I guess Vanity Fair is doing an article on E8. Interviews and photos and stuff. Looks like some official shots too, like Phasma without her helmet and the like.

On 4/14/2017 at 0:31 PM, Silverfox13 said:

Anyone want speculate on the "balance" of the force and will this be the end of the Jedi order?

I believe it's the end of the split between the Light Side and the Dark Side as two separate aspects of the Force and the return to the Je'daii philosophy (pre-split).

"There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no fear; there is power.
I am the heart of the Force.
I am the revealing fire of light.
I am the mystery of darkness
In balance with chaos and harmony,
Immortal in the Force."

―The Je'daii Code

On 5/23/2017 at 1:31 PM, Donovan Morningfire said:

If you don't want to play by the code of conduct that the Jedi abide by, then don't call yourself a Jedi.

That's why I'm hoping the movie gives us a new term. I feel like part of the reason people get in such a tizzy over the term "Gray Jedi" is because they think people who use the term are actually referring to a member of the Jedi order (pre-Empire) that uses Dark side abilities, which I agree is a stupid concept. If you used Dark side powers, the council would kick you out in a heartbeat. But when people say "Gray Jedi," what they're often referring to is simply a Force-user who uses both the Light side (a canon term now, thanks Bendu) and the Dark side of the Force, specifically one who seeks balance. Who knows? Maybe The Last Jedi will call them the Grae, or the Luke-ites, or whatever. I just want something to call them that won't make purists gag uncontrollably during conversation.

There already is a term for someone that can use the Force but isn't a Jedi and isn't a Sith.

It's called being a Force user, or a Force adept if you've got a decent degree of control over one's powers.

21 hours ago, Nivrap said:

That's why I'm hoping the movie gives us a new term. I feel like part of the reason people get in such a tizzy over the term "Gray Jedi" is because they think people who use the term are actually referring to a member of the Jedi order (pre-Empire) that uses Dark side abilities, which I agree is a stupid concept. If you used Dark side powers, the council would kick you out in a heartbeat. But when people say "Gray Jedi," what they're often referring to is simply a Force-user who uses both the Light side (a canon term now, thanks Bendu) and the Dark side of the Force, specifically one who seeks balance. Who knows? Maybe The Last Jedi will call them the Grae, or the Luke-ites, or whatever. I just want something to call them that won't make purists gag uncontrollably during conversation.

It's not going to happen. Sorry, but there is just too much market power for merchandise in the term Jedi. I don't care how much baggage the uber-fans have piled onto it of their own free will in the decades of time between official product in the franchise, but there is just NO way that Disney is going to kill the term Jedi. It's atavistic at this point in our culture. Heck there's a real world religion of the Jedi, the term has an almost biological impact on people when they hear it, especially little kids. It is a one word, two syllable term that has a ton of encoded meaning. There has been so much mythology and pop culture emphasis on that term, and the values for which they stand, that to remove them is utter marketing suicide. And make no mistake, Disney is in this for the money. You don't drop 4 BILLION dollars to buy a franchise, and then gut the most signature phrase/organization of that franchise.

I mean the term Jedi was so integral to the lore and mythos, that in the EU, they back filled that Je'daii crap to make it seem like they were an even older organization than they were.

That's like saying the Marines aren't just a military organization, but they were actually based on an ancient culture of warriors called The Mah'Reenes. And by the way, we won't be calling them Marines any more, we're going to call them "Angry Dudes With Guns", because we're tired of all the baggage that comes with the term Marines. So now our slogan, that has been the inspiration for thousands, if not millions of soldiers, will be "The Few, The Proud, The Angry Dudes With Guns". It just doesn't have the same impact you know?

2 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

It's not going to happen. Sorry, but there is just too much market power for merchandise in the term Jedi. I don't care how much baggage the uber-fans have piled onto it of their own free will in the decades of time between official product in the franchise, but there is just NO way that Disney is going to kill the term Jedi.

I don't think the term Jedi will stop being a thing, or even stop being a main point of the movies. But there's room enough in the Star Wars movies for more than one Force tradition. Besides, nobody had even thought of doing something like Star Wars when it came out. Who's to say this series won't continue to defy expectations, as it has for 40 years? I'm not asking you to put money down on it or anything, I'm just saying what I'd like to see in the next movie. What is accomplished by saying it will never happen?

31 minutes ago, Nivrap said:

I don't think the term Jedi will stop being a thing, or even stop being a main point of the movies. But there's room enough in the Star Wars movies for more than one Force tradition. Besides, nobody had even thought of doing something like Star Wars when it came out. Who's to say this series won't continue to defy expectations, as it has for 40 years? I'm not asking you to put money down on it or anything, I'm just saying what I'd like to see in the next movie. What is accomplished by saying it will never happen?

What is accomplished by saying it? I am accomplishing telling you my views on the subject, and that I think your hope isn't going to be realized. You want to see the term Jedi to stop being the focus, I'm saying I don't think that will happen. Not sure why you think something needs to be "accomplished" to state a contrary viewpoint than yours, but whatever.

3 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

Not sure why you think something needs to be "accomplished" to state a contrary viewpoint than yours, but whatever.

Yeah, sorry, that was rude of me. I just have a lot of... unorthodox ideas about Star Wars, so I'm used to just getting ripped into for it. To give the SWRPG community credit where credit is due, it's incredibly tolerant of other interpretations of the lore, which is ironic because the RPG itself obviously has to stick to a single interpretation for consistency's sake.

Though I'm still holding out hope that they give us a Clone Wars RPG some day...

Just now, Nivrap said:

Yeah, sorry, that was rude of me. I just have a lot of... unorthodox ideas about Star Wars, so I'm used to just getting ripped into for it. To give the SWRPG community credit where credit is due, it's incredibly tolerant of other interpretations of the lore, which is ironic because the RPG itself obviously has to stick to a single interpretation for consistency's sake.

Though I'm still holding out hope that they give us a Clone Wars RPG some day...

My view on canon/interpretation is that it's irrelevant. Sure FFG can establish certain storyline elements in their published work, but seeing as they always throw in the caveat of "It's your table, change what you want." I don't really feel at all beholden to that published timeline. They put it there for internal consistency, but it's hardly written in stone.

Now if you are talking about an RPG campaign, where the Jedi end, sure, go ahead. But when we are discussing the business plans of a financial giant like Disney, things like "canon" and "internal consistency" etc, I feel, take a major back seat to "money."

On a personal level, I wouldn't mind seeing the Jedi Order (as it was portrayed in the prequels) to go away entirely. As it was presented it was a terribly ineffective organization, run by some very stupid and naive people. Now, we can debate the differences in whether this was what they were meant to look like, or if it's simply the fault of Lucas not being very good at making moves and stuff anymore. But I personally prefer the "Force User" concept, and find the idea of becoming a Jedi (as a player in a campaign) to be somewhat boring. When I've made Force users, I tend to make them be some other tradition that didn't die out. The Jedi were just the most popular, and public form of Force tradition that existed. Hundreds existed on hundreds of worlds, for centuries before they showed up. And apparently the "Jedi Way" wasn't very effective, given what happend to the Republic, and their own order. So yeah, personally, I wouldn't really be bothered if they went away.

But Disney doesn't care about that stuff, they care about milking that sweet Star Wars momentum for every penny they can. And that means sticking with marketable branding. And you don't get more marketabely branded in the Star Wars franchise than Jedi. The sound of a lightsaber igniting, the hum and buzz of them clashing, the robes, these are iconic things, that have infatuated fans for decades. So much so, that with zero material being presented, they started making their own for decades, to tied themselves over. It's practically a right to print money for them. So no, realistically, I don't see the Jedi ending. My theory is that Luke's opinion about the Jedi ending is based on a depressive mood. The guilt of his lost students, the death of Han, his own misgivings about his ability to teach anyone, etc. But by the end of the movie, he will realize that the Jedi aren't flawed, and they need to be there, to counter the Dark or some such thing. And thus the Jedi will persist, and we will simply have a movie title that is very clickbaitey in it's wording.

On April 15, 2017 at 11:48 PM, TheWanderingJewels said:

As an observation, that battle line of funky look starships during the space battle.....were those later day Republic Nebulon Class frigates?

The Katana fleet!