Lightsabre: the best of 2006

2006 has been Lightsabre's biggest year to date.  after the mega blast of revenge of the sith, star wars fandom would experience what could have potentially been a lull year, between the final film and the 30th anniversary, but it suffered no such thing.  plans for the 30th anniversary geared up with the announcement of celebration 4 and celebration europe, and here at Lightsabre we did just the same, continuing to bring you the latest news, video's and information from the setnin sector.  our readership rose from 1000 in 2005 to over 10,000 by the end of 2006.  and let's not forget our star and webmaster interviews - Lightsabre continues to lead the way with fortnightly interviews with the actors, authors, artists, model-makers, webmasters and fanfilm makers of the saga.  And 2007 promises to bring you the same, and much more.

so, take a peek at the official sites look back at 2006, and then enjoy the years top five Lightsabre moments.

5: celebration mini-europe site

it looks set to be the mega event of 2007, and Lightsabre is there all the way.  bringing news of the july 2007 event, Lightsabre began a mini-site late 2006 to keep readers abreast of the latest developments, including the charity auction we shall be holding at the Lightsabre stand.  with a large number of star wars celebrities already contributing towards the auction, this looks set to be a great day - and the reporting of it started here in 2006.

4: setnin radio at the fanworks awards

after it's start in october 2005, setnin radio has so far produced 16 episodes, and the first batch were nominated in the 2006 star wars fanworks fan audio awards.  nominated in a number of categories, setnin radio snagged none but continued to produce episodes throughout the year, bolstered by the thrill of simply being nominated.  2007 looks set to continue this good trend, with setnin radio nominated in best presenter, best radio show and best hosts categories once again.  fingers crossed.

3: embedded videos

with the advent of youtube and google.video, the opportunity to brighten the site with embedded videos was just too good a chance to pass up.  and good job too, with the popularity of the videos being a major reason why so many people are now coming to Lightsabre.  even star wars insider editor frank parisi said he comes to Lightsabre to check out the film clips.  with trailers, fan films, silly clips, music videos and much more besides threaded into the site, this has been a great visual addition to the website.

2: setnin select 200

4th july 2006 marked the arrival of the 200th setnin select, with a piece by mark newbold.  after over four years, since the days of the george lucas selects on the official site, Lightsabre has been bringing visions of the setnin sector to you on a weekly basis, and finally this milestone was reached.  continuing with art by jason brown, louis turfrey, mark newbold and jonathan hicks the selects continued past 200, and 2007 brings new art by leah 'nerf-herders anonymous' mangue and tim 'wannsworld' wann.

1: interviews with the stars

once again our year has been dominated and dazzled with our many star interviews, including j w rinzler, frank parisi, simon j williamson and iain mccaig.  but 2006 also brought webmaster interviews to the site, conversations with prominent webmasters such as nathan p butler, bob vitas, albin johnson and dustin roberts.  and 2007 will continue that great guest line up, with a very special interview coming in early 2007.  watch this space.