lots of pretty fighters

I see that the art style continues to get worse.

11 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

I see that the art style continues to get worse.

I knew you were going to post something negative.

Just now, Stan Fresh said:

I knew you were going to post something negative.

It's also about a time period that is dead to me. Disney has actually made me want to go back and reread even the worst KJA Legends crap over what they've decided is their post-Endor canon.

I think it looks beautiful.

The fighters and stormtrooper look good, but the faces of the people in the clip all look terrible to me.

Ship designs are cool. The human character designs is a significant improvement over Rebels (where the humans looked like uncanny horrors that give Cthulhu nightmares) though the colors and lighting are jacked beyond all reason. Why does literally everything look like it's covered in gloss? There's something off about it. Those aliens don't look the best either; very humanized and generic looking.

It looks like Destiny, not Star Wars. The ship designs, the grungy-but-bright aesthetic against clean characters, etc.

I dig it. I'm happy to have my Star Wars served up in a variety of formats, and the cell-shaded look is very of the time.

I enjoyed Clone Wars and Rebels. There was a lot of cool imagery in both series, even though the animation styles weren't my favorite. But both were limited by budget constraints, even with Lucas famously throwing his own cash into the pot on Clone Wars. So, I'm all for seeing what is possible for Resistance with its simplified animation.

So looking forward to this, although I have no access to Disney channels so I’m gonna have to wait a bit.

l’m getting so much Ezra from the new guy. I wonder why they went with, what seems like, an identical character.

Blech.

34 minutes ago, Fandabidozi said:

l’m getting so much Ezra from the new guy. I wonder why they went with, what seems like, an identical character.

This is Star Wars. IF it worked once, Disney is all for doing it repeatedly and without shame. That's what J. J. Abrams showed us.

I genuinely don't know why people are so quick to complain about the art. We've known for months that it was going to be a 3D series that was anime-inspired. The art looks exactly how I was expecting it to look. Kinda looks visually along the same lines as RWBY (the late Monty Oum's passion project for Rooster Teeth). The ships, vehicles, and technology in general are all gorgeously animated, and the characters are visually distinct and expressive. It also baffles me how quickly people dismissed this series after a 1 minute trailer aimed at Disney's target audience, kids. Not everything that gets put out by Disney is going to be aimed at full-grown adults. Kids are still where a good chunk of the income comes from. However, I'm certain that, much like with The Clone Wars and Rebels, this series will "mature" with its target audience. With the first few episodes of the first season being the most light-hearted and kid-friendly, and gradually growing more mature from there, to the point where we may even see major character deaths (*cough Kanan cough*)

Things I'm looking forward to with this series:

1. Finally getting a really good look at the New Republic. Seriously, the Sequel-era has danced around the New Republic so much that it's legitimately infuriating. The one area in Star Wars where I desperately craved a bit of political information, and they're being deliberately vague due to how poorly received the politics were in the Prequels (or at least, that's why I assume they haven't touched it much). Bloodline was a fantastic book because it actually gave us a bit of a look at the political state of the galaxy. But so far that's pretty much the only good look we've gotten. Now we'll finally be getting to explore the New Republic and its relation to the First Order on screen! Seriously, how are more people not excited about this?

2. The animation, particularly when it comes to ships. The main character is a pilot/spy, which means my inner X-Wing: TMG nerd is going to be salivating for every new episode. So much potential for pretty new ships and flashy new piloting sequences. I also have several friends who openly state that their favorite part of the Star Wars franchise isn't the Jedi or the other main characters, but rather the ships. One of my players has played a pilot of some form or another in every campaign and one-off I've run. I'm certain this show will have enough piloting action sequences to keep most of my friend group coming back for that alone.

3. Potential glimpses at what Luke's new Jedi Order was like, a Light Side Ben Solo, and possibly even what Snoke was up to and how he corrupted Ben. I certainly don't expect the show to focus heavily on this. However, considering Dave Filoni is attached to Resistance, I'm almost certain he'll shoehorn a few things in. After all, he somehow managed to squeeze Ben Kenobi and Yoda into Rebels, when they were both stuck on remote planets doing pretty much nothing during that time period.

4. The music! I love to play Star Wars tracks while I'm running a game session, and Rebels and the Clone Wars have given me a great many options for various situations. Some of the songs from those two animated series have been iconic mainstays in my games (The Inquisitor theme coming on whenever my party's main antagonist showed up, for example). Getting more Star Wars music is always something to look forward to.

5. Resolution to Ahsoka, Ezra, and Thrawn. Dave Filoni likes carrying plot arcs over from one series to the next, as we saw in Rebels. We know Ahsoka lived past Endor, and presumably so did Ezra and Thrawn. If that's the case, I'm almost certain Dave Filoni will explore more of their story in Resistance. Personally, I would love to see Ahsoka and Ezra be connected in some way to Luke's new Jedi Order, possibly as "Jedi Knights" helping him train new students. Either that, or a retelling of the Thrawn Trilogy, but with Ezra taking the place of Joruus C'baoth. There's just so much storytelling potential with these three characters alone that I can hardly contain my excitement for this series.

So come on, guys. Stop being so negative. Dave Filoni has handled both Rebels and The Clone Wars masterfully, and each of them has had some extremely compelling story arcs. They've both brought a great deal to Star Wars as a whole, and have lead to some of the most memorable fan-favorite characters of all time. I'm certain Resistance is going to have plenty in it to keep the more mature Star Wars fans coming back to it just as the previous two animated series did. Let's have a little optimism around here, eh?

11 minutes ago, Underachiever599 said:

5. Resolution to Ahsoka, Ezra, and Thrawn. Dave Filoni likes carrying plot arcs over from one series to the next, as we saw in Rebels. We know Ahsoka lived past Endor, and presumably so did Ezra and Thrawn. If that's the case, I'm almost certain Dave Filoni will explore more of their story in Resistance. Personally, I would love to see Ahsoka and Ezra be connected in some way to Luke's new Jedi Order, possibly as "Jedi Knights" helping him train new students. Either that, or a retelling of the Thrawn Trilogy, but with Ezra taking the place of Joruus C'baoth. There's just so much storytelling potential with these three characters alone that I can hardly contain my excitement for this series.

And maybe we get the Rian Johnson treatment and get summarily told in Episode 1 of this series that, "Sorry but Ahsoka, Ezra, and Thrawn are all dead--get over it."

16 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

And maybe we get the Rian Johnson treatment and get summarily told in Episode 1 of this series that, "Sorry but Ahsoka, Ezra, and Thrawn are all dead--get over it."

You apparently don't know Dave Filoni at all? Also, when did Rian Johnson tell is in TLJ that "Sorry but these characters died off screen, get over it"? The only major character deaths were Luke and Snoke, and both happened on-screen and were meaningful to the story.

Is that yellow racer a Z-95?

3 hours ago, Underachiever599 said:

However, considering Dave Filoni is attached to Resistance, I'm almost certain he'll shoehorn a few things in.

He's not the showrunner, though.

37 minutes ago, Stan Fresh said:

He's not the showrunner, though.

He's not the showrunner, but he is the executive producer. So he's still connected to the series in a very meaningful way. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll influence the story of the show to a degree, mostly to get his baby into the show (Ahsoka).

6 hours ago, Underachiever599 said:

I genuinely don't know why people are so quick to complain about the art. We've known for months that it was going to be a 3D series that was anime-inspired. The art looks exactly how I was expecting it to look.

I've seen better, particularly when it comes to "anime inspired." Voltron: Legendary Defender really aced the "anime" look, successfully blending CG and 2D animation. Castlevania looks amazing, and many people think it is anime, despite being made by the same studio that did The Fairly OddParents and Adventure Time . Resistance , by contrast, looks worse than some of its western compatriots, such as the How to Train Your Dragon show (despite being a downgrade compared to the movies).

So, if you're asking "why," that's why, personally.

On 8/17/2018 at 1:27 PM, HappyDaze said:

I see that the art style continues to get worse.

Worse? I love it. I gather that you're not a fan of Anime.

14 hours ago, Underachiever599 said:

I genuinely don't know why people are so quick to complain about the art. We've known for  months that it was going to be a 3D series that was anime-inspired  .   

For me it's just disappointing because I've done some work in 3D. The effects needed to make it look like that are also a big cost saver, big cost saver. While it looks cool when well done, and can be a boon to smaller, low budget, and risky operations, on a Star Wars product, especially one expected as the follow up to Clone Wars and Rebels, it feels like a step down.

But maybe that's it? Filoni recently said in an interview that he set up Resistance, but isn't running it. So maybe this needs to be framed as it's own thing, a new line of animation that's intended more for the kiddies.

Economically clone wars had an issue. It kicked off targeting a slightly older demographic. Which meant fewer years to shill merch before they aged out of them. Of course the show aged up a bit to keep up with the viewers (resulting in great stories, but a show too old to sell action figures and backpacks). Rebels started a smidge younger, but had a similar issue.

So there's a option here. Make Resistance lower budget, targeting younger viewers (who won't care if it looks a little cheap), with a short intended run, and shill those toys and trapper keepers for the full run.

After all, if this isn't consuming much of Filoni's time... Maybe this isn't supposed to be the next step forward, but something else... Which is fine.

36 minutes ago, Ghostofman said:

So maybe this needs to be framed as it's own thing, a new line of animation that's intended more for the kiddies.

That was the argument for the drop in quality from The Clone Wars to Rebels . This just takes it even lower.

42 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Worse? I love it. I gather that you're not a fan of Anime.

I consider some anime-styled art to be high quaity. This is not it.

4 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

I consider some anime-styled art to be high quaity. This is not it.

I've gotta disagree with that assessment. But to each his or her own.

I'm not particularly interested in debating this series's artistic merits, since I'm not the kind of artist with the kind of expertise to judge such things. Like all Star Wars television series, I'll probably watch this to gather addition in-universe material and pillage what seems good conceptually for my table. TCW and Rebels both provided bits and pieces, so I doubt this will be any different.

The fighters look quite nice in this trailer.