It’s cool to like the Empire, and I agree with that sentiment, but the original Rebel Alliance is a lot cooler that it’s usually perceived as, when you think of it in terms of what it was meant to represent. They’re hot-blooded Anglo-American heroes of the Republic who want to defend their society from an domineering central government of sterile, passionless middlemen. It’s kind of like the Americans in Mel Gibson’s the Patriot vs. the British. It’s demonstrated less through ideology and more through feelings and connections.
We see the hero Luke, his dreams and passions, and the connection he builds with his friends, the yearning for a beautiful princess to rescue (who was never originally meant to be his sister and was supposed to be his love interest, before merchandising became an important factor). Nobody in the Empire has that kind of passion. You have a few hard, cold SS men who are formidable and worthy villains (Vader, Tarkin, General Veers) and a surrounding cadre of spiteful, petty men like the other officers on the Death Star, or Vader’s incompetent Star Destroyer captains. The Emperor is the most delightful figure in the whole regime because he has so much passion and energy; he’s evil and he loves it, and he loves to relish in his spite and hatred. But that passion and energy, used for good, is the stuff the whole Rebellion is supposed to be made of.
It’s the American frontier vs. the colonial British crown and the 20th Century American public’s misrepresented view of Nazi Germany. They didn’t think the Rebel Alliance was going to get pozzed and reappropriated for evil ends (just like how we Americans didn’t expect the same to happen to the United States).
The original Star Wars also is more interesting to think of as a galaxy-wide struggle, where more is occurring than just what we see on screen. There are countless star systems taking sides and arming themselves in this immense struggle, with furious battles raging everywhere.
I never thought of the rebels as an analogy for the colonial Americans, I thought the CIS was more like them and the Confederates, but how you described it makes the rebels a lot better.
The Star Wars OT radio dramas are a real hidden gem of the series. Also, I’m not a Prequels fan, but Count Dooku and the CIS (at least, in the peripheral media and not so much in the films themselves) are really great and deserve to be explored more.
Audio-only is a very underappreciated format for storytelling. You can do a lot with just the subtleties of the voice and sound effects, and it's very fun to use your imagination and fill in the gaps. My favorite Gilbert & Sullivan performances were always the BBC radio versions from 1966 and 1989. They had little extra details that the stage versions could never capture, like asides being actual remarks under one's breath, rather than shouts across the auditorium with a *wink* *wink* that only the audience was supposed to be able to hear it.
It worked excellently for Star Wars, since the longer-form medium allowed it to go more into Luke's backstory. It sounds lame, but as a kid you like Star Wars for the space action, and as an adult you like them for the character development. So getting to see Luke and Leia get a lot more developed, as well as the political institutions of the empire, was a real eye-opener. They can't just show you a scary-looking guy in a black suit commanding a giant battleship to visually clue you in that the Empire is evil; they have to literarily build it up that they're bad guys with words and music alone. I like how they do that with Lord Tyon visiting Alderaan for a state dinner. Once the influence of drink loosens him up a bit, he starts rambling about locking up Rebel prisoners in barns and torching them for fun, and then gets all creepy with Leia to suggest an arranged marriage.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we crossed paths at some point. I didn’t debate too much but I hung around that scene moreso than the other cliques of the time
Hey Polk have you played star wars media academy's movie battles 2? Is it as good as people say? If not, want to host a goonsesh some time? I heard it's really good.
Sorry it's star wars jedi academy* movie battles 2 is a mod. I wanted a friend group to play it with and no one else would, but you're into star wars and are resparking my interest, might be cool to play some time. Just look up movie battles 2 on YouTube or Google, it's really neat
Honestly I haven't played many of the older Star Wars games because Steam sometimes has a hard time running the older stuff due to the hardware changes.
Space marines (from warhammer 40,000) are 7-8 foot tall genetically and physiologically modified humans in power armor, which is at least an inch of ceramite-(a metallo-ceramic alloy, so it cracks and crumbles when hit which is a cooler effect than denting) Their universe also opens a new can of worms in that all psychic and magic powers are derived of a parallel dimension called the warp, which bleeds into reality and sometimes spawns demons realspace. So the force, assuming it's made to play by the same rules as warhammer's psychic powers, would have a new caveat that emotional disturbance or failure to control oneself could result in catastrophic miscast effects, like accidentally spawning daemons, seizures, being turned into a daemon, or just exploding on the spot. Space marines are reasonably well-equipped witch-hunters, alien fighters, and demonslayers as well. I know Jedi have a hard time dealing with bullets as learning to catch projectiles with the force is a high-level skill, as well as the fact that slugs are not deflected by their lightsabers like blaster bolts, so the space marines standard ballistic weapons could do pretty devastating damage to jedi. Though I hear ships in star wars are significantly stronger than in 40k, ground armies in 40k are pretty nuts. 40k is pretty cool and chud-coded as a setting but it is slowly being ruined by its parent company, writers, and normie fans as well.
Jedi having a hard time with slugthorwers (what Star Wars calls kinetic firearms) is a misconception. As long as you can make a Force barrier (most Jedi can) you're fine. It's not about catching them, it's just about having a shield up.
TL;DR think how mandalorians have a rivalry and have warred with the jedi in the past, and how jedi are pretty easily bleachscoped by conventional physical projectiles (bullets/slugs) Now put those Mandalorians on Steroids, and they all wear mildly plasma/saber resistant armor as standard. It's like an entire army of human t4 super battle droids.
I didn't know there were "Canon" Thrawn books. I have a graphic novel of the original Legends Trilogy. (Not the same as the book I have signed by Timothy Zahn)
Count Dooku is my favourite as well. Any chance I get to play him in a game I do. I like how refined he is. I'm more into the games than the movies or books (though that's probably because I didn't read good ones growing up). I'll have to check out some of the ones you mentioned. My favourite era is the old republic in large part of KotOR 1 and 2. Something about the period fascinates me, especially the mandalorian wars. I do like the themes of the two games, and have my favourite characters with Canderous Ordo and Meetra Surik being at the top.
Unrelated question, but early into posting on substack/making textposts did you ever feel like your work was of a low quality right after posting it? I got that feeling after making a post today, which is something I never felt when making submitting essays in university.
You would probably like the Tales of the Jedi comic. It's the foundation for all of the Old Republic stuff.
I can't really say that I have. I don't usually post stuff unless I'm happy with it, and if I feel like it needs to be edited I'll go back and do that.
Never picked up that Ferus Olin was gay, to be fair I read the books over 15 years ago. Was this a "Author decided on Twitter that xey were gay the whole time"? Or was it actually in the books?
Author confirmed it over Twitter but I believe it was pretty heavily implied in the books. It definitely wasn't one of those cases where they just say he's gay, there was some fruity business there.
Favorite Worlds? Serrano or Alderaan probably; I like the high noble culture.
Type of lightsaber, Lightsaber color and fighting style? If I could, I'd make a custom saber that was highly versatile similar to Kas'im's/Cal Kestis'. A saber that could turn into a saberstaff, split in two, as well as the ability the change the angle of the curve of the hilt (like Dooku's). Red is the most utilitarian color, but I like white blades more, aesthetically. Makashi is my favorite form.
Favorite Species? Chiss, probably.
Favorite vehicle? Lucrehulk.
If you were a Jedi which master would you want? Qui-Gon probably.
If you were a Sith which master would you want? Dooku, obviously. Plagueis is a close second.
If you were a Sith, then what would your "Darth" Name Be? Darth Ordo/Edictum; something in Latin revolving around ideas of order.
Favorite Film? Like I said, I don't really have one. Empire Strikes Back, I suppose.
Least favorite film? Rogue One, actually. I felt like it was way too rushed and I didn't really like how it added al these interesting characters and then killed them off. I like when characters can go on to be in books and stuff.
If you could write your own Star Wars novel, what would it be about? I've actually put a lot of thought into this one lol. Captain Mar Tuuk goes on a hunt for Anakin after Anakin beat him "dishonorably" (committing perfidy) over Ryloth. Throughout the Clone Wars, he gets close to foiling Anakin but always fails for one reason or another, becoming somewhat disgraced in the process (though becoming an admiral due to his accomplishments outside of his obsessive hunt for Anakin). When the CIS collapses, he tries to figure out what happened to Anakin. Eventually he analyzes Darth Vader's tactics and notes striking similarities to Anakin which he obsessively analyzes and cross references with his vast databanks. He realizes that they are one in the same after this and begins to plot his vengeance again. He tries to rebuild the Separatist alliance around himself as the highest ranking organic officer left, including recruiting Kalani (post his appearance in Rebels). Eventually, Mar is able to create a very impressive fighting force and even secures the secret fealty of a handful of former CIS worlds, which provide his army with resources. Eventually, Mar mobilizes a massive fleet for an attack on Darth Vader's flagship. Before he issues the order to jump to hyperspace, Kalani shoots Mar in the back and takes command of the faction. Kalani, realizing that even if they kill Vader the Empire would declare total war on them, orders the fleet to jump to Wild Space to lay low. Eventually they move into the Unknown Regions where they vassalize a number of local nations (who are all vastly technologically inferior to the rest of the galaxy, as established by Zahn's work) and build up an impressive shadow faction in the Unknown Regions, which is mostly uninvolved with galactic affairs as Kalani bides his time.
Which film has your favorite soundtrack? Revenge of The Sith probably.
Do you collect figures? No.
In your opinion, what is the best thing about the EU? Diverse rang of authors, which means there is something for everyone.
In your opinion, what are the worst things about the EU? The above fact means that there is a lot of crap. Be that woke authors trying to subvert some character, authors like Karen Traviss who are autistically obsessed with something, turning everything the touch into "Clone/Mandalorian are the best ever" and of course just generally bad writers.
What Does Star Wars mean to you? I don't know how to answer this one really. It's an entertaining franchise that I like. There isn't really anything grand in my takeaway from the franchise beyond the fact that it's a very good example of the Heroes Journey.
Jedi, I'm just not an edgelord who likes the Sith. Lol!
My favorite world is Naboo. It's like a version Earth still stuck in the early modern period but with Spacecraft and it's a Monarchy, albeit elected. Coruscant is a close second.
Blue standard hilt lightsaber and a mix of forms 3, 4, & 5.
Humans.
The Republic Gunship.
Rahm Kota or Plo Koon.
Darth Plagueis.
Darth Exsomnis: It's latin for wakeful, ever vigilant. Which is what I believe a true sith needs to be.
Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith. It changes depending on the day.
Rise of Skywalker.
I actually have an ongoing story about an original Jedi character surviving Order 66, but it's just really a way for me to practice writing and not for uploading to anywhere. Sorry.
Revenge of the Sith: Best Soundtrack easy.
I have a couple of figures, but most I threw out. Used to be big into LEGOS.
I agree with you the diverse range of authors and stories.
As for the worst, with such a diverse array of stories not all a gonna be bangers.
And the last one: I agree it's just really entertaining, despite the Woke crap being pushed. Without that though, I agree with what the Youtuber Pilgrims Pass said that Star Wars could be the American Iliad.
It’s cool to like the Empire, and I agree with that sentiment, but the original Rebel Alliance is a lot cooler that it’s usually perceived as, when you think of it in terms of what it was meant to represent. They’re hot-blooded Anglo-American heroes of the Republic who want to defend their society from an domineering central government of sterile, passionless middlemen. It’s kind of like the Americans in Mel Gibson’s the Patriot vs. the British. It’s demonstrated less through ideology and more through feelings and connections.
We see the hero Luke, his dreams and passions, and the connection he builds with his friends, the yearning for a beautiful princess to rescue (who was never originally meant to be his sister and was supposed to be his love interest, before merchandising became an important factor). Nobody in the Empire has that kind of passion. You have a few hard, cold SS men who are formidable and worthy villains (Vader, Tarkin, General Veers) and a surrounding cadre of spiteful, petty men like the other officers on the Death Star, or Vader’s incompetent Star Destroyer captains. The Emperor is the most delightful figure in the whole regime because he has so much passion and energy; he’s evil and he loves it, and he loves to relish in his spite and hatred. But that passion and energy, used for good, is the stuff the whole Rebellion is supposed to be made of.
It’s the American frontier vs. the colonial British crown and the 20th Century American public’s misrepresented view of Nazi Germany. They didn’t think the Rebel Alliance was going to get pozzed and reappropriated for evil ends (just like how we Americans didn’t expect the same to happen to the United States).
The original Star Wars also is more interesting to think of as a galaxy-wide struggle, where more is occurring than just what we see on screen. There are countless star systems taking sides and arming themselves in this immense struggle, with furious battles raging everywhere.
I never thought of the rebels as an analogy for the colonial Americans, I thought the CIS was more like them and the Confederates, but how you described it makes the rebels a lot better.
The X-wing books by Stackpole and Allston will always be peak star wars legends to me
The Star Wars OT radio dramas are a real hidden gem of the series. Also, I’m not a Prequels fan, but Count Dooku and the CIS (at least, in the peripheral media and not so much in the films themselves) are really great and deserve to be explored more.
Honestly the radio dramas I prefer over the movies.
Audio-only is a very underappreciated format for storytelling. You can do a lot with just the subtleties of the voice and sound effects, and it's very fun to use your imagination and fill in the gaps. My favorite Gilbert & Sullivan performances were always the BBC radio versions from 1966 and 1989. They had little extra details that the stage versions could never capture, like asides being actual remarks under one's breath, rather than shouts across the auditorium with a *wink* *wink* that only the audience was supposed to be able to hear it.
It worked excellently for Star Wars, since the longer-form medium allowed it to go more into Luke's backstory. It sounds lame, but as a kid you like Star Wars for the space action, and as an adult you like them for the character development. So getting to see Luke and Leia get a lot more developed, as well as the political institutions of the empire, was a real eye-opener. They can't just show you a scary-looking guy in a black suit commanding a giant battleship to visually clue you in that the Empire is evil; they have to literarily build it up that they're bad guys with words and music alone. I like how they do that with Lord Tyon visiting Alderaan for a state dinner. Once the influence of drink loosens him up a bit, he starts rambling about locking up Rebel prisoners in barns and torching them for fun, and then gets all creepy with Leia to suggest an arranged marriage.
I've only recently got into reading Star Wars content, my favorite being Path of Destruction, the first book in the Darth Bane Trilogy.
The Bane Trilogy is very good. Top tier in Legends
I was a part of LOH when I first joined iFunny. Seems like a lifetime ago anymore, there’s almost nobody left from that community around.
Thrawn my beloved…
What was your name btw
I went through a couple different names but it was almost always related to Lobo
Wonder if we ever debated
I wouldn’t be surprised if we crossed paths at some point. I didn’t debate too much but I hung around that scene moreso than the other cliques of the time
Crazy Jeff lore drop
Stop wars lmfao
I copy+pasted the thumbnail from that note you posted in response to me saying I would review the Acolyte lol https://substack.com/@dronom/note/c-67252842?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=1r3uve
Heeheehee haw haw!
Same is true for warhammer lore youtubers, lol.
Hey Polk have you played star wars media academy's movie battles 2? Is it as good as people say? If not, want to host a goonsesh some time? I heard it's really good.
I don't think I've even heard of that before
Sorry it's star wars jedi academy* movie battles 2 is a mod. I wanted a friend group to play it with and no one else would, but you're into star wars and are resparking my interest, might be cool to play some time. Just look up movie battles 2 on YouTube or Google, it's really neat
Honestly I haven't played many of the older Star Wars games because Steam sometimes has a hard time running the older stuff due to the hardware changes.
I'll look into it though.
How many Star Wars characters do you think are beating a Space Marine?
I don't really know that much about Warhammer so I'd have to see their feats.
Space marines (from warhammer 40,000) are 7-8 foot tall genetically and physiologically modified humans in power armor, which is at least an inch of ceramite-(a metallo-ceramic alloy, so it cracks and crumbles when hit which is a cooler effect than denting) Their universe also opens a new can of worms in that all psychic and magic powers are derived of a parallel dimension called the warp, which bleeds into reality and sometimes spawns demons realspace. So the force, assuming it's made to play by the same rules as warhammer's psychic powers, would have a new caveat that emotional disturbance or failure to control oneself could result in catastrophic miscast effects, like accidentally spawning daemons, seizures, being turned into a daemon, or just exploding on the spot. Space marines are reasonably well-equipped witch-hunters, alien fighters, and demonslayers as well. I know Jedi have a hard time dealing with bullets as learning to catch projectiles with the force is a high-level skill, as well as the fact that slugs are not deflected by their lightsabers like blaster bolts, so the space marines standard ballistic weapons could do pretty devastating damage to jedi. Though I hear ships in star wars are significantly stronger than in 40k, ground armies in 40k are pretty nuts. 40k is pretty cool and chud-coded as a setting but it is slowly being ruined by its parent company, writers, and normie fans as well.
Jedi having a hard time with slugthorwers (what Star Wars calls kinetic firearms) is a misconception. As long as you can make a Force barrier (most Jedi can) you're fine. It's not about catching them, it's just about having a shield up.
Ohh.
If it has enough kinetic force behind it, it could still break through though.
Ok so maybe not so much .70 calibre bolter fire, but 1 inch autocannons should do the trick.
TL;DR think how mandalorians have a rivalry and have warred with the jedi in the past, and how jedi are pretty easily bleachscoped by conventional physical projectiles (bullets/slugs) Now put those Mandalorians on Steroids, and they all wear mildly plasma/saber resistant armor as standard. It's like an entire army of human t4 super battle droids.
I didn't know there were "Canon" Thrawn books. I have a graphic novel of the original Legends Trilogy. (Not the same as the book I have signed by Timothy Zahn)
There's a graphic novel version of the Canon one as well. At least the first book in the trilogy.
Does Canon have Luuke.
No
Count Dooku is my favourite as well. Any chance I get to play him in a game I do. I like how refined he is. I'm more into the games than the movies or books (though that's probably because I didn't read good ones growing up). I'll have to check out some of the ones you mentioned. My favourite era is the old republic in large part of KotOR 1 and 2. Something about the period fascinates me, especially the mandalorian wars. I do like the themes of the two games, and have my favourite characters with Canderous Ordo and Meetra Surik being at the top.
Unrelated question, but early into posting on substack/making textposts did you ever feel like your work was of a low quality right after posting it? I got that feeling after making a post today, which is something I never felt when making submitting essays in university.
You would probably like the Tales of the Jedi comic. It's the foundation for all of the Old Republic stuff.
I can't really say that I have. I don't usually post stuff unless I'm happy with it, and if I feel like it needs to be edited I'll go back and do that.
Never picked up that Ferus Olin was gay, to be fair I read the books over 15 years ago. Was this a "Author decided on Twitter that xey were gay the whole time"? Or was it actually in the books?
Author confirmed it over Twitter but I believe it was pretty heavily implied in the books. It definitely wasn't one of those cases where they just say he's gay, there was some fruity business there.
Hey, can you do an article responding to this old Questionaire? It would be really interesting.
The Star Wars Questionaire:
Jedi or Sith?
Favorite Worlds?
Type of lightsaber, Lightsaber color and fighting style?
Favorite Species?
Favorite vehicle?
If you were a Jedi which master would you want?
If you were a Sith which master would you want?
If you were a Sith, then what would your "Darth" Name Be?
Favorite Film?
Least favorite film?
If you could write your own Star Wars novel, what would it be about?
Which film has your favorite soundtrack?
Do you collect figures?
In your opinion, what is the best thing about the EU?
In your opinion, what are the worst things about the EU?
What Does Star Wars mean to you?
Jedi or Sith? Jedi
Favorite Worlds? Serrano or Alderaan probably; I like the high noble culture.
Type of lightsaber, Lightsaber color and fighting style? If I could, I'd make a custom saber that was highly versatile similar to Kas'im's/Cal Kestis'. A saber that could turn into a saberstaff, split in two, as well as the ability the change the angle of the curve of the hilt (like Dooku's). Red is the most utilitarian color, but I like white blades more, aesthetically. Makashi is my favorite form.
Favorite Species? Chiss, probably.
Favorite vehicle? Lucrehulk.
If you were a Jedi which master would you want? Qui-Gon probably.
If you were a Sith which master would you want? Dooku, obviously. Plagueis is a close second.
If you were a Sith, then what would your "Darth" Name Be? Darth Ordo/Edictum; something in Latin revolving around ideas of order.
Favorite Film? Like I said, I don't really have one. Empire Strikes Back, I suppose.
Least favorite film? Rogue One, actually. I felt like it was way too rushed and I didn't really like how it added al these interesting characters and then killed them off. I like when characters can go on to be in books and stuff.
If you could write your own Star Wars novel, what would it be about? I've actually put a lot of thought into this one lol. Captain Mar Tuuk goes on a hunt for Anakin after Anakin beat him "dishonorably" (committing perfidy) over Ryloth. Throughout the Clone Wars, he gets close to foiling Anakin but always fails for one reason or another, becoming somewhat disgraced in the process (though becoming an admiral due to his accomplishments outside of his obsessive hunt for Anakin). When the CIS collapses, he tries to figure out what happened to Anakin. Eventually he analyzes Darth Vader's tactics and notes striking similarities to Anakin which he obsessively analyzes and cross references with his vast databanks. He realizes that they are one in the same after this and begins to plot his vengeance again. He tries to rebuild the Separatist alliance around himself as the highest ranking organic officer left, including recruiting Kalani (post his appearance in Rebels). Eventually, Mar is able to create a very impressive fighting force and even secures the secret fealty of a handful of former CIS worlds, which provide his army with resources. Eventually, Mar mobilizes a massive fleet for an attack on Darth Vader's flagship. Before he issues the order to jump to hyperspace, Kalani shoots Mar in the back and takes command of the faction. Kalani, realizing that even if they kill Vader the Empire would declare total war on them, orders the fleet to jump to Wild Space to lay low. Eventually they move into the Unknown Regions where they vassalize a number of local nations (who are all vastly technologically inferior to the rest of the galaxy, as established by Zahn's work) and build up an impressive shadow faction in the Unknown Regions, which is mostly uninvolved with galactic affairs as Kalani bides his time.
Which film has your favorite soundtrack? Revenge of The Sith probably.
Do you collect figures? No.
In your opinion, what is the best thing about the EU? Diverse rang of authors, which means there is something for everyone.
In your opinion, what are the worst things about the EU? The above fact means that there is a lot of crap. Be that woke authors trying to subvert some character, authors like Karen Traviss who are autistically obsessed with something, turning everything the touch into "Clone/Mandalorian are the best ever" and of course just generally bad writers.
What Does Star Wars mean to you? I don't know how to answer this one really. It's an entertaining franchise that I like. There isn't really anything grand in my takeaway from the franchise beyond the fact that it's a very good example of the Heroes Journey.
Thanks. I'll guess I'll do mine as well.
Jedi, I'm just not an edgelord who likes the Sith. Lol!
My favorite world is Naboo. It's like a version Earth still stuck in the early modern period but with Spacecraft and it's a Monarchy, albeit elected. Coruscant is a close second.
Blue standard hilt lightsaber and a mix of forms 3, 4, & 5.
Humans.
The Republic Gunship.
Rahm Kota or Plo Koon.
Darth Plagueis.
Darth Exsomnis: It's latin for wakeful, ever vigilant. Which is what I believe a true sith needs to be.
Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith. It changes depending on the day.
Rise of Skywalker.
I actually have an ongoing story about an original Jedi character surviving Order 66, but it's just really a way for me to practice writing and not for uploading to anywhere. Sorry.
Revenge of the Sith: Best Soundtrack easy.
I have a couple of figures, but most I threw out. Used to be big into LEGOS.
I agree with you the diverse range of authors and stories.
As for the worst, with such a diverse array of stories not all a gonna be bangers.
And the last one: I agree it's just really entertaining, despite the Woke crap being pushed. Without that though, I agree with what the Youtuber Pilgrims Pass said that Star Wars could be the American Iliad.
Take care and Goodnight/day.
Jedi
Naboo
The one darth maul used, green, idk
Droid
Yoda
Dooku
Darth Beterix
Revenge of the Sith
Geonosis niggas rebuilding from extinction
IDK New Hope
I had some legos as a kid
There's cool shit like big ass droids
Acolyte
It inspires me when I make action stuff