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In every Fan Friday, we put the spotlight on the enthusiastic, talented Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ community. This week, we continue our tradition of highlighting some community creations that inspire us. Enjoy the excellent fan art!

We also interviewed TORWars this week for our Fan Site Spotlight, and we hope you’ll check them out.

Don’t miss this month’s Studio Insider for an in-depth look at creating animations for use in in-game cinematics!

Community Creations

Over the last three decades Star Wars™ has inspired amazing fan creations across the globe, and our community has played a role by making many incredible contributions!

Don’t hesitate to share your talents with us on the community forums! In each Fan Friday, we feature impressive creations directly from the community.

Fan Art

Check out the latest from community member Redding, who has created some excellent concept-style work.

Community member Lyrn-Aya posted some beautifully drawn images in the French community forums focused around the theme of a League of Free and Independent Merchants.

Fan Site Spotlight

This month’s Fan Site Spotlight is focused on TORWars! Launched in 2010 by a few fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic who happened to be experienced journalists, TORWars is a great resource for news regarding BioWare, Star Wars, and The Old Republic. A weekly podcast keeps the community updated with news, posts by developers, and the latest whereabouts of Jar Jar Binks. Using their expert knowledge of the Star Wars™ Universe alongside a unique sense of humor, these guys really know their stuff. We sat down with Jeff Hollis, creator of the site, to find out more about how to keep a fan site both informative and fun.

How did TORWars get started?

Long long ago, in a galaxy near Burbank, California, two veteran gaming journalists got together, drank way too many beers, and decided that starting their very own Star Wars: The Old Republic fan site was a good idea. They contacted a few other bloggers/writers/journalists that they knew and, despite all better judgment, those guys thought it was a good idea, too.

So, basically, five semi-employed writers who really should have known better thought they could run a top-notch fan site all by themselves. The experience can be summed up in three simple words: “No adult supervision”.

What is it you enjoy most about running TORWars?

The reader interaction. We love it when readers leave comments on our articles, and a debate or a discussion gets started. Sometimes there's some trolling or other whatnot (On the internet? That's shocking!), but the back-and-forth exchange of ideas is usually pretty clever.

Also, we really enjoy knowing that readers got something useful or valuable from reading TORWars. That really gets our Llightsabers all lit up.

What makes TORWars unique?

Our sense of humor – that's usually the first thing readers notice. If you enjoy a lot of unnecessarily long, overly analytical, dry-toast perspectives on The Old Republic, TORWars just isn't the site for you.

There is just no reason why you can't have some insightful analysis and sharp perspectives on the game, while having a laugh and making things fun and interesting at the same time. It's really not that hard. We should know, because we here at TORWars are as lazy as morbidly obese banthas, and we still manage to do it most of the time.

You guys seem to have some very positive relationships with other fan sites. Why is that?

We think that we are all in this together, and we want to help our fellow fan sites succeed. If we can put a link to another fan site on the TORWars blogroll, and give them some exposure, that's cool with us. The same holds true when it comes to linking to a story on another site, or throwing a shout out to another blog on our podcast. We're more than happy to do that. It's all about geeks helping geeks.

What are you most excited about in SW:TOR?

There is a rumor that we just might get to wear metallic slave bikinis in the game. That fulfills one of our two biggest Star Wars fantasies.

That fulfills ONE of your Star Wars fantasies? What's the other one?

Why, to meet the biggest star in the Star Wars™ universe: Jar Jar Binks. That guy is chock full of awesome.

That seems somewhat unlikely in Star Wars: The Old Republic. What’s your third option?

Our third Star Wars fantasy involves a room full of naked Wookiees, so we won't talk about that here.

For someone who’s new to your site, which article or episode would you recommend they check out first?

The TORWars podcast is our most popular feature. You can listen to our podcasts right on the front page of our site, just by pressing that big blue play button. It's super easy, even for people who aren't normally into podcasts.

Our 'casts are funny, they're informative, they're fast paced, and they feature two grown men bickering like little girls. What could possibly be better?

Concept Art

Get a closer look at The Old Republic with this previously unreleased concept art - Republic and Imperial art along with new stuff from Corellia and Hutta. Enjoy!

Forum Avatars

The history of the Sith Empire is fraught with scheming politics and dark secrets—the lifeblood of the Sith Inquisitor. Planning on playing a Sith Inquisitor? Show your dedication to the dark side by equipping your profile with one of these avatars.

To use one of these new avatars, log in, go to My Account, and click Avatar. From there, navigate through the pages until you find the avatar of your choice.

Polls

We want to know! You can find these polls in the Surveys and Polls section of the website.

• Which starship design is your favorite?
• Which set of forum smilies do you use the most?

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