I refuse to call the old Eu "Legends", because that is me admitting defeat from Disney and the Lucasfilm story group and I hate the Legends banner over the books.
"Legends" is a foul, corporate sanitizing term for everything Lucasfilm, modern Del Rey, and Marvel want to sweep under the rug and isolate from their hollow, vapid continuity. It's not like they've been calling their supplementary material the "Expanded Universe" in the old continuity's place, so I have zero incentive to use their garbage revisionist terminology. More to the point, I've only been collecting Star Wars books for the last three years or so, but I've made a conscious effort to avoid contaminating my shelf with those ugly yellow banners. They're visually unappealing, take away from both the spines and the cover art, and stand as a visual reminder of who owns the IP now. Fuck that noise.
I'm just happy that the option of the second-hand market is there to supply newcomers like me with used hardcovers and Dark Horse TPB's of the quality content, so that there's an alternative to having the Legends banner stick out like a sore thumb on my bookshelf. Some of it's fucking cheap, too---back when thrift shops were still open around here, I managed to get all ten volumes of Jude Watson's Last of the Jedi for $5, and all three Clone Wars Omnibuses for $18.
I remember watching this one video about Jedi ruined Star Wars Galaxies. Apparently one of the original plans for implementing the the Jedi was via notoriety meter. The more a Jedi used the force the more their notoriety went up. The higher it went up the more people the empire would send. It would start with thugs and basic stormtrooper then work its way up to specialized/elite troopers, bounty hunters, and inquisitors. Once the player got to a certain point Vader would show up and curbstom the player.
"Legends" is a foul, corporate sanitizing term for everything Lucasfilm, modern Del Rey, and Marvel want to sweep under the rug and isolate from their hollow, vapid continuity. It's not like they've been calling their supplementary material the "Expanded Universe" in the old continuity's place, so I have zero incentive to use their garbage revisionist terminology. More to the point, I've only been collecting Star Wars books for the last three years or so, but I've made a conscious effort to avoid contaminating my shelf with those ugly yellow banners. They're visually unappealing, take away from both the spines and the cover art, and stand as a visual reminder of who owns the IP now. Fuck that noise.
I'm just happy that the option of the second-hand market is there to supply newcomers like me with used hardcovers and Dark Horse TPB's of the quality content, so that there's an alternative to having the Legends banner stick out like a sore thumb on my bookshelf. Some of it's fucking cheap, too---back when thrift shops were still open around here, I managed to get all ten volumes of Jude Watson's Last of the Jedi for $5, and all three Clone Wars Omnibuses for $18.
I remember watching this one video about Jedi ruined Star Wars Galaxies. Apparently one of the original plans for implementing the the Jedi was via notoriety meter. The more a Jedi used the force the more their notoriety went up. The higher it went up the more people the empire would send. It would start with thugs and basic stormtrooper then work its way up to specialized/elite troopers, bounty hunters, and inquisitors. Once the player got to a certain point Vader would show up and curbstom the player.
I brought this up before, but I want to point out that Wall Street analysts are projecting that Disney’s parks might close until 2021. If that happens, this would bring severe consequences for Disney beyond Star Wars.
If that's the case then the fucks at Lucasfilm (including that two-faced fag Hidalgo) have just confirmed SE and Bongiorno's info in that the Disney Warsverse really is the forsaken timeline. Only major divergence here is that jedi holy book cataloguing this in Disney shit is referred to as the Rammahgon but George referred to the ancient SW holy book that catalogued everything as the "Journal of the Whills" in the earliest version of SW's scripts and drafts. Regardless, this seems to further confirm them wanting to push the reset button or that Lucasfilm and even that turncoat Hidalgo no longer give a shit and aren't afraid to admit their shit is a cheap Chinese knockoff at this point.
Guess I'll need to finish the last part of my coverage/summary sooner than I thought. On a side note, I find it amusing that the entries for these books state that they're a part of "Rey's Library" and not Luke's Library or the Proto-Jedi/Bendu Library. I guess she really has stolen everything from Luke Skywalker Luke J. Skywalker. Oh well, its officially the fallen timeline now so who cares lol.
Edit:
Apparently the mediocre Poe Demoron comic also features a weird reference and parallel to the Fourth Precept, SE and follows a strange pattern similar to that of the Bedlam comic but with Kaiju shit.
Poe ends up on a planet with an ancient cult made up of Avatar the Last Airbender cosplayers that has been guarding a cosmic egg for eons. The egg hatches and two demigods emerge from it embodying the light side and the dark side similar to the ones from FP. They then fight and become super gigantic but unlike in the original poem, the dark side entity wins and devours the light side one, thus the dark side prevails and the dark entity ascends to godhood. Further confirming that this the Disney Warsverse is the dark timeline forged by the dark ones where they prevail.
Not to mention the multi-million dollar animatronics constantly crashing to the point where they're being replaced by 2D screens, the damages to computers and sets due to heavy rains last year, not enough merch, how cheap Chapek is, and the most obvious is the park not being based on anything from the franchise. This had doom written all over it from the get-go. The fact that sources from last year said that GE's future depended entirely on its performance during February and March makes the current happenings all the more relevant. The under-performance and Corona have put the mark of renovation upon this park. It was a moronic venture by idiots who don't understand the brand or its audience. Just wanting to do whatever the fuck they wanted. I mean, its like if you made a Harry Potter land based on a town from that setting no one ever heard of that's some magic town in China that has nothing to do with Harry Potter except for a few static set props like a poster for Hogwarts and a few brooms on display labeled (UK-model brooms).
I wish it were so easy, but the problem is that the ownership of Power Rangers is a mixed bag, since in truth its just the translated westernized version of Super Sentai which Disney didn't own. But then again, they were still willing to give up something, so I guess that should hopefully be a good sign. I mean will all these financial losses and cutbacks, downsizing could happen before they consider the idea of selling themselves off, and considering how cheap Chapek is, downsizing could happen to see if that balances them out. Problem is who could they sell SW/Indy/etc too? FOX was the best choice but they're owned by Disney now. Every other company is almost as indifferent and hostile towards fans, if not more so, as Disney. Some keep suggesting WB or Sony, but those sound like terrible ideas based on WB's own questionable decisions as of late and how obviously exceptional Sony is. Paramount has been another name I see thrown around, but with how they've been managing Star Trek I have my serious doubts. Finally there's Universal which actually seems somewhat more willing to listen to feedback, but even I'm still skeptical. That just leaves us with maybe Amazon or even Georgy boy again. Georgy boy could definitely buy it back for a fraction of the cost and it would be incredibly profitable considering how much he got for selling it. But the real question is, would he want it back? And if he did, I could see some relief from old fans at first, but then that relief would turn to resentment for him having allowed Disney Wars to even happen in the first place when there were far better people he could've sold the brand to, which again might make him hesitant about keeping/buying it. I'm sure there are other options, but so far George seems to be the only decent one because at best he'll just go back to making merch out of it and take the brand with him to his grave, assuming of course his daughter doesn't completely butcher it again (although to a far less extreme than Disney).
Filoni has said that he has no plans to kill Rex or Ahsoka in almost everything they appear in, despite Rex definitely being past his expiration date at this point (as he's already pushing 80 in Clone Years as of ROTJ, and human lifespans in SW have been reduced in nu-canon, so he's already due with his date with the Reaper). I think he might actually pull some claim that Rex discovers a way to genetically modify himself to live forever. But if that's not the case, then this could be Rex hogging spotlight or him and Ahsoka being the stars of their own series and their appearance being Filoni's backdoor pilot. If their show isn't approved then they will definitely become the new co-stars of the Mandalorian despite taking away from the pre-established characters.
Well that poll doesn't have the option i would pick "Doesn't matter, it will still be disappointing", i have no hope or optimism left for Star Wars's future
Jedi and Sith alike are frequently taken by surprise, blindsided and caught on the back foot throughout all six Star Wars films. I don't think that there's anything in G-Canon to suggest (as the EU sometimes seems wont to) that Force-users are like Spider-Man, whose "spider-sense" makes it virtually impossible to catch him off-guard unless you're Venom (or Deadpool).
This I'll agree on; you can legit cold cock a Jedi master or full on Sith. Just because they have sensing or some ability to forsee events (hell, even specialize in them) doesn't mean they can't be surprised or killed by a normie. In fact, even in Georges' movies you have examples of this, with the best one to mind being Qui-gon and Obi Wan getting trapped in a room with poison in Episode 1, but even in OT they can be surprised; Vader was able to yeet Palpy without him fully expecting it for example.
So clones, especially ones who have training to fight Jedi based on having an Order to kill them off in case they go rogue, doing this? Pretty reasonable actually. It's just idiots like Filoni and others who want to have Jedi beyond a few (Yoda, Obi, Shaak ti in one timeline) pointlessly live beyond the prequels who fuck it up.
Jedi and Sith alike are frequently taken by surprise, blindsided and caught on the back foot throughout all six Star Wars films. I don't think that there's anything in G-Canon to suggest (as the EU sometimes seems wont to) that Force-users are like Spider-Man, whose "spider-sense" makes it virtually impossible to catch him off-guard unless you're Venom (or Deadpool).
They definitely have a bit of prescience in G-Canon, because Anakin and Obi-Wan instinctually know that something is wrong with Padme at the beginning of AotC. It's just inconsistent. If I were an EU writer who has the task of making a recognizable power out of George's movie devices, and I think some did this, I would say that a Jedi's prescience should be best when they're at peace and should become worse or nonexistent when they're stressed, tired or distracted. And only the best of the best should have a good prescience at all.
This I'll agree on; you can legit cold cock a Jedi master or full on Sith. Just because they have sensing or some ability to forsee events (hell, even specialize in them) doesn't mean they can't be surprised or killed by a normie. In fact, even in Georges' movies you have examples of this, with the best one to mind being Qui-gon and Obi Wan getting trapped in a room with poison in Episode 1, but even in OT they can be surprised; Vader was able to yeet Palpy without him fully expecting it for example.
So clones, especially ones who have training to fight Jedi based on having an Order to kill them off in case they go rogue, doing this? Pretty reasonable actually. It's just idiots like Filoni and others who want to have Jedi beyond a few (Yoda, Obi, Shaak ti in one timeline) pointlessly live beyond the prequels who fuck it up.
Yes, meatbags, I'm not arguing that the Jedi aren't being surprised. What I'm arguing about is that the more they reveal about order 66, the harder it gets to believe that many jedi got surprised at all after the first half dozen or so.
The idea that Sheev sent out an email blast simultaneously to everyone works. (which is what I originally assumed he did) The idea that he's calling every individual squad with a jedi nearby gets silly when you calculate it out.
They're freakin' wookies! Who can tear apart droids with their bare hands. At some point you have to ask yourself, "who cares?"
Actually I would have loved it if the real answer was, "we got the budget for creating uniforms for an army of wookies sir..."
(after some back and forth)
"Well if we reduced each soldier by 2 feet it would then save us enough money to build that giant sphere you always wanted."
MOTHER FUCKERS PUT SERENITY INTO THE FILM! (burn it all down!)
I would rather watch this again than Last Jedi - barely.
I can confirm, rifftrax is one of the better ones they've done in awhile. Though they have a LOT of call backs to their other SW riffs so you may want to catch up with those - or do a "best of" on youtube. To give you an idea, the guys did 1 joke about "internet trolls" responses to Rose - and about a half dozen jokes about how Rose should go away themselves.
They also make Chuck Wendig's self-insert "Snap" into "Porkins Jr" and if you've hung out on the Wendig board on this site, the jokes get funnier.
My buddy is still crying in the corner, I get the feeling he's going to be writing a treatise on this. There's so much to go over on just a story construction level, much less fitting it all into the wider canon. We did get to talking, and they would have done a much better job had Rey just been the villain all along. Just straight up rip off Dune #3 and say there was some fragment or echo of Palpatine inside her and that she was unwittingly forming this huge military force. Make the showdown in her mind with the echo of Palpatine and the Sith against her better nature - maybe make her a genetically engineered lifeform. Reveal that Kylo was a good guy all along who was trying to convince Rey to be good and she didn't realize she was tempting him to evil. Poor Daisy Ridley is trying so, SO hard to be dramatic, and you can tell how badly she's failing at it when less than a minute later Adam Driver shows up and in the span of seconds weeps over her body with triple the emotion and power she was able to "convey" in minutes of screen time.
Ok so I'm going to go over 2 big glaring problems with just construction of the story.
NUMBER ONE
I'm going to call this "comic book" syndrome. Now in that medium, this problem makes sense on why it arises. You're in a rush, you have to get a script out, so you write up a scene, and then it's off to the printers when you suddenly realize a big mistake you made. So then in the next issue you've got to try and "fix" that mistake. This entire film felt like that. "Oops, we killed Kylo! Rey can heal him!" Why did you kill him in the first place? (Why not have Leia give up her life force to restore her son and that be what kills her and saves him?) Why not have him drop his lightsaber and Rey just keep it? "Why weren't the knights of Ren fighting alongside Kylo in the forest of the Wayfinder?" This isn't even a rough draft story, this is an outline story that isn't even ready for a first draft!
NUMBER TWO
What baffles me is just this sense of "no half measures." It's not just JarJar Abrams either, TLJ had the exact. same. problem. Let's take Kylo's fight with the Knights of Ren. Notice he survives for about 4 seconds and then they have him dead to rights until Rey passes him the lightsaber. It's completely binary - they are overpowering him, or he is overpowering them. Why not have it where he shoots at them a couple of times, it doesn't work (proving their badasses), but in the fight, Kylo is actually skilled enough (as he SHOULD be) to kill two or three of them with his bare-hands (or really, using the Force and their own weapons against them). THEN the rest of them get a leg up, get the edge over him (maybe he gets injured, one of his arms is broken) and that's when Rey passes him the saber and he turns the fight around. Even then you could have one final knight remain standing JUST a bit longer than the others and give Kylo a real final battle before he dies. Nope! It's like watching a game of Othello where the pieces are just flipping from black to white and back instead of a game of Chess or even Backgammon.
No wait, IT'S FUCKING YU GI OH!
And I think the worst of it is that I could just see in every story choice the "political" reasoning behind it all. "There's more of us than there are of them"? Remember that repeated line? Yeah I can just see how the creators behind this thought that would just be the bestest rallying cry for the 2020 election ever.
I'd call this a clusterfuck but somehow that doesn't seem adequate enough. Oh this isn't by far the worst movie I've ever seen - but as far as sheer wasted potential and absolute disappointment, I think this may be the new record holder since... the Star Wars Prequels Justice League! (and I'm a DC bot)