The Force Awoke

Well, it happened...the moment I'd been waiting for, realistically for years, hypothetically for decades, came and went and in its wake it left some answers, more questions, but, first and foremost, one hell of a good time. I've only seen it once, so far, so consider these my first musings, to be followed up by more in-depth theorizing and speculation throughout the next two years until the next installment comes out...Tom Petty could be on to something, the wait may be the hardest part, but it's also the part that fans get to fill with ideas and discussion about our beloved galaxy far, far away, so, all in all, it's not so bad...oh, and, just by the way, there will be spoilers below, so, yeah, duh, but you've been warned...now, without further delay, The Force Awakens...

Why the Plank is Sarco on Jakku?

So, as I imagine anyone who reads this has been, I've been playing Battlefront in nearly all of my free time since its release, but I decided to take a break (albeit a small one) to discuss something that's been gnawing at me since finishing Weapon of a Jedi a while ago (if you haven't read it yet, uh, spoilers incoming):  What is Sarco Plank doing on Jakku? And why is he more than just a throwaway character used as a plot device to help advance Luke's Jedi training? Why is he so important that he gets a databank entry and an action figure? (Okay, granted, neither of those things really make you an important character, but, this early, it seems telling to me.) Are Sarco and Luke going to meet again? Is something going to happen to make Luke regret not finishing Sarco off? He's a really interesting, visually appealing character, so I can certainly see, after creating him for The Force Awakens, wanting to flesh him out a little more based solely on his badass appearance, but is that really all there is to it? I'm guessing not...

Let's Get Quizzical! ...About Inquisitors

Alright, so, if it were actually something with which one could be afflicted, I would certainly be diagnosed with Inquisitorius Obsessedius...but, since that's fake, let's just say I'm full-on obsessed with the new canon Inquisitorius (which is a fancy name for the cog in the Imperial machine that includes the Force-using darksiders trained to dispatch Order 66 leftovers). My most recent musings center around who actually trains the brothers and sisters (Inquisitors...I am your father!)...anyway, according to Wookieepedia (with a reference to Star Wars Rebels: Visual Guide, Epic Battles), Darth Vader trains them, but I don't necessarily think that's the whole truth (much like Obi-wan tells Luke that Yoda was the Jedi Master that instructed him...it's not exactly correct, but it's the easy answer). I can certainly see Vader being the supervisor of their training, and their ultimate master, but I feel like he's too important and too busy (see his involvement in Tarkin and Lords of the Sith, for example) to be solely responsible for their daily instruction...so, who else could be putting them through their paces and teaching them limited Force abilities and spinning double-bladed lightsaber technique? I'm so glad you asked! Here are my harebrained theories, see how off the rocker you think they are...

The Trailer Awakens

I heard a new trailer for The Force Awakens was released last night, so I thought I'd get around to watching it today and maybe post about it...ha, yeah, no, you're right, I watched it live on my big screen TV and then re-watched it about 15 times:  some by rewinding the DVR (that's right, I recorded the entire MNF game just to have the trailer), and some from my phone to get screen grabs to post on Twitter...so yeah, I've seen it and have been dissecting it in my head since then (even in my sleep, I'm sure, but I very rarely remember dreams), waiting until I had time today to regurgitate my thoughts onto the page (so to speak)...and now the time has come to do just that, so follow along on YouTube, and let's see if you agree, disagree, wish my swift (or perhaps slow) death, or want to be my best friend for life...

No Fault in Lost Stars

Okay, I'm not saying Lost Stars is perfect or anything, but, I mean, that title is too clever to pass up...plus, I kinda thought going in that it was going to be the Star Wars equivalent of some kind of sappy love story like that (disclaimer:  I've neither read nor seen The Fault in Our Stars, so I'm making a stereotypical judgement based almost solely on the preview for the film...don't try this at home), but, to my surprise, it wasn't...not entirely, anyway. What it turned out to be was a true journey to The Force Awakens, in that you legitimately go on quite a journey with the two main characters, Romeo & Jul, er, I mean, Thane and Ciena (to be fair, they're not that Romeo and Juliet-ish, especially since they don't end up dying together at the end)...seriously, though, it's a Forrest Gump-esque story where the protagonists find themselves involved with almost every major player and event throughout the original trilogy, and then are directly responsible for a now-famous image of Tatooine's brother from another mother, Jakku. If you've been on the fence about this one since it's a "young adult" novel (or however they categorize these things), I'd hop off the post and scuttle down to your favorite bookstore and pick it up; it's an easy read (though a little long) that starts out slow but picks up and paces really well, especially in the last quarter or so. If you're a true Star Wars fan (that's right, calling you out, what!?!?), I think you'll definitely enjoy it, and I also think it's a fairly good icebreaker for anyone who's familiar with the movies, the original trilogy in particular, and is looking to get started down the rabbit hole of the (new) expanded universe. So, yeah, anyway, I liked it, it was good, now I'm going to pick a few talking points and babble, enjoy!

INTERLUDE: The Best Part of Aftermath?

Alright, as promised (I know you've been waiting with bated breath), a breakdown of the fantastic interludes in Aftermath. They represent the snapshot stories from around the galaxy that I didn't know I wanted, but now can't get enough of. I would be completely on-board with an entire book filled with these short, unfinished glimpses into the lives of denizens from every corner of the galaxy, whether they be hopeful, optimistic individuals with visions of what the future could hold, salivating degenerates who think the iron fist just rusted over, or scared, uncertain Imperials desperately trying to cling to whatever power they still wield *coughAdelhardcough* ...anyway, enough preamble, let's grab our utensils and dig in!

The Aftermath of the War...is More War!

Okay, despite my clever (okay, sorta clever...fine, fine, lame) title, there really isn't much actual "war" in Aftermath, not hot, troops on the ground, fleets in the outer atmosphere, war, anyway (btw, if you haven't read Aftermath, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?! I mean, uh, you should probably not read this). Though, it's not really cold war either...more like lukewarm war, something like cats and dogs...maybe...moving on...the book skips forward from the end of Return of the Jedi, past the majority of the remainder of the real war portion of the conflict to more skirmish-style engagements (it seems like the Shattered Empire comics are taking care of the immediate post-RotJ action), to a galaxy that's adjusting to the absence of the Empire as much as the reintroduction of a republic. To be honest, by omitting a few references, the main story could easily take place during the early stages of the rebellion, and felt like a natural progression based on where things were when we left off. The Interludes do a magnificent job of highlighting the variety of goings-on around the galaxy and painting a picture of what this huge galactic change means for several different types of people on planets running the gamut from the core to the outer-most rim. The Interludes are so interesting, in fact, that I'm going to focus on them independently in another post. This entry will be about the main characters of the story, a story of getting the band together, which is essentially what this book breaks down to...think of it like A New Hope for this set of characters, several sets of coincidences throw them into a narrative and set them on a path toward something bigger...

An Uprising in the Aftermath Or: Why I'm Glued to My Phone Like a Teenager

Okay, so, full disclosure, I finished Aftermath yesterday morning, and was planning to write about it today (spoilers, I liked it), but then I found out Star Wars:  Uprising was available for download sometime yesterday afternoon aaaaaaaand I've basically spent the majority of the last 24 hours or so with my face buried in my phone like a stereotypical teenager...needless to say (but I feel compelled to say it anyway), I'm enjoying it. So here's my two cents on my Uprising experience so far, and I'll get to Aftermath for sure within the next week...because, yeah, it's definitely worth talking about.

5 Species I'd Choose for the Mo-Cap Character in Rogue One

The cast that Gareth Edwards has to work with on Rogue One is both diverse and intriguing, not to mention outstanding at what they do. I'm especially excited to see how they use Donnie Yen - if you haven't seen Ip Man, it's on Netflix, go watch it asap...if you don't have Netflix yourself, I'm sure you know someone who does, or just put it out there on social media that you're looking to watch a great Kung Fu movie and you'll bring the popcorn...who knows, could turn into a date...anyway, perhaps an even more interesting reveal in the cast announcement was in this line:  "Alan Tudyk, who plays a performance-capture character in Rogue One." Ah ha! So it won't be a band of human resistance fighters that unite for a daring mission to steal the Death Star plans, there will be at least one alien species...but which alien species will it be? I'm going to go out on a limb and say it'll be a species we've seen or at least heard of *coughtBothancough* in a previous Star Wars movie, so, with that in mind, here are my top five choices, starting with the one I'd like to see the most and going down from there.

King Kylo & the Knights of the Ren Table

Entertainment Weekly is a Jedi, like Vanity Fair before it...okay, sorry, that was lame, but I couldn't help myself and I can't bring myself to delete it now, so, here we are...anyway, yes, it's Entertainment Weekly's turn to chew up Star Wars knowledge and spit it down our waiting gullets and I, for one, couldn't be happier. In case you haven't figured it out from the title, I'm going to be focusing on the article about Kylo Ren for this entry. I've been holed up in my laboratory since yesterday, digesting the limited, but provocative new information, and I believe I've concocted some brilliant theories that will, no doubt, turn out to be true come this December (okay, probably not, but confidence is sexy, right?)...so, make sure you're sitting down, and prepare to have your mind blown...

Dark Disciple Or: 10 Things I Hate About Doo...ku

Alright, so I just finished Dark Disciple (if you haven't, you probably want to stop reading right about...now! You know, spoilers and such...), and I have to say that I was surprised by a few things, first and foremost being how much I enjoyed it. I'll readily admit that I wasn't really looking forward to this book as much as I had been some of the other new canon novels, and, with the release of Aftermath getting closer every day, frankly, I was kind of looking past it. That's not to say that I thought it was going to be bad, or that I was completely disinterested, I just didn't have any strong feelings toward either Ventress or Vos, and we all know going in that Dooku makes it out unscathed, so the story had nothing to offer aside from the simple fact that it existed in the Star Wars universe...but, that just so happens to be more than enough reason for me to read something cover to cover, and I am very glad I did. It may have been one of those instances where not having any discernible expectations allowed the story to just be what it is, but I imagine even people with high hopes were not disappointed. Anyway, without any further ado about nothing, let's talk about it...or, rather, let me type about it while you (whomever you are) read about it...

A Legend Reborn...Revan in Episode VII?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that San Diego Comic Con was last weekend, and that quite a bit of Star Wars related information was dropped at said convention. One small, but very interesting piece of information that I'm going to indulge in was the reveal that Revan won the Fan's Choice poll for the next Hasbro Black Series figure. For me, this reveal prompted two thoughts (which then prompted a myriad of other thoughts, but we'll get to those):
1)  Revan is now canon, if in no other form at least insomuch as he was a person that existed in our beloved galaxy far, far away.
2)  And yes, I'm aware this is old news, but damned if he doesn't look an awful lot like Kylo Ren.
As my faithful readers (i.e. nobody) know, I like to not only beat, but pummel dead horses mercilessly until they're but mere dust, so I'm going to take these two thoughts, mush them together into an idea, and run with it like I'm on Vanqor and someone just screamed "gundark!"

Let your old school gamer out of its cage...

With all the excitement surrounding Star Wars:  Battlefront, plus the recently announced mobile game Star Wars:  Uprising, I thought I'd take a step back into the early 2000s and talk about a game that was very near and dear to my heart for several years, Star Wars Galaxies. I wasn't really big into the MMORPG genre at the time, I'd played a little Ultima Online and very, very little Dark Ages of Camelot, but when I saw that Star Wars was throwing its hat into the ever-growing online gaming ring I knew I had to get in on that action...and man did I ever. I easily logged more hours playing "galaxies" (as all the cool kids would say) over the next 2-3 years than I did doing anything else, and I loved every minute of it. It was an incredibly huge, open-ended game with so many myriad possibilities that it was rare to stand beside someone in the cantina that was the same type of character you were, and the complex crafting system was unlike anything I've seen since. Honestly, I think they were a little ahead of their time and some people, including the developers based on the way they destroyed the good thing they had, didn't know how to handle it...which, as I alluded, lead to it being dumbed down and overhauled into something that barely resembled the great game it used to be, and, though it stayed operational for quite some time after those changes, that's when I parted ways with my ex-lover and moved my mmo allegiance to the Warcraft camp...but, enough about the past, let's talk about the present and how a flightless bird brought me back to the good old days...

The Siege of Lothal Or: It Takes Tua to Tango

Poor, poor Minister Tua...it's a bad time to be living on Lothal, regardless of whether you're a civilian citizen or a member of the mighty Empire (unless, of course, your name is Kallus, then somehow your failures don't get punished...). The citizenry are being run off their land so it can be used to fuel the machine only to have their replacement settlement burned to the ground, and even Imperials like Grint and Aresko are losing their jobs (along with their heads) for less than satisfactory performance. Minister Tua witnessed their execution first hand, so she knew when she was summoned before Tarkin that her fate would probably be no different...unfortunately, her reaction was transparent, and turned out to be a vital part of Vader's overall plan. In fact, he more or less told her exactly what he was going to do, he just left out the part about her being the pawn that would set everything in motion. Gotta love a good Sith scheme...they're almost akin to setting up dominoes with purposeful gaps, leaving it up to seemingly random chance that a wind gust or curious creature will happen by to start things falling again...except, when you have the Force, nothing is random...anyway, I'm gonna dive head first into this thing and see what interesting talking points I come up with, so strap yourselves in and hold on to something sturdy...

5 things I'd like to see in Rebels Season 2

With the season 2 premiere looming, I thought I'd take a minute to spout off about what I'd like to see happen in the series this season. No spoilers here, just a wishlist from my quirky head canon...lists are still trendy on the internet, right?

On Supreme Leader Snoke, more to say have you?

As it turns out, yes, yes I do. I was ruminating about Star Wars today, as I so very often do, and found that my mind kept circling back to wondering "just who is Supreme Leader Snoke"...and I don't mean trying to pinpoint who he is out of a set of known characters (OMG IT'S PLAGUEIS!) like some kind of far, far away police lineup, I'm thinking on a more philosophical level...what kind of person is he? What drives him; what does he really want? Is he a second iteration of Palpatine, just another Sith lusting after power? Is he an idealist, a sort of bizarro Palpatine that, instead of doing things for personal gain under the guise of working toward peace, actually believes he can usher in a new era of prosperity? Is he a ruthless dictator who takes matters into his own hands rather than working behind the scenes, pulling the strings and manipulating the galactic clay to create his masterpiece? Regardless of what other identity Snoke may have (Darth Maul maybe...?), I did a little more internet investigating to see if I could find some hypothetical answers to my hypothetical questions...

Where there's Snoke, there's ire...

Yeah, I know, I'm a little late to the party on this one, but this is my space to do with as I please and it doth pleaseth me to speak on this subject now...anyway, by now everyone and their brother knows that Andy Serkis is playing a mo-cap character named...*drum roll*...Supreme Leader Snoke in the next chapter of the Star Wars saga. And with this new-found information, people have begun rampant speculation about who his character really is...or have just started doing a weird, happy dance while screaming "OMG IT'S PLAGUEIS!" Before I talk about that, though, I want to talk about my initial reaction to the name, and do a little investigation into what it could mean.

Order #6 & #6

 Let me start off by saying that if you haven't been reading the comics up to the two #6s that released today, as well as the other two series, you're doing yourself a tremendous disservice as a Star Wars fan, and as a fan of cool art and storytelling as well. Now, I'll level with you that I wasn't as on-board with the comics upon first hearing about them as I was with other new canon options like the novels and Rebels, but I'd decided to really go all-in with the "new EU" this time around (I was more of a "take off my shoes and dangle my feet in the water" kind of guy with the previous EU) so I bought the first issues at my local comic shop and was more or less immediately captivated, especially with the Darth Vader series. That said, the Star Wars series has really picked up over the last two issues and taken over the top spot...but the synergism with these two #6s is really an impressive feat, and a real testament to the kind of continuity the story group is capable of. Alright, that's enough gushing about Marvel, et al., let's get into the stories. And, yeah, there are major spoilers ahead, so if you haven't been reading the comics then shame on you, go do that and come back...you slacker.

Maz cannot abide common denizens in her castle!

I've always been enthralled by aliens or other species in sci-fi/fantasy, be it Star Wars, D&D, Warcraft, whatever. When I create a character for myself, I almost never pick "human" because I'm a human in real life (yeah, I know, hard to believe) so I like to take any chance I get to change it up. That said, my favorite part of the Vanity Fair Star Wars issue is the above set of pictures from Maz Kanata's castle. To me, they look like a slightly classed up wretched hive of scum and villainy. If the Mos Eisley Cantina is a run-down dive where the neon sign is only half-lit and you can't tell if the smoke lingering near the stained and moldy ceiling is from the kitchen or the people at the bar, then Maz's joint is like Denny's. I will admit that, like some other fans, I'm a little disappointed to not see at least a token Rodian or Weequay, but I'm willing to look past that considering we may be on the complete opposite end of the outer rim from what we're used to...plus, no old species means plenty of room for cool, new species to become canon and start making their way into books, comics, cartoons, etc. And I have no problem with that. So, with my copy of Vanity Fair open in front of me, let's go through the non-humans one at a time, from left to right, and see what insights I come up with...

Nobody expects the Spani, er, I mean Female Inquisitor...

Yup, I'm gonna beat this dead horse...because, why not? I might have some new, fresh ideas on the subject that no one else has thought of...most likely not, but I don't care...so, who is this lythe, tech-savvy inquisitor? First and foremost I think it's definitely someone that's been introduced in some why, shape, or form before, i.e. it's not just some random character with no connection to anyone...if it is, I don't think they'd bother masking her since the other two inquisitors have (or had, I guess) their faces out there for everyone to see...now maybe this will all be moot once we see the episodes and find out that she really doesn't wear the mask much, she just happens to have it on during all the trailer scenes, but I doubt it. Besides, what fun is that? Star Wars has a history of intriguing masked figures, so what's one more? Or two more if you count Kylo Ren...three if you count Captain Phasma...so yeah, masked figures are like Jello...now, without any further ado, let's begin the guessing game!

So it all started today...

I want to say I was there, front row, wide-eyed, anticipating the cinematic experience that was about to change my life...I want to say that...but I'm 35, do the math...I'll wait...carry the one, yeah, wasn't born yet, but I saw this little tidbit on the mothership website and decided, "hey, I'll start a blog today!" Cool story, I know. This is something I've been thinking about doing for quite some time, but hadn't managed to work up the gumption. I'm honestly not sure what changed today, but I don't really care either...and if I don't care, you (by "you" I mean the potential reader, though I have a feeling I may be the only one that ever reads this so I'm basically talking to myself...as usual) certainly don't care...so, moving on!

I think I'll take this glorious opportunity to regale you (there I go again) with the story of how I became a Star Wars fan...are you ready? Here it comes...I had cool parents...I know, right? Weird. But yeah, I honestly can't remember a time when I didn't like Star Wars. It's been a part of my life for as far back as I can recall. In fact, one of my earliest and most treasured memories involves sitting on the couch watching Star Wars, no particular movie, my memory isn't that detailed, and, because I was too young to read it myself, listening to my dad radio-voice the crawl as it so epically marched up the screen. It made the experience interactive, important. This wasn't just something I got plopped down in front of the flickering blue parent to watch, this was Star Wars. This took special care to setup. I won't lie, I get a little misty thinking about it. Then I think about how I used to do the same thing for my dogs when I'd watch with them around and it becomes either "aww, cute!" or extremely weird and uncomfortable, depending on who you are, and that breaks me out of the nostalgia sniffles.

So, yeah, Star Wars. Always been a fan. That makes me pretty damn cool, if you ask me, and, since this blog is all about me, myself and Star Wars, I'm clearly the deciding factor on cool around here...anyway, that's my post for today. Basically just a little introductory blerp to get started, no real meat to it, but I plan to post my opinions about all sorts of Star Warsy things going forward, including, but not limited to:  book and comic reviews and discussion, Rebels episode reviews and discussion, storyline hypotheses, rumor reactions, personal speculation and other stuff...I'm bored of making a list, but it'll be cool stuff. We've already established that I'm cool, so no worries there...anyway (yeah, I say "anyway" a lot when I get off track, sorry in advance), I'm excited to put my thoughts down, and, hopefully, eventually, to hear what any of the yous out there have to say about them. But, until next time, may the Force be with you...