What would I have done if I had bought Star Wars in 2012? Well, to understand it, you first need to understand how the Canon of the time was structured. Before the decanonization of the EU there was a very precise Canon hierarchical system in place, which included five levels:
- G Canon: The Prequel Trilogy and the Original Trilogy
- T Canon: The Clone Wars (2008)
- C Canon: The majority of the EU
- S Canon: The stories written in the 70s and 80s, before the Thrawn Trilogy
- N Canon: The non-Canon stories, such as the Infinities comics, the satirical stuff, etc.
Anyone can see that this hierarchical system is very complicated, and that many people can get confused. So, if I had bought Star Wars in 2012 I would have kept the EU as Canon, but at the same time simplifying the hierarchical system by eliminating the S Canon and the T Canon tiers.
The stories that were part of the S Canon tier contradict the post-Thrawn Trilogy EU, so they were not considered entirely Canon, but only partially Canon. That is, the parts of those stories that didnt contradict the post-Thrawn Trilogy EU were considered Canon, while the parts that did contradict it weren’t taken into account. Now, since the S Canon stories were never considered entirely Canon to begin with, then keeping the S Canon tier is completely useless. So, if I had bought Star Wars in 2012 I would have simplifyed the Canon hierarchy by completely erasing the S Canon tier, and moving all the stories that were part of that tier into the N Canon (non-Canon) tier.
I’d have an issue with this. The Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy was effectively moved to the C tier by A.C. Crispin when she included them in her new Han Solo trilogy (there is a note in the text of the last book that says those three stories happen effectively making it a Han Solo 6 part series).