Twin Suns Foundation
Binary Tales, Eternally Shining
Twin Suns Foundation
Binary Tales, Eternally Shining
(Billboards are 100% Funded! Check just before the perks for new details!)
For those of you who have followed Twin Suns Foundation's efforts over the past few years, you will quickly notice this is a different campaign than what we typically do. Not to worry, Twin Suns Foundation will continue its efforts to bring Star Wars books to young readers across the world in the future. In fact, we are scheduled to donate nearly 150 more books the tail end of October and we look forward to several more donations happening in 2020! For this campaign, however, our focus is on our other stated goal of obtaining an official continuation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends timeline!
So what is this fundraiser all about then? In short, this fundraiser is very similar to a fundraiser some of the individuals behind Twin Suns Foundation ran prior to the organization's inception in 2016. Back in 2015, fans of the Expanded Universe banded together to install a billboard message in San Francisco near Lucasfilm's Headquarters. This message politely requested the continuation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
After that billboard went up in April of 2016, we learned that many within Lucasfilm saw our message and that it got them talking. We suspect it is the primary reason why Twin Suns Foundation was invited to attend Star Wars Celebration back in 2017 and again in 2019. We gladly accepted those invitations and used them to do several positive things, such as donate hundreds of books to Children's Hospitals in Orlando, Chicago and other areas as well! Something else we did while we were there was ask visitors to our booth if they wanted to see the original Star Wars Expanded Universe continued. These were possibly the most avid Star Wars fans on the planet, the group most likely to spend money on merchandise and follow anything the brand does! What was their answer?
Well it was clear. The vast majority of individuals filling out our surveys at both Celebration Orlando and Celebration Chicago were in support of a continuation of the Legends timeline.
We knew then that our path forward was as clear as their answer, another billboard had to happen! But we had to improve on our original concept somehow. It is boring to simply repeat the what came before, right? Roughly two months ago, we had an idea on how to accomplish this.
Instead of installing one billboard message near Lucasfilm's Headquarters in San Francisco, why not aim to install two billboard messages even closer?
Today we are proud to present our two billboard concept images and messages!
These billboard messages are in the iconic Star Wars opening crawl style. They were chosen to echo the billboard that went up back in 2016 as it is our way of saying the fans are still here, more than three years later. These messages are intended to be a polite request for the continuation of what Lucasfilm identifies as Star Wars Legends.
"Binary tales, eternally shining."
Before we go any further, we want to make it clear that Twin Suns Foundation is NOT advocating for the discontinuation of Lucasfilm/Disney's new canon timeline. Among our team, our volunteers and our donors are many Star Wars fans who follow both timelines. We know many more fans out there are like them and we would never wish for the flow of new Star Wars content to be interrupted like the original Expanded Universe was back in 2014.
In short, we at Twin Suns Foundation believe that more of both timelines, provided they remain separate, is what is best for ALL Star Wars fans!
With that out of the way, let's talk about the new locations.
Twin Suns Foundation is intending on installing both of these messages sometime in the first half of 2020 very near Lucasfilm Headquarters once again. Our team has identified two locations ideal for this purpose and will be signing a contract to lease out the advertising spaces for a period of four weeks as soon as this fundraiser makes its goal. While we can not identify specifically where as we do not yet have the contract signed and cannot sign until we have the funds, we can tell you all that both locations we have in mind are even closer to Lucasfilm's Headquarters in the Presidio than the original 2016 billboard was. Perhaps most importantly, these locations are also along the main roads that most Lucasfilm employees will see each day for four weeks!
So why do this now?
With the conclusion of Disney/Lucasfilm's Star Wars trilogy approaching in December 2019, there is an opportunity for fans of the Expanded Universe to again be heard. The conclusion of this trilogy of films represents a good chance for Lucasfilm to shift some attention back to the older story line. By this point the new canon will have had over five years, five films, multiple television shows, novels, comics, games and more to establish itself as a legitimate storyline. Combined with the use of the Legends banner to prevent confusion, this presents the perfect opportunity for both timelines to produce new content.
Now that you are 100% funded, why did you increase the goal?
As we stated when this fundraiser started, if we should hit our original goal before our November 30th deadline and if we had time remaining, we would increase the goal to $6,500.00. The additional $700.00 beyond $5,800.00 will be going towards purchasing new Star Wars books for an upcoming Twin Suns Foundation donation event. We have not yet announced a donation location, but we will be sure to update this page as soon as we have settled on where we are going with the new books! If we do not hit our new goal by November 30th, excess funds will still all go towards new Star Wars books that will be added in to a future fundraiser event! (Either way, new books!) Our perks have changed for the second half of this fundraiser, so be sure to check out what we have below!
$10.00 - Access to the Wild Knights Discord voice chat This is where members of Twin Suns Foundation and your fellow Wild Knights have an opportunity to discuss which books get donated at upcoming donation events! This Discord voice chat is on the Star Wars Legends server that is run by members of Twin Suns Foundation and is rapidly growing! Check out our Find EU Fans page for a link to the server!
$25.00 - Your message to Lucasfilm All donors who have donated $25.00 or more will be contacted after the conclusion of the fundraiser by Twin Suns Foundation and will be asked if they would like to write their own personalized message to Lucasfilm. These messages will ultimately be put on another website linked to the Twin Suns Foundation. Donors will be given a full page of space to do what they wish with including images if they choose. (All messages and images will need to be approved by Twin Suns Foundation before they will be uploaded to the website.) This new website will host your message and those of your fellow fans for Lucasfilm to see in time for the new billboards going up sometime in the first half of 2020!
$100.00 - Princes of the Universe - Matt Wilkins is offering to bring anyone donating $100.00 or more on to his podcast, Princes of the Universe show to guest host and talk about anything you want to talk about!
Twin Suns Foundation Watch Party! (Conditional upon reaching 100% Funding by October 31st) Twin Suns Foundation will be holding a watch party, likely sometime in November, on the Star Wars Legends Discord server. This perk will be available for everyone, donors and supporters alike, to join in on! Currently the Twin Suns Foundation team anticipates doing live commentary on the Star Wars Holiday Special, but other Star Wars media may be shown as well! We will also be inviting some guests to potentially join in on the fun! Will you help make this perk a reality?
Twin Suns Foundation is Tax Exempt! As always, everyone in the United States that donates will be able to write off their donation on their taxes as Twin Suns Foundation is a 501 (c)3 non profit tax exempt entity! Be sure to take advantage of this when tax season rolls around!
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And now for the rest of the necessary information:
There is a chance, slim, but a chance, that Lucasfilm will announce an official continuation of the Star Wars Legends timeline sometime between this effort funding and the billboard messages being installed in the first half of 2020. In that event, alternative messages will be installed conveying the thanks of gracious Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends fans the world over.
Billboard one would simply state (in the opening crawl style):
"Thank you Lucasfilm
For continuing the Legends timeline!"
Billboard two would simply state (with the Twin Suns Foundation Planet Logo Image):
"Twin Suns Foundation
Promoting literacy with stories from a galaxy far, far away."
And that should just about do it for the information on this fundraising effort. If you have gotten this far, thank you for taking the time to read all of this information as there is a lot here! Remember, it is your donation and the donation of fans like yourself that will make this idea a reality. Help us take our message beyond the internet. Help us convey your wishes to the employees at Lucasfilm. Together, we can make this effort a success just as we did in 2016.
May The Force be with us all!
~Expanded Universe Movement Billboard Team
