#i like the cover for the first part of the comic about thrawn

[hydr0phius-art]

Painting Chiss Skin

Before I start this, I’m just going to say that I attempted to do an in depth version of this part and then stopped and did dot points because it was too overwhelming. 

A lot of what’s in here can be applied to different body parts. Some of it may also be applied to traditional art, but most of this is for digital art. This post focuses on faces. Eyes and scars will be another post that'll hopefully follow this one relatively quickly.

Picking colours (and some other tips)

> Experimenting is good!

> There’s blood beneath skin and it’s going to show through at different intensities based on what your lighting is doing. I’m assuming Chiss blood is red, so I usually make any blush on my Chiss purple. (Red + blue = purple. Basic colour mixing thingz, you know?)

> The fairer the Chiss’ skin is, the more vibrant you can be with that purple blush in my opinion.

> Temperature, colour, and intensity of light determines what the skin looks like. 

> Having black shadows on a coloured artwork is a good way to flatten the whole piece; when I paint shadows on a Chiss face, I go for a dark blue or purple and blend it with what’s already on the canvas. Playing with layers and their opacity function is also good.

> Laying down a base blue before starting with the rest of the colours is good. You can see that I did that in the speedpaint I’ve attached to the end of this post.

> This website about colour zones will help.

> This website about colour blocking will also help.

References

> I find a face reference of an actor I want to Chiss-ify. Then I have my blue skin reference, which is usually one of the Na’vi from Avatar.  

> I use the Na’vi because there’s a lot of images available with variation with temperature of light and quality of light to observe. 

> Make note of the colours that appear in their flesh as light interacts with it. 

> Warm light will have pink that transitions to purple, then to blue as shadow starts to come back in. I’ve put Ar’alani next to the reference I took inspiration from (link here) for comparison.

> You want to go and paint your reference as it is, except blue. When you get to adding highlights and shadows, look at the Na’vi image and see what colours appear in that light. 

I think that’s pretty much all I do when I paint Chiss. Here’s a speedpaint of Thrawn with Lee Pace as a face claim if that helps somewhat :3

(Ignore how I erased his uniform; I could NOT be bothered with that sorry).

Also, Here are some artworks that helped me when I was figuring this out. I’ve done a bit of analysis that might or might not be helpful. Take what you like from it.

Magali Villeneuve

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A post shared by Magali Villeneuve (@magali_villeneuve)

In my opinion, Villeneuve’s Thrawn portraits are the best official artworks of him that we have right now. They’re my main go-to for inspiration. The lighting plays across the skin in a way that gives it a fleshy, warm, alive feel. Even the colour zones are present, which gives it that extra bit of depth. If you can’t see them, that’s fine; it takes a bit of time to get used to looking for them.

Rod Reis

The first of Reis’ Alliances cover is also up there with good official Thrawn art we’ve had fairly recently, imo. His style is different to Villeneuve’s, but he follows the same processes with the colour zones and how the skin interacts with the environment around it. The shadows aren’t flat or black; they have colour to them that adds more dimension to the portrait. There’s also that hint of purple-blue blush around his cheeks with more yellowy-blue tones on his forehead and more blue tones around his jaw and chin (again, colour zones are present :3). The light is cooler than Villeneuve’s in the Chaos Rising Portrait, which you can see in the lighter teal hue on the right side of his face. Cool light usually brings out the lighter blue tones in the skin (that’s just what I’ve noticed, though).

And that's it! If anyone has questions, feel free to ask them :3 I'll try and get this eye post out soon <3

[classicanalyzer]

Battle of Jakku - Insurgency Rising Thoughts

"Hello......father. I came to say goodbye. I wasn't sure what I wanted to find here. This should be a happy moment. I should be celebrating, After years of pain, we finally have good news. But I'm stubborn. I can't help myself. I needed to talk to you face-to-face. But now I'm not sure what to say. I'm not like Luke. Luke can forgive with an ease I strain for. All I feel is anger--over all the things you did. The people you hurt. The people you left behind. But I'm going to set that aside for now. My family is waiting." Leia Organa

The Battle of Jakku - Insurgency Rising is a great start to this maxiseries.

Everything about Luke Skywalker in the comic was written very well. The Jedi Knight who is emerging on his first steps to becoming a Jedi Master and restoring the Order. I love the advice he gives to Rynn, his mental process of processing the changing galaxy, and his role in it. I find it funny how he easily dispatches the Acolytes of the Beyond and Renya Oskure (her design in the actual comic is so bland, I wish they used the design on the cover art of Issues 3 and 4). My only complaint is the reason why he let Adelhard live is because plot demands he lives until the final arc otherwise great writing of Luke.

As one of the people who played Star Wars Uprising when it was up (I got to a good part of Act II before it was shut down), I was very excited to see the Uprising storyline concluded at last. Before this comic, my hype was up when Rise and Fall of the Galatic Empire revealed the OT heroes took Adelhard down, so I was pretty excited to see those events. I really hope we get to see Bragh in a more direct combat way with his weapons and the regular Purge Troopers. I really like the implication he might've been a former Purge Trooper of the Inquisitors based on his interactions with Renya (I also like the nod to how Uprising mentioned an Inquisitor operating in the Anoat Sector and might've been a future villain of the game had it not been shut down).

Grand Moff Ubrik Adelhard is a really fun Imperial Warlord. When I first played the game, I thought he was one of many Warlords who was local trouble but not potential galactic trouble. Well now, the comic establishes him as a possible galactic threat. I really love seeing his Stormtrooper days not as a normal Stormtrooper but as a TK Trooper which shows how early he joined the Empire. I find it funny now we know Adelhard served in the Seventh Fleet (it's pretty fun to know he served directly under Thrawn and was at Atollon) on the Chimera that perhaps his outfit as Moff with the epaulets is meant to emulate the outfits of the Grand Admirals (which funny enough makes him closer to the uniforms of Legends Grand Admirals). It was also unreal to see his infamous toxic gassing of Anoat depicted in the visual medium. Luke's assessment of Adelhard at the end summed up his character really well.

The Acolytes of the Beyond being central to the story tracks with the Aftermath Trilogy and Shadows of the Sith, given how active they were and Luke's encounters with them. I love that Azanti are finally back, tho as I said before, I prefer the cover art of Issues 3-4 for Renya's appearance over what the comic depicted.

It's also noice getting some Spice Runners of Kijimi lore as we see them ally with Adelhard's forces. Not because they believe in Adelhard's chances but because he can foment chaos in the Underworld which would give more time to thrive. I also love how little respect Bib Fortuna gets as the new crime boss of Jabba's former criminal empire.

Leia's bittersweet farewell to her father and reaction to Luke over it showcases how different she is from Luke. Unlike him, she can't let go of that anger her father did to her and her people. She can't forgive him just because he did one good thing at the end.

Gallius Rax is one of the best Imperial antagonists and it's amazing to see him in visual medium at long last. It is a retcon that Sloane is already promoted to Grand Admiral before Akiva but given what is shown in Republic Under Siege, it's far from the worst retcon. I also really love the mention of him under his "Operator" guise as he feeds the NR information to get rid of his rivals.

I really like seeing Jarek Yeager in the issue that was a nice continuity nod. I love the Resistance nods in Canon recently.

The final issue was my favorite (and had the best art of the entire arc) when I saw Luke take down the threats of Adelhard's forces easily, Lando coming to save the day (especially given he has a personal stake in freeing the Anoat Sector), and even Rynn reunites with her girlfriend Preeti. However, Luke has the unintended effect of motivating and showing Adelhard the need for him to ally with Dark Side users and the potential value in the Dark Side and by extension the Force.

"It's far from over. We got our people out. We slowed Adelhard's expansion--for now. But I caught a glimpse of who he is--who he wants to be. A man driven by a burning desire to seize something he feels was promised to him...but was yanked away." Luke Skywalker

"So, did we win?" Rynn Zenat

"Yes, in a way. We managed to win the battle--but do we have any chance of winning the war?" Luke Skywalker

[vibratingskull]

Mermaid!Thrawn x f!reader part 5

Part 1, 2, 3, 4

"You're searching something in particular, miss?"

You turn to the Librarian, a nice short lady with round glasses that comically enlarge her eyes.

"Well, yes... In fact I'm searching several things : I would like a book on sign language, a book on the legends of the town and the gazette archives around the 50's. I don't know if you would have all that..." you explain. She seems to think for a second. "Wait at this table, I will give you what you need." she says as she walk away among the shelfs. You let your gaze travel on the covers of the books, leafing through some by curiosity, those are illustrated books for children about fairy tales. You realize you've never heard Thrawn sing like in the tales, maybe this is just folklore... You pick up an old illustrated edition of the Little Mermaid and read it again. How long since you last read it? Years, most probably. You sit at the table and let yourself carried by the tragic tale of the adolescent.

You're fully immerged in the story when she came back with the books. "The archives are on microfilms, if you want to see them we will need to take out the machine. Is it urgent?"

"No." you shake your head with a smile "No, I can come back next week.", "It would be preferable, indeed." You thank her and opens the legend book "Legends of our region" and pass everything until the aquatic creatures part. It speaks of a monster toad that haunts the swamps and a little undine that died for a pearl, you skim over the unnecessary text until you find the mermaids, and your thoroughly disapointed : The text is one page long with a childish drawing of a siren. You sigh. You choose a second one, to find out that they don't speak of it at all you take the last one with little hope but you're more lucky.

"The mermaid is an antique sea creature, existing through multiple form in multiple cultures, but the siren of our region is a bit more specific and have capacities her cousins lack." tells you the author. You install yourself comfortably and start reading. Your mermaid specie is especially sociable, helping the fisherman and the shipwrecker victims, they would have guided the fish to the shore with their songs, commanding them. They used to be nomadic tribes, following and hunting among the great whales but became sedentary as humans took the roles of the whales, providers of food. Magical creatures, they can metamorphosis in sea lion, daulphin or walrus, and even human for a brief amount of time. They say they also posess a potion to transform a human in a mermaid. The tales of the shipwrecks by singing mermaid would be a pure invention, the sailors simply choosen to take the potion and disapear into the sea forever and the desesperate partners staying on land shared the tell to mourn their relationships. Once every millenial, the tribe would get on land to enjoy a hunt party and taste what the land as to offer different than the sea and then go back into waters. They would be a second tribes that didn't help humans but eat them, drowning sailors and careless swimmers, they would be hideous creatures screetching in the night, obsess over blood and flesh. They live in the deepest layers of the ocean, where the light can't shine, in contrary of the good mermaid that higher in the layers. Today the mermaid disapeared, never to be seen again, like every mythologic creatures.

Your smartphone rings, you received an sms. It's your mother telling you that your father will sleep at a friend house tonight because they argued again.

You sigh.

You exit the library with your books, saddened. You wish you could come back in time, when you were young and your parents didn't hate each other... When they would laugh and play with you. Today they only scream and break dishes. When was the last meal you ate with them that didn't end in an argument?

What started all of this? Did they fall out of love? Did your mother cheated on your father before or after the first major argument? Before or after your father started drinking? Did he start because of that or because of his work?

You remember one night he came in the dead of night into your room, drunk, and wake you up to cry...

"Why are you crying, child?" a voice rises next to you. You raise your head to an old men in a cassock, on the front steps of the church.

"Huh... Nothing." You wipe your tears, blinking "Just bad memories."

"Would you want to tell me? To alleviate your heart." He proposes. You look at him, he looks stern, uptight, dead serious and cold. "No, i'm not really religious. It would not be-", "I didn't mean in the chapel or anyting of the sort, just have you talk would maybe ease your trouble by putting it into words." He corrects.

"Ho!" you're suprised "That is really nice of you, but I don't like talking of my problems to strangers, that is not really their cross to bearn, y'know." You try some humor, but it doesn't work, his face remains rigid and stoic. His eyes look like they could see your soul, making you feel a bit uneasy. "Then speak to a friend, maybe they would be of good advice.", "Yes sir." you nod, timidely.

"Can I see your book?" he asks politely, but his gaze is hard. You hand him the book in silence. "You try to communicate with your deaf and mute brothers and sisters? That is a good thing." You smile politely "Something of the sort." You observe the church as he leafs through it, you remember loving visiting it. Your familly isn't religious, you just like visiting old buildings, maybe you should try urbex, it could be fun! Him however, you've never seen him before

"You're new here, father...?", "Father Tarkin." he gives you back the book with a nod "In fact I came back, you must have been a infant when I was first here.", "Oh. It was a will of yours?" His hard gaze travels across the streets like he could see sin just by looking at it. "I felt a sensation of unfinished business here." You feel you won't have any more info than that so you politely thay goodbye "Well, welcome back father" and start to walk away

"One moment please." you stop dead in your tracks, turning to him with wondering eyes "Your necklace..." By instinct you grip it "What?", "It reminds me of something, is it a family heirloom?", "Yes" you lie, "Oh... curious." He seems to think, holding his chin and frowning. You feel yourself shivering. What if he knows?

"It looks like the tiara exposed at the museum.", you sigh relieved "Oh? Really?", he nods "Yes. Maybe it was inspired by the same art style?", "Probably"

He looks at it some more and shakes his head "Anyway, the night will soon fall. Go home.", "Yes father!" And you go off, you pedal to the beach and jump off your bike, run to the shore and push a bark into waters.

You paddle towards the setting sun, craddled by the waves. You paddle along the cliffs in search of one particular cavern... When you found it you enter it, when the sea will rise again, the entry will be completely hidden and you'll be stuck.

You get out of the bark and walk inside the large cavern , familiarizing yourself with the place. Then you take your flashlight and study the sign language book, waiting for him

An hour passes by when you feel a claw grazing your tighs, you raise your head from the text to see Thrawn looking at you intently. You can't help but smile. "Hi!" you wave at him surexcited, he imitates your gesture slower, like he wonders what does it mean.

You take out a fish container and he hops on the bank to seat next to you "I hope you like salmon!" you sing. You open it and give him some of the fish and you eat it together, sneakily you robbed your mother of some soy sauce and put some on your piece. He looks interested, "You want to try?" you smile. He takes the bottle and traces the text on the tag with his claw. "I doubt you can make sense of it." you mock gently. He opens the lid and inhale the scent. He frowns severely and you burst out laughing, "You're surely not used to it under water!", he looks at you like he understood you were mocking him. Nevertheless he tries it, lets a drop of it fall on his tongue and taste it. His face is indecipherable and he puts down the bottle without letting an ounce of expression twist it. He eats his salmon silently and with dignity, while you do your own cookery, slicing it and dropping it in the sauce. "Usually I eat it with sesame too." You mundanely explain, you start talking to him about your day, about every little things that happened to you. He lays down on his elbow and listen, letting his codal fin resting in water, you see his ear-fins-things wave at some moment, and his dorsal fin undulate. Once again you vent all you can, he remains still, unmoving as you both can see the sun finishing to set and the water slowly raising. You'll soon need to exit the cavern.

But you feel so good here... with him. You can't speak together, but you feel connected on an intimate level. Like you knew him for years.

You let your eyes wonders on him and you notice he's wearing your old plastic bracelet. "Ah!" you smile, you take out the necklace and show it to him, he nods slowly.

You lay beside him, letting your feet in the water, grazing his fin.

You remain silent, watching the stars through an opening in the stone of the cliff. You point at one star "Ursa minor." you indicate. He points another "Cha'fh." he murmures, "Antares." you say, "Strech" he responds, "Perseus", "Me'ro"...

You redo the wole sky like that, you giggling and him all serious. "I probably shout note everything you say, so I can remember it all my life. Oh wait!" You take out the sign language book and a mini-moodboard with markers out of your bag, " I think about ways to communicate better!" you exclaims. He raises back his torso with a raised eyebrow.

You're about to explain to him when your smartphone rings. He growls at the sudden sound. "It's okay, it's a smartphone, it won't do anything" He relaxes when he see the small machine but looks puzzled when you start speaking to it.

"Where are you?!" bawls your mother. You wince. "I'm out... with a friend.", "You didn't warn me about that! I was worried dead! Come home this instant!", "Mom, I'm an adult, I can do-", "Huh,huh, young lady! As long as you live under my roof you will abide by my rules!" and she hungs up.

You sigh, Thrawn looks at you, curious. "I have to go..." you grumble. You gather your stuff and enter the waters, you'll have to swim the sea rose. Thrawn slides next to you ready to follow you but you hesitate, you got your flashlight to look in the dark but in salted water you won't be able to open your eyes. You wince "Crap." Thrawn seems to notice your hesitation.

He gently takes your hand and pulls you gently. You take a deep breath, close your eyes and go under water. You feel him swim next to you with his powerful tail, pulling you towards the exterior. You let him guide you, swimming with your legs, he pulls you with an assured hand.

Finally you pierce the water with a gasp. Thrawn is next to you, holding your hand, waiting for you to take back your breath. You'll be drenched at home. Great...

"Thank you." You gasp, he nods and you go back to the shore together. You part with him almost reluctantly, but he let go without difficulties. You walk on the sand as he remains in shallow waters, looking at you walking away, you turn to him and wave him goodbye, he imitates you and you look at him swiming away.

Who knows when you'll see him again, he comes and goes as it pleases him

@blueninjablade3 @al-astakbar @thrawnspetgoose @readinglistfics

[jerryb2]

I mean….you all knew this was coming ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ : the Star Wars Art of one Mr. Drew Struzan. 

And look, the man has done so much and has such a diverse portfolio that Star Wars is only one very small part of his career. If you want to explore some of his other works, then might I suggest that you check out his website. 

As for me here, we’ll be sticking strictly to his SW art. Now, with that out of the way, here we go…

*cracks knuckles*

I have to admit that before I really started to dig into this, I didn’t realize just how many Bantam Era (and beyond) Star Wars books this man has illustrated. Nearly 50 titles, ranging from novels to comics, short stories & even an RPG supplement. 🤯 

And so, after much consideration, I decided to just pull all the titles that feature his art off my bookshelf and take a few pics for you guys:

First off, I just want to point out that I don’t have every book he’s ever illustrated. Some of them are just harder than hard to find, are hilariously expensive, or I just don’t have an edition that features his art prominently - you’ll see what I mean. Right off the bat though, you can see that he was really hitting his stride in the mid-90′s, with all but a handful of these coming out between ‘94 & ‘99. One of the highlights from this time for me, is The Callista Trilogy.

I just want to stress that The Callista Trilogy is a highlight for me only because of its gorgeous cover art. 🤣 Other than that, this book series needs to go lay down. 

Anyway, the designs are all really striking and even after all these years, absolutely iconic. And you can really see Struzan’s distinct visual style at play here; not a painting in the same vein as something from Dave Doorman, and not a simple trace. Rather, something that is stylized in a very particular, very subtle way, almost to the point where it appears photo-realistic at first glance. Beautiful.

Next up is this trio of trilogies (good use of words, me), collected in these Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) hardcovers: 

Once again, these covers are just striking, particularly The Black Fleet Crisis. This is actually what I was referring to when I said that I don’t always have the best editions for a Drew Struzan appreciation post. 😅 

Because these are hardcover collections of paperback books, we actually miss out on a good bit of the art. For these SFBC special editions, the publisher just took all three and basically photoshopped the best bits of each one together. The one that suffers the most here is obviously The Corellian Trilogy, where they didn’t even try to blend everything together, and instead just separated everything into columns. I don’t personally mind it (and I do love having the hardcover editions of these books) but if you want to see the covers as they were originally intended, just pickup those mass market paperbacks. 🙂

There’s a lot more to get through, so I’ll just hit the highlights here; even though he didn’t illustrate The Thrawn Trilogy (that was Tom Jung, who I personally think did an okay-ish job at best), he did an absolutely amazing job with the follow-up, The Hand of Thrawn Duology in ‘98 & ‘99:

I’ve always loved these covers. And narratively speaking, they really do serve as one last hurrah on the Bantam Era. Oh, and also please note, Mara Jade on the cover of Vision of the Future, just as Zahn originally described her. ❤❤❤

If you step back and look at Struzan’s work as a whole, it’s all incredibly unified. I bring this up here because even though some of these are books relatively ‘meh’ worthy, Struzan maintained a level of quality that belied the mediocrity contained within. And also to say that he was definitely busy, particularly in 1994:

That’s right - all of these released in ‘94, within a few months of one another. These covers man… *chef’s kiss*

And look I’m sorry, I just can’t help myself: The Crystal Star was a hilarious joke until we all realized they were serious about it. 😳

Alright, that’s a little on the harsh side; it’s not nearly as bad as most make it out to be, and Waru as a source for unlimited power (citation needed 👀😉) isn’t any more ridiculous than the 50 other post-Palpy, hair-brained Imperial schemes that everybody else cooked up, so I guess it fits. And besides, I really wanna be nice to Vonda McIntyre here, but this book was just so so boring. 😴

*clears throat* Moving on, here we have a couple Barnes & Noble hardcover collections of The Jedi Prince Series:

The same thing applies here; cover art photoshopped from across 6 different YA novels to get these. They don’t look bad, far from it. But rather this series has some things that people would rather forget about, namely a supposed son of Palpatine (spoiler: he wasn’t) named Triclops who had - wait for it - 3 eyes. 

Like Tien. From DBZ. Yep. 🤦‍♂️

Moving further down the list, we have yet another pair of iconic cover designs, being I, Jedi (the only Star Wars novel written in the first person, and an appropriate riff on Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot - yes ladies & gentlemen, that is as clever as Star Wars gets) and The New Rebellion.

Classics, no doubt….but for reals, did anybody else ever wonder why the X-Wing on the cover of I, Jedi is missing an S-Foil? Or how that one slipped through??? 👀

Ah, at last we arrive at what is arguably Struzan’s most famous work; the covers for Shadows of the Empire & The Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition.

It’s hard to overstate just how important Shadows of the Empire really was for Star Wars as a brand. In an era where SW books were already extremely popular, the Shadows of the Empire Multimedia Project basically served as a breakout hit and reignited interest in SW media across the board. This was in no small part due to the striking imagery captured on its cover - are you seeing a pattern here?

This success actually renewed Lucas’ interest in a theatrical re-release of the OT in 1997….which of course, feature more beautiful art from Drew Struzan:

These are my OG Special Edition VHS tapes from back in the day. I watched these so damn much as a kid. In fact, they’re basically the whole reason that I’m here, annoying the shit out of everybody today. 😁

After the Bantam Era concluded & the Star Wars publishing license went to Del Rey, Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for SW media. Here we see his contribution for the latter half of the Last of the Jedi YA series, and his kick-ass cover art for the Darth Maul comic: 

And when I say that Struzan did progressively fewer pieces for Star Wars, I am of course omitting his turn as the poster artist for the freaking Prequel Trilogy: 

Say what you will about the films, but these poster designs are nothing short of genius. 

Look guys, it would be pretty easy for me to downplay Struzan’s Star Wars portfolio as just one small part of his incredible career. But my dudes, this is literally just the tip of the iceberg. The man has been a professional illustrator for over 50 years, and his art has delighted and inspired generations. From Star Wars to Indian Jones, and from Back to the Future to Blade Runner - Drew Struzan has played an integral part in shaping popular culture. 

Here’s to you, sir. 🍻

[naerryn]

Imagine Dyn Jarren...

During the long-term stay with the “Pirate Queen”, Maz Kanata, an unlikely couple enters the castle one day and conjure up old memories.

Female Reader! Loosely Part Two of Coldest Shoulder (same reader inserted character).

A comforting feeling of numbness washed over my mind when the blurred outlines of a small silhouette stepped into my view. I opened my mouth in an attempt to speak, begging them to help me, but my voice died in my throat as my world went black.

My eyes fluttered open and I tried to block the bright light from my view with one of my arms, but groaned between gritted teeth caused by the sharp pain I instantly felt on the right side of my body.

“You were alive, but barely breathing when I found you.”, a female voice spoke close to me, and I turned my face around to meet slim figure of a creature I’ve never seen before. The orange skinned woman was short and her brown eyes behind thick glasses looked back at me with a mixture of curiosity and caution. But most importantly, she had a tight grip around the handle of my lightsaber.

“You’re a Sith.”, she said with a soft nod towards the item in her small hands. I remained silent, my heavy chest raised and felt slowly while my view stayed on her brown eyes.

The intense stare of her eyes surrounded her with a superior aura, like she stood above all doubt and already knew all the answers to every question she was about to ask me. An aura that reminded me of the Emperor in a rather unpleasant way.

“What’s a Sith doing all by herself? Badly injured on top of it.”

“I was seeking knowledge.”, I replied hoarsely, slowly lifting my upper body from the hard surface I was laid down on and balanced my weight on my elbows. I hissed in pain, but it was nothing I wasn’t used to.

Now I was able to notice the chair on which the woman stood on, her forehead knitted in wonder as she watched me in silence. The look in her eyes gently begged me to explain myself.

“Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.”, I recited the Code of the Sith, earning a dramatic roll of the eyes of the woman next to me, who softly sighed in respond.

“The Emperor has beaten it into my head.”, I said as I tapped against my head with a finger. “I want to be free.”

“Just like the rest of the Galaxy.”, the short woman respond with a shrug before she lifted her thick glasses, revealing her formally huge brown eyes to be nothing more than a pair of tiny dark orbs. It was almost comical. 

“You were close to him?”

“I’m... I was a Child of the Emperor. His Voice. Both are nothing more than a title.”

“And the catacombs?”, she asked me a moment later, one of her hands against her chin as she tilted her head to lightly the side.

I told her about my desire for freedom, no matter how much the Emperor tortured me. That there was something I couldn’t place my finger on, like a voice in the back of my mind telling me that all of this is wrong. I mentioned Mara Jade, another Child of the Emperor, who’s under the strong influence of our Master. And then there was Grand Admiral Thrawn, and how I spend the last couple years working with him.

“He was the one telling me about the catacombs. We wanted to investigate them together, but”, I stopped mid-sentence, looking away from the orange skinned woman as I painfully remembered the events that lead to our separation.

“I... I visited a couple places he had mentioned before, but most of them turned out to be dead ends. But the catacombs were different. I encountered something, a force ghost. She shared her knowledge, and I freed her from this existence. I got overpowered and”

“I found you.”, she finished my sentence calmly and I softly nodded in respond.

“That’s a fine story, my dear, but I fear that there’s no happy end. The Emperor will hunt and kill you for high treason, and the Rebels will murder you in cold blood because of who you are.”, her words echoed through the air and made me cringe, knowing that her words were nothing but true. I was an outlaw and had a target on my back.

“Except...”

“Except?”, I quickly turned my head around and watched her thin lips twisted into a mischievous smile with a finger pressed against them.

“Except you work for me. I could make good use of someone with your skills and no one fucks with Maz Kanata.”

“Who’s Maz Kanata?”

“Me, idiot.”

~

Several years had passed since Maz Kanata took me under her wings. I accompanied the force-sensitive pirate on her travels around the galaxy. The Emperor was dead, killed by his own twisted creation, Darth Vader, and a new galactic Senate was founded.

For what felt like the first time in my life, I was in full control of my own path. No strings attached on me. Maz paid me for my service, told me I could take a ship and start my own journey whenever I want to, but I told her that I am right where I need to be.

~

Stretching her limbs, Maz Kanata stood on the dirty ground a couple steps ahead of me as I walked down the loading ramp of the Stranger’s Fortune. Emmie, an ancient protocol droid, arrived at Maz’s personal landing field at the Takodana Castle just when I stepped next to her mistress.

“I will leave you to your business.”, I told Maz when I walked past her, throwing my back bag over one shoulder before I nodded to Emmie a quick welcome. All I wanted was a hot shower and clean clothes, I thought to myself as I heard the droid greeting the Pirate Queen.

The long main hall of the Castle somewhat felt like home, crowded by travelers and smugglers, among others. Their host loved to remember me of the first time I set foot on her homeworld. I almost passed out from the overwhelming impact of the Force on this planet, but over time, I learned to ignore the echoes of the past.

A catchy tune was played by the musicians as I waved casually at more familiar faces. Their words drowned under the loud music, but the amused smiles on their faces told me it was nothing too heart-warming they called out to me.

Turning around as I continued walking in the direction of the staircase which lead to my chambers, I flipped a smuggler the finger as I caught a few scraps of his words. Something involving my ass and his lap. I saw his mouth moving, the space between us growing as I walked backwards through the crowd.

I came to an abrupt halt, my back colliding gently with something solid and when I turn around to look at what I thought to be a wall, I stared at the menacing T-shaped visor of a helmet.

‘Out of every fucking person I could run into, it had to be a Mandalorian.’, I cursed myself silently and swiftly turned around on the spot. The visitors of Takodana Castle had to follow the rules, which required no violence of any sort.

Yes, I am trained in the Force, to say the least, but getting on the bad side of a Beskar armored Mandalorian was never written down on my to do list before I die.

“I am so sorry.”, I raised hands up to my shoulders, but I looked away from the T-shaped visor of the tall warrior and down to the ground when a sound, which didn’t match the sonority of the current song, reached my ears.

A hard punch in the stomach felt like a peaceful walk at the riverside of the Nymeve Lake compared to the cold wave of memories that washed over me once my eyes landed on the tiny, green creature that stood right next to the feet of the Mandalorian.

Coruscant. The Temple. Master Yoda. The Jedi Code. Master Windu, who locked me away in his chambers to keep me, his Apprentice, save as he and three other Masters left to confront the Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. The door being destroyed. Anakin Skywalker. No, Darth Vader. Lighting. My screams filling the air.

I felt cold and my body started shaking strongly before I threw up, a pool of vomit spread out onto the floor and the feet of the Mandalorian while the tiny creature jumped clumsily to save itself.

A deep, unsatisfied groan reached my ears as the music stopped playing. The main hall of the Castle was covered in silence and I felt countless pairs of eyes staring holes into the back of my head. Some were probably already placing bets on how painful and slow my death will me.

Maz’s voice rang through the air, but it was nothing more then muffled sounds as I pushed past the broad built person in front of me and ran to the staircase.

‘It looks like Master Yoda.’

With tear-dimmed eyes, I began to hurry up the stairs.

‘I was a Jedi youngling. No, a Padawan. I was picked by Master Windu not that long before Darth Sidious caused the near end to the Jedi Order.’

I rushed down the long hallway, almost knocking the door out of the frame once I reached my chambers.

‘The Emperor locked all my memories away. Replaced them with pictures that fitted his liking. Formed me into his puppet on a string no matter how hard I fought against it.’

Throwing myself onto my bed, I buried my face in my pillow and uncontrollable sobs escaped my throat. Peace is a lie, there is only passion. No. There is no emotion, there is peace.

My screams were muffled by my pillow. Fingernails digging themselves into the palm of my hands as I clenched them into fists. I wanted to take my lightsaber out and tear everything into pieces that comes into my way.

“[Y/N]?”

I pushed myself up from the mattress and twisted around to face Maz, who stood in the open door frame. Close behind her stood the Mandalorian, who held the green creature in one of his arms.

“I think I’ll throw up again.”, I exhaled under gritted teeth, holding a hand against my stomach and tried to fight against the urge to puke onto the floor again.

Maz felt my inner struggle, I knew that. She always did. Over the last couple years, there were countless moments when small pieces of suppressed memories came back onto the surface. Every time, Maz was there to catch me.

“Talk to us.”, she spoke again, taking a step closer to me as she entered the room slowly. My eyes traveled from her small figure to the shiny Beskar armor, probably hundreds of years old, reforged into it’s current shape. The Mandalorian had a firm hold on the handle of his blaster.

Within a split second, I stood on my feet, my lightsaber activated in one hand as the vibrating humming of the red blade filled the air. The warrior pointed the barrel of his blaster at me almost instantly.

Maz Kanata raised her voice once again, calling out my name and I turned my head to her.

“Talk to me!”, she demanded firmly.

“It looks like Yoda.”, I pointed at the green creature as I talked and Maz silently stared back at me with wide eyes. She was old enough and too independent from the imperial influence to remember the stories about the Jedi Order and Master Yoda. I didn’t had to explain anything to her.

But the baffled grunt at me, probably from the Mandalorian who’s still pointing his blaster at me, told a different story.

“You knew him.”, her words were a statement, not a question before she nodded her head softly, lost in thoughts for a moment. Locking eyes with me again, she pointed at the lightsaber in my hands with the unspoken request to deactivate it again.

I looked over to the Mandalorian, who hasn’t moved an inch during the entire time and down from his helmet to the fragile looking creature in his arm. Deactivating my lightsaber, I watched the man slowly lowering his own weapon.

“You can stay here as long as you wish, bounty hunter. No payment required.”, Maz said in a serious tone of voice as she turned around to meet the Mandalorian, who grunted in approval and his helmet moved just slightly, telling me that he was directly looking at me before he stepped out of the door frame and onto the hallway.

Once they were out of my sight, I took a deep breath and sat down on the edge of the bed, the handle of my lightsaber falling on the ground with a clanking noise.

Soft-footed, Maz closed the distance between us and placed herself right next to me, leaning her small frame against the side of my body as we sat there in silence.

(2202 Words)

[simonjadis]

Anon I’m ASSUMING that these are from the same person; apologies if they are not

I would say that my feelings are similar to yours, but not quite identical ...

Disney’s handling has been imperfect, and some of the mistakes have been made the highest level (I know that people give Kathleen Kennedy a hard time, but if rumor is to be believed, some of the interference that made IX kind of weird came from higher than that)

for example, Kennedy said in an interview that she tries to find people who just make big, successful movies to make sure that these are also big, successful movies. I can understand that as being a safe bet from a business stand point, but that’s not the same thing as finding someone passionate about very specifically telling good, new Star Wars stories, which we did not really get in the Sequel Trilogy

(one of the most common theories that I saw from TLJ apologists was that people didn’t like that it was new/different than what they were expecting, which was really not the issue for me or my friends. Also it was just a speedrun of parts of Episodes V and VI)

I think that I’m “too close” to Star Wars to see it as a financial asset rather than a beloved universe full of characters and stories that I adore, but I don’t think that “literally just rehash the Original Trilogy for two movies and barely acknowledge any other part of Star Wars until IX” was a good idea

Rey deserved her own story. and Luke deserved to not be retroactively robbed of his

as for George Lucas, I do think that years of backlash over the Prequels sucked the fun out of it for him. Also, who doesn’t want four billion dollars? it was a sweetheart deal for Disney, of course

the sad thing is that this meant the end of Clone Wars, because Disney took one look at Lucasfilm’s budget and was like “OH NO YOU CANNOT SPEND THAT KIND OF MONEY ON A CARTOON” which is why Season 6 was paid for by Netflix and why Maul: Son of Dathomir was a comic

I love Star Wars Rebels and I’m not trying to knock the show at all, but the budgetary difference was palpable. Clone Wars did have it a little easier because of the Clone Troopers (all having the same face), but on Rebels, you notice that 90% of the Imperials are the same guy wearing a hat with his visor obscuring most of his face. market scenes show just a few people (but plenty of Storm Troopers)

the designs of the main characters -- Ezra, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, Kallus, Thrawn, Kanan, etc -- are great and loving and detailed and most of those change a little over time, but there’s a reason that we only see so many planets on Rebels. look at the huge armies and crowds in Rebels. my friend @drunkkenobi​ is the first who pointed out to me that in Clone Wars, you sometimes see lines of ships (Space Traffic) and each ship in line will be unique, distinct from the others

it’s not Rebels’ fault that they didn’t have that kind of budget. that’s also why their space battles (and space ships) never quite look right. meanwhile, for Clone Wars, if they wanted a particular scene or ship that went over their planned budget, all that they had to do was ask Uncle George

eccentric billionaires funding expensive media isn’t necessarily the most sustainable model for storytelling, but it sure worked out well for Clone Wars and for The Expanse

(Jeff Bezos personally called up the head of Amazon Prime programming, who had already been considering acquiring the extremely good but expensive show, and was like “hey the cast from this show is at a thing where I am, I’d love to just tell them that their show is saved, give me it?” and we saw as many new locations in Season 4 as we did in the first three seasons)

but streaming -- where you actually get money directly from customers who then, through their activity on your platform, show you exactly what they want to see aka what is keeping them on your platform -- offers a new opportunity for high quality genre media. remember, scifi and fantasy were EVERYWHERE in the ‘90s and the early aughts, and then because too expensive for regular TV unless they had huge audiences. only through streaming do we have these new Star Treks, The Witcher, and the real possibility of a new Stargate series

why do I bring up streaming? because

The Mandalorian goes to show that Disney can 100% do good Star Wars. Rebels was good, despite its budget, but can you imagine how much better it would have been if it had aired on Disney+

as with the DC movies (three of which are good and I’m also excited for Birds of Prey), the solution to the our-movies-made-a-lot-of-money-but-aren’t-strictly-speaking-good is literally just “let the people who do the cartoons make the movies”

and now we’re getting a final, seventh (half) season of Clone Wars! twelve episodes looking better than the show has ever looked!!

if you’re like me, you probably thought to yourself “gee, only 12?” and, cynically, you figured that it’s a trick -- announced at ComicCon in 2018 to build up the first wave of hype for Disney+

and it is ... but it 100% worked on me, I signed up for Disney+ and will pay anything for Clone War

my HOPE is that this is a test run to see if people really like high-quality animated Star Wars stories enough to continue with it. there’s only so much clone wars that one can cover (my suspicion is that we will see Ahsoka fake her death during Order 66 in these eps, so yep, that’s the end of the Clone Wars right there)

imagine a well-written series with everything that Clone Wars had in terms of content and visual quality, but it’s set after Episode IX. to my frustration, IX ends with effectively the same worldstate as VI which essentially means that nothing much happened in the Sequel Trilogy. but imagine a series set after IX. we could see a new set of (Force-wielding) characters. we could see Rey, Finn, Poe, and Rose during some episodes. Rose could finally get to do something that’s not an insulting fool’s errand (she deserves so much better!!!!!)

we don’t need a new Big Scary Empire/First Order thing, just organized crime and pirates and Hutts and bounty hunters and individual planet systems going to war as the characters try to assemble a NEW New Republic (gods I hate the unchanged worldstate)

now, I know that Star Wars Resistance is not ... reassuring. this is the only screencap that I have from it because I couldn’t get into it. it’s not the animation (I enjoyed Tron Uprising and Iron Man: Armored Adventures and this is the same kind of deal), but three things:

-I watch Star Wars for the Force primarily; other stuff can be cool but I need the Force

-I will never care about ships racing and really I don’t care about an individual ship flying; I’m a Command Ship kind of space nerd

-apparently the writing doesn’t improve much during the first season. people tell the main character to not do something, then he does it, and disaster ensues. that’s ... it’s fine, it’s fine to exist as a show, it’s just not for me

obviously, not all Star Wars media is for me, but when something -- like TLJ or the Sequel Series as a whole (even though VII and IX are enjoyable) or Resistance -- disappoints me, I would never accuse it of “ruining Star Wars”

Star Wars is a whole franchise. the breadth of canon isn’t all wiped away by some disappointments. was the MCU ruined by Age of Ultron? no. it was a bad movie but from the same franchise that gave us The Winter Soldier and Thor Ragnarok. hell, Dawn of Justice doesn’t “ruin” Wonder Woman or Aquaman or Shazam. bad movies aren’t contagious

for the past several years, the Entitled Dude crowd has felt empowered. they were radicalized in the altright/redpill/MGTOW/meninist/nazi/gamergate/comicsgate/etc spheres of the internet and now they just have a reflex where they see any sort of representation and decry it as “SJW,” which they also seem to think is a bad thing

in the same way that well-meaning people on tumblr can get radicalized into being antis/puriteens, people with certain vulnerabilities on reddit or youtube can get sucked into a world that tells them that they are the default and that other people existing is “political” in media and in real life, and that people being upset by outright cruelty towards them is both funny and means that the cruel person is the victor. they need therapy and studios need to not listen to them

unfortunately, sometimes there are movies that are bad despite having things like solid representation. Ghostbusters 2016 was a delight, but my friends and I with whom I saw TLJ (all of us queer feminists) left the theater angry. we’ve bitten our tongues a lot (even if it seems otherwise) because publicly criticizing the film too often leads some incel monster to chime in with agreement, and we’re just like

the redpillgate crowed et all is a natural ally of conservative white evangelicals, even though the former group is generally made up of New Atheists (the short version is atheists who hold socially conservative views because racism/misogyny/transphobia benefit them without using christianity as an excuse). it’s kind of like how terfs will side with conservative hate groups because, though they’re natural enemies, they both despite trans people just for existing

unfortunately, when you’re looking at who went to see a movie or who hated it, not everyone posts with an ID card saying exactly their demographic. which is only going to make studios like Disney even more nervous about including queer content in Star Wars and in the MCU (I mean real queer content with characters whose names don’t have to be searched on a wiki)

that was a bit of a tangent, but yeah. sorry if I missed anything

[kuwaiti-kid]

The 20 Best Star Wars Books of All Time (Canon and Legends)

With the recent reveal of the Star Wars: The High Republic mixed-media series, now seems like a great time to look back on the novelizations, stand alones, and book series that have been an integral part of building the rich and expansive universe that we know and love today.

The first Star Wars novelization was released six months following the premiere of Star Wars: A New Hope. Ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, but credited to George Lucas, Star Wars: From The Adventures of Luke Skywalker was the first venture into worldbuilding beyond the cinematic universe.

Over the course of forty-three years, nearly five hundred books have been added to the Jedi Archives, uh — I mean the Star Wars library. In 2014, almost four hundred of these novels were decanonized by Lucasfilm to refocus the canon around The Walt Disney Company’s restructuring of the franchise.

The Expanded Universe was rebranded as Star Wars Legends, but it was far from forgotten by its fans or the authors of the new canon novels.

The Ten Best Star Wars Legends Books

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (1991)

You would be hard-pressed to find a fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe who doesn’t love Timothy Zahn’s novels. He introduced us to beloved characters like Mara Jade and Thrawn.

Set five years following The Return of the Jedi, Zahn kickstarted the Expanded Universe with an enthralling story that followed the continuing adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. Grand Admiral Thrawn attempts to track down a pregnant Princess Leia, while Luke Skywalker faces off with the smuggler Mara Jade (who just so happens to be the former Emperor’s Hand).

It is by far one of the best stories in the Expanded Universe.

The Han Solo Adventures (Trilogy) by Brian Daley (1979-1980)

Daley’s series recently returned to Star Wars discourse after High Republic author Cavan Scott tweeted out his current reference material for another project.

The trilogy follows Han Solo and Chewbacca through their days as smugglers in the capitalistic Corporate Sector, as they uncover a slaving ring, rescue kidnap victims, and face-off with a religious cult.

If you loved  Solo: A Star Wars Story, you’ll love this trilogy.

The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore (1999)

Set twenty-one years following the destruction of the Death Star, Salvatore did the unthinkable in Vector Prime. Sanctioned by George Lucas himself, the character death depicted in this novel is the only original series character to die in the Expanded Universe.

It is the first novel in a nineteen-book series entitled The New Jedi Order. While this novel sacrificed the life of a beloved character, it also introduced the villainous race of the Yuuzhan Vong.

The original trilogy characters are paired off with the younger generation (the Solo children) throughout the novel, before converging at the crux of a devastating battle.

Star by Star by Troy Denning (2002)

The Yuuzhan Vong continue their ruthless campaign throughout the galaxy, leading Anakin Solo to concoct a dangerous plan to thwart their attacks. Denning’s novel delved a devastating blow for the Solo family as their youngest son Anakin Solo sacrificed his life to buy time for the rest of the team to kill the voxyn queen and escape from the Vong.

This is a book filled with death and destruction, and it proves to be a real page-turner.

Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham (2002)

If you love Jaina Solo, then the tenth novel in The New Jedi Order series is the one for you. Dark Journey follows Jaina as she struggles with despair and her need for revenge following the death of her brother Anakin Solo and the Vong’s capture of her twin Jacen.

They retreat to the Hapes Cluster, where they encounter the grieving Teneniel Djo and the familial struggles of the Hapes. The Former Queen Mother attempts to arrange a marriage between Jaina and Prince Isolder — an offer Jaina rejects.

Enemy Lines (Duology) by Aaron Allston (2002)

This pair of novels can easily be read as a singular story. It follows Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker, Han and Leia Solo, Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles, and Jaina Solo as they respond to the Yuuzhan Vong’s capture of Coruscant.

Wedge is a stand-out character throughout this novel, and I believe this characterization is one of the reasons that he remains a beloved minor character. The rebellion’s determined efforts lead them to a victorious battle on Borealis, though the Vong are far from defeated.

Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry (1996)

This novel was Perry’s contribution towards the ambitious mixed-media series (also called Shadows of the Empire) created by Lucasfilm in 1996. The series included both a novel and junior novelization, a comic book series, a video game, action figures, a soundtrack, trading cards, role-playing games, posters, and so much more.

Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the novel introduced readers to the Black Sun criminal overlord, Prince Xizor, whose primary motivation is to seek vengeance against Darth Vader. He does that by plotting to murder Luke Skywalker once his heritage is revealed. It’s a brilliant book that can be read as a stand-alone or as part of the mixed-media experience.

Survivor’s Quest by Timothy Zahn (2004)

Three years following the marriage of Luke Skywalker to Mara Jade, the couple struggles to balance their marriage and their duties as Jedi. Led by an urgent transmission, they journey together on a quest to locate the remains of the Outbound Flight expedition, which had been destroyed by Grand Admiral Thrawn on the planet of Niruan decades ago.

Expecting to find a graveyard of destroyed Dreadnought ships, they are surprised to find intact vessels and signs of life among them. Luke and Mara Jade come up against the vicious Vagaari to rescue the survivors of the errant Outbound Flight project. If you love Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker — this is the novel for you. They are at their best when they’re working together.

Black Fleet Crisis (Trilogy) by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1996-1998)

Sixteen years following the end of the Original Trilogy, Kube-McDowell’s novel picks up with an era of peace for the New Republic. This trilogy of novels sits somewhat outside of the canon of The New Jedi Order and X-Wing series and provides a slightly different approach to the beloved heroes of the universe.

Chewbacca returns to Kashyyyk to be with his son; Luke works towards higher Jedi enlightenment in a self-built hermitage on Coruscant. Unlike other novels that focus on the characters and their arcs, this series is more focused on political and military plots.

The story follows the genocidal campaign of former Imperial slaves, referred to as Yevethan forces, as they seek to conquer the Koornacht Cluster.

This story deviates drastically from what we know about Luke and Leia’s mother, Padmé, thanks to the prequel trilogy, as Luke travels to the planet Fallanassi to learn more about his mother’s homeworld. Overall the trilogy makes for a great Star Wars story.

Wedge’s Gamble by Michael A. Stackpole (1996)

Wedge Antilles and his X-Wing pilots, the Rogue Squadron, plan to infiltrate the Imperial High Command controlled Coruscant. Still, first, they free the imprisoned Black Suns criminals in hopes of bringing down the Empire.

The story is a race against time for the rebels as they work to take down the planetary shields protecting Coruscant. In the process, allies are lost, and a traitor is discovered among their ranks.

It’s the second novel in a ten-part series and proves to be a fast-paced read.

 The Ten Best Star Wars Canon Books

The Last Jedi by Jason Fry (2018)

Of the three novelizations included in the Sequel Trilogy era, Fry’s work stands out. He masterfully adapted Rian Johnson’s screenplay, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and shed new light on aspects that may have been lost to the casual viewer.

The book provides readers with a look inside the heads and hearts of nearly every character seen in the movie — which genuinely enriches the story.

Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Grey (2016)

The novel delves into the ramifications of Senator Leia Organa’s heritage, as trusted allies turn against her at the revelation that she is Darth Vader’s daughter.

Grey delivers an incredibly poignant look into Leia’s psyche throughout this ordeal as well as how she handles balancing being a mother and a senator.

Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse (2019)

If you were not overly thrilled with the dynamics between Finn and Poe in The Rise of Skywalker or were hoping to read more about Leia’s last days with the Resistance, this novel is a surefire favorite. Roanhorse truly knows these characters inside and out, and she brings a fresh, exciting adventure to bridge the gap between the Battle of Crait and the Resistance’s base on Ajan Kloss.

Leia works diligently to rally the forces after their defeat at Crait, which brings the familiar Inferno Squadron members, Shriv Suurgav and Zay Versio, into the picture. An interesting element of the novel is the recruitment of defecting Imperial forces that are welcomed into the Resistance. Overall the stakes are low in the story, but it still manages to deliver a memorable read.

Last Shot (Star Wars): A Han and Lando Novel by Daniel José Older (2018)

Created as a tie-in to Solo: A Star Wars Story, Older’s novel covers five storylines told in five parts with a mix of flashbacks between Han Solo and Lando Calrissian as they face a new threat by an old foe.

It also covers aspects of Han’s marriage to Leia, as well as his relationship with his young son, Ben Solo — which helps readers understand how things fell apart by the time The Force Awakens occurs. If you loved Daley’s Legends series about Han Solo, you’ll love Older’s novel.

Star Wars: The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig (2016-2017)

The trilogy expands the extensive period between the end of Return of the Jedi and the start of The Force Awakens. Wendig introduces readers to Norra Wexley and her teenage son Snap Wexley (later seen on screen) and delivers an engaging storyline for Wedge Antilles.

The story follows the New Republic as they work towards defeating the remaining members of the Empire. This series also introduces Emperor Palpatine’s Observatory on Jakku — an exciting piece of foreshadowing for The Rise of Skywalker.

Star Wars: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (2017)

The first in a series of three novels, Zahn returns to Star Wars and reintroduces Grand Admiral Thrawn to the Star Wars canon. The story begins with the exile of the Chriss warrior, Mitth’raw’nuruodo (Thrawn), and follows his path to the Empire alongside Imperial Cadet Eli.

Thrawn offers to serve Emperor Palpatine in order to protect his people. Throughout the novel, Thrawn’s calculated tenacity allows him to climb the ranks within the Empire, ultimately rising to the position of Grand Admiral. Thrawn is a fan-favorite, and this series is just the beginning of his storyline.

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno (2016)

If you watched Rogue One and wanted to know more about Orson Krennic or Galen Erso, this is the novel for you. It covers Erso’s research into the energy kyber crystals under the Celestial Power project and follows his concerns as he realizes his research might be used for something devastating.

It’s an interesting approach to members of the Empire and shows the duality among the ranks and the inner confliction at the advent of the Star Destroyer. Familiar faces like Tarkin and Saw Gerrera also appear in this novel.

Battlefront II: Inferno Squad by Christie Golden (2017)

Golden’s novel follows the members of the Empire’s elite team of soldiers, the Inferno Squad, as they deal with the ramifications of the theft of the Death Star plans. The central characters, Lieutenant Iden Versio, Lieutenant Junior Grade Gideon Hask, and Lieutenant Commander Del Meeko, are all featured in the EA Game’s Star Wars: Battlefront II.

Versio and her team are tasked with eradicating the remaining members of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans, newly reformed as a terrorist cell known as the Dreamers. Gideon and Del infiltrate the Dreamers, while Iden is arrested for alleged sedition after intentionally revealing her disillusionment towards the Empire — which leads to the Dreamers rescuing her.

It’s not often that we get to see how members of the Empire fully believe that their actions are the right actions, and this novel delivers.

Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed (2019)

The first of a trilogy of novels focused on a group of New Republic pilots. The series crosses over with Marvel comic series Star Wars: TIE Fighters and has a forthcoming sequel novel Shadow Fall arriving in June. The book explores the costs of war in the wake of the Battle of Endor as it follows Yrica Quell, an Imperial defector.

Freed introduces readers to a colorful group of pilots (featuring X-Wings, U-Wings, and Y-Wings) who react with different degrees of suspicion when Yrica joins the squadron. It’s a compelling piece of fiction that is rooted heavily in the military aspects of Star Wars and strongly reminiscent of the 1990s X-Wing series.

Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston (2016)

Dave Filoni created Ahsoka Tano for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and she quickly grew into one of the most beloved characters from the Prequel Trilogy era. The young adult novel starts with Ahsoka during the Siege of Mandalore and explains how she came to adopt the pseudonym Ashla after fleeing to the remote Outer Rim Moon, Raada.

In the shadow of the growing threat of the Galactic Empire, Ahsoka works alongside Bail Organa and the Rebellion to evacuate the at-risk villages on Raada. Obi-Wan Kenobi also appears in this novel and struggles with the grief of Anakin’s betrayal as he remains in hiding on Tatooine. Overall it’s a great novel exploring an aspect of Ashoka’s life that had yet to be explored.

The final season of The Clone Wars is currently airing on Disney+.

Choose Your Adventure

While we endure the post-The Rise of Skywalker world, there is an entire galaxy’s worth of Star Wars novels out there to read.

Check out your local library or used bookstore and track down some of the older Legends books or jump on Amazon and pre-order the new The High Republic series.

Choose your own adventure, and as always, may the Force be with you.

The post The 20 Best Star Wars Books of All Time (Canon and Legends) appeared first on Your Money Geek.

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[gffa]

Hey! Long time reader, first time asker but I read your post yesterday about supplementary material enriching experience. I’ve seen all the movies, I’m loving The Clone Wars and I enjoy playing Swtor but that’s all I have experienced. Do you have any recommendations as to where to start with supplementary material? Are the graphic novels you reference on that marvel comic subscription do you know? Thank you for your posts, they are always so interesting!

Hi!  Thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog!  And I love doing “where to start” posts!  Keep in mind that a lot depends on what you happen to like (if you’re more of an OT fan or a PT fan or an ST fan, if you like certain characters more than others, etc.) but I think the basic places to start when moving on from the movies are:- The Clone Wars TV show.  As you’ve said, you’re already watching this one but it’s still my #1 recommendation, because it sets up so much of the galaxy and the way things operate in the Republic and is just really good.  Finish this one first, as it introduces you to so much you’ll need down the road–a lot of the Jedi characters that will then break your heart when you watch Order 66 happening in Revenge of the Sith, getting invested in Ahsoka Tano and her role in Anakin’s life, getting more time spent with characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala, some trippy arcs like the Mortis arc that are fascinating for Force Woo, and a lot of stuff will come up in other shows, comics, and books!- Star Wars Rebels TV show.  While it’s about an entirely new group of characters, it has a lot of recurring familiar characters–like James Earl Jones reprises his role in voicing Darth Vader, you learn the fate of Ahsoka Tano here, you get to see some of the clones again, you get a look at what it’s like for Jedi under the thumb of the Empire, you’re introduced to the Inquisitors, you get to see the politics of the Rebellion as the show goes along, you get a better look at Mandalore, etc.  This is another show that will help form the foundations of other stuff.- Star Wars Battlefront II game.  You can play it or just watch a movie version of it on YouTube.  Yeah, the game got a lot of crap for the shit EA tried to pull with it, but it’s turned into a really great piece of media and the story itself is absolutely fantastic and will only take about 2 hours to get through, but a) it’s a great story with great characters (I LOVE IDEN VERSIO SO MUCH) and b) it does a great job at showing a lot of what happened after Return of the Jedi but before the Empire truly gave up.  This establishes a lot of the final fight stuff, like the Battle of Jakku and its importance (aka, that’s all those ships that Rey is scavenging at the beginning of The Force Awakens) and what Operation Cinder is and the epilogue helps lead into what the First Order is.- The Star Wars titular comic + Darth Vader volume 1 (by Kieron Gillen) comics.  These two are meant to be read concurrently, so I recommend them together, and they do an absolutely incredible job of filling out the space between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.  They’re telling fantastic stories (including some really powerful stuff about Vader finding out the name of the Death Star pilot is Skywalker) while also giving some really great insights into the characters, adding depth to the story of the movies, and made me fall in love with the characters all over again.  This Vader tends to be a little more mysterious, Gillen liked keeping the mystique to him (which appeals more to some, so if that’s your jam, read these first!), the feeling is very much in tune with the original trilogy in that sense.  Same for the heroes, they feel very OT!- Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith by Charles Soule comics.  You can read the Vader comics in either order, but I generally like suggesting this one to go second (release order is always good, imo) despite that this is my favorite of the comics.  Set not long after Revenge of the Sith, this is a comic about Darth Vader adjusting to his new life and about the bigger, overarching story of the psychological look at a character who cannot admit what he’s done wrong.  On the surface, it’s about him hunting down Jedi and trying to raise his wife from the dead, but in the macro sense, it’s about this guy who cannot admit that he had other choices, even when the Force is literally throwing those other paths in his face.  Great Vader content for him being powerful and terrifying, while also being an absolute human disaster garbage bag.- Age of the Republic comics by Jodie Houser.  If you like the prequels at all, these comics are stellar.  There are eight of them, four for the main heroes, four for the main villains, and they’re a single issue each, where there’s a short look into their lives at various points, all which illustrate really thoughtful things about the characters, whether through their actions or even sometimes comparisons with other issues in the series.  (ie, reading the Obi-Wan one and Jango Fett one really highlighted how each of them dealt with this young person they were taking care of.)  They were just REALLY GOOD STORIES, too.- Star Wars Adventures by IDW Comics.  These are cuter stories and set all across various eras, from the PT to the OT to the ST to occasionally other areas, but they’re always just absolutely CHARMING.  They’re pure delight to read, they tend to focus on moments that are just really fun, so it’s easy to think of it as a kids’ comic, but instead I think they work best at showing some of the more hopeful moments of Star Wars without being too fluffy.- Poe Dameron by Charles Soule comics.  These are SO GOOD, they really add so much to Poe’s character and they also do a great job of fleshing out that time between the New Republic still working to stabilize itself and when we know the First Order is coming.  But mostly it just really makes you like Poe as a character, it captures his sense of charm and swagger while giving him an actual character arc, as he learns to be a leader.- Kanan: The Last Padawan comics.  You need to see Rebels first (or at least the first two seasons, enough to make you care about Kanan as a character) but then this is a gorgeous, beautifully told story.  It’s half about the current days with his new found family the Ghost crew (the cast of Rebels) and half about his history as a Padawan in the Jedi Order, how he was apprenticed to Depa Billaba, how he watched her die, how he had to live in the galaxy that wanted him dead just for being born the way he was, how he was being hunted for it, and how he survived.  It’s really, really good!- Forces of Destiny animated shorts.  You can find them all on Disney’s YouTube channel, they’re these 2-3 minute long stories about the women of the galaxy far, far away (with occasional appearances by others) and they’re pretty light-hearted fare, they’re meant to impart messages to kids or just be bite-sized content, but they’re pretty wonderful and it’s nice to see the women of SW get some attention.- From a Certain Point of View book.  For the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope they put out an anthology of short stories, telling the various points of view of different side characters and adding depth to everything that was going on.  Not all of them are super great, you can feel free to skip ones if you’re getting bored, but there are some MUST READ ones, especially the Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Obi-Wan ones.  And the Admiral Motti story had me in absolute tears from cry-laughing while reading it.- Bloodline by Claudia Gray book.  It’s a really good Leia story, but it’s also a book that does a lot to cover what’s going on with the New Republic still struggling to establish itself, why Leia isn’t part of it by TFA, and more on how the First Order came to be and why people stuck their heads in the sand about it.- Thrawn by Timothy Zahn book.  While there’s some dissonance between Zahn’s version of the character and the character from Rebels, I think you can make them fit together, and this book really is one of the best of canon material.  It’s fun and zips right along and introduces some new characters and sets up some really interesting backstories and just fleshes out the Imperial stuff and gives us Eli Vanto.  ALL THINGS I LOVED.FINALLY:  The above is aimed at a general list of things that I thin pretty much anyone would enjoy, it’s meant to cover most of the bases as best I can, but if you have a favorite era or a favorite character, feel free to run straight to anything that involves them.  There’s a lot of good Legends stuff (as always it’s hard not to recommend the Revenge of the Sith novelization or Wild Space, but that’d just muddle the line between canon and Legends), but I’m sticking with canon right now because it’s easier and there’s so much good stuff and it’s less confusing that way.All the comics are available on Comixology (and there’s never been a comic I hated by any means, though, admittedly some of the mini series can be kind of bland, anything that ran for at least 20 issues is a good bet, and most of the comics are THE BEST of the supplementary material), and if you don’t mind waiting a couple of months for Disney+ (or Googling for streaming sites) the animated properties are all really worth watching.  Sometimes they take a bit to get going, but I’ve fallen in love with every single one.These might not end up being your favorites (some of my favorites–like the Aftermath books or the Join the Resistance books–are ones that I wouldn’t put on a list for new-to-supplementary-material fans, because they’re a little too distanced from established characters) but they’re great places to start getting a feel for whether or not you like this kind of thing!  :D

[comiccrusaders]

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[cassatine]

Hi! Can I ask what makes West End Games the "genesis point" of Star Wars old cnaon? Isn't it just the movies?

MY TIME HASCOME. Have a [tl;dr] of my notes on WEG. 

Okay so - are the WEG games the genesis point of the old canon or is it the movies is the kind of question I’m not super interested in, so i’m more going to focus on what makes West End Games key, and the part they played.

Let’s dothe time warp – we’re in the mid-eighties, let’s say 86. Return of the Jedi was released in 83, the movies have been adaptedin as many forms as possible. There’s been children books, storybooks, activitybooks, nonfiction, etc. There’s been magazines and strip comics in newspapersand two trilogies of novels published by Bantam, plus Foster Splinter of theMind’s eye, there’s been Atari games and toys beyond counting. There’s been publishedscreenplays and artbooks, a Guide to the universe compiled by a fan andofficialized, some odds and ends I’m notcounting, and that list may seem long, but it’s ten yearsof content – the rate of release was nothing like today’s or the nineties’. Towrap it up, between 84 and 86, there’d been the Ewoks and Droidstv series, as well as the Ewok movies (I think a lot of kids loved them, but olderfans, not really) but the overall release rhythm was winding down: Kennerstopped producing SW figurines in 85 (they’d start again in 95); in 86 theMarvel run of comics ended (they published two spin-off series til 87, Droidsand Ewoks, tho). Star WarsInsider, still the Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine at that point, would start its runin 87, but it featured little about SW for years - outside of themerchandising pages at least. Fandom was certainly active, but the rate of official content had dwindled next tonothing, and nothing new was on the horizon.

In myperiodization, that’s the end of the First Legends Era, and at this point SWwas basically dying, nevermind the Ewoks and Droids stuff. Again, I don’t meanthe core fandom, but without regular new content the wider audience was justlosing interest.

Somethingchanged that of course, otherwise I wouldn’t be here typing this, and somethingwas West End Games, a small company who, until then, had mostly publishedhistorical and fantasy RPGs. They could buy the license because… well, no onewas interested. Again, Star Wars had stopped being a hot property.

That didn’tlast long, and West End Games kicked off the Second Legends Era, expandingon the universe in a way none of the previous spin-off products had.

Their firstpublication was Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game in October 1987, covering thefirst movie’ events. It was followed a month later by a Sourcebook and until the license changed hands at the end of the nineties, WEG released over ahundred books, sourcebooks and miscellaneous stuff, including the Adventure Journal, which arguably kickedoff the long tradition of SW short stories that other official magazines wouldlater continue. Many of these first short stories were later reprinted, mainlyin the Tales anthologies - and a lot of people were angry when some of the Special Editions changes invalidated bits of these stories (the very first Canonpocalypse). The West EndGames material also started the tradition of in-universe works; most of theirguides and sourcebooks had in-universe passages, but some of the sourcebookswere fully written from an in-universe point of view.

There’s anumber of factors behind the success of the WEG Star Wars line; for thecore fandom, it came at a time when there was very little new content: WEG’s shortfictions were the only new fictional content (bar Ewoks/Droids stuff) from 86to 91, and with the Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine, WEG was basically the only regularsource of content. It was also an encyclopedical exploration of the GFFA, more on that below. It was aninteractive kind of fictional content; a way to become an active participant in the galaxy-sized storyof Star Wars rather than remain a passive audience, more accessible thanthe electronic games of the times. 

And it wasgood. Like, critically-acclaimed good.

The WestEnd Games publications had a hugeimpact on the franchise in their time, and their products remained being ratherinfluential in later years. They’re still being so, as that “roleplayinggame material published in the 1980s” alluded to in the 2014 Canonpocalyseannouncement – i.e., the source from which the Inquisitorium, the ISB andSiennar Fleet Systems, and a great many other elements since, were pulled andbrought to the NEU.

But to goback to your actual ask, there’sa reason for looking at the West End Games products specifically as a the base of the old Legends canon (and also a source ofelements and concepts for the NEU). The RPG outlook is a very specific one; oneof statistics and numbers and rules that users learn to navigate the setting ofthe adventures. To create a RPGfrom an already existing world,you’d define a number of categories and subcategories for worldbuildingelements, break down those elements to measurable characteristics – but alsoelaborate on context and fill in many blanks. It’s a very methodic way to doworldbuilding, one oriented towards a specific purpose.

Inpractice, that meant the West End Games books, although not planned as such,doubled as a set of incredibly detailed reference books, something without equivalent at the time. Althoughthe first publications centered around the movies and, once the ExpandedUniverse really took off in the early 90s, some of the novels, comics and games,the company had soon started to create as much as adapt, branching out to new,unexplored grounds. With the adventures came details about the galaxy’sgeography and history, its inhabitants and its technology, the inner workingsof the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. And if some of these publications tied tothe movies or other products, this was no-one way relationships: from theTarkin initiative to COMPNOR, the ISB or foundational texts such as the Declaration of Rebellion and otherelements great and small, the galaxy was laid out in West End Games’publications, comprehensively and extensively.

Thing is, if many of the books featured pre-written adventures or “adventure seeds”, the fundamental goal of sourcebooks and the overall worldbuilding of the WEG stuff was to create a universe for the players to tell stories – stories in which the narrator has no control over the characters, but stories nonetheless. In a way, the sourcebooks were reference books intended for storytellers.

Which is why they became the base of the “old canon”, when it took off in the early 90s, with the Dark Horse comics and Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy – and make no mistake, the only reason these happened at all was because WEG had made Star Wars a viable brand again. Their success had proven there was a market.

And as we’ve seen, they’d already done the worldbuilding, extensively; Lucasfilm has always had final approval on the WEG books too, so the content was considered as “official” as could be, and continuity already mattered (if always with the caveat that Lucas could invalidate it if he came back to SW, as finally happened). It’s well known Zahn was sent WEG sourcebooks by Lucasfilm (who would later develop an internal “canon bible,” way before the holocron database, but wasn’t there yet), and over the years, writers used the sourcebooks as resource materials; I wish I could give you a list but I’m working on it. Recently Jason Fry said he still used the sourcebooks. Hidalgo talks about them here and there.

Moreover, anumber of Legends (and NEU) writers, of fiction as well as of nonfiction, first contributed to StarWars through WEG; Troy Denning, later to write novels for the franchise,authored two “gamebooks,” i.e Choose your own adventure books, and a sourcebook;Bill Smith wrote and co-wrote a number of books for WEG before writing twotitles for the first series of Essential Guides ; Daniel Wallace alsowent from WEG to the Essential Guides, though he only contributed to thefinal published issue of the AdventureJournal, and the rest of his RPG writing was done in the context of Wizardsof the Coast publications. Peter M. Schweighofer, who would also go on to writefor WOTC, wrote or co-wrote a number of WEG books; he also edited the Adventure Journal and wrote a number ofshort stories. Pablo Hidalgo went from playing the WEG games to writing forthem before joining Lucasfilm. There’s more but I’m still working onthat list.

[theabominableblogger]

Rewatching “Revenge of the Sith”

Ohhhh yeahhh, I’m going there.

My apologies in advance because this post is so long...

*silently boogies out to 20th Century Fox jingle and ends up throwing popcorn everywhere*

*mouths along to opening theme*

WAR!

“Evil is everywhere.”  Dude, this is Star Wars we’re talking about...

Just a heads up, I am so freaking glad that we have The Clone Wars because honestly, it has a lot more flowing character development when it comes from jumping from “Attack of the Clones” to this movie, especially Anakin.

Lens flare!

Holy snot how many Republic ships are there?!?  Did the Separatists come with every single ship imaginable?  Is that why?

Aaaaand that’s a dead body.

The hell are those things?

“Nothing too fancy.”  Says the man [Obi-Wan] who dramatically drops his robes whenever possible.

*imitates the buzz droids*

“IN THE NAME OF-”  Finish the sentence, Obi-Wan!

R2′s taser thingy looks like the Twelfth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver.

What if they didn’t notice the shield in time?

Boom!  End of saga.  Cue end credits music.

Ohhhh this asshole.

WHAAAATTT’SS THE SITUATION, CAPTAINNNN???

*imitates the droids saying “Roger roger”*

How come Anakin and Obi-Wan aren’t getting jostled around when the elevator car first stops?

*quotes the entire “No loose wire jokes” conversation in the elevator*

Is that the same freaking chair that’s gonna pop up in “Return of the Jedi?”

Anakin and Obi-Wan fight Dooku but every time their lightsabers clash, it’s Obi-Wan going “Hello there”

Did Dooku just backwards kick Anakin away?  Oh my God...

DEW IT

 *Anakin kills Count Dooku*  Well done, prequels.  You done didn’t use your Christopher Lee effectively enough.

ALL BATTERIES FIRE, FIRE!

Wilhelm Scream!

*imitates droid saying “Reversing stabilizers...”*

Holy crap, you can actually see Grievous’s face kind of twitching with anger when he commands the droids to level out the ship.  Dang.

Freaking Obi-Wan’s little yell of horror when he wakes up...

*ugly cackles*

*quotes the entire ray shields scene*

I cannot freaking believe that the TV show took the time to make freaking sure that Anakin never met Grievous until this movie.

Actually, yes I can.  They have a goddamn script continuity department.

How come one of them didn’t take one of the electrostaffs?

The Separatist flagship just tore in half when it entered the atmosphere and yet I remain completely unfazed.

“8 plus 16...”  Pfftt, what the heck does that mean?

Guys, I think I found the origin for the Dramatic Hair Flop of Angst in TCW

Pretty sure that’s the Millenium Falcon at the bottom hangar

“Oh, I’m not brave enough for politics.”  *cough cough*

Obi-Wan gets a whole freaking bus to himself.  Chaos will ensue.

How has no one noticed Padme just hanging out next to one of the pillars?

“There were whispers... that you [Anakin] had been killed...”  Really?

Anakin’s reaction to Padme telling him that she’s pregnant is actually really good.

Wasn’t there like a deleted interaction where Anakin first accused Padme of sleeping with someone else while he was gone but then they decided that was not that great of an idea?

The music that plays when Grievous exits the shuttle is pretty sweet

*imitates Grievous saying “Yes, Lord Sidious?”*

*claps with each word*  This is not how you write romance, [George] Lucas!

Oh I didn’t realize that you could actually hear Anakin’s robotic arm move when he puts his face in his hands

“How long is it gonna take before we start being honest with each other?”  You [Padme] should have asked that before you two got hitched in the first place.

Ladies and gentlemen, the absolute worst therapy lesson in the history of Star Wars:  Yoda telling Anakin to basically get over himself and accept the sudden, incoming death of the people he loves.

“What must I do, Master Yoda?”  MOTHEREFFING IGNORE HIM!

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”  NOOO, OH MY GOD...

There’s actually a whole video by Pop Culture Detective that went into detail how terrible the Jedi Council were when it came to giving Anakin emotional support.

“Be careful of your friend Palpatine.”  And your pal, Friend-patine.

I just noticed that there are less chairs in the Jedi Council room

“The Council doesn’t like it when he [Palpatine] interferes with Jedi affairs.”  Then why the heck don’t they confront Palpatine about it?

Holy crap, I just realized that this movie came out 13 years ago.

“Hold me, like you did by the lake on Naboo...” Was that really “holding” though?

Anakin’s delivery of “At last!” sounds like Darth Maul when he said “At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi” in the first movie.

This entire opera scene should be a dead give away to Anakin learning about Palpatine being the Sith Lord.  The minute Palpatine even said the word “Sith” should have raised a few red flags...

This entire Darth Plaguesis explanation is so good and ominous.  Just the minute Palpatine finishes the story and tells Anakin that there are other ways to gain that sort of power, you can just gradually feel the dread setting in for the rest of the movie.  You just know something bad is gonna happen (besides Anakin becoming Darth Vader)...

Look at the way Obi-Wan’s sitting in his chair!

Oh my God... the Wookies just did a Tarzan yell...

Headcanon:  he’s [Anakin] checking for updates about the Siege of Mandalore

OK, everyone craps on the Utapau storyline with the fight scene between Obi-Wan and Grievous but I actually think this is one of the best parts in the movie.

I love the design for the Pau’ans

GUYSSS I LOVE BOGA SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!

Someone get me a plush animal of her on my desk pronto!

HELLO THERE!

GENERAL KENOBIII... YOU ARE A BOLD ONE...

That pose though!

That spinning helicopter move Grievous does while stalking toward Obi-Wan was always really cool to me.  A little extra, but still cool.

ARMY OR NOT... YOU MUST REALIZE... YOU ARE DOOMED!

Oh I don’t think so!

*imitates Obi-Wan using the Force to throw Grievous*

Wait, so how many times has Cody had to hold onto Obi-Wan’s lightsaber when Obi-Wan freaking drops it?

Death Star plans?

Big question:  so how old is Anakin here?  He’s 19/20 in “Attack of the Clones” and there’s at least a one or two year time jump in S3 of TCW.

Yo, that means he was like late 30s/early 40s when he died in “Return of the Jedi.”  Well shoot, man...

Yeah, Obi-Wan, let’s freaking kick the crazy homicidal cyborg.  Great idea.

Is Grievous just covered in gasoline or something because he just went up in flames *snaps* just like that.

Ohhhh this scene with Anakin and Padme looking at the windows of their respective places is really good...

Look at freaking Anakin here! 

George Lucas deserves any and all sins for the bad dialogue for Anakin because Hayden Christensen can really act when he’s not given any dialogue and he’s just told to react. 

So, with that, henceforth, there shall be no dissing Hayden Christensen on my blog.

I AM THE SENATE!

Dramatic window break!

Palpatine’s lightsaber just freaking deactivated as soon as Windu kicked it out the window

Wowwww... the prosthetics on Palpatine look.. bad....

UNLIMITED.... POOWEEERRRRR!!!

I just realized that Anakin kind of walks over to Palpatine on his knees before he pledges himself to Palpatine

Why Darth “Vader” though?  Is there any special reasoning for that?

AN:  Holy crap, there’s an hour left and Anakin has just turned to the Dark Side...

Pfftttt....

THESE SHOTS THOUGH

Man, I need to download more tracks from this soundtrack...

You can tell that that’s green screen behind Cody

*in best Palpatine impression*  Execute Order 66!

Nooooooooooooo, Boga!

Aaaaand everyone dies and it sucks now!

Ughh, Aayla Secura...

NOOOOOOOOOO PLO KOONN!

What planet is that?

Here’s my question:  in Rebels, how the heck did Thrawn get Gree’s helmet?  Was there an imperial campaign out on Kashyyyk and he found it somewhere?

That small matte painting shot of the Jedi Temple burning is actually really pretty now that I see it again

Yooooo can we talk about this padawan though?

Kashyyyk has twin moons...

So what happens to Chewie after this and before the Han Solo movie?

Heeeyyyyyyy I know that kind of ship!

“Have faith, my love [Padme]...”  Uhhhh... Padme should have picked up on how... off that line was

How has NO ONE in the Senate (besides Organa and probably Mon Mothma) picked up on Padme’s pregnancy?

*imitates Palpatine*  Mustafaaarrrrr....

“Could be a trap.”  It’s Star Wars.  There’s always a trap.

What’s that planet right next to Mustafar?

Random xylophone scales!

Yoda is taking no prisoners!

Where are the lightsaber/balster holes in the younglings?  Yoda said that they were probably killed by lightsaber so where are the marks on their bodies?

Yellow eyes...

“So this is how liberty dies:  with thunderous applause.”  Best.  line.  Ever.  Someone send flowers and chocolates to Natalie Portman.

“I've recalibrated the code, warning all surviving Jedi to stay away.”  Aaaagghh and we see it in Rebels and in the Last Padawan comic!

Don’t mind me casually dying

I just noticed that gradually throughout this movie, you can see Obi-Wan get grey hairs in his sideburns

*Obi-Wan sneaks onto Padme’s ship to Mustafar*  Where did he come from?!?

“You [Darth Vader] have restored peace and balance to the galaxy.”  *in best Anakin voice*  OK... now what?

“And together, you [Padme] and I [Anakin] can rule the galaxy! We can make things the way we want them to be!”  Wow, “The Last Jedi” is just smackin’ me in the face right now

Anakin... you’re breaking my heart!

That is just extremely bad timing on Obi-Wan’s part

YOU HAVE DONE THAT YOURSELF!

Your new Empire?!?

DEMOCRACY!

“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.”  A what?

That’s a pretty nasty lisp you have there.  Might wanna do something about that.

You know how this Yoda vs. Palpatine fight could be more amazing?  Just add helium

Honestly, for the BIG DEAL fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan, it just goes on for a little bit too long.

Plus when it’s intercut with the Yoda vs. Palpatine, the latter is way more entertaining (hello, two most powerful peope going head to head with actual Force lightning being involved?)

Are they [Anakin and Obi-Wan] just kicking each other with the Force now?  Wow...

NOT EVEN HITTING EACH OTHER!

Seriously, they’re just banging their lightsabers together and calling that a fight.  C’mon... actually try to hit the opponent!

Duel of the Fates!

*Palpatine throws the Senate chairs at Yoda with the Force* So I threw the Senate at him!

Honestly, you could cut out this whole balance thing on the sinking balcony and mining buildings/walkways

Commander Fox?

ExPLOsions...

Noooo... cut this out...

“Into exile, I [Yoda] must go.  Failed, I have.”  And yet people complain about Luke doing the exact same thing in the sequel trilogy

You’re not even trying to hit each other!

FROM MY POINT OF VIEW, THE JEDI ARE EVIL!

IT’S OVER, ANAKIN!  I HAVE THE HIGH GROUND!

YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

“You were my brother, Anakin.  I loved you.”  Uuuggghhhh....

I actually read somewhere that Ewan McGregor actually asked George Lucas to change the line to past tense instead of the original present tense.  Which is sad, so thanks Ewan.

Can’t you just put out the fire with the Force?

How did 3PO and R2 get an unconscious Padme on board?

Where is this?

*Palpatine’s shuttle lands in Coruscant*  It was a dark and stormy night...

Y’know, at this point, me comparing Anakin being repaired and transformed into Darth Vader and the creation of Frakenstein’s monster is almost inevitable at this point...

Stupid question, but what’s the significance of the names “Luke” and “Leia” concerning the themes present in the movies?  Or is that up to people like me who enjoy the meta to find that out?

He [Darth Vader] just killed that medical droid next to him...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Do not want....

“...[Qui Gon] learned the path to immortality...” In the TV show!

I like how the last line in this freaking movie is “Oh no!” and it’s from 3PO...

Triceratops rams!

The design for Padme’s funeral garb is actually Iain McCaig’s favorite concept art

How did they develop TIE fighters so quickly?

Oh my God, the dude they got to play Tarkin... oh God...

Definitely not Peter Cushing

*gasp*  Leia’s theme!

Random eopie noise!

Oh my God, “Binary Suns”...

Obi-Wan’s like “Great, now I gotta help a pair of random, separate Force-sensitive teenagers and their astromechs in the near future...”

Wait, they put Ewan McGregor in top billing?

“With Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu”  Thamuel El Jackthson!

Holy crap, I forgot Joel Edgerton plays young Uncle Owen

[djemsostylist]

When FanBoys Write

I made a post a while back about why Tim Zahn, despite being the first EU Star Wars author, was not the best Star Wars author.  At the time, I was mostly talking about personal taste–having made it through only the first and part of the second of the Thrawn trilogy books, my dislike of Zahn was mostly that he was boring, his characters lacked feeling, and I wasn’t hugely fond of his view on the Force. 

I’ve since read 16 books which followed the Thrawn Trilogy, plus an additional 12 that came chronologically before (although were published after) and I have just started the first of the Hand of Thrawn Duology.  I am not quite 6 chapters in, but I already hate it.  Loathe, actually, might be the closer word.  It’s not just bad…its insultingly awful, and it makes me eternally grateful that he never wrote for Del Rey.  

See, I’ve read a LOT of Star Wars books.  At this point, I’ve read close to 80 Star Wars books, written by 20+ authors, and somewhere around 10 (?) or so comic series.  I’ve read a lot of Star Wars.  Most of the these books span a variety of years, and cover a variety of subjects.  Some I’ve loved, some I’ve hated, some have left me mostly bored.  The one thing about all the books, however (and again, it should be noted that I do not include any of the post NJO books here as I never finished those series plus they actually invalidate everything I’m going to say here fuckyoutroydenning), was the amount of, I guess you could call it respect, the authors had, not only for each other, but for overall plot and character, and an overarching idea. 

Like, Bantam was not one big plot, like the NJO.  Each author sort of did their own thing, had their own special OCs, invented their own alien species, focused on their own plots.  But they never invalidated anything done by other authors, they never made their OCs equal in importance to any of the actual main characters, and they played nicely in the playground.  Take Stackpole, who’s books are mostly written about Corran Horn.  Corran is an OC, and those novels do center around him and his life.  But he doesn’t interact much with the mains (yes he goes to the academy but he’s mostly unremarkable and leaves pretty soon after and Luke has to save his ass).  Corran could be called a “Mary Sue” except that he’s not really, because ultimately…he doesn’t really matter.  If you never read Rogue Squadron or I, Jedi, you’d literally miss nothing.  Also, he’s literally written as a mediocre everything, so… 

Then we have Zahn.  His OCs are the coolest, nicest, smartest, best, most awesomest people in the universe.  Talon Karrde?  Basically Han, but better.  A smuggler with a heart of gold, who helps people and saves the New Republic and is friends with Jedi and runs a huge spy network and has the best intelligence/hackers ever.  Grand Admiral Thrawn, who’s basically Vader, but better.  Smarter, more intelligent, a master planner, a perfect tactician–but he was ignored because he was an alien, sadface.  Mara Jade (who I do love and adore) is like, I mean, she had red gold hair and a dancer’s body (this is an actual Zahn quote I don’t make this shit up) and is also the Emperor’s Hand, like she was hand picked by him to serve and like, she is super smart and strong and a spy and a smuggler and like, she could defeat Luke Skwyalker.  And literally, reading HoT, within five pages, I feel like I watched Zahn walk in, and just sweep his hand across the desk, and knock everything the Bantam writers have done to the floor so he can continue the story the way HE wanted. 

Luke has spent the past 16 novels grappling with his Force use and his place in the galaxy.  And while he isn’t totally sure of his place, he certainly is sure of one thing–he is not afraid of the Dark.  He has gone up against countless Darksiders and truly evil people–and he emerges himself, every time.  In fact, just three books prior, he was literally willing to Obi-Wan himself to Kueller just because he couldn’t bring himself to use the dark to strike him down.  But suddenly, he’s grappling with the Force and having visions of the Emperor laughing at him.  Oh, and he apparently never flies X-wings anymore, despite the fact that again, like three books ago he successfully piloted/bailed out of a crashing X-wing, and a major plot point of the Black Fleet books was him trying to get used to flying an E-wing because Ackbar wanted him to upgrade, and he liked his x-wing better. 

Or we have Leia, who has fought countless fights to maintain the Presidency (she has been Chief of State for the majority of Bantam) including, again, just prior to this, overcoming two votes of no confidence, an Imperial plot, and a Corellian conspiracy, only to suddenly resign in HoT and turn to the presidency over to Gavrisom, some senator we have literally never heard of, despite spending almost 20 books with actual members of the inner circle of the New Republic who apparently don’t matter.  

Or, I dunno, Mara, who left Karrde behind to start her own business (and have a fling with Lando along the way) only to have her suddenly back with Karrde, and when Leia asks why, Karrde (and god I hate this word) like literally steps in front of Mara to mansplain about how her business was actually Karrde’s business and she was just like, trying out being a leader for a while because she will probably take over Karrde’s enterprise someday actually (and I can’t wait for the wanky explanation of how she wasn’t actually sleeping with Lando it was all part of a long con).  

Like, you can literally feel the fanboy rage as he forcibly puts things back the way he wants.  We aren’t even two pages in and we’ve got Pellaeon rubbing one out to Thrawn’s perfect memory, Leia is vacationing on Wayland with the Noghri, and Karrde is already popping up to save the day twice while Luke grapples with how much Force is too much???? 

It’s like, I know people complain about fanboys, but honestly, until Zahn, I never felt it in Star Wars.  At least, not from the materiel.  The majority of the books were written by men, but I never really really felt it, ya know?  Like, yeah, I definitely appreciated having women write (Hambly in particular wrote some really poignant moments I don’t think could have been eloquently captured by a man (the whole thing with Cray Mingla turning her dying boyfriend into a robot but saving his face and hands I don’t think would have been the same if written by a dude)) but we got plenty of great characters, prior plots were always respected, and character development as a whole continued–it never went backwards.  But with Zahn, you get the overwhelming feeling he’s pissed someone wanted to play in his playground and mess with it, because they just don’t understand.  

[rebelsofshield]

Star Wars Rebels: “Heroes of Mandalore” -Review

This is it. With a war cry and a whole lot of jet packs, Star Wars Rebels begins its explosive final season with a fight for the liberty of Mandalore. Capitalizing off long running character arcs and packing an emotional punch, “Heroes of Mandalore” is an engrossing and satisfying season premiere that hopefully hints at great things to come.

(Review contains spoilers.)

With the warriors of Clan Wren, Fenn Rau, Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Chopper in tow, Sabine Wren launches the first major attack in the campaign to liberate Mandalore: freeing her father from the clutches of the Empire. However, when the Empire makes use of a deadly weapon from Sabine’s infamous time at the Imperial Academy, the mission takes a new turn for the survival of the Mandalorian culture.

Consisting of two separate halves, directed by Steward Lee and Saul Ruiz and written by Henry Gilroy; Steven Melching; and Christopher Yost, “Heroes of Mandalore” congeals into a surprisingly cohesive and effective hole. With the exception of “Ghost of Geonosis,” Rebels’ longer hour long specials have consistently stood out as some of the stronger work that the creative team have released dating all the way back to the series premiere in “Spark of the Rebellion.”  While it is clear where the disparate episodes begin and end, they are clearly designed to be viewed as a whole and the result makes for an effective viewing experience. The narrative covers a great deal of personal and mythological ground, but thanks to the expanded run time the results very rarely feel cluttered or rushed. “Heroes of Mandalore” provides our characters breathing room to react and process what has occurred while also providing some standout action set pieces. It may not be immaculate, but as a season premiere and a partial resolution to some of the series’ longer running story arcs it is more than successful.

In many ways, “Heroes of Mandalore” almost feels like an epilogue to Rebels’ third season rather than a true start to season four. Much of the main cast is absent and instead we double down on providing a satisfying conclusion to Sabine’s standout narrative arc. Even considering “Zero Hour’s” interruption, “Heroes of Mandalore” feels like a smart and natural continuation from the major plot threads that were introduced in “Trials of the Darksaber” and “Legacy of Mandalore.” We learn and see more of Sabine’s family and how they connect to the greater political and cultural landscape of Mandalore while at the same time delving into the origins of the rift that drove her into exile to begin with.

Sabine’s character arc again makes up the personal and emotional core of “Heroes of Mandalore.” Despite her initial reluctance last season, Sabine has evolved into symbolic figure of Mandalorian resistance to the Empire. This in a manner functions as one of the core emotional beats for her character. Despite how readily much of Mandalore seems to follow her, Sabine may not be the one that will ultimately be able to lead her people to victory. The likely candidate for that may be Bo-Katan Kryze, beautifully voiced by returning Clone Wars actor Katee Sackhoff, whose past carries more political clout than Sabine’s but is clouded by even more immeasurable tragedy.

Before “Heroes of Mandalore” barrels full on into the heavier and even tragic elements of its narrative, we are given the opportunity for some levity and quite characterization through the introduction of Sabine’s father, Alrich Wren. Gilroy, Melching, and Yost smartly design Alrich to be a fun antithesis to Ursa’s rough and brash exterior and instead craft a quiet spoken man who is just as much fascinated by aesthetics as he is loyal to his family. We don’t see much of Alrich but he makes for a fun character and adds a nice layer to Sabine’s increasingly complex characterization.

However, Sabine finds that it may be impossible to escape her past as the super weapon that led to her banishment returns in full force. The strangely named “Duchess” is revealed to be a device that targets and superheats the Beskar alloy (a nice Legends callback) in Mandalorian armor which in turn vaporizes the wearer. This is revealed in an effectively gruesome manner even if the attempted fake out of killing of Sabine’s mother and brother feels decidedly cheap. That being said, Tiya Sircar, who is currently killing it on The Good Place, again proves her voice acting chops. Sircar’s ability to capture the heartbreak and guilt of Sabine’s role in the subjugation of her people is only matched by her fury at the Empire. It’s a tough tight rope to walk as a voice actor and the results are frequently impressive.

Smartly, Yost utilizes the nature of the “Duchess” weapon to discuss the importance of Mandalorian heritage and culture. Sabine in her youthful arrogance crafted a weapon that not only systematically targets her people but does so in a manner by weaponizing one of the key parts of what makes them Mandalorians. It effectively drives home the reason why Sabine’s discovery proved so instantly horrifying to her people and lead to her eventual exile. Yost also utilizes this to pose some surprisingly effective discussions regarding the importance of heritage and refusing to give up cultural identity in the face of violence or oppression that feel politically poignant. In this manner, the utilization of Thrawn for what amounts to little more than a cameo proves to be a smart decision. His obsession with culture and art and the place it has with the development of warfare feels particularly relevant here and it makes for the best villain centric sequence.

If “Heroes of Mandalore” clearly stumbles anywhere it is in the execution of its one-off antagonist, Tiber Saxon. In all but design, Tiber feels like a reiteration of last season’s Saxon antagonist and he too is written off in a seemingly premature manner. While Tiber works fine enough as an episodic villain, it leaves the Mandalorian conflict without a clear opposing force moving forward. In general, the future of the conflict on Mandalore feels oddly vague. While we may have concluded Sabine’s part in this narrative, the war for Mandalore is clearly far from over. Will we return to this world? In all honesty, who knows. Rebels has enough on its plate already and I doubt we have enough space in the three hundred minutes or so left in the series to cover the liberation of two planets.

Outside of the series’ Mandalorian cast, the Rebels ensemble mostly takes a supporting or back seat role. Chopper and Ezra tag team as the episode’s comic relief with the latter doubling as an audience stand in as an outsider to Mandalorian culture. Taylor Gray plays this role well, even if the character’s slapstick is sometimes a tad distracting. Kanan, despite some cool action moments, feels the least necessary here outside of a cute moment between him and a hologram Hera that is sure to placate fans of their relationship until we dive further into their dynamic later this season.

Of the two directors, Steward Lee arguably has the more difficult job. While Ruiz stages much of the dramatic and emotional scenes with effective blocking and a smart visual eye, Lee has the challenge of arguably one of the most technically complicated action scenes the series has attempted to date. Sabine and her allies’ liberation of her father from an Imperial convoy playfully echoes the famous chase scenes from the Indiana Jones franchise and is filled with various moving parts, shifting geography, and smart choreography. It’s a sequence that is incredibly entertaining to watch and is decidedly more playful than much of the rest of the episode. That being said, “Heroes of Mandalore” more than most episode’s in the past season often times stretches a viewer’s suspension of disbelief when it comes to combat. While it is easy to become lost in the smartly directed action sequences, the series’ inability to showcase death by lightsaber becomes distracting at times. There is just something odd about seeing a Darksaber-wielding Sabine fly full speed at a stormtrooper only to deliver a roundhouse kick, saber dangling unused in her hand. Again, given the constraints of this series in terms of acceptable content, this is hardly a surprise or even a serious complaint, but the Rebels crew is normally smarter about hiding these odd moments in choreography.

Minor hiccups aside, “Heroes of Mandalore” makes for a fun, engrossing, and even cathartic viewing experience. Even if the future of Mandalore remains unclear, it’s more than a little exciting to see where this season may go from here. We are approaching the final sprint guys, let’s hope we finish strong.

 Score: A-

[celinamarniss]

Visual depictions of women in the Thrawn Trilogy comics; or, how much I hate the effing catsuit

As you may have noticed, I bought digital copies of the Thrawn Trilogy comics, and reread the series (though honestly? I skimmed a lot. Most of Dark Force Rising). 

I HAVE NO REGRETS. 

The thing about the series that interested me the most was the art. There are three artistic teams across the series, each with a slightly different style. Here's the gang:

  I can't say enough good things about the background work the first artistic team does. Gorgeous planets, interesting interior design, fun page layouts. BUT. I have some of issues when it comes to the way the artist who drew the issue draws people. ESPECIALLY with their depictions of women. Get ready for my feminist killjoy rant on how comics are terrible. 

Let's start with Leia. 

Part I: PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON LEIA.

Leia is one of our lead characters, obviously. And how she's depicted isn't all that bad, most of the time. In Heir she seems to be wearing some sort of black catsuit covered with a weird yellow vest, but she's more clothed than a lot of the other characters. But thennnn the comic will put her in situations in which she isn't wearing anything at all. 

Of course you had to manufacture a situation in which your female lead wouldn't be wearing any clothes. 

Then there's a whole scene where she runs around wearing only her underwear:  

This goes on for six pages. 

She INTERROGATES A PRISONER IN HER UNDERWEAR. There is no good reason this should be happening. 

WHY. COMICS WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. 

It’s less of a problem in the following books, especially in The Last Command, where she wears a variety of formal and casual outfits, and doesn’t loose her clothes for no reason at all.  And then we come to our second female lead, Mara. Part II: THE EFFING CATSUIT

According to what I've heard from fandom, these comics are the first appearance of Mara's catsuit. I have no proof of that, but the catsuit is never described as what Mara's wearing at any point in the original novels (in fact, if described at all, she tends to wear long sleeves to cover her holdout blaster). 

I don't know who's to blame for that decision, if it was the artist's choice or someone on the creative team or at Lucasfilm. I wouldn't be shocked if it was the artist's decision, especially the lack of sleeves, considering the fact sleeves are pretty scarce in general: 

Space is cold! Don't these space people want to be cosy???

Like I said, I don't have proof that the sleeves catsuit originated here, but ...I would not be surprised. I am fully prepared to lay the blame on this anti-sleeve artist.

(side note: Luke looses his sleeves a LOT in these comics, and you could argue some level of objectification there, but not at the same degree as the women, and the context is different, anyway. 

Know who never looses his clothes at any point? Han Solo.)  

The first appearance of the catsuit: 

(she’s a charmer!)

It's not just what she's wearing. She's nearly always posed in ways that bring her boobs and butt to attention. 

She's literally reduced to tits and ass in this frame: 

I'm like ....really? REALLY?

The art team switches in Dark Force Rising and again in The Last Command, but the problem remains consistent. 

She's a barbie. 

Just...look. Breasts don't do that in a skintight suit, unless she's wearing a push-up bra underneath, and why would she do that???? 

We don’t see Karrde’s ass featured in every frame! 

She even assembles weaponry... without her clothes on. OH COME ON. 

There's the pose again. 

And yeah, I know, this is how women in comics look. That doesn't mean I want it in my Star Wars, or that I can't go into a frothing rage every once and while. I know I’m probably overreacting, but this is the image that’s defined Mara for so long, and I resent that.  First of all, the catsuit is meant to objectify and over-sexualize a female character. That's straight up what's going on here. Someone looked at this complicated female character who had a prominent role in the series and decided they needed to make her more palpable to male fans by making her "sexier." It's misogynistic. 

(yes, women can enjoy looking at other women in catsuits, but the machine behind star wars has always been more interested in catering to what they perceive the male fans want.)

I hate the catsuit so much. 

Not only does it objectify Mara, it drives me crazy how out-of-character the catsuit is. Mara was trained to operate from the shadows, and not to draw attention to herself. She blends in. A skintight catsuit is way too flashy, in a universe where skintight catsuits aren't the norm. It just doesn’t make sense for her character. 

Most of all, Mara’s practical, something a catsuit is not. How is she supposed to move in that thing? How does she hide her holdout? How does she pee? 

You know what's practical and pretty common in Star Wars? A flight suit! But that doesn't seem to be what they're going for here. 

A practical flight suit! With pockets! 

This is what I imagine Mara wearing a lot of the time, or the pants/shirt/jacket/boots outfit that a lot of the other characters in the movies wear. You know, to blend in! 

(I might buy an argument for her wearing a black jumpsuit when running secret missions, but not so much working as a smuggler on the Fringe!) 

That first appearance of the catsuit in the panels above? She's having a meeting with her boss. A business meeting in which she makes clear that she won't use her body as leverage to gain a promotion. She holds positions of authority throughout the books, and I can't help but suspect that that catsuit is undermining that authority (something Mara would never stand for!) 

The catsuit might be justified if Mara was the type of character to use her sexuality and physical appearance to get what she wants, but that's not something she ever does in the novels. (In contrast to Shada, for instance, who does use her physical appearance as a smokescreen). 

And the lack of sleeves just BUGS me. Mara's signature weapon is a holdout blaster that she hides up her sleeves. It's a plot point! GIVE HER SLEEVES. 

The catsuit isn't mentioned in her debut appearance in the Thrawn Trilogy, and isn't described in most of the books (it starts to show up in one or two books written long after it was established as her signature visual). 

Relatedly, Mara's figure is often compared to that of a dancer's, and if that's meant to evoke a ballet dancer, which I think it is, that's a very distinct body type that tends to be lean and muscular, and very much not voluptuous. Apparently the artists of the comics didn't get that memo. (Can we stop with the balloon boobs? please?) She's also usually depicted with her hair down, which also doesn't strike me as very sensible, especially going into a combat situation! 

Almost all art of Mara features the catsuit. It's all over the place, in official and fan art. When people google Mara, that's what they see. Occasionally, the suit is rendered in a way that isn't too objectifying, but there are some pretty egregious examples of the opposite. I won't post any examples; they're easy to find. Many of them are of her during her career the Emperor's Hand, when Mara was about 16-21. She was a teenager. 

Ew. 

Obviously, there's nothing I can do about the catsuit and the fact that it's permanently linked to Mara's image. I just try to keep it off my blog (I don't reblog images of Leia's slave outfit either, for the same reasons). I would love LOVE to see new art of Mara that didn't feature the catsuit. There are so many good artists doing fantastic new Star Wars art out there! Give my girl some love. PS. Club Jade has a similar article on the catsuit, with a little more detail on the catsuit's history and some discussion in the comments worth looking into. 

[yiliy]

I agree with quite a bit here, I also liked the original Thrawn trilogy more, and Thrawn didn't have enough weaknesses in the new ones until Chaos Rising, but I think you people are missing the position Timothy Zahn has been put in here.

Rebels were done with characterizing new Thrawn by the time Zahn was asked to step in. Rebels retconned Noghri and Rukh. Zahn was told to write from Thrawn's point of view, which Zahn resisted and argued against.

For some reason in the last few years the main focus of Star Wars seems to be villians, both with merch and with choice of titular characters for books and comics.

So the only thing Zahn could have done differently is either refuse to write anything (and who would do that, it's his livelihood not a hobby!) or go full villian with Thrawn and then what? What kind of people would want to read that???

I've read Zahn's non-Star-Wars books and he ALWAYS has the good guys win in every aspect. It's difficult for a writer like that to write about a villain who wins. Just this year, when asked which character he wants to write about Zahn said about the idealistic Maris Ferasi from Outbound Flight and her joining the Rebel Alliance.

Yeah, I've read his interviews where he says Thrawn is not a villian. I am also really annoyed that the Empire is suddenly not sexist any more (but that's a different discussion).

But what I 100% don't agree with is that Zahn is woobyfying Thrawn or being dishonest about what Empire is.

Zahn shows us Imperial slaves (which Thrawn helps keep enslaved without anyone ordering him to), he shows us the corruption, the Vader's squad commander always being scared for his life, Arihnda Pryce slaughtering a whole town of civilians to cover up a murder, he shows us the utter contempt for aliens, the ruthlessness of Thrawn, the complete moral failing of politicians. How is any of that being dishonest about the Empire and people who work for it?

The books, for the most part, are written from Imperial point of view, and Thrawn is a somewhat better person than other major characters which means nothing. How easy is it to be a kinder person than genocidal maniacs Tarkin, Vader, Palpatine and Price? But good characters, Padme and Nightswan are horrified by Thrawn's morals.

Read, if you have the chance, the conversation between Nightswan and Thrawn that Zahn wrote in the first of the new books. That leaves no doubt who Zahn cast as the good guys and who as the bad guys. It's quite long but I'll just copy a few sentences here:

Nightswan: “What I don’t understand is why you still serve the Empire. Can’t you see the evil you’re helping to perpetuate?”

-

Thrawn: “Certainly the Empire is corrupt. No government totally escapes that plague. Certainly it is tyrannical. But quick and utter ruthlessness is necessary when the galaxy is continually threatened by chaos.”

Nightsawn: “And what happens when the ruthlessness breeds more chaos? For that is what happens. Repression and revolt feed and devour each other.”

Thrawn: “Then the revolt must die. The danger is too great. The stakes are too high. If the Empire falls, what can replace it?”

Nightswan: “Justice. Mercy. Freedom.”

-

Nightswan: “What, no retribution? No tyrannical hammer to beat back the chaos?”

Thrawn: “The people of Batonn are Imperial resources. A wise commander never wastes resources without need.”

Nightswan: His expression holds disbelief and sorrow. “I should have guessed that was how you see people.”

I rest my case.

I don’t wanna get deep into another Great Thrawn Characterization Debate but…. TL;DR, (1) the Doylist take on this is that Zahn has been p open about his take on Thrawn evolving over the years and it is very clearly a journey of woobifying his own Gary Stu, who is a character who definitely began as an absolutely villain and who can never quite escape his Imperial associations no matter how many excuses Zahn wants to write in for him, although tbh I’m not sure all the time how self-aware Zahn is about some of the shit he’s doing, besides the which a lot of the retcons don’t even make sense, and also??? we should remember that when Zahn says he tries to write as if Legends is still true at least per Thrawn, that by definition includes the original trilogy, where he is, again, absolutely a fucking baddie, and (2) the Watsonian take is that post about a god of death who loves to see people living because he always wins in the end. I could elaborate but I’m tired.

[studentsofshield]

Various Reading Orders/Collected Edition Details for the Guardians of the Galaxy

In this post I will lay out the reading order and collected editions info for the “original” Guardians of the Galaxy team set in the 31st century. I will also provide reading orders on a few of the modern Guardians with more obscure backgrounds. Without further ado, check out the lists below and have a blast.

Original Guardians Reading Order

This is a pretty much complete reading order for the original team. As discussed in the other post, most of the early parts are written by Steve Gerber. Then the major Korvac Saga crossover by Jim Shooter. Then the 1990 series is written about half and half by Jim Valentino and Michael Gallagher. The final three pieces are written by Dan Abnett.

Marvel Super-Heroes Vol 1 18 Marvel Two-in-One 4-5 Giant-Size Defenders 5 Defenders Vol 1 26-29

Marvel Presents 3-12 Thor Vol 1 Annual 6 Avengers Vol 1 167-168, 170-177 Avengers 181 Ms. Marvel Vol 1 23 Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 86 Marvel Two-in-One 61-63, 69 Sensational She-Hulk 6 Fantastic Four Vol 1 Annual 24 Thor Vol 1 Annual 16 Silver Surfer Vol 3 Annual 4

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 Annual 1 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 1-25 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 2 Guardians of the Galaxy 26-29 Guardians of the Galaxy 30-39 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 3 Thor Corps 2-3 Guardians of the Galaxy 40-47 Galactic Guardians 1-4 Guardians of the Galaxy 48-50 Guardians of the Galaxy Annual 4 Guardians of the Galaxy 51-58 New Warriors Vol 1 68 Guardians of the Galaxy 59-62

Korvac Saga 1-4 Guardians 3000 1-8 Guardians of Infinity 1-8

Collected Editions

My recommendations: The original Korvac Saga is a must read for all Marvel fans. It is one of the true classic stories of the Jim Shooter era. The Guardians being in it is just a convenient bonus. If one somehow prefers the Guardians over the Avengers, might as well grab that second Tomorrow’s Avengers trade. The first one is easily recommended though. All of the early 1970s Steve Gerber oddities between one book. The Jim Valentino era is worth exploring if one enjoys pre-Image 1990s Marvel comics.

After many DnA fans continued to grumble about Brian Michael Bendis’ take on the Guardians in Marvel Now, the publisher relented and gave Abnett (now split from longtime writing partner Andy Lanning) some minor gigs writing the obscure future Guardians. Despite being a huge fan of his work, I haven’t gotten around to checking this chunk out since it was always presented and discussed as the pity project.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers Vol 1 TPB Marvel Super-Heroes Vol 1 18, Marvel Two-in-One 4-5, Giant-Size Defenders 5, Defenders Vol 1 26-29, Marvel Presents 3-12

Guardians of the Galaxy: Earth Shall Overcome HC Marvel Super-Heroes Vol 1 18, Marvel Two-in-One 4-5, Giant-Size Defenders 5, Defenders Vol 1 26-29

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Power of Starhawk HC Marvel Presents 3-12

Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow’s Avengers Vol 2 TPB Thor Vol 1 Annual 6, Avengers Vol 1 167-168, 170-177, 181, Ms. Marvel Vol 1 23, Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 86, Marvel Two-in-One 61-63, 69

Avengers: The Korvac Saga (various formats) Thor Vol 1 Annual 6, Avengers Vol 1 167-168, 170-177

Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Omnibus Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 1-29, Annual 1-2, Fantastic Four Vol 1 Annual 24, Thor Vol 1 Annual 16, Silver Surfer Vol 3 Annual 4, Marvel Super-Heroes 18

Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Vol 1 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 1-7, Annual 1, Fantastic Four Vol 1 Annual 24, Thor Vol 1 Annual 16, Silver Surfer Vol 3 Annual 4

Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Vol 2 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 8-20

Guardians of the Galaxy by Jim Valentino Vol 3 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 21-29, Annual 2, Marvel Super-Heroes 18

Guardians of the Galaxy Classic: In the Year 3000 Vol 1 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 30-39, Annual 3

Guardians of the Galaxy Classic: In the Year 3000 Vol 2 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 40-50, Galactic Guardians 1-4

Guardians of the Galaxy Classic: In the Year 3000 Vol 3 TPB Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 51-62, Annual 4

Guardians 3000: Time After Time TPB Guardians 3000 1-5

Korvac Saga: Warzones TPB Korvac Saga 1-4, Guardians 3000 6-8

Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians of Infinity TPB Guardians of Infinity 1-8

Modern Guardians Backstories

Star-Lord

Marvel Preview 4, 11, 14-15, 18 Marvel Super Special 10 Marvel Spotlight Vol 2 6-7 Marvel Premiere 61

Notes: Star-Lord’s stories here have minor inconsistencies. But also some quality art from John Byrne and Carmine Infantino. The modern Star-Lord, especially after the huge conflicts of Annihilation and Conquest is nothing like this kitschy spacefarer.

All of Peter Quill’s early adventures are collected in a paperback called Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy. It also includes the strange Timothy Zahn (Star Wars: Thrawn Trilogy) written miniseries starring Sinjin Quarrel.

Rocket Raccoon

Marvel Preview 7 Incredible Hulk Vol 1 271 Rocket Raccoon 1-4 Quasar 15

Notes: The Mantlo/Mignola miniseries is a beauty, but nothing here is particularly compelling. The origin and characterization for Rocket was drastically changed by the Annihilation era crew as well.

All of Rocket’s early adventures can be found in the Rocket Raccoon: Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant premiere classic hardcover. It can all also be found in the Rocket Raccoon and Groot Complete Collection (TPB), which also includes Tales to Astonish 13 and their backup stories from the two Annihilators miniseries.

Groot

Tales to Astonish 13 Sensational Spider-Man Vol 1 -1 Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos 2-6

Notes: This has almost nothing at all to do with Groot as he is known today.

Mantis

Avengers Vol 1 112-116 Defenders 9 Avengers 117 Defenders 10 Avengers 118 Defenders 11 Avengers 119-124 Captain Marvel Vol 1 31-32 Avengers 125 Captain Marvel 33 Avengers 126 Giant-Size Avengers 1 Avengers 127-129 Giant-Size Avengers 2 Avengers 130-132 Giant-Size Avengers 3 Avengers 133-135 Giant-Size Avengers 4 Silver Surfer Vol 3 3-9 Silver Surfer Annual 1 West Coast Avengers Vol 2 37 West Coast Avengers Annual 3 West Coast Avengers 38-39 Silver Surfer 20 Fantastic Four Vol 1 323-325 Avengers: Celestial Quest 1-8

Notes: Mantis is wild. As discussed in my post specifically addressing her, Mantis has hopped across publishers. Those excursions are not covered here. The important chunk is the Celestial Madonna Saga from Avengers 129 to Giant-Size 4. Celestial Quest is a disappointing and disjointed follow up. Even still, Abnett and Lanning mostly blaze a new path with her, ignoring most of this baggage.

One can find Mantis’ Marvel adventures in the Avengers/Defenders War (TPB/HC), Avengers: The Complete Celestial Madonna (TPB), Silver Surfer: Freedom Epic Collection (TPB), and Avengers: Celestial Quest (TPB) collections.

Bug

Micronauts Vol 1 1-10 Micronauts Annual 1 Micronauts 11-23 Micronauts Annual 2 Micronauts 24-57 X-Men and the Micronauts 1-4 Micronauts 58-59 Micronauts Vol 2 1-20 Cable 38-39 Bug 1 Alpha Flight Vol 2 10-11 Captain Marvel Vol 4 6, 12, 15-16

Other characters such as Drax, Gamora, Adam Warlock, and Moondragon have much more extensive histories that are easier kept separate. Especially considering their involvement in the first and second eras of Marvel’s cosmic history mostly under the pen of Jim Starlin.