Let's go to Umbara, SWTOR fans, because we've got NEW LEGENDS CONTENT! Thank you, SWTOR blog. You can find the short story here: http://www.swtor.com/info/news/news-article/20170817 #SWTOR

Matt Wilkins has a new video on the Ewoks comics series by Marvel in the 80's. For anyone who has thought the Ewok cartoon or its corresponding comics weren't worth the time, Matt helps connect the dots on some mind-blowing connections between the series and the Return of the Jedi. The highly recommend episode of Matt's Expanded Universe can be viewed below: Where to find the comics Marvel has released the Ewoks comics (alongside Droids comics of the same era) in an attractive omnibus, which you can find at this link.

Ferus Olin was a Jedi Padawan of Master Siri Tachi during the time before the Battle of Geonosis. Olin was well respected in the order and was quite dedicated to it. He had a rival through Anakin Skywalker who was apprenticed to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Skywalker didn’t care for how strict the Jedi were. He and Olin often went on several missions together as their masters were often together. Their goal was to capture Zan Arbor who had murdered the Jedi master Yaddle. A short while before the Clone Wars Olin had decided to leave the order due to the guilt he felt due to the death of Darra Thel-Tanis. He befriended Roan Lands on Bellassa and they formed a business simply called Olin and Lands. Their business would create new identities for anyone wanting to escape the Empire. After Order 66, Olin was found by Kenobi, one of the last Jedi to survive the purge. Kenobi convinced Olin to relearn the ways of the Force. Olin would create a safehouse for fugitive Jedi. Thanks to Olin, the Rebel Alliance was beginning its early stages. While searching for Jedi survivors with his new comrade Trevor Flume he eventually came to the attention of Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine wanted Ferus to be a spy which he did agree to do, however, Ferus would be a double agent looking to harm the Empire from within. Ferus would ultimately realize that Darth Vader was in fact Anakin Skywalker. They confronted each other which ultimately lead Ferus to decide to (on advice from Kenobi) travel to Alderann to watch over Anakin’s daughter Leia as Fess Illee. When Princess Leia was captured by Vader of Tatooine in 0 B.B.Y, Bail Organa, who knew of Ferus’ presence, sent him to try and find her, which was why Ferus was off planet when the Empire destroyed Alderann. Eventually, Olin caught up again with the Rebellion and ended up working with Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. To allow Leia to escape a battle on a moon, Olin engaged Vader in a lightsaber duel. After taunting the Dark Lord, Olin was stabbed in the heart by Vader. Leia eventually found Olin’s body and through this sacrifice, he helped the Rebels escape to defeat the Emperor three years later. I discovered Ferus when I first read the Jedi Quest novels where he was introduced as a rival to Anakin Skywalker. I found it exciting to see him return in the Last of the Jedi novels. It was enjoyable seeing a familiar character be introduced since Obi-Wan had to stay on Tatooine to watch over Luke. Ferus was a character that I liked. I don’t hear many people talk about him as much as they do other characters, like Kyp Durron, for instance. Personally, I liked his storyline--his frustrations with the Jedi and his eventual return to the Force. Ferus is a character that deserved more. There was at one time a rumor he would appear in the Force Unleashed, however this was obviously not true. Looking back, I’m happy with what he got, but the rival of Anakin Skywalker deserved more time in the spotlight. Appearances Jedi Quest: The Way of the Apprentice (First appearance) Jedi Quest: The Dangerous Games Jedi Quest: The Master of Disguise Jedi Quest: The School of Fear Jedi Quest: The Shadow Trap (Mentioned only) Jedi Quest: The Moment of Truth Jedi Quest: The Changing of the Guard Jedi Quest: The False Peace Jedi Quest: The Final Showdown SkyeWalkers: A Clone Wars Story (Mentioned only) Secrets of the Jedi (Mentioned only) The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning Ghosts of the Sith—Star Wars Insider 88 The Last of the Jedi: Underworld The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo The Last of the Jedi: A Tangled Web The Last of the Jedi: Return of the Dark Side The Last of the Jedi: Secret Weapon The Last of the Jedi: Against the Empire The Last of the Jedi: Master of Deception The Last of the Jedi: Reckoning Rebel Force: Hostage Rebel Force: Renegade Rebel Force: Trapped Rebel Force: Uprising The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader (Indirect mention only) Matt Wilkins on the first appearance of Ferus Olin

The Twin Suns Foundation has announced its second major fundraiser for 2017 - and it's for an amazing cause! So good, TSF and the 501st are teaming up on this one. The Hyper Reads Drive 2017 will collect funds to purchase Legends books for donation to the Children's Hospital of Orange County, California. Please consider supporting them however you can. Details from TSF are below: Did you know Twin Suns Foundation is teaming up with the 501st Southern California Garrison to bring books to Children's Hospital of Orange County? That's right, we're calling it our Hyper Reads Drive 2017! Starting August 1st through October 1st, Twin Suns Foundation will be collecting funds donated by Star Wars fans across the world. These funds will be put towards purchasing as many Star Wars Legends books as possible when the fundraiser finishes up. The books will then be shipped to Southern California where Twin Suns Foundation team members and members from the 501 Southern California Garrison will "escort" the books to their new owners at Children's Hospital of Orange County. None of this happens without your help! Please check out our donation page for more details on how you can do that either by donating money or simply by spreading the word. Let's give these kids something to be excited about in October! https://www.twin-suns.net/index.php/donate

On its Facebook page today, Star Wars Timeline teased some intriguing potential releases later this year. You can see a comprehensive list of known but unpublished EU projects here (including links to content that's been now been made available). What's at the top of your wish list? What do you hope gets released later this year?

In a Twitter post a few months ago, Pablo “The Sky is Falling” Hidalgo posted that fans of the Expanded Universe were going to “spoil” the new Star Wars movie this December. This outrageous “labeling” of the movement is what’s wrong with the world today. Let’s think about this for a moment; he’s implying that any leaks from the internet of Episode VIII will be a direct result from a frustrated EU Fanboy trying to “get even” at Lucasfilm for “getting rid” of the Expanded Universe. Mr. Hidalgo, let me give you some advice, the internet spoils EVERYTHING. There’s not a movie that comes out today that isn’t spoiled days before its release. News media, cinema employees, reviewers, or SOMEONE has already seen it and crows about the entire plot online before it’s even out. Hard to say when this pattern started but I remember seeing it as far back as the late 90’s. There was a website that did just that. I know, because I’d check it every so often to see if the movie was something worth going to see. On the other hand, do I think the person who made this “spoiler” statement was a fan of the Expanded Universe? Sure, could be. An angry, immature brat who just wants attention, whom I think we should ignore altogether. This guy is desperate for attention and knows how much coverage the last “spoiler jihad” had in the media so now he’s trying to capitalize on that popularity from 2 years ago in order to get noticed…..and Pablo took the bait. In a nation that blames everything on Russia and Trump it’s not hard to see where Mr Hildago’s lack of insight originates. We’re a generation that passes blame to a nameless “boogeyman” that can’t be clearly defined. Who’s going to spoil The Last Jedi? The internet. 2 days (or more) before its release. NOT some fictitious organization intent on…wait, what is the intent? How is spoiling a movie going to achieve anything?! It makes no sense and the only person stupider that making a statement are the ones who treat it as a real threat. My advice to Pablo? The internet is a mean place. Full of trolls, spammers, and scammers. Don’t give them the satisfaction of acknowledgment. The only thing they can hope to achieve is get 5 seconds of fame online. And tweeting about them is exactly what we SHOULDN’T be doing. There is no Boogeyman, sorry to burst your “paranoid” bubble.

A new Facebook page for EU fans to follow: https://www.facebook.com/LegendsFanChoice/ According to a post on the page, "The purpose of this page is to hold unofficial preliminary polls to determine which character the Legends community wants to support for the next Hasbro fan choice figure. Since we don't know whether the next vote will be for a 3.75" or a 6" figure, we will be holding SEPARATE polls to determine a character for each scale so that we are prepared either way." Give the page a "like" and stay engaged in its call for suggestions for which EU figures to next encourage Hasbro and others to create. By fans, for fans!

It’s hard to believe there was a time when Star Wars wasn’t popular. Last year I heard someone on YouTube make a statement that the “Dark Times” for Star Wars never existed. Well…not if you were into RPG’s at the time I guess. But beside West End Games supplemental material and Blackthorne’s failed 3D Comics (of which only 3 were made) it was indeed a dark time for the franchise. I should know. I was there. Today I want to give you an account of what it was like growing up in a time were Star Wars was considered a thing of the past. Back up to 1983. Return of the Jedi was coming out and I couldn’t wait to see how the trilogy ended. I went in the theater for the original release back in 1977 but I was only a few months old at the time. My parents couldn’t afford a babysitter and 3 and under were free at the time so they took me with them. My mom said I watched the screen the whole time. She was surprised I didn’t fall asleep. Guess it was meant to be. For Empire my brother and I were once again invited. Being 3 at the time I have vague memories of standing in the theater and grabbing the seat in front of me as the terrifying AT-AT’s took the base. That’s about it. Any other memories I had came from repeated viewings of BETA tapes at home or a friend’s house. For Jedi, I was 6 years old and remember getting to see it 3 times in theaters when it was out. (a rarity in my family considering how poor we were at the time) My Dad took us the first time. I feel in love with Ewoks, I loved the multiple battles going on in the end and when Luke reveals Vader’s true face under the helmet… it freaked me out. But I left the theater and talking about it the whole 45 minute trip back home in the car. What an experience! To my surprise, our Dad agreed to take us in two weeks after are grandparents left. We were shocked Dad cared so much about us! Later I found out from my Mom that it was Dad’s intention to see the film again because he enjoyed it just as much. But who cares?! We were seeing Star Wars again and that’s all that mattered! My grandparents came into town and as polite as a 6 years old could be, I kept asking them when they were going to leave. At the end of the week my grandmother took us out to town to go shopping. We each received a toy AND a trip to movies! Hmmm…whatever shall we pick? I think we all took less than a millisecond to inform my grandmother that we would like to see Return of the Jedi, so she took us for (unknown to her) our second viewing. I still laughed at the Ewoks, loved the battles and excused myself to the restroom as Darth Vader’s helmet came off again. (I just couldn’t look at it!) We exited the theater just as excited as the first time we saw it. When we arrived back home our Dad surprised us with the news that tomorrow (after my grandparents left) he would be taking us to see Jedi once again. With a coy smile I glanced at my younger brothers like a thief who was about to pull off the greatest heist of his young career when it came crashing down on us by one sentence from my grandmother. “Boys, isn’t that the movie I just took you to see?” I was in shock. Thoughts of what I could say to control the damage my grandmother had caused with her revelation raced through my mind. “Oh, so you’ve seen it already then?” My dad asked. At that moment, pure panic set in an instantly all three of us were on our knees pleading our father for a third viewing. I have no idea what we were promising him either. Who knows at that age? I probably still owe him my entire Thundercat collection, a few baseball cards and house chores for the rest of my life. But whatever we said convinced him to take us yet again because (as my mom said) Dad wanted to see it again too. Now the movie was out of theaters. Lucas said there would be no more. (for now) And every kid in America was asking “What next?” the answer came the following year. The Ewok Adventure was the first of two TV movies to premiere in consecutive years ‘84 and ’85 and fueled our love for Ewoks. Also 1985 herald the coming of two Star Wars cartoons, Droids and Ewoks. In my review on YouTube I told you, I never got to see Droids growing up because it didn’t play in our area. Only Ewoks did. But man, did we love some Ewoks. I loved that show for the two years it was on. I personally liked the first season better than the second but overall, it was a great show. But in ’87 it all came to an end. Marvel comics stopped making their monthly issues (of which I’d only read a few here and there) and Ewoks had been canceled for a season 3, which broke my little 10 year old heart. Star Wars was fading out of the conscious of folks everywhere and new interest were being taken up. Now I’ve spoken on the key role the Expanded Universe had to play during this time with West End Games involvement and whatnot, so to avoid repetition I’m going to skip over all that and tell you where my interest was at during this time. Drugs. Kidding. Just had to say that for laughs. Seriously though, when I found out Ewoks was off the air I was disappointed; but Saturday Morning cartoons moved on and we had other great ones to watch. Silverhawks, Voltron and Muppet Babies. (Oh yeah, you heard that right. I was a Muppet Baby fan through and through!) So my interests, like everyone else at my age, moved on to other things. It was that simple. I still loved watching Star Wars on VHS but other than that I wasn’t missing it as much. You see, during these “Dark Times” Star Wars fans weren’t in mourning, they were looking elsewhere for their entertainment to come. There’s no more Star Wars movies coming out? Oh well! Bring on the Transformers! No one was that upset about it. We didn’t crave more material. (or so we thought until 1991) My family moved in 1989 and unlike a lot of kids that age I was stoked to be moving away from home and having new friends! Not that I hated my old ones, I just liked the idea of going somewhere new! When we moved, those kids weren’t talking about Star Wars either. Sure they loved the movies, same as us but that was all they were back then….movies. We didn’t care to see anything more than that. With encouragement from my Dad’s secretary I started getting in to Star Trek, which was way easy to do. They already had a second TV Show airing at the time, tons of books and games and even movies starring the original cast. It was a great time to be a Trekkie. I watched every episode and read a lot of the older books from the 80’s but soon discovered a problem. They ran in complete conflict the show at times. I asked my Dad’s secretary (Jackie) at the time about it and she replied “Well, that’s just how books are written. They aren’t considered to have happened within the same timeline as the shows.” (back then the word “canon” was never used) I was quickly turned off from reading anymore Trek books, but continued to watch the shows because Deanna Troi was a foxy lady. And even when by accident Mrs. Jackie bought me Heir to the Empire I had no desire to read it. Because as I’ve said on YouTube before, I loved the movies, but wasn’t interested in anyone continuing the story of favorite characters from my youth. That is until one lazy summer day when I had nothing to do so I pulled the paperback off my shelf and cracked open the first page….and the rest is history. But overall, during the “Dark Times” of the franchise no one suffered. We all went about our daily lives, happy to move on to other interest. And whatever people tell you, don’t believe them. Unbelievable as it is, there was indeed a time when nobody cared about Star Wars…and we were all fine with it.

Sometimes there are things you didn't even know you wanted. This is one of those things: EU-themed tea. Yes, you heard that right. 9 different flavors, 9 different characters. The full list is below. Click this link to pick some up. The perfect beverage for your thermajug. h/t https://www.facebook.com/alliancetopreservetheeupage/

Legends author John Jackson Miller is doing a Reddit AMA focused entirely on his EU book Kenobi. According to the thread, the AMA will be held on Wednesday, June 21. Do not miss this chance to interact with Miller online about his wonderful contribution to the Legends canon!

In the previous two parts of this article on positivity, I explained how positivity as a policy has improved the Expanded Universe Movement and propelled it to success, listing off several of its biggest accomplishments in the past couple years. In this final part of the positivity article, I wanted to focus more on how positivity can make each of us better contributors to the overall effort if we so choose. Positivity, as I indicated in previous articles, affects how you approach any problem facing the movement. It also means adjusting how you compose yourself when talking to your fellow fans. Let us address that first sentence. How to approach any problem facing the movement with a positive mindset. The best way I can think of to explain this is to provide an example. A problem many us still struggle with is the inclusion of Expanded Universe concepts, characters, settings, events, etc. in the new Disney Canon. While I certainly can understand the discomfort and displeasure involved with that situation because I feel it too, I have begun to train myself to look past the problem and instead find an opportunity. Take Thrawn for instance. Grand Admiral Thrawn, as many of you no doubt know, is an icon to the Star Wars Expanded Universe/Legends timeline. His inclusion in the recent Disney Timeline was seen by many Legends fans to be our bane, a way of undermining our efforts or worse a sign of Lucasfilm thinking this would placate us in our desires. Compounding this problem was that Thrawn’s creator, Mr. Timothy Zahn, returned to the franchise to write Thrawn into that canon! Certainly, that situation could not be worse! Right now just having read that many of you likely bristled at the idea! But that sort of thinking is negative. Understandable, but negative. How do I approach the Thrawn in Disney canon dilemma with a positive mindset? The same way I approach most problems facing the movement today. I ask this question: “How can we make this work for us?” After all, nothing we do or say will stop it. In fact we only waste time fighting it and often times create more problems when doing so. Thus we may as well find a way to use it. Many fans are being introduced to Thrawn for the first time through his inclusion in Disney’s timeline. This comes at a time when more marketing money than ever is being thrown into the franchise. This means many people out there who do not know the Thrawn we Legends fans do are learning about a brilliant alien genius strategist for the first time from the original creator of the character and many of them are going to want to know more. Where, I ask you, can more be found? The answer is in Legends. So, while others see the movement’s bane, I see an opportunity ripe for the taking. Why not use their own marketing of a character from the Legends timeline to introduce more people to the Legends timeline? Why not use their marketing to create more Legends fans? I guarantee you I would never have thought like that in 2014. But today, that is how I personally look at obstacles and obstructions, oddly enough not only when considering the EU Movement, but more often in my own personal and professional life as well. It is how I encourage everyone in the movement to look at things that might initially look like a problem to them. It is impressive what the mind can do when freed from negativity! It is even more impressive to see what many minds freed of negativity can strive for successfully together! So now let us look at that sentence “adjusting how you compose yourself when talking to your fellow fans.” This is something I personally had to pick up quickly as one of the team members at the Celebration booth in Orlando. Engaging people who may be hostile towards the movement is not easy at first. But eventually you get a bit of a rhythm down and learn a few points to hit. First, you have to approach the situation with that positive mindset. These people are Star Wars fans! You are a Star Wars fan! Common ground! A great place to start from! Second, recognize that no Star Wars fan dislikes the idea of more Star Wars. That is great because that is what our goal is! Now you just need to figure out how to explain that! Use those two things to your advantage, remember that you are talking with another human being and recognize that you are trying to make another ally and often times come out with a friend as a result! (Hey, another person to talk Star Wars with is always a great thing!) Finally, know that not everyone out there will be interested and not everyone out there will be convinced no matter what you do. Do not get overly aggressive in your attempts to represent the movement. If they show disinterest, let them go! They may come back later! There were a few cases of this in Orlando. If not, not a huge loss. While we were at the fan table at Celebration almost all of our interactions were positive because we kept these things in mind. The ones that were not positive, well they were often were neutral “not really interested” types instead. Only one was negative. So, what about that negative one? What do you do when you run into those? Despite our strides and advances as a movement, or perhaps because of them, we continue to be a target. Trolls, anti-EU fans, old adversaries who do not believe we are what we say we are, etc. They will likely always oppose us. The only way you can “defeat” them is by having a more appealing message and conveying that message clearly to your fellow fans and doing so politely! If you are engaged with someone in a conversation and it appears they are just trying to rile you up, what should you do? Stop interacting with them is best. If you cannot do that and you know you are upset and might type/say something you shouldn’t, step away from the computer/mobile device for a bit before responding. If this is in person, obviously that is not an option? So, what then? Breathe. No really. Take a few breaths and remember you cannot win over everyone! Some people just really are not worth the time and some really just want to take up all your time. Time wasted on those people is time not spent speaking with others who may be more open minded! “Don’t like the EU, Mr. Troll? That’s okay! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion! I respect that! But remember what we want is more Disney Canon and more Legends canon! All fans can enjoy that! So really, we have no reason to continue arguing!” Ultimately the most important things to do are stay positive, be realistic when recognizing how successful you can be finding new allies and recognize you are dealing with humans who all have the right to believe what they want to! Keep those things in mind and you will likely prove to be a great Expanded Universe Movement ambassador. The real question now becomes after three straight articles of this focus on positivity, have I made a point and did that point help you at all? Let me know in the comments below. Also let us know if you have any tips for your fellow fans! The Force knows I certainly do not have all the answers. There is a reason why Twin Suns Foundation works as a team!

SW:TOR has released a Road Map for the rest of 2017, including details on its Summer of SWTOR 2017 Game Updates. Below is a brief rundown of what's coming and when: NAR SHADDAA SUMMER - GAME UPDATE 5.2.2 – JUNE 13TH SISTERS OF CARNAGE - GAME UPDATE 5.3 – JULY CRISIS ON UMBARA - GAME UPDATE 5.4 – AUGUST Follow this link for more info, and keep an eye out for more updates. The site teases more updates to come...! #TOR #SWTOR #OldRepublic

Get 'em while they're available. Deep discounts on a vast collection of Legends digital comics. Click here to check out the sale. Ends Memorial Day at 11 eastern time. Don't wait! Fill the remaining gaps in your collection. #BuyLegends

In my previous article my focus was on explaining why I believe the concept of a positive mindset is a critical aspect allowing the Expanded Universe Movement to advance its goals. I used the movement’s early history to demonstrate this by emphasizing just how negative the overall movement was at the time. I then explained where I believe that really changed when I told you all about a Facebook group that formed comprised of a group of various social media page owners. Hopefully my previous article hinted at how much of a difference that mindset change made as I now want to emphasize just how much progress we have made as a result. The second part of 2015, specifically starting in June, was really when things were more obviously changing. It was around that time that the Movement started to hit its stride, rallying around Darth Revan in the Hasbro Black Series Fan Poll of 2015. The success there cannot be understated. A new Legends action figure would be made for the first time in over a year! Perhaps it was this that emboldened those page owners, myself included, to try for something outrageous -- a fan funded billboard message to Lucasfilm in San Francisco. The planning for that fundraiser started in October of 2015. By December of 2015 it was live. On January 6 of 2016, as though the movement were declaring to the world that things were going to be different starting with the new year, the billboard project was successfully funded. In April of 2016, the billboard made its debut on the streets of San Francisco, gathering notice by fans, media, and most importantly Lucasfilm itself. These successes the movement experienced went on to fuel the need to create Twin Suns Foundation, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization intended to officially and professionally represent the Expanded Universe Movement and support distribution of Legends stories to as many people as possible. The organization was founded in early June of 2016, and ground work began on the next big project at that point -- getting into Star Wars Celebration in 2017. To do that, the organization itself took a cue from the Movement’s recent past and had a focus on a positive message. But 2016 was not done with for the movement. In June/July of 2016, the Movement would again succeed in the Hasbro Black Series fan poll, scoring an excellent looking Jaina Solo Black Series figure. It was followed shortly by a successful book drive hosted by Twin Suns Foundation. Then 2017 started with the movement’s official representative organization learning it was invited to have a fan table at Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017 by Lucasfilm! (Shout out to our friends there! We are glad you enjoyed the billboard enough to give us a shot!) Twin Suns Foundation then held its first fundraiser to supplement its efforts at Star Wars Celebration, and despite hurdles encountered, together the movement successfully funded that project a full month early on February 22, 2017! Twin Suns Foundation scored many successes at the Celebration Booth thanks to the support of the movement, some of which we are still learning about a couple months later! Not only did it allow the movement to make headway with other official fan groups but it exposed our efforts for what they actual are to new and old fans alike! Oh, and we also had the awesome experience of donating sixty-one Star Wars books to a children’s hospital in Florida! While this was happening, we also found ourselves at the center of an effort to get word out about Shannon McRandle’s GoFundMe, helping her meet her goal and exceed it in little over two weeks’ total time elapsed. No small feat when you consider this was over $9,000.00 raised! That accomplishment was then followed by the sixty-one books Twin Suns Foundation and the Expanded Universe Movement donated to a children’s hospital in California on May 9, 2017 as part of the Winter 2017 Fundraiser! None of these accomplishments could have possibly happened if the focus had remained on negativity. It is clear that the focus on positive attitudes has allowed us the ability to find opportunities we only dreamed were possible mere months before. Put succinctly, about twenty months ago we were little more than an echo chamber of rage. Now we are an organized movement making noticeable gains towards meeting our goals, all because we changed how we thought about the situation, moved past the negativity, and found ways to be positive. Amazing and inspiring really. Today the Expanded Universe Movement finds itself as a positive entity overall. Our shift has become so obvious that even some of our most stalwart opponents, people who had been arrayed against us for YEARS, have shifted their stance to be more open towards us. Some of them now count themselves members of the Movement and allies as well! And the movement has continued to grow. We are becoming more quickly recognized for what we actually are. Official fan groups have begun to back our efforts while others have offered to even partner with Twin Suns Foundation on some endeavors, such as the 501st Legion indicating one of their New York Garrisons having an interest in getting books to a Children’s Hospital they regularly visit each year. With all this in mind, it should not be difficult to understand why I believe positivity to be the key to all our past successes. If we are to learn anything from where we have been in the past, it should be that positivity is our only path forward and will most certainly see us meet success someday! But how does that affect any of you not in control of a segment of the movement? What does any of this mean for you individually? The answer to that can be found in the final part of my positivity article series, Positivity and The Expanded Universe Movement, Part 3. Be looking for it soon! In the meantime, feel free to let me know in the comments below some of your thoughts on the positivity of the EU Movement in recent years. What are some successes you have seen that I did not mention? (There are plenty I did not have time to write about!)

Class Light Frigate Length 120m Cost 4,800,000 credits Hyperdrive Rating Class 2, Backup class 16 Crew 45 with 46 Gunners Consumables 8 months Shielding Equipped Rated 416SBD Hull Armor Rated 176RU Armament 8 double turbolaser cannons (2 fore, 3 port, 3 starboard), 6 quad laser cannons (3 port, 3 starboard) 4 Concussion missile tubes (With 120 heavy concussion missiles) Overview Often referred to as Corellian Gunship, the DP20 was one of the few dedicated warship designs produced by Corellian Engineering. While technically about the size of a corvette class the sheer amount of firepower that it can bring to a fight is enough for it to be considered a frigate by military commanders. As a dedicated war vessel it has virtually no room for cargo or passengers, with most of the aft space being used to house the massive engines, and rest being dedicated to deflector shield generators and weapons--though it does still have decent armor as well. This made the gunboats both fast and deadly. Its complement of 8 dual turbolasers, 6 quad laser cannons, and 4 concussion missile tubes made it a versatile ship capable of performing both anti-starfighter and anti-capitol ship duties. It was much more in its element, however, doing the former rather than the latter given that the main and secondary batteries are dispersed evenly across the ship. This meant it can fire in any direction but cannot bring to bear all of its firepower on one target. Swarming starfighters would find no safe attack vector and could be taken out before delivering their payload by fast firing cannons and missiles. Larger capital ships would still take heavy damage from the few turbolasers and missiles, but live long enough to get off some return fire before going down. As a result they were much more effective working in small groups, spreading out in a large formation of friendly ships to provide defense against starfighter attacks from anywhere they may attack the fleet. Working in this capacity they could even provide enough of a defense against starfighters that friendly starfighters wouldn’t be needed, however you would only use them in that capacity as a last resort. It was also preferable to attack capital ships in small groups. While one does carry enough firepower to take on a Star Destroyer, it would use nearly all of its payload to do so which would take time. In small groups spreading out and using their superior speed to divide and evade enemy fire, they could easily overwhelm just about anything that they would run into. The DP20 is actually fairly similar to a ship I covered in the past the MC30c as both are fast moving lightly armored frigates that can pack a big punch due to the ordinance they carry. But unlike the MC30c the DP20 was a lot faster and could fit 2 roles effectively working both in tandem to a larger fleet or on its own, while the MC30c really needed a supporting fleet to be effective. As fast and small as a corvette but with firepower to rival a frigate the DP20 Frigate was, for lack of a better term, a pocket capital ship.

A week ago, we posted a front page poll asking readers to pick their favorite Expanded Universe book from the following list: Star by Star Wraith Squadron Shadows of the Empire Darth Plagueis Revan Heir to the Empire The top pick was... Darth Plagueis, with an even 40%! Sort of surprising; we thought Heir to the Empire might be the runaway favorite. Every title got votes, showing the range of interest across the EU's eras. Here is the full breakdown: 1) Darth Plagueis: 40% 2) Heir to the Empire: 23.3% 3) Star by Star: 16.17 4) Wraith Squadron: 6.7% 5) Shadows of the Empire: 10% 6) Revan: 3.3%

Hello Everyone! My name is Brian Borg and for those who do not know me I am the current president of Twin Suns Foundation, an organization dedicated to spreading and improving literacy worldwide through Star Wars Legends. When Matt and Chris informed me they were working on a website for the Expanded Universe modeled after the old Starwars.com, I was quite excited to see what they would do with it. Now that it has released, I am thrilled to see all the content already being created. One thing I did not realize, however, was that I too might end up contributing a piece or two to the article section! However, after a recent conversation with some of the Twin Suns Foundation team members, and watching some of the conduct within the Expanded Universe Movement in reaction to the Hasbro “Fan Poll” fiasco, I realized now might be a good time to share with everyone what I believe to be the secret to our success thus far and likely to be the key to future successes as well. What is it that has allowed the Expanded Universe Movement to string together so many victories and successes over the past couple years? What changed from the early days of the movement? The answer really boils down to one thing. Positivity. Positivity is a tricky thing for fans of the Expanded Universe to find ever since April 2014 when Disney & Lucasfilm announced a discontinuation and rebranding of the Expanded Universe. Understandably a positive attitude/mindset was the last things on the minds of those in the movement, especially in the months following the announcement when we were finding one another and forming places to vent about what had just happened to the franchise. But even today I still see many struggling to find that illusive positive mindset. Everyone from myself and my team down to those only occasionally involved in the movement find it a challenge from time to time. It is natural as our struggle towards our goals is undoubtedly an uphill one! But why is the concept, the idea, the state of mind that positivity encompasses so important to our efforts as a movement? Why is it worth striving for? Why does someone like me rely upon positivity so much and believe that it is integral to our past and future success? To best explain this, I really only need to point at the last three years of the Expanded Universe Movement as an example of how effective positivity can be when striving for lofty goals. Some of you have been involved in this effort since the very beginning, in those dark times immediately following April 2014. You all likely remember when emotions ruled all and chief among them were anger, hurt, rage and worse in many cases. You know our actions were largely disorganized, incoherent and arguably pointless beyond providing a clear outlet for channeling our emotions. I do not think it is a stretch to say that such times were unhealthy for us all and that next to no progress was made towards righting situation in those early days. Our negativity also earned us enemies and adversaries everywhere. It closed minds to our message both outside the EU fandom and within! Some out there, even now, remain stalwartly opposed to our efforts today specifically because they believe we are those same people who were so negative and toxic in the months following April 2014. But things clearly changed! Fast forward a slight bit to April 2015 when things started to look different. Perhaps we worked out the emotion from our collective systems. Perhaps we were just tired of ranting and getting nowhere. But somewhere, among all of that, enough of us decided we were done with the negativity and we were ready to do something about the situation. To me the biggest observable change came when an effort was made and successfully followed through on to create a group on Facebook specifically intended for those running pages, groups, YouTube channels, twitter feeds and Instagram pages friendly to the Expanded Universe. These people would go on to work together in sharing information with one another, getting event news to each of their audiences, creating new events and eventually taking on bigger tasks such as formulating a plan to install a billboard outside of Lucasfilm. None of that would have happened if we were incapable of looking past the negative emotions brought about by what we had all suffered in 2014. It was a sign. Progress was being made and it was because our positive attitudes allowed us to have a goal in mind and to say “no matter what is thrown in our way, no matter what obstacle we might encounter, we will face it down and find a way to surpass the challenge together.” While this was happening, efforts were being made throughout the movement to erase negative discussions and to encourage more positive ones. Those actions included things like policies banning troll interactions or certain discussion topics. By early 2016, despite the movement facing some serious challenges at the time, it was clear there was a major difference in the general attitude. Yeah, you could still see people were upset. That probably will not change until our goals are met, maybe even beyond for some. But you could see more members of the movement were doing just as the page managers and administrators had done. They were looking past that negative emotion. They were adopting more positive outlooks. They were finding the silver lining in even the most pitch-black of news involving our efforts and focusing on it. Comparing the Expanded Universe Movement’s early days of 2014 to those of 2016, it is was inspiring to see how far we had come. So much had been accomplished the second part of 2015 and early 2016 because of the shift in mindset and the purpose positivity allowed us to find, that it felt like an entirely new effort, a new Movement. And perhaps it was. In my next article, "Positivity and the Expanded Universe, Part 2", I will rehash what all this positivity has allowed us to accomplish as a movement. For now, let us know your thoughts on how the EU movement has changed over its first three years in the comments below!

Concluding my essays on Star Wars eras I’ve covered so far on my YouTube channel, I’d like to address the latest one I did. The Prequel era. Prior to running through the Expanded Universe in chronological order on my channel, if you were to ask me which era felt flat, I would have said the prequels. Back in the day these always seemed secondary to what I considered to be the “main storyline” featuring the adventures of Han, Luke, and Leia. Every time Del Rey announced another “prequel era” book, I would roll my eyes and complain they were wasting time publishing in that far inferior era to the New Republic stories that had been going on years before. Now I realize I was wrong. Reviewing these great stories, I now fear that many others out there like me will fall into the same thinking and never give these novels a chance. And that’s a shame. Some great gems are hidden within the era, and though the movies don’t shine as bright as the originals, the books are (a lot of the time) just as good as New Republic novels. Stories such as James Luceno’s Darth Plagueis, John Jackson Miller’s Kenobi and Karen Travis’ brilliant young adult book No Prisoners really stand out. On the comic book side of things Star Wars Republic is a superb comic book which told some of the best stories in the era, period. John Ostrander and Randy Stradley put together character and story arcs that are still memorable today! I would even argue that the comics outshone the novels when it came to the clone wars--but it doesn’t stop there! The official novels for each of the prequels are actually BETTER to me than watching the movies themselves. Everything seems more realistic in a way I can’t fully describe. To be honest, I’m not even sure if anyone else feels the way I do about this era because I haven’t heard many others talk of it as a whole. All that being said, this era did indeed have its low points. Both Stealth and Gambit are deplorable stories, Travis’ hokey clone/Jedi relationship story is fan fiction at its worst, and a lot of the spin-off comics from Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars TV show are 100% skippable. But as a whole, the prequel era EU doesn’t come off looking as bad as I assumed it would. What could they have done better in the era? Simple. Less clone wars stories. The publishers couldn’t help going back for second, third, and fifteenth helpings as the same tired plots during the war. I think we have a complete account of every planet rebelling under the rule of the separatists, and almost every delegation sent from the republic to stop those planets from flipping. After a while, the books and comics looked like an episode of Gilligan’s Island. Where the cast tries to get off the island…yet once again is foiled. See you next week folks for the same exact story just with different details!! What they could have done more of is continue making stories from right before Episode 1 (young Qui Gon and Dooku) or even during the 10 years between TPM and AOTC, which went totally ignored after Episode 2 came out. That being said, I’m happy with what we got, even though it wasn’t all I wanted. Where would be a good place to start in this era, you ask? For me I think there’s only 2 logical answers. The first would be Luceno’s Darth Plagueis novel which is borderline brilliant and an excellent enhancement to TPM as a story. Second best (and maybe better in some ways) is Jude Watson’s incredible Jedi Apprentice novels. Though made for kids, I think these stories are entertaining for adults just as much. In comics, go with Republic and don’t look back. As discussed earlier there are very few misses in that series overall. Despite where you start, the Prequel era at least deserves a shot that everyone EU fan should take advantage of. I guarantee, it’s worth your time.

Dash Rendar was a human smuggler. His family was a wealthy Correllian family. He decided he wanted to be an officer in the Imperial Navy and did not want to go into the family business, RenTrans, a shipping service. Rendar was skilled with piloting and impressed many of his instructors and fellow students at the academy, including a young Han Solo. Eventually, Prince Xizor, the head of Black Sun Crime Syndicate wanted Rendar’s parents to sell him their company so it could merge with his own shipping company. When they refused to do so, Xizor sabotaged a freighter flown by Dash’s older brother Stanton, who crashed the freighter into the Imperial Museum. Emperor Palpatine was enraged by the destruction of Jedi and Sith artifacts that the crash had caused. Due to this, he banished the Rendar’s from the Core Worlds and Prince Xizor could completely take the shipping company for his own. This also led to Dash being expelled from the academy. This led to a grudge that Rendar would always carry towards the Empire and Black Sun. Fleeing to the Outer Rim Territories, Rendar gained a reputation as a great pilot and smuggler. He eventually gained a ship, YT-2400 light freighter, Outrider, and a Le-series repair droid (who he named Leebo) and a navigator Eaden Vrill. In 0 B.B.Y, Rendar and Vrill agreed to protect Holo star Javul Charn during her tour to repair the Outrider. Charn originally revealed she needed to be protected from an obsessive fan, Rendar later found out she was a part of the Rebel Alliance and was being pursued by the Imperial ecurity Bureau and elements of Black Sun, which included the dark prince himself, Xizor. Rendar safely escorted Charn to Alderaan but Vrill was killed on Bannistar Station. Although Rendar despised the Empire, the refused to join the Rebellion due to his own motivations. He did not want to owe anyone or for anyone to owe him. He would work for whoever paid the most. However, he would occasionally aid the Rebellion and would be well compensated for his assistance. In 0 A.B.Y, Rendar snuck aboard the Star of the Empire with the idea that he would take it for himself and then sell it to the Rebel Alliance. However, after joining with Professor Hoole and his adopted children Tash and Zak Arranda, stopped the ships computer, SIM. In 3 A.B.Y while delivering supplies to Rebels on their secret base on Hoth, Rendar ended up becoming trapped in Echo Base due to the attack by the Empire. Rendar, following a recommendation from Han Solo, flew a snowspeeder with Rouge Squadron while waiting for his turn to leave. He even managed to take down an Imperial Walker, a feat which Luke Skywalker complimented him on later. Following the Battle of Hoth, Lando Calrissian hired Rendar to track down Boba Fett who had captured Solo and was delivering him to the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Knowing Princess Leia Organa would pay well for finding Solo, Rendar tracked own IG-88D after finding out he and Fett were in a dogfight over the planet Tattooine. After Fighting IG-88D on Ord Mantell, he learned Feet was on the Zhar system on the planet Gall. Rendar snuck through Smuggler’s Gorge and eventually made it to where Boba Fett was docked. Rendar was able to damage Fett’s ship, Slave I and left him stuck on Gall. After contacting Calrissian to let him know of Fett’s location he led them to Gall, but the Rebels unfortunately could not save their friend as Fett escaped after the Rebels arrived. Soon after, Rendar was hired by Organa to watch over Luke Skywalker after a recent assassination attempt on his life had occurred above the planet. Rendar followed Skywalker to Tatooine where he saved him from a swoop gang. Following this. Rendar accompanied Skywalker on a mission to recover the plans for the Empire’s second Death Star. The mission was successful, but cost the lives of many Bothan spies. Rendar volunteered to aid Skywalker, Calrissian and the Wookie Chewbacca to rescue Princess Leia after she had been taken prisoner by Prince Xizor on Coruscant. In a final battle with the Empire and Black Sun, the Outrider was apparently destroyed, however, Rendar faked his death as to avoid being followed by Black Sun or the Empire. Later, he met up with the Human Replica droid Guri to form a new mercenary team. Eventually, by the time Jaina Solo infiltrated the Onadax facility, Rendar was still believed to be dead, although reports of him fighting during the Yuuzhan Vong War were eventually coming up. Dash Rendar was created for the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project. I first met him in the video game based on the novel, and comic book. This was his first starring role as in the novel by Steve Perry, he was mainly a supporting character. The game was fun but I prefer the novel to it. However, to get the full story of Shadows, one would need to play the game, read the novel, comic and all other supplements that came out during that time. Rendar has since appeared in Shadows of the Empire: Evolution, A.C Crispin’s Han Solo trilogy, the Galaxy of Fear series, and even starred in his own novel, Shadow Games. Dash Rendar has always been one of my favorites in the EU and I always enjoyed seeing him pop up. He has become a fan favorite and many enjoy his adventures including a guy named George Lucas. The Outrider can be seen in the special edition of A New Hope leaving Mos Eisley. (And I thought George hated the EU.) The Outrider in A New Hope To see more from Spencer, click here!

May the 4th be with you. Welcome home.

For the past few years Hasbro has opened their doors to Star Wars fans through various online polls, giving them a shot at selecting the next action figure for Hasbro’s toy line. In those years, Expanded Universe fans around the world have voiced their opinion of who they’ve wanted to see in plastic. The first action figure to win was Revan from the Old Republic era. When the figure hit stores it sold out immediately and can only be found on Ebay for $50 or more. An instant “hit” for Hasbro and the toy market in general. At Celebration this year the new figure was shown, Jaina Solo. Winner of last year’s poll and the second Expanded Universe favorite to be voted in. When it hits stores I can only imagine how hard it’ll be to find. The last time Jaina Solo had an action figure it was sold out instantly and goes for an average of $180 in the package or $50 loose on the internet. An insane amount to ask for just one figure, yet retains it worth thanks to collectors of Expanded Universe paraphernalia. For this year’s poll fans wanted Ben Skywalker. Son of Luke Skywalker from the old canon novels. Thousands of votes were cast for him across several polls, but just like the voices on Alderaan they were suddenly silenced…by the same websites which carried the polls. Jedi Temple Archives were the first to remove Ben from the polls claiming fans were “cheating” although evidence for the accusation was never revealed. Soon a6er that three other fan sites followed suit, Yakface, Jedi News and Imperial Shipyards. Proving once again how discrimination against Expanded Universe fans continues to be an ugly issue everyone is afraid to address. When you run a poll on your own website YOU HAVE CONTROL. You’re running the poll. You set the rules and monitor the results. For that reason it’s hard to accuse someone of cheating when you’re in control. If a fan voted more than once I can assure you it wasn’t just for Ben. Every fan wants their character to win and will vote as many times as allowed to make that happen. If the requirement is to include an email address, well I have three. Be<er believe I’m voting with all of them. If the requirement is IP address, I have two and their both going toward votes for my favorite character. That’s how it works. Anyone with common sense knows that. Only bullies and spoiled sports are unable to see the logic behind that. Let’s say I ran a poll on my site. I asked people for the best Star Wars book they’ve read. The only requirement for the poll is to provide your email address and the same address cannot vote twice. The poll opens and in the lead is Timothy Zahn’s newest book “Thrawn” Myself being a fan of the Expanded Universe, I naturally would not be happy about this and would not want that book to win. So I accuse fans of cheating and throw the book out of contention, leaving only choices that I’d be happy with winning. That’s what we’re have here, bullies. When things don’t go the way they want them to, they change the rules in the middle of the process just to insure a victory. Shame on each and every website for treating fans in such a biased and discriminatory way. Thanks to them this year’s poll consist of the most boring, lackluster list of characters in a fan poll to date, making both the fans and Hasbro miss out on an excellent opportunity to give people what they want. Hasbro asked for fan’s opinion but four of the websites they used in their preliminary polls had a bias and due to that, everyone missed out. Instead of seeing this new character pop up on Ebay for five times the retail price, they’ll see it stuck in the sales bin at Wal-Mart. I propose next year those four websites call it an “Opinion Poll” with an asterisk beside it which states “Only votes with similar opinions as ours will be counted” At least then I could call them honest. So what should the thousands of Ben Skywalker supporters do about it? For those I say, let it go. This isn’t the first time EU fans have been discriminated against and it certainly won’t be the last. The proper way to file a complaint is with Hasbro themselves. Email Public Relations at HasbroBrandPR@hasbro.com and inform them of the discrimination you’ve encountered. Make Hasbro aware of the situation so it can correct the issue for future polls. Then…move on. Companies aren’t blind to not know what we want. For instance, Del Rey knows EU fans want new “Legends” adventures and they’d happily give us those if it were allowed by Lucasfilm. I promise you, if Lucasfilm ever “greenlit” the proposal for Legends books, the good folks at Del Rey would have one out to us within the year. They KNOW the Expanded Universe is popular with fans. We just need to show it to Lucasfilm. Every day our movement is growing and as a fandom we’ve continued to push request for more Legends. A good business never ignores its fans. If the demand is strong enough they’ll happily oblige. And demand for Expanded Universe products continues to grow as time goes on. Long Live the Expanded Universe.

Satele Shan was a human female who was the Jedi Grand Master during the Cold War and the Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. She was a descendant of the Jedi Knights Revan and Bastila Shan. Shan was trained by Ngani Zho and later studied under Battlemaster Kao Cen Darach. With Darach, she witnessed the return of the Sith Empire in 3681 BBY and she fled with the Smuggler Nico Okarr and Republic Trooper Jace Malcom to warn the Republic of the Sith’s return. She eventually achieved the rank of Jedi Knight and led Jedi and the Republic Military into battle in the Great Galactic War. While in the war, she grew close to and eventually entered a relationship with Jace Malcom which resulted in a son named Theron Shan. Fighting in the battle Alderaan, she greatly injured the Sith Lord Darth Malgus and led the battle to a Republic Victory. Satele would eventually become the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and was given a seat on the Jedi High Council. She would be a key player in aiding the individual that became known as “The Hero of Tython,” reach Jedi Knighthood, and after the Hero defeated the Sith Emperor Viciate, she bestowed upon the hero the title of Battlemaster. After the Rise of the Hutt Cartel, and fighting the Order of Revan, a mysterious group called the Eternal Empire conquered both the Republic and Sith Empire Shan, disheartened by the casualties the Jedi suffered under her leadership renounced her title and went into exile on the planet Odessen where she watched from afar the individual known as the Outlander. Shan would eventually returned to Coruscant where she began training a new group of Jedi. Being an ancestor of Revan and Bastilla Shan, Satele was very strong in the force. Shan was strong with telekinesis as was demonstrated when she toppled a mountain on top of Darth Malgus during the Battle of Alderaan. Shan was also talented in the art of tutimenus. She not only was able to block blaster bolts with her hands she was even able to block Malgus’ lightsaber with her bare, although this requires intense concentration to pull off. Shan used a blue-bladed saberstaff in the years of the before the Great Galactic War, but this one was lost in her escape form Korriban. She created a second saberstaff but that one was destroyed in her battle with Darth Malgus. She for time used a single blade green lightsaber but eventually exchanged it for another blue bladed saberstaff. Satele was a master duelist even as a padawan, and as a knight she could take down multiple Sith and battle droids at once. Based on cut scenes in the Old Republic game, I think Satele uses form VI Niman, since she uses martial arts in her attacks and also considering the fact she uses a double-bladed lightsaber for most of her appearances. I first encountered the Grand Master like many others in the Old Republic Video game, a game I greatly enjoy by the way. She was a character that was definitely portrayed as a strong female leader. I personally thought that she was an interesting one and one we could have more of. Although a key player in the game, in the material that was C-canon, there wasn’t much. Two books, Fatal Alliance and Annihilation, in which she was a supporter and a few comic appearances. I would have loved a novel on the character. They made one for Malgus who was really the face of the dark side for advertisements for the game, but Satele, who was the face for the light side, didn’t get one. Personally, I would have wanted more. Satele is a character who I find more interesting than Bastilla. That might be sacrilegious to say, (I don’t hate Bastilla in no way shape or form) but for me, I find the Grand Master of the Order to be much more interesting character to read about and study.

Matt's Monthly Update is up! Updates on Princes of the Universe podcast episodes, post-Celebration discussions, Shannon McRandle (Mara Jade) and more. Check it out below!

Jedi Business (a great Star Wars collector site) has this intriguing article with thoughts on how to move forward with the Hasbro Fan Polls and avoid this year's mess again. Definitely supportive of this move. "Next time divide the fans vote into two categories, one category for the movies, one category for the expanded universe and then you get to produce two figures instead of one. This is a win-win situation, fans of the Expanded Universe get their saying and Star Wars action figure fans who want figures based on the movies get their saying as well. No fan left behind, right? No votes wasted, right? And Hasbro, you get customer engagement and people telling you exactly what product they would love purchase from you." (photo from Jedibusiness.com)

Pellaeon Class Star Destroyer Class Destroyer Length 1600 m Cost Not Available for Sale Hyperdrive Rating Class .75 Crew 8450, 2700 passengers/troops Consumables 6 months Cargo Capacity 11,000 metric tons Shielding Equipped Hull Light Armor Armament 50 Heavy Turbolaser Batteries, 50 Medium Turbolaser Batteries, 40 Ion Cannon Batteries, 3 Tractor Beam Projectros, 5 Proton Torpedo Launchers, Interdiction Field Complement 48 Predator-class Fighters, 6 Nune-class Imperial Shuttles Overview Named after the Legendary Admiral and Imperial Remnant Head of State Gilad Pellaeon the Pellaeon class Star Destroyer served as the backbone of the Fel Empire. Introduced sometime between 104 and 127ABY it took inspiration from many previous variants of Star Destroyers including the sleek dagger shape known to all ships of the Star Destroyer family. It boasted a slightly more powerful armament as its predecessor the Imperial II class Star Destroyers and improved on many of its designs. With its hangar on its ventral side and a command bridge tower similarly laid out to the Venator class it shared a lot the traits of previous ships of the Destroyer family. In addition to these similarities it also boasted gravity well generators allowing it to pull ships out of hyperspace and keep them in system. Unlike previous interdictors that housed the projectors so that they protruded out of their hulls the Pellaeon housed the projectors deep in its superstructure making them more difficult to take out. To accommodate this and still keep its sleek shape the engineers designed the iconic forward- slopped superstructure giving it its signature look. This sloping serves to not only house the gravity wells but also allows for more armor due to the sloped armor effect which both increases the distance projectiles have to travel to pierce armor and increase the chance that they deflect off the armor. All of this while still balancing the sleekness of the overall shape making the ship a harder target for enemy gunners and giving less surface area for shields to cover and therefore stronger. However this front sloping design wasn’t just a defensive measure as it also allowed all of its main batteries and most of its secondary batteries to be able to fire forward completely unobstructed, something none of its predecessors were able to do to as well as the Pellaeon could. This allowed for a devastating frontal barrage but it also has comparable firepower to most other ships in its class from its broadsides. Really it’s only main weakness was its rear where the engines were mounted and it was lightly armed and armored. Because of this in combat it was common for commanders to use their interdictor fields to keep enemy ships from jumping in on their flank instead pulling them out of hyperspace at a distance far enough to be able to turn around and meet the attacker head on. Or more commonly having its supporting ships like the Ardent class frigate, or Fel class Destroyers use their superior speed and maneuverability to cover their flanks. These ships would be the mainstay of the Imperial and Sith Fleets during the Eternal War, and there was at least one at just about every main battle of that war. With a forward barrage that next to nothing of its size class could withstand an interdiction field to keep them from running and rugged defensive systems to weather the worst barrages the enemy could throw at it. There was little that could stand in its way. One of the Latest and my opinion greatest of the Star Destroyer line.

MC30c Frigate Class Frigate Length 580m Cost 9,500,000 credits Hyperdrive Rating Class 1, Backup class 15 Crew 820, 95 passengers Consumables 2 years Shielding Equipped Hull Light Armor Armament 2 Heavy Proton Torpedo Launchers, 16 Medium Turbolaser Turrets, 16 Twin Laser Cannons, 6 Cluster Bomb Launchers (with 6 Cluster Bombs each) Overview The MC30c was a fast and heavily armed and powerful mid-sized ship in the Rebel Alliance arsenal. While it’s 16 medium Turbolasers were more than enough to take on other frigates at range this ship primary purpose was as a capital ship destroyer. Using its incredible speed for its size this ship was in its element sneaking up and closing the distance to a high valued Imperial target to get close enough to unleash a devastating Proton Torpedo strike and bug out before the enemy ship knew what hit it. It’s afore mentioned Medium Turbolasers could soften up the target before the strike or harass the surviving escorts on its way out. The Twin Laser Cannons were also ideal for taking on swarms of enemy TIEs though the cluster bombs were its ultimate trump card against swarming Starfighters. However, in order to have an armament to take on just about anything that the Empire could throw at it and engines fast enough to out run everything in its size class sacrifices did have to be made and while fairly well shielded this ship traded armor for its firepower and speed. If it came under any concentrated attack by something of its class or even took a few passing shots from something like a Star Destroyer could cripple it. TO protect against this the shield generators were buried deep within the superstructure so that the shield would constantly regenerate as long as the ship still functioned no matter how much damage it took. Still though it was best for the MC30c to avoid drawing too much enemy fire which can be hard when it needs to be up close and personal to do what it does best. Because of this it was rare to see on its own. Sure the Cluster Bombs (being that they are best used while not around friendly ships due to the collateral damage) were great at taking out Starfighters if it got swarmed it only had a limited amount and waves of bombers would eventually overwhelm. In fact on its own it may be able to get close enough to an enemy ship to take it out but it would take a lot of fire doing so and unless the enemy gunners were terrible at their jobs or just unlucky it wouldn’t make it. As such this ship was best utilized in a supporting role in a larger fleet. It would often be deployed behind other larger ships who would start the battle off opening fire to draw the attention of the enemy fleet. Then with the enemy focusing on the larger ships, zoom in to take down a high valued target and bug out when its torpedo tubes emptied. In summary the MC30c was one of the most heavily armed but lightly armored ship in the Rebel Alliance fleet. With more than enough speed to close the distance and firepower to take out a Star Destroyer but couldn’t take any return fire if it was spotted. Nonetheless they were well known and feared by Imperial Captains. And while not often used were a force that could turn the tide of any battle. In short a glass cannon on rocket skates.

Continuing my overviews through the different eras through Star Wars that have already been covered on my YouTube channel, I’d like to spend today’s topic on arguably, one of the most popular era’s in all of Star Wars history, the Old Republic. As I discussed during my piece on the Dawn of the Jedi era, the Old Republic was conceived very early within the Expanded Universe, when Dark Horse decided they wanted to separate themselves from the novels and go into an era that hadn’t been explored yet. The Old Republic was a perfect way to start. For me, hearing the news was a little disappointing. Why would anyone care what happened 4,000 years before the movies? I thought. Turns out the answer is “millions” And from the very first issue of Tales of the Jedi, it was easy to see why. I remember reading it for the first time. I was fresh in college and eager to read more of the comics now that I knew they tied in with the books. Bruce was able to loan me his copies to read and though I wasn’t that excited at first, all it took was the first few pages and I was hooked! Unlike Dawn of the Jedi, this had a look and feel to it that oozed with uniqueness. (yep, I said Oozed!) It was wonderful to look at and Veitch put together one heck of a story! I found myself capture within this time. The artwork felt archaic enough to believe you were reading some long buried text. But the story wouldn’t end there. Veitch would go on to write many more adventures within the era, eventually handing the story off to Kevin J Anderson to finish. A wonderful tale! But as good as the initial comics were, that wasn’t the reason for the Old Republic’s fame. It was in the video games. Now if you’re reading this, I’m sure you know by now that I don’t play video games. I haven’t since Batman: Arkham Origins. And the last Star Wars game I owned? X-Wing Rogue Squadron 2. (which I thought sucked) I can’t explain why, but even when I loved video games I was never that in to Star Wars. Sure if they made a book or comic about the game, I was the first in line to get it but I never had a desire to play Star Wars games. I didn’t think they were that good and the fact that every video was (and still is under the new Disney Canon) S-Canon. Meaning “Secondary Canon” the events depicted in the game did occur, yet not exactly as how the game puts forth. Any novel or comic of the game was official (C) canon. Side note: The same isn’t true for Star Wars board games though. To date I have 9 in my collection, all of which I love playing except for two. A vintage R2-D2 that sucks and a Jar Jar game I was never existed. The rest are well worth keeping! So when Knights of the Old Republic was all the craze, I had zero interest. There is no denying however that this game alone brought just as many people into the EU are Timothy Zahn’s books did back in ’91. I wish I had more appreciation for the game from that one simple fact. I tried playing a copy of both the first and second game that were loaned to me from a friend 2 years ago but the gameplay and graphics were dated by then and I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it. I don’t even think I could make it past the first level it was so confusing to me as to what to do. Laugh all you want or call me an “old man”, I don’t care. It wasn’t my thing. Yet, neither is videos games these days. Again, I wish someone more skilled could talk about these games more in depth. All I can attest to is the impact they had on the EU and that’s it. As for the Old Republic online game, it’s still going strong today. Though not established in the new canon, they still come out with expansions for it as well as a little Legends stories as well. Like Drew Karpyshyn’s short from 2016. I love the fact it’s still going strong and has keep its huge following. But no matter how many people try to convince me to play it I have to be honest and say I won’t. Sorry, video games just don’t appeal to me. One thing I can be thankful for is all the comics and novels these games spawned. I’ve reviewed them all on my channel and loved most of them. (the exception being an awful comic reprint of some online stories that was done clearly for money and not love of a sensible story) So why does the Old Republic work so well? The story, the characters and the universe they created. Each aspect I named gives depth and meaning to stories no matter what they’re talking about. Who can say there’s not a storyline you aren’t interested in knowing more about. Even though I admitted to John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant series to have a flat character, there are people out there who disagree with me. And speaking of Mr. Miller, I think everyone can agree that his comic series “Knights of the Old Republic” is one of the best things he ever wrote! So again, you’ll be hard pressed if looking for a reason NOT to like this era in Star Wars. But is this a good place to introduce someone to the Expanded Universe? My answer would depend on whether they play any Old Republic games or not. If they do, then it’s a no brainer to show them the Old Republic first. Darth Bane Trilogy for novels or Tales of the Jedi for comics. If they don’t play the games they should start elsewhere in the timeline. Don’t introduce them to something this foreign if all the knowledge they have is from the movies. You’ll just confuse them by having the focus on a story that’s over 4.000 years in the past. Overall the Old Republic was a brilliant story that had many a good tale spun from the Expanded Universe about it and I hope they’ll be many more, in the years to come. #MattWilkins #OldRepublic #Era

Kyle Katarn was a human year old male from the planet Sulon. He began his life as an Imperial Stormtrooper who eventually defected to the Rebellion. He was partnered often with the smugger Jan Ors whom with he performed my covert missions for the Rebel Alliance and eventually the New Republic after the Battle of Endor, which included the sabotage of the Dark Trooper project. Kyle later discovered through the Jedi Master Qu Rahn that he was Force sensitive and was one of the few known self-taught Jedi, and his training occurred greatly while he searched for the Valley of the Jedi. He confronted, and defeated the Dark Jedi Jerec and his 6 other Dark Jedi. Eventually, Kyle went on to become a Jedi Master and taught at Luke Skywalkers Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. Some notable students were Mara Jade, Jaden Korr, and Rosh Penin. Kyle also participated in the Empire Reborn movement, and the Ragnos Crisis. He participated in the Yuuzhan Vong War and Second Galactic Civil War as a part of the Jedi High Council in the New Jedi Order. Kyle Katarn was well able to use a variety of weapons. Due to his training at the Imperial Academy, he was usually able to use any weapon he would come across in the field without any time to learn how the weapon operated. His two main weapons however, were a byor pistol, (which was given to him by his father, Morgan Katarn) and his lightsaber. Kyle has wielded at least 3 lightsabers in his lifetime. His first was a green bladed weapon used by Qu Rahn, when that weapon was destroyed by the Dark Jedi Boc, Kyle used the yellow bladed lightsaber (although later it seemed to be an orange blade) used by another Dark Jedi named Yun, who died trying to save Kyle’s life. His final lightsaber was a blue bladed weapon that had a longer hilt and two handgrips. Kyle Katarn, although mostly self-taught, Kyle became one of the most respected members of the New Jedi Order and one of the most powerful force users as well. Kyle had knowledge in Force protection, Force absorption, Force speed, and would intermix Force push and Force pull in his attacks. Kyle also had knowledge in dark side powers Force Grip, and Force Lightning. Kyle Katarn had the philosophy of: “Abilities aren’t inherently good or evil, it’s how you use them.” -Kyle Katarn, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. Kyle was a master of the 5th form of lightsaber combat Djem So. He also was known to use Shii-Cho and Ataru. He would eventually become the Battlemaster of the New Jedi Order which is surprising considering the fact that he was mostly self-taught in lightsaber combat. My story with Kyle Katarn goes back to Christmas of 2002. I received Dark Forces II Jedi Knight that year and when I first played the game, I was blown away by it. I loved the idea of finding another Star Wars story that took place after the movies, (I had discovered the Young Jedi Knights series that same year 3 month earlier.) I also loved playing the adventure through a first-person perspective. I loved to pretend that I was Kyle Katarn and that I got to immerse myself in the Star Wars universe, and the idea of wielding a lightsaber through first person made my young self more happy than waking up to toys under the tree that morning. From that point on, I wanted more Kyle Katarn in the Expanded Universe. I bought the novellas and the comic book he was featured in. And of course I loved playing the other three video games he was featured in, but there just wasn’t enough of him. When I guest starred on Matt Wilkins’ podcast, Princes of the Universe, I did mention a couple of times I wanted more of Kyle Katarn and I mentioned how much I admired the character. I do think he should have had his own novel and if I ever had the possibility to write a novel, I would love to write one about Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy or a novel of him during the Second Galactic Civil War. This guy is often considered the Chuck Norris of the Star Wars Universe and if he is going to carry that title, he should have more. However, the material we have is great for what it is. I do have particular stories I love more than others, there is no doubt that Kyle Katarn is an awesome character #KyleKatarn

As I continue my YouTube reviews of the Star Wars Expanded Universe I thought I’d take the opportunity of giving my overall assessment of the era’s in which I’ve already covered. These will be short since I’ll try not to repeat myself from previous videos but detailed enough to let you know what I thought of the era overall. That being said, the first era to talk about is the smallest within the entire EU. Dawn of the Jedi sprang from the mind of John Ostrander, a man who already well known for his excellent work on the Star Wars Republic comic series. His idea was to thrust the story even FURTHER back in time before the Republic was even created. A very ambitious move to be sure but one that made sense. Years earlier Dark Horse had hit a homerun on their gamble to explore the Old Republic, arguably one of the most popular era’s in Legends overall! Exploring what the Jedi were like during the Old Republic paid off in several ways Dawn of the Jedi planned to as well. First off, it happens in an era where no other stories have been told. Giving authors free reign over the aspects of the series. Something Disney easily could have decided upon their purchase of Lucasfilm but I’ve already discussed that several times already so I’ll just move on. But planting an entirely new era within the timeline was a proven success. So very little was known about the time before the Republic that it was the perfect place for Ostrander and friends to use their imagination to create new stories for the fans instead of re-hashing the SAME story line from Episode 4 as Force Awakens did. (ok I said it. Moving on!) Secondly, by creating this new era we get to see new enemies and new situations that we’ve never seen before. Space travel takes longer, aliens are not as familiar with each other and secrets to the universe are still out there to explore! But sadly with Dawn of the Jedi, the era as a whole does not hold up. And here is why. Primarily it boiled down to “time”. Specifically, not enough of it. Dawn of the Jedi had barely taken off until George Lucas decided to sell out to Disney, thus dropping an unceremonial end to an unfished era. I’m sure if knowing what he knows now, Ostrander would’ve hustled to give a more fitting end to the series but he did what he could with the time he was left, which wasn’t that much. Only enough to wrap up a current storyline and that was it. If more time would have been provided I’m sure Ostrander had all sorts of goodies to share. Yes this would have meant more horrible novels from Tim Lebbon who had signed on to make three books but the comics would have been a saving grace to the era much like the popular “Tales of Jedi” was for the Old Republic. The second issue is opportunities missed. Right off the bat I think the writers got it wrong with not showing us a more archaic universe. Most species know one another’s language and everyone seems to be familiar already with each species in the room. But there are ancient days! Shouldn’t there be some mystery as to what people know of one another. If I’d never seen Star Wars, I would’ve thought Wookies were the villains! Look at them! They look like monsters. Bith’s seemed friendly enough from the outside or are they sinister and calculating. Why not add a little paranoia in-between species. Yes I know the story of how they all got to know each other was in Issue #0 of the comic but still if a Rodian smells funny… I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but I believe a big opportunity was lost there for the reader to enjoy. Next was the Jedi, or Je’daii as they’re called in the era. I was super disappointed no one consider utilizing this chance to make them appear as the old McQuarrie drawings, portraying Jedi’s with power packs on their backs, connected to their lightsaber. I’d always thought that was a missed opportunity for the Old Republic era and when I heard they were going even farther back in the timeline I thought it was a terrible idea….but the chance at seeing a McQuarrie jedi got my hopes up. Yet it didn’t come to pass. The final things about what this series failed to do was show us a style. Old Republic had on and so did every era after that. Each one was clearly defined (almost from the very beginning) so why didn’t Danw of the Jedi define itself to us? We can’t use the excuse about “time” because right off the bat Tales of the Jedi showed us what it was all about. I felt Dawn of the Jedi struggle to find its identity. As discussed on YouTube several times, I admit there were a lot of questions left to be answered when the series went away but would I ever want to revisit this era again? The answer is not as simple as you may think. On one hand I’d love to see anything continued within the Legends universe but if I had a choice or eras to explore this would be at the bottom of my list. I don’t feel like there’s any knowledge I couldn’t live without here. What became of the Rakatan Empire and how did it fall? How did the Jedi order evolve over time and learn to operate lightsabers without the use of the Dark Side? How did their philosophy change? And how did they come to decide on building a Republic and how did those early times come about? These are all questions that would be nice to know but not necessary. And the answers aren’t worth sorting out because I feel there are way more interesting stories to explore instead. What are your thoughts on the Dawn of the Jedi Era. Do you agree or disagree with what I said? Comment below. I assure you I won’t mind either way because we’re all friends here. #MattWilkins #DawnoftheJedi #Era

Cin Drallig was a Jedi Master who served the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. He was the Battlemaster of the order, as well as the head of security at the Coruscant Jedi Temple, who was nicknamed “the troll” by the Jedi. He was a well-respected teacher of lightsaber combat. It was stated that even General Grievous with his many programed lightsaber styles and multiple weapons would be no match for Drallig. Drallig taught the basics of all the lightsaber forms, (save vapaad) to students as well as future Jedi stars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. He formally took on Serra Keto as a Jedi apprentice and helped her hone her lightsaber and Force abilities and she went on to become his most accomplished apprentice. During Order 66, when Darth Vader led the 501st Legion to raid the temple, Keeto would be killed by Vader after challenging him by herself. Drallig had managed to penetrate the upper level defenses. Drallig was unable to best the Sith Lord in combat and Force powers and was eventually killed by Vader. His death was witnessed by Kenobi and Yoda when the infiltrated the temple in an attempt to revert the order to call all Jedi back to the temple. Drallig was taught lightsaber combat by Yoda himself and learned to be a skilled swordsman himself. Drallig mastered all 7 lightsaber forms, although vapaad was one he cautiously taught to certain people. It is known that Anakin Skywalker as a padawan was upset with the fact that Drallig would not teach him form 7. Drallig was also a well trained user of Force speed and would implement it into his sword fights such as when he fought Darth Vader. I remember Cin Drallig when I first played the video game version of Revenge of the Sith and he kicked my backside multiple times. He eventually became the character we all wanted to be. However, I thought then that Drallig was a character exclusive to the game but I was wrong. Drallig did appear in Revenge of the Sith, and was portrayed by Nick Gillard who was the stunt coordinator for the prequel trilogy. The name is reversing Gillards name and dropping the K. While he did appear in Faloni’s Clone Wars for an episode, there still wasn’t much of him in the Expanded Universe. He is similar to Rookie One as he does not have much to him compared to Rookie One, he is still an interesting character none the less and he also trained Zett Jukassa ( George Lucas’ son) how cool is that?

For my first article, I sure picked an obscure character! Rookie One was the handle of a human male who served the Rebellion in the Galactic Civil War. He fought in the Battle of Yavin. Following the Battle of Hoth, Rookie One was key to uncovering the Imperial project to develop what became the TIE Phantom. Believe it or not, he was the first Expanded Universe character I came across. Let me take you back to early Fall of 2001. I remember being at Target as a kid and seeing this game Star Wars Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire. I don’t know how I convinced my parents to buy it for me, but they did. I remember playing it that night when we got home and being shocked to find out it was a new story set during the original trilogy. I was amazed that I was playing a new Star Wars adventure and not playing a retread of any of the movies that I had seen many times at that point. It was fascinating to me and I immediately began to allow myself to be sucked into the story and the characters that I was meeting. I remember pretending that I was Rookie One whenever I was playing the adventure. I felt that I was in the cockpit of an X-Wing fighter or a YT-1300 light freighter. I knew I couldn’t be Luke Skywalker, he was the main character and was the hero that was a Jedi Knight, but I felt as though I could be Rookie One. I felt as though I could do what he did. I thought I could be a supporting role in the grand scheme of things. I could be a pilot who fought for the Rebellion and uncover a secret TIE Fighter that could be a crippling blow to the Alliance. One of the main reasons for those thoughts was because of his name, he was never named officially. Rookie One, created by Vincent Lee was the main protagonist in the first Rebel Assault game. He was a character that could be either male or female but in the second Rebel Assault he was canonically stated as male. What’s interesting is that throughout his existence in Star Wars lore, he has never been named officially. The handle of “Rookie One” has been his name from the beginning. Lucasfilm did in away make light of this in a short story of such in Star Wars Insider 27 where there was a “diary” Rookie One kept leading up to the Hidden Empire to promote the game. "I was there with Ru Murleen and Captain Ferrell when we put a major crimp in the Empire's plans by blowing up a Death Star. You'd think they'd stop calling me 'Rookie' after that!" ―Rookie One -Star Wars Insider 27 Rookie One is very similar to Luke Skywalker in their backstories. They were both raised on a moisture far on Tatooine where they developed their piloting skills in T-16 skyhoppers in Beggars Canyon. In the first Rebel Assault, the missions affect Skywarlkers in the Original Trilogy. There is a Battle on Hoth to defend Gamma Base instead of Echo Base. Obviously, it seems the goal was to make the player feel like Luke Skywalker, but still have a new story at the same time. The video games were secondary canon and Leland Chee confirmed that the trench run Rookie One participates in was N-canon. In the Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry, there is an explanation of how the Battle of Yavin occurred. Rookie One’s squadron, Blue Squadron, were charged with destroying or damaging the Death Star’s super laser while Gold and Red Squadrons were tasked with making trench runs to blow up the battle station. Rookie One was an exciting character for me because he was a new character. As time went on I did end up focusing on more characters that had more content about them. But I did revisit him when I went back to try and turn the second Rebel Assault game into a story. I am working on a revision now and I think it would be fun to share. However, going back to revisit the character has been a great joy. Especially as it brings back fond memories of playing his adventures on my computer as a kid. While he did do a lot to increase my love of Star Wars, it wasn’t until a pair of twins came along that my love of the EU began to take full effect.

What is continuity? Let’s look at the definition: An unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something over a period of time. That’s nice. So what does it mean? Continuity in story telling shows a higher effort and concentration of keeping everything consistent with what has come before. It saves the reader from the confusion and aggravation of facts being changed or becoming inconsistent with one another. We live with consistency in our everyday live as well. When I step outside, I know gravity will keep me on the ground. The sun will always rise in the east and set in the west. That’s plain science, it’s consistent. Knowing one plus one will always equal two is also consistent because that’s math. Math and science are a big part of our lives. We also have consistency in sports. If a baseball player hits the ball we know he’s running to first base and not to third. If a batter gets his third strike, he is out. Those are the rules and they’re consistent wherever the sport is played. But say we were playing baseball and I decided to change the rules. Instead of running to first base, you must run to the pitcher’s mound, back to home plate and then advance to first. Would you accept my new rule and play it that way or would you be upset and refuse to change? Why can’t we just change the rule? Can’t you accept it? Forget about how the game’s been played for a hundred years, it’s my way of playing the game and I can change the rules however I want. And if you don’t love new rule then you’re not a true fan of this sport! Does that analogy seem fair to you? Maybe not. But if Major League Baseball decided to accept such a scenario officially you’d have to deal with it while other folks mocked and ridiculed the original rules that were played by. Some won’t even know how it was played in the first place and tell you that “running to first” was always a rule to begin with. But let’s move to the subject of continuity in storytelling. It’s the most popular form of art in our society today. We all tell stories, whether fictional or true and everyone loves a good one. But we love consistency in them as well. A good joke is delivered the same way so its effect is just as funny when you heard it the first time. If you don’t deliver the set up or punch line, the joke fails or misses its mark. The same can be said with a story. If it doesn’t hold consistency it risks losing its audience and allure. Yet consistency in story telling is a dying trait, and in comics and Hollywood, it holds very little value at all anymore. Hollywood is all about the reboot. Stories being retold again and again with less behind it each time. There have been two Spiderman’s on the silver screen in less than a decade and soon we’ll have a third. Instead of giving us new ideas or building on the works of their predecessors, Hollywood chooses to hit the restart button in an attempt to create the same worn-out product, leaving a tremendous gap in the development of original stories and ideas. The myth that “consistency hinders creativity” is not usually the case. Continuity inspires and challenges you to build upon what came before and make it better. One of the keys to successful sequels is that they stand on the facts established in the previous films and therefore can take the story to other levels. It’s an amazing accomplishment that the audience appreciates. Take Aliens, for instance. How good would the movie be if James Cameron had decided to reboot the story and tell it all over again? He’d have to reintroduce characters and elements to the audience they’ve already seen before moving his vision forward. However, the time it takes setting everything up is half the movie. Reboots contain an unnecessary redundancy that the audience could do without. The thing many disliked about Amazing Spiderman was that they had to sit through yet another origin story a few years after Sam Raimi had already done one. In my opinion, hitting the “reboot” button instead of continuing the story is lazy and uncreative. If there’s no more story to tell then end it and create something better. Reboots only make movies look like expensive fan films instead of something truly inspired. Consistency is also a reward to the fans who’ve loyally followed the story and appreciate ties to the previous films. It’s a way of thanks for their long standing support. A prime example is the Tremors franchise. A series which started in 1990 has seen 3 sequels and a short- lived TV series. Each sequel stays in perfect continuity with later installments and even brings actors back to portray their original characters when necessary. The franchise pays close attention to detail because they know it’s what the fans want. They recently announced a new movie coming this October..Tremors 5: Bloodlines will continue the story of our hero Burt Gummer as he sets out to save the populace from graboids. To see they’re keeping “5” in the title instead of making a tag line is an indication that the creators are proud to stand alongside previous works as the fifth installment of this series. But let’s move over to the Star Wars Expanded Universe for a bit. This is a series that spanned over 35 years of one continuous continuity. Recently, since the purchase of the Disney corporation, it was decided that everything but the films and recent Clone Wars animated series should be discarded in favor of a reboot. Those who defend the original continuity are sometimes even mocked by fans of the films on online forums and message boards, with comments such as, “Get over it” and “Stop whining,” revealing the ignorance of those who miss the point. The Expanded Universe gave fans one cohesive story through the eyes of hundreds of authors who carefully constructed an arc over the many years of its existence. Others have stated, “I loved the EU too, but I got over it, why can’t you?” For many, the answer is clear. They care about it more. Some will accuse such adherents as being elitist.. However, if one claims to care about something, but isn’t upset it’s gone, then that person may need to reevaluate how much she “loved” it in the first place. If one’s friend passed away and I said to you “I’m sorry about your loss,” ut I came back weeks later and say “You’re friend’s gone! I miss her too but you don’t see me whining about it, do you?! Now get over it!” How insensitive would that be? I don’t share the same connection you did with your friend. The arrogance of assuming I’m wiser than you is foolish. The reason some Star Wars fans can’t understand why the Expanded Universe meant so much is because they didn’t share the same connections that many did to the story. Generally speaking, people don’t like reboots. Reboots generally don’t do well and comics have lost an enormous amount of readers over the years because of it. So why is it so casually accepted today? That’s why I refer to reboots as lazy. The Star Wars Expanded Universe raised the bar for story telling as time went on, becoming a more creative and encompassing force the longer it went on. Unfortunately, continuity is not in keeping with the corporate bottom-line, and the fans are left to suffer because of it. The upcoming Star Wars novel “Aftermath” will continue the process (following the new line of comics by Marvel) of bulldozing decades of a historic content that’s been around, and while some cheer its demise others will see it as reminiscent of the tragic ending of Revenge of the Sith, which depicted the destruction of the Grand Republic that had stood for over a thousand generations. Long live the Expanded Universe. An extraordinary saga that proved how creativity and continuity go hand in hand. To see more from Matt, click here! #MattWilkins #Continuity

From The Princes of the Universe Facebook page, January 22, 2017: Rogue Won By: Matt Wilkins In my YouTube videos, I’ve spoken about what my thoughts were when#Lucasfilm was sold to Disney. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It felt unreal. How could Lucas do this? WHY would Lucas do this?! Were the questions running through my head. It was also at that moment when I knew the Expanded Universe would come to an end. In an early video I did about the buyout, I even mentioned my feelings about what would happen to the stories I’ve enjoyed for over 25 years and which made me the Star Wars fan I am today. I loved those stories more than the movies themselves. If you were to ask me “What is Star Wars?” back in 2012 my answer would have been clear. It’s the Expanded Universe, then the movies. I felt the comics, novels and short stories raised the bar set by the original trilogy of films. The prequels? Those happened BECAUSE of the EU. But I’ve spoken about that already before. What I wanted to do today was give you a glimpse of my thought process for leaving the new canon completely behind. So many times I get asked “When will you be reading/watching the Disney stuff?” The answer is “never” and here’s why. I remember speaking with Bruce about the future of the EU in 2013 and he agreed, things did not bode well for the stories. Come April of the following years, my fears were confirmed and the entire Expanded Universe was declared “non-canon” so Disney could make more money off the fans by retelling stories already told in the EU new stories of their own. I wasn’t buying it. Literally or figuratively. As discussed in Princes of the Universe Episode #0, I told Bruce of my intentions to leave the Star Wars fandom once the new Disney stories took over. I was “going rogue” so to speak, and would only be concerned with stories that interested me. (namely the Expanded Universe) Bruce told me he intended to continue on with the new stories and see how they were and we left it at that. Honestly, I had no idea our level-mindedness would be so rare, seeing how many people online seem to despise one another for making such choices. I was shocked (and still am) by the number of “Gatekeepers” within the fandom who ridicule, mock and abuse others online who do not share the same interest as them. These Gatekeepers even come from well-known fansites who should be leading by good example of being more accepting to others instead or trying to drive a wedge in, dividing them further. Another topic I’ve already discussed so I digress yet again. Though I made my decision to leave the Disney Canon (or D-Canon as I call it) I wondered how hard it would be and if I’d eventually cave in. My first test would come in following issue of Star Wars Insider. The first publication of a D-Canon story would be Part 2 of a previous one titled Blade Squadron. I decided to read it since it holds the unique category of being both Legends and D-Canon material. Since I accept the 6 movies and the sub-par Clone Wars series by Filoni, Blade Squadron was easy to accept. It was the next story after which wherein the true test would be held. I forget the name of the story because I threw the issue away but when it came in my mailbox that day I flipped nonchalantly through the pages until arriving at the short story….and then threw it away. I had no interest in reading it at all. Rogue 1 – D-Canon 0 But that had been an easy test I thought. A short story (which probably will never be referenced in the new canon ever again) was simple to overlook. A novel on the other hand was a whole different story. John Jackson Miller was set to release a book about the upcoming show #Rebels called A New Dawn. Reading about Rebels I knew from the start would be a no-brainer for me to ignore. As I’ve said before Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars hardly impressed me and the art, story and descriptions of the characters from this new show, didn’t appeal to me at all. I knew I was going to avoid the TV Show (as 3.5 million other fans have since the Clone Wars days) but avoiding a novel?! Could it be done? My answer came early when speaking at a Star Wars panel at #DragonConI was offered an advanced copy of the book….I ended up giving it away to the fan who could answer a question about the Expanded Universe for me. Rogue 2 – D-Canon 0 Weeks later the book came out, Rebels shortly followed and besides its opening episode it not only has failed to capture my interest but the interest of millions of other fans who watched the Clone Wars back in the day. In fact, Rebels still gets less than a third of the viewers today as it when #CloneWars rating were at their lowest. Yikes. Now I’m not here to bash Rebels, I have no idea what the show is like and if you enjoy it I’m happy for you. I’ve been on the “minority side” many a time to tell you that it doesn’t matter what other people think. If you love it, that’s all that matters. John Carter of Mars and Independence Day: Resurgence, I’m looking at you! Rogue 3 – D-Canon 0 With all that behind me, the challenges were set to increase. Marvel was getting ready to fire up a new comic series and they pulled out all the stops for it to be big. With over 100 variant covers and an advertising campaign bigger than the Death of Superman, Star Wars #1 would hit newsstands and comic book stores with a big bang. Fans who had no idea what a comic book was, were snatching up several copies of this soon to be “million dollar” collectable in the future. (to date, you can still buy most of the variants of the issue for cover price or lower) And with all this hype I once again was put to the test of if I’d read it or not. I didn’t. Rogue 4 – D-Canon 0 Up next was a big challenge, James Luceno’s new book “Tarkin” was set to hit stores. This one caused further issues in being that it was from an author I loved, from a story originally intended to be Legends when first conceived. (I later discovered that Luceno knew well ahead of time about the change and easily adjusted his draft to accommodate new canon changes that were going into effect. This book posed the question on whether I could/should combine canon stories together when they didn’t interfere with one another. I felt confident I could go without it but I admit to having the lingering thought “what if” it connected to the old story as well. Thankfully it didn’t. Reports from previous editors of #StarWarsEUinformed me that Tarkin’s history had been changed completely and that his new background was different than before. Strengthening my resolve I awaited my final test, Episode 7. Rogue 5 – D-Canon 0 This was it. The big one. Episode 7. Could I withstain from watching an actual MOVIE about Star Wars. Not only was this marketing more than Christmas that year but it was the only thing on everyone’s mind the entire month leading up to its release. Everyone I talked to had something to say about the upcoming movie. What would it be like? Who was it about? What was going to happen? Why am I not wearing pants? Ok the last one was a joke but you get the point. This movie was BIG. And being a Star Wars fan, you have to watch it. Or at least that’s what everyone told me. On my YouTube channel I constantly got harassed by people telling me a “had to see it or I wouldn’t be a fan” Even better were the ones who mocked me over it. “Shut up, you’re going to watch it and you know it” Funny how I don’t hear anything from them now. I was traveling with my company when the movie was released but I remember not being at all concerned with its release. As I’d said previously, Star Wars wasn’t about the movies to me, it was about the #ExpandedUniverse which had developed and grew the story into something more meaningful and deeper than all of the movies combined could have done. At this point going “rogue” as a Star Wars fan seemed effortless. I wasn’t about to be bullied or shamed into watching it from the deplorable people of the web and I had now confirmed within myself that I had accepted my choice and was happy to live with it. So to me, #Disney #StarWars was free to go about and do whatever they wanted with the story. I won’t mind. A lot of my friends love it and I’m happy for them. I don’t care if they don’t see things the same was as I do. After all, it’s their choice on whether they want to see, read or hear things about the new canon. I’m not upset. Sure, I’d like to see more #EU stories in the future and would pick them up at the drop of a hat if they ever felt like printing more, but I’m happy to move on to other interest in life. Going rogue was a decision I’m not only happy about but can live with as well. Final score Rogue 6- D-Canon 0 Looks like I win in a shutout. #GiveUsLegends #WeBuyLegends #TrEU #EU #ExpandedUniverse#MattWilkins #StarWarsEU #IRebel #RogueWon #realcanon #KyleKatarn #GiveUsLegends #WeBuyLegends #TrEU #EU #ExpandedUniverse #MattWilkins #StarWarsEU #IRebel #RogueWon #realcanon #KyleKatarn