art. Via.




Female Stormtroopers get ready to work by Drew Baker from the Star Wars: Essential Guide to Warfare, which is $20 at Amazon. io9 has more art from the book.






Link, Mac and The Lorax by Sachin Teng. the Lorax is for Gallery Nucleus's upcoming Dr. Seuss show.

Illustration roundup

T-shirt design by Blair Sayer up for vote at Threadless.




Tor unveiled the first in a series of short stories based on paintings by John Jude Palencar. Today's story is "New World Blues," by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.




Toy Story by Charles Santoso.




Empire of the Binary Sun poster by Rob Wood on sale here.




Helena Wayne/Robin by Kevin Maguire.

*Buy Robin toys at eBay.

Lego Cyborg Darth Maul

Lego Cyborg Darth Maul. Via.

Illustration roundup

Submission by Ron Guyatt for the Star Wars Day Toronto 2012 poster contest. You can vote for it at the link, and Ron has other posters on sale here.




T-shirt design by Victor Calahan up for vote at Threadless.




One of Dustin Harbin's recent $10 commissions.




Suspicious by Frank Stockton for Ebony Magazine.




Batgirl by Erika Taguchi-Newton, who has art on sale here.

*Buy Batgirl toys at eBay.

Chibi Phantom Menace figurines

Japanese Pepsi Panson Works Figures.

Death Star basketballs and other rejected Star Wars merchandise

Death Star basketball, inflatable throne, and a few dozen other rejected Star Wars merchandise ideas.

*Buy Star Wars Galaxy sketch cards at eBay.

Dance against Slave Leia in Star Wars Kinect

Dance for Jabba's amusement in Star Wars Kinect, which you can preorder for $50 at Amazon. Via.

Illustration roundup

Team Fortress 2 Heavy by Leon Ryan.




Pen Ward.




Adventure Time concert poster by Robert Mangaoang going on sale later today.




Young Kate Beaton. She posted a charming comic about her sister, too.




Dark Shadows #8 cover by Francesco Francavilla.








Prints by James Hance. Via these sites.

*Buy Up toys at eBay.

Illustration roundup

The Wicker Man - - part of Jeff Victor's bad movie series.



Link by Dave Palumbo.



Tatooine illustration by Ulises Farinas that must be seen in high-res.



Snake-Eyes vs. Storm Shadow by Dan Hipp. (My 6 year old loves his Ben 10 comics, btw.)



Wonder Woman #16 cover by Joshua Middleton on sale at eBay.