I am really liking the idea of this so far. Here is hoping they knock it out of the park! I also feel like they might use this as a test bed for more content for the old republic. Learn from this, to really be able to set that up.

Yeaaaahhh...I'm reserving judgement on this one.

I want it to be good, I like the concept in broad terms, but the proof is in the pudding and that announcement trailer was a smidge on the coded/buzzwordy side of things. That doesn't mean it'll be bad of course, it could be mere marketing fluff, or they could be good enough authors that their primary focus is telling a good story and not the "correct" story. I could just really do with some escapism from my wizards-in-space fantasy fiction, rather than yet another laboured and heavy-handed commentary on modern society.

I'm also a bit reticent about the whole multi-agegroup-multi-format thing - I'm hoping the main novel series is just that, the main novel series, with the comics and YA material as optional extras. Interconnected multimedia whojamawotsit sounds great, until you end up with the Sequels issue where a lot of the stuff in the films only vaguely begins to make sense after you've read the tie-in prequel series and the character-specific comic series' and the novelisations of each movie and blah blah etc. I should want to seek out the additional material for side-stories and further tales of the characters in the main series because the main series is just that good, I shouldn't feel obliged to read all the additional bumf because the main stories don't really work without them.

17 minutes ago, Yodhrin said:

Yeaaaahhh...I'm reserving judgement on this one.

I want it to be good, I like the concept in broad terms, but the proof is in the pudding and that announcement trailer was a smidge on the coded/buzzwordy side of things. That doesn't mean it'll be bad of course, it could be mere marketing fluff, or they could be good enough authors that their primary focus is telling a good story and not the "correct" story. I could just really do with some escapism from my wizards-in-space fantasy fiction, rather than yet another laboured and heavy-handed commentary on modern society.

I'm also a bit reticent about the whole multi-agegroup-multi-format thing - I'm hoping the main novel series is just that, the main novel series, with the comics and YA material as optional extras. Interconnected multimedia whojamawotsit sounds great, until you end up with the Sequels issue where a lot of the stuff in the films only vaguely begins to make sense after you've read the tie-in prequel series and the character-specific comic series' and the novelisations of each movie and blah blah etc. I should want to seek out the additional material for side-stories and further tales of the characters in the main series because the main series is just that good, I shouldn't feel obliged to read all the additional bumf because the main stories don't really work without them.

This is where I'm at. It took me almost until Ep. IX to realize that, unlike the OT, the movies were just an add-on to all the novels/YA/comics I hadn't read, and had heard were pretty bad to begin with. I realize this setting is supposed to be print media only but I have zero desire to track down comic issues to tell me what happens between novels that fill in the gaps between YA books (that I"m not gonna read).

10 hours ago, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

Maybe a Loth-Wolf?

Sure looks like it.

2 hours ago, NeonWolf said:

This is where I'm at. It took me almost until Ep. IX to realize that, unlike the OT, the movies were just an add-on to all the novels/YA/comics I hadn't read, and had heard were pretty bad to begin with. I realize this setting is supposed to be print media only but I have zero desire to track down comic issues to tell me what happens between novels that fill in the gaps between YA books (that I"m not gonna read).

At this point, I assume no continuity etc. in Star Wars.

I view it all as "historical fiction", produced by Civilization X, about Civilization Y, viewed by Civilization Z (us). All actual historical records and artifacts produced by Civilization Y are gone. Think about it. What if, in thousands of years, you tried to piece together what happened in the US civil war based only on a steamer trunk full of 20th and 21st century historical fiction, set in the 19th century? It would be much the same result as the mess that is any sort of SW continuity or rules of logic.

16 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

At this point, I assume no continuity etc. in Star Wars.

I view it all as "historical fiction", produced by Civilization X, about Civilization Y, viewed by Civilization Z (us). All actual historical records and artifacts produced by Civilization Y are gone. Think about it. What if, in thousands of years, you tried to piece together what happened in the US civil war based only on a steamer trunk full of 20th and 21st century historical fiction, set in the 19th century? It would be much the same result as the mess that is any sort of SW continuity or rules of logic.

It's less about that than stories written for an explicitly "multimedia" project can be written in a way that assumes the reader has also read all the associated material, and so if you haven't done so things just get dropped in seemingly without explanation, they refer to events that occurred elsewhere in a way that's critical to the plot in that specific work but don't explain it at all, and characters begin acting out of their character from the normal reader's perspective because they're getting development that shifts their personality but you only know that if you read Luminous Adventures #17, a YA novel, and two tales out of a short story collection.

If it's done right the "core" series of novels should tell a complete, largely self-contained story that only relies on prior knowledge imparted by previous installments in said series of novels. That doesn't mean they can't tell other tales and refer to those in the main books, but those main books must provide the reader all plot-relevant information and ensure that characters development that happens "off-screen" in other products is also shown happening in their own pages.

4 hours ago, Yodhrin said:

Yeaaaahhh...I'm reserving judgement on this one.

I want it to be good, I like the concept in broad terms, but the proof is in the pudding and that announcement trailer was a smidge on the coded/buzzwordy side of things. That doesn't mean it'll be bad of course, it could be mere marketing fluff, or they could be good enough authors that their primary focus is telling a good story and not the "correct" story. I could just really do with some escapism from my wizards-in-space fantasy fiction, rather than yet another laboured and heavy-handed commentary on modern society.

I'm also a bit reticent about the whole multi-agegroup-multi-format thing - I'm hoping the main novel series is just that, the main novel series, with the comics and YA material as optional extras. Interconnected multimedia whojamawotsit sounds great, until you end up with the Sequels issue where a lot of the stuff in the films only vaguely begins to make sense after you've read the tie-in prequel series and the character-specific comic series' and the novelisations of each movie and blah blah etc. I should want to seek out the additional material for side-stories and further tales of the characters in the main series because the main series is just that good, I shouldn't feel obliged to read all the additional bumf because the main stories don't really work without them.

Also on the wait and see list, as the only name I recognised in that annoucement trailer was Pablo Hidalgo, and for a project like this, should be bringing in your big guns to get it moving. Didn't see Timothy Zahn, or any other of the solid Star Wars authors in the group or list of contributors, nor Dave Filoni.

5 minutes ago, player1304433 said:

Also on the wait and see list, as the only name I recognised in that annoucement trailer was Pablo Hidalgo ,

I'd take anyone from WEG over a hundred Zahn's. I mean, Zahn's work is better than the prequel or sequel trilogies but that's not saying much. I recently read Heir to the Empire and, wow. It does not make any sense. Maybe I forgot, or maybe I never finished it back in the day. But it doesn't hold up at all, its success just shows how eager we were to buy ANYTHING for SW back then.

Then again, if memory serves, Hidalgo has dropped a few balls since being elevated.

We'll see, I don't want to be too negative, I just really doubt Disney can pull this off. But there's enough of a built-in customer base that it should make money.

Yeah I'm not huge Zahn fan, but that's just my opinion.

The idea of new authors and voices excites me more than an old EU writer coming back in and retelling similar stories in the new canon.

Claudia grey had written some good star wars

13 minutes ago, player1304433 said:

Also on the wait and see list, as the only name I recognised in that annoucement trailer was Pablo Hidalgo, and for a project like this, should be bringing in your big guns to get it moving. Didn't see Timothy Zahn, or any other of the solid Star Wars authors in the group or list of contributors, nor Dave Filoni.

U havent read many of the nee books or comocs have u then? Also Filoni wouldnt be involved in this he mainly works in animation and film and these new stories are going to be told through novels and comics

23 minutes ago, lunitic501 said:

U havent read many of the nee books or comocs have u then? Also Filoni wouldnt be involved in this he mainly works in animation and film and these new stories are going to be told through novels and comics

I have read all the new non-sequel trilogy books, and a smattering of comics (mainly the Vader ones).

It's not that I was expecting Zahn or whoever to be writing in this new era, but people like Dave Filoni, Zahn, Stackpole, and such, who have created succesfful series in the Universe, may be good people to have advising? I mean, wouldn't Drew Karpyshyn been a good choice as well, as he's the main writer for the Old Republic?

On 1/3/2020 at 6:53 PM, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things.

Until. . . .

From Charles Soule

The Wookiee Jedi - his name is Burryaga Agaburry, and he is WONDERFUL.

The lady in front is named Avar Kriss. The other folks have names too, but you’ll meet them later.

On 1/3/2020 at 6:53 PM, Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun said:

20 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

This was canon all along: the Clone Wars tv show had a story arc with some Younglings and the process of building one’s lightsaber; one of the younglings was a Wookie.

There was a time in the previous EU where George Lucas said Wookiees couldn't be Jedi.

1 hour ago, DtLS said:

There was a time in the previous EU where George Lucas said Wookiees couldn't be Jedi.

The EU explicitly had Wookiee Jedi for a long time, so that must have been before the EU really started?

21 hours ago, Yodhrin said:

That doesn't mean it'll be bad of course, it could be mere marketing fluff, or they could be good enough authors that their primary focus is telling a good story and not the "correct" story. I could just really do with some escapism from my wizards-in-space fantasy fiction, rather than yet another laboured and heavy-handed commentary on modern society.

Interconnected multimedia whojamawotsit sounds great, until you end up with the Sequels issue where a lot of the stuff in the films only vaguely begins to make sense after you've read the tie-in prequel series and the character-specific comic series' and the novelisations of each movie and blah blah etc. I should want to seek out the additional material for side-stories and further tales of the characters in the main series because the main series is just that good, I shouldn't feel obliged to read all the additional bumf because the main stories don't really work without them.

I’ve always been worried about the commentary vs escapism ever since that one movie we can’t talk about without starting an off topic fight (and don’t you dare, forum denizens, go down that beaten path). I can’t speak as to whether it WILL or WILL NOT happen though, until book 1 is here.

I agree with you that it shouldn’t be a forced sale of all the things so you can understand it all. I’m worried that’s the Disney way of doing it though: forcing you to buy it all in order to make sense of it. If the adult novels are good enough to standalone, then that’s awesome. If they depend on all the other media, this will fail.

I am more hoping it becomes a “here’s the novel story, here’s the YA story, and here’s the comic story” deal. Separate plot lines that have character cameo nods to each other that if you miss it, no big deal, and if you saw it you can have your little chuckle “I see what you did there” moment.

I will probably give adult book 1 a try, and see how it goes. The swath of new canon books has been so overwhelming I never got into any of Disney canon outside of the movies and Clone Wars/Rebels. With this being a net new setting, it should be a nice clean starting point instead so maybe I can keep up now?

1 hour ago, arnoldrew said:

The EU explicitly had Wookiee Jedi for a long time, so that must have been before the EU really started?

It was in response to Lowbacca, George didn't want any more wookiee Jedi after that but they didn't retcon him out.

Oh dear..... I went back and actually watched the release instead of listening to it.

I am terrified this is going to be a train wreck. Look at the things on their whiteboard of ideas. Diversity had to be listed twice because once wasn’t good enough, and some of the ideas are just down right terrible (dinosaurs? You mean, holiday special riding creatures?)

Marvel Comics

1 hour ago, ScummyRebel said:

Oh dear..... I went back and actually watched the release instead of listening to it.

I am terrified this is going to be a train wreck. Look at the things on their whiteboard of ideas. Diversity had to be listed twice because once wasn’t good enough, and some of the ideas are just down right terrible (dinosaurs? You mean, holiday special riding creatures?)

Just read up on the authors listed in the post from @Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun directly above this one. While I'm sure these authors are passionate about the setting I am not expecting anything from them that I will find engaging or possibly even entertaining. It appears to be a smattering of YA and short story authors.

Hopefully this is just the beginning and there are plans to produce adult-level material, although I expect to be inundated with "Star Wars is for kids" posts now.

18 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

Oh dear..... I went back and actually watched the release instead of listening to it.

I am terrified this is going to be a train wreck. Look at the things on their whiteboard of ideas. Diversity had to be listed twice because once wasn’t good enough, and some of the ideas are just down right terrible (dinosaurs? You mean, holiday special riding creatures?)

What's wrong with dinosaurs? Some of us like paleontology.

Not every planet in the galaxy needs to be filled with humanoid species with different heads.

5 hours ago, Vlad3theImpaler said:

What's wrong with dinosaurs? Some of us like paleontology.

Intrinsically? Nothing. Just feels out of place is all.

28 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

Intrinsically? Nothing. Just feels out of place is all.

Aiwha,Krayt Dragons, Eopie,Mythosaur, Dewback,Varactyl,Ronto, Reek. These are all based pretty heavily on lizards and dinosaurs. There are a lot more examples too throughout Star Wars.