#tcw negative

[verpineshatterrifle]

you mentioned liking military fiction, I'm curious whether you see the emphasis on disobedience in tcw and tbb as something specific to star wars, or as something that applies to fiction in general?

I wouldn't consider myself a military fiction sort of person, but similar franchises that come to mind, (destiny, mass effect, etc) also portray orders in a military setting as being optional for the main characters, that heroes can go against the grain if they know in their hearts it's the right thing to do, and don't face consequences, because things always work out in the end. this can partially be attributed to being games instead of a non-interactive media like a show, but it seems to me like the option to disobey an order is something a main character very often has in fiction even if it's unrealistic, displaying either a misunderstanding by the writers or an attempt to make a military hero more palatable to the general public.

idk, just spitballing, something to think about if you want ig? I don't mean to throw so many words at you lmao. I love your pulls from the books, maze saying "crazy null boy" is an all-timer for me LMFAO

omg yeah absolutely, it drives me insane every time in pops up in stuff like video games and other tv shows, where the Main Hero gets to disobey a direct order, not die, and then miraculously pull of a huge save, and not face any consequences. this even bothers me in pacific rim, where raleigh has a very anakin-esque attitude and that little nerdy doctor does the stupidest thing possible and saves the whole world because of it

i guess it especially bothers me in tcw and tbb (even though, like, theyre kids shows, its fine, this is something that even adult military fiction frequently fucks up) because i really see the inhibitor chips as the writing team scrambling to reconcile fucking this up with the ending that has to happen and pulling out mind control, which is second only to time travel on the list of Total Clownshoes Scifi Tropes to me

now that i've claimed to like miltary fiction i'm struggling to think of more examples lol. Halo Kilo-5 Trilogy also did 'following orders is good actually' really well, but that's not surprising, because kt wrote that too

murderbot does pretty decently although i don't know if that counts as military fiction. murderbot has to balance appearing to follow orders with its own limited expression of free will, especially at first, and is Extremely annoyed when the dumb humans dont follow the orders it gives them for their own safety

that episode of the mandalorian where din has to deal with that fuckin newbie does it well- the kid doesn't follow orders, nearly dies multiple times, almost gets everyone around him killed, improvises at the end because he thinks he sees an opportunity, and gets his ass killed in the end for it. ten outta ten very satisfying, because in another story, that idiot would have won

andor did this pretty well, in that when cassian improvises he causes himself and everyone around him enormous problems, and luthen's entire Thing is very much about putting the collective good above heroism, but andor did literally everything well

'it seems to me like the option to disobey an order is something a main character very often has in fiction even if it's unrealistic, displaying either a misunderstanding by the writers or an attempt to make a military hero more palatable to the general public'

i think you're totally, completely spot on here. i suspect it has something to do with how western society values independence and heroism over a collective good. we love to see our hero Stick It To The System and Follow Their Heart, and then Come Out Victorious and Prove All You Boot-Licking Cogs In The Machine Wrong

hell. even repcomm DOES do this. the skirata band explicitly disobeys so so many orders, breaks out of the system, and comes out (mostly) victorious. i guess i'm fine with that because of the context and how the system they're sticking it to deserves to be escaped from, and they don't do it as an individual, but as a collective that has to be very, very careful with how and when they go about disobeying orders

i sort of laser focused in, but everything i'm saying about orders applies to improvisation, too. in hard contact specifically, omega squad plans their asses off and still has to improvise at the end, and it's actually treated as extremely dicey

and then there's the bad batch that never does any recon whatsoever and just runs blind into most situations, narrowly avoids death through sheer luck and Main Character Gumption

[david-talks-sw]

I will say that I'm starting to notice a pattern around the approach taken with some live-action Star Wars content.

To give you an idea...

Let's say they announce something called "Dooku - A Star Wars Story".

It wouldn't be too far-fetched to assume it'll be about Count Dooku, maybe about his rise and fall. Former Jedi, evil Sith Lord, you'd expect lightsaber fights galore, him leaving the Jedi, or training under Yoda, training Qui-Gon, studying the Dark Side, stuff like that, y'know?

And instead... instead it would be a story set in the 2-3 years between him leaving the Jedi Order and becoming a Sith Acolyte, and focuses majorly around him getting used to be the Count of Serenno, trying to fight off corrupt bureaucrats and/or pirates/bandits from getting their hands on Serenno and finally, at the end, joining Sidious.

Yoda might make a cameo, Sidious would for sure, but the story's main cast would be a young fish-out-of-water POV character for the audience, the butler of Chateau Serenno, Dooku's sister, a disposable baddie and maybe his political rivals in the House of Lords or something. No one of consequence.

See what I mean?

And I'm specifying "live-action" because I think there's a different approach taken with these stories when they're in live action. Example:

Boba Fett is a bounty hunter. You'd expect a series about him to be centered on that. But nope... let's NOT be predictable, let's make him, I dunno, a crime boss... but not a Peaky Blinders type of crime boss, that'd be too obvious, no let's make him Don Corleone but like 10x softer. See? Now, we're shaking the system! Nobody could've predicted we'd focus on this specific aspect! Fresh, original! AKA quality stuff!

And I know they were going for a decent story, I've already broken it down here. But sometimes, some of this stuff is just straight-forward and seeing them NOT tick those boxes is baffling.

And it's not just an approach Lucasfilm takes, it's all studios.

For instance, the "this superhero needs to spend the whole film in civilian clothing until they earn their costume/powers/name" trope is also a result of this approach.

[varpusvaras]

So, according to the background lore, while growing up on Kamino, if the clones had any bouts of anger or frustration, they were put into the "retraining tank" which was essentially isolation. And at some point, this just kinda manifests in the clones in not being able to express their negative feelings properly, and either pushing them down or dealing with them by isolating themselves, because those two things are the only things they know how to do that somewhat work.

The Jedi help with this, of course. They teach their men how to meditate, how to express themselves, how to deal with their negative feelings and also let them go and not let them fester, and how the clones adopt this part of their conduct as well. Meditation becomes almost mandatory. It's not strictly enforced by the Jedi, but it is enforced by the Commanders and the rest of the men, especially when Shinies come from Kamino.

(Bail and Breha have such a good and healthy way of communicating with each other that by now, when they have disagreements, they are able to work through them by talking about it and expressing their feelings to each other.

And then they have a first bigger disagreement with Fox, and Fox just. Up and leaves. And he goes to sit somewhere by himself and then comes back like it's fine let's carry on whatever else we were doing before this. And he just does this. Every time he is angry or frustrated or otherwise upset he just gets up and leaves because he doesn't know what else to do. He doesn't know what to say. He has to leave because otherwise he doesn't know what he is going to do and that scares him)

[1-800-crscnt]

a hc i have is where Coruscant is still not a very good posting, but the Guardsmen try to make it as enjoyable as possible for the visiting troopers. they scout out good party/relaxation/dining spots for clones, they personally get supplies that troopers normally would never have (usually small things like nail polish, high quality shaving cream, a music box, etc.), and they just like to improve life on the planet in general for themselves and by extension the other troopers, which can add another reason for Fox and his commanders to be so busy & secretive so often (especially if you want to make the ways they make this possible very angsty and/or complicated) and another chance to make all the clones more connected despite their differing views/experiences.

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

Snowclone

Squeaked this one in on the last day of 2023, but that's officially the last bit of art before '24! Sure drew a lot of clone helmets last year, and surprisingly I'm not sick of them (yet)!

Art taglist: @the-hexfiles @your-slutty-gf @msmeredithrose @lonely-day3636

You can find more of my art by searching my art tag or clicking on my masterlist.

[writingforfun0714]

I think the problems of TBB started in the Bad Batch episodes of TCW if I’m being honest, because of their treatment of Echo. While CF99 might’ve been planned characters (I remember reading somewhere that GL wanted a ‘unique’ clone squad in TCW), the fact is that Echo is a fan favorite and to treat him with such disrespect definitely rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.

In TCW, CF99 learn that Echo is alive and not actually a traitor and eventually accepts him into their squad as they learn that ‘not all regs are bad’. That’s all well and good but wouldn’t it have been nice if, I don’t know, CF99 actually fucking apologized? Like yeah, adopting him into the squad is a nice gesture, but by not apologizing, it’s like they avoid taking responsibility for thinking ‘all regs are bad’. CF99 see Echo as different like them, they don’t see themselves as one of the ‘regs’, which is a problem in a clone-centric show like what many fans claim TBB to be. This problem of not taking responsibility and actually apologizing for wrongdoings continues in TBB show and is especially noticeable in S3 with Hunter and Crosshair and even with Crosshair and Howzer. I noticed it in S2 as well with that Omega/Tech episode (2x9). Like yeah it confirmed he’s autistic but in that situation Tech is the adult and should’ve apologized to Omega for how he talked to her. Having autism doesn’t excuse being rude, especially when the dynamic is one of an adult/child.

Then all through TBB S1 Echo continues to get sidelined (along with Tech) up until S1 ep10, when the problems of the show compound. Echo should have been the focus for 1x10 Common Ground. The basic plot is that CF99 are hired to rescue a Seperatist senator from Raxus while Omega has to stay at Cid’s bar for her ‘protection’. Hunter leaves Omega behind but expects her to be a member of the squad and is surprised when the others have to remind him that he left her behind. I can understand what the writers were going for but the execution of that small line of dialogue was wrong (the wording and placement in the scene). Personally I’d prefer a sort of lamenting inner monologue with each member instead, reflecting on how they each miss Omega in different ways or something. They did a POV change in 1x9 so I think an inner monologue moment would’ve been a cool choice. That whole time on the mission the Batch question Echo when it really should’ve been Echo grappling with his trauma regarding Seperatists and his torture. This whole episode really doesn’t make sense due to the ‘S1 reset’ TBB go through. You’d think after their TCW arc that there would be no need to question Echo, that they would understand why he has such grievances. But no, TBB ‘resets’ the whole squad (aside from Echo) and makes them almost completely different from their Clone Wars counterparts (hence the memes of frat boy Hunter vs dad Hunter).

Another issue is the marketing and how the creators/people that worked on the show interacted with the fans. From what I can remember, TBB was never a ‘spin-off’ of TCW but more of a ‘successor’ mostly due to the use of the same animation. TBB was always marketed as a ‘dark’ kids show despite showing things we’ve already seen before in SW animation. We’ve seen Force sensitive babies being taken, we’ve seen clones realize they are little more than property, we’ve seen kids having to grow up faster due to their situation, we’ve seen child slaves, and even death on screen (Echo, Fives, Gregor, Savage Oppress, Satine, etc). All within TCW and Rebels (Disney’s first SW show). TBB is extremely tame compared to what we’ve seen previously. To make it worse, those that worked on the show would post ‘teasers’ online, trying to engage with the fans. I always had a strange sense of disappointment after every single episode due to how people like Jennifer Corbett or the Kiners ‘tease’ fans by posting ‘relevant’ memes or hints about an upcoming episode and after each episode, I remembered thinking ‘so they lied’. Teasing a winter soldier arc for CX-2 is definitely my top grievance with this particular problem. A red herring is supposed to make sense. CX-2 could’ve been anyone else besides Tech if they wanted to keep him dead (Dogma, Cody, Kix, Slick, etc).

The last main issue TBB has (that isn’t the blatant racism) is how ableist the show is. I don’t care if it was not intentional because honestly 3 whole seasons consisting of about 15-16eps is more than enough time to fix this problem. Now this show was already on thin ice for me, but to gloss over Echo so hard in S1 definitely put me off of this show. The way Echo is written in S2, as if he’s wrong for wanting to help Rex (how many times does Hunter ask him ‘when will it be enough?’ ‘You know it’s not worth the risk right?’ Seriously fuck Hunter for that especially). Then sidelining him again in S3 to focus on Crosshair (which is a whole other post). In S3, we get to learn Crosshair has to deal with his trauma, isn’t that an interesting concept—ooh-wait no let’s just cut off his shaky hand after spending an episode of ‘meditating’. It was like Hunter/Wrecker/Fennec go off on side mission while the b-plot is Crosshair/Omega meditating. This episode was frustrating but this whole show is made up of frustrating writing decisions that quite frankly, I had gotten used to by S3.

[auxxrat]

“fuck shaak ti she was so oblivious in clone wars”

hi, welcome to the plot of star wars, where every Jedi was oblivious to the sith.

[dead-in-a-damn-ditch]

IF THE SONG DOESNT HAVE ALLUSIONS AND METAPHORS THEN WHATS EVEN THE FUCKING POINT

[lieutenant-teach]

Loki season 2 review (critical)

As usually, I’m late to the party, but the thoughts about the 2nd season have been bugging me since October 2023. Finally I organize my impressions that kept my brain working during cooking my breakfast almost every morning.

Plot

Frankly, too much quasi-sciency BS. Smth smth time loop smth smth. I just let all ‘explanations’ and ‘theoretical basis’ past my ears. Grasped the main events, not going deep into everything Ouroboros was explaining on screen. Getting my brain broken again trying to understand the logic of smth the creatives themselves didn’t bother to clear up in the writers’ room? No, thank you. Been there during ‘Avengers Endgame’, didn’t like it.

Loki

Loki becomes the main character in his own series! At last! /s Seriously, how low the fucking bar should be that the fans are glorifying the series for an absolutely natural thing – the title character, promoted everywhere as the main character, actually being the main character. And sometimes he even looked and sounded as OG Loki! Wow! \s Again, how low our expectations were so that a lot of us are happy to see these crumbs. The stupid beige suit is still on. My comments about his new costume in the finale are here.

Loki torturing Brad who’s being in the same position as he was only little time ago, and doing it with no qualms whatsoever… insisting he uses his number instead of a name… Using numbers instead of names washes away personalities, it’s a famous fascistic instrument to not see a group \ groups of people as humans. I immediately compared this situation with ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ series. All good guys use names that the clones picked up for themselves (like ‘Cody’ instead of ‘CC-2224’ or ‘Rex’ instead of ‘CT-7567). Those who insist on calling them designated numbers are villains of the story. It’s obvious and natural. What’s wrong with the ‘Loki’ series creatives?

And, of course, no happy ending for Loki! Alone forever on a throne he never wanted. Actually, I didn’t understand if he could move from there. I read fans saying ‘he can travel through all time and space now’, but I didn’t find any creators’ comments about it, and the series never confirm so either.

Sylvie

How fucking annoying she was!

Seriously, this season changed my perception of Sylvie to the worse. When I watched the 1st season, I had no feelings about her. She didn’t strike me as a very interesting character, and the romance was awkward and not touching (I’m not even diving into idiotic ‘self-love’ metaphor and overall incestuous vibe).

But since s.2 ep.3 she was grating on my nerves everytime she appeared on screen. She’s absolutely incapable of realizing and owning her mistakes, pushing the blame on everyone around her. For example, in ep.3 she changes her mind about murdering Timely, but immediately says to Loki ‘Don’t make me regret this’. Lady, it was your decision! Yours and yours alone! Seriously, how did the creatives imagine her train of thoughts? ‘I do smth, but there’s Loki in the room, so if anything goes bad because of my decision, I’ll blame it on him’? Ah, yes, it did work in s.1 ep.6, when everyone in- and out-of-universe started to blame Loki on the freeing of the Multiverse.

She’s portrayed as an insolent selfish and self-centered brat. But what is worse, the creators thought they were writing her as being actually right! Like, when she and Loki talk in the bar in ep.5, she blames Loki for being selfish. I suffered rewatching this moment. Yes, he wants his friends back. But she – she is willing to go on heads of countless people to get what she wants, as she did in s.1 ep.6, the most vivid example. Destroying the Multiverse for her personal revenge (don’t get fooled by her non-existent ‘crusade for freedom’, as the creatives started to backpedal in interviews)? Why not! Does Loki want to keep his friends at this cost? She acts all selfish – but she is right in her selfishness, and Loki is wrong?

Generally, I’d say she isn’t needed in season 2. You remove her, and nothing would change. No her own arc – we had smth akin to the beginning of it in ep.3, but next episode it was forgotten.

Mobius

At last I see Mobius as he was intended to be in regards to Loki! There’s a huge dissonance between his behavior towards Loki in season 1 and season 2. Now he actually acts as if he likes Loki, as he was always promoted to do. My general feeling was much more positive. If we forget everything that happened in season 1, I’d say ‘yes, they are friends’.

I’m not diving into nature of fascism that is represented by Mobius and the TVA, more was said by other fans.

Ouroboros

I liked him most. At least he’s funny and doesn’t mistreat Loki – and that’s a lot for this series. But what I enjoyed most – fan theories about him. When he was announced first, I read wonderful ideas that he could be a Loki variant. Ouroboros as a snake biting its tail takes its roots in Norse mythology where Jormungandr, Loki’s son, is a huge snake encircling the Earth. Ouroboros as a Loki variant or a Loki’s son from another timeline would be a real homage to the myths and a really cool and unexpected decision opening up lots of plot and character development possibilities.

But of course, the creatives had no idea about this connection. I doubt they know who Jormungandr is at all, much less any symbolism derived from that.

Casey and B-15

Frankly, I don’t understand why Casey is paid that much attention. I only remember him appearing in s.1 ep.1 not knowing what ‘fish’ was and Loki threatening him. Suddenly he’s Loki’s friend and even given a backstory.

B-15 is Verity Willis. Fuck the comics, apparently. No truth powers, not Loki’s best friend. What’s the point, then? Ah, silly me, a cool Easter egg, of course. Again, just as in case with Mobius, a huge shift of personality between seasons. What bothered me is that she continues using her number instead of her actual name in the end of ep.6. At least the creatives could’ve given her a new name if in-universe she couldn’t associate herself with ‘Verity’ anymore. As in ‘TCW’ we have ‘Fives’ who derived his name from his number ‘CT-5555’, B-15 could be ‘Beenie’ or ‘Bea’ or smth.

In conclusion

A skin-crawling beige swamp of intriguing details to pick apart, some great philosophical ideas that could’ve been explored, and mess in the writers’ heads, with some hummocks of disdain to Loki and stumps of slaughtered worldbuilding.

But I don’t care much, sitting on a cozy beach of good Loki fanfiction and sipping ‘good Loki characterization’ plots in the warmth of ficwriters’ love for him.

[bikananjarrus]

you know. probably part of the reason filoni kept saying that you don’t have to watch rebels to understand the ahsoka show is bc he knew that if people watched rebels they would realize it’s so much better than the ahsoka show

[clonememesfrikyeah]

When anyone interrupts Rex when he’s doing paperwork they just walk in on him blasting a mix of death metal and Doja cat music at decibel Jesus while having a staring contest with a data pad.

[verpineshatterrifle]

@zanabes ok sorry for reblogging this instead of just replying inside the post but this is gonna be way too long lol

first off lots of relevant information here including screencaps of republic commando's attitude on following orders

also i wanna reiterate my disclaimer on that reblog that i have recently watched the bad batch, but have not watched the clone wars lately, so i don't remember many specifics aside from Anakin's Entire Existence, and i will totally give you that anakin never following a goddamn order in his life is treated like a problem

but, like, iirc, it's just treated as an annoying thing he does that obiwan occasionally chews him out about and berates him for passing onto ahsoka, and not as a huge problem with consequences that could involve getting a lot of people killed

i also suspect that disobedience is just as baked into tcw as it is in the bad batch, but i really don't want to go prove that theory

about the chips as a symbolic thing, i'm not disparaging that as a totally valid interpretation of the source material, and fives' entire arc is one of the best things about the clone wars to me. if the inhibitor chips and their implications are what's compelling to a person and you don't enjoy the repcomm method, totally cool!

just, like i go into in my other reblog, it really feels to me like the writers didn't actually choose Order 66 Happened Because Mind Control, it feels like they were backed into it. the chips feel really heavy-handed to me, i strongly prefer what i find to be a more 'realistic' version in repcomm

here is my biggest complaint about the animated star wars shows (the clone wars and the bad batch, no comment on rebels)

before i even get started, i know these are kids shows told in 20 minute episodes, and that the reason for my beef is because the 2008 clone wars show was focusing primarily on the jedi, and didnt have the time/wasnt interested in treating the GAR as an actual military and needed to appeal to a young audience. i get that. i do. now with that out of the way im going to bitch and moan unapologetically about how X Thing Ruined Star Wars, because that's the fandom's national sport, ok?

the shows treat the GAR like a high school. everyone is somewhat childish (to appeal to the young audience). disobeying orders is something cool heroes do. (ANAKIN.) improvisation is treated as a fun and cool tactic that generally works out after a whacky adventure, not something you do as a last resort when your actual plan fails. main character's competency is primarily shown through their enemies (and sometimes their minor character allies) suddenly becoming inexplicably stupid.

'good soldiers follow orders' becomes a terrifying signal that a character has lost their agency. 'when have we ever followed orders?' becomes a rallying cry and heroic last words.

when youve written a military THAT badly, how are you supposed to force your beloved characters to follow Order 66? well, you're kind of stuck with mind control.

it didnt have to be this way 😭😭

[david-talks-sw]

An allergy to the Prequels

While I'm putting together a post about the evolution Lucasfilm's transmedia strategies, this part kinda turned into its own thing!

So I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but, uh... there hasn't been that much Prequel content since the Disney sale, right?

'Couple novels and comics, some episodes... but nothing meaningful.

The more I look into it, the more it feels like a deliberate avoidance to touch on anything Prequel-related - beyond the required quota, that is - to a point where they'd rather tell stories set during periods that are Prequel-adjacent (Dark Times, High Republic) than something set around Episodes I, II and III.

On-screen policy: "pretend they never happened"

I mean, this one's no secret. When The Force Awakens had been announced, with J.J. Abrams at the helm, everyone sighed in relief. "Finally, George Lucas won't keep ruining the franchise."

When Abrams had been announced as the director of Episode VII, I remember this cringey animated video started circulating online, titled "4 Rules To Make Star Wars Great Again" or "Dear JJ Abrams":

“Star Wars isn’t shiny and clean... Star Wars is a western.”

If you ask me, those two things are not mutually exclusive.

'Cause Star Wars has always been both, for many Prequel kids. Both clean and dusty, Coruscant and Tatooine. There was never a disconnect between the Original Trilogy (OT) and the Prequel Trilogy.

Even the documentary The People vs George Lucas shows Prequel-hating fans begrudgingly admit their kids felt all six episodes tied seamlessly.

Abrams, on the other hand, said: "I think [the "Dear JJ" video] was right on." Later on, he also said:

he considered "putting Jar Jar Binks's bones in the desert" on Jakku, somewhere, and

he intentionally made the lightsaber fights "rougher", "primitive" and "more powerful" unlike the fast-paced ones in the Prequels.

Later, we found out he wanted to blow up Coruscant.

It's clear he wasn't a big fan of the Prequels.

But y'know what? Not many fans over 20 were, at the time. And when The Force Awakens came out, most them celebrated it as a wonderful love letter to the OT.

Star Wars is cool again. Mission accomplished 🙌 !

However movies keep coming out, and references to the Prequels - if there are any - are literally just that... references.

Sometimes in the shape of a cameo ("hey look, Genevieve O'Reilly from the Ep. III deleted scenes is playing Mon Mothma again!")

Sometimes in a name (Luke name-dropped "Darth Sidious"!)

But nothing set during the Prequel era, and nothing treating the events that happened in that period as relevant or impactful, beyond subtextual nods.

In fact, the trend of avoiding anything Prequel-related continues as the final film in the Skywalker Saga comes out:

The Rise of Skywalker has a secret Sith society that chants the name "Palpatine" instead of his Sith name "Darth Sidious",

the film pretends the Kaminoans never existed,

and neither TROS nor Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates script even try to bring Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker back on screen. Let that sink in, we're talking about the Chosen One, Skywalker Senior, whose sins caused this whole mess... and his name isn't even uttered once in the final chapter of what Disney dubbed the *Skywalker* Saga (or the entire Sequel trilogy, for that matter).

But hey, The Clone Wars got renewed for one last Season! That's cool right? So many stories had gone unfinished and somehow the animation looks even better than befo--

-- oh. It's not 22 episodes? Only 12?

Four of which had already been shown to us, but hey! We need to set-up the Bad Batch series, so let's shoehorn those episodes in there, and forget Son of Dathomir, Dark Disciple or Crystal Crisis.

*sigh* Better than nothing, I guess.

In other mediums: "just not a priority"

Now this is something that I'll explore more in the transmedia post (and purely my interpretation), but the noticeable change between Lucasfilm's transmedia strategy *post-ROTS* and the one post-Disney sale is that:

Before, the games, comics and novels were the main content. After all, Revenge of the Sith had been released, so that was it, for the movies. Thus, a variety of other content was being cranked out to keep the Star Wars franchise relevant. There were comics set 100 years after Episode 6, comics set 25,000 years prior, games set in the Old Republic era, other stories in the New Republic era, novels galore, a couple of parody films and an animated show, The Clone Wars, which sometimes received its own tie-in comics, novels and games.

After the sale and ever since, most of the transmedia products have had only one goal: promoting the films & streaming shows.

So while in 2015 you won't see an abundance of Prequel content... you'll see an avalanche of OT books and comics come out.

Why? Because the heroes of that era will be in the Sequel Trilogy movies. It provided context to the kids who hadn't seen the OT yet, and reintroduced those films to a new generation of fans, while priming them for the Sequels.

A multimedia marketing strategy that ultimately proved successful.

However, it continued even after The Force Awakens came out.

Don't believe me? Compare how many comics there have been set during the Prequel era vs the OT era.

If they make comics about the Prequels, they're limited runs.

Case in point: before the current Yoda series, the best any Disney Prequel-set comic series ever got was 6 issues.

Note: it's worth pointing out that the frequency of mini-series aren't just a Star Wars-specific thing, it's a comic book industry thing. The readership for comics is dwindling, many people are reading scans online, and so no publisher wants to commit to a story that lasts more than 4-6 issues. My problem is: there absolutely would be readership for a Prequel comic series to warrant an extended run instead of a mini-series.

Let's talk books. There have been give or 64 canon novels published since the Disney sale.

Only 11 of them are set during the Prequel era. And even those stories only came out when the planets were aligned.

Almost half of them were released while being a part of some bigger multimedia push.

Example:

Before the Obi-Wan Kenobi series was being released on Disney Plus, we'd had one novel and like two comic stories about him during the Prequels... released between 2012 and end 2021. That's about three pieces of content in almost ten years.

Clearly a low frequency.

Then, when the series is around the corner, two books and a comic story comes out in the space of months, plus an anthology book with an alt cover with his face on it and a comic with a story of him and Anakin in the first issue, all in 2022.

My takeaway: short of there being a film or series that needs to be promoted, you'll rarely get any Prequel comics or books.

And this is OBI-WAN we're talking about. The character who even the Prequel haters love. Imagine how little attention the other ones get.

Gaming-wise, Battlefront had no Prequel content at all (again, 2015 was the year where OT content was shoved down the consumer's throats to prep them for Episode VII), and Battlefront 2 only released Prequel content a full year later.

All that being said, we did seen some Prequel elements here and there. After all, some actors got to reprise their roles, books and comics came out featuring Prequel characters... but there's a catch.

The stories they appear in are set in-between Episodes III and IV, a time-period known as "the Dark Times" or the "Imperial era".

"Dark Times" being used instead of the Prequel era

It's easy to see the appeal of this era. You keep the same threat from the Original Trilogy - the Empire - but redress it with Prequel elements... while also cherry-picking the best characters of both the OT and the Prequels and giving them a chance to shine again.

The situation is more clear cut, as opposed to the complex one in the Prequels. Bad guys are stormtroopers, good guys are anyone else. And the stories no longer take place in the shiny capital, you're back on the frontier.

But at this point... it feels like a cop-out.

When you consider how much content has been set during the Dark Times, it's nothing to sneeze at. Since the sale, we've had:

2 movies (Solo, Rogue One)

4 series set in that time-period (namely The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Star Wars: Rebels).

2 video-games (Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor).

17 novels (such as Ahsoka, Lords of the Sith, the new Thrawn books, etc)

And just a whole bunch of comic book series & mini-series (like Kanan, Princess Leia, various Vader-centric comics including Darth Vader: Lord of the Sith, many tie-in mini-series promoting Rogue One, Jedi: Fallen Order, Obi-Wan Kenobi, etc).

There's been so much content made for this time-period that it feels like an unwillingness to do the work and create something set something during the Prequel era, let alone something that follows its Jedi.

After all, why make a story set in the Prequels (disliked by vocal fans) when you can just take the characters in that story and put them in an OT setting (which will appease the Prequel-haters)?

Maybe these stories get relegated to the Dark Times because:

there seems to be a perception that anything set in the Prequel era won't sell?

or maybe the current SW writers weren't fond of Episodes I, II and III, and don't find those Jedi characters likable, thinking they're too righteous and dogmatic which makes it hard to craft a story around them.

Or maybe it's because they're under the impression that the Prequel Jedi are bad. Like, canonically, in the narrative. Not just in a "I don't like them" sense, but also in a "the story is all about them becoming corrupted" sense.

Let's expand on that last point.

Retconning the Prequels as the "Fall of the Jedi" era

Somehow the rare stories set during the Prequels that we do get seem to automatically be about how "the Jedi lost their way/failed".

The series Tales of the Jedi is explicit about it...

... and I already explained why it contradicts what George Lucas established here and here.

You also see it in Rebels and the new season of The Clone Wars...

... in comics...

... in games...

It gets to a point where the Prequels era has now been redubbed the "Fall of the Jedi" era by Lucasfilm.

You wanna know what that period was referred to before the Disney sale? The "Rise of the Empire" Era.

Because - and I'll never get tired of saying this cuz it's factual - the Prequels aren't about the fall of the Jedi, they're about the fall of the Republic and Anakin, and rise of the Empire and Vader.

So in addition to being overdone, the "Jedi lost their way" is not even the intended narrative of the Prequels (if one puts any stock in Lucas' words). It's a minor subplot at best, hardly the focus of the films, let alone a whole time period.

But dubbing it "Fall of the Jedi" implies that there's another era in which the Jedi were in their heyday.

Because Star Wars authors are in luck! Yet another alternative has presented itself in the shape of a new transmedia initiative, and it's even better than the "let's set it during the Dark Times" solution:

A new transmedia initiative: The High Republic

You wanna deal with the Jedi before the Empire, but for some reason you wanna avoid dealing with the ones seen in the Prequels?

Look no further. Meet the Jedi of the High Republic.

Noble, adventurous, inspired by the Knights of the Round Table, they're everything the OT kids dreamed about when they heard ol' Ben Kenobi talk about the Knights of the Old Republic.

That's more like it!

Note: the High Republic was created for other reasons and has many more upsides than the ones mentioned above. Namely, a fresh new spot in the timeline that allows for creative freedom and a beautifully-coordinated transmedia storytelling effort where retcons are non-existent. However it does seem evident that not having to deal with the 'unlikable' Prequel Jedi and their "fall" is one of those upsides.

Another perk that the High Republic era offers is more freedom in terms of storytelling compared to the Prequels.

In 2016, Pablo Hidalgo tweeted he still quotes to authors the following excerpt of West End Games' guide for aspiring Star Wars writers, from 1994.

You can't write "this was the best day in Luke Skywalker's life", for example, because another author may want to write a better day than the one you just wrote.

My guess is that a similar approach applies to how all characters from the movies are treated. They're massively iconic. So you can't write a book that drastically changes how Mace or Yoda or Obi-Wan are perceived overall.

The stories need to be self-contained, disregardable if necessary, because you'll have dozens of writers coming up with new stories for those same characters, and you need to leave them some room.

Examples:

Notice how in the book Dooku: Jedi Lost we never see how Dooku turns to the Dark Side and joins the Sith.

Same goes for crossover comic book arcs of the Star Wars issues, like Vader Down or Crimson Reign... the characters don't really change by much in those comics. You could stick to just watching the movies and you wouldn't really miss anything.

But with The High Republic, you indeed can develop these characters as much as you want.

All stories featuring Avar Kriss leave an impact on her, you can nail down who she is perfectly in one book or one comic arc, both being just as meaningful to her character.

The fact that she's not as iconic/famous a character as Mace Windu means that authors can go to town on crafting an interesting and nuanced character arc for her that'll have a beginning, middle and end... something Mace will never really get.

CONCLUSION:

Back in 2015... let's not kid ourselves. The Prequels were unpopular and Disney is a multi-billion dollar corporation. Opting to make as much money as possible is what they do.

It's the same reason they decided not to go with George Lucas' original plans for the Sequels, in 2012.

I mean, imagine you're Disney. You just dropped 4 billion dollars, with a B, on this franchise. Your next Star Wars movie needs to be worth the price tag. Now, you can pick between two options:

Option #1 is uncharted territory and it explores the midi-chlorians (the cursed word…!) and the guy who presented you with this option also openly admits that a big chunk of customers won’t like it, but he wants this to be done because it’s his vision.

Option #2 is very simple: a soft reboot, that plays on nostalgia that the same chunk of customers (aka the 'boomer and Gen-X fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy and now have kids, grandkids and MONEY) will like.

It's a no-brainer. They gave the customers what they wanted.

But time has passed, the fans who were children when the Prequels first came out have grown up, and grew up with characters like Yoda, Mace, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and other Jedi as their heroes, aside from main characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan and Ahsoka.

Can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more?

No, let's either ignoring the storytelling potential of these characters or reducing it to them being "righteous, arrogant and dogmatic".

God forbid we get a story showing the Prequel Jedi in a *gasp* more positive light? One where their POV is more understandable, instead of the same old "we brought this on ourselves" storyline.

There's a whole decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones... you're telling me there's no space to show us Anakin's training and how he formed bonds with the Jedi we later see in The Clone Wars? I tried my hand at it here:

Interesting or fun Prequel-set ideas from other pro-Jedi fans on Tumblr can be found here, here and here.

And y'know, part of the Star Wars intent is for fans to take the ideas in the movies and come up with their own stories. You're supposed to create headcanons.

What I'm saying is fans of the Prequels are being given less "imagination food" than the rest, and many of us who like the Jedi in particular are forced to rely on headcanons only. "Better than nothing" is no longer an acceptable standard.

There's a range of recognizable Jedi characters that have already been established in films and TCW, can we maybe expand on them, flesh them out more, instead of whole new ones?

[ct-hardcase]

.

[jewishcissiekj]

it's always some shit about the Nightsisters

[the-far-bright-center]

OP, I realise you've seen more of Star Wars since writing this post, but i just want to say thank you for sharing your very candid reaction at the time. As a longtime fan, the Zygerrian arc is one that I always struggled with because, even though it has some great moments and scenes, the fact Anakin was forced into that situation by the writers and the way they handled his past as a slave felt like just WAY too much trauma for him, and in a way that was particularly cruel. I also struggled with what, to me, felt like OOC dialogue and writing for him at times, as I didn't agree with him even jokingly saying he wanted to roleplay the master because he 'wasn't any good at being a slave', when in fact TPM novelization explains that he was adept at *surviving* as a slave and going behind his masters' back to do things. This is important to me because it's actually a skill he passes on to Ahsoka — that ability to go behind the back of authority and to do so for survival purposes. So I felt like some of TCW Anakin's flippant comments didn't jive with reality of the character, not just in the film or EU canon, but even just within the TCW series itself. I'm therefore absolutely fascinated and intrigued by the fact that, despite the arc's flaws, you nonetheless really 'got' the importance of Anakin's history as a slave to his overall arc even when you hadn't seen TPM or known anything further than what was presented here. It definitely gives me a different perspective on this particular arc — and even though I'll probably always have issues with the way the writers handled it, it's good to know that someone watched these scenes and felt such deep empathy for Anakin.

So....ANAKIN WAS A SLAVE?!! Oh My god

This is why he's so messed up, damn.

This explains SO MUCH, please therapy, you don't take a SLAVE kid and give him a fun and teach him to fight, that will end badly 😭😭😭😭

Don't get me wrong si far I already was sure he had some form of trauma, like C-PSTD and probably some emotional regulation issues because....you know, war?

BUT YOU'RE TELLING ME HE WAS A SLAVE , damn...poor thing.

And not only that (I'm talking about TCW) he needs to deal with it all over again, and needs to PRETEND to be an enslaver (and to his younger sister-like figure), and then a slave woman commits suicide in front of his eyes because he stopped her from killing the Queen, and then he's captured again, so are his Master and Padawan, then WOKES UP ON A BED and this creepy Queen won't stop touching and grabbing him like he belongs to her.

Holy molly the levels of trauma and retraumatizing stuff in these episodes are on another whole level, damnm. Please, someone send him to therapy ASAP 😢😢😢

(yeah, those new to my blog, I knew nothing about SW until about a month and i'm slowly going through the series)