The Skyhoppers Podcast

The Skyhoppers Podcast is a Star Wars podcast that was founded by Ben and Ash in August of 2016 and is the reason for this wiki's existence. While it was started by two people that were total strangers to one another, their friendship grew quickly, as did their communal love of Star Wars. The show has since become a place for the hosts to discuss anything and everything Star Wars, from the most current hot new thing to obscure comics that came out 25 years ago.

Origins
In August of 2016, Ben made an Tumblr post directed at no one in particular expressing interest in starting a Star Wars podcast. At some point shortly thereafter, Ash happened upon this post and reached out to Ben with the offer to start up a podcast. Though he did not know Ash, he accepted, and the first episode was recorded and released within a few weeks.

Ash and Ben began the podcast as strangers to one another, but their similar senses of humor and shared enthusiasm for Star Wars quickly drew them together as friends. As early as Episode II, they acted as though they'd been friends for a long time.

Initially, Ben was struck with the idea to start a Star Wars podcast after listening to podcasts such as Far Far Away Radio and Full of Sith, but he was slightly discouraged because he felt as though those podcasts sounded very professional and well-done, and living up to that standard would be difficult for him as a new podcaster. However, through Far Far Away Radio, he was introduced to a podcast called Rogue Podron. That show's informal nature showed gave him the confidence to seriously consider starting his own. Ash was also familiar with Rogue Podron, so naturally the show became a huge influence on the development of the Skyhoppers style and brand.

The initial idea for the format of the show was that it was supposed to be informal above all else. Rather than sticking to a rigid structure or show notes, the hosts wanted the show to have the feeling of two friends sitting down to talk about Star Wars for roughly an hour each week and talking about whatever came into their heads at the time. However, there was also an emphasis on keeping discussions always focused on Star Wars in some way and not getting too lost in the weeds talking about things that were not directly related to it. This has led to many episodes that are advertised as being about one topic, but are actually about some entirely different Star Wars topic. Some reviewers have pointed out that this loose style of podcasting truly does make them feel as though they're part of the conversation on the show, and that's just the way the hosts like it.

Development and History
There were a few technical issues in the early episodes that affected the sound quality and listening experience, but these were quickly ironed out to the best of the hosts' abilities. Ben handled everything on the back end, including editing and posting the podcast each week, and Ash focused primarily on the marketing side of things as well as creating the video versions of the episodes that were uploaded to the show's YouTube channel. These were little more than the audio versions of the show with some images added to create a visual element, but the hosts viewed this as an important way to expand the audience of the show early on.As the podcast grew, Ben created let's play videos of different Star Wars video games that were posted to YouTube, and Ash created other video content such as how-to videos for cosplay and props and promo clips for various episodes using audio clips from the show. Engagement on YouTube grew very slowly and eventually plateaued, so the decision was made by Ben and Ash to significantly scale back the podcast's YouTube presence in 2018. Ben would later return to start a slow-going Shadows of the Empire let's play that remains in progress.

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Patreon
The show continued to grow throughout 2016 and 2017, and in October of 2017 Ben and Ash created a Patreon for the show. The original intent of asking for support from listeners stemmed from a desire to simply make enough money each month to remove the burden of paying the podcast hosting fees from the hosts, but over time the number of monthly donations would exceed this goal. A number of Patreon tiers and goals were created, but it was important to Ben and Ash that the podcast never feel like it was behind a paywall in any way. Additionally, each Patreon tier offered the same benefits as every other tier, meaning that regardless of how much money a Patron gives every month, they are entitled to the same benefits as everyone else. Again, this decision was made so that no content was blocked off from anyone who was generous enough to give any amount of money. The ethos from the hosts was that anyone who was willing to give anything deserved it all, and the only thing that drove listeners to give more than a dollar every month was their own generosity.

The main benefits of being a Patreon supporter for the podcast are access to Skyhoppers After Hours, the Skyhoppers Patreon Discord Server, and participation in the monthly livestream episodes, where Patrons are able to interact with the hosts directly as they record the show. When the show reaches a certain number of Patreon supporters, there will be monthly giveaways of Star Wars merch. While the Patreon hasn't grown as much as the hosts might like, the community that has arisen from its existence has become irreplaceable.

Hiatus and Ash's Departure
The show continued on in much the same way until September of 2019 when Ben and Ash decided to take the show on hiatus. Ben was feeling very overwhelmed with everything going on in his personal life (working full time/grad school in addition to podcasting and having a social life) as well as the pressure of producing a topic and content every week and very abruptly suggested that the show go on a break. This took Ash by surprise, but she had very little choice but to agree to put the show on hold. Initially, the hiatus was supposed to be brief and simply break the pressure of having not missed a weekly episode up until that point, but ended up officially lasting from Episode CXLIII: Free All The Space Horses in September 2019 to Episode CLXIV: Back On The Mudhorn in November 2019. The pair recorded a short episode titled Everyone Needs A Break to explain to the listeners that this would be occurring. The Skyhoppers feed continued to be populated during this time with the monthly episodes of The Palpacast and the unofficial episode recorded with various guests at SkyhopperCon 2019. Ben also stepped away from Obroa-skai Walkers during this period, putting that show on hold as well.

During this time, Ash stepped on as a host of Rogue Podron to fill in while Heath was on paternity leave following the birth of his son, and she was later offered a full-time hosting slot. Despite this, she felt her love for Star Wars that drove her to contribute to The Skyhoppers Podcast waning, and she made the difficult decision to leave the show in February 2020. Her and Ben remain close friends, and she remains a host of Rogue Podron. She has since returned to The Skyhoppers Podcast occasionally as a more-than-welcome guest.

New Hosts
After Ash left the podcast, Ben was left in the position of having to find a new host, or new hosts, to join him on the podcast. Having made many friends over the course of his time in the Star Wars community, his original intent was to have different friends on as a series of guests in order to see who might be a good fit (this was mainly up to their ability to commit to the show weekly; all of the guests on the podcast are great), but instead he reached out to Cole, who is his co-host on Obroa-skai Walkers, Dakota, who had been a real-life friend that Ben would discuss Star Wars with for a few years, and Eva, a veteran guest of the show to record Episode CLXIX: Journey to the Rise of Cole: The Coole Unleashed: Electric Boogaloo: Cole Does Not Forgive: Cole Does Not Forget: Rogue Podron Is Cancelled.