Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 3h

I had a great time manning the Master Replicas booth at SDCC! They're back, baby, and they're bringing a lot of awesome Scifi memorabilia to your doorstep! Follow their new account to check out all the cool collectibles incoming from Star Trek, BSG, Stargate, Doctor Who, Foundation, and more!

Master Replicas @masterreplicas.bsky.social · 4h

Ahem... 🧹

What did we miss?

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 19h

THE WHOLE REASON I WANT TO PAY YOU MONEY IS TO GET A HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT CREATED BY A PROFESSIONAL. I don't have time or the ability to make it myself. If I wanted the slop machine to slop up my project with its shitty slop, I know where to go, and it'd be cheaper than buying from you!!

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 19h

It's making your asset marketplace 1000 times worse if I have to fucking click on the "NO AI" button EVERY SEARCH and then that still doesn't filter out people who don't self tag their asset, EVEN IF THEY MENTION IN THE DESCRIPTION IT WAS AI GENERATED.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 19h

Creative Market, Adobe Stock, and every stock site should prohibit the resale of AI-generated imagery and ban people who are caught trying to sell AI-generated assets. If I wanted to use that kind of garbage in my project I would make it myself. Their ONLY advantage is a guarantee of skilled labor.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 23h

Standing over my pooping dog like I'm his Secret Service agent.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

I did write lore for that, but it's never been officially recognized. I think Dave posted it to his Instagram at some point.

A secret communique from the administrator of a Romulan salvage yard, attempting to sell captured Elachi ships to an unknown party.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

We don't even know if these ships are supposed to be Klingon! :p

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

The M'Chla Bird of Prey Refit, which I personally call the M'Chla II, was designed by EC Henry, based on an idea from @vengeancegod.bsky.social to take the Bird of Prey from Star Trek: Discovery and modernize it to the TNG/STO era. Donny Versiga did some polish and intake work on the ship as well.

In-game screenshot of the M'Chla Bird of Prey Refit from Star Trek Online

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

The QeHpu' Advanced Light Battlecruiser has always been one of my personal favorite original STO designs. It feels dead-on for a "big brother" to the B'Rel. It was designed by Hector Ortiz and modeled by Ian Richards.

A screenshot from Star Trek Online of the QeHpu' Light Battlecruiser.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

At 2:03 of the NYCC Starfleet Academy trailer, you see a battle with some ships - at least a couple of them are Klingon ships that were originally designed for Star Trek Online. The big ship is the QeHpu' Advanced Light Battlecruiser and the little circled one is the M'Chla Bird-of-Prey Refit.

A frame from the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy New York Comic Con trailer showing a space battle. Two of the ships featured were originally ship designs created for Star Trek Online.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 1d

If I had a nickel for every time the canonicity of a Star Trek Online ship has been announced by an New York Comic Con trailer for a Star Trek TV show, I'd have two nickels.

Which isn't a lot, but it's fucking awesome that it's happened twice. 🧵

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

TheTrekspert wants a giant obsidian sphere @thetrekspert.bsky.social · 1d

@thomasthecat.bsky.social

Someone on Reddit spotted these... 👀

😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

Mikey Fatum @vengeancegod.bsky.social · 1d

The #StarfleetAcademy trailer was extremely cool. But I was most excited about THIS. (1/4)

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 2d

Mine broke within a week!!

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 2d

This is a model of the remastered version I did for Star Trek: Picard! very excited to see her in the wild!!

TrekCore.com 🖖 @trekcore.com · 2d

The upcoming Pathfinder-class USS DREXLER from #StarTrekPicard, on the way soon from Fanhome

#StarTrek #NYCC

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

Dr. Emily Friedman @friede.bsky.social · 3d

"I can still hear the falcon's cry!"

(How could I resist this moment with what I believe is Gus, the resident Peregrine Falcon at AU’s Raptor Center, one of the great outreach arms here?)

OK, it’s Fall Break, so you’ve got me live again tonight.

#CriticalRoleSpoilers in 🧵 so mute or follow now.

Matthew Mercer and Brittany Walloch-Key meet Gus, a Peregrine Falcon at the Auburn University Raptor Center

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

Dayton Ward @daytonward.bsky.social · 3d

Okay. NOW I can officially share some info about my next novel.

#StarTrek
#StarTrekPicard

Coming April 2026! Star Trek: Picard – To Defy Fate!

After waiting for a few of the outstanding ducks to get into the row with their buddies, I’m now officially able to share not only the cover but also the cover blurb for To Defy Fate, my next…

daytonward.wordpress.com

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

Alex Hanna-ween @alexhanna.bsky.social · 4d

As an instructor, I'd rather see your fever dream, No Doze-fueled 4AM essays written at an IHOP rather than anything generated by an LLM.

Hope this helps

Dane 🔜 NYCC AA L-34 @monkeyminion.com · 4d

I wrote a 15 page report on heraldic symbolism in medieval armor and weapon design for my art history class the night before it was due (8am class). Made up 90% of it (only found one book for reference) and got an A. GenAI could fucking never.

wrote 20 pages on Faulkner's The Bear four hours before final papers were due on trucker pills and coffee and cigarettes and got an A, fuck you.
You people couldn't hang with real slackers.
finn
wokeupchic • 4d
It's fuck Al till your homework due in 25 minutes

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 4d

Wait so his his full name Michael Mouse???

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 4d

I think if a AA studio got like 5-10 million dollars to make a really polished "supermarket simulator" type game, it would do numbers.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 5d

And it doesn't even have to be random! Like, just trying out a scifi book that's still wildly popular but isn't part of the "Star" franchises, can be a refreshing experience.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 5d

But just like with restaurants, sometimes it's worth taking the risk on the mom and pop diners and dive bars because that's where you find something that has a bit of pride and ownership and rawness that you might not expect.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 5d

Like, with a big IP, we assume any new "official" entry has to meet a minimum quality bar, and at the very least if we don't like the overall thing, it's still going to have elements we know we'll like. It's like ordering at a fast food restaurant. It's about consistency more than quality.

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Thomas Marrone @thomasthecat.bsky.social · 5d

Trying to force myself to look outside of mega mainstream IPs - yes I love those worlds, but there really is a lot of fantastic stuff out to discover. I think there's a sunk cost fallacies on big IPs and we're worried about the "risk" of "wasted" time on new things if we don't like them. (cont.)

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Reposted by Thomas Marrone

Lilium Brick Yards @liliumbrickyards.com · 5d

Trying a little something new, would you believe this took 3 days to render?

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