Her Universe Joins Forces with Course of the Force for Official Apparel

Star Wars™ fans are preparing for yet another epic journey this year as the 2nd annual Course of the Force lightsaber relay prepares for its launchJuly 9th through the 16th. This time, Her Universe™, a leader in female genre merchandise, and founded by actress and voice of Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ashley Eckstein, will be the apparel merchandise partner for the event. Her Universe will be selling this brand new merchandise for both men and women at the COTF "conival" events in San Francisco, Santa Monica, Huntington Beach and Oceanside Pier as well as at the Her Universe booth at San Diego Comic-Con International where the relay concludes. $5.00 from the sale of each shirt and $10.00 from the sale of each hoodie will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The Course of the Force is an Olympic torch-style relay that all aspiring Jedi Knights can take part in. The week long journey, which begins in San Francisco and ends in San Diego, benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundations of California. Renowned artist Russell Walks designed the 2013 look for Course of the Force that is featured on the merchandise.

"Since I began working as an artist with Lucasfilm, a lot of my childhood wishes have come true," said Walks. "Designing the key art for the Course of the Force relay allowed me, in a very small way, to help some kids realize THEIR dreams, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and I consider myself very lucky to have been asked to help."

In addition to providing the apparel for this year's Course of the Force, Eckstein is also returning, for the 2nd year in a row, as co-host with The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick and other talent for the exclusive coverage of the relay.

"It's an honor to return as a co-host and merchandise partner for Course of the Force," said Eckstein. "This is truly a magical and Force-filled event. It was also a pleasure to work with Russell Walks. We are so lucky that he donated his time and talent to create this amazing design!"

You can still sign up for Course of the Force, the lightsaber relay from Skywalker Ranch to Comic-Con International in San Diego July 9-16, 2013 benefiting the Make-a-Wish Foundation, by clicking here:

Course of the Force Strikes Back for San Diego Comic Con 2013

We were fortunate to attend the very first closing ceremonies for Course of the Force last year, which ended up in San Diego before San Diego Comic Con 2012 would begin. Being huge Star Wars fans, it was truly an amazing experience to see this giant Jabba's Sailbarge rolling down the streets of San Diego. Here is our coverage from the Course of the Force last year. With the amazing success of raising money for Make-A-Wish, Course of the Force will be back again this year! 

Official Press Release for Course of the Force 2013:

On the heels of last year’s monumental, first-of-its-kind event, Course of the Force, the lightsaber run that captivated the attention of Star Wars^™ fans around the world, is returning July 9^th – 16^th, 2013.  Kicking off at the famed Skywalker Ranch, participants will continue the relay run down through San Francisco with several stops along the California coastline before reaching the finish line— arriving just in time for the start of the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con^® International convention. Nerdist Industries’ founder Chris Hardwick will be back to host the event, with city-stops along the way featuring “Conivals” where fans can celebrate their love of the Saga with live entertainment, expo booths, giveaways and much more.

"Our plan to run at Comic-con screaming with a lightsaber worked beyond our wildest dreams. People showed up! Lots of them! In cosplay! And we were able to grant more than 1000 wishes for Make-A-Wish!" said Chris Hardwick. "Last year we started in Santa Monica, this year, Marin, and hopefully next year Tatooine.”

 Course of the Force has reteamed with the Make-A-Wish Foundation® chapters of Greater Bay, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego with 100 percent of all runner registration proceeds benefiting the charity.  In 2012, the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® had a strong presence during the inaugural event, with Make-A-Wish kids participating in the opening and closing ceremonies of Course of the Force and running in the event.

Given the overwhelming response to the 2012 relay, this year’s event is expanding and will cover nearly 500 miles; at the end of the route, Course of the Force will be hosting activities at the Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego during San Diego Comic-Con International from July 18^th - 20th.

Highlights from last year’s 136-mile Course of the Force lightsaber run featured a caravan of costumed runners, Jabba the Hutt’s Sail Barge and two Yoda-fied RVs traveling down the Pacific Coast Highway. 

In addition to helping grant wishes, participants of Course of the Force will run quarter-mile segments down the California coast, passing off the official Course of the Force lightsaber. Registration is now open at http://www.starwars.com/courseoftheforce. Each relay spot is $150, which includes a customized Hasbro lightsaber, exclusive Course of the Force swag bag and the experience of a lifetime.  Runners are encouraged to be creative and wear their best Star Wars gear.  

All Course of the Force video content will be distributed via Starwars.com  at http://www.starwars.com/courseoftheforce and hosted on the Nerdist YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/Nerdist. 

For more information on Course of the Force, visit http://www.starwars.com/courseoftheforce. 

RESOURCES

Website – starwars.com/courseoftheforce

Facebook – facebook.com/courseoftheforce                       

Twitter – @CourseOtheForce

Google + – plus.google.com/103291298159790820268

Pinterest – pinterest.com/courseotheforce/

YouTube – youtube.com/nerdist & youtube.com/courseoftheforce

Lucasfilm, the Lucasfilm logo, STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd.  All rights reserved.  All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

Course of the Force Finale Run in San Diego on July 11, 2012

History would be made on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 and we were fortunate to attend and be part of it. Course of the Force would be introduced for the first time this year and created by Lucasfilm Ltd., Nerdist Industries and Octagon. Course of the Force is an Olympic torch style relay run with lightsabers, where the participants will make a journey from Santa Monica to San Diego while benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In this journey in the inaugural run, Course of the Force would help raise well over $100,000 and continues to grow as their auctions continue on Ebay through July 21st. 

The adventure would begin on Saturday, July 7, 2012 in Santa Monica where great festivities occurred in honor of lighting the torch (lightsaber) to begin the long journey to Endor (I mean San Diego). During the run, parties would finish off the successful lightsaber passings in each city, each day. 

We were fortunate to be part of the history by attending the grand finale of the run on the final day in San Diego at the Balboa Theater.