MARVEL’S NEW STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER SERIES AND ALPHABET SQUADRON NOVEL COVERS

10 hours ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

MARVEL’S NEW STAR WARS: TIE FIGHTER SERIES AND ALPHABET SQUADRON NOVEL COVERS

TIE FIGHTER SERIES!!

So how long until they defect?

Got the shipping notice on the first issue of Tie Fighter today! Should be here for some weekend reading!!! Can’t wait!

On 1/19/2019 at 3:25 AM, Captain Lackwit said:

So how long until they defect?

Don't even joke about that!

Why the **** is it called Alphabet Squadron and not Aurebesh Squadron?!

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

Why the **** is it called Alphabet Squadron and not Aurebesh Squadron?!

Because not everyone who might be interested in it necessarily knows what Aurebesh is. The books aren't just intended for die hard fans.

2 hours ago, HolySorcerer said:

Don't even joke about that!

I'm gonna'. You know it's possible.

1 hour ago, DarthEnderX said:

Why the **** is it called Alphabet Squadron and not Aurebesh Squadron?!

x wing is called "x"wing in star wars (it happened in ESB) so that means there is alphabet in star wars universe.

13 minutes ago, A Fistful of Dices said:

x wing is called "x"wing in star wars (it happened in ESB) so that means there is alphabet in star wars universe.

Yeah, the Alphabet is basically what Latin is to us nowadays.

4 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Why the **** is it called Alphabet Squadron and not Aurebesh Squadron?!

XYABU

7 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Why the **** is it called Alphabet Squadron and not Aurebesh Squadron?!

Because there's some obscure alphabet called 'high galactic' or some such that the rebel fighters are named after. Basically a hand-wave dating back to the early films to explain why they have A-wings and X-wings when they never use an alphabet on-screen containing those characters.

On 1/19/2019 at 9:25 AM, Captain Lackwit said:

So how long until they defect?

Given the blurb quote:

Quote

An elite squadron of TIE fighter pilots is assembled to help protect Imperial interests and hammer the Emperor’s fury down upon the treasonous and violent Rebel Alliance. But how far is this untested team willing to go to preserve law and order? And are the pilots of SHADOW WING as loyal to the Empire as they seem?

Probably not that long.

On 1/19/2019 at 10:25 AM, Captain Lackwit said:

So how long until they defect?

One or tow isues.

Brief Preview

"Crawl Text" according to Wookieepedia (which sets the timeline)

The Empire's glorious victory at the Battle of Hoth has all but smashed the pitiful Rebel Alliance, whose
dwindling forces now scatter and flee before the might of the Imperial war machine. Soon, 
peace will be restored to the galaxy and the feared TIE Fighter pilots of 
SHADOW WING will be the ones to secure victory for the Emperor!

So essentially it's post Hoth, pre Endor.

If this is another lazy story about more Imperial traitors defecting to the rebel terrorists this moves from must read to avoid at all costs. It would be doubly insulting as they are using the TIE Fighter name.

11 hours ago, MegaSilver said:

Yeah, the Alphabet is basically what Latin is to us nowadays.

Greek letters, not Latin, since Latin used our same alphabet. But yea, otherwise this is how it is. "As" and "X's" of Star Wars are like our Greek symbols for Alpha, Omega, and everything in between.

47 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

If this is another lazy story about more Imperial traitors defecting to the rebel terrorists this moves from must read to avoid at all costs. It would be doubly insulting as they are using the TIE Fighter name.

Of course they are going to defect, the blurb even strongly suggests it. Did Inferno Squad (at least Iden and Meeko) teach you nothing?

Here's the issue: the Imperials are authoritarian space fascists that stamp out non-conformity. This means "model" Imperials are minimally characters, they're all falling in line and being obedient and conforming like crazy. That doesn't make for characters, that makes for cogs. And cogs are not interesting protagonists. It's also the case that the Empire, post-Alderaan, has clearly and publicly embraced atrocity as their modus operandi. Star Wars has, at its fairly tale roots, always been a story about very clearly delineated GOOD vs EVIL. The Empire doesn't just subjugate species, oppress planets, torture prisoners, and blow up planets, it even names the elements of its operation things like "Death Star," "Death Squadron," "Devastator," "Tyrant," "Dominator," "Executor," and the like... you would have to be delusional to view the Imperials as the "real" good guys... as they make no pretesenses to whitewash their atrocities as the "greater good," as the preservers of peace and justice and order... after the Death Star, after the dissolution of the Senate, after Tarkin's Doctrine of Fear, the Empire are full out publicly fascists and brutal. To be a loyal Imperial, at that point, you're EITHER an immoral and heinous POS who either enjoys the subjugation of others or is willing to participate in it for personal gain OR a totally terrified and coerced subject who is too scared to sabotage or defect so goes along with evil for self-preservation. If the former, you're a monster. If the latter, a pathetic coward. Again, it's hard to find a compelling protagonist here.

So you're left with looking for the disgruntled and disloyal Imperial grunts as the only compelling case for protagonists. There's an argument to be made for telling stories about "high ranking" Imperials like the Emperor, Vader, or even Thrawn, because it's like a peak behind the curtain, an opportunity for seeing by whom and how the orders are given; it's a way to further understand the villain of the story. But if you're telling stories about low-level grunts like TIE Pilots, you're either telling a story about monsters or cowards who blindly follow the orders of their superiors, or you're telling a story about the conflicted disloyalists looking for another path. And story-tellers will always go with the latter, because there are no characters in the former. Welcome to Star Wars.

7 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Given the blurb quote:

Probably not that long.

I want to f**king die.

2 hours ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

Greek letters, not Latin, since Latin used our same alphabet. But yea, otherwise this is how it is. "As" and "X's" of Star Wars are like our Greek symbols for Alpha, Omega, and everything in between.

Of course they are going to defect, the blurb even strongly suggests it. Did Inferno Squad (at least Iden and Meeko) teach you nothing?

Here's the issue: the Imperials are authoritarian space fascists that stamp out non-conformity. This means "model" Imperials are minimally characters, they're all falling in line and being obedient and conforming like crazy. That doesn't make for characters, that makes for cogs. And cogs are not interesting protagonists. It's also the case that the Empire, post-Alderaan, has clearly and publicly embraced atrocity as their modus operandi. Star Wars has, at its fairly tale roots, always been a story about very clearly delineated GOOD vs EVIL. The Empire doesn't just subjugate species, oppress planets, torture prisoners, and blow up planets, it even names the elements of its operation things like "Death Star," "Death Squadron," "Devastator," "Tyrant," "Dominator," "Executor," and the like... you would have to be delusional to view the Imperials as the "real" good guys... as they make no pretesenses to whitewash their atrocities as the "greater good," as the preservers of peace and justice and order... after the Death Star, after the dissolution of the Senate, after Tarkin's Doctrine of Fear, the Empire are full out publicly fascists and brutal. To be a loyal Imperial, at that point, you're EITHER an immoral and heinous POS who either enjoys the subjugation of others or is willing to participate in it for personal gain OR a totally terrified and coerced subject who is too scared to sabotage or defect so goes along with evil for self-preservation. If the former, you're a monster. If the latter, a pathetic coward. Again, it's hard to find a compelling protagonist here.

So you're left with looking for the disgruntled and disloyal Imperial grunts as the only compelling case for protagonists. There's an argument to be made for telling stories about "high ranking" Imperials like the Emperor, Vader, or even Thrawn, because it's like a peak behind the curtain, an opportunity for seeing by whom and how the orders are given; it's a way to further understand the villain of the story. But if you're telling stories about low-level grunts like TIE Pilots, you're either telling a story about monsters or cowards who blindly follow the orders of their superiors, or you're telling a story about the conflicted disloyalists looking for another path. And story-tellers will always go with the latter, because there are no characters in the former. Welcome to Star Wars.

I have never disagreed more in my life on a Star Wars subject. You absolutely can have good "cog" Imperials. Because here's the thing.

Not everything The Empire does or fights, is evil. They can't be. Statistically speaking that is impossible. Consider this: How many Rebels like Saw Gerrera exist? Probably a whole friggin' lot. Terrorists are absolutely a thing, and there is nobody better equipped to fight them than The Empire. I want stories where The Empire is protecting its people, saving lives, fighting for a greater good because it is not impossible in the slightest. Your antagonists do not have to be bad guys 100% of the time.

The idea that you can't make compelling "cog" characters is just...

I'm sorry, that's one of the dumbest things I have ever read in my life. A story about a Stormtrooper who's just straight up a Stormtrooper could be fascinating. Are you really going to tell me that we could never see a story about the soldiers in the trenches of Mimban, see their humanity, what they're fighting for- whether its right or wrong, in the eyes of each other as comrades? Why are they in The Empire? Who are their families? Everybody is somebody and that can be explored in The Empire far better than it can be in The Rebellion, where everybody gets to be a **** hero and probably already lost everything. We've ran that track a million times.

Let's run a new one.

Tell stories about the average men and women in The Empire. Show things through the eyes of the common man. That's the truly interesting part of Star Wars. Not the heroes, the Force- but what it's like for an everyman in this extravagant galaxy. The Clone Wars proved that you could make clones and their stories, and JUST their stories, interesting. But without TCW, you would stand by the "fact" that all clones are the same, don't have personality, and are just bred in a tube Jedi killers.

But you are wrong about that, as the last decade has proven.

I wish to see anti Imperial storytelling sentiments further disproved. Somebody writing for Star Wars needs some cajones.

Read the first issue.

No Maarek Stele...that's not a good start.

But...Class-A cargo containers!

16 hours ago, HolySorcerer said:

Don't even joke about that!

Tie Fighter, the game, has already shown that you can have Cog Imperials that are sympathetic and relatable. The Empire isn't comic book evil everywhere. And many Imperial citizens did benefit from the security it provided.

8 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Because there's some obscure alphabet called 'high galactic' or some such that the rebel fighters are named after. Basically a hand-wave dating back to the early films to explain why they have A-wings and X-wings when they never use an alphabet on-screen containing those characters.

when Star Wars was first released, there were many items that had standard English on them. Mostly highlighted by the terminal Obi-Wan disables to allow the Falcon to escape the Death Star. It was boldly labeled "Tractor Beam". Later releases digitally changed these labels into Aurebesh. So to use the fighter naming convention made perfect sense at the time.

Orignial shot above, altered shot below.

BattleFront Twilight Company had an interesting sub-plot involving a female stormtrooper. Definitely still a cog. Slight chance of conversion, but you got to see her doing her duty and then being defeated and going into hiding.

It was compelling.

23 minutes ago, Stinger07 said:

BattleFront Twilight Company had an interesting sub-plot involving a female stormtrooper. Definitely still a cog. Slight chance of conversion, but you got to see her doing her duty and then being defeated and going into hiding.

It was compelling.

But Allwingsstandingby said that cogs can't be interesting at all so that has to be a fact.