Discussion What parts of the EU (legends) do you not like?

[Tulan Kor]

Not a political thread- we're talking about the extended universe here.

For me personally, I know I'll get flak for this- but Sith Magic and Sith alchemy are lame. They're lame and clearly written in some instances for the writer to have a more fantasy-esque setting in their novel/comic than the Space Opera that Star Wars is. While the Force definitely does some mystical things- I think that in Star Wars, having a magical amulet than can destroy worlds or corrupt minds just seems a little bit like a certain ring, rather than a Jedi's struggle against their inner self and resisting the temptation of power through discipline and focus (as in the intent of the original trilogies, in the opinion of this guy).

Another thing is the constant reshifting of the origin of things- the Sith, the Jedi. I'm not a fan of the idea that the Sith were originally a species, for example.

And also the cloning/life/rebirth/constant reviving/souls in armor/seems also very lame and not very cool, in my opinion. Just my opinion, however.

That and the Republic Commando didn't get a game sequel is a damn crime.

What things do you not like personally like about the EU- and why?

Edited:

Now clarified about Legends.

 

[Jax Thio]

Which EU you talking about? Legends or Canon? Or I like to call it now and days "canon". XD

 

[Sakadi Marathi Sinvala]

Thank you for coming to my TED-talk.

 

[Hans Rennagen]

Which EU you talking about? Legends or Canon? Or I like to call it now and days "canon". XD

I think the EU generally refers to Legends.

As for the worst part Tulan Kor , I'd probably agree with you here. Especially on the constant cloning and rebirth stuff. Its a real shame Disney took that aspect of Palpatine from Legends and put it into TRoS.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the Mandalorian

At least it now seems like their focusing on the good stuff from legends with the Mandalorian like TOR and Thrawn.

 

[Adron Malvern]

Tulan Kor didn't have to call me out on how i love throwing a Fantasy feel into my Sith Magic lmao.

No seriously, you hit the nail on the head there when it comes to Sith magic. There are often times I'm writing posts and I'm like, "Man this feels too Harry Potterish or too much like Dark-Hunters, need to tone it down." So I totally get where you're coming from there.

Also, I NEEDED and Imperial Commando video game and the world let me down. Damn them.

So, when i think of EU i generally don't have a very linear train of thought. That is probably the thing i don't love about Star Wars EU is just how broad and inconsistent it is. Now, its funny because i actually LOVE that fact when it comes to rping star wars, because i can add certain flavors and niches where i want them. But i don't much are for how i can pick up one star wars book and pick up another and they wont even be CLOSE to each other. Now, timelines play a big role in that too, as well as differing authors and the way they visualize stuff.

For me, i really love the Darth Bane books because i think they give an EU feel without just obliterating the feel and flow of the Star Wars movies. Same with the oldschool Thrawn books.

 

[Adron Malvern]

Also. Star Wars zombies is a stupid concept.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

Also. Star Wars zombies is a stupid concept.

Star Wars has space wizards, space ghosts, and contrived eldritch beings.

To say that Zombies is a stupid inclusion kind of disregards how silly it all is, to begin with.

 

[Ulrich]

Be dragon
Be magic dragon
Be magic dragon who raises zombies

 

[Lirka Ka]

Ssi-Ruuk immediately abandoned as an antagonist for the New Republic after Truce of Bakura, despite a war between the Raptors and the NR being mentioned as background (sorry Vong, the Raptors are cooler)

A lot of the old old Marvel Comics stuff is just really not my style, biggest stands out being the Nagai-Toff stuff, and while I'd say the Nagai redeemed themselves the Toff are honestly pretty dumb

All the extra-galactic stuff is kinda dumb, not big on the Vong and the other weird stuff they pulled from out of the Galaxy

Abeloth, honestly I just think the entire plotline is bad

The Castilla Ming trilogy, for other than making Luke have another weird romance under his belt, the writing was all pretty meh and had some really beyond silly stuff in it

Warlord-of-the-Week is kinda meh

All the various attempts to make "stronger than Palpatine" villains

this fits into the last one, but he deserves a slot to himself: vitiate, I just think his story reads like a bad edgy OC (I know a thing or two about doing those, so I know one when I see one)

Karen Traviss Mandalorin plot-armor nonsense

All the weird rapey stuff that got in throughout the years, that's not how I like my Star Wars

There's probably more if I really sat down to think about it, but that's the big ones that jumped out

 

[Enyo Typhos]

All the superweapons of the week. Except the World Devastators. I like those.

 

[The Queen]

I can't say I dislike anything about the EU.

There is alot of muss and fuss about the EU - but Disney Canon has done no different and is falling into the same pattern. Not obviously now, cause it's new but we all know them sequels are very, very close in nature. Peel back the new sticker, c'mon, you see it.

Really though, compare apples to apples.

I enjoyed everything about the EU and contrary to popular opinion - had no problems following along or the narrative. Then again folks, I still have the Splinter of the Minds Eye to the Fate of the Jedi series, with all the old school Reference Guides (Which to me, EU tech was just tops.), you name it - I probably got it or heard of it.

But alas, I am old and really don't see the awesomeness that others do of the new trash being produced.

I mean, the Warlord bit was due to a fractured Empire - everyone wanted power. Makes sense, like the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anywho, I mean I can dig at the fate of Anakin Skywalker, the desire to see more of Thrawn pre-Trilogy by such a good author, and I am certain I can find more stuff to dice up about it but genuinely, I enjoyed it.

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

While I knew more about the old EU than the average layperson long before I came to Chaos, I'm not ultra familiar with Legends. That said, I know firsthand that most of it was pretty dumb.

Those Galaxy of Fear novels that I loved so much as a kid? Trashy ripoff of Goosebumps with a silly villain and some pretty goofy plot contrivances. The gimmick of that series was that every chapter had to end with a cliffhanger, even if it turned out to be a red herring—"Suddenly, Tash heard a bloodcurdling scream!... but it turned out it was just a bird." It got really old and really corny, really fast. The boneworms were terrifying though, holy chit...

Young Jedi Knights? Pfffft. I barely remember that series, but there was one book where the entire thing was devoted to a massive battle. I thought that was pretty cool as a kid. There was another one where smooth-brain Jacen Solo literally fell off of Cloud City, but got saved before he could die from huffing gas giant fumes.

The first "grown up" SW book I ever read after finding it buried in my local library's catalog was Troy Dennings' Legacy of the Force: Inferno; I reread it a few years ago and realized it was crap. Entertaining, but still crap. From a poorly written series overall, or so I hear—I never read any of the other Legacy books.

How about New Jedi Order: Star By Star? I heard it was good, but I never finished it despite slogging through roughly the first half back when I was in high school. Damned thing's a doorstopper. I did have a much better experience with Traitor, which I read earlier this year. I'd consider it one of the best books in the Legends EU... shoot, we're supposed to be talking about stuff we don't like.

Oh! I hear all the books written by Barbara Hambly for SW were terrible—she's the one who came up with Callista Ming and all that crap. The funny thing is, she also wrote for Doctor Who and Star Trek with much greater success. I read one of her Star Trek books, Ishmael, and I actually liked it a lot. She's not a terrible writer, so I'd hazard a guess that she just doesn't mix well with SW.

Timothy Zahn is a good writer, no doubt, but I'd say his contributions to the Legends EU were pretty overrated. Yeah, I get that he was the one who really got the ball rolling, so he gets automatic respect, and the characters of Thrawn and Mara Jade are cool, but he also created a crazy clone of Luke named "Luuke". C'baoth and Thrawn were also cloned—the guy has an unhealthy obsession with cloning characters, which is sad because cloning is one of the sillier concepts in SW, IMO.

Aside from that, uhhhhhhhh Sith poison! Terrible idea that was only used once or twice, because it was terrible.

And yes, Sith Magic/alchemy is dumb and doesn't fit with the vibe of the rest of the SW universe, being just a little too fantasy. Same with the soul capturing chit and absorbing Force energies somehow like a space vampire. Of course, I've seen people on here who have done really interesting and creative things with it (and now that the real MVP AMCO is dead, I don't know whether to be sad or glad) so eh, I guess I don't mind.

Oh, and it's best if we forget most of the comics from back in the day. Just trust me on that one.