Announced at Star Wars celebration, Thrawn will become canon! New book by Timothy Zahn and, well, another appearance fans will likely be very excited about:

http://comicbook.com/starwars/2016/07/16/star-wars-rebels-season-3-debuts-major-guest-character/

One of my favorite characters from the Expanded Universe, I'm so thrilled to see this!

And they're having Zahn write the new novel too.

This just made my day! Now I hope he can possibly appear in one of the new saga films, probably as someone highly-placed in the First Order.

Thrawn: Most overrated character since Boba Fett

Glad that Thrawn's making a return, and that it's being done by the author that best understands how to use the character.

Thrawn: Most overrated character since Boba Fett

Not going to argue with you because personal preference is just that, and everyone's entitled to their opinions. And also because I sort of agree, I love both Thrawn and Fett but some people seem to like them TOO much.

But I'm wondering if there are any characters you think are underrated? I'm just curious.

Glad that Thrawn's making a return, and that it's being done by the author that best understands how to use the character.

Actually its been done by Dave Filoni, Thrawn is writing a new book(or has written). The rebels prooducers did their own thing with him and brought Zahn along, after they had done thier thing to see how he liked the 'direction that the rebels team took with it' apparently he has said he is happy with that. I would guess the story zahn is writing (has written) is actually now based on what Filoni did (which in turn is based on what Zahn did)

Thrawn: Most overrated character since Boba Fett

Hardly.

Most of Thrawn's appeal was that in his introductory series, he broke the mold of "evil yet barely competent Imperial officer" that the movies had given us. Here was an Imperial officer that was very competent (and yet still made mistakes and miscalculations), was evil but wasn't of the Snidely Whiplash school of mustache-twirling villainy, and perhaps most importantly treated his men (especially those that performed well under pressure) well, contrasted to the then-entrenched idea of backstabbing and blame-shifting that we saw in the Imperial armed forces (largely due to WEG painting the Imperials as the bona-fide bad guys to match up with the films). It was only in the hands of far less capable writers that Thrawn became some sort of tactical uber-genius.

Of course, if you want to argue that Thrawn only looked so competent because of the narrative he was in, then the exact same can be said for Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and really any of the major heroes of the franchise, as it was ultimately only the narrative that allowed them to succeed when by all rights they should have been crushed.

Glad that Thrawn's making a return, and that it's being done by the author that best understands how to use the character.

Actually its been done by Dave Filoni, Thrawn is writing a new book(or has written). The rebels prooducers did their own thing with him and brought Zahn along, after they had done thier thing to see how he liked the 'direction that the rebels team took with it' apparently he has said he is happy with that. I would guess the story zahn is writing (has written) is actually now based on what Filoni did (which in turn is based on what Zahn did)

Huh. Well darn.

At least Zahn's doing a new Star Wars book, as I've always liked his writing style and how he handles various characters.

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=xmXp802sFgQ

And here is the man himself played my Lars Mikkelson.

Tom Baker as Bendhu

A (possible) new canon origin for wedge.

That video link isn't working for me, did you mean to link to this?

Yup thatll do

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=xmXp802sFgQ

And here is the man himself played my Lars Mikkelson.

Tom Baker as Bendhu

A (possible) new canon origin for wedge.

Hadn't caught that it was Tom Baker. Cool.

I've already got him "cast" for an upcoming campaign, as the curator of a Jedi studies museum/course, Professor Meddyg Ciethre (which translates to "Doctor Four"), who will be assisted by Professor Huyang from Clone Wars. This *could* play into Meddyg's mysterious past.....

Figured it was only a matter of time.

I do like Thrawn, but rereading the trilogy recently, even Zahn tended to make him borderline omniscient from time to time. He's a neat character, but it's hard to suspend disbelief when he can accurately deduce certain things at a glance despite significant variables.

[...] Zahn tended to make him borderline omniscient from time to time. He's a neat character, but it's hard to suspend disbelief when he can accurately deduce certain things at a glance despite significant variables.

This is basically my issue with the character as well. The character's writing feels like bad GM'ing with a bunch of "o ho ho [condescending laugh] I knew you were going to do that..."

I mean, yeah, he was a villain competent enough to be a credible threat, but he was written to the other extreme. I never found him to be better written or more tolerable than the rest of the EU tripe.

I liked the concept that Thrawn would study a species/planet's culture in order to understand them more fully and therefore gain a tactical advantage over them. He seemed to me like the one character who actually used his mind to succeed. Most characters in Star Wars are daring, or strong, or skilled, or have fancy gadgets, or have Force powers. He was smart and unconventional. That's why I admired him.

I do agree he was something of an evil Mary Sue in the Thrawn Trilogy though. One of the reasons why I don't fawn over him as much as some might. I guess I like the idea of Thrawn more than the actual character. I'm eager to see how he is treated in canon now, hopefully they write him better.

Going back to my comment about Fett, he was always one of the more interesting characters to me in the OT. He had cool-looking gear (in my opinion), he was mysterious, and cool. (One of my favorite scenes was the nod of respect he gave to Boushh/Leia in Jabba's Palace, just the understated way he did it seemed impactful to me.) On the other hand, he never actually did anything in the OT. He had a total of 4 lines of dialog in ESB and none in RotJ. And he died in a stupid, slapstick way by accident from a blind Han Solo. He's all style and no substance.

[...] He's all style and no substance.

I see what you did there.

From hearing so much about Thrawn over the years but never reading any of the books I'm all kinds of psyched, and the descriptions of him in this thread make me think I'm going to like him, a lot.

From hearing so much about Thrawn over the years but never reading any of the books I'm all kinds of psyched, and the descriptions of him in this thread make me think I'm going to like him, a lot.

He is a great character, and in most of the trilogy he shows intelligence and competence without going so far as to be silly....most of the time.

But....

Every now and then he does something like deduce from the pitch of Chewbacca's fart that the Republic base is defended by Tam&Bak type 6 turbo lasers, and not type 5s.....

Every now and then he does something like deduce from the pitch of Chewbacca's fart that the Republic base is defended by Tam&Bak type 6 turbo lasers, and not type 5s.....

I mean, really, that's just common sense. What other type of Tam & Bak turbolasers could give a wookie flatulence?

Heh, the original Zahn books were probably the best part of the EU and one of the few SW books I actually enjoyed.

As ever, Ghost has it right when occasionally they go a bit Karen Traviss with him... but I actually liked that he was part of a cool new species, one of the few Imperials who wasn't venal and stupid, and - more than anything - he was dangerous because he was smart, not because he was some super-special Force user with a lightsaber.

One of the reasons I used to like Fett too, cool image aside - 'Badass Normals' are all too rare in SW, although I guess how 'badass' he really is depends on the author or GM. He was a chump in the movies, and pretty much a god in the Travissty novels.

Not that I give a wookie's fart about canon but it's mildly interesting they're rebooting parts of the EU. I was always going to use Thrawn in our game, possibly even as an ally of sorts if anyone ever gets involved in the Imperial civil war. I've mentioned Fett a few times; he's far too smart to accept a contract for the PCs or the various faction leaders, as he isn't about to take a suicide mission. Again, he's purely neutral in the scheme of things and might even be an ally at some point.

This is a good thing in my eyes. Far less annoying to me than Maul's return from the dead.

This does mean that Chiss are now D-canon. So do any of the species shown in the FFG lines (aside from the birdmen from the FaD adventure) not yet have D-canon appearances?

Cool. Are we back to tiered canon, again? Other than the Lego Star Wars vs Rest of Star Wars.

To answer your question, Caamasi are in the FFG Star Wars line and as far as I know, are strictly legends.

Thrawn, Thrawn, Thrawn... Yawn. Lets talk about the fact that it seems Darktroopers are bein canonized as well. Hopefully, hot on their heels is Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors, Kyle in his badass non-jedi form.

This is a good thing in my eyes. Far less annoying to me than Maul's return from the dead.

Truth, though as I understand that happened in Clone Wars, not Rebels (though they do use him in rebels)

And would <3 to see Kyle and Jan show up. That's some Legends worth revisiting.