@@guillermoelninoI have a horrible feeling they are going to do more damage to any industry. Even piracy and emulation are slowly being corrupted at this rate.
I feel like that's a lot easier with books too since you can't exactly "wow" people with flashy pictures, CGI or other marketing tricks. If the book sucks, then no one will want to read it. Easier to market video games and movies.
Disney Lucasfilm: “This movie wasn’t made for you!” “Okay, I won’t see it.” Disney Lucasfilm: “This toy wasn’t marketed for you!” “Okay, I won’t buy it.” Disney Lucasfilm: “This book wasn’t written for you!” “Okay, I won’t read it.” Also Disney Lucasfilm: “We spent 4 billion dollars on this successful intellectual property, why hasn’t it made any money for us?” 🤨
It's sooo funny when people are like "fuck straight white males! >:( this isn't for you!" And then lose everything becausd white men are their core demographic, and statistically have the most money. Does not get old.
‘Hey, you know that Expanded Universe that kept Star Wars afloat in between the OT and Prequels?’ ‘Yeah, what about it?’ ‘Let’s get rid of it and replace it with stuff no one wants like sentient slabs of rock.’
@@lugiasimply6054 I read this quote years ago that summarizes how it even got to the point of having a freaking rock as a protagonist: "I came to realize that this is the logical end point of the push for wokeness. Featureless, genderless, colorless, sexless, passionless, mindless, lifeless characters." "A rock. Nothing more, nothing less."
@@RandoGrunt well, this shows that we might've hit the height of wokeness having bad writing. I guess the person that said that quote would say a rock metaphorically, and not literally too, but we do have both.
Star Wars has decades of lore they can make movies and other media out of. But instead, Disney and Kathleen want to make an ego driven crappy fan fictions.
@@kanrakucheese I think he was talking about quality-wise. Most fan fiction is "Mary Sue" level cringe. Heroes that are good at everything, liked by everyone, can do no wrong and never struggle. I think the real problem is that instead of having the idea of a story, and crafting it, allowing the morality and complexity naturally emerge, they start with a "bullet point" list of the feelings and morals they want to promote, and try to write a story around that. That never works. Worse, often it backfires, and the morals you are trying to promote come off as disingenuous or even wrong. Good example is purple haired lady from SW VIII(?). If you watch that story, does it come off as "you should respect female leaders, because secretly they know what they are doing"? And yet I'm sure that's exactly what they were trying to promote.
@@gilmadreth680The issue was that there used to be three different canons in the EU. And the novels' wasn't always that consistent. I get it, everything was far better written than anything could ever hope to write, but the intention was simply to streamline everything
@Halfort57 what do you mean 3 different canons? I was only aware of one, the EU novels. I suppose you could make an argument for different levels of canon to explain inconsistencies that crop up in different forms of media like comic books or video games or one-off tales in young adult stories but that's the point really. Disney was handed a golden opportunity to take the EU, iron out any inconsistencies, and use that as their story framework to essentially print money for the next 30 years. Instead, they opted to give us what we got, and everything just kinda burned down.
And having powerful influential people and groups in Hollywood backing her position and title. People who are nothing but ravenous wolves and wicked liars and deceivers with evil hearts.
She's a bitter miserable liar she owes her entire reputation and status in Hollywood to dozens of men. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, her husband and other ones who we don't know.
Right, we see what happens when george lucas and steven spielerg are not around. Pretty sure she owes at the very least those 2 for her entire career. And her father too, without him she wouldn't exist. I don't know much about her but even i can tell she owes everything she has to at least 3 men.
It always amuses me when a "creator" or a business owner tells people "Don't buy my stuff!" and then they are surprised when people DON'T. If you want to sell something, you probably shouldn't tell people "not to buy it"... though, I do appreciate her saving me the time and money...though I wouldn't have bought it anyway...because...you know...I'm done with the "Star Wars" stuff.
Hard to believe someone could be so spoiled and arrogant to get a job to write a comic book and assume that means to preach about their ideology rather than to write the damn story, and then have the nerve to insult fans for not liking how they altered it.
At least create a world where the politics actually makes sense. “Capitalism bad” in a Star Wars movie just doesn’t make much sense for the universe to me.
I was a vendor at SummerCon in Seattle this year. The High Republic had I think three authors in attendance, after the 1st day two had left. An when I say left I mean the booth was taken down!
I guess being born in the 70's means that I got used to the idea of there being no more Star Wars movies as a small kid. Let it rot. It deserves it now.
I grew up with the originals and was one of the few that appreciated the prequels for what they were when they were still new. People are finally starting to realize that the prequels weren't as bad as they originally thought.
@@TheRosswise prequels are still mediocre, with bad CGI, cringy dialogue and weird script pacing. A lot of people were expecting way more from the author of the original trilogy. But then again, "mediocre" can appear very good when paired with absolute shit like the sequel trilogy.
A lot of EU material was well written by fans for fans, and it never felt like there was an attempt to ride the coat tails of contemporary politics. They respected the attempts of fans to flesh out the universe. The Thrawn trilogy, the X-Wing Series, and several other novels attempted to grow original characters while keeping them both heroic and human. Now adays, the writing, descriptions, and other material seems shallow with a quota of LGBTQ characters that they have to hit to get a book approved by Disney.
Maybe Dark Horse's comic books weren't as popular or aren't as well known as Zahn's books, but they did have some decent stories. Dark Empire had basically the same plot as Rise of Skywalker. The Emperor came back as a result of cloning. Instead, it was Luke who had to deal with him... after turning to the Dark Side and back. Rey didn't actually do the flip, but was awful worried about it. That's why when people were speculating about Palpatine coming back, I was damn near screaming, "IT'S BEEN DONE ALREADY! STOP!" That's why it was difficult for me to believe Kennedy when she says, "We didn't have any comics or novels to work from." Now, I've only heard that reported, but I'd buy that she said it. And, typical of Leftoids, she believes we're all stupid, says things like that and then we all react with: "NUH-UH-UUUHHH!" Then proceed to name off all the number of comics and novels she apparently had no knowledge of but will tell you that is all bullshit "Legend."
This right here is an accurate description of how I saw the EU, and when Disney killed it they killed my interest in the franchise as well. The EU, even with all its faults, was a work of art unto itself. A complex tapestry of stories from hundreds of different writers, artists, and designers, the likes of which never existed before it, and scarcely after (I think some of the later Trek novels decided to try and do something similar, and honestly it's just really cool that the EU inspired that). It needed to be preserved, warts and all. How many other licensed works had characters that _only_ existed in licensed works, but were still prominent and popular enough to stand side-by-side with the original main heroes and villains? Kyle Katarn, Mara Jade, Gilad Pellaeon, Thrawn (of course), Revan (even though he never met any of the movie characters but still no list of popular EU characters is complete without him), Darth Bane, and so on. I'd even go so far as to say Wedge Antilles. Sure, he was technically a movie character, but he was barely in them. Just about everything else about him came from the EU. All wonderful characters that went on to have _pretty significant_ roles in the greater course of galactic history and were often treated with the same sort of pedigree Luke and Co. did after their debut stories had ended. Especially since the "reasoning" they gave for killing it was for a "higher standard of quality," which _gee i wonder how that turned out._ Not that it was a reasonable claim to make in the first place, since they killed so much good with it. And on a personal note, back in high school I read a _lot_ of Star Wars books during that time. If I had a free moment in study hall or in-class work time with my work done, I'd be nose-deep in another EU novel. Not all of them were good, I won't pretend they were, but even the bad ones had something to offer by sticking through it, since it was still a piece of (galactic) history that was in my hands. I often wondered what it would be like if I were to one day throw my hat into this universe and write my own novel in the SW universe, and leave even the tiniest mark of my own on it. I liked writing, I loved Star Wars, and I utterly adored the EU, so I figured it could be something to look into later in life. Unfortunately that won't ever happen, now. I still like writing, but Star Wars is dead to me, and the EU I loved so much is dead for real. God I hate Disney.
@@greghannibal I actually forgot about that. But I think that's a good thing, since, as you said, it wasn't their entire personality. It was just a trait they happened to have, which made them better characters. But I guess that's why these freaks think it _has_ to be shoved in our face, or risk the trait being forgotten in favor of, y'know, important stuff about the character.
I used to own every Star Wars novel, had a whole bookshelf of them When my rent doubled in January 2022, and I had to move, I donated all of them to a local church book sale I tried rereading Heir to the Empire that I picked up from the library about 2 months ago I couldn't even finish the first chapter It dredged up too much rage, anger, spite, bitterness, disappointment, and pain I dare say I'll never go back, even if they manage to miraculously turn it all around and become good again
I can't blame you. That's what happens after a decade of spiteful content and numerous interviews labeled all of their fans of villains, regardless of how many of them actually are. At the very least, there are still many other franchises you can sink into and more soon to come. Might not replicate the same feeling Star Wars used to give but it hopefully won't fill you with the disdain it currently does.
@@shailonnoelle7175 if losing a life long customer who used to spend thousands of dollars on your product and now spends zero counts as “winning” then she can have it! And so can Disney and the rest of Hollywood too.
@@Sugarbunniesxo I seriously considered just chucking it in the dumpster, Selling it all would have taken too much time, I had to be out in less than a month and I didn't have enough space to move everything as it was, so moving it to sell later would have forced me to trash other things that I DID move
@@monke12354 Author of _Light of the Jedi._ Also, not a Gender Studies major. He's an Asian and Middle Eastern Studies major and law school graduate. I leave it to you to determine whether that makes it better or not.
The problem with making real life politics a focus of a work of fiction, is that if you don't agree with the politics you will not partake in it, so you are all-ready repelling potential sales.
Honestly...I agree with most of the politics that these writers are pushing, and I still don't want their books. The problem is that the suck at telling stories, and they're so ham-fisted with their inclusion of these politics that it makes it look bad. I'd love a trilogy with a lead female that has her grow and learn as the story progresses. I'd love seeing protagonists that are diverse, hell lets get some alien led stories. Instead we the most infantile and weirdly aggressive implementations. White men must be evil or incompetent. Rey is the best jedi ever and can never be saved by a man! All women good and better than their male counterparts. If we want to say the lack of diversity is a bad thing (Something in which I would generally agree), then we can't swing the pendulum so far in the opposite direction that we start to exclude certain people from playing certain roles, or harming the story itself to push modern ideas (Ex: Women are capable, therefore a female can never be in a position where a man rescues them). The way these current writers treat the story is just as bad as if every important character was a straight while male, every woman was a helpless damsel, and all the bad guys were PoC. Real fans of Star Wars know that the franchise was never like that, and that it would have never gotten popular if it was.
@alexpokrandt4378 back when Lucas was writing about fascists, they were people who shove ppl in ovens. These days fascists are ppl who hate sw because a woman is in charge, ppl are fascists for saying Trans women can't have babies or periods, ppl are fascists for not using correct pronouns or refuse to accept that gender and sex are all just social construction, ppl are fascist for not supporting drag shows in schools, libraries, and churches. What Mr Lucas was talking about was vague, universal themes that can apply to anyone anywhere while today's stories are all about first world problems by activist creators who'd become social totalitarian if they ever obtained power..
There have always been political elements in fiction. But to do it WELL you have to be HONEST. That means you can't portray one side as always and obviously right... if this was true then there'd be no dispute about it at all. Instead you have to portray the conflict in a real manner, warts and all. You have to admit that sometimes the 'other guys' do have a point and your ideas have problems, just as you are happy to point out the problems the 'other guys' have. This is fundamentally why real-world problems have these disagreements: there simply AREN'T perfect solutions. Ideological zealots, however, are INCAPABLE of admitting any flaws in their ideas and believe anyone who disagrees with them are EVIL. It makes them difficult to agree with even if you are on their side.
@@HerculesBallsInc Negative, kemosabe. That's a more modern Marxian approach to fiction, that all of it has either been political, or should be made political for the sole purpose of keeping the general populace agitated and primed for revolution. The concept that art can be made for art's sake is entirely alien to that kind of thinking, as it implies people would produce something beautiful simply for it's own sake. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
When in reality it makes us all velcro stick to the ground in retaliation. Can't wait til Disney runs out of money and blames it on "right wing white supremacists" or some shit lol
Remember when all those High Republic defenders told us to "Wait and see" and "Not to judge too early"? Turns out we was right about it going to be shit.
Unfortunately so, But in a way I really can't blame them because they were/are in denial about the sad state of Star Wars, It can be difficult to see a franchise you grew up with and love to become twisted and transformed into something you can't even recognize any longer.
I love the EU I've got over 200 books, and read 185, many of the ones I've read are digital, so I still have a few to hold on to enjoying some really good stories. I've met the EU writers, they loved star wars and made great books. They were good writers, and all where shot down to hire young ones with political views. Sad really
Timothy Zahn is playing the game correctly. He's still writing moderately interesting stories with his old characters from the EU in mind, in case his earlier work is made canon again.
@@AshanBhatoa Ah, yes. I remember the long, philosophical speeches from _Star Wars,_ what would eventually be known as _A New Hope_ and dubbed Episode IV. Lucas preaching to us about how terrible we were for not conforming to his ideology was certainly what inspired two generations of fans! Oh, no, wait.
Glad to know good people can see the difference between garbage and good writing.. it gives me hope. As long as people can live in a world of discernment , hope will always be with us.
Truly good writing will move us even if we don’t understand why. It grips and takes hold of a deeper part of us. This sort of trash is so shallow and lacks any sort of meaning or relatable experience. In this case, the discernment isn’t even necessary, there is nothing interesting between the covers at all.
@@alexanderwilliam2306 Unfortunatly , there are people who defend kk and her minions putting no soul of story into words on pages. i don't have a lot of faith in human beings , but this story gave me a glimmer.
I'm legitimately surprised they sold THAT many copies. To think more than 100,000 readers were excited to find out what happens to Geode leaves me distressed for the future of humanity.
I was a fan of Doctor Who in my youth, but never saw the first couple of seasons. I am now finally watching those missed seasons. I'll be honest I don't know how this TV series survived. The writing for season 1 is just bad. The Doctor literally comes off as a A-hole. He does what he wants, doesn't listen to anybody, and tends to cause more people to get in harms way than help. It got better in later seasons, but this series must have been done on a shoestring budget. But I also suspect ratings didn't so much count as did funding from the British Government.
I started reading Star Wars books in junior high around 7th grade. I went to see the force awakens in theaters with my dad. It was my first theater experience. Afterwards my dad told me that’s not how the books went. I was on a reading streak at the time I just loved it. I read every legends books and canon book up until two years ago. I believe that’s when the high republic actually started coming out and it was so disappointing. Coming off of legends and Timothy zahns a new thrawn trilogy it certainly was disappointing
I guess no one among these "activist artists" know the concept of *death of the author.* A sign of a good storyteller. That's why taking fanfic self-inserts seriously are abhorrent. It belongs in a fanfic site, not paid publishing.
I read Dark Empire for the first time, and I gotta say it’s quickly become one of my favorites stories. I learned Dark Empire actually laid the groundwork for most of the parts of the old EU that I love. Tom Vietch put his heart and soul into that trilogy and Tales of the Jedi and it shows in his work. Disney wishes they could capture what he and many other classic EU writers accomplished. The old EU at its worst is vastly more interesting than Disney at their best.
I personally hate Dark Empire. Mainly for the exact same reasons as Disney's Rise of the Retcons. Resurrecting Palpatine is both a completely stupid, awful and lazy idea that does nothing but completely undermine Anakin Skywalker's entire redempation arc. To me, it's about as stupid as resurrecting similar villains like Voldemort or Sauron back, regardless of how much it undermines the original stories because of it. The EU had it's fair of great stories, but I personally think Dark Empire wasn't one of them. That being said, if I was forced to chose between the two, I'd say Dark Empire was the better story for nothing else other then the Skywalkers don't all get killed off by the end and Palpatine's annoying Mary-Sue granddaughter doesn't co-opt their name for her own.
@@death-king1834 Dark Empire doesn’t undermine Anakin’s sacrifice. If Luke Skywalker rebuilds the Jedi Order then Anakin’s sacrifice still means something. Luke starts training students in that story and it makes sense Palpatine would want to use clones to achieve immortality. The important thing is that the clones don’t work for him.
@@gabethebabe3337 The fact he's alive and transfering into clones does make Anakin's sacfrice pointless as whether Palpatine lived or died on the Death Star is irrvelvant if he always had a back-up plan to surivive anyway. I always liked to assume that Palpatine was so overconfident in the idea that he had basically won, that there was no chance of him every meeting his end, especially at the hands of Vader whom he had assumed had become so broken of the man he was once was that they was no chance of him returning to the man he was. Palpatine had a purpose in the first six installments and it met it's end in Episode VI. His death represented the end of the tyranny of the Empire, the end of all the evil he had inflicted upon so many and the restoration of order and peace to the galaxy and Anakin's return back to the light and as a Jedi again. People have given me endless excuses to justify the likes of the Dark Empire and it's done nothing to change my stance on this. Resurrecting Palpatine in any way shape or form is and always will be a dumb idea. Even George Lucas went on record as to saying that as far as he cared Palpatine was abosutely dead after ROTJ.
Want my take on it? Disney simply didn't want to give Timothy Zahn loyalties on his work. So Kennedy made an easy argument to avoid this whole time period in literature and de-cannonized it all. But of course, what is Ahsoka about? Thrawn. At the end of the day somebody on the executive board asked the question and Kennedy didn't have a way to push back. That book trilogy was just that successful. So maybe in 10 years, Zahn will get that first royalty check from Disney.
Yeah Peter I think this is a point a lot of people dont consider. Sure the entertainment industry is on fire right now, but the good old stuff made back in the day is still out there for you to check out. With the internet, this stuff is more accessible than ever. And I doubt that anybody has seen every movie, read every book, played every game and listened to every album made before the dark times.
@@superdave8248 That or they simply wanted to erase everything people loved about the pre-Disney era of Star Wars so the mouse could destroy and replace it all with their own shitty version. The EU not withstanding. I mean look at what they did to the OT characters from the main-line films in the Sequels. Not only did they kill every one of them off, but from the first scene of TFA alone told us that basically everything they ever accomplished was all for nothing. Everything by the time of Episode VII has gone right back to square one again as if the Battle of Endor didn't matter in the slightest with the evil Empire back to full strength again just under a different name through zero explaination. Chalk that up with the pathetic and quick destruction of the New Republic, Luke giving up on restoring the Jedi Knights and just retreating to some island to die, to the very last film telling us Palpatine never even died thus making Anakin's entire redempation arc that was built up over the course of six movies totally pointless. All so Kathleen Kennedy could retcon the whole story to now be about Rey.
I bet libraries were the ones contributing to a large number of these books' sales figures. Sci-fi doesn't check out well to begin with but High Republic is always shelf-warming.
Anything woke and heavily infused with Cultural Marxism is not going to sell well, Despite the efforts of the woke crowd to try to project that 90% of the population is "Progressive" and that people who are against "Progressive" ideology are the minority.
I just started rereading Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" series where Thrawn is introduced. The treatment and dialogue of established characters is the best of any Star War literature. Rereading them is a joy.
I don't know, the memberberries were a bit much. I think he could have respected the reader a bit more and not been so overt in reminding us that a particular scene was reminiscent of something from the OT.
Found the entire legends X-wing series and heir series at a thrift store a few years back. I snagged them immediately. For me that is all i need. Growing up the 3 best characters in the legends were mara jade, thrawn, and corran horn.
I was hooked- I read the legacy of the force 9 volume series but to understand them I had to read the new jedi order and dark nest then after that I read the fate of the jedi 9 volume set- wonderful until disney ended the sword of the jedi trilogy
The problem with the X-Wing series, at least the original series from the late 90s, was that the good guys never died. They always faced impossible odds and not a single one died. The only rebel pilot to die turned out to be a spy. I gave up after a few books,
@KonnoSting What are you talking about? Rogue Squadron lost three pilots in just the first book alone. One of those having been written as a really kind and likeable character to make their death more impactful and sad for the reader, and makes you really empathise with another young pilot that was grieving. Stackpole's X-wing novels are great, as are his Battletech ones. I'm currently rereading Lethal Heritage.
@KonnoSting there were deaths, but also have to understand thst this was star wars which was targeting teens in the 90's and early 2000's and took sources from the xwing computer games and comics. Legends didn't really venture down the real dark paths till the vong saga started. Prior to that the books were hit and miss. But I would put any of the xwing series and even I jedi in a duel with almost all of the dianey era stuff and it would win.
I actually read the first novel of the High Republic via Audible. And I have to say that it was overly produced, and none of the characters really caught my attention. I can barley recall the names of them save for the terrorist organization that was using hyper space lanes to kamikaze space junk into other ships. Something ripped from straight from episode 8. It made me not want to check out the next or any other installment of that era. So, none of this surprises me.
So you’re saying they used a book to try and legitimize an absolutely retarded idea from The Last Jedi? Not surprised at all. Haven’t spent a penny on anything Disney related since that movie. And I never will.
Everyone lives in their own bubble despite the world being connected by the internet, I mean, all these bad director's and out of touch producers probably only talk to their echo chambers so how can we expect them to know what actual fans want?
And when they hear what actual fans want they don't listen to it. They don't believe it. They get mad and then they commit the cardinal sin of insulting them.
They know very well what the fans want. Just look at the trailer and promo pictures for Mando S3, vs how the season turned out to be a total bait-and-switch ruining all previously established plot points and lore.
@@Mouse_Metal That's an excellent point. Produce something you like but no one else does (but dammit, they should, because we know better!). Try to trick them into watching it with trailers that look like what the fans asked for.
In the past, I hoped for more star wars movies, now I pray that there are no more movies, because with each movie that comes out, my love for the saga decreases even more.
I think a few years ago I saw some High Republic books for sale at my local Sam's Club. I kind of got the impression that this is where books go to die if Walmart doesn't have much success with them. I can't say I have seen anything lately. Maybe somebody has finally started sending them to a landfill for a tax write off.
The original EU--especially the novels--were mostly written for adults. Makes sense, because it was years after the OT had come out, and most fans were adults by that point. It wasn't hyper-violent or full of salacious content, but it was pretty in-depth, complex, character-driven material. The High Republic always struck me as being written for kids. Everything is glossy, shiny, and doesn't seem to touch on the depth of morality or characterization that the EU did. Similar to pretty much everything Disney "Star Wars" has produced, it's not made for adult fans like me. The problem is they're not succeeding in generating new Star Wars fans and as a consequence this is yet another Lucasfilm initiative that tarnishes the brand.
Disney doesn't understand and doesn't want to understand Star Wars, or even good storytelling anymore. They are too busy trying to rub your face into a point they want to make, and I don't have to pay money into any of that.
Disney also quit creating the planned unabridged audiobooks from "Legends" - i.e. the Expanded Universe - what many fans still consider canon. I think "Rogue Squadron" stopped at Book 4?
LucasFilm spent a billion dollars to promote The High Republic? How? I don't recall any marketing whatsoever other than some RU-vid videos that were cringeworthy. There's no possible way they could have spent that kind of money. They probably put it down on the books as that, and skimmed it all to their personal accounts. God, I would love to see criminal proceedings brought against Kennedy for siphoning off money and cooking the books.
Big rumors coming out of Lucas film / disbey right now is that KATHLEEN was skimming money meabt for other shows to put towards projects that bkew through their budget too early. So if 100m was cut for and or kathleen would sneak 20k over towards things like the acolyte which has blown through its 300mil budget and doesn't hardly have enough footage for 3 full episodes .
The Lore Rot spreads - High Republic lore factors in to the plot of the game Jedi Survivor - an absolute non-starter. Meanwhile, my copy of Heart Of The Jedi sitting on my bookshelf keeps my consience warm while KK fiddles and Lucasfilm burns.
Heart Of The Jedi is nothing but a terrible fanfic that isn't even canon to the timeline, which thank god. Do you even read any of the HR books? While Jedi Survivor does take some key parts from the era, the general story from JS has nothing with the overall story from the said era. You really know nothing about the era and just blind hating it without giving it a chance.
If you actually saw the video, you will see that nobody is giving it a chance. And as the sales numbers drop more and more with each new release, even the people who have actually read those books abandoned the high republic.
@darkwarwick if that were true, then the same could be said about the old Star Wars books post-Thrawn trilogy. Does anyone talk about Crystal Star? Splinter of Mind's Eye? Darksaber? Children of the Jedi? Anything post-Thrawn? No? Then you've proved my point. Not only did no one talk about those books, but they were hated and panned by critics and fans to the point that people wanted new characters and new story, because not only hated the books post Thrawn and became hokey, people are tired of seeing the OT characters and wanted something new. And guess what? Lucasfilm listened and gave you guys the prequel trilogy, and guess what? You guys hated those characters ever since they were on the big screen, and many people, or almost no one, barely touched the prequel trilogy books. There's no appeasing to you people. You say that people don't care about THR. Then, where are the numbers of the post thrawn books, both OT and PT? How many of those books sold? But of course, you couldn't tell me how much of those non-thrawn related books sold and putting up a double standard.
I think it's deliberate. Once upon a time, being the IP holder gave absolute power over a franchise. That day is done. If the IP holder insists on not bringing out new content or bringing out garbage content, we can now make our own. I invite all my fellow Star Wars fans to enjoy another unauthorized novel completely free. Just google Legend of the Harp Jedi.
Any writer who was competent would have no need to steal other writers' IPs. They could make their own. It is impossible to be both creative and uncreative at the same time.
@@HerculesBallsInc As a fanfic writer, I think there are many ways to be creative in someone else's sandbox. Based on the way so many folks were really hoping for the sequel trilogy to pan out, I think the overwhelming consensus supports my position. BTW, I do make my own, but writing fanfics is my way to doodle. Thanks for sharing.
@@HerculesBallsInc You might be surprised at how hard it is to follow the rules of someone else's world when creating good fan content. If done properly, fan content is an expression of passion, commitment, discipline, and creativity, but when we get a "fan" who creates content that has no regard for canon and does not fit into the world like it should, then that creator is outed as lazy, talentless, and careless. Creating original content is hard, too, but in a different way.
@@hemaccabe4292 Ah! But that's my point exactly! Your BEST work is not a fanfic, it is wholly an expression of yourself in a new line. Obviously many famous writers have still engaged in fanfics, but I am aware of no circumstance when it is considered their best work. It may be good and entertaining, but they are still putting on someone else's shoes which is seldom a completely comfortable experience. Even then they are often spinning it their own way. Twisting. Not being COMPLETELY true. It's natural to ask questions the original author didn't ask and think of things the original author didn't think of. I think in the end this tends to make it more like a 'style' of painting, where you are writing LIKE someone else, but not really a continuation of their work. For TRUE Sherlock Holmes, you MUST go to Doyle.
@@HerculesBallsInc I suppose you are, to some extent correct. If you were to read the full body of my works I don't know which you would prefer more, one of my fanfics or one of my original works? That said, I still want to see more SW movies. For that to happen, someone has to write new content set in George's SW galaxy. By your definition, that would be a, "fanfic." So be it. I still want it. I would also point out that Brian Sanderson's continuation of the Wheel of Time series was well received.
You know, I bet the High Republic had potential to be good.....but the reality was that whatever Lucasfilm makes, it all leads to Rey being the great super savior of the series who can do no wrong and is the exemplar of the values they want to showcase to the world. It's not a story of heroism, courage, humility, patience, wisdom, kindness, freedom. It's a story of blind obedience, arrogance, entitlement, cynicism, and blame. There's no reason to watch or read anything, essentially. Bring back Luke Skywalker in the flesh, ala Gandalf the White....make him have an important role, mentoring his grandson. Then, we'll see the movie and we'll decide if it's worth continuing the SW legacy
For all the issues with the Prequels, there was an attempt and genuine passion for story-telling. The issue like I've said time after time was always in the ultimate execution. But despite what some might claim, George made those films because he genuinely wanted to enchance and expand on the backstory of his original films and put in the effort of actual world-building and presenting something different. I used to love the Prequels, then for a good while hated them and now while I'm still aware of their numerous problems and short-comings, I've come to respect them a little bit more as time has gone on. The Sequel Trilogy represents almost everything I hate about the modern day entertainment industry. The complete and total disrespect for the material that came before. The hubris of beleving that they could fundmentally change something that people had loved and cherished for decades and twist it into their deluded mindset into something ''better''. And the contempt for the people who loved the material of the past and rejecting the new crap they were told have to just accept and love. There can be no debate or exaggeration when saying this: Disney and Kathleen Kennedy destroyed and utterly killed this brand and for that, they should never be forgiven.
@@davidbowles7281 Disagree. Regardless of the many blunders George might have made with Star Wars, clearly it was never bad enough to where the profitability of the franchise was flushing down a toilet. No matter how much people might have hated the Prequels or Jar Jar or the Special Editions, clearly they weren't hated strongly enough to where anything with the Star Wars lable started gathering dust and just leaving a majority of people utterly apathatic to the brand as a whole. Star Wars was still strong enough as a brand to where it was still able to attract eyes and attention and more importantly it was still able to gain new generations into the series. Compare that to now where you have more Star Wars then ever before, even a Star Wars themed hotel and all of it flopping and current generations would rather give time to crap like Fornite than give Star Wars a second glance.
Just because Disney Star Wars is caustic trash doesn't make the prequel movies good by comparison. The prequels were objectively bad. If you saw them starting at 9 years old, this may be difficult to see.
@@death-king1834 This is a generational divide. Lucas lost Gen-X and had to be saved by a cartoon for younger people. Lucas flushing his original fans down the toilet opened the door for the nonsense that has happened under Disney. Those movies were hated pretty strongly. It was the sale to a company running the MCU that won back some level of goodwill. Which was promptly also flushed. This brand is going to die, and its ultimately Lucas' fault for surrounding himself with yes men for those three films.
I read about 100 Star Wars books before The Force Awakens destroyed the entire universe that had been built over 30 or so years. I never read another book after that movie, and that was the last Star Wars thing I have watched.
I used to be one of the people dressed in costume for the 501st Legion. No longer. The blind devotion a lot of the members have is kinda sad. What sealed it for me was that it basically turned into a LBGT organization.
Wait 501st has gone woke? What the fuck. They used to be so cool back in the day. They used to do things for kids too and dress up for events. Thats pathetic. So they went from the most wholesome fan group and forum page to a bunch of neckbeard protestors... Basically everything Star Wars related is ruined. I guess all we have left is the VHS ebay market and the DIY Lightsaber kits. Everything else has been trashed with politics and bs.
Every Empire has three phases of people who rule them : The Conquerors, The Maintainers, and finally The Wasters who destroy everything. Guess which phase we're in now.
That clearance children's novel you were leafing through... Page one, the first character introduced doesn't worry about her life of crime catching up with her, because "as a human woman in a galaxy full of much stronger species, she could handle herself". First male POV character is introduced struggling not to cry. There are times when you just want to say, "Never mind how to *write* . Do you know how to *human* ?"
The only Star Wars novel of the new canon I owned is Phasma, she's a different person than what was portrayed in the Sequel Trilogy and the only scene of her being based on the novel was the deleted scene in Last Jedi.
@@jamesbellefeuille2926 yep, they don't even keep track of their own comics, Poe saw the first order Storm troopers use jetpacks but in ROS he's just as baffled as C3P0 and Finn.
The problem is and we could call it the "Game of Thrones Effect", once a well known Franchise diverts too much from its "root logic", it effects not only its later iterations but the whole Franchise itself. How can anyone still enjoy the original Star Wars Stories, knowing full well where it leads, how everything that made those Movies enjoyable in first place are replaced by tropes, ideologies, cringe and activism? Our brains are not 100% our own. They have many parts that work independently and influence us subconsciously (hence "suspension of disbelief" by the way) and those parts do not react very well to such changes and dampen the enjoyment a lot. I was hooked on Game of Thrones Books way before the Series was even planned. I basically binged the first three Books and could hardly stop reading but Book 4 was so inconsistent, so convoluted that to this day I have not read it. Same happened with the Series. I thoroughly enjoyed Seasons 1-4 but 5 was already a let down and the rest was just a catastrophe. Ever since then I completely lost interest in GoT or anything related to GoT. People say "House of Dragons" is good but I dont give a damn and I am still not interested in the slightest to see or read anything GoT ever again. Its like giving someone a really nice massage only to slap the shit out them halfway through....aside from a handful of masochists, who in his right mind would ever go back to that massage again?
Companies like Disney know that their DEI score means more than money. As long as they are soldiers for the WEF and "THE MESSAGE™" then they don't have to worry about failure.
Perhaps the biggest misstep in Star Wars' 45-year history was NOT developing Zahn's trilogy as the very next Star Wars project (instead of The Phantom Menace). It would have been so easy to get those cast members from Return of the Jedi back after only a couple of decades to reprise their roles. And the casting of Grand Admiral Thrawn? That might have been a casting that rivaled even Darth Vader as one of the greatest villains of all time. I met Timothy Zahn at a convention in Houston about 10 years ago and I told him the same thing He'd heard it before. I don't have any faith that "Ahsoka" will tell the story correctly. I'm sure Disney will disappoint again. I *did* like "Andor" and its predecessor "Rogue One." I was also into the Mandalorian before it got ridiculous. But Disney's successes since purchasing Star Wars are so limited that I agree the franchise is essentially dead until something dramatic happens. Maybe Universal Pictures can buy Star Wars. They seem to be making movies audiences actually want to see. 😂
Disney decided to spit in the eyes of the fans who had faithfully followed the novels since Heir to the Empire and all of a sudden everything they had invested time in no longer existed and was considered "toxic" unless of course KK decided to mine it for ideas or characters. Is it any wonder that many fans said "forget this i'm no longer following the star wars novels?' The new High Republic line of novels are rotting on shelves along with Reva action figures and sadly Boba Fett helmets for kids.
And don't forget that there are plenty of copies of the Thrawn trilogy and other classic EU books still in circulation on the used market that you can buy without giving Disney money.
You hit a grand slam with this video. I was hoping somebody would do more in regards to the state of the books and such. I used to read so much and I can say that was thanks to the OG EU. I still have my original run/ first print EU, even some in hard cover. A lot of EU books were like an event to themselves (i.e. oooohhhh, a new Zahn novel or a new new jedi order novel). People actually preordered books. They had pallets of hard cover books. It was like harry potter back in the day. God, I miss those times and good star wars. By the way, you forgot to mention that in their desperation they threw up these high republic books on humble bundle and they still didn't sell (and that's for charity😂). I've read some of these books and they're terrible. I basically turned them off and have been doing warhammer 40k or other things/ books now.
Yup really good writers/storytellers can insert their beliefs in a story organically so that you can't even tell they did it and sometimes they do it and don't even realize they did it because they did not intend to do so. This is what makes the difference because it feels natural and not like I am being preached to. Yeah the modernizing of older media is like rewriting history it just doesn't work and will almost always get called out.
My wife is awesome. A few years ago, as a christmas present, she got me (us) the LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Millennium Falcon 75192. But.... She opened the box ahead of time, and took out the new characters. No old Han, Rey, BB8, or Finn. She then went on line and got R2D2, Lando, and Luke (in the Empire Strikes back outfit), and stuck them in the box, instead. We spent a few months putting that ship together whenever we had down time. True Love.
There was a time when I walked into a bookstore to check if there were new book releases from my favourite witers or from my favourite franchises.... Good times. Before the mouse.
I work for one of the Big 2 Book retailers and I can tell you right now, I haven't sold a SINGLE High Republic book in a year. I havent had a "fill" come on a truck in a year either, Zero. We've sold zero of our 60 copies of various HR works
I've literally spent thousends of Euros on Star Wars before Disney - Books, Comics, Games, Merch. I'm a huge Star Wars fan - have been since childhood in the 90s. Since Disney bought StarWars I've bought Battlefront I & 2, Jedi:Fallen Order (which are technically EA products which licensed Star Wars, not Disney products), Rogue One Blu Ray and one Grogu cup.
Yes, the Expanded Universe has its flaws, no doubt about it. But at least they're created with heart. The Disney Wars filled with nothing but entitlement of people who had no talent and even less will to learn the craft.
Big fan of "Shadows of the Empire", and your recommendation here has convinced me to (finally) try out the Thrawn trilogy. My deepest hopes that, with the sealed-away-in-a-concrete-grave that will be "The Acolyte"'s ultimate fate, we can see some kind of new generation arising that makes it clear that they, and we, are not going to watch or pay for anything other than A Damned Good Story.
The High Republic is the first time I ever saw Star Wars books on clearance... I wonder why. 🤔 Trying to complete my EU collection, bought 40 of used books from Ebay, some from the 90s, worth all the money. Will never put a cent towards any High Republic garbage.
I have all of the Star Wars books from prior to the Disney purchase. I have not a single one from after, nor will I ever. I just re read these great classic tales. Love the X Wing series and TZ Trilogy the best.
I went into all the new books with an open mind and excitement. Repeatedly I kept getting frustrated with the High Republic books by the obvious attempt at throwing in the ludicrous jabs at inclusion and finally ended with the book that had the character that was they/them. I couldn’t even follow the story line because it was so confusing and the worst part is there was absolutely no reason for it. I’m not opposed to a gay character or even a female lead or whatever if it doesn’t disrupt the story. But it’s annoying when it keeps happening for no reason other than the obvious trying to be inclusive, social justice BS. I actually just gave the books another chance with the Jedi: Battle Scars book and it was ok until for no reason it throws in how Merrin is pan sexual. I love that character from the games! Now ruined lol. For no reason. There is no furthering of the plot. Basically just takes a sideline to tell you she’s pan sexual. Even from the start, the characters did not have the same feel as the game. That was the last draw for me. I’m done giving them a chance.
Are we even reading the same book? Battle Scars has nothing to do with THR, except for Jedi Survivor which made game fans curious about that era. And also, there's no character in the HR referred to their pronouns so thats one misleading information there. It feels to me that you never actually read the HR books and got all the context.
@@JoKoBod Who said Battle Scars had anything to do with the High Republic? Since you can’t comprehend my comment, I’m not surprised you missed the they/them pronouns. I don’t remember the book since its been a while and I don’t really care to find out which I it was. I read enough to get turned off from them. I tried the comics too and guess what there’s non binary characters lol. It’s just so blatantly obvious, I think you must not have read anything. I don’t see how you could miss it!
@theaustralianhulk I've read the books, and there's not a single dialogue where the characters stated that they are "nonbinary". And from the comics, the twins never stated that they were nonbinary. The "they" part were referring to the twins themselves because one of the twin referred to his other twin as "he". You only know that because you've listened to a hater who have never actually read the source material and took part in the said material and put it out of context.
@@JoKoBod I never said it was stated in the comic. It was literally posted on the official Star Wars instagram that they are trans non binary, which makes no sense at all. How can you be non binary and at the same time trans lol???? You must be completely naive if you think there hasn’t been an overwhelming inclusion of all these silly new gender identities in the new books. Honestly you are the only hope for the future of Star Wars if it continues its current trajectory: fanboys who are willing to gobble down anything Kathleen Kennedy wants to shove down your throat as long as it has a Star Wars label on it
They totally destroyed the brand. Lately, a box full of Star Wars novels was sitting on the street in my neighborhood. I remembered a time when nobody would have done that. And I remembered a time, I wouldn't had considered a moment to not pick that up. But I left it alone and a few days later, somebody had urinated on it. Nobody could have cared less. It is that amount of destruction they put on Star Wars.
Thanks for the High Repugnant update, Jeff. I use to own almost all of the old EU books but had to give them away when I moved to Arizona. I kept some of my favorite books like Splinter of the Minds Eye and the Thrawn Trilogy. After TLJ and the absolute sh*t show that followed it, I told myself I would recollect the books I gave away and collect the books from the EU I hadn’t read. I have I done that? No, I just don’t have the inclination to do so; even if I went to a used book store to buy them. If I didn’t go back and recollect what was good about Star Wars’ old EU. I’m certainly not going take the time and money for the absolute trash that Disney/Lucasfilm is spewing out. They have produced so much mediocre to bad SW now that it’s difficult to image that the franchise can recover. I’m at a point where I’m either going to old school sci-if/fantasy or I’m searching out independent sci-fi/fantasy or going to Anime & Manga. I’m going where my time and money are valued.
I own probably 30 old star wars novels, and remember reading more at libraries and borrowed from friends. I don't own and have never read a single high republic or new star wars novel.
I have me a 22 year old son. He got all the good pre Disney stuff. Still lots of now Now I have 3 under 8. And I buy zero Disney Star Wars. I let them use my oldest son and his old stuff. Of course I kept it all Diseny was basically in a position to do. But they tried woke and are going broke
Going reading the third Thrawn Ascendency novel. It's been a blast. They really should have just given Zahn control of the written projects and allowed him to connect the pieces with the help of other authors. He could give you your deverse, tough womyn of color and actually made her compelling, interesting, relatable and likable.
I quit when they decanonized the EU. Lotta good stories thrown by the wayside there for no good reason. I will never understand why they decided to make all new movies with new stories instead of getting a good screenwriter to turn the gold books that Zahn, Stackpole, Allston and a few others wrote into movies. Ego and greed, I guess.
It’s funny you mention Zahn’s work because my favorite Star Wars merch I most recently got was a surprise gift from a friend. The original Thrawn trilogy and Chaos Rising, all signed by Zahn 😋
