I'm not married to the current depiction of Bothans. I just have 1 question:

-Will Timothy Zahn be involved with the redesign? They brought him in when they did Thrawn. He was the first to do anything with them. Perhaps an espionage novel about how the Empire fed the Death Star II info to the Both an spies, then killed them.

I happen to like the current look of the Bothans. I doubt I'll pay any attention to what Disney does to them as I have zero love for their version of Star Wars so far.

57 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

I happen to like the current look of the Bothans. I doubt I'll pay any attention to what Disney does to them as I have zero love for their version of Star Wars so far.

really? Nothing out of the current stuff strikes your fancy? I find that hard to believe.

Also I always wanted to say this:

Only a Sith deals in Absolutes!

To be fair, Daze did qualify his statement with a "so far".

So he's not fallen yet. Just heading down the Disney-morality track a bit.

26 minutes ago, TheMOELANDER said:

really? Nothing out of the current stuff strikes your fancy? I find that hard to believe.

Also I always wanted to say this:

Only a Sith deals in Absolutes!

Episode VII was total crap. I really didn't like anything it added to Star Wars. Rogue One was alright. Current novels are no better than what came before, and I don't care for the cartoons much (couldn't watch more than a few Episodes of Clone Wars, and Rebels just gets dumber and dumber). In short, Star Wars was just as enjoyable to me 10 years ago as it is now, and that's not saying it was great then, but it is saying that it's no better now.

6 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

Episode VII was total crap. I really didn't like anything it added to Star Wars. Rogue One was alright. Current novels are no better than what came before, and I don't care for the cartoons much (couldn't watch more than a few Episodes of Clone Wars, and Rebels just gets dumber and dumber). In short, Star Wars was just as enjoyable to me 10 years ago as it is now, and that's not saying it was great then, but it is saying that it's no better now.

While I agree, that Ep VII reeks of lackluster Abrams, it was not all bad. As well as I think that the prequels aren't all bad, even Jar Jar, but I tend to not get overly angry with stuff (with a few exceptions).

There are some things that me really angry, though:

• The change of Gameplay for the last Command & Conquer game... MOBILE BASES? MICROTRANSACTIONS? AAAAARGH!
• The very idea, that someone might touch the very relic of my youth and remake it or reimagine it: LEAVE BACK TO THE FUTURE ALONE!!!! Sequels would be okay, but don't you dare replace or modernize it, else I'ma cut ya! And I have Bob and Bob behind me!
• The treatment Jake Lloyd got after Episode I... Guys he was just a kid! We basically bullied, nay, traumatized a preteen kid! He was a child actor, why did we pour so much hate on this kid? Nobody deserves that! NOBODY! I first heard about this when Mark Hamill started talking about it. I then looked into it and found that we are guilty of mobbing, all Star Wars fans, even those who liked his performance, because they did not call out those who showed their dislike so grossly.
• People who judge anything by what some other person has told them about it, without first looking into the matter themselves. That goes all ways! People who share my opinion are guilty of this as well. We can check so easy for information in this age, yet we seldomly do.

Why change them?

TFA was the first movie I watched I could identify the problems whilst I was watching it even the Star Trek Reboot wasn't that bad !

I'm actually worried about The Last Jedi as I even had problems with Rogue One.

When they had that panel and revealed how one of the character's died there was a bit of fuss about it even though it was clear a true spoiler would be if any of them survived !

The problem I have with Rogue One is that it wasn't necessary for all of them to die, in fact for a movie franchise it would actually be better to make their ends off screen in case they wanted to continue their adventures all without spoiling the movie!

Rey & Cassian are caught inside that lift when the Death Star blew the transmitter atop of it, safety features inside the obviously hardened and fortified Imperial Base sends the lift to the basement below ground where they're safe from the blast.

KS-20 reactivates as a result of the electromagnetic wave that temporarily shorts out the base but doesn't obliterate it after if you're going to hold important documents like the Death Star plans you'd want the place to be able to survive quite a bit of punishment after all Tarkin could have just shot the base itself not just the top!

He reactivates and locates the pair, they acquire new uniforms and are directed to an arriving imperial shuttle discovering they're loading on captured rebels including Chirrut and Baze both of whom were badly hurt but only knocked out.

With Tarkin moving the Death Star out of the system for a final shakedown, Lord Vader chasing the Tantive IV it would be a simple matter for them to seize the shuttle and jump out of the system before the Imperials realise their mistake cue sequel!

Yes some people would have problems with that idea but back to the main problem why change the Bothans at all?

I wonder if Ghosts of Dathomir had a significant Bothan NPC which required a complete reprint?

I have given this some thought, and perhaps it is because the reveal of the "true" bothans is imminent. Perhaps they show up in the last Jedi? Or in the Han Solo movie. Maybe it's even in Rebels. Anyway, my guess is , that the new canon bothans will make their appearance soon and that's why they were cut from our german translation (oh, which by the way sucks Jabba's balls! It is so bad I am crying over some translations).

I just hope we will get the new bothans for "free" as a pdf, else paying the same amount as for the english books is not agreeable!

This is disappointing if it's true. It's easy enough to ignore if you're not set on strictly following the new line of canon for your games, but it's still a disappointment if Bothans are getting removed or reworked from the ground up. They're quite iconic and played such a big role in many stories, and if they're reprinting new books to cut them out then it's all the more worth it to hold on to the old copies. I'm a little curious too what they'll replace them with or turn them into.

On 10.7.2017 at 6:11 PM, copperbell said:

for a movie franchise it would actually be better to make their ends off screen

No, as it would rob the movie of much of its impact, and thus lower the overall quality of the franchise.

I have a strange feeling that Disney isn't going to have a Bothan species at all. Instead, they're humans, just like Alderaanians, Corellians, and Chandrillans.

7 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

I have a strange feeling that Disney isn't going to have a Bothan species at all. Instead, they're humans, just like Alderaanians, Corellians, and Chandrillans.

You may be right. Wookieepedia's article on the species still lists them as a species, but they source that to ROTJ, which says no such thing. However, they do note that the canon novel Bloodline says Bothans communicate with one another by growling, so maybe that suggests they'll still be non-human.

Here's the exact quote from Bloodline , courtesy of Amazon's "look inside" feature (pp. 28–29):

Quote

The numerous citizens of various worlds milled around, both on the mobile sidewalks and around them: a group of Bothans growling to one another in front of one office's door, a Gungan having an animated conversation via the comlink in his hand, and two Wookiees far ahead of her on the sidewalk, being propelled forward past the throngs of politicians workers, lobbyists, and and visiting constituents that perpetually filled the complex. Only the sight of the Wookiees made Leia smile.

This seems to be their only new-canon appearance (as opposed to a mere mention) so far, and the context still seems to suggest they're a species in the new canon. But it's not definitive enough that the Story Group couldn't change them to Humans if they wanted to.

New Bothans will, instead of merely being canine humanoids, be sentient fully quadrupedal canines. That's how they conduct their spycraft. They pose as dogs belonging to key imperial personnel.

(That was speculation/trolling btw).

1 hour ago, SavageBob said:

You may be right. Wookieepedia's article on the species still lists them as a species, but they source that to ROTJ, which says no such thing. However, they do note that the canon novel Bloodline says Bothans communicate with one another by growling, so maybe that suggests they'll still be non-human.

The article in question is the "canon" material on Bothans, of which outside of RotJ there's been extremely little.

Most of the coverage the Bothans got was in Legends, due in no small part to Timothy Zahn making use of them as lesser antagonists to the heroes in his Thrawn Trilogy.

19 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

The article in question is the "canon" material on Bothans, of which outside of RotJ there's been extremely little.

Most of the coverage the Bothans got was in Legends, due in no small part to Timothy Zahn making use of them as lesser antagonists to the heroes in his Thrawn Trilogy.

Exactly. That was the precise point of my post, to relate what little we know about Bothans in the new canon.

On 7/12/2017 at 4:51 AM, HappyDaze said:

I have a strange feeling that Disney isn't going to have a Bothan species at all. Instead, they're humans, just like Alderaanians, Corellians, and Chandrillans.

That would bug the crap out of me. I'm tired of the films, Rogue One especially, being so human centric. I understand the relatability issue, but many other films have proven that non-human, or near-human, characters can be just as engaging.

What I hope is this redesign/recannonization is to simplify the look and make it possible for Bothans to be 100% special effects makeup instead of CG characters. That would be neat.

The Edge of the Empire core book is presently the only item I have from FFG's Star Wars RPG systems, though I've long been interested in getting deeper into the game.

Does the info presented on pre-Disney Bothans in Age of Rebellion differ at all from what's presented in Edge of the Empire? And if yes, how?

Also, how frequently do Bothans appear in other previously published Star Wars RPG products, like adventures and career books?

Just trying to figure out whether these changes to canon and RPG products should affect my purchasing priorities. I have no access to other books at the moment with which to compare. Thanks in advance for your help.

2 minutes ago, TwiceBornh said:

The Edge of the Empire core book is presently the only item I have from FFG's Star Wars RPG systems, though I've long been interested in getting deeper into the game.

Does the info presented on pre-Disney Bothans in Age of Rebellion differ at all from what's presented in Edge of the Empire? And if yes, how?

Also, how frequently do Bothans appear in other previously published Star Wars RPG products, like adventures and career books?

Just trying to figure out whether these changes to canon and RPG products should affect my purchasing priorities. I have no access to other books at the moment with which to compare. Thanks in advance for your help.

As a playable species, they only appear in Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion. There are a couple of pre-generated characters, but anything like NPCs are totally unrelated.

Any species that has been reprinted across the various lines in the FFG system will have differing fluff.

A few have slightly different stats, but that was in large part due to editing error and was not intentional.

7 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

The article in question is the "canon" material on Bothans, of which outside of RotJ there's been extremely little.

Most of the coverage the Bothans got was in Legends, due in no small part to Timothy Zahn making use of them as lesser antagonists to the heroes in his Thrawn Trilogy.

That's why I'm wondering if they'll seek his input the way they did with Thrawn.

Actually, I could see a novel where Thrawn is the one who played the Bothans with the intel on the 2nd Death Star. He's the sort who could be a serious player in that kind of game.

I think I might be furaphobic. I have never been a fan of the doggy Bothans, and I love the idea of the Gank, but dislike they are hairy animals under they cyber gear. That doesn't seem to make sense to me. Wouldn't the fur get in the way of everything? I'd prefer Ganks are lizard like or something like that....but I digress.

I look forward to the Bothan Reborn!

6 hours ago, Andreievitch said:

I think I might be furaphobic. I have never been a fan of the doggy Bothans, and I love the idea of the Gank, but dislike they are hairy animals under they cyber gear. That doesn't seem to make sense to me. Wouldn't the fur get in the way of everything? I'd prefer Ganks are lizard like or something like that....but I digress.

I look forward to the Bothan Reborn!

For a real-world example, check out cochlear implants.

13 hours ago, MitchPelon said:

That's why I'm wondering if they'll seek his input the way they did with Thrawn.

Difference really is that Zahn created the character of Thrawn, so said character is very much his baby.