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Obviously this thread is going to try to avoid bitching about wiping out the old EU, but is it okay to still reference or discuss the Legends stuff? I recently read the original Thrawn trilogy a few months ago and got my hands on "Spectre of the Past" or whatever. I really enjoy them.
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Dec 17, 2020 21:21
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thrawn527 posted:Oh absolutely. Talk about it, praise it, bitch about it, go crazy. Good to know, I knew of the original Thrawn Trilogy as a kid only through the comics, and read the actual books after the ST came out. It was nice to a well-plotted set of sequels, and the characterization of everyone was fun. I'm looking forward to seeing Mara and Luke's relationship evolve past "I hate you and want to kill you but I can't" on Mara's side. Chairman Capone posted:Speaking of Aftermath, there have been a few references to it in this season of The Mandalorian, which really stuck out for me because before this, the only reference to the new-canon EU in the live action productions was the valachord mention in Solo. I think it speaks a lot that even after the continuity reboot, the new EU just hasn't made an impact on people writing the actual scripts. Especially stuff like both Mandalorian and Episode IX explicitly stating that the civil war ended with Endor. Not gonna lie, but between talking with some students who are into the new novels, and reading a bunch of the new comics via my local public library, I feel like the Disney EU is already pretty bloated and convoluted. Like, Luke and Vader have now officially squared off at least 3 times prior to ESB thanks to the comic stuff. That's just crazy. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Dec 17, 2020 |
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Dec 17, 2020 21:58
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Drone posted:Legacy was cool mostly because of Imperial Knights, which were cool and neat. Unlike Jedi, which are dumb and bad. Agreed, I remember as a kid reading the Legacy comics and thinking it was a great take on the franchise. Too bad the conclusion to the whole series got shoved into 6 issues. And that Krayt came back and killed his second who honestly would've made a more interesting final villain. That Dark Empire video is surprisingly well done. I really wish Disney would give the EU sources the DC Animated Universe and allow tons of different books to be turned into animated movies that don't have to be connected to their nucanon, but fat chance of that happening. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Feb 24, 2021 |
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Feb 24, 2021 01:06
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thrawn527 posted:
So I recently had my Star Wars interest piqued again because my toddler has been watching the movies with me, and I started working on the Hand of Thrawn duology (I finished the Thrawn trilogy a year or two ago). The book makes a lot of references to other Star Wars novels, and I was about to come in here and ask what other old EU books were the best, and hey, here's this handy-dandy list already here. Thanks! I think I might try one or two old EU books prior to the Thrawn trilogy just to see them, and one or two NJO for the same reason. Now if only I could get my hands on the Marvel Epic Collections of the comic Thrawn Trilogy and Dark Empire trilogy. Too bad they're out of print (and hideously expensive second-hand).
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Nov 28, 2021 22:30
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So what's the general consensus on the Disney EU versus the Old EU? I know the old EU got super-convoluted by the end, my impression of Disney EU is it's on its way there. Just from the comics alone it feels like they're trying to cram too much inbetween the OT movies. Am I off the mark or is that the general sentiment?
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Nov 29, 2021 18:13
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Thanks for ya'll sharing your thoughts. To be honest, I grew up with the old EU so I'm attached to it, but I'll take a good story where I find one, there is some good stuff Disney is putting out nowadays. Casimir Radon posted:You put a bunch of stupid stuff in a tent pole movie, and you’re pretty much stuck with it. That describes a lot of my feelings about the new Disney stuff succinctly. The Sequel Trilogy put me off so much (I honestly was not going to even see Rise of Skywalker until my wife insisted, she had never watched Star Wars before we got married, but she liked the Kylo/Rey stuff), I'm pretty leery off most new Disney stuff. I still appreciate they're reprinting all the old novels and comics though, at least I can have good quality copies of old EU now.
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Nov 30, 2021 18:22
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I just bought the following books off of Thriftbooks for 20 bux. Excited for most of them. Jedi Academy Trilogy (I know they're not the most recommended but I like Kevin Anderson's Tales of the Jedi Series and I know they have some connections) I, Jedi (I like Stackpole's Battletech work) Visions of the Future Survivor's Quest Definitely excited for the Zahn stuff, mildly excited for them all. Once I have the Dark Empire and Tales of the JEdi comics, I'll have all the EU stories I enjoyed as a kid, for my kids to one day read. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Dec 1, 2021 |
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Dec 1, 2021 14:09
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I actually have Specter of the Past on my bedside table right now, almost done with it. I bought it back when I first read the Thrawn trilogy.
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Dec 1, 2021 16:23
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Casimir Radon posted:I’m honestly hoping at least the Jedi Academy Trilogy and I, Jedi get rereleases going forward. The rerelease of old Legends material seems to be picking up steam with Rogue Squadron and Shatterpoint this year, and Wedge’s Gamble coming out in April. You can always buy old copies of books off thriftbooks or abebooks for dirt cheap. Pretty sure Amazon has a collected edition of Jedi Academy re-releases under the Legends label.
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Dec 2, 2021 19:50
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Siivola posted:I remembered I own a copy of Aftermath I've never finished and good grief it sucks real bad. I was perusing my local library to see if they had any old EU books, but the only Star Wars book they could find was Aftermath. Hard pass.
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Dec 21, 2021 16:34
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Reading report: Working my way through the Jedi Academy trilogy. It's... ok. it's kind of jarring going from Zahn's crisp characterization of the OT and others to Anderson's dialogue, which usually feels too wordy, and sometimes immature (Han is probably his weakest take). I think a comic adaptation would suit the trilogy a lot more, since Anderson is typically a comic writer. There are some stand-out moments though. Being deep down in the Spice Mines of Kessel was genuinely creepy, as is the Maw stuff. An okay book so far, I'll be done with it in another day or two probably.
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Dec 23, 2021 02:43
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thrawn527 posted:Oh dear god, you’re doing what? Siivola posted:KJA's comic writing is just as bad as his prose. It's been ages since I read one of his comics but I'm pretty sure his dialogue is just as bad, his twists equally hackneyed, and to top it off he has no room for exposition so things just happen one after another. See, I actually really enjoy his Tales of the Jedi series. It reeks of 90s comic vibes, in a good way. The only problem I had with it was I felt the whole Exar Kun becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith came way too quick, and was resolved way too quick. Needed another 5 issues inbetween meeting him and his fall to make it work I think. And like another poster said, the final mini-series, Redemption was real good. Jedi Academy is a cool enough premise, if it gets much worse I'll probably just stop and get back to Zahn stuff. Or I, Jedi. I actually remember my brother having a Star Wars book in the family home when I was a kid, he hasn't touched it in decades, so I asked him to mail to me. Turns out it's The Crystal Star. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Dec 24, 2021 |
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Dec 24, 2021 19:15
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Chairman Capone posted:The idea of the Jedi Temple being built over a dark side shrine was originally invented by Matt Stover for Traitor, but it's one of those things where Lucas seems like he independently came up with the idea for Clone Wars. Knowing Luceno, him using it in the Tarkin book was probably him trying to integrate both of those ideas. Ah shoot, I forgot that it was Tom Vietch who started it. I always appreciate (as a kid) the way he tied in Dark Empire and TOTJ together. Too bad Vietch lost creative control over it, for all the flak Dark Empire gets I genuinely enjoy it. Does anyone have the old "Let's Read Dark Empire" link? Casimir Radon posted:It’s really dumb that they haven’t reissued TOTJ in hardcover. Also dumb that we never got any novels from the era, excepting the TOR tie-ins. The comics move way too quickly, and major events often take place over a couple of pages. I wish we’d gotten a more intimate look at those stories.. Good news if you like giving Disney money, you can pre-order the first half of the TOJT series. Set for a May 2022 release. https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Le...38126405&sr=8-3 Siivola posted:If you get a chance, since you already like Stackpole's work, you might also want to grab the Rogue Squadron series. Corran's adventures start there and continue in I, Jedi. Do the Dark Horse Rogue Squadron comic series cover most or all of the Rogue Squadron books? Because I see they're about to release an omnibus of basically Rogue Squadron issues 1-35 here https://organicpricedbooks.com/products/star-wars-legends-the-new-republic-omnibus-vol-1-hc-lauffray-cover Hey look they also have some Dark Empire in stock... hmmm, tempting. https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Legends-Epic-Collection/dp/1302926985/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1640387519&sr=8-19
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Dec 25, 2021 00:14
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fartknocker posted:The Rogue Squadron comics tell a completely separate story from the books. Good to know, thanks. Just finished Jedi Search. For a book called Jedi Search, I think only the first third of the book actually has anyone searching. Seemed like a neat opportunity for just lots of world-building and exploring, the whole Kessel/Maw plot honestly felt kind of intrusive and unnecessary. Oh well, on to Dark Apprentice. Rochallor posted:Plotwise Dark Empire is maybe the stupidest SW thing ever released (until TRoS) but its storytelling is decent and the art is gorgeous. It absolutely nails the tone of pervasive corruption and light vs dark. You take away the dialogue bubbles and it's a masterpiece. Derivative sure, re-treading some familiar ground yeah, but honestly I think the concept of Palpatine being an evil bastard who thinks he's so indispensible that he has clone after clone of himself so he can never die (And thus hold onto power forever) to be very in-character for the man we meet. The non-stop super-weapons does get a little old but I think it wouldn't look so bad if the EU wasn't full of stories like that. Now here's an interesting thought, what would a combination of the Thrawn Trilogy and Dark Empire look like. Due to the publishing conflict, Dark Empire had to justify why Palpatine never stepped in and helped Thrawn during his campaign (or assume control), with the handbook I think saying Palpatine was jealous and didn't want Thrawn to be seen as the reason why the Empire was victorious. What happens if during the Thrawn campaign Palpy's Dark Empire also rises up and causes a 3-way royal battle? Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Dec 25, 2021 |
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Dec 25, 2021 21:52
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Update: Might give up on Dark Apprentice and just go to the Zahn books I have. First chapter was promising, stuff about Luke's Academy, but then we have a 100-page detour where Leia is once again sent on a diplomatic mission because ??? Seriously, so many problems with how Leia is getting used in this series. 1) A lot of the tasks being given to her by Mon Mothma seem so trivial (Picking dinner options, reviewing reports, attending a musical concert) 2) Where in all that is Holy is her staff, any staff? Should I really believe that Mon Mothma runs the New Republic with 6 advisors, who all happen to be former military Rebellion leaders? For a faction with thousands of planets, shouldn't there be a staff of thousands under Leia to do all this trivial stuff? 3) Why on earth is Leia continuing to be transported to these important diplomatic meetings on small 2-man craft? One of the most important members of the govt., with a war against the Empire still going, and you send her out on a ship that can only take a few hits, with zero entourage? Just... really dumb. Just an excuse to cause ship drama. Also, Han and Lando get into a really immature fight over the Falcon. Yeah, I think I'm kind of done with this book series. Onto Visions of the Future.
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Dec 26, 2021 17:38
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Arc Hammer posted:Did you at least get to the part where Han and Kyp go xtreme skiing. Yeah. Jazerus posted:KJA is starting a grand tradition here of authors revealing exactly how much they don't understand what would be required to govern a city let alone a galaxy, of leia doing menial diplomatic poo poo when she's supposed to be a bigshot leader, and so on What's frustrating there is all you have to do to get an inkling of how much goes in to running an organization is look at any local town meeting minutes, or even a local charity group. I help run a charity group of 30-200 guys (active vs. inactive) and we have meetings and reports on just running a pancake breakfast, with project leads/staff, etc. It really should be that hard. quote:not sure if he started the "leia is lowkey racist" tradition too, it's been awhile since i read jedi academy I didn't see it in there. Isn't that more of a conspiracy thing because Chewie didn't get his medal in ANH? Casimir Radon posted:Zahn was able to give all the main characters something to do and thus a lot of the 90s EU book tried to do the same thing, but not as successfully. The Black Fleet Crisis is probably the worst example since the three main plots have nothing to do with each other, and both tertiary plot lines have incredibly unsatisfying endings. I mean, JA had an easy out here; just have all of the main characters be involved in searching for Jedi. If you really wanted to involve Imperials, have one of the trio encounter a long-undercover group of Imperials dedicated towards exterminating all the Jedi, who see the new Academy as their target. I guess ideas are always easier in hindsight. fartknocker posted:For all of the criticisms of KJA, and a lot of them are well deserved, I feel the Jedi Academy Trilogy are at least quick reads that move along for the most part. Not going to lie, this reason alone is making me tempted to just finishing them so that I can say I did. I can knock out each one in 3-4 days. Just... not sure if I want to read anything else dumb.
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Dec 26, 2021 20:33
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Robot Style posted:She also called him a walking carpet while he was helping to save her from the Death Star. And it didn't actually end up in the movie, but the rough draft of Empire had Leia being racist against Lando for being a clone. 1) I mean I cut Leia a lot of slack in ANH, given that her home planet and entire culture just got genocided. 2) Pretty sure clones get a super bad wrap in the pre-prequel EU since most writers wrote the Clone Wars as being Clones vs. Everyone else. It's an interesting tidbit all the same. EDIT: VVV It's in the Thrawn trilogy mostly where a lot of characters just mention "The Clone Wars" and shudder at the horror that supposedly occurred. Mara Jade does that for one. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Dec 27, 2021 |
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Dec 27, 2021 00:31
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Decided to keep reading Dark Apprentice. After the childish Han/Lando stuff, it did actually pick up a bit. ~ Neat stuff in Luke's academy (What I actually wanted from the series) ~ Cool idea with Exar Kun using Anakin's image to try to trick Luke, but of course Mr. Kun is too hammy to keep it convincing ~ drat, poor Gantoris ~ The next Han/Lando scene was way better ~Daala being Daala, at least it's well-written and not too cartoonish, just accurate for your typical genocidal evil empire faction. Stuff that was dumb ~ The Hidden Planet the Solo kids are on... super unstable, could collapse at any moment, or at least in a century. That's... not a good idea. ~ Han and Lando are going back to Kessel (Big Vader NO here) ~ Anderson I don't think remembers how many students Luke actually has. Luke names 12 he WANTS, but KJA only names 5 or 6 currently with him, but then twice mentions All 12 or 11 being right there. This happens once immediately before a scene where Mara Jade, one of the 12 Luke names, as being somewhere else (with Han and Lando). ANDERSON PLEASE COUNT
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Dec 27, 2021 19:28
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Continuing to work on Dark Apprentice, - Mon Calamari world-building was cool. - Daala is supposed to be a f*ck-up right? Like all her "cool skills and outside-the-box thinking" is just her own self-aggrandizement while she continues to F up? I mean, to be fair, I don't think anyone could have predicted two suicide ship runs on her Star Destroyers, but drat. This is like a joke from KJA right?
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Dec 29, 2021 01:09
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Finished Dark Apprentice, working on Champions - kinda annoyed how Luke got chumped by Kyp and Exar Kun so easily. Dude's a Jedi Master, beat Darth Vader, how is not-dead Kun gonna be a threat? Luke definitely should not have been ignorant of this evil spirit everyone else apparently knew about. Kinda leads to my next complaint. - I feel like this "trilogy" really missed a big opportunity to make it more about the namesake academy. Barely any of the academy characters get a lot of focus, just comments here and there. I think if the series had been really focusing on the characters of the new Jedi with Luke leading them, it would've been more enjoyable with less sloggy parts. I guess KJA had his hands tied since there was only so much new lore he could invent, but still... - lol at Wedge and Bird-lady stuff - So I know Kyp doesn't die at the end, I guess the reason he's not universally reviled after using the Sun Crusher to destroy 2 solar systems is because his targets were Empire holdouts, so most of the Galaxy is thinking "Well someone had to do it"? - C-3PO was pretty cool in Dark Apprentice, but I don't like the disrespect he's already gotten in Champs, it's one of the reasons I detest the Sequel Trilogy. In the original and prequels C-3P0 is a source for slapstick, but he also gets a chance in nearly every movie to do something cool or helpful. I don't like it when he just gets put down. If I was a kid I'd probably enjoy this series. It's not... unenjoyable right now, I just know there's way better books out there as far as Star Was fiction goes. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Jan 1, 2022 |
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Jan 1, 2022 14:51
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Got to the part where the apprentices all team up to blow Exar Kun away. I cheated and looked at the "Bad books read" thread and see the rest of the book is all about chasing the Death Star prototype which I'm not interested in at all, so I think I'll declare Champions finished and move on to I, Jedi. Glad to hear Kyp doesn't really appear much more after Champions.. He wasn't a bad character concept per say, just not handled well. I agree with the user who said the weakest part of the Academy trilogy being that most of the books aren't even about it. I wanted to really meet some new characters being trained by Luke, not hear about Hand and Lando playing sabacc over and over. Still some nice worldbuilding that went on. I hear KJA gets slightly better in Dark Saber but I think I'll do some Stackpole and Zahn before tackling that.
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Jan 3, 2022 01:46
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I started reading I, Jedi. Way better of a book than the Academy trilogy. Nice to see a lot of scenes where Luke is actually competent and some of the different lessons he has students trying. My only complaint so far is a complaint about anything Stackpole writes, which is he takes too many little things and has the character extrapolate and over-analyze it and how their personality is being affected/is affecting said thing/situation. He does this in his Mechwarrior books a lot too. Still a big improvement on Academy's writing, I can see thought why this might be considered a bit of a retcon.
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Jan 5, 2022 01:21
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Casimir Radon posted:I remember finding the first-person perspective pretty jarring. But I liked it at the time. Though that was when I was in high school 15ish years ago. My dearest hope is that Disney lets Stars Wars do more "What Ifs" like they're starting to do with Marvel properties. People love alternate dimensions, different outcomes. Just make a TV show or animated series called "Legends", and start adapting the better Legends Books. They'd gain a lot of goodwill back that way.
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Jan 5, 2022 12:07
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thrawn527 posted:It's an interesting idea, and could be fun, but I shudder to think of what the internet's reaction would be. "DISNEY ACKNOWLEDGES FAILURE OF SEQUELS, BRINGS BACK LEGENDS!" and "MARY SUE REY OUT, MARA JADE BACK IN!" and "KATHLEEN KENNEDY FORCED TO BRING LEGENDS BACK!" and other poo poo like that would be all over the place, whether it's true or not. People would be (more) insufferable. I mean the internet is already awash in that. I hardly go a month without seeing an article similar to that. I'm glad they are finding stuff in Legends they want to use, just wish they had been careful and done that from the getgo.
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Jan 5, 2022 21:43
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thrawn527 posted:It's an interesting idea, and could be fun, but I shudder to think of what the internet's reaction would be. "DISNEY ACKNOWLEDGES FAILURE OF SEQUELS, BRINGS BACK LEGENDS!" and "MARY SUE REY OUT, MARA JADE BACK IN!" and "KATHLEEN KENNEDY FORCED TO BRING LEGENDS BACK!" and other poo poo like that would be all over the place, whether it's true or not. People would be (more) insufferable. Not to drag this out or add fuel to the fire, but I do remember when Rise of Skywalker came out and got the backlash it did there was an interview with Kennedy where she was throwing her hands up and basically said "Disney had it easy with Marvel they had tons of comics to adapt but Star Wars had nothing, we had to make it all ourselves!". And I did a double-take when I read it. Heck they could've ignored all of Legends and just used Lucas' sequel trilogy ideas, which from what I hear he offered but was turned down. Not saying all the toxic fandom was right but the Star Wars transition just... wasn't handled well.
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Jan 6, 2022 03:45
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Chairman Capone posted:and Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order. I would get really mad at Disney for making Luke into a loser who fails at restarting the Jedi, and giving all of his cool post_ROTJ plot beats to Rey, but then I just choose to ignore the nuCanon. Would it really have been that hard for the Sequel Trilogy to have made Luke being successful at rebooting the Jedi Order and having Rey and Ben be 2 of his pupils, and start them off right there? No, they had to soft-reboot everything. I will also say while I agree with the other poster who said earlier the Legends EU just went on and on, but I feel the nuCanon is falling into that same trap by jam-packing the in-between times of the OT with events. According to those Marvel Comics Luke and Vader have run into each other and fought at least twice between ANH and ESB, which I feel cheapens ESB. Especially egregious was having Leia, Luke, and Lando go back to Cloud City after ESB, and having Leia frozen in Carbonite in the comics. On reading news, I'm enjoying I, Jedi, but I am getting kind of tired of Corran Horn always, always getting the last word/proving other people wrong verbally. The worst one was when he berated Luke over Kyp being forgiven (understandable) but then went off on a huge tangent when Luke pointed out he didn't understand the threat of the dark side that ACTUALLY HE DOES HOW DARE YOU. I don't mind characters being smarter than Luke but it gets old when he's always smarter. But then again, I know this is part and parcel for a Stackpole character. Maybe he'll get a comeuppance eventually. In other news, my complete Dark Empire trilogy omnibus comes in the mail tomorrow, or Wednesday, so that's exciting. 
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Jan 10, 2022 23:07
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Casimir Radon posted:Technically the EU had Luke and Vader square off in Splinter of the Mind’s Eye I think. But the canonicity of that wasn’t very well defined, and I think the whole plotline almost never got mentioned in other works. I’m guessing it probably happened in the old Marvel comics at least once. I have read the old Marvel comics and they definitely had Luke and Vader square off a couple times. Not necessarily with a lightsaber battle but just seeing each other. And Vader knows he's Skywalker. There's some really interesting old stories in there though for sure, like the time Leia and Luke meet a giant organic ship from another galaxy. Or the star destroyer turned into a boat.
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Jan 12, 2022 02:23
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Chairman Capone posted:I don't think Splinter was really "ditched" given that a lot of stuff in it got reused both pre and post Disney buyout. I remember a number of things in Galaxies coming from Splinter. Not to mention it got its own comic adaptation in the 90s, I think the only non-Thrawn book to get that done. Plus, Foster came back to do a Clone Wars book and the TFA novelization. That being said, he really did not like TLJ. I think some of the Vector Prime/Yuuzhong Vong invasion also got a mini-series, but you're right, not too many of the books got comic adaptations. A shame, I think Hand of Thrawn would be cool in comic format. The Thrawn comics are some of my favorite adaptations.
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Jan 12, 2022 16:33
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I have not seen either TV show, so take my thoughts with a huge grain of salt (IF they ever get released on DVD, I'll watch them, along with Clone Wars), but I think it might have been a mistake to do two TV shows with characters in Mandalorian Armor. The Mandalorian is cool, but why not do Kenobi or some non-Mandalorian character next? Rogue Squadron, something? Variety's the spice of life.
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Jan 14, 2022 17:06
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Finished I, Jedi the over day. Appreciated that as the book went on Corran Horn ran into a few characters who pointed out he was making mistakes, really appreciated how Luke Skywalker came back and absolutely put him to shame (at least in combat). Found the Invid section interesting. Also, the Caamassi are really cool, now I can understand why so many people in the Hand of Thrawn dulogy are so upset when they get close to possibly finding out how their homeworld got destroyed. Now onto Visions of the Future, then Survivor's Quest. I've got the following on my reading list after that. The Zahn novel about Jorus C'baoth's expedition (can't remember off the top of my head) Shatterpoint Revenge of the Sith Novelization Luke & Shadows of Mindor After all that, I may try out the New Jedi Order. Maybe. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jan 21, 2022 |
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Jan 21, 2022 18:06
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Thanks for those name clarifications. Currently working on Visions of the Future. Really like all the parts except for the Operation Vengeance/Wedge+Corran on Bothawui, those were boring as heck, maybe there's a big payoff for that stuff. I do like how Zahn has been going through and trying to fix all the dumb stuff that happened (Mara Jade/Lando, Luke's dumbness in the Jedi Academy trilogy). Also, I like that Lando was acknowledging that him and Han are just getting too old for this stuff. If Luke was 18 in ANH, and 22 in ROTJ, and this is 15 years after ROTJ, he's 37 at this point. Han and Lando must be getting close to mid-40s or even near 50.
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Jan 27, 2022 14:14
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So is the author creating their own canon where there is no Jedi Academy, or do they make an abbreviated or more non-sensical version of it? As bad as the Jedi Academy trilogy was, I feel the concept of Luke re-starting the Jedi with a new Academy is pretty important to his story. I'm sure it could be handled way, way better, but it shouldn't be completely obliterated. Just interested in how the author handles it. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Jan 28, 2022 |
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Jan 28, 2022 15:11
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Chairman Capone posted:If it's set immediately after the Thrawn Trilogy, I think he doesn't really need to address the Jedi Academy since it's before it in the timeline. (This reminds me of a weird point that came up in Last Jedi discourse, that TLJ Luke was wiser than EU Luke because he decided not to just immediately start a new Jedi Order... despite the fact that EU Luke also took about the same time to begin.) Disney missed a huge opportunity for merchandising by having Luke's Jedi Academy fail. Imagine Disneyland having a "Jedi Academy" portion of its park where patrons could "learn" Jedi skills/build their own lightsaber, meet some of his students, etc. Instead they decided to have him try and kill it off-screen. Wonder if any execs are kicking themselves over that decision. quote:Back in the mid-00s there was a really well known fan novelization of Dark Empire, which took things like the Thrawn Trilogy and prequels (this was pre-The Clone Wars) into account. I can't remember it, but the PDF was available online for a while, it was proper novel length. If anyone can find it that I'd like to read it. I enjoy Dark Empire a lot, flaws and all, there's a core of a good idea there, but I feel a lot of its ideas (Luke turning to the Dark Side, the Emperor's strategies) were either not completely realized or stretched out too much by having the sequel. It'd be neat to see a re-tread that streamlined a lot and got it to fit into the EU canon better. Crazy Joe Wilson fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Jan 28, 2022 |
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Jan 28, 2022 16:33
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Arquinsiel posted:It's been a thing since 2012 at least, and you can find funny videos of kids deciding to join the dark side instead all over the internet. Well color me surprised. Then again I've never gone to Disneyland so makes sense I wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Reading Visions of the Future. Got to the part where Mara is finally meeting the leader of The Hand of Thrawn/Empire of the Hand, feels like they are telegraphing the Yuuzhan Vong invasion real hard, but I thought they were created or planned years after Visions came out?
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Jan 28, 2022 17:34
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Jazerus posted:some aspects of the jedi academy trilogy appear in the book, such as luke pondering the purpose of the jedi and getting his first recruit, etc. but are ultimately very different because characters from the zahn/stackpole works are present and change how the events play out. i would estimate that the core aspect of the jedi academy trilogy (the jedi academy) progresses about as much in this book as in the first half of jedi search, but it isn't the focus yet. i am guessing that the sequel is going to tread more directly on the toes of jedi academy by portraying luke founding the praxeum and all that poo poo. luke starting an academy isn't being obliterated, just all of the bad poo poo around it Sorry, poor choice of words, I was just wondering if they re-doing the Academy but better, or if they were just ignoring it and having Luke go a different way. Sounds like they're doing the former.
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Jan 28, 2022 19:37
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They really need to think better about what they're naming these shows. Why have a show named after Boba Fett if they're going to switch the focus after only 4 episodes? Why not just do a generic "Star Wars Continues", that way you can do whatever you want with any of the characters? Almost finished Visions of the Future, I like it a lot, Pelleaon has finally confronted fake Thrawn. Kinda sad that Luke and Mara inadvertently killed Clone Thrawn. Excited to read Survivor's Quest after this.
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Feb 4, 2022 15:22
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I was watching these neat videos from 2010 with Timothy Zahn and Aaron Alliston talking about Star Wars writing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqbs1A7Wd0gPt 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_mPrG9hdLMPt 2
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Feb 11, 2022 20:12
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Honest question, I always get a twinge of confusion reading Zahn when he presents Stormtroopers as the "cream of the crop" of Imperial troops, an Elite fighting force. I know there are some Stormtrooper regiments like the 501st who even in the Lucas-canon are considered top-notch, but I feel like this Zahn-take goes counter to how Stormtroopers are portrayed in the movies; hapless dime-a-dozen soldiers with scary armor. I know that in the movie we mostly only see them when they're up against the protagonists so they're going to lose, but besides the opening to ANH we don't really see Stormtroopers kick butt and take names at any other time, so I'm not sure how Zahn can justify his interpretation.
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Feb 14, 2022 01:13
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I wish that interpretation was supported by the OT because it actually is a good idea, but I think you only see what are considered by Legends as "Ground Troops" a few times, and never in a direct combat operation (Except in ROTJ?). I liked in Solo that it seemed to be a thing, with Solo being one of the PBI, but all the other movies just point the other way with Stormtroopers being the average grunt. Also, nearly done with Survivor's Quest, pretty good novel, but I feel that with each Zahn novel I read the number of traps, twists, and secret plots being used by characters just keeps increasing and increasing. After a while it starts distracting from the plot, and is a little tiresome.
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Feb 14, 2022 19:06
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Arquinsiel posted:On the other hand, it'll be fun to ask cast members which room Kylo Ren was conceived in and watch them deal with that. Yeah, that makes sense, and I can see the protags as having advantages over the Stormtroopers; A) they're good fighters themselves, and B) seems like the Stormtroopers are always ordered to capture not kill them (Although I was watching ROTJ again the other day with my son, and kind of had to ignore the really dumb moment during the Endor battle where some troopers stop and try to take prisoner Han and Leia, who are trying to break in to the bunker). I always liked the Snowtroopers. Thrawn527 posted:Okay, I've defended a lot about the new canon and Disney stuff. But the sentence I just quoted is just...too much. I'm gonna go throw up. Given that we already know the marriage crashes and burns, I feel nothing toward this book. I'll have to give Courtship a go sometime soon.
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Feb 15, 2022 01:27
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We kind of just have to assume that the protagonists always see the special forces because the protagonists are doing protagonist things and taking on the toughest jobs.