Meet the SWNN Staff and Check Out Our New T-Shirt Designs!

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This year, Star Wars News Net will be celebrating four years of being your Force for news on everything Star Wars. From our simple beginning as one fan’s blog about the upcoming Star Wars sequel – to our now much larger staff of writers, moderators and podcasters dedicated to bringing you the latest news, reviews, and editorials about all things Star Wars – it has certainly been one heck of a ride. Take a moment to meet our staff here at SWNN and check out our new T-Shirt Designs!

 

 

ViralVal Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Val is the owner and creator of SWNN (est. October 30, 2012). He was first introduced to Star Wars back in 1986 watching Return of the Jedi in a theatеr so fully packed that he had to bring his own chair from home, since they sold more tickets than the available seats. This is an experience he will never forget. Ever since then Star Wars became an important part of his life. Val is married with one kid and works as digital compositor in the VFX studio Cinemotion.

Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

 

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Patrick Russell (DEKKA129)

A professional writer/editor, Patrick has been a die-hard Star Wars fan since his father first took him to see “Star Wars” in 1977. In the summer of 2014, Patrick was asked to be a member of the SWNN staff, and is absolutely thrilled by the vibrant and growing community that has developed here. In addition to his passion for Star Wars, Patrick is also a Zeppelin airship historian, and has co-authored a photographic history of the Hindenburg to be published next spring.

Location: Chicago, IL, USA

 

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R. Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and is a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Location: Texas, USA

 

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Jordan Pate (Hard Case)

Jordan has been a crazed Star Wars fanatic since he first saw The Empire Strikes Back as a child in a Star Wars trilogy TV marathon in the early 90’s. He is a comic book junkie and is obsessed with keeping up with everything going on in the overall Star Wars canon. Jordan is one of our blog authors and a member of our comic and book review teams. However canon obsessed, he has not forgotten the days of the old Expanded Universe, as he periodically posts reviews on past Star Wars media in our “Retro Reviews” articles on the site. Jordan is married with two children and works as a civil/structural designer.

Location: Johnson City, TN, USA

 

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Tim Levers (Rebo)

A Star Wars fan since the day Chewbacca scared him to tears when seeing Empire Strikes Back during its initial release at the ripe age of two, Tim has spent a lifetime obsessed with all things Star Wars. He has been a contributor at SWNN since June of 2015. Outside of the Star Wars community, Tim is a film buff, music nerd, and father to two sons he hopes don’t go all “Ben Solo” on him.

Location: New Jersey, USA

 

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Kyle Larson (Kyle)

Kyle enjoys everything Star Wars, especially when it comes to comics. He is a writer, coffee roaster, and avid runner living in Portland, Oregon.

Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

 

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Chad Stevens (Sen Cosmicflight)

Chad Stevens, a life-long Star Wars fan, joined the crew of SWNN as a writer in April, 2016. He is a speaker and author and has previously served as a Film Review writer for ‘Greenlight Reviews’. His favorite Star Wars memory was seeing the original Star Wars film at the 100 Twin Drive-In in Minnesota back in 1978. Chad loves to collect rare Star Wars memorabilia that includes films, toys and movie posters.

Location: California, USA

 

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Justin Skeen (Darth Lexor Kai)

Host of the Resistance Broadcast, and full-time nursing student. He was born and raised in Oklahoma but currently resides in Northern Virginia. A Star wars fan since 1997, and he’s been addicted to the franchise ever since. Justin is a proud veteran of the United States Navy.

Location: Northern Virginia, USA

 

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Trevor Mill (Trevor)

Trevor is an Engineer, life-long Star Wars fan, and Star Wars memorabilia collector since seeing the first movie in 1977. He is an occasional writer for the Star Wars News Net blog, staff guest on The Resistance Broadcast, and forum moderator in the SWNN Cantina. Trevor is married with grown children, and his other vices besides Star Wars are Mad Max, Firefly, and building hot rods.

Location: Montana, USA

 

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Robert Wright (Bluestreaking)

Robert is a history teacher and devoted wrestling coach. Robert has loved Star Wars as far back as he can remember, counting it among his three greatest loves (the other two of course being history and wrestling). Robert is also a devoted fan of Captain Phasma, striving to collect as much merchandise of the Chrome Trooper as he can. A long time fan of the site, Robert joined the team as an editorial contributor in early 2015 and also occasionally serves as a guest for the Resistance Broadcast. Alongside his career as an educator Robert also works on several independent creative projects spanning from fiction writing to video game design.

Location: Kentucky, USA

 

ChrisChris Riordan (Darth Zloi)

Chris Riordan is a teacher of English as a foreign language. He’s been a massive Star Wars fan since the days that he used to tow around his favorite Ithorian figure in his back pocket, whatever the situation. Chris primarily works with the broadcasting department as both a contributor to the Resistance Broadcast and host of the Can(on)tina Chatter podcast. In addition to these duties, he reviews Rebels episodes and pitches in with the occasional editorial.

Location: Moscow, Russia

 

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Jelena Bidin (LadyMusashi)

Jelena is a philologist and freelance translator from Belgrade, Serbia, who was only 18 months old when the original Star Wars was released. There never was a time when the galaxy far, far away wasn’t part of her life. On SWNN, she shares comic book reviewing duties and jumps in where she is needed. She wants her own working lightsaber and will take you down if you malign any of the Star Wars ladies.

Location: Belgrade, Serbia

 

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Freeman Cooper (Jedi Master Kalu)

Freeman is a professional Advertising Designer, Writer/Director, and an occasional contributor to the site. A 90’s baby, Freeman was first introduced to the original Star Wars trilogy via the 1990s VHS special editions and fell in love with the franchise. He joined the Cantina forum in the fall of 2014 and later took a more active roll in the community as a forum moderator in the Cantina’s 1030th. Now a staff member, Freeman primarily gathers news and manages the site’s tumblr account.

Location: Greensboro, NC, USA

 

Sam

Samuel Thomas

Born in South West England, 1989, Sam is a primary school teacher with a degree in digital art. After first being subjected to the original trilogy in the mid 90s, Sam has since become hooked to everything and anything Star Wars and is an avid reader of anything canon. Sam is taking care of SWNN’s Instagram account.

Location: London, UK

 

 

SWNN Tees

 

In response to many of our readers asking about T-shirts, we have finally decided to make these available! SWNN is not interested in making money off of our T-shirt sales.  We have made every effort to get the lowest possible price for our readers, and we chose TeePublic who not only manufacture the tees, but also ship them. We will be donating every profit we receive from the two SWNN designed tees to the Force for Change initiative, and even double it.

 

If you are interested in a T-Shirt, let us know in the comments below, and share with us what type of content you would like to see more on the site. Five of our readers who comment will be chosen to receive a free SWNN T-shirt! If there is interest we will giveaway even more in the future.

 

Both T-Shirt designs are provided through teepublic.com and can be purchased HERE, together with several other designs we added from other designers. For the next 2 days the tees will cost only $14, instead of their regular price ($20).

 

Website | + posts

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

15 thoughts on “Meet the SWNN Staff and Check Out Our New T-Shirt Designs!

  • June 15, 2016 at 10:03 pm
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    Thanks for all the work you do, guys. The site is great!

  • June 15, 2016 at 10:26 pm
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    Wow, I didn’t realize the staff was so large. Thanks for all the great work every day!

    Viral Hide is just like Ransolm Casterfo from Bloodline with that imperial guard mask. I hope you could add it to your collection of imperial artifacts! 🙂

  • June 15, 2016 at 11:44 pm
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    Keep up the good work! I enjoy audiobooks, so more book reviews and recommendations would be something I’d like to see in your content. The t-shirts look great too — I’d definitely like one.

    • June 16, 2016 at 5:36 pm
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      Dude I love audiobooks. I do a ton of driving and it’s a great way to pass the time in traffic. I’ll be starting on Lost Stars today after I finish Shadow of the Giant (Ender’s Game/Bean saga).

  • June 16, 2016 at 12:04 am
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    Nice to finally put the post with faces even if you don’t always see them all outside the forums. Dekka vaguely reminds me of John “Bender Bending Rodriguez” DiMaggio and Darth Zloi has the best Blue Steel smolder hands down of anyone on here.

  • June 16, 2016 at 12:43 am
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    I’d like to see more of the retro-like review stuff, but with some newer content. There are so many people who have entered the Star Wars universe with TFA, but have never heard of The Clone Wars and Rebels, some of the earlier canon material, like A New Dawn and Lords of the Sith, etc.

    • June 16, 2016 at 3:31 pm
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      Great idea. BTW, I will be posting a new Retro Review here soon. Look for it in the coming weeks…

  • June 16, 2016 at 1:08 am
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    I think there is a good balance as to what you can find on the site. I also think checking out The Cantina forum you come across a variety of stuff. I think it would be cool to have a SWNN shirt… I would wear it if I ever go to another Star Wars Celebration. There are some other Star Wars sites, but when I discovered this one, it became my favorite.

  • June 16, 2016 at 1:16 am
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    Don’t give me a free shirt, I’ve had so much enjoyment and entertainment here and in the cantina I kinda need to purchase one of these.

  • June 16, 2016 at 2:35 am
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    Woah your shirts are badass

  • June 16, 2016 at 3:14 am
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    SWNN is the best AIO Star Wars page around the net. Since I found it some time ago, this page is in my bookmarks-Royal Box, and a daily “must see”. Good work people !!

  • June 16, 2016 at 4:25 am
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    Dear god.. i wish they had 4XLT (tall) shirts T_T i want the top 3 sooo bad.

  • June 16, 2016 at 7:05 am
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    Nice tees, and I love that all the profits go to charity. Good on you guys. I would like to see more interviews with the cast, but I’m not talking the major players. I want to know more about the actors behind the bit-characters in the saga who we know so little about.

  • June 16, 2016 at 2:26 pm
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    Mmmm. Yes. I’m interested in a t-shirt. 😉 I like t-shirts.
    Thank you for your great work, people. A great daily medicine.
    I think its great the way it is. There is a lot of information already.

  • June 20, 2016 at 6:45 am
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    I want a t-shirt for sure. I’d like to see more behind the scenes stuff about all the movies. Things we may not know no matter how small about not just the well known stuff or actors, but everyone and everything

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