With that scene in the story where Mara crashes out at Luke in the forest during Heirs and Empires is even funnier with the fact that song exists to depict that scenerio. This toy photo was done by me.

Like what are flaws about him that you would say are there even in kotor 1 and 2. Like actual flaws. I ask because he seems almost mary sue at times

Is star wars rogue planet any good? Should I give it a try or skip it?

This is mostly to do with the New Jedi Order (which is apparently not called that in the books). I'm trying to make sense of it, since I've never read the books, but I've played every single Jedi Knight game that exists (including the one that wasn't called Jedi Knight, just Dark Forces).

So, I didn't realize this, but apparently Corran Horn, Cilghal, Kyp Durron, Tionne, etc, were all recruited by Luke and Trained like, two years before Jedi Academy. Some of them, like Kam Solusar, have had previous Force and lightsaber training, and if I'm not mistaken, Kyle Katarn sorta gets involved at some point. Also, Mara Jade is like, in and out but despite her advanced training as a Sith Assassin, she didn't have the credentials to be an actual teacher? I'm so confused by this.

So, besides Kam and Katarn, who exactly of his early students become masters by 14 ABY, when Jaden and Rosh become students? Other than Kyle and Luke, who are the masters that are training those other students?

Given that they aren't operating by the same rules and regs as the old order, I'm just unsure of how long those first twelve students were students for, and when they became masters to train the next batch that came two to three years later.

That said, did Luke's order ever use the term 'Padawan' for his students?

Somebody help me out here, please. I've surfed Wookiepedia but I feel like I just have more questions than answers.

Let's see, we have A fel, one future Jedi master, a future antilles, 3 rebels, and one imperial douche bag. Am I missing anything?

When you sort/organize, what is the concensus about how you organize your Star Wars collection? Do you lump everything, both Canon and Legends/EU into a single system, or do you separate them each into their own category, like one folder for Canon, and one for Legends/EU, then go about organizing/sorting however you deem appropriate.

I like the idea of them altogether. I grew up reading Legends/EU, so to me, it will always be a part of Star Wars, so I like to have everything into a single collection, but I am starting to see some sense in separating them, but on the fence.

How does everyone else currently manage your Star Wars comics? I'd like for you guys to share your current methods with me, if you don't mind.

Small fanart I did based on the prompt "Politics".

Looking back, it’s kind of funny how much of this story could have been avoided if Vader had asked more questions and done less severing. I guess some things never change, eh.

I finished this comic with a very pleasant feeling. On the surface, it offers a glimpse into the early days of the Empire’s expansion, full of frenetic action and brutality, but as the pages turn, it delves deeper, revealing the psyche of a creature as lethal as he is unstable. He clings to rage as his only outlet for the frustration born from his own misfortunes. People often talk about how tragic Anakin’s character is, and how a "small change" might have altered his path, a somewhat romanticized view that I don’t necessarily disagree with, but one I find a little too simplistic. For that reason, I appreciate that W. Haden Blackman, while touching on those themes, also adds a layer of pathos. Ultimately, Anakin was just as responsible as Palpatine for his own fall to the dark side; it began with a series of small choices that paved the way for the ultimate one, leaving him trapped in a state of self-pity which would be almost pathetic, were he not such an effective killing machine.

The story, which at times might seem a bit too simple, is perfectly complemented by these elements. Through its villains, it explores what it means to be part of the Empire and to fall victim to the disloyalty that stems from the inherent dehumanization within its ranks (a theme already touched upon in other stories, such as Rogue Squadron comics), while capturing the treacherous nature of the Sith in its purest form. Without ever being "the good guys," Garoche Tarkin and Shale share a bond of friendship that doomed them long before Vader decided to hunt them down. I must also give a special mention to Lady Saro, a secondary antagonist who not only skillfully redirects Vader’s violence to serve her own ends, but eventually confronts him using the very concept that would lead to his eventual redemption: love.

I have only one critique: the artwork is inconsistent at times, with uneven facial features that slightly detract from moments that are otherwise impeccable.

In conclusion, a fairly cohesive story exploring Anakin’s psyche and his early days within the Empire. So, the "emo phase" wasn’t just a phase after all!

When I finished Shadows of the Empire, I thought I was done with this guy. Sure, he was a fine villain, but he was WAY too stupid for how the book was portraying him, in my opinion (I'll explain more later). Then I moved on to the Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy, which I thought was good, although, I found Boba Fett to be the second-least engaging character and found everyone else's plots to be more engaging to me...except for Xizor, who somehow managed to become an important enough character to piss me off the entire trilogy. Then I thought well that's gotta be the last of him right? There's no way he'll show up in the next book I read, right?? Then I started the Coruscant Nights Trilogy...AND THIS GUY CAN'T JUST STAY AWAY!! And in every book he has mostly the same problems and I just don't get it.

For me, he's nowhere close to the master strategist and intellectual that he keeps being portrayed as. In SotE, his plan is SO stupid. Yes, kill Luke Skywalker and INTENTIONALLY piss of Vader, who has no problems casually executing people who piss him off and only hasn't killed you because the Emperor thinks it's funny. Like, with how intelligent writers try to portray him as, it just seems so idiotic that he can't see that Palpatine knows about the Black Sun and is just keeping him around to piss off Vader.

And I know the chapters from his perspective might be written as if they are skewed by his own views of himself, but I don't believe that, it feels so genuine considering how much the rest of the book and other material flaunt how smart this character is, despite the fact that if you think about his plans for like two seconds you can immediately find holes and stupidity that, if it were written intentionally, wouldn't make any sense for a character to have ascended to his position with, especially if that's one of his DEFINING QUALITIES!

His death is the stupidest part of the book, with Vader LITERALLY telling him he's going to kill him if he doesn't surrender, and Xizor just goes hummm, naw, he's bluffing. No matter what protections you think you have with Palpatine, to think Vader wouldn't have the balls to kill you to keep his own agenda going, consequences be damned, and especially if Palps ISN'T THERE TO SAVE YOU is such a level of sub intellect that I find it hard to believe he could have ever gotten as far as he has.

Now, you may think: well, he just has a massive ego, it's written as his fatal flaw. But the problem is, his ego is SO MASSIVE that it should have been much more of a detriment than it actually was! If he is so arrogant that he believed Palpatine didn't know about his side business, then that makes him so evidently blind that it's inconceivable that NO ONE was able to supplant him or even notice his blatant strategical blindspot throughout his time as the leader of the Black Sun or even before. He NEVER demonstrated in that book anything that would make me see him as anything other than an arrogant moron, except the plot practically begging me to think he's smart.

And it's not like he wasn't always this arrogant, in Coruscant Nights he fully believed he could kill Jedi, and ya he did well but he still lost and it was a really stupid thing to do especially just after the height of the Jedi. Plus, his entire plan in Bounty Hunter Wars was just to intrigue Palpatine, piss off Vader, and hope Palps is entertained enough not to let Vader kill him, AND HE'S ALMOST WRONG, which is too close a gamble to be something anyone with modicum of brain cells would bet on. And throughout all of that, he still believed Palps bought into his loyalty garbage (unless I forgot a line where he says otherwise, been a bit since I've read it).

He also, in one of the books I forgot which one, receives vital information from one of his people and almost decides to EXECUTE him so no one else knows, but like, what do you think you're teaching your CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION by killing him? That loyalty and doing a good job isn't rewarded so you might as well try to betray your way out? Because that's what that would say, which isn't something that an intelligent person would be blind to. And him deciding not to kill him wasn't even because of the reason above, he didn't even consider it, it was for some other thing that I don't remember but I'm pretty sure it was something kind of stupid (I could be wrong though).

But still, the WORST part about the whole thing, is that despite how sub-intellectual this guy is, HE HAS ALMOST AS MUCH PLOT ARMOUR AS BOBA FETT! The only reason he lives in the first Coruscant Nights book is because the assassin trying to kill him gets bumped and misses his shot, he makes it out of his previously mentioned encounter with a Jedi because of plot convenience, his survival and success in the Bounty Hunter Wars was mostly plot armour, both his and Fett's, and he only loses in that one because Fett had MORE plot armour than him.

This guy should have died LONG before he made it to Palpatine's side. So I'm curious if anyone else feels this way or if I'm alone on this (or even if I'm the moron and missed some blatant explanation that would counter my points).

Also, enjoyed all of the books I mentioned above, some have a bit of problems (outside of Xizor) but would recommend. Jax Pavan is cool.

Edit: This came out a bit less jokey than I was intending. I'm THAT mad about it, more so disappointed in how cool Xizor could have been and how cool the writers were telling me he was, versus how lame he actually is; and all my points lead into this.

The Darkside Elite were a group of seven Dark Jedi personally imbued with Force power from and bound to the will of the Reborn Emperor Palpatine. Whenever any would fall, they would be replaced from the ranks of the Darkside Adepts who would go through the same ritual to bond them to the Emperor and further enhance their own powers.

From left to right:
Zasm Katth, Baddon Fass, Vill Goir, Sedriss QL, Krdys Mordi, Kvag Gthull and Kam Solusar.

Fun finds at Goodwill today, Han Solo trilogy, fresh paperback of The Last Command (mine is barely clinging to the material realm). Not to mention Pride of Baghdad is a great non-SW read on its own.

I remember reading Han Solo when they came out but can't remember much, so adding it again to the queue.

Worth it just to have those incredible Drew Struzan covers on the shelf. 🤤

Merry Mara Monday!

It feels like nowadays, whenever the Republic is discussed, it's always about its problems and failures. I like to think it's more nuanced than that, so what were some actual good things the Republic brought to the galaxy?

As I continue my journey through the legends novels set post ROTJ I encountered something quite peculiar: a story about how the hero, whom everyone believes to be perfect, does something that might cause quite a stir… Now, where have I heard that before?

I loved this novel. As my first foray into Matthew Stover’s work, it stands out as truly captivating; it engages dynamically with familiar characters, providing a plausible progression for them given the situations in which they find themselves. This is best exemplified by Luke: the story delves into the plight of a man burdened by the legend that has grown around him, a shadow that hardly represents who he truly is, yet one that, in more superficial or generic fiction, is used as propaganda for wartime training. In this sense, the antagonist, Cronal, is a fascinating adversary, not only because he embraces this cult of personality, but because that is precisely where his power in the Force originates. He doesn't believe in Jedi or Sith; rather, he believes in the "Darkness", an uncompensable chaos from which we emerge and into which we return. There is a horror in the very simplicity of the concept, which serves to present a thesis on the value of life and the purpose we choose to assign to it. We craft metaphors to make sense of things that inherently lack meaning, yet that does not make them any less real. He is a remarkably well-executed villain that, at times, especially toward the end, I found him absolutely abhorrent.

The nods to how historical figures are portrayed in cinema are generally quite fun; they reinforce the work’s central message, suggesting that even when such accounts are riddled with falsehoods (or "creative liberties," as Geptun might call them) they can still serve to inspire others.

Philosophical musings aside, the entire conflict on Mindor was very engaging, featuring space battles and the involvement of Rogue Squadron, which (my recent obsession with them notwithstanding) makes for an entertaining read, with a sense of spectacle that only intensifies with each chapter.

The new characters introduced in the novel are compelling enough to leave you wanting more, especially Nick, whose perspective as a (coerced) agent of Cronal provides some unexpectedly visceral moments, and whose references to the prequels create a great synergy. Oh, and that scene where R2 thinks about C-3PO was beautiful.

Perhaps my only critique is that Han and Leia (especially her), while very well characterized, don’t have much to do within the story; they serve more of a functional narrative purpose. Their subplot works well and offers several genuinely sweet moments between them as a couple, but I would have loved to see them play a more influential role.

Overall, it’s a very human look at Luke’s character, one that, ultimately, reminds us why it’s worth holding fast to what we believe in.

Nefarious dinosaurs being in Star Wars is neat. Let's all say "Thank you, Kathy Tyers" in unison.

Hello!! I'm currently rewatching SW and once I finish I want to start read novels and comics, which ones do you reccomend? (I love CW/early Empire and late Empire eras, if they're canon, even better)